In
another room there was the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and
other subjects not to be readily distinguished in the twilight that was
gathering in these antique chambers. We saw, too, some very old
portraits of the Cliffords and the Thanets, in black frames, and the
pictures themselves sadly faded and neglected. The famous Countess Anne
of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery was represented on one of the leaves
of a pair of folding doors, and one of her husbands, I believe, on the
other leaf. There was the picture of a little idiot lordling, who had
choked himself to death; and a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, who battered
this old castle, together with almost every other English or Welsh castle
that I ever saw or heard of. The housekeeper pointed out the grove of
trees where his cannon were planted during the siege. There was but
little furniture in the rooms; amongst other articles, an antique chair,
in which Mary, Queen of Scots, is said to have rested.
The housekeeper next took us into the part of the castle which has never
been modernized since it was repaired, after the siege of Cromwell. This
is a dismal series of cellars above ground, with immensely thick walls,
letting in but scanty light, and dim staircases of stone; and a large
hall, with a vast fireplace, where every particle of heat must needs have
gone up chimney,--a chill and heart-breaking place enough.
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