The next successor was the third William, and he having obtained full possession of all his father's land, kept residence in his father's castle, from which he made a grant to the monks of Furness. It is dated at Kendal, November 6, 1240, and is witnessed by his wife Agnes, and amongst others, Rowland, his seneschal of Kendal, and by "my high constable of Kirkby;" but I am not sure whether the Kirkby named here is of Kendal or Ireleth. One remark more and we have done with the Lancasters, for this William was the last of the line. Agnes his wife was the sister of Peter le Brus, who had married Helwise of Lancaster, William's eldest sister. The second sister, Alice, married William de Lyndsay. This great estate became thus divided into fees, well known in Westmorland, the Marquis or Lumley fee, the property of Helwise de Brus, and the Richmond fee, the property of Alice de Lyndsay. Peter de Brus was succeeded by a daughter, who married a De Roos, and during this time for nearly a hundred years the Castle was little inhabited. A female descendant of the De Roos married William del Parr, Knight, who died in the year 1405, of whom nothing seems known. It is a most remarkable circumstance that a fatality seems to have accompanied the Richmond division of the estate, it having reverted over and over again to the Crown from failure of a male heir, and a similar condition has too often attached to the proprietorship of the Marquis and Lumley fees. The Castle, however, remained in the respectable but not opulent family of the Parrs from the close of the fourteenth century to the year 1562, or nearly one hundred-and-eighty years. During the most of this time no one of any ability seems to have represented the family, and the building was probably only kept up as a simple gentleman's occasional residence. At least, no one is before the public until Sir Thomas Parr married Maud the mother of Queen Katherine, whose correspondence is that of a tactician of eminent ability, when she recommends her daughter "from the good stock she has come of," as especially suited to marry Lord Scrope's son. The skill of the mamma must have descended to the daughter when she achieved a king for her consort, and a king whom she contrived to survive. After the ascent of Katherine Parr to the throne, all the funds necessary for the support of the family were needed in London, and the small property, which could only afford Katherine Katherine a fortune of £650, was diverted from the maintenance of the Castle at Kendal for the ambitious devices of Dame Maud Parr. The family gained nothing by their elevation, the last son of the house was attainted, his property escheated to the crown, and even then the castle was become a ruin. We need not further describe its history as it remained in the crown, and was granted from time to time either to the heir to the crown, or to unknown favourites until the year 1723, when Sir James Anderton sold it to William Higgins, and it was sold and resold till it came to the present possessor. To those who are familiar with the castle there is not much difficulty in understanding its construction. It will be seen that the fosse on the west side has more space than that on the east side, and that a wall enclosing a building such as the round tower, with adjacent erections, would naturally stand on the most convenient site for defence, and facility of erection. This, I presume, to have been the main building at first, as the castle was extended it will be seen that the eastern wall and ditch have been made on a very steep slope of the hill, or, as I believe, probably filled up space. The tower to the south-west corner has been strong and ancient; that to the south-east corner less ancient but equally strong. The strength of the walls is very great, and the stones cemented in the usually rude manner of the early Norman period. The survey of the castle in 1572 gives us but little clue to the description of the castle at that time, indeed, those surveys were often made for such special purposes that they are not always to be relied upon. The outline of the wall has conformed to the shape of the ground, and it is not rectangular as fortifications generally are, but the strength of the situation prevented the necessity of elaborate details of angles and counterscarp. Whittaker singularly says that he observes no water. Now, it is a remarkable circumstance that on this rounded elevation, rising from all sides, there is an almost constant supply of water in the western ditch, and doubtless if the source was investigated there would be found an ample spring for the wants of a large household and garrison. There is extensive decayed building underneath the earth inside the yard, but the decay of stone and lime and the good shelter the walls have provided for cattle has caused the soil thickly thickly to overspread these remains, although their excavations would add some information as to the arrangement of the internal buildings. The tower on the south-west would be specially devoted to the use of the outdoor servants and to the stables of the lord -the tower on the south-east has been probably used for the armed retainers and tenants. The tower on the northeast, loftily overlooking the other buildings and the demesnes of the baron as far as the eye can reach, down to where the sea breaks over the sandy bay, and westward away to the Wrynose Pass, where the wolf and the boar found a home in the forests of Langdale and Tilberthwaite, was dedicated to the family of the lord. The vaulted chamber, with its large fireplace, but imperfectly lighted, the area raised above it, in which were the large hall, and the lord's room, and the upper rooms, floor upon floor to a lofty height in the tower, would be all needed to provide accommodation for the family and visitors. It is very probable that during the long possession of the castle by the Parrs, a considerable portion of the building once occupied by the Barons of Kendal was removed, and alterations made, which prevent our clearly seeing the remains of the old Norman arrangements. There is enough, however, to show that the castle was one of importance-its proportions are good, its arrangements excellent, when the site and the object of its erection are jointly considered,—and it presents, as other buildings of the era and kind must ever present, the illustration of changing times and manners. The powerful family seated in their greatness, looked down on the busy workers below, expecting, probably, that their seat would abide for ever, and although the lord's soke mill and his dye-house, his bakery, and his fulling-mill are strangely changed, and the wool that was dyed and spun, no longer clothes the Kendal bowmen, or the seneschal of Kendal, in green and gold; nor yet are the people exclusively fed from the lord's mill or of the lord's acres of wheat, yet is industry and work busy at the loom, the wheel, and the frame, and we hope not uselessly so for the world around, while the lord's halls stand empty and forsaken, and the Norman name is only remembered by the archæologist or the student. This fact strengthens the earnest wish that the owner of this property, though but a fragment of the demesnes of old, would either himself protect the crumbling ruins, or hand them over for care to this or some other local body. The duty and pleasure pleasure of preserving these venerable and historical remaius for the study and gratification of the future inhabitants of the town, and as an object of interest to every student of English antiquity, would be cheerfully accepted and faithfully executed by many of the inhabitants of Kendal. (81) ART. IX.-Notes on the State of Religion in the Border Country. By * THE * * * * Read at Cockermouth, by Mr. Whitwell, M.P., Oct. 10th, 1867. THE writer commenced by observing that we could not compare the manners and customs of the south and middle of England with those of the Border country at the beginning of this century without perceiving a remarkable difference. between them. The feasts observed in the South, at every period, had a decidedly Christian origin, and in the mode of their observance the nature of their origin was not forgotten. On the other hand, though the origin of some of the feasts in the Border Country might be traced to a Christian source, the mode of their observance strongly partook of a pagan character. If, therefore, we confine our attention to these feasts we should have some reason for saying that in the Border country heathenism had more influence than in other parts of England. In the matter of fairies and brownies the superstitions in the Border country were also more developed and lasted longer than in any other parts of England, and the belief in spells and enchantments was common. These circumstances would lead us to conclude that in the middle ages religion, as it was then taught, did not exercise a great influence on the Border. And this opinion was strengthened by the fact that though monasteries were founded on each side of the Border as some protection against the desolations of war, the English did not scruple to ravage the Scotch monasteries during an invasion, and the Scotch treated with corresponding violence the English foundations. This insensibility to the influence of religion in the Border country during the Middle Ages cropped out very remarkably when the district was regarded from another point of view. In looking at the history of the English Reformation, we found that those countries received the Protestant religion most readily which were the most civilized and had most frequent intercourse with the continent. As we travelled northwards we found the people more ignorant and more wedded to the superstitions in which they had been brought up. The Reformation spread very slowly among them, and in some cases the ancient faith made a successful stand against |