and having been found guilty, she was banished to the Isle of Man, and confined in Peel Castle.' She was very turbulent and impatient under confinement; and, although many attempts were made to get her away, she was never liberated.2

It was in Peel Castle that Edward Christian, deputygovernor of the Island in 1628, and uncle of the celebrated but unfortunate William Dhone, was confined for a conspiracy against the Earl of Derby.3

In the year 1648, a fort was begun on the mainland, opposite the castle, under the superintendence of Sir Arthur Ashton, to stop any relief that might be brought by boats in case the castle should rebel or be besieged.* But had the walls of the fortilage on Horsehill been sufficiently strong, the castle could not have sustained a long siege, with the enemy in possession of that commanding eminence."

Before the British government purchased the royalty of the Island, Peel was garrisoned by troops in the pay of the Lord of Man. At the time of the sale of the Island, there were removed from the armoury many matchlocks, muskets, and other ancient fire-arms. There were, also, in the cellar of a wine-merchant in Peel,

1 Shakspeare, in the second part of his Henry VI, act ii, scenes 3rd and 4th, introduces Sir John Stanley as the conductor of the Countess to the place of her confinement, although the last Sir John Stanley died in 1432, and this play only comprises the ten years between 1445 and 1455.

"They tell you," says Waldron, "that ever since her death to this hour a person is heard to go up and down the stone stairs of one of these little houses on the walls constantly every night as soon as the clock strikes twelve. The conjecture is that it is the troubled sprite of this lady, who died as she lived, dissatisfied and mourning her fate."-Description of the Isle of Man, folio 110.

3 Vide ante, p. 197.

4 Feltham's Tour, p. 210.

5 In Grose's Antiquities of England, 4to edit., vol. iv, there is a view of Peel Castle, a view and plan of St. German's Cathedral, a view of the ruins of St. Patrick's Church, a view of Rushen Abbey, and two views of Castle Rushen, taken in 1774, with short descriptions, occasionally referred to in this work.

6 Wood's History of the Isle of Man, p. 153.

in 1776, several very ancient guns, the bores of which measured each a foot in diameter; they were formed of a number of bars, hooped with thick iron rings, similar to those of Mons Meg, in the Castle of Edinburgh.' Several of these guns had no breach, and seemed to be of the petard kind, loading from behind, with a chamber. In Grose's time, many other unserviceable guns, made about the time of Henry VIII, were lying up and down the castle.2

The garrison of Peel is surrounded by a platform, enclosing a space of about five acres,3 and was formerly well fortified. Within this circuit stand also the ruins of the cathedral dedicated to St. German; the ruins of another church dedicated to St. Patrick; the ruins of the palace of the Bishop of Sodor and Man; the ruins of the palace of the Stanleys; and other remains of antiquity,* which will be fully described in a subsequent chapter.

The Castle of Rushen, situated at Castletown, in the southern division of the Island is one of the finest specimens of a Gothic fortification that can now be seen in Europe. The castle of Elsinore is said to be an exact resemblance of it. Rushen Castle, which was finished in

1 This celebrated piece of ordnance is formed of a number of thick iron bars held together by fifteen strong iron rings. The bore of this extraordinary cannon is 19 inches in diameter, and its length is 13 feet; its weight is 6 tons, and that of the carriage on which it is placed is 3 tons. According to a still existing local tradition, quoted by Symson, who wrote his Description of Galloway in 1684, Mons Meg was made at a place called "The three thorns of Carlinwark," near Castle Douglas, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, to level the Castle of Threave, in that neighbourhood, then possessed by James Douglas, Lord of Galloway, who had rebelled against King James II. Vide my communication on this subject in History of Galloway, Kirkcudbright, 1841, vol. i, note M.

2 Grose's Antiquities of England, vol. iv, "Isle of Man."

3 Since the Revestment in 1765, the officers of the crown have taken possession of this island, which was held as a perquisite by the Governor, It was occupied by the High-bailiff of Peel, who used it as a sheep-walk, and annually paid a lamb or some small consideration to the governor, by way of acknowledgment.-Feltham, p. 210. 4 Rolt's History of the Isle of Man, London, 1773, p. 103; Ward's Ancient and Authentic Records of the Diocese of Sodor and Man, London, 1837, p. 27.

960, was built by Guthred, son of Gorree, the first Manks king of the Danish line.

In the year 1313, this castle sustained a siege of six months, notwithstanding all the force which Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, could bring against it; but it was at last reduced: and in order to prevent its again becoming a receptacle to the enemy,' he demolished it, as well as all the other strongholds in the Island. Of Rushen Castle I find no further mention during a period of nearly three hundred years, until the Earl of Derby, by an order, issued at Latham, dated 18th February, 1593, "thought fit to erect again his two garrisons of the Castles of Rushen and Peele."

This order appears to have been given in consequence of a claim to the Island being urged by the king of Scotland in an agreement with the king of Norway (although it had been granted by Henry IV to Sir John Stanley) thus forcing the lords of Man to keep a constant standing army and garrisons for its defence, till the reign of James I, of England.3

By the mandate in question, it was farther ordered, that "all the setting corne of the parishe of Kirk Patrick shall be presently brought to the Castle of Rushen, and not inned at the Peele, but upon special necessity." This we might consider an additional proof of the latter garrison not being in a proper state of defence, were it not mentioned in another place, that all the quarterland custom cattle were to be sent to the Castle of Peel.'

Rushen Castle is built on the margin of the Great River, the rocky bed of which is nearly dry at low water. Be

1 Buchanan's History of Scotland, vol. i, book viii; Major, b. v, cap. i; Hollinshead's Chronicles, vol. i, p. 436; Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, 1775, vol. 2, p. 564; Fordun, ap. Goodal, vol. ii, p. 240; Tytler, vol. ii, p. 207. 2 Lex Scripta, Douglas, 1818, p. 86.

3 Camden's Britannia, folio edition, 1695, p. 1052; Ward's Ancient Records, p. 10. 4 Lex Scripta, p. 88.

fore the invention of artillery, the garrison was considered impregnable.

The main building of Rushen Castle is a square mass, with towers of the same form on its four sides, of an irregular altitude, and rising in some parts to the height of 80

feet. The ram

parts are twenty

four feet high, and nine feet thick, battlemented all round by a covered way on the top, and defended by machicolated towers, a ditch, and glacis of an irregular form, supposed to have been built by Cardinal Wolsey, who was one of the curators of Edward, the sixth Lord of Man, during his minority. In the roof of the keep, there is some very large timber, which, according to tradition, was brought from the Isle of Anglesey.'

At the entrance of the castle, there stood formerly a large stone chair for the governor, and two lesser ones for the deemsters. When you pass the gate, you enter into a long winding passage between two high walls, resembling the description of Rosamond's labyrinth, at Woodstock. In case of an attack, ten thousand men might be destroyed by a very few in attempting to enter. The

1 Grose's Antiquities of England, vol. iv, "Isle of Man."

2 King David I, of Scotland, "on certain days sat at the gate of his palace to hear and decide the causes of the poor."-Hailes's Annals of Scotland, vol. i, p. 109.

3 Henry Byron, lieutenant of the Island, held a court of all the commons betwixt the gates of the Castle of Rushen, on "the Tuesday next after the XX day of Christmas, in the year 1430." This court, which was called "The Great Enquest," was subsequently held twice a year by the governor and deemsters.

4 Waldron, p. 97.

barracks and debtors' rooms are in the inner part of the castle. The prison room for criminals is damp, dark, and wretched. It was to this cell, on 29th June, 1722, that Bishop Wilson was committed for non-payment of fifty pounds awarded against him. He was closely confined there for some weeks; as were, also, his two vicars-general, for smaller sums. Under the criminal cell is another for outrageous prisoners, who are let down into it by means of ropes. Not a ray of light is admitted to this miserable place except what makes its way through the chinks of the trap door or covering. When the interior of the castle was undergoing considerable repairs in 1816, a dark cell was discovered in one of the inner towers, which had been previously unknown to any person then alive.* The stone work of the inner part of the castle is of limestone, similar to that found in the neighbourhood, and not of freestone as stated by Waldron. The internal area is fifteen feet in diameter, surrounded by walls two stories high, and appears at one time to have been covered in. The under story might be about fifteen feet high, but is partly filled up with rubbish. There is a sally-port towards the harbour, and the appearance of others which have opened into the ditch. The upper story seems to have had two entrances independent of those below. One leads obliquely through the wall towards the fosse; and the other, which is built up, passed in a narrow zig-zag through the opposite side of the wall to the defences on the exterior, which rise high against the redoubt at this front. Like most other old buildings, Rushen had its stalking spectre, which appeared nightly to the inmates, dressed in black.*

1 Bullock, p. 174; Wood, p. 126.

2

* This recals to my recollection one of the marvellous narratives of Waldron, which I give in the Appendix to this Chapter, Note v, under the head-"The Home of the Spell-bound Giants."

2 Description of the Isle of Man, London, 1751, p. 101.

Appendix, Note vi, "The Black Lady of Castle Rushen."