The inner court-yard is a parallelogram, nearly a square, and is about
forty-five of my paces across. It is entirely grass-grown, and vacant,
except for two or three trees that have been recently set out, and which
are surrounded with palings to keep away the cows that pasture in and
about the place. No window looks from the walls or towers into this
court-yard; nor are there any traces of buildings having stood within the
enclosure, unless it be what looks something like the flue of a chimney
within one of the walls. I should suppose, however, that there must have
been, when the castle was in its perfect state, a hall, a kitchen, and
other commodious apartments and offices for the King and his train, such
as there were at Conway and Beaumaris. But if so, all fragments have
been carried away, and all hollows of the old foundations scrupulously
filled up. The round towers could not have comprised all the
accommodation of the castle. There is nothing more striking in these
ruins than to look upward from the crumbling base, and see flights of
stairs, still comparatively perfect, by which you might securely ascend
to the upper heights of the tower, although all traces of a staircase
have disappeared below, and the upper portion cannot be attained. On
three sides of the fortress is a moat, about sixty feet wide, and cased
with stone. It was probably of great depth in its day, but it is now
partly filled up with earth, and is quite dry and grassy throughout its
whole extent. On the inner side of the moat was the outer wall of the
castle, portions of which still remain. Between the outer wall and the
castle itself the space is also about sixty feet.

The day was cloudy and lowering, and there were several little
spatterings of rain, while we rambled about. The two children ran
shouting hither and thither, and were continually clambering into
dangerous places, racing along ledges of broken wall. At last they
altogether disappeared for a good while; their voices, which had