Chapter Castagnette to Cat of C by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Tennyson has poetised the tale in Gareth and Lynette, but has altered it. He has even departed from the old story by making sir Gareth marry Lynette, and leaving the lady Lyonors in the cold. In the old story Gareth marries Lionês (or Lyonors), and his brother Gaheris marries Linet (or Lynette).

Tennyson has quite missed the scope of the Arthurian allegory, which is a Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Lynette represents the people of this world or the inhabitants of the “City of Destruction.” “Lionês” represents the “bride,” which says to the Christian, “Come!” and is the bride in heaven of those who fight the fight of faith. “Castle Perilous” is the Celestial City, set on a hill, Lynette scoffs at Gareth after every conquest, for “the carnal mind is enmity against God;” but Gareth “fights the fight,” and wins the bride. Tennyson makes the Christian leave the City of Destruction, conquer Apollyon and all the giants, stand in sight of the Celestial City, see the bride inviting him to heaven, and then marry Lynette or the personification of the “world, the flesh, and the devil.”—See Notes and Queries (January 19, February 16, March 16, 1878).

Castle Rackrent, an Irish story by Maria Edgeworth, to illustrate the evils of absenteeism, etc. (1799).

Castle Spectre (The), a drama full of horrors, by M. G. Lewis (author of The Monk, 1797.)

Castle in the Air or Châtean d’Espagne, a splendid thing of fancy or hope, but wholly without any real existence, called a “castle of Spain,” because Spain has no castles or châteaux. So Greek Kalends means “never,” because there were no such things as “Greek Kalends.”

Ne semez point vos désirs sur le jardin d’autruy; cultivez seulment bien le vostre; ne désirez point de n’estre pas ce que vous estes, mais désirez d’estre fort bien ce que vous estes…De quoy sert-il de bastir des chasteaux en Espagne, quisqu’il nous faut habiter en France.—St. François de Sales (bishop of Geneva), Writing to a Lady on the subject of “Contentment,” i. 285 (1567).

Castle of Andalusia, an opera by John O’Keefe. Don Cæsar, the son of don Scipio, being ill-treated by his father, turns robber-chief, but ultimately marries Lorenza, and becomes reconciled to his father.

(The plot is too complicated to be understood in a few lines. Don Cæsar, Spado, Lorenza, Victoria, Pedrillo, and Fernando, all assume characters different to their real ones.)

Castle of Athlin and Dunbayne (The), by Mrs. Radcliffe (1789).

Castle of Indolence, in the land of Drowsiness, where every sense is enervated by sensual pleasures. The owner of the castle is an enchanter, who deprives those who enter it of their physical energy and freedom of will.—Thomson: Castle of Indolence (1748).

Castle of Maidens, Edinburgh.

[Ebraucus] also built the…town of mount Agned [Edinburgh], called at this time “the Castle of Maidens or the Mountain of Sorrow.”—Geoffrey: British History, ii. 7 (1142).

Castle of Otranto (The), a tale in prose by Walpole (1765).

Castlewood (Beatrix), the heroine of Esmond, a novel by Thackeray, the “finest picture of splendid lustrous physical beauty ever given to the world.”

Lady Rachel Castlewood, mother of Beatrix. She is described as “very sweet and pure, without ceasing to be human and fallible.” Lady Rachel marries Harry Esmond.

Castor, of classic fable, is the son of Jupiter and Leda, and twin-brother of Pollux. The brothers were so attached to each other that Jupiter set them among the stars, where they form the constellation Gemini (“the twins”). Castor and Pollux are called the Dioscuri or “sons of Dios,” i.e. Jove.