tures, a great humourist, and of little elegance in his manners or dress, was but indifferently qualified to shine in the Court of Charles II. He made a much better figure in his laboratory; or at the head of his fleet; in which station he was equal, in courage at least, to any of the sea officers of this reign. He died at his house in Spring Gardens, 29th of November, 1682. On his death Somerset, Marquis and Earl of Worcester was a second time appointed to the Presidency by King James II. and in 1684 Sir John Bridgeman was President. He was a very severe man, frequently committing persons to the Porter's Lodge, for trifling offences; on which account one Ralph Gittins, who had propably experienced his severity, composed the following distich.

"Here lies Sir Johu Bridgeman, clad in his clay.
God said to the devil, sirrah, take him away."

He was buried in Ludlow Church.

Charles, Lord Gerard of Brandon, Viscount Brandon and Earl of Macclesfield, was the last Lord President; he was descended from the very ancient family of Geraldine, or Fitzgerald, in Ireland, he raised a regiment of foot, and a troop of horse, for Charles I. in the Civil War, and fought in many battles, with the ardour of a volunteer, displaying at the same time all the conduct of a veteran, He particularly signalized

himself

himself in Wales, where he took the fortresses of Cardigan, Emblin, Langhorne, and Roche; as also the strong town of Haverfordwest, with the castles of Picton and Carew. He was one of the Lords who presented the Duke of York as a Popish recusant, at the King's Bench bar, in Westminster Hall.

In 1688, December 4th, the Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Sir Edward Hurley, and most of the Gentlemen of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, met at Worcester, and declared for the Prince of Orange: Ludlow Castle was taken for the Prince by Lord Herbert; and Sir Walter Blount, and the popish Sheriff of Worcester secured in it by that Peer.

The Court for the Government of Wales was dissolved by Act of Parliament in the year 1689.

THE liberties of the Borough of Ludlow extend on the east to the township of Rock, to the township of Overton on the south, to further Halton on the west, and to the township of Stanton Lacy on the north. The Town, like Shrewsbury,

H

Shrewsbury, is on a hill, with a declivity on every side. It is spacious and well built, having a cleanly and cheerful appearance; surrounded by a country, which in every direction, affords prospects highly beautiful.

Lloyd, in his "Breviarie of Britayne," describes this place, as the "fayre Towne and Castel of Ludlaw, vpon Themis in Schreupshyre, in olde time called Dinav." Formerly, this town was inclosed by a strong wall, about a mile in circumference, including the Castle: which, to use the words of Leland, "hemmeth in part of the town," and forming the most interesting object, first attracts attention.

The Castle rises from the point of a headland, and its foundations are ingrafted into a bare grey rock. The north front consists of square towers, with high connecting walls, which are embattled with deep interstices, and the old foss and part of the rock have been formed into walks, which in 1772 were planted with beeches, elms, and lime trees, at the expense of the late Countess of Powis. These trees having now grown to maturity, form a soothing and grateful shade, and add exceedingly to the beauty and dignity of the scene.

A bare and precipitate ridge runs parallel on the western side, and is beautifully crowned with wood, above a chasm through which the broad

broad and shallow river Teme pursues its course. Having walked round the Castle, we enter the base court, containing several acres. The principal entrance is by a gateway under a low pointed arch, worked within a former one of larger dimensions. On the right hand, as we enter this gateway, are the ruins of barracks, in constant use when the Castle was the Palace of the Lords Presidents of Wales; and further on is a square tower with its entrance from the wall; the embattled rampart pierced with loops, remains here and there, in picturesque masses, on the left is a range of stone buildings said to have been the stables; on which appear the arms of Queen Elizabeth; with those of the Earl of Pembroke, who succeeded to the Presidency on the death of his relation, Sir Henry Sidney. Contiguous are the ruins of the court house, which had a door outwardly, and beyond it is a lofty tower, called Mortimer's Tower.

This tower has been denominated semilunar: the inner face of it is indeed flat, but its outward projection forms rather a half oval, than a semispherical figure. The lowest apartment has the appearance of having been a prison; the original entrance being through a circular aperture in the ponderous key-stone of its vaulted roof.

The body of the Castle is on the north and

west