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 of a very early form of fortification, and as the chief seats of very ancient estates, and of original English families, they possess a very peculiar interest. Nor are they, when of large size, at all wanting in a noble effect. It is true that upon level ground, as that occupied by the Tower of London, or upon such a ridge as Corfe, or such an elevated platform as Hedingham, the rectangular keep produces a very fine effect, but there are positions in which this is fully equalled by the keeps of the other type. At Durham, where the central tower of the cathedral is equal in grandeur and simplicity to a rectangular keep, it is eclipsed by the adjacent castle. The keep of Belvoir, which, though rebuilt and weak in its details, retains its original outline, would be ill exchanged for the towers even of Norham or Lancaster, and no other structure could be substituted to advantage for the keep of Windsor, crowning and completing its "tiara of proud towers." Massive as is the rectangular keep, simple, uncompromising, and warlike its features, still, even when seen to its greatest advantage, as on the promontory of Dover or the bold impregnable rock of Bamburgh, it must be confessed to be inferior in grandeur and in completeness of outline to the stern round tower of other days, identified as it is with the early residences of the adventurous Northmen who laid the foundations of the English people.

LIST (APPROXIMATIVE) OF SHELL KEEPS, PAST OR PRESENT.

Bedfordshire. — Bedford, Clophill, Ridgemount (?), Toddington.

Berks. — Reading (?), Wallingford, Windsor, Yieldon (?).

Buckinghamshire. — Buckingham.

Cambridgeshire. — Burwell (?), Cambridge, Ely.

Cheshire. — Dunham-Massey, Kinderton (?), Malpas (?), Mold (?).

Cornwall. — Launceston, Restormel, Trematon, Truro (?).

Derbyshire. — Sheffield (?).

Devon. — Barnstaple, Barnton, Plympton, Tiverton (?),Totnes.

Dorset. — Dorchester (?), Shaftesbury (?), Wareham.

Durham. — Durham, Elswick (?), Throston, (?), Tunstal (?), The Yoden (?).

Essex. — Bures (?), Ongar, Plessy.

Gloucestershire. — Berkeley, Gloucester (?).

Hampshire. — Basing (?), Carisbrooke, Southampton, Winchester.