The Keep, or White Tower.
Owing to its immense strength it was more commonly used by the Kings during times of civil war, when from behind its bastioned walls they could bid defiance7 to the surging mobs outside. John, Edward II., Henry VI., and Edward IV. all retreated there for safety during their troublous reigns9, but it is with Richard II., the boy-King, that we associate one of the most dangerous episodes in the eventful life of the city. One midsummer day in 1381 a frenzied10 mob of countrymen swarmed11 on Tower Hill, demanding, with no uncertain voice, a redress12 of grievances13. Within the Tower there was great hesitation14, the councillors of fifteen-year-old Richard vacillating between a sally with force upon the ill-armed peasants and a granting of their just demands. With something of the insistence15 of the market-women of Paris when they swarmed up to the gates of Versailles, the savage16 crowd gained admittance into the Tower, searching for their supposed enemy, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, as the chief lawyer in England, represented the men who enslaved and starved them. Seizing the poor old man, they dragged him out to Tower Hill, and, with their summary judgment17, cut off his head then and there. The story of how Richard saved the situation at Smithfield after the death of Wat Tyler is well known.
[pg 21]
Nothing now remains18 of the palace where the Plantagenet Kings held their Court. It was situated19 between the White Tower and the Wakefield and Lanthorn Towers. Scarcely used after the reign8 of Henry VII., save for three days previous to the Coronation procession through the city, it was completely demolished20 in the reign of William and Mary, every fragment being removed.
The most romantic as well as the most pathetic incidents in the history of the Tower are connected with its forlorn prisoners, doomed21 to long incarceration22 or speedy death at the will of despotic monarchs. Even the sovereigns themselves were often captives within its walls. The two young Princes, Edward V. and his brother Richard, entered the Tower under the nominal23 protection of their uncle Richard III., never to appear again. Anne Boleyn returned as a prisoner to the place which she had formerly24 entered in triumph just before her Coronation. Retaining her gay spirit to the end, Anne laughingly remarked that she had a little neck, when told that death by execution was quite painless. During the reign of her sister Mary, Queen Elizabeth was brought through the Traitor's Gate to the Tower, where she was confined for some time under suspicion [pg 22] of being implicated25 in Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion.
Though ceasing to be a royal palace, and of little use as a fortress, the Tower retained its position as a State prison until 1820, becoming since then merely a barracks and a guard-house for the Crown jewels.

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1
fortress
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n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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2
subdued
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adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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3
monarchs
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君主,帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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4
gateways
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n.网关( gateway的名词复数 );门径;方法;大门口 | |
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5
citadel
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n.城堡;堡垒;避难所 | |
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6
ominous
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adj.不祥的,不吉的,预兆的,预示的 | |
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7
defiance
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n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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8
reign
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n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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9
reigns
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n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 );君主统治时期;任期;当政期 | |
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10
frenzied
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a.激怒的;疯狂的 | |
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11
swarmed
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密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 ); 云集; 成群地移动; 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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12
redress
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n.赔偿,救济,矫正;v.纠正,匡正,革除 | |
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13
grievances
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n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 );苦衷;不满;牢骚 | |
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14
hesitation
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n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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15
insistence
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n.坚持;强调;坚决主张 | |
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16
savage
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adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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17
judgment
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n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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18
remains
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n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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19
situated
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adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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20
demolished
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v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 );推翻;拆毁(尤指大建筑物);吃光 | |
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21
doomed
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命定的 | |
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22
incarceration
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n.监禁,禁闭;钳闭 | |
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23
nominal
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adj.名义上的;(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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24
formerly
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adv.从前,以前 | |
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25
implicated
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adj.密切关联的;牵涉其中的 | |
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