Page:The New Forest - its history and its scenery.djvu/171

Rh brightly or dimly, which detracts so much from any interest we might otherwise feel for him in his days of care and sorrow. A closet is shown where he is said to have been confined, and where his Golden Rules are said to have hung; but from Herbert's memoirs, evidently neither the room where he lived or slept. Herbert's account of Hurst is so graphic that I give it nearly in full:—"The wind and tide favouring, the King and his attendants crossed the narrow sea in three hours, and landed at Hurst Castle, or Block House rather, erected by order of King Henry VIII., upon a spot of earth a good way into the sea, and joined to the firm land by a narrow neck of sand, which is covered over with small loose stones and pebbles; and upon both sides the sea beats, so as at spring tides and stormy weather the land passage is formidable and hazardous. The castle has very thick stone walls, and the platforms are regular, and both have several culverines and sakers mounted. . . . The captain of this wretched place was not unsuitable; for, at the King's going ashore, he stood ready to receive him with small observance. His look was stern. His hair and large beard were black and bushy. He held a partizan in his hand; and, Switz-like, had a great basket-hilt sword on his side. Hardly could one see a 153