DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6910#0173
Colchester Castle,
ESSEX.
The history of castles involves a severe satire on the propensities and pursuits of
man ; for the former had never been necessary, but from the rapacity or unbridled
tyranny of the vicious part of the latter. In all ages of the world, the horrid and
savage system of warfare appears to have been studied and encouraged : and though
many persons were compelled to it from rational motives of self-defence, yet the
great majority seems to have indulged in it con amore. If literature has one para-
mount duty, it is to reprobate, in the present enlightened age, the inhuman practice
of slaughtering men by thousands,* and to admonish the governors of nations to cul-
tivate the benign blessings of peace, and the amenities of social life. The castle in
ruins is a pleasing object to the eye of an artist; but the strongly fortified castle
must excite painful emotions in the mind of the philosopher. From the settlement
of the Romans in Great Britain, about A. D. 44, to the end of the reign of Henry
the Eighth, embracing a space of about fifteen hundred years, the annals of this
country are replete with narratives of slaughter: either internal dissensions, or
foreign wars, made every adult a soldier, and kept him in almost constant employ:
and as victory was then the only road to fame and fortune, the profession was studied
by the young, and praised by the aged. Castles were then necessarily erected in
almost every part of the country, and were varied in size, shape, character, and
situation, according to the age when they were raised, or the skill and power of the
architect or proprietor. As a particular account and definitive description of the
varieties of this class of buildings will necessarily come into another division of the
Architectural Antiquities, I shall confine myself, at present, to the consideration of
the Castle at Colchester.
This singular structure stands on an elevated spot of ground near the north-east
corner of the ancient Roman station of Camalodunum, and was encompassed with a
* -" One murder makes a villain,
Millions a hero. Princes are privileged
To kill, and numbers sanctify the crime."
" Death," a poem, by Porteus, Bishop of London.
See "War," a poem, by Fawcett.
ESSEX.
The history of castles involves a severe satire on the propensities and pursuits of
man ; for the former had never been necessary, but from the rapacity or unbridled
tyranny of the vicious part of the latter. In all ages of the world, the horrid and
savage system of warfare appears to have been studied and encouraged : and though
many persons were compelled to it from rational motives of self-defence, yet the
great majority seems to have indulged in it con amore. If literature has one para-
mount duty, it is to reprobate, in the present enlightened age, the inhuman practice
of slaughtering men by thousands,* and to admonish the governors of nations to cul-
tivate the benign blessings of peace, and the amenities of social life. The castle in
ruins is a pleasing object to the eye of an artist; but the strongly fortified castle
must excite painful emotions in the mind of the philosopher. From the settlement
of the Romans in Great Britain, about A. D. 44, to the end of the reign of Henry
the Eighth, embracing a space of about fifteen hundred years, the annals of this
country are replete with narratives of slaughter: either internal dissensions, or
foreign wars, made every adult a soldier, and kept him in almost constant employ:
and as victory was then the only road to fame and fortune, the profession was studied
by the young, and praised by the aged. Castles were then necessarily erected in
almost every part of the country, and were varied in size, shape, character, and
situation, according to the age when they were raised, or the skill and power of the
architect or proprietor. As a particular account and definitive description of the
varieties of this class of buildings will necessarily come into another division of the
Architectural Antiquities, I shall confine myself, at present, to the consideration of
the Castle at Colchester.
This singular structure stands on an elevated spot of ground near the north-east
corner of the ancient Roman station of Camalodunum, and was encompassed with a
* -" One murder makes a villain,
Millions a hero. Princes are privileged
To kill, and numbers sanctify the crime."
" Death," a poem, by Porteus, Bishop of London.
See "War," a poem, by Fawcett.