There was a sentry-box just within the gate, and a sentinel was on guard,
for Carlisle Castle is a national fortress, and has usually been a depot
for arms and ammunition. The sergeant, or corporal of the guard, sat
reading within the gateway, and, on my request for admittance, he civilly
appointed one of the soldiers to conduct us to the castle. As I
recollect, the chief gateway of the castle, with the guard-room in the
thickness of the wall, is situated some twenty yards behind the first
entrance where we met the sentinel.
It was an intelligent young soldier who showed as round the castle, and
very civil, as I always find soldiers to be. He had not anything
particularly interesting to show, nor very much to say about it; and what
be did say, so far as it referred to the history of the castle, was
probably apocryphal.
The castle has an inner and outer ward on the descent of the hill; and
included within the circuit of the exterior wall. Having been always
occupied by soldiers, it has not been permitted to assume the picturesque
aspect of a ruin, but the buildings of the interior have either been
constantly repaired, as they required it, or have been taken down when
past repair. We saw a small part of the tower where Mary, Queen of
Scots, was confined on her first coming to England; these remains consist
only of a portion of a winding stone staircase, at which we glanced
through a window. The keep is very large and massive, and, no doubt, old
in its inner substance.
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