Market street gives the best idea of the commanding position of the Castle. The Gateway Tower already described is here seen in all its picturesque and compact beauty. Having premised that the visitor is armed with a magistrate's, the sheriff's, or the governor's order to view the interior, which no respectable stranger has any difficulty in obtaining, we will suppose that he has knocked at the small wicket gate, and obtained admission. The interior of the Gateway Tower is seldom shewn, unless upon special request. It contains the Governor's office, and an apartment in which are preserved arms and ammunition, fetters, handcuffs, &c. During the shock of an earthquake on the morning of March 17, 1843, which was severely felt in many of the northern provinces, the fetters and other prison implements in the Gateway Tower clanked against each other with great violence. Having passed through the iron gates we find ourselves in the Castle Yard. The first view of the interior of the Court is grand and imposing. Before us is the huge square Lungess Tower, looking like a pile hewn square from the solid rock. The various modern prison buildings to the right and left, with their smooth and solid masonry and architectural disposition, are seen to great advantage from the Castle Yard, which contains a fine open area of 2800 square yards. The debtors confined in the Castle take air and exercise herein, and in wet weather under a spacious and convenient arcade erected for the purpose. Let us endeavour to describe the interior with more particularity. Most of the buildings abutting on the Castle yard are modern, and date from 1788, when the Castle was enlarged and improved under the authority of an act for improving prisons. On the right, as we enter, the Governor's house was built (between the Gateway and the Well Tower) in a position which commands a view of the whole of the Castle yard, the inside of the yard being built up uniformly with the keeper's house. On the other side of the Gateway Tower, viz. to our left, we have first a prison for female debtors, built in 1793, and extending from the Gateway to the Penitentiary. It is separated from the rest of the prison by a range of iron palisades. The female Penitentiary comes next-a lofty and commodious tower on the west side of the Castle yard, built in 1821. It occupies part of the site of the Dungeon Tower, which was taken down in 1819. Over the entrance is a full-length figure of Justice. The Penitentiary is six stories high. In the higher rooms the women may be seen at their daily tasks of weaving calico, making and mending linen, teazing hair, picking cotton, &c. The cells and day-rooms, like every other part of the Castle occupied by the prisoners, are models of cleanliness. A room in the building is appropriated to the reading of prayers, and religious instruction, and to the improvement of the prisoners in the rudiments of learning. From the Penitentiary we are conducted, across the Castle yard, to the male criminals' prison, having the male debtors' portion of the building on our left. The privacy of the debtors is respected as much as possible, and this part of the Castle is not usually shewn to visitors. After ringing at a gate on the north side of the yard the visitor is conducted through a stone passage, on the right of which is the kitchen, in which is the culinary steam apparatus for preparing the prisoners' food. The prison dietary is as follows: For Prisoners sentenced to hard labour, for convicted Prisoners not sentenced to hard labour but ordered by the Visiting Justices to be set to work, and for Prisoners before Trial who do not maintain themselves but who work: SUNDAYS.... 1 quart of Stew made from Cows' shins, in the proportion of one shin to every 14 Prisoners. lb. of Beef, boiled, and Potatoes. MONDAYS TUESDAYS 1 quart of Rice Soup, and Potatoes. THURSDAYS 1 quart of Peas Soup, and Potatoes. FRIDAYS.... lb. of Beef, made into Scouse. SATURDAYS.. Potatoes and Cheese. Breakfasts-1 quart of Oatmeal Pottage, and the same for Suppers. SUNDAYS... 1 quart of Stew, made as above. MONDAYS lb. of Beef, boiled, and 1 lb. of Potatoes. TUESDAYS .. 1 quart of Rice Soup. WEDNESDAYS. lb. of Beef, boiled, and 1 lb. of Potatoes. THURSDAYS 1 quart of Peas Soup. FRIDAYS.... 1 lbs. of Potatoes, and 1 quart of Soup. SATURDAYS 11⁄2 lbs. of Potatoes. Breakfasts-1 quart of Oatmeal Pottage, and the same for Suppers. For Prisoners before Trial who do not maintain themselves and who do not work, and for all other Prisoners (except such as are sick) who cannot maintain themselves and who do not work. MALES AND FEMALES. 7 lbs. of wheaten Bread, weekly. 2 lbs. of Oatmeal, weekly. 10 lbs. of Potatoes, weekly. After taking a piece of the prison loaf we find ourselves at the entrance of the male criminals' wards. The barriers formed by the iron palisading at this point are extremely well contrived for preventing surprise, and a tumultuous rush of prisoners, in case of any attempt at escape. The male criminals' part consists of four airy and well-flagged courts, two of which have each a tread mill. These are employed in raising water for the Crown side, and in impelling calico weaving-looms, at which other prisoners are employed. These buildings and cells are built of hewn stone without timber, and are fire proof. We have now approached the prison chapel. This is within the Great Tower, the enormous strength of which may be judged from the massiveness of the walls, here ten feet thick. The chapel is not large, and has a gloomy appearance: formerly a partition separated the sexes, which prevented them from seeing each other; but now, and most properly, the females have service in the penitentiary, and are not allowed to attend the chapel. The gallery is open to the debtors, whose attendance, however, is optional. The cell or pew for condemned criminals is on the north side of the chapel; and, could every spot of ground (to borrow the idea of Wordsworth) give up the feelings and woes of those who have trodden it, how many an unwritten tragedy and inarticulate agony of fear and despair would not this condemned cell bear witness to. A small library of religious and instructive works for the use of the prisoners is attached to the chapel; and the schoolmaster here also teaches the younger portion of the prisoners, and the older ones who are willing to learn, to read and write. A winding staircase of low narrow stone steps at the S.W. angle of the Great Tower leads to other apartments occupied by the male crown prisoners. The old Shire Hall, a lofty and spacious room with a deeply recessed window and strong iron bars, is contained in the Great Tower, and is, as we have already observed, now used as an airy and most excellent hospital. The old Crown Court is west of the debtors' arcade and rooms, and is now occupied by the Duchy Court and Council Room. Adjoining it are two apartments of great size and height called the Howard and Hanway rooms, used for sleeping rooms for the better conducted felons, and well ventilated. These rooms border on the male debtors' portion of the building. To the east of the Great Tower are several workshops, where knitting, weaving, clogging, tailoring, shoemaking, hammock making, &c., are carried on, the whole presenting a most interesting and lively scene of industry. Many of the prisoners here are employed in their own trades. The modern portions of these buildings were erected in 1793. The winding staircase before mentioned conducts us to the summit of the Great Tower. The only turret of this tower remaining is one called John o'Gaunt's chair. The view from this commanding elevation we shall leave to be depicted by the practised and poetic pencil of the authoress of the "Mysteries of Udolpho." "Overlooking the Lune and its green slopes, the eye ranges to the bay of the sea beyond, and to the Cumberland and Lancashire mountains. On an island near the extremity of the pe |