The barbican was situated on the west side of the outer yard beyond the mainguard. Barbicans were watch-towers, meant for the accommodation of the outer guard and for the protection of the main entrance to the castle. They were sometimes advanced beyond the ditch, to which they were joined by drawbridges. The north side of the barbican area was formed by the south wall of the ballium or castle-yard, in the centre of which was the porter’s lodge, the grand entrance into the yard of the castle. The whole of this area was sometimes called the barbican, and within it stood the king’s stables and a large barn. A deep moat was cut on the west side of the castle. Within the wall of the ballium or great castle-yard were the lodgings and barracks for the garrison and artificers, the chapel of St Clement, and the magazine. The magazine is cut out of a rock, the descent to which is by a passage four feet wide, with forty-three steps to the bottom. Near this place was a large dungeon, the entrance to which was at the seventeenth step of the passage, and was a yard in breadth; but it is now stopped up by the falling-in of the ruins. The wall, as you descend these steps, is inscribed with many names. The entrance into the ballium was usually through a strong machicolated and embattled gate between the two towers, secured by a herse or portcullis. Over this were the rooms intended for the porter of the castle. The towers served for the corps de garde. On an eminence at the western extremity of the ballium stood the keep or donjon, called the Round Tower. It was the citadel or last retreat of the garrison. The walls of this edifice were always of an extraordinary thickness, and having in consequence withstood the united injuries of time and weather, now remain more perfect than any other part of the castle. Here on the second story were the staterooms for the governor. The lights were admitted by small chinks, which answered the double purpose of windows, and served for embrasures whence the defenders might shoot with long and cross bows. The different stories were frequently vaulted and divided by strong arches; on the top was generally a platform with an embattled parapet, whence the garrison could see and command the exterior works.
Tradition says Richard II. was confined and murdered here by a blow with a battleaxe from Sir Piers Exton. Fabian and Rapin inform us ‘that on Richard’s arrival at Pontefract Castle, Sir Piers Exton is related to have murdered the king in the following manner. On the king’s arrival at the castle, he was closely confined in the great tower. Soon after, Sir Piers Exton, a domestic of Henry’s, was sent down with eight ruffians to imbrue their hands with the blood of this unfortunate king. On the day of their arrival, Richard perceived at dinner that the victuals were not tasted as usual. He asked the reason of the taster; and upon his telling him that Exton had brought an order against it, the king took up a knife and struck him on the face. Exton with his eight attendants entered his chamber at that instant, and shutting the door, attempted to lay hold of Richard. He immediately perceived their fatal errand, and knew he was a lost man. With a noble resolution, he snatched a halbert or poleaxe from the foremost of them and defended himself so bravely that he slew four of his assailants. Whilst combating with the rest of the murderers, Exton got upon a chair behind him, and, with a poleaxe, discharged such a blow on his head as laid him down at his feet, where the miserable king ended his calamities.’ Stow says ‘that the most probable opinion is that he was starved to death by order of King Henry IV., suffering the most unheard-of cruelties, keeping him for fifteen days together in hunger, thirst, and cold, before he reached the end of his miseries.’
Henry IV., after his accession to the throne, and during the whole of his reign, honoured the castle at Pontefract, the paternal residence of his family, by his frequent residence. Many state documents were dated from this castle. After the battle of Shrewsbury, in which fell the valiant Hotspur and near six thousand of the rebels, the king marched to Pontefract, to watch the motions of the Scots and the Earl of Northumberland. He granted full power to certain persons to treat with the king of Scotland, in a document which is dated at Pontefract Castle, August 6, 1403. These and other similar acts of the king and many of his successors originated in this celebrated castle. Lord Rivers, Sir Richard Grey, and Sir Thomas Vaughan, were executed in this fortress in the reign of Edward V.
The castle of Pontefract was the only one that held out against the parliament in the reign of Charles I. The garrison long and obstinately maintained themselves against the overwhelming numbers of the besieging army under Fairfax, until famine and reduced numbers compelled them to capitulate. Great and numerous were the deeds of heroism and daring displayed in their sallies against their foes, who in more than one encounter were put to rout. The besiegers, seeing no prospects of taking the castle by the breach they had made, began to mine, in order to blow up some of the towers. On the discovery of this, the garrison sank several pits within the castle, and commenced their mines from them. The number of pits within and without the castle is said to have been above a hundred. No great advance was made against the brave defenders, even by the arrival of Cromwell himself, who adopted every measure to compel them to surrender the fortress. On the 30th of January 1649, Charles was beheaded. The news of this event had no sooner reached the garrison, than they loyally proclaimed his son, Charles II. But the want of provisions and the hopelessness of relief were stronger than the enemy, and towards the end of March the garrison walked out of the castle. In compliance with an order, the fortress was dismantled, and rendered wholly untenable for the future. General Lambert, to whom the execution of this order was intrusted, soon rendered this stately and princely stronghold a heap of ruins. The buildings were unroofed, and all the valuable materials sold.
Thus fell this castle, which had successively been the stronghold of the brave and warlike Saxons, the residence of a proud and imperious Norman conqueror, the turreted seat of the high aspiring Dukes of Lancaster, the palace of princes and of kings, at some periods a nest of treachery and rebellion, and at others the last hope of vanquished royalty.
SOME SIMILES.
‘The child of the past and the parent of the future,’ is not an unhappy simile for the—present. Happiness has been likened to a ghost; all talk about it, but few, if any, have ever seen it. Ambition’s ladder rests against a star, remarks a clever writer, who also tells us that a proverb is a short truth sandwiched between wit and wisdom.
Eloquence is a coat of many colours judiciously blended. No one thing will make a man eloquent. Flattery has been termed a kind of bad money to which our vanity gives currency. Society, like shaded silk, must be viewed in all situations, or its colours will deceive us. Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together; and charity is an angel breathing on riches; while graves have been poetically called the footsteps of angels.
Language is a slippery thing to deal with, as some may find when selecting their similes. Says a writer: ‘Speak of a man’s marble brow, and he will glow with conscious pride; but allude to his wooden head, and he’s mad in a minute.’ The young lecturer’s ‘similes were gathered in a heap’ when he expressed the whole body of his argument on Deceit in the following: ‘O my brethren, the snowiest shirt-front may conceal an aching bosom, and the stiffest of all collars encircle a throat that has many a bitter pill to swallow.’
Plagiarists are a species of purloiners who filch the fruit that others have gathered, and then throw away or attempt to destroy the basket.