of the castle-yard, it will be seen, has a parapet, and is flanked with towers, and the chapel to the right of the Lodge.  East and West of the yard is seen the semi-circular moat or ditch; and on an eminence near the western extremity of the ballium, stands the keep or round tower, the walls of which are said to have been twenty-one feet thick.  The state rooms are on the second story.  The dungeons of the towers are terrific even in description:  one was about 15 feet deep, and scarcely six feet square, without any admission of light.  The whole area occupied by the Pontrefact fortress seems to have been about 7 acres, now converted into garden ground.

The church seen within the work is that of All Saints, or Allhallows, a Gothic structure, probably of the time of Henry III., and almost destroyed in the sieges of the castle.

Pontefract must be numbered in our recollections of childhood; since here were grown whole fields of liquorice root, from the extract of which are made. Pontefract Cakes, impressed with the arms—­three lions passant gardant, surmounted with a helmet, full-forward, open faced, and garde-visure.  We have likewise seen them impressed with the celebrated fortress, and the motto “Post mortem patris pro filio,”—­after the death of the father—­for the son—­denoting the loyalty of the Pontefract Royalists in proclaiming Charles ii. at the death of his father.

    [1] The present Borough of Pontefract was incorporated by Richard
        III., and has sent Members to Parliament since the reign of
        James I.

    [2] Dugdale Bar. vol. i p. 99.

    [3] This tradition is moulded into a pleasing tale entitled “the White
        Rose in Mull,” in the Scottish Annual, the Chameleon, noticed by
        us a few weeks since.

    [4] Shakspeare lays Scene v. of Act. v. of Richard ii. in a dungeon of
        Pomfret Castle.

* * * * *

“Laconics,” Guesses at truth, &c.

(For the Mirror.)

It is the interest of an indolent man to be honest:  for it requires considerable trouble and finesse, to deceive others successfully.

Money was a wise contrivance to place fools somewhat on a level with men of sense.

It will be observed, that people have generally the identical faults and vices they accuse others of; we may instance cowardice.

Wherever a proposition is self-evident, it is but weakening its strength to bring forward arguments in its support.

It is a melancholy reflection that a glass of wine will do more towards raising the spirits, than the finest composition ever penned.

It is a great mistake in physiognomists to take outward signs as evidences of feeling:  the seat of real sensation is within.

Wherever art has travelled out of her proper sphere to ape nature, she has proved herself but a miserable mimic, even in her most approved efforts.