the inner court amply corresponded with the grandeur of the
exterior. On the one side ran a range of windows lofty and large,
divided by carved mullions of stone, which had once lighted the
great hall of the castle; on the other were various buildings of
different heights and dates, yet so united as to present to the
eye a certain general effect of uniformity of front. The doors and
windows were ornamented with projections exhibiting rude specimens
of sculpture and tracery, partly entire and partly broken down,
partly covered by ivy and trailing plants, which grew luxuriantly
among the ruins. That end of the court which faced the entrance
had also been formerly closed by a range of buildings; but owing,
it was said, to its having been battered by the ships of the
Parliament under Deane, during the long civil war, this part of
the castle was much more ruinous than the rest, and exhibited a
great chasm, through which Mannering could observe the sea, and
the little vessel (an armed lugger), which retained her station in
the centre of the bay. [Footnote: The outline of the above
description, as far as the supposed ruins are concerned, will be
found somewhat to resemble the noble remains of Carlaverock
Castle, six or seven miles from Dumfries, and near to Lochar
Moss.] While Mannering was gazing round the ruins, he heard from
the interior of an apartment on the left hand the voice of the
gipsy he had seen on the preceding evening. He soon found an
aperture through which he could observe her without being himself
visible; and could not help feeling that her figure, her
employment, and her situation conveyed the exact impression of an
ancient sibyl.

She sate upon a broken corner-stone in the angle of a paved
apartment, part of which she had swept clean to afford a smooth