84

And Hawes, in his $3ag{iS(tPinf Of $JI(adlUT, describes the castle of290(trine to have had little turrets, with weather-cocks, images of gold,which, turning with the wind, played a tune.

That it was possible, by means of mechanism, to produce in suchmanner modulated sounds, will not be doubted—but that forms nopart of the present inquiry. These descriptions, may, however, befairly taken as architectural portraits, beyond which the writer’s pursuitdoes not extend.

The upper part of the tower, which becomes a staircase at the ter-mination of the principal stairs, would be available as a prospect seat.In old mansions such places were common.* One of the amusementsin feudal castles, where many persons of both sexes were assembled, wasto mount to the top of the highest tower:

“ Some to cfmmbre, antf some to boure,anti some to the hin toure.”

Plate XXV.—©ttto of $art of tl)( &tafr(a0(.— It was in thereign of Elizabeth that staircases first became splendid features in houses.

In the dark ages of ignorance and superstition, the clergy frequently styled themselves theCocks of the Almighty, whose duty it was, like the cock which roused St. Peter, to call thepeople to repentance, or at all events to church: thence the cock was considered the emblemof clerical vigilance. These weather-cocks are mentioned as early as the ninth century.

In France , in the twelfth century, noblemen alone were permitted to have vanes on theirhouses; and at one time this privilege was only accorded to those who first planted theirstandards on the walls of a town when stormed.— Beckmann’s Hist, of Inventions.

* At Lord Montecute’s, in 1591, Queen Elizabeth “ saw, from a turret, sixteen bucks, allhaving fayre lawe, pulled downe with greyhounds, in a laund or lawn.”— Nichols’s Pro-gresses, vol. ii.