Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Henry De Pomeroy, or the Eve of St. John, Vol. 2 of 3: A Legend of Cornwall and Devon
The castle gates were of oak, and so thickly studded with iron-headed nails, that they became as a case of armour to the doors. A smaller door, called the wicket, was seen next the larger entrance; it was constantly used, as the great gates were much too ponderous to open on every occasion, and were seldom moved excepting for the ingress and egress of mounted persons, or on occasions of state. There was an iron grating, or portcullis, which dropped down before the great gates, from a hollow in the wall above, in times of danger or assault; but on all other occasions it was kept raised, with only its long iron spikes, like the teeth of a shark, to be seen, showing what fangs were ready to tear the hardy foe, who should but attempt to pass for any hostile purpose within the jaws or entrance to the body of the building. Over the gateway were likewise seen those machicolations, or open ings, through which might be poured down upon an enemy, from the battlements above, melted. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
