O his abode here, were very familiar to my earlier reading, and,
remaining still fresh at the bottom of my memory, caused the weird and
ghostly sensation that came over me on beholding the real spectacle that
had formerly been made so vivid to my imagination. Our next visit was to
the church, which stands close by, and is quite as ancient as the
remnants of the castle. In a chapel or side-aisle, dedicated to the
Harcourts, are found some very interesting family-monuments,--and among
them, recumbent on a tombstone, the figure of an armed knight of the
Lancastrian party, who was slain in the Wars of the Roses. His features,
dress, and armor are painted in colors, still wonderfully fresh, and
there still blushes the symbol of the Red Rose, denoting the faction for
which he fought and died. His head rests on a marble or alabaster
helmet; and on the tomb lies the veritable helmet, it is to be presumed,
which he wore in battle,--a ponderous iron case, with the visor
complete, and remnants of the gilding that once covered it. The crest is
a large peacock, not of metal, but of wood. Very possibly, this helmet
was but an heraldic adornment of his tomb; and, indeed, it seems strange
that it has not been stolen before now, especially in Cromwell's time,
when knightly tombs were little respected, and when armor was in
request. However, it is needless to dispute with the dead knight about
the identity of his iron pot, and we may as well allow it to be the very
same that so oft

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