It has had its turn at the sieges that have beset the castle.  From the old tower there came a rattling hail when Waller’s artillery flashed forth its fire upon the Royalist garrison in the castle.  The old bells that peal out the Sunday chimes seem to retain something of the jubilant spirit of that martial time.  There was a brisk military vigor in their clanging, suggestive of command rather than of entreaty, as if they were more at home when summoning fighters than worshipers.

All is peace now.  The old church sits in the midst of its graves, like an old patriarch surrounded by the dead whom he has survived....

In looking up at the castle from the river, as a foreground, one has a lovely breastwork of trees, the castle resting on the crown of the hill like some splendid jewel.  Its grayness makes its strong, bold outlines appear the more distinct against the melting background of the faint blue and white English sky and the shifting sky scenery....

The earliest Saxon who built his stronghold where the castle now stands must have had an eye for situation, pictorially considered, as well as that keen martial foresight which told him that the warrior who commanded the first hill from the sea, with that bastion of natural fortifications behind him, the Downs, had the God of battle already ranged on his side.  The God of battle has been called on, in times past, to preside over a number of military engagements which have come off on this now peaceful hillside.

There have been few stirring events in English history in which Arundel Castle has not had its share.  As Norman barons, the Earls of Arundel could not do less than the other barons of their time, and so quarreled with their king.  When the Magna Charta was going about to gain signers, these feudal Arundel gentlemen figured in the bill, so to speak.  The fine Baron’s Hall, which commemorates this memorable signing, in the castle yonder, was built in honor of those remote but far-sighted ancestors.  The Englishman, of course, has neither the vanity of the Frenchman nor the pride of the Spaniard.  But for a modest people, it is astonishing what a number of monuments are built to tell the rest of the world how free England is.

The other events which have in turn destroyed or rent the castle—­its siege and surrender to Henry I., the second siege by King Stephen, and later the struggle of the Cavaliers and Roundheads for its possession, during the absence abroad of the then reigning Earl—­have been recorded with less boastful emphasis.  The recent restorations, rebuildings, and enlargements have obliterated all traces of these rude shocks.  It has since risen a hundred times more beautiful from its ruins.  It is due to these modern renovations that the castle presents such a superb appearance.  It has the air of careful preservation which distinguishes some of the great royal residences—­such as Windsor, for instance, to which it has often been