“Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,
For Dickon thy master is bought and sold”—
which was found written on his gate, as a warning, on the morning when he set out on his fatal expedition; Henry, Earl of Surrey, the great poet of his age, “who was not only the ornament of the court of Henry VIII., which he attended in the capacity of companion to the Duke of Richmond, but of the still more brilliant and chivalrous court of Francis I. His travels on the Continent were those of a scholar and knight-errant; and the vision which he had in Agrippa’s magic mirror of his lady-love, the ‘Fair Geraldine,’ whom he has so nobly perpetuated in verse, excited in him such a transport of enthusiasm, that, at a tournament in Florence, he challenged all who could handle a lance—Turk, Saracen, or cannibal—to dispute against him her claims to the supremacy of beauty, and came off victorious: but the well-known hatred of the tyrant Henry to all the Howards prematurely extinguished this bright promise of excellence, and Surrey, the last victim of the royal murderer, perished on the scaffold at the early age of twenty-seven:”—
“Who has not heard of Surrey’s fame?
His was the hero’s soul of fire,
And his the bard’s immortal name.”
In 1547, he was beheaded on Tower Hill. One of the dark blots on British history, was the execution of this true hero of the pen and sword. The portraits also include those of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk (by Holbein), who was beheaded, and his wife, Mary Fitzalan; Henry Fitzalan; Cardinal Howard; “Belted Will Howard,” of whom we shall speak in our account of Castle Howard; and various other members of this distinguished family.
The Dining-Room, formed out of the ancient family chapel, is principally remarkable for its large stained-glass window, the subject of which is the meeting of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba—the heads being portraits of the twelfth duke and his duchess. On each side is respectively the mercy-seat in the tabernacle, and the interior of the tabernacle.
The Library, the building of which was commenced in 1801, is an apartment of much magnificence. The book-cases and reading-galleries are supported by fifteen columns, wrought out of the richest Spanish mahogany; while the spidered roof displays a beauty of workmanship and delicacy of carving, enriched with fruit-foliage, which have seldom been surpassed. It is divided into several compartments for reading recesses, and communicates with the Alfred Saloon by folded doors.
The Chapel adjoins the Baron’s Hall, and is a chaste and beautiful apartment.
It is not necessary further to describe the interior of the castle; but it will be well to note that a chamber over the inner gateway enjoys the traditionary fame of having been the sleeping-place of the Empress Matilda. It is a low square apartment, and contains a bedstead which the queen is said to have occupied; but, unfortunately for the charm of the tradition, it is some centuries later in date than the time in which she lived.
Under the east end of the castle is a large vault, upwards of 60 feet in length, the massive walls of which are formed of blocks of chalk, strengthened with ribs of stone, and are of about 7 feet in thickness. This vault was used, of course, as a place of safety for prisoners, and a curious instance of escape from it is recorded. It seems that in the year 1404 one John Mot was here confined on a charge of robbery, but contrived to make his escape. Before he could get clear away, his flight was discovered, and he was followed. Finding himself closely pursued, he suddenly turned to the College of the Holy Trinity, and seizing the ring attached to the gate just as his captors were about to lay hands on him, claimed the right of sanctuary. He was, however, forcibly seized, and carried back to prison. Knowledge of the affair reaching the ears of the priests, two of the parties who assisted the constable in making the seizure of Mot were summoned before the bishop, found guilty, and “ordered to make a pilgrimage on foot to the shrine of St. Richard at Chichester, to present an offering there according to their ability, to be cudgelled (fustigati) five times through the church of Arundel, and five times to recite the paternoster, ave, and creed, upon their knees before the crucifix of the high altar.” Before the sentence, however, could be carried into execution, the prisoner was wisely restored to the church, the cudgelling was remitted, and offerings of burning tapers were substituted.