[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, —As it is commonly
asserted that an underground passage was used in the taking of Mortimer at Nottingham
Castle, the following citation from a work almost con- temporary with the event may prove of interest. In the feigned " prophecy" attributed to one John of Bridlington (written, of course, at the same time as the " commentary " which accompanies it,—namely, about the year 1370) occurs this line :— " Occultis portis lustris capiet mare mortis."
The commentary informs us that the passage refers to the taking and death of Roger Mortimer, of whose career and supposed designs the commentator gives a brief account; the gloss continues thus :— "Rex Edwardus capiet mare mortis, i. mortuum, et hic utitur sexta occultatione. Occult is portis, quia intraverunt ad earn per portas oceultas. Lush*, i. in speluncis vel cavernis terrae, vel in locis occultist'
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