reader somewhat of the quaint graces of Charles of Orleans, with whom in this fondness for elaborate trifles Castillejo may be said to have a certain affinity, though immeasurably his inferior in delicacy of touch and artistic restraint. His principal satires, "The Sermon against Love" and the " Dialogue of the Conditions of Women," are amusing and witty enough ; while his " Galatea," an imitation of Ovid, must be regarded as one of the sweetest pieces of pastoral poetry in the whole range of Spanish letters, and, with the exception of the exquisite little anacreontic to Love, as the
best of Castillejo s many poems.The strong anti-clerical feelings of Castillejo, himself an ecclesiastic, have been already remarked. His satires were treated exceedingly ill on this account by the officers of the Inquisition, who did not scruple to excise large portions of them, and to fill up the gaps thus caused with screeds of a contrary tendency, the work of their own hack rhymesters, who had at this period a great deal of work to do of the same sort. The poems themselves are divided into three books, the first devoted to " Love," and the second to " Conversation and Pastime ;" while the third is composed of moral and religious verses. The best text is that given in the Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles, vol. xxxii., Madrid, 1832.
CASTING. See Founding.
CASTLE (Saxon castel, Latin castdlum, diminutive from castrum, whence the French chdteau and chatel, as in Neufchatel), an encampment, a fortress or place rendered defensible either by nature or art. The term is also often applied to the principal mansion of a prince or nobleman.
The frequent and protracted wars between neighbouring tribes and peoples which took place in early times must soon have rendered evident the expediency of erecting forts. These at first consisted only of earthen ramparts or rows of palisades, situated mostly on commanding eminences. With improved methods of assault and the advance of con structive art came erections of wood and stone, which by and by were flanked with towers and surrounded by a wall and ditch. Increased mechanical and architectural skill, while it made little alteration on the fundamental plan of such buildings, gradually introduced numerous contrivances for repelling assault, and rendering a great castle well-nigh impregnable.
Confining our narrative of the progress of castle-building to Britain, we notice first the hill-forts which are ascribed to the ancient Britons. Typical examples of them are the Herefordshire Beacon on the Malvern Hills, and the Barmekin of Echt in Aberdeeushire. The latter consists of the remains of two circular dry stone walls surrounded by three ditches. The inner wall seems to have been about 12 feet thick, and 300 yards in circumference, and contains five entrances all in an oblique direction. The outer wall, which is said to be more modern than the inner, is much more entire, and has no entrances through it. The ditches are about 9 feet broad.
Of the castella which the Romans erected in this country during their long occupation of it, Richborough Castle near Sandwich in Kent is almost the only relic. It is, from the evidence of coins found there, supposed to have been built, or at any rate completed, in the time of the Emperor Severus. The ruins at present form nearly three sides the southern, western, and northern of a rectangle, and it is commonly supposed that the fourth side, the eastern, facing the River Stour, has been destroyed by the giving way of the terrace on which it stood. The length of the southern wall is 260, of the western 400, and of the northern 440 feet.
The height of the walls varies from 10 to 30 feet; and their thickness, from 11 to 12 feet at the base, diminishes slightly towards the top. In the western and northern walls are two openings which are usually denominated the decuman and postern gates. Round towers are said to have existed at the corners, and square ones at convenient dis tances along the walls, but no traces of them are now to be found. The walls, which are enormously strong and faced with regular courses of squared stones, consist of rows of boulders alternating with courses of bonding tiles. Nearly in the centre of the castle is the base of a cruciform building resting on a substructure of masonry, which is conjectured to have been the augurale, where the auguries were taken, and where was situated the sacellum for the reception of the ensigns.
Regarding the castles built by our Saxon forefathers our knowledge is scanty. They were probably not very numerous, and some of them were built principally of wood. Alfred, who did so much for the defence of the country, constructed several strongholds which his successors do not seem to have kept up or improved. At all events they offered little resistance to William the Norman, who, in order effectually to guard against invasions from with out as well as to awe his newly-acquired subjects, imme diately began to erect castles all over the kingdom, and likewise to repair and augment the old ones. Besides, as he had parcelled out the lands of the English amongst his followers, they, to protect themselves from the resentment of the despoiled natives, built strongholds and castles on their estates, and these were multiplied so rapidly that towards the latter end of the reign of King Stephen they amounted to 1115.
As the feudal system gathered strength, the lords of castles began to arrogate to themselves a royal power, not only within their castles, but likewise in their environs, exercising judicature both civil and criminal, coining money, and arbitrarily seizing forage and provisions for the subsistence of their garrisons, which they afterwards demanded as a right. Their insolence and oppression grew to such a pitch that, according to William of Newbury, " there were in England as many kings, or rather tyrants, as lords of castles ; " and Matthew Paris emphatically styles them " nests of devils and dens of thieves." The licentious behaviour of the garrisons having at length become intolerable, it was agreed in the treaty between Stephen and Henry II., when the latter was duke of Normandy, that all the castles built within a certain period should be demolished ; in consequence of which many were actually razed, but not the number stipulated.
kind in France, such as the castles of Chamboy, Domfrout, Falaise, Nogent-le-Rotrou, Beaugency, Loches, Chauvigny, and many others. Like them, the Norman castle was commonly situated on an eminence, or on the bank of a river. The whole site of the castle, which was frequently of great extent and irregular figure, was surrounded by a deep and broad ditch, called the moat or fosse, which could be easily filled with water or left dry. In some of the later castlts, before the principal entrances was placed an outwork called the barbacan, which was a high wall surmounted by battlements and occasionally turrets to defend the gate and the drawbridge, which communicated therewith. The drawbridge across the moat was con structed of wood, and, by means of chains and weights, could be pulled up against the entrance, thus cutting off all communication w r ith the outside. On the inside of the moat stood the outer bailey wall, about 8 or 10 feet thick, and from 20 to 30 feet high, surmounted by a parapet not less than 1 foot thick, with crenellated embattlements or embrasures. This parapet afforded protection to the defenders of the castle, who stood upon
the wall, and through the crenelles discharged arrows >
