Planitie summum se tollit in aera sursum;
Et muris sepsit, extremas desuper oras
Castigansque jugi scrupulosa cacumina, totum
Complanat medium, multæque capacia turbæ
Plurima cum domibus habitacula fabricat intus.
Umboni parcens soli, quo condidit arcem.
Hic situs iste decor, munitio talis honorem
Gaillardæ rupis per totum prædicat orbem."


The keep cannot be ascended without difficulty. We ventured to scale
it; and we were fully repaid for our labor by the prospect which we
gained. The Seine, full of green willowy islands, flows beneath the rock
in large lazy windings: the peninsula below is flat, fertile, and well
wooded: on the opposite shores, the fantastic chalky cliffs rise boldly,
crowned with dark forests.

I have already once had occasion to allude to the memorable strife
occasioned by the erection of Château Gaillard, which its royal founder
is reported to have so named by way of mockery. In possession of this
fortress, it seemed that he might laugh to scorn the attacks of his
feudal liege lord.--The date of the commencement of the building is
supposed to have been about the year 1196, immediately subsequent to the
treaty of Louviers, by which, Richard ceded to Philip Augustus the
military line of the Epte, and nearly the whole of the Norman Vexin. By
an express article of the treaty, neither party was allowed to repair
the fortifications of Andelys; and Philip was in possession of Gisors,
as well as of every other post that might have afforded security to the
Normans. Thus the frontiers of the duchy became defenceless; but
Richard, like other politicians, determined to evade the spirit of the