It crowns a very bold and difficult hill, directly
above the Rhone, opposite to Avignon,--which is so far off that objects
are not minutely distinguishable,--and looking down upon the long,
straggling town of Villeneuve. It must have been a place of mighty
strength, in its day. Its ramparts seem still almost entire, as looked
upon from without, and when, at length, we climbed the rough, rocky
pathway to the entrance, we found the two vast round towers, with their
battlemented summits and arched gateway between them, just as perfect as
they could have been five hundred or more years ago. Some external
defences are now, however, in a state of ruin; and there are only the
remains of a tower, that once arose between the two round towers, and was
apparently much more elevated than they. A little in front of the gate
was a monumental cross of stone; and in the arch, between the two round
towers, were two little boys at play; and an old woman soon showed
herself, but took no notice of us. Casting our eyes within the gateway,
we saw what looked a rough village street, betwixt old houses built
ponderously of stone, but having far more the aspect of huts than of
castle-hails.
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