Note 156 — Chapter I · —How the King of France cajoled the English after the Duke of Burgundy’s Death, for fear they should have interrupted him in the Conquest of the Territories belonging to the said Duke.—1477. (continued 2)

Sir Walter Scott’s description of the Royal Castle of Plessis is sufficiently accurate to deserve insertion. “There were three external walls, battlemented and turreted from space to space, and at each angle; the second enclosure rising higher than the first, and being built so as to command the exterior defence, in case it was won by the enemy; and being again, in the same manner, itself commanded by the third and innermost barrier. Around the external wall was sunk a ditch of about twenty feet in depth, supplied with water by a dam-head on the River Cher, or rather on one of its tributary branches. In front of the second enclosure there ran another fosse, and a third of the same unusual dimensions was led between the second and the innermost enclosure. The verge, both of the outer and inner circuit of this triple moat, was strongly fenced with palisades of iron, serving the purpose of what are called chevaux-de-frise in modern fortification; the top of each pale being divided into a cluster of sharp spikes, which seemed to render any attempt to climb over an act of self-destruction.

“From within the innermost enclosure arose the castle itself, containing buildings of different periods, crowded around, and united with the ancient and grim-looking donjon-keep, which was older than any of them, and which rose like a black Ethiopian giant, high into the air, while the absence of any windows larger than shot-holes, irregularly disposed for defence, gave the spectator the same unpleasant feeling which we experience on looking at a blind man. The other buildings seemed scarcely better adapted for the purposes of comfort, for the windows opened to an inner and enclosed courtyard; so that the whole external front looked much more like that of a prison than a palace.

“This formidable place had but one entrance; at least none could be seen along the spacious front, except where in the centre of the first and outward boundary arose two strong towers, the usual defences of a gateway, with their ordinary accompaniments, portcullis and drawbridge. Similar entrance towers were visible on the second and third bounding wall; but not on the same line with those on the outward circuit, because the passage did not cut right through the whole three enclosures at the same point, but, on the contrary, those who entered had to proceed nearly thirty yards betwixt the first and second wall, exposed, if their purpose were hostile, to missiles from both; and again, when the second boundary was passed, they must make a similar digression from the straight line, in order to attain the portal of the third and innermost enclosure; so that, before gaining the outer court, which ran along the front of the building, two narrow and dangerous defiles were to be traversed under a flanking fire of artillery, and three gates, defended in the strongest manner known to the age, were to be successively forced.

“The environs of the castle, except the single winding path by which the portal might be safely approached, were surrounded with every species of hidden pitfall, snare, and gin, to entrap the wretch who should venture thither without a guide; and upon the walls were constructed certain cradles of iron, called sparrow-nests, from which the sentinels, who were regularly posted there, could, without being exposed to any risk, take deliberate aim at any who should attempt to enter without the proper signal or pass-word of the day.”