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vol.2 p.124
was inhabited, (whose chearful and better days are still
remembered,) this area was the garden; and all around, on
the outside of the mote stood noble trees, irregularly
planted, the growth of a century. Beneath the trees ran a
walk round the castle; to which the situation naturally gave
that pleasing curve, which in modern days hath been so much
the object of art. This walk might admit of great
embellishment. On one hand, it commands the ruins of the
castle in every point of view; on the other, a country,
which tho flat, is not unpleasing; consisting of extensive
meadows, (which a little planting might turn into beautiful
lawns,) bounded by lofty mountains.
This venerable pile has now undergone a second ruin. The old
oaks and elms, the ancient natives of the scene, are felled.
Weeds, and spiry grass have taken possession of the courts,
and obliterated the very plan of a garden: while the house
itself, (whose hospitable roof deserved a better fate,) is
now a scene of desolation. Two wretched families, the only
inhabitants of the place, occupied the two ends of the
vaulted hall; the fragment of a tattered curtain, reaching
half way to
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