In the year 1645 and 1646, the Castle was again besieged, or rather blockaded, by the parliament’s forces, who obtained possession through the treachery of Lieutenant-Colonel Pitman, an officer of the garrison.  When it was delivered up, the parliament ordered it to be demolished; and the walls and towers were undermined, and thrown down, or blown up with gunpowder.  “Thus this ancient and magnificent fabric was reduced to a heap of ruins, and remains a lasting monument of the dreadful effects of anarchy, and the rage of civil war.  The ruins are large, and allowed to be the noblest and grandest in the kingdom, considering the extent of the ground on which they stand.  The vast fragments of the King’s Tower, the round towers leaning as if ready to fall, the broken walls, and vast pieces of them tumbled down into the vale below, form such a scene of havoc and desolation, as strikes every curious spectator with horror and concern."[3]

    [3] Hutchins’s Dorset, vol. i. p. 286, 2nd edit.

The tragical murder of Edward by Elfrida, at Corfe Castle, and its memorable defence by Lady Bankes, form two very interesting narratives in Hutchins’s Dorset.  Their details would occupy too much of our present sheet, although they are worth reprinting for the gratification of the general reader.

Corfe Castle, as we have already intimated, is proposed to be disfranchised by the Great Reform Bill now before Parliament.

A year or two hence, probably, the political consequence of the place will be humbled as the Castle itself!

* * * * *

ANCIENT PARLIAMENTS.

(To the Editor.)

In the Literary Magazine for 1792 I find the following list of places, which formerly sent members to parliament:—­

Dunstable      Odiham             Langport
Newberry       Overton            Montacute
Ely            Bromyard           Stoke Curcy
Wisbeach       Ledbury            Watchet
Polurun        Ross               Were
Egremont       Berkhemstead       Farnham
Bradnesham     Stoteford          Kingston upon Thames
Crediton       Greenwich          Bradford
Exmouth        Tunbridge          Mere
Tremington     Manchester         Highworth
Liddeford      Melton Mowbray     Bromsgrove
Modbury        Spalding           Dudley
Southmolton    Waynfleet          Kidderminster
Teignmouth     Bamberg            Pershore
Torrington     Corbrigg           Doncaster
Blandford      Burford            Jervale
Winborn        Chipping Norton    Pickering
Sherborn       Doddington         Ravenser
Milton         Whitney            Tykhull
Chelmsford     Oxbridge           Hallifax
Bere Regis     Chard              Whitby
Alresford      Dunster              and
Alton          Glastonbury        Leeds
Basingstoke
Fareham

The three last named places were summoned during the Commonwealth—­also Manchester;—­when discontinued, not known.  Greenwich was summoned 4th and 5th of Philip and Mary; discontinued 6th of Philip and Mary.  The other places were principally summoned and discontinued during the reigns of Edward the First, Second, and Third.  Calais, in France, was summoned the 27th of Henry the Eighth; discontinued 3rd of Philip and Mary.