ON THE NORMAN KEEP TOWERS OF CONINGSBURGH AND RICHMOND.
It may perhaps have an appearance of singularity to speak of the application of the principles of induction, first duly appreciated by Bacon, to a subject like that of antiquity, which is followed more as an amusement than a study. But if the prosecution of truth after some certain order, consonant with the nature of our understanding, be found advantageous in higher subjects, it is not methinks unreasonable to suppose that even lighter matters, if worth following at all, are worth following after some correct and definite plan, i. e. by means of a systematic generalization from particular examples. And that this remark is well founded, may perhaps be gathered from the consideration of the rapid progress which the study of antiquity has made within the last few years, particularly that branch of it connected with architecture. For now that antiquaries have ceased to wander through the regions of imagination, and search for arguments wherewith to support some baseless fabric of a vision raised on a groundless conjecture, much valuable information has been gathered on the history of by-gone days. Substantial and well-founded evidence is presented to us in the shape of drawings, plans and careful descriptions, from which we may safely draw inferences, and compensate by the sureness of our conclusions for the apparent slowness of our progress. In this point of view, every new example, every simple fact, however humbly presented to view, (provided it be correct,) has its value; and it is with this conviction that the writer of the present article ventures to offer some remarks upon the Norman keep towers of Coningsburgh and Richmond, in Yorkshire; accompanying them with plans drawn by the eye upon the spot, and checked by measures so as to insure a tolerable approximation to accuracy. The writer however does not pretend to offer finished surveys, or to claim minute accuracy for the details, such as the exact width of walls or doorways, the splays of windows, &c. Before proceeding to the description of particular examples, it may perhaps be allowable to offer a few remarks on the arrangement of Norman castles generally.
