To the Galleries the best route is by Willis’s Batteries, which were finished in 1732, and, from their commanding position, proved exceedingly annoying to the Spaniards in the Great Siege. The execution done was so serious, that it led them to form a plan for mining and blowing them up. They began their operations at the top of a slope, above the Moorish ruins of the Devil’s Tower, on the north side of the Rock; but while burrowing through the solid mass were overheard by a watchful sentinel. He gave the alarm, and the works were quickly destroyed by the besieged. Having reached a narrow terrace about half-way up the northern angle, the visitor, as he surveys its face, discerns a long series of cave-like openings, from which protrude the black muzzles of cannon, so pointed as to command the Neutral Ground below. Through an iron gate he now enters into the upper galleries, which were excavated during the Great Siege, and lead to the Windsor Galleries, likewise provided with port-holes, as it were, and thence proceeds by an irregular path to St. George’s Hall. This is excavated in a mass of rock, which externally resembles a projecting dome, and here at the eastern angle corresponds with the craggy platform of Willis’s Batteries at the western. Its dimensions are considerable, and on more than one occasion it has been used as a banqueting-chamber. Lord Nelson was entertained here prior to the battle of Trafalgar. We now take leave of Gibraltar, its town, its fortifications, its Alameda, its rock-hewn batteries, repeating the fine sonnet of Archbishop Trench:-- GIBRALTAR. “England! we love thee better than we know; And this I learned when, after wanderings long ’Mid people of another stock and tongue, I heard again thy martial music blow, And saw thy gallant children to and fro Pace, keeping ward at one of these huge gates Which like twin giants watch the Herculean straits. When first I came in sight of that brave shore, It made my very heart within me dance To think that thou thy proud foot shouldst advance Forward so far into the mighty sea. Joy was it and exultation to behold Thine ancient standard’s rich emblazonry, A glorious picture by the wind unrolled.” It is, doubtless, with such feelings as these described by the poet that most Englishmen will gaze upon the famous Rock; though there are not [Illustration: ST. GEORGE’S HALL. _Page 139._ ] wanting philanthropists to remind us that it rightfully belongs to Spain, and that our possession of it is an insult to a friendly power. Had we surrendered it, however, it would probably have been seized by France; and it is not so much for our own interests we hold it as for those of Europe. While the British flag waves from its summit, it is a sign and symbol that the Mediterranean will be the free highway of all nations. CHAPTER II. EARLY HISTORY OF THE ROCK.