The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-09-05 00:00:00

1)1:111.1.V, Aua. St.

Yesterday. the Quarter Assembly resumed its orl-
jourtied discussion on the intended Bill for amend-
ing orir defeaive sys:ern of Police, when, after a
long delmte. not the most decently r dispassi ely
condnaed. the r!sult arab such as generstly marks dm
first struggler:of reform and mal-astinihistration.
Public curiosity was greatly excited, in c-nse-
quence of a revort which prevailed, that Lord Nel-
son and Sir S dney Smith had am ft) in this city
from England. The repots was entirely unfounded.
Yesterday,however, crowds of persons assembled n
KtIJ ire-strset, onposite t • the Royal agel, for the
purpose of beholding the heroes of the Nile and
d'Acre. Atter remaining there several h,.urs, they
were induced to disperse, at the instigation or a sa-
gacious bie-stlnier, who informed the muliitu le,
that neither the galtint Admiral or Sir Sidney vroald
be in town basil* Sunday n:oriti Ks

Th. Li:waster, ToLso4. of Liverpool. was cap-
tured on the 16. h &Ira. by a Noantsh fri
At a Corpotate Assembly held at stamtnrd on
Thursday, Mr. Alderman Et rata was nnmina•.d
to serve the oEce of Mayor of that Bormzt. tor !be
year ensuirg. At the same meeting Mr. hiewc•, es a
was eleled to All the Alderman's g!nyn, vacated by
the death of Mr. Lowt, and Mr. Otravtus
cteuive was chosen on the Co7:lmon Council.

On the 23th ult. died, at Peterhe id, Scotland.
whitoer she went for tne recovery of her health,
Mrs. CAM r ett.L. of Forniehty, after several years
severe and inexpressible asßiaion,•borne with Chris-
tian meekness and resignation. The cause of her
bitter aggravation of misfortune, and consequtnt
death, arose from a brnken heart. occasirmed by the
fall of her darling son. Capt. CADIFICLL, of the
37th regiment. in a duel, some time ago, in the
Island of St. Vincent.
Lilt week the humane and philanthropic Mr.
Nieto visited the New Ganl, in Bury St. Edmonds,
and also the Workbon,e rf that town. and left the
following memorandum at C.e former :
" I have visited and insetted every part of this
excellent Gaol, which does honour to the eiuny,
and is superior to most in the kingdom. w!.eitter
I consider its construetion to answer the three great
purposes of security—health—and morals—or
the liberality of the Magistrates. in providing
every c.:rntort which can attend impris.etment."
On looking over the Workhouse, he complained
greatly of the praCtice of fermieg the poor, particu-
larly where there was no daly table of diet pre-
scribed ; and observ..d. that there were td children
therein, nearly in total ignorance. although seve:al
of them had passed 14 years of their lives is the
House."

Bartholomew Fair commenced the day b-fore
yesterday ; but, in consequence of the orders issued
by the LORD MA Ton, n• me of the spews, Cr places
of amusement, of any kind, open antil this day,
when the pt.ihib:ted time being expired, every Itiod
1.-asure will be received with an increased effe.:t,
in consequence of the long .leprivation.
Three are fnur or fire fellows, who have the ap-
patalce of dem,,t housekeepers. who frequent Sr.
James's Park every morning. Their ohjed is, when
they see any person from the country. or sie:ant o tt
of place, sitting cm any of the benches, for one or
two of them to sit besiJe Itim, ise.d commerce a
conversation. •If it appear th It the person whom
they address wants a Siti:lOor4'they enlarge on the
misfortune of bctng out of ',daft fot any length rf
time in this town, and recsrmmend the NI &es to one
the;r conieJet ales, by whom, they sa”, a re'a,ion
of theirs has been cspie slly provisied for. metely mt
advancing him a trilr Pl.is seem- generally %II :-
cceds t the post •i Aiow gives ;r Arebly every 'lA-
hog he 1404 to d ,rain a tallAttOß. tie gets 4 bike
address arti fr :ter of reconamenda "n to nts su,s-
pose3 new
-master, a- t.e sivin .I •v !he
444411144 J • Igloo the sufferer to bum is' hs cm, .111' I . 4
4 •

HISTORY OF .fl 7! NT CASTLES M
LYGLANI,

The early British fortifications seen ta have been
little more than mere Intrenchments of earth. Cre-
alr, however, penetrated not far enough to know
the true nature of the British fortresses ; and his
work " fle Reda Gullies" seems only to have de-
scribed the lowland camp. In all parts of England
there are are a vast namher of stron.7 intrenchmems
of a very peculiar kind, situated chiefly on the tops
of natur 41 hills, 2nd which can be attributed to none
of the different people who have ever dwelt in the
adjacent country, but the ancient Britons. 'that
they may have been used at diffrrent times, and r,r.
copied on emergencies by the subsequent inhabi-
tants of the island, is more than probable; hut
there are many and undoubted reasons for deeming
them strong posts and fastnesses of the aboriginal
settlers, where they lodged their wives, formed
their garrisons, and made their stand. That the
Britons were accustomed to lot tity such places, we
arc expressly told by Tacitus, who, describing the
itr mg holds resorted to by Carafficus, says. " funs
montibus arduis, et si qua clementer accedi pote-
rant, in medum valli 121X1 pr.estruit
One of the mast important of these fastnesses in
eur own country, is the Herefordshire heasnn„ situ-
ated on the very summit of one of the highest of
the Malvern hills. It has been by turns attvihured
to the Rnmans, the Saxons, and the Danes ; but its
construetina as a strong hold, slices it was designed
fur something more than temporary use ; perhaps
as a security for the whole adjacent country on any
emergency. Anothrir of these fortresses is at Wulf,
in Staffordshire: it is placed on the summit of a
hill, is surrounded by two deep ditches, and has a
rampart formed of stones. Other instances are ad-
duced by 4r. Pennant in his " Tose is Wa/er,"
and by Mr. King in the first volume of the " Mu-
niments Antiglia ;" but a stronger than all. perhaps.
is given by Mr. Gough, in the " Additive* is Cam-
den," who :hews, that the t ue Case Caredoe, the
very fortress we have alluded to in the sentence
quoted, which, if not the royal seat of Cara. acus,
seems to hare been at leaat his fortress, was in

Shropshire, two miles smith et Clar, arid three from
Coral. The description of it is magnificent. ()t
the same kind t f fortresses were l'emnaen-Maur in
Caernarvonshire, Warton Crag; in Lancashire, Old
Oswe:try in Shropshire, the irregular incampment
of Maidin Cole, nigh Dorchester, and probably
Old Sarum, whose charailler was new modelled by
the Itornms.

The British mode of warfare appears to have se,
eeived but :itch, alteration from the intrniu&ion of

the Roman italics. Till fiu4lly subdued. their
princes 'hewed abilities both in the command of
. armies and in the conduct of a war: they chose
. their ground jaclicinusly ; formed able plans of ac-
. live operation, and availed themselves of all the
advantaimrs of I •eat knowledge; bit: to the fartresses
described, if we m4y rely on the testimonies of our
old. writers, they d•d not very frequently retire.
. Of the Roman trulitary works in this county..-. the
greater part were temporary; many, however. were
station.ry posts; and a fear. to the retention of
which the greatest importance was attached, became
walled aura. Cesar (Ds Bra Gall. 1. vii./ de-
scribes one of his camps as fortified very much in
vie manner of a welled city. A few of the Ro-
man stat;ons in our own country assist in throwing
light on the description ; and, in shot:, such as were
so surrounded, appear to have been the link of con-
beftion between the British earth-work and the feu-
dal castle.

Richhorough, Poetchester, and Pevenrey, are the
three greatest fortresses the Romans have left us.
itichbotough, the earliest in order of time, is the corn-
pletest ruin ; and is el!cided on by Mr. King, as yet
eshibitiag all the principal parts of one of the very
greatest and most perfea of the stationary camps.
It is supposed to have been begun in the year 43, in
the reign of Claudius ; but nut to have been com-
pleted tilt 205, under the duraion of the Emperor
Severus. That in the Roman times there must
Lave been many other such walled stations, 14 MAO
than probable. The Saxons, in the course of their
long wars with the Britons, destroyed many of the
fortsscations that had been thus ereaetl ; and, after
their final settlement, neglected to repair those that
remained, or to build any of their own. By these
weans, the country became open and defenceless;
which greatly facilitated the incursions of the Danes,
who met with little obstruaion from fortified places.
That there was, however, something like a
castle at Bamborough, in NorthuMberland, ereaed
early in the 61h century, we have the concurrent tes-
timony of historians. A castle at Cottle. in Dor-
setshire, is said to have existed in the days of Edgar.
Portchester Castle, during this pet it'd, undoubtedly
retained its designation; and Mr. King endeavours
to prove, that the fortress of Casdeton, in Derby-
shire, is of as high ant;quity.
Alfred the Great secu.s to have been the first of
the Anglo.Sason Kings wl.o was sensible of the de-
fenceless state td which the c uniry, in this polio, had
been redeced.—Asser tells us, that, when he ha-1

red iced the Danes, he spent much of his time in re-
pairing the ruined walls of L‘indoti, a4d in
tiuild-
mg forts in the most convenient places ; hut, that to
doing this, he met with much opposition and trouble,
from the indolence of his peal. le. Elfleda, his he-
roic daughter, inherited the wisdom of her tether ;
and not only fought many battles against the Danes ;
but, if Henry of Huntingdon way be believed, in
the then space of thsee years built no less than eight
fortresses of tolerable etrength. 'nom this time,
the ereOion, reparation, and defence of castles, be-
came a public cobjelt of attention, and one of the
three services to which all the lands of England
were stibjetled.
When we mike!, however, on the low ebb to
which the arts were then reduced,. we shall not es-
peel to find these castles either strong or beautiful.
Yet, though to us they may appear exceedmg weak
and artless, they affiriled no less advantage and
security to their defenders than the most regular
fortifications of the present day can do to their de-
scendent:. They were n u Illy taken by sudden
awicilts ; by wounding and killing their de-
fender; with stones, arrows, darts, and spears ; by
sealing their walls, and bursting open their gatt s,
or setting then' on Ire. Among the strongest and
most c noun, however, of the Saxon castles, we
loop 01.,that of Colchester, which appears to
• et ' -• early in the tenth ceintiry, by Ed-
`‘d X)llorne bare called this venerable
f4:4-- • \
?
*rife: