The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE OLD MAN’S SECOND MARRIAGE 3 guests. The chambers of the numerous dependents com- municate from a similar gallery overhead. So much for the inhabited portion of Saxondale Castle, but the whole of the western side, overlooking the river, and that end which may be termed the back of the building, have long been disused. They are the most ancient parts of the eastellated structure, but the rooms which they contain are attended to with great care, and are shown as curiosities to all guests visiting the castle. ‘These rooms appear to have been furnished and to have been fitted up in the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries, blending the rude contri- vances of the two latter Henrys’ time with the more refined improvements of the Elizabethan age. The walls of many of these disused apartments are hung with tapestry, for the most part torn and tattered; the furniture consists of similar tapestry-work or Utrecht velvet covering the oaken chairs, some of which are elaborately carved. But to pre- serve this furniture and tapestry from falling into complete decay, frequent fires are lighted in the rooms, and constant attention is paid to them. One or two more features in Saxondale Castle must be mentioned ere we enter upon our story. ‘The first is the chapel, which is situated in the western side, overlooking the River Trent. Not having been used as a place of worship for some centuries, its Catholic appearance has not been disturbed. The altar-piece, with all its Roman emblems and appurtenances, has therefore been preserved with as much jealous care as the tapestried chambers in the same part of the building. There are several fine old pictures, repre- senting sacred subjects, in this chapel, and in the vestiary are preserved some interesting specimens of Roman Catho- lic canonical costume. From this vestiary a low door opens upon a dark, narrow, and precipitate staircase, made of stone and winding down the circular shaft of a tower. At the bottom of this staircase there are vaults stretching to a considerable distance beneath the western side, and even under the bed of the river. These subterraneans were doubt- less used as places of penance, perhaps even of more terrible punishment, in those Catholic times when a portion of _Saxondale Castle was tenanted by the holy fathers of a monkish order. In a cloister branching out from the chapel, and on the CONNIE OOOKS (C(O)