of the present day, being a ditch surrounding their whigwhams, and secured at the approach by stakes driven into the ground, or an abbatis, composed of large trees felled round their camp, with all their branches on them, Afterwards, as societies and knowledge increased, permanent places of residence would be built, and secured with walls of stone or wood, according to the abundance of the material, as in some parts of Russia, where the towns are defended by ramparts of timber. Very soon after the construction of fortified towns, would be perceived the necessity of a citadel or strong-hold, for the double purpose of retreat on the loss of the outer works, or of security to the prince or governor from internal treacheries and insubordination. It is at this point that we must date the introduction or invention of castles; which, in their first state, most likely were only strong or elevated houses, relying for safety more upon their thickness of wall or natural strength of position, then upon any regular mode of building proper to such edifices. The word castellum or castle, is usually employed by ancient writers for a town, either large or small, encircled by a ditch and wall, with towers at various distances. Castles, such as are usually understood by the term, may be considered comparatively of modern invention, and it is surprising how very little attention has been paid to this class of buildings; as few things have been less the object of research than the military architecture of the world; particularly when we learn, that it was in France, England, Germany, and other European states, that the custom of building regular castles first prevailed. It is supposed that these buildings are of eastern origin, and that we are indebted to the Crusaders for their introduction; but if we allow to the East the invention, and consider that the number of castles among the Italians and Sicilians were very limited till the Normans obtained possession of these countries, we shall find good reason to believe

that the northern nations were the first to bring them into general use, as composing no small part of the power of the Barons under the feudal system, and by whom they were so much valued, that in the time of Henry II. there were no less than eleven hundred and fifteen castles in England. The feudal governments, although well calculated to resist invasion or aggression, were but poorly calculated for the internal repose of a kingdom: the nobles, powerful in their castles and the number of their retainers, obtained from their princes a perpetual and hereditary donation of those lands which had originally been granted to them during pleasure; and on condition of serving their sovereign in war with all their adherents, they also obtained the power of supreme jurisdiction, and the right of coining money within their own territory; as well as the privilege of waging war with each other on every petty occasion. Hence kingdoms became a collection of independent provinces, in a continual state of hostility with each other, disturbed by the eternal jarring interests and ambitious schemes of neighbouring barons; and it was to the disturbed state of the times under the feudal system, that England, and other countries, were indebted for the multitudinous introduction of those edifices, whose remains give a solemn grandeur to the beautiful scenery by which they are frequently surrounded. The oldest fortifications of which any vestiges remain in Great Britain, are the hill camps, often found on the summits of mountains; as the one on Mam Tor, or the Shivering Mountain, in Derbyshire; another on the top of one of the highest of the Malvern Hills, called the Herefordshire Beacon; attributed by turns to Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Britons; also, a very fine camp on the summit of a hill at Coxall in Herefordshire, and which is only accessible on one side. This strong hold is about six miles from Presteign, and is the last post that the gallant Caractacus held against the Romans, previous to the

battle which decided the fate of himself, his family, and his country, after he had bravely resisted, for nine years, the invaders of his kingdom. The conduct of Cartismandua, his stepmother, and Queen of the Brigantes, illustrates the observation of Tacitus, that "adversity has no friends;" for, when Caractacus, after the battle fled to her for refuge, she loaded him with irons, and delivered him to his conquerors.

We have many other remains of camps in Great Britain, but placed so high that they must frequently have been untenable for want of water. Of the Roman fortifications we have not much remaining; but it may be supposed that their camps were fortified with much care; for Boadicea, in a speech to her army, reproaches the Romans with cowardice for constructing works of such great strength and magnitude about their positions; and Cæsar, speaking of one of his camps, describes it as fortified with walls and towers, in a manner that would give it a near resemblance to the castles of later date. Ledwich, in his account of the Ancient Forts and Castles of Ireland, says "From the mode of life, and the paucity of the Celtes (the primeval possessors of this isle), it cannot be supposed that they had much need of forts, or that there could exist many causes of jealousy or war." At the same time, I do not deny them the capability of securing themselves and their property by earthen works; they might also have retreated from danger to high hills. The Britons, in Cæsar's time, surrounded the skirt of a wood with a ditch and a rampart; and Mr. Whitaker has pointed out many of these forts in woods. On the arrival of the Firbolgs,* a dangerous state of hostility commenced between the old and new inhabitants;

• The Firbolgs were Belge from the northern parts of Gaul, and who occupied no inconsiderable portion of Britain long before the arrival of the Romans.-By Cæsar they are accurately distinguished from the aboriginal or Celtes.

the champaign forts no longer afforded protection; rising grounds and conical hills were now preferred, as more defensible, and less liable to surprise. As all the northern nations invariably selected such places for their keeps, castles, and garrisons, it is not unlikely that they suggested a similar practice to the Celtes, because the old custom of the latter is accurately distinguished from that of the former by Giraldus Cambrensis :-" The Irish," says he "have no castles; their woods serve them for camps, and their marshes for ditches." It was Targesius and his ostmen (Swedes and Norwegians), who formed that infinite number of earthen forts and castles made of lime and stone. By castles, this writer understands the keep, the citadel, or highest parts of these lofty forts; so that the Irish had neither fortification on hills, or of any other kind, but protected themselves in bogs or woods. Perched aloft on eminences, the Firbolgian forts resembled the eyries of ravenous birds, and were properly termed " Nids de Tyrannie ;" and in Cambrensis, it is recommended by Targesius, the Danish chief, to the king of Meath, who asked him how he could rid his kingdom of those pestilent birds (the ostmen), to destroy their nests. To these Northerns, Cambrensis expressly ascribes those high round earthen forts, with deep ditches and triple entrenchments; as also the castella murata, in opposition to the fopata. However, I think no more is meant by murata, than that the keep was of lime and stone; or that a wall encircled the summit of the hill; which, in many places, remains to this day." After describing the raths, or mounds of earth, he continues:-" the dun or din was another kind of fort, and the same as the Welch dinas. This was originally an insulated rock, as is demonstrable from the word being applied to duna mase, dundrum, dune, and dundunolf, mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis: the latter was a cliff impending over the sea. It is doubtful whether dun be a Celtic or Teutonic word, if, as Fornandes relates, Scandinavia received its appellation from the rock forts of castles of the natives,

both the name and the practice were derived to us from the Firbolgian colonists. The dins or dinas in Wales, and the dunes in Scotland are very numerous, as may be seen in Cambden, Pennant, and others. Dim, in the promiscuous and vulgar use of terms, came to signify a high fort, whether of rock or of earth. "The Irish," says he, " give their fortifications the name of duns, a sort of temporary habitations made up with thick ditches and earth, square or circular, impaled, with wooden stakes, and surrounded with a deep trench; the area within the dun was laid high, so that they might annoy an attacking enemy the more advantageously." The castles of the feudal times were usually built upon an elevated site, or where the situation would admit, with a river on one or more of its sides; the others encompassed by a broad and deep ditch: within the ditch was placed the outer wall, of great thickness and height, strengthened with embrasures,* and round or square towers placed in the wall at intervals. In the towers were rooms for the accommodation of the subaltern officers of the garrison, store houses, &c. Near the top of the wall, on the inside, was a terrace, to which the troops had access by stairs; where they stood, as well as on the roofs of the towers, when it became necessary to defend the castle, discharging their arrows, &c. through the embrasures and loopholes, and using the various means of defence, according to the

* By the term embrasure, is generally understood, an opening or gap on the top of a wall, for the purposes of defence, although the term properly means an enlargement, either inwards or outwardly, of all apertures, as doors, windows, &c. for gaining additional room or light. The part of the wall which stands between the embrasures (as commonly understood), for the protection of its defenders, is called the merlon. Those walls which are even at the top are called barbets, and are now used when a gun requires a large traverse, as in firing at ships in motion; such are called barbet batteries.