A bibliographical, antiquarian and picturesque tour in France and Germany . the inspection of my companionsdrawing only served to increase my desire to survey 12 FALAISE. carefully the scite and structure of the castle. It was alovely day; and in five minutes we knocked for admis-sion at a temporary outer gate. The first n£ar viewwithin the ramparts perfectly enchanted us. Thesituation is at once bold, commanding-, and pictu-resque. But as the opposite, and very neighbouringground, is perhaps yet a little higher, it should followthat a force, placed upon such eminence—as indeedwas that of Henr
A bibliographical, antiquarian and picturesque tour in France and Germany . the inspection of my companionsdrawing only served to increase my desire to survey 12 FALAISE. carefully the scite and structure of the castle. It was alovely day; and in five minutes we knocked for admis-sion at a temporary outer gate. The first n£ar viewwithin the ramparts perfectly enchanted us. Thesituation is at once bold, commanding-, and pictu-resque. But as the opposite, and very neighbouringground, is perhaps yet a little higher, it should followthat a force, placed upon such eminence—as indeedwas that of Henry the Fourth, during the wars of theLeague—would in the end subdue the garrison, ordemolish the castle. We walked here and thereamidst briars and brushwood, diversified with lilacsand laburnums; and by the aid of our guide soon gotwithin an old room—of which the outer walls onlyremained—and which is distinguished by being calledthe hirth-place of William the Conqueror. made the following drawing of one of the capi-tals of the very few remaining FALAISE. 13 Certainly this capital has much of the style of thetwelfth century architecture, and is very like what Iremember to have seen in the church of St. Georges deBocherville* Between ourselves, the castle appearsto be at least a century later than the time of Williamthe Conqueror ; and certainly the fine round tower, ofwhich we were both so much enamoured, is rather ofthe fourteenth, if not of the beginning of the fifteenthcentury; but it is a noble piece of masonry. Thestone is of a close grain and beautiful colour, and thecomponent parts are put together with a hard cement,and with the smallest possible interstices. At thetop of it, on the left side, facing the high road fromVire,—and constructed within the very walls them-selves, is a well—w\i\ch goes from the top, apparentlyto the very bottom of the foundation, quite to the bedof the moat. It is about three feet in diameter,measuring with the ey
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectbibliography, booksubjectlibraries
