vegetables, or a finer bed of earth, I had scarcely ever beheld.  How things, my dear friend, are changed from their original character and destination!  “But the old round tower,” say you!—­To “the old round tower” then let us go.  The stair-case is narrow, dark, and decayed.  I reached the first floor, or circular room, and noticed the construction of the window seats—­all of rough, solid, and massive stone.  I ascended to the second floor; which, if I remember rightly, was strewn with a portion of the third floor—­that had fallen in from sheer decay.  Great must have been the crash—­as the fragments were huge, and widely scattered.  On gaining a firm footing upon the outer wall; through a loop-hole window, I gazed around with equal wonder and delight.  The wall of this castle could not be less than ten feet in thickness.  A young woman, the shepherdess of the spot, attended as guide.

“What is that irregular rude mound, or wall of earth, in the centre of which children are playing?” “It is the old Roman Theatre, Sir.”  I immediately called to mind M. Le Prevost’s instructions—­and if I could have borrowed the wings of a spirit, I should have instantly alighted upon the spot—­but it was situated without the precincts of the old castle and its appurtenances, and a mortal leap would have been attended with a mortal result.  “Have you many English who visit this spot?” said I to my guide.—­“Scarcely any, Sir—­it is a frightful place—­full of desolation and sadness..” replied she.  Again I gazed around, and in the distance, through an aperture in the orchard trees, saw the little fishing village of Quillebeuf,[88] quite buried, as it were, in the waters of the Seine.  An arm of the river meanders towards Lillebonne.  Having gratified my picturesque and antiquarian propensities, from this elevated situation, I retrod, with more difficulty than toil, my steps down the stair-case.  A second stroll about the area, and along the skirts of the wall, was sufficient to convince me only—­how slight and imperfect had been my survey!

On quitting the portal through which I entered, and bidding adieu to my Shepherdess and guide, I immediately hastened towards the Roman Theatre.[89] The town of Lillebonne has a very picturesque appearance from the old mound, or raised terrace, along the outer walls of the castle.  In five minutes I mingled with the school boys who were amusing themselves within the ruins of all that is left of this probably once vast and magnificent old theatre.  It is only by clearing away a great quantity of earth, with which these ruins are covered, that you can correctly ascertain their character and state of preservation.  M. Le Prevost bade me remark that the walls had much swerved from their original perpendicularity,—­and that there was much irregularity in the laying of the bricks among the stones.  But time, design, and accident, have each in turn (in all probability) so contributed to decompose, deface, and alter the original aspect of the building, that there is no forming a correct conjecture as to its ancient form.  Earth, grass, trees, flowers, and weeds, have taken almost entire possession of some low and massive outer walls; so that the imagination has full play to supply all deficiencies which appear to the eye.