sovereign power-near the ruins of the great Roman station. The principal seat of the colony, it received its name from the river Seiont, which, flowing from the extensive lake of Llanberis, passes under the walls, and falls into the Menai not far from the castle. Of an oblong shape, it covered a space of six acres, and adjoined to it was the massive fort, which occupied not less than one acre. On two sides the walls, yet almost entire, rise to a height of eleven feet, and are six in thickness. The remains of a chapel, founded by Helen, daughter of Octavius, Duke of Cornwall, and a well bearing her name, are still among the wrecks of time, although not readily discovered even by the observant stranger.

The last Llewellyn dates from it a charter, granted to the Priory of Penmon in the year 1221; and soon after his conquest, Edward began the stupendous pile which served less to overawe the Welsh than for a magnificent ruin and a modern wonder. In 1284 a war-tax was imposed upon the people, when they seized upon the constable, Sir Roger de Pulesdon, and hanged him from one of the loop-holes. And Madoc, son of the fallen prince, showed his respect for the royal fortress by carrying the town at the point of the sword, massacring the English and setting fire to the place. King Edward in person was compelled, at the head of his army, to repossess himself of the strongest of his military stations. In 1402 it was besieged by Glendower; and was taken and held by the Parliament at the period of the civil wars. A battle was fought at Llandegai, in which the Royalists were put to the rout, and the whole of North Wales was speedily brought under the authority of Parliament.

Vast, irregular, and more shattered than its exterior grandeur would lead us to suppose, this giant-fortress stretches far along the west of the town, its broad spreading walls surmounted at intervals with octagonal towers. The extent of the courts, the gateways, and the moat, bear equal witness to those noble proportions which astonish the modern architect, as from its Eagle-turrets he commands the whole of its magnificent area, and the wide sweeping circuit of its walls.

Opposite the massive Eagle tower, in which the unfortunate Edward II. was born, is the Queen's Gate,'* which had two portcullisses that communicated with a drawbridge across the moat. Over the embattled parapet are seen the turrets rising majestically above the solitary ruins, bounded on two sides by the water; the third bears traces of a large ditch; on the north-east side is a deep well nearly filled up, with a round tower contiguous to it, apparently the ancient dungeon. The exterior, and especially the main entrance, has an air of forlorn grandeur, blended with massy strength, which must, at all times, excite admiration and awe in the beholder. The area within is irregularly oblong, and appears to have been divided into an outer and inner court.

The state apartments appear to have been spacious, commodious, and handsomely ornamented; the windows wide, and enriched with elegant tracery. The form is polygonal, though the exterior of the edifice presents a complete square. The floors and staircases are already considerably injured-in many parts wholly demolished. A gallery extended round the entire fortress, to serve as a means of communication in times of danger and during a siege. It lay close to the outer walls, and was provided with narrow

So called from the circumstance of Eleanor, the consort of Edward,-and who was brought, through the inclemency of a hard winter, to bear a prince for the Welsh,-having first entered the castle through this gate.

'Edward had annexed Wales to the kingdom of England, but the Welsh were displeased with this usurpation, and determined to yield no obedience to any prince but of their own nation and language. Edward thought of an expedient for cozening them. He ordered Eleanor, in the depth of winter, out of England to Caernarvon Castle, there to lie in. Edward then summoned all the barons and chief persons throughout Wales to meet him at Rhyddlan, to consult about the welfare of their country. He told the Welsh nobility that they had often wished for a prince of their own country, who might rule over them. They promised to allow of such an appointment, and to obey such a personage. Edward then mentioned his own son Edward, recently born, maintaining the terms of the engagement to have been strictly complied with, for his son was born in Wales, could speak no English, and his character irreproachable. Though born in 1284, it was not before he had reached his 16th year that Prince Edward received the reluctant fealty of his deluded subjects. The eldest sons of the English monarchs have subsequently been styled Prince of Wales, and, independently of birth, been created so by letters patent.'-Nicholson.