One of them had guide-books for sale; and,
finding that we were not to be bothered by a cicerone, we bought one of
his books.
The ruins are perhaps two hundred yards from the gate-house and the road,
and the space between is a pasture for sheep, which also browse in the
inner court, and shelter themselves in the dungeons and state apartments
of the castle. Goats would be fitter occupants, because they would climb
to the tops of the crumbling towers, and nibble the weeds and shrubbery
that grow there. The first part of the castle which we reach is called
Caesar's Tower, being the oldest portion of the ruins, and still very
stalwart and massive, and built of red freestone, like all the rest.
Caesar's Tower being on the right, Leicester's Buildings, erected by the
Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth's favorite, are on the left; and
between these two formerly stood other structures which have now as
entirely disappeared as if they had never existed; and through the wide
gap, thus opened, appears the grassy inner court, surrounded on three
sides by half-fallen towers and shattered walls. Some of these were
erected by John of Gaunt; and among these ruins is the Banqueting-Hall,--
or rather was,--for it has now neither floor nor roof, but only the
broken stone-work of some tall, arched windows, and the beautiful, old
ivied arch of the entrance-way, now inaccessible from the ground. The
ivy is very abundant about the ruins, and hangs its green curtains quite
from top to bottom of some of the windows.
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