REBUILDING OF NOTTINGHAM CASTLE.

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a baronet. In 1673 he rose to the dignity of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, was created Baron Finch, and in 1675, Earl of Nottingham. He married the daughter of Daniel Harvey, esq., a merchant in London, and had a numerous family. His eldest son Daniel, second Earl of Nottingham, of that family, succeeded, but shortly after, the earldom of Winchelsea coming to him, as heir to his great grandmother, the first countess, though descended from her fourth son, the title of Nottingham became merged in the older creation of Winchelsea, and is now enjoyed by the present Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, whose other titles are Viscount Maidstone, Baron Fitzherbert of Eastwell, Baron Finch of Daventry, and a Baronet. His principal seats are at Burley, in Rutlandshire; at Raunston, in Buckinghamshire, and at Eastwell, in Kent.

James I. granted the castle of Nottingham to the Earl of Rutland, and which descended to his heir, Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. After the restoration, it was claimed by his heirs, and sold by them to William Cavendish, Marquis, and afterwards Duke of Newcastle, who, in 1674, commenced the building of the present edifice, it was completed in the year 1683, by his son Henry.

The equestrian statue in front, is that of the founder, and was cut by Wilson, out of blocks of stone, brought from Donnington, in Leicestershire. The entire cost of the building is stated by Deering to have been £14,002. 17s. 11d. and the name of the architect, March.

The second Duke of Newcastle dying without male issue, his property descended to the Earl of Clare, who had married his third daughter, and was created Duke of Newcastle, by William III. This nobleman also died without issue, and the property went to his nephew, Lord Pelham, who in 1718, was created Duke of Newcastle, by George I., by whom it has descended to the present Duke of Newcastle. The castle has not in the memory of man been the residence of the family to whom it belongs, but has generally been inhabited by private families. It was many years occupied as two separate mansions, by Mrs. Plumbe and Miss Kirkby, after their death it was occupied by the late W. B. Rawson, Esq., by Miss Greaves, and the Rev. Joseph Gilbert, and had been untenanted about four years before its destruction. The great dining room was hung with a splendid piece of tapestry which, tradition says, was the work of Queen Anne, who was here in 1688, before her accession to the throne. A vast quantity of cedar was used in its erection, and the perfume occasioned by its burning, was distinctly perceptable during the night at a considerable distance.

The castle, though now reduced to a mere roofless shell, still appears to the distant observers, as it did before the late conflagration, the exterior walls being all left standing; it rests on a rustic basement, and its principal front is highly ornamented in the Corinthian order, with a handsome double flight of steps, above which, over the door which led to the entrance hall, is the now mutilated equestrian statue of the founder. The whole is surrounded by a beautiful terrace, with an arcade on the south side. It is 72 yards long, and 30 yards broad, and was terminated by a flat monotonous roof, without any towers, turrets, or battlements, in remembrance of the formidable fortress which once occupied its site, or in unison with the bold features of the lofty frowning rock on which it stands.

The castle lodge, which escaped the late fire, consists of a venerable gothic gateway, flanked by two bastions, which formed part of the outwork by which the ancient castle was surrounded. One of the bastions has been long occupied by a porter, who for a trifling fee, admits visitors into the castle-yard, which commands a delightful and extensive prospect, being the summit of the bold rock, which on the south and west rises nearly perpendicularly 133 ft. above the river Leen. The deep ditch which passed in front of the lodge and along the north side of the castle wall, was filled up in 1807, when the new road from Hounds-gate to the park was made.

In 1687. James II. attempted to new model the corporation, and to reserve to himself the power of electing and removing the members of that body; six of whom he displaced by a writ of quo warranto. In the succeeding reign, which commenced in the following year, the town received a full confirmation of all its rights, privileges and immunities.

James II. was strongly attached to the Catholic faith, and soon discovered his intention to complete the fabric of despotism begun. by his predecessor; the nation taking the alarm, called in the Prince of Orange, and brought about the glorious revolution of 1688, in which Nottingham took an active part; for Deering, who wrote in 1751, says, there are men now living who well remember that the duke of Devonshire, (he was then only earl of Devonshire, but was created a duke in 1694,) the earl of Stamford, lord Howe, and other noblemen, and abundance of gentry of the county of Nottingham, coming to the town, and going to meet one another at their inns, daily increasing in numbers, till the arrival of lord Delamere with about 500 horse, at the Feathers Inn, whither all the rest of the noblemen and gentry went to meet him, the people of the town were unacquainted with the result of all their consulta

THE TOWN'S PEOPLE ARM THEMSELVES.

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tions, till Lord Delamere having a mind to try the disposition of the populace, on a sudden ordered the trumpets to sound to arms, giving out that the king's forces were within four miles of Nottingham; whereupon the whole town was in alarm, multitudes who had horses mounted and accoutred themselves with such arms as they had, some with firelocks, some with swords, some with other weapons, even pitchforks not excepted; and being told of the necessity of securing the passage over the Trent, they immediately drew all the boats that were then at hand to the north side of the river, and with them, and some timber and barrels on the wharf, and all the frames of the market stalls, raised a strong barricado. Lord Delamere, well pleased with the readiness of the people, sent his men and some officers to the Prince of Orange, but himself, with a few officers, staid till the next day, being Saturday, (the principal market) when he, the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Howe, &c. appeared at the Malt-cross, and, in face of a full market, declared to the people, the danger their religion and liberty were in, under the arbitrary proceedings of the king, and that providence had sent his highness the Prince of Orange, under God, to deliver them from popery, and slavery, and give them a free parliament.

Their speeches were followed by the shouts of the multitude, who cried out "a free parliament! a free parliament!" This done, Lord Delamere departed to follow his troops, whilst the Duke and Lord Howe, made it known that they were for raising horse in defence of their liberty, and would enlist such as were willing to serve in the glorious cause, whereupon upwards of one hundred entered the same day.

The Princess Anne, the king's favourite daughter, having resolved to leave her father, and take part with the prevailing side, departed privately from court, and came direct to Nottingham, accompanied by several ladies of distinction, and the bishop of London, the Earl of Dorset, and a guard of 40 horsemen, which on their arrival was strengthened with 200 of the Duke of Devonshire's troops. Hence she went to Oxford, where she was met by Prince George of Denmark, at the head of a detachment of the Prince of Orange's forces. James soon afterwards left the kingdom, and William III. was placed on the throne, to which Anne succeeded in 1702, to the satisfaction of all parties. In 1707, Queen Anne granted the stewardship of the Peverel court to Sir Thomas Willoughby, bart., and his heirs.

BOOK XII.

CHAPTER I.

1689. This year will be famous to the end of time, as being the period of the passing the act of toleration, of whose beneficial provision the puritans of Nottingham immediately availed themselves, and in their successive generations, have continued to profit to this day.

A history of the dissenters of Nottingham would be in fact a history of its christianity, from the time of its introduction, for wherever it is propagated, and until it has gained a majority, must bear the stigma attaching to dissent.

Before this period, puritans had no legally recognized existence, as separate bodies, but were more or less united to and mixed with the members of the established church. Therefore it deserved enquiry by what process it was, through which the gradations of society had passed, that a principle so dissimilar to the usages of former generations, should become recognized, approved, and adopted as the law of the land. Especially when it is recollected that a legal toleration of dissent, was, in fact, nothing but its indirect establishment; a measure utterly irreconcilable with the principle of maintaining a national hierarchy, of whose privileges and emoluments, dissent must now (itself established) be the ever vigilent and successful antagonist, until the last distinction is wrenched from it, and every denomination reduced to the same level. He who would properly understand the cause of the passing of that great measure, must trace it up to its remote and seemingly insignificant source.

This act was not isolated, or an accidental occurrence, neither was it an excrescence or deformity of the body politic, which would have been more healthful and beautiful had it not been. This second reformation in England, was like its predecessor, not the work of a few bigotted sectaries; otherwise it might and would