In Nichol's _History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester_, vol.
ii., part i., containing the Framland Hundred, p. 45 of the folio ed.
1795, occurs the following quotation, in reference to the rebuilding of
Belvoir castle by Henry, second Earl of Rutland, in 1555:--
"That part of the more ancient building, which was left by both
unaltered, is included in the following concise description by an
ingenious writer, who visited it in 1722:--
'Ædes in culmine montis sitæ, scilicet,
[Greek: aipeia kolonen
En pedio apaneuthe, peridromos entha kai entha]'
aditu difficilis circa montem; cujus latera omnia horti 50 acrarum
circumeunt, nisi versus Aquilonem, quò ascenditur ad ostium ædium
ubi etiam antiqua jauna arcuato lapide. Versus Occidentem 8
fenestræ et 3 in sacello; et ulterior pars vetusta. Versus
Aquilonem 10 fenestræ. Facies Australis et Turris de _Staunton_, in
qui archiva familiæ reponuntur, extructa ante annos circa 400. Pars
restat kernellata," &c. &c. &c.
The description goes on for a few more lines; but it matters not to
continue them. I should be much obliged by any of your readers giving an
account of who this "ingenious writer" was, and on what authority he
founded the foregoing observations, as it is a subject of much interest
to me and others at the present time.