It was in these halls that the ‘Christmas log,’ flashing through the painted casement, announced the reign of hospitality,--when the ‘roast beef of Old England,’ her nut-brown October, and the national songs and dance, conspired to produce one long scene of mirth and festivity; when the ‘harper’ sang those romantic and heroic ballads at which the young caught fire, and the old threw aside the weight of years. Who can reflect on these scenes, now the subject of history, without a lively interest in the Castles and Abbeys of England? Hitherto, the grand objection to works of this description, has been their expense, which has confined the circulation of picturesque antiquarian works to the opulent classes of society. The great recommendation of the present work is its unprecedented cheapness, being illustrated by original views taken on the spot, and not amounting in general to more than a twentieth of the price at which its predecessors in the same field have been published. 6, PARK SQUARE, LONDON. [Illustration] [Illustration] Derived down to us, and received In a succession, far the noblest way, Of breeding up our youths in letters, arms, Fair mien, discourses, civil exercise, And all the blazon of a gentleman.-- Where can he learn to vault, to ride, to fence, To move his body gracefully; to speak His language purer; or to tune his mind Or manners more to the harmony of Nature Than in these Nurseries of Nobility? BEN JONSON’S _New Inn_. Act I. Scene 3. N.B. A LIST OF THE NATIONAL RECORDS, ANCIENT CHRONICLES, AND OTHER STANDARD AUTHORITIES QUOTED, OR REFERRED TO, IN THE FOLLOWING WORK, WILL BE FOUND ANNEXED TO EACH SUBJECT RESPECTIVELY. [Illustration: _Drawn by T. Allom._ _Engraved by I. W. Archer._ ARUNDEL CASTLE.] THE CASTLE OF ARUNDLE, <g>Sussex</g>, PRINCIPAL SEAT OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORFOLK, K.G. [Illustration] Since William rose and Harold fell, There have been Counts of Arundel; And Earls old Arundel shall have, While rivers flow and forests wave. <g>The Castle of Arundel</g> enjoys a twofold celebrity, in its great antiquity and in its peculiar privilege of conferring the title of Earl on its possessor. The former reverts to a period much anterior to the conquest; the latter was hereditary in the eleventh century, and confirmed by Act of Parliament in the sixth year of the reign of Henry the Sixth. But its chief and enduring interest is derived from the long list of warriors and statesmen whose names are identified with the place; and whose deeds, during the lapse of eight centuries, have shed lustre on the national history.