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diff --git a/36367.txt b/36367.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c43e5af --- /dev/null +++ b/36367.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4493 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Wye and Its Associations, by Leitch +Ritchie + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Wye and Its Associations + a picturesque ramble + + +Author: Leitch Ritchie + + + +Release Date: June 10, 2011 [eBook #36367] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WYE AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS*** + + +credit + + + +Transcribed from the 1841 Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans +edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + +[Picture: Decorative title page, with Goodrich castle (followed by proper + title page)] + + + + + + THE WYE + AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS + + + A PICTURESQUE RAMBLE. + + * * * * * + + BY LEITCH RITCHIE, ESQ. + + AUTHOR OF "WANDERINGS BY THE LOIRE," "WANDERINGS BY THE SEINE," + "THE MAGICIAN," ETC. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + + LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND + LONGMANS. + + 1841. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY J. HADDON, CASTLE STREET, FINSBURY. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT, + + +A portion of the lower part of the Wye has been described by Gilpin, +Archdeacon Coxe, and some others; and the same portion has been touched +upon, with greater or less minuteness, by Prince Puckler Muscau, and +various Welsh tourists, as well as by Whateley in his Essay on Modern +Gardening. It seemed, however, to the writer of the present sketch, that +something more was due to the most celebrated river in England; and that +another book (not too large for the pocket, and yet aspiring to a place +in the library) which should point out the beauties of the Wye, and +connect them with their historical and romantic associations--beginning +at the source of the stream on Plinlimmon, and ending only at its +confluence with the Severn--might still be reckoned an acceptable service +by the lovers of the picturesque. Hence this little work, which may be +consulted at will either as a finger-post by the traveller, or as a +companion by the reading lounger at home. + +_London_, _November_ 28_th_, 1840. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + CHAPTER I. + Page. +Philosophy of the picturesque--Peculiarities of English 1 +scenery--Worcester--Immigration of peasant girls--The +Devils' Garden--The Rest on the +Stones--Plinlimmon--Inhabitants of the summit--The +Inn--Source of the Wye + CHAPTER II. +Descent of Plinlimmon--Singular 17 +illusion--Llangerrig--Commencement of the +picturesque--The Fall of the Wye--Black Mountain--Course +of the river--Builth--Peculiarity of the +scenery--Approach to the English border--Castle of the +Hay--First series of the beauties of the Wye + CHAPTER III. +Clifford Castle--Lords-marchers--Fair Rosamond--Ruins of 31 +the Castle--The silent cottage--Approach to +Hereford--Castle--Cathedral--Nell +Gwynn--Cider--Salmon--Wolves + CHAPTER IV. +Beauty and tameness--The travelling hill--Ross--The 45 +silver tankard--The Man of Ross--The sympathetic +trees--Penyard Castle--Vicissitudes of the river--Wilton +Castle--A voyage to sea in a basket--Pencraig Hill + CHAPTER V. +Roman passes of the Wye--Goodrich 58 +Castle--Keep--Fortifications--Apartments--Its +history--Goodrich Court--Forest of Dean--Laws of the +Miners--Military exploit--Wines of Gloucestershire + CHAPTER VI. +Iron furnaces of the Wye--Lidbroke--Nurse of Henry 74 +V--Coldwell Rocks--Symond's Yat--New Weir--Monmouth + CHAPTER VII. +Monmouth--History of the Castle--Apartment of Henry of 87 +Monmouth--Ecclesiastical remains--Benedictine +priory--Church of St. Mary--Church of St. Thomas--Monnow +Bridge--Modern town--Monmouth caps--The beneficent +parvenu + CHAPTER VIII. +Welsh pedigree of queen Victoria--A poet's 100 +flattery--Castles of Monmouthshire--Geoffrey of +Monmouth--Henry of Monmouth--The Kymin--Subsidiary +tour--Sir David Gam--White Castle--Scenfrith--The Castle +spectres--Grosmont--Lanthony Abbey + CHAPTER IX. +Raglan Castle--Description of the ruins--History of the 121 +Castle--The old lord of Raglan--Surrender of the +fortress--Charles I. and his host--Royal weakness--The +pigeons of Raglan--Death of the old lord--Origin of the +steam engine + CHAPTER X. +Troy House--Anecdote--Antique custom--Village churches of 140 +Monmouthshire--White-washing--The bard--Strewing graves +with flowers--St. Briavels' Castle--Llandogo--Change in +the character of the river--The Druid of the +Wye--Wordsworth's "Lines composed above Tintern Abbey" + CHAPTER XI. +Vales of the Wye--Valley of Tintern--Tintern 156 +Abbey--History--Church--Character of the +ruin--Site--Coxe's description--Monmouth--Insecurity of +sepulchral fame--Churchyarde on Tombs--Opinions on +Tintern--Battle of Tintern + CHAPTER XII. +The Wye below Tintern--Benagor 174 +Crags--Lancaut--Piercefield Bay--Chepstow--Ancient and +modern bridge--Chepstow Castle--Roger de +Britolio--Romance of History--Chepstow in the civil +wars--Marten the regicide + CHAPTER XIII. +Piercefield--Points of view--Curious appearance--Scenic 192 +character of the place--View from Wyndcliff--Account of +Valentine Morris--Anecdotes--The Wye below Chepstow--Aust +Ferry--Black Rock Ferry--St. Theodoric--Conclusion + +ENGRAVINGS. + + Page. +GOODRICH CASTLE VIGNETTE TITLE. +LLANGERRIG 19 +RHAIADYR 21 +NEAR RHAIADYR 22 +CLIFFORD CASTLE 35 +HEREFORD 44 +ROSS 48 +THE NEW WEIR 81 +TINTERN 158 +TINTERN ABBEY 160 +CHEPSTOW 177 +VIEW FROM WYNDCLIFF 198 + +CHAPTER I. + + +Philosophy of the picturesque--Peculiarities of English +scenery--Worcester--Immigration of peasant girls--The Devils' Garden--The +Rest on the Stones--Plinlimmon--Inhabitants of the summit--The +Inn--Source of the Wye. + +Foreigners have often expressed their surprise that the English should +travel so far in search of picturesque scenery, when they have abundance +at home: but the remark is conceived in an unphilosophical spirit. We do +not travel for the mere scenery. We do not leave the Wye unexplored, and +go abroad in search of some other river of its own identical character. +What we gaze at in strange lands is not wood, and water, and rock, but +all these seen through a new medium--accompanied by adjuncts which array +universal nature herself in a foreign costume. A tree peculiar to the +country--a peasant in an un-English garb--a cottage of unaccustomed +form--the slightest peculiarity in national manners--even the traces of a +different system of agriculture--all contribute to the impression of +novelty in which consists the excitement of foreign travel. + +The proof of this is our keener perception of the beauties of English +scenery after returning from abroad. We are then capable of instituting +a comparison; and our national manners are no longer the sole medium, but +one of various media through which nature is viewed. An untravelled +Englishman is ignorant of his own country. He must cross the seas before +he can become acquainted with home. He must admire the romance of the +Rhine--the sublimity of the (mountain) Rhone--the beauty of the Seine and +the Loire--before he can tell what is the rank of the Wye, in picturesque +character, among the rivers of Europe. + +The journey from London to Worcester, which is the direct route to the +Upper part of the Wye, discloses many of the peculiarities of English +scenery and character--peculiarities which to the natives are of so every +day a kind, that it is only by reflection and comparison they learn to +appreciate them. The country seats of the great land proprietors, with +their accompaniments of lawn and plantation, extending as far as the eye +can reach, form a part of the picture; and so do the cottages of the +village peasantry, with their little gardens before the door, admitting a +peep into the interior of the humble abode. In the aristocratical +dwellings, half hidden in that paradise of groves and glades, we find +every refinement that gold can purchase, or taste produce: in the huts, +comfort, and its inseparable adjunct cleanliness, are the most striking +characteristics. + +The former speak of wealth, and the happiness that depends on wealth; the +latter of comparative poverty, and the home pleasures that are compatible +with poverty. On the continent, there is always something out of keeping +in the picture. In the great chateaux and their grounds, there is always +some meanness, some make-shift observable; while in the great country +seats of England, on the contrary, all is uniform. In the cottages +abroad, even those of a higher order, there are always dirt and +slovenliness--inattention to the minute comforts of humble life--meals +snatched anyhow and anywhere--sleep taken without an idea of the luxuries +of sleep. In England, on the other hand, notwithstanding the +irregularities of fortune, we find an absolute identity in the various +classes of the population. The labourer--returned, perhaps, from mending +the highway, sits down in state to dinner, with a clean white +table-cloth, and the coarse ware nicely arranged before him. The floor +is swept, perhaps washed, to do honour to the occasion; and his wife, who +is at once the mistress and the servant of the feast, prides herself on +making her husband (whom she calls her "master")--_comfortable_. + +We need not be told that this is not a universal picture. We need not be +reminded of the want and misery which exist in numerous parts of the +country, for with these we are well acquainted. The _foreigner_, +however, to whom such scenes are new, will meet with them frequently +enough, and especially on the road we are now travelling, to induce him +to set them down as one of the grand characteristics of England. + +The road presents, also, at various turnings, that truly English scene, a +well-known specimen of which is viewed from Richmond Hill. A level +country lies a few hundred feet below us, and extends in front, and on +either side, till it is lost in the distance, or bound in by low and +filmy hills which just mark the horizon with their waving line of shadow. +This expanse is studded with towns, and villages, and seats, and +cottages, and square towers, and tapering spires, rising amidst woods and +groves, and surrounded by green fields and meadows. A great part of the +peculiar character of the landscape is due to the enclosures of various +kinds of foliage which separate one field from another. In most parts of +the continent--and more especially in France--these are of very rare +occurrence; and thus the beauty of the picture, when it has any beauty at +all, depends upon the colours of the different kinds of grain or other +productions, which make the vast expanse of vegetation resemble an +immense and richly variegated carpet. In spring, therefore, before these +colours have been fairly brought out, it may easily be conceived that +France is one of the least interesting countries in Europe. With us, on +the other hand, the face of the earth resembles a garden, and more +especially in one of those flat landscapes we have alluded to. The +changes of the seasons diversify without diminishing the beauty; and even +winter presents, instead of a uniform and dreary waste, a varied picture +executed in hoar frost and snow. + +Worcester is one of the most aristocratic looking towns in England, and +presents every token of being a wealthy and flourishing place. Its +cathedral, an edifice of the beginning of the thirteenth century, has +drawn hither many a pilgrim foot even from foreign countries. Our +present business, however, is with the works of nature, or with those of +art fallen into decay, and their fragments standing amidst the eternal +youth of the hills and rivers, like monuments of the insignificance of +man. + +Worcester is famous for its manufactures of porcelain and gloves; but our +attention was more strongly attracted to exports of another kind, of +which it appeared to be at least the entrepot, if it was not the original +market. At a little distance from the town, several waggons had halted +near a public house, and their freight, a numerous party of peasant +girls, were breakfasting by the road side. They were eating and drinking +as joyously as if their laps had been filled with far more enticing food +than bread and ale. They were on their way to some greater mart--perhaps +to the all-devouring metropolis; and when breakfast was over, they +resumed their slow journey, some few who had mounted the waggons singing +in parts, and the rest, walking by the side, joining in the chorus. They +had no fears, poor girls, of the result of their adventure--or rather, no +forethought. + +But it is not till after we pass the little town of Kington, on the +eastern borders of Herefordshire, that the picturesque commences, and we +must hasten on to our more immediate task. Between Kington and New +Radnor, are the Stanner Rocks, with the Devil's Garden on their summit, +luxuriously planted--of course by no human hand--with wild flowers. +Beyond New Radnor (formerly the county town, but now a paltry village,) +opens the Vale of Radnor on one side, and on the other, a rude mountain +scene, distinguished by a waterfall of some celebrity, called +Water-break-its-neck. The stream rushes down a precipitous descent of +seventy feet, into a hollow with craggy and unequal sides. The spot of +the cascade is marked by an insulated rock, eighteen or twenty feet high, +standing erect above it like a monument. + +After passing the village of Penybont, the Llanbadarn Vawr, or great +church of Badarn, is to the left of the road, an edifice which dates from +the time of the Conqueror; and nothing else of interest is observable +till we reach Rhaiadyr, on the Banks of the Wye. As it will be more +convenient, however, to examine the river in descending with the stream, +we shall only say here, that the journey from Rhaiadyr to the summit of +Plinlimmon lies through woods, and hill passes, becoming ruder and wilder +at every step we advance. The character of the population seems to +change in conformity with their physical circumstances. The want of +tidiness which marks the British mountaineer is the more conspicuous from +the contrast it presents to the opposite quality we have admired in the +plains; and already the women have assumed the round hat of the ruder +sex, and destroyed with its masculine associations the charms peculiar to +their own. Against this absurdity we must protest, whether we meet with +it in the Welsh girl, or the fair equestrian of Hyde Park. It betrays +not only the most pitiful taste, but the most profound ignorance of +nature, on which is founded the theory of female beauty. + +Stedva Gerrig, or "the Rest on the Stones" now commonly called by the +name of the mountain, is a hamlet of three or four houses situated on a +stream which separates the counties of Montgomeryshire and Cardiganshire, +in a nook of comparatively level land, into which abut several of the +lower ridges of Plinlimmon. The spot has little of the wildness of +mountain scenery, but its extreme solitude; for being here near the top +of the mountainous group, and surrounded by its remaining elevations, we +are insensible of our real altitude above the level of the country. +These elevations, besides, have none of the ruggedness of character we +usually find in such places. They are, in general, smoothly-swelling +eminences, which if rising from the plain would receive the name of +hills; they are wholly naked of trees, or even brushwood; and being +covered with green herbage, they at first sight give one the idea of an +extensive grass farm, rather than a sterile mountain. It is the altitude +of the spot, however, and the nipping blasts to which it is exposed, that +render it naked of the larger kinds of vegetation; and there is only a +nook here and there capable of bearing even a scanty crop of oats. This +region, therefore, excepting a few fields around Stedva Gerrig, supplies +subsistence only to sheep; and the greater number even of these we found +had been withdrawn to situations less exposed to the Welsh winds. + +Of the few inhabitants of the hamlet, the principal man of course is the +innkeeper; and the other fathers of families are shepherds. The latter +class of men have wages amounting to twelve pounds a year, and enjoy +their houses and little fields of corn and potatoes, with as much +pasturage as they have use for free of rent. The husband, assisted by +his sons, when young, tends the sheep on the mountain; the wife makes +flannel, and knits stockings; and the daughters go out to service at an +early age. Their little menage is comfortable. Their bread is barley +cakes; they sometimes salt a pig; they provide themselves with a quarter +of beef at one time, and, like their betters, "live at home, and kill +their own mutton." Nay, one of these flourishing shepherds is a rival of +_the_ innkeeper; his hut being duly licensed to sell ale, cyder, &c., and +the sign-board having the following intimation:--"The notorious hill of +Plinlimmon is on these premises, and it will be shown with pleasure to +any gentlemen travellers who wishes to see it." And this intimation +(letting grammar alone) is correct; for although the notorious article in +question, viz., the loftiest part of Plinlimmon is not entirely in the +garden, curtained off, like the balloon at the Yorkshire Stingo, from the +gaze of all who do not pay a shilling to see it, yet it is actually on +the premises, about three or four miles--only a sheep walk--distant. + +The Plinlimmon inn, undoubtedly, is the place for our money. It is +now--although its character was very different only two years ago--neat, +clean, and comfortable. We do not say that it affords the accommodation +of a city on the top of a Welsh mountain, but yet to the traveller who +has seen more of the world than the plains of England, it will make a +very desirable resting-place. Such traveller, on dismounting from the +Aberystwith mail, will be right glad to sit down by a clean and bright +fire-side, and if the turf should not be lighted in the parlour, he will +be proud of the privilege of the kitchen. There, if he has our own good +fortune, he will find the landlady, a frank, cheerful, and kindly woman, +with the table drawn in quite to the hearth, and reading "Elegant +Extracts." Materials of another kind will speedily grace the board, +viz., bread, butter, cheese, eggs, and excellent home-brewed ale. Do you +sneer at this bill of fare? A fico for thy travellership! Then will +mine host enter in the midst, a bold, intelligent, yet modest fellow; +and, bustling through the various parts of the scene, will "come, like a +shadow, so depart" the substantial form of the serving maiden, her cheeks +round, and flushed, her eye beaming with innocent gaiety, and her full +and swelling chest seeming as if it were with difficulty withheld from +bursting the corsage. These three, by the way, are the only inhabitants +of the hamlet who speak English. + +After supper, the traveller, if he be not of the heathen sect of +Tee-totallers, takes a glass of brandy and water, for the reason assigned +by St. Paul in his Epistle to Timothy, or any other orthodox reason; and +finally, he will enter into a clean and comfortable bed, and sleep, not +the less soundly it is to be presumed, that his meal had not involved the +murder of a chicken, or of any other of his fellow creatures of the +earth. + +The next morning the landlord walked with us to the source of the Wye, +about three miles distant. We ascended and descended several of the +rounded summits already mentioned; and upon the whole, the little +excursion is somewhat trying to the lungs. A rill flowed between every +two eminences, destined soon or late to unite with the Wye, and at length +the latter stream appeared, bubbling down the side of a slope in a volume +which might be comprised in the circumference of a teacup. Higher up, a +few rushes seem to hide the fountain from which it springs; but following +for a brief space a line of damp, plashy earth above, we reach a tiny +pool, little more than a hand-breadth across, supplied by droppings +rather than gushes from a bank of black earth--and this is the source of +the Wye. Looking down its tortuous valley, the view is majestic from the +massive forms of the objects which surround it; but the solitude, the +dreariness, the utter desolation of the scene, form the distinctive +features of the picture. + +Plinlimmon, or Pumlumon, is not, correctly speaking, a single mountain, +but several distinct mountains rising from one base. Each of these +distinct mountains, again, is subdivided into several others; but in the +aggregate, there is little of the variety which might be expected from so +extraordinary an assemblage. It is entirely destitute of wood. There +are none of the craggy peaks and precipices which usually form the +picturesque of mountain scenery. All is smooth but blackened turf, +frequently undulating over fathomless bogs, the mysteries of which the +traveller who ventures into this desolate region without a guide has a +fair chance of exploring. The summit, of which the highest point is two +thousand four hundred and sixty-three feet above the level of the sea, +forms a plateau of several miles; whence the hills of Cardiganshire are +seen to the south; Cardigan bay and Saint George's channel to the west; +to the north, the perpendicular brow of Cader Idris; to the north-west, +the three-peaked Breidden hills; and to the east, the fertile plains of +Herefordshire and Shropshire. + +Besides the Wye, there are several other rivers which have their source +on Plinlimmon, the most distinguished of which is the Severn. About two +miles distant from where we now stand, this stream issues from a little +bog-hole, in a volume which might be stepped across by a child. The +whole mountain, in fact, seems a reservoir of water; and it is not +surprising that Owen Glendwr should have been able to maintain himself +here, as he did in 1401, even with so small a force as a hundred and +twenty men. The entrenchments made by the hero may still be traced; and +brazen spearheads, and other instruments of war, have been found within +them in our own day. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Descent of Plinlimmon--Singular illusion--Llangerrig--Commencement of the +Picturesque--The Fall of the Wye--Black Mountain--Course of the +river--Builth--Peculiarity of the scenery--Approach to the English +border--Castle of the Hay--First series of the beauties of the Wye. + +Leaving Stedva Gerrig, the road runs by the side of the stream before +mentioned, through a succession of mountain valleys, which, being without +the grandiose forms of the view from Plinlimmon, are uninteresting from +the want of trees. On the left there was a wreath of grey smoke flying +backward on the wind, from the brow of the steep which forms the side of +the valley; and we speculated within ourselves as to whether this was the +ensign of some unlawful still. It proved, however, to be the foam of a +little mountain torrent, caught suddenly by the gust ere it reached the +edge of the precipice; and so complete was the illusion, that it was not +till we had climbed to the spot, that we were convinced of the phenomenon +being the production of water instead of fire. + +The valley here was wide, and the vista backwards towards Stedva Gerrig +of considerable length. A very remarkable effect was produced by the +light of the early sun streaming through masses of grey clouds, and +flashed back again not only by the stream, but by the entire surface of +the soil which was completely saturated by torrents of rain that had +fallen during the night. Just after this, and nearly three miles from +the inn, the Wye suddenly burst into the valley from the left, and +rushing beneath a bridge, flung itself into the little river. The +latter, conscious that although its volume was greater, its strength and +impetuosity were less than those of the marauder, quietly resigned itself +to its fate, receiving the name and acknowledging the authority of its +lord and spouse; and thenceforth, we found ourselves wandering along the +banks, less known than those less renowned, of the classic Vaga. + + [Picture: Llangerrig] + +The sameness of the scenery continued for five miles further, till on +entering the hamlet of Llangerrig, consisting of a few huts of the +meanest description, and an old church, of which a view is annexed, trees +began to add their interest to the picture. The valley, however, was +wide, the trees small, and the river, notwithstanding its receiving here +another accession, was still insignificant. By degrees, however, as we +proceeded, the hills became closer, and the massiveness of their forms +lent a certain degree of grandeur to the scene. These again disappeared; +and the hills returned: and the Wye as before ran brawling through a +commonplace valley. A series of vicissitudes went on till the hills, +assuming the character without the magnitude of mountains, threw +themselves wildly together, and we found ourselves in a savage pass, the +steep abutting masses of which were in some cases formed of grey and +naked rock. + +The river here is occasionally almost choked up with stones and fragments +of rocks, which must either have rolled from the heights into the bottom +of the valley, or been uncovered in their original beds by the action of +the water. Here opens (in our judgment) the first of the numerous +picturesque views presented by the Wye. The spot is marked by the +accession of a tributary stream, which is crossed by means of a bridge. + +After getting out of this gorge, the scenery becomes softer and more +commonplace; and at three miles nearer, the vista is terminated by the +little church tower of Rhaiadyr, painted against a misty hill at some +distance beyond. + +In the time of the Welsh princes, there was here a fortress of some +importance, of which no vestiges remain. It was erected, we are told, by +Rhys, prince of South Wales, in the time of Richard II., and burnt down +in 1231, by Llewellin ap Jorwerth. The little town itself is modern, and +consists principally of two streets intersecting each other at right +angles. The name, which is in full _Rhaiadyr Pwy_, means the Fall of the +Wye, but is no longer applicable, the cataract having been almost +levelled in 1780, when the bridge was erected. From this bridge the view +of the river is exceedingly fine, as will be seen by the annexed +engraving; although all the remnant of the waterfall is the plunging of +the stream over a low ledge of rocks. The town itself has a good deal of +character. It is decidedly a Welsh town; and notwithstanding the +commingling that must have taken place in the races, it possesses that +foreign aspect which is so exciting to the curiosity. + + [Picture: Rhaiadyr] + +This appearance, however, is still more evident in the next place at +which we arrive, Builth; but the traveller must not be in a hurry to get +there. The valley of the Wye, during the fourteen miles which intervene, +presents a continuous series of picturesque views, sufficient of +themselves to make the reputation of the river. The stream rushes the +whole way through a singularly rocky and winding bed, bound in by lofty +and fantastic banks, and these by hills, naked or wooded, barren or +fertile, of every variety of form. One of the most remarkable of the +latter is the Black Mountain, which is posted directly in front, and +fills up the valley, as if to guard the pass from the further progress of +the Wye: but our wandering stream sweeps abruptly round its base, and +escaping by a narrow defile, pursues its triumphant way towards Builth. +One of those pictures is imitated in the annexed engraving, and it will +not be difficult to find the identical spot chosen by the artist. + + [Picture: Near Rhaiadyr] + +For more than half the distance the road runs close by the side of the +river; but on reaching a few houses called Newbridge, we diverge a +little, and do not come near again till we have travelled a distance of +nearly five miles and approached the town of Builth. The pedestrian, +however, cares little for roads; and, rejoining the river at will, he +finds the series of views continued--sometimes grand, sometimes +beautiful, sometimes picturesque, sometimes absolute gems of pastoral +repose. The river increases visibly before our eyes; and at length, when +near Builth, it rolls along, still foaming, still brawling, but in a +stream of considerable volume. Its principal tributaries between +Rhaiadyr and this place, are the Elian, the Ithon, and the Yrfon; the +last of which is celebrated by the defeat of Llewellin in 1282, which +took place at the spot where the little river is crossed by a bridge, +just before it falls into the Wye, above Builth. + +This part of the country, however, is completely secluded. There never +was, so far as we know, a public conveyance between Rhaiadyr and Builth; +and at the latter town, at this season of the year--although it is still +early in October--the traveller will find no means of communication with +the rest of the world, except for those who journey with post horses, and +those who make use of the locomotive powers of their own limbs. + +Builth is finely situated, its narrow streets rising in irregular +terraces on the side of a hill on the right bank of the Wye. The houses +are as Welsh as can be, and have a primitive, old world look, that has a +great charm in our eyes. The town is approached by a stone bridge of +considerable length; at the end of which, on the left hand, are some +mounds of grass and ivy, which conceal the remains of a castle supposed +to date from the eleventh century. All, however, is conjecture as +regards this castle, which was a small fortress, with a keep of forty +yards in circumference, surrounded by a ditch, and defended towards the +south by two trenches. It was repaired in 1209, by Gilbert, Earl of +Gloucester; after the death of Llewellin, it became an English fortress; +and in 1690, was accidentally destroyed by a fire, which at the same time +consumed the greater part of the town. Builth, however, is older than +its castle. It is set down by the learned as the Bullaeum Silurum of the +Romans; and various druidical remains in the neighbourhood carry back the +ken of the antiquarian to a still more remote epoch, which is lost in +shadows. + +It was in this neighbourhood, as we have said, that Llewellin, the last +of the Welsh princes, was defeated and slain in 1282. Tradition relates, +that while at Aberedw, a short distance down the river, on the opposite +bank, he was surprised by the English, and escaped so narrowly, that he +had only just time to pass the drawbridge of Builth, before his pursuers +came up. The English, however, succeeded in cutting him off from his +army, by getting between the town and a village on the right bank of the +Wye where it was posted. Llewellin, upon this, attempted to conceal +himself in the woods, but he was discovered, and beheaded, and his body +buried at a place called Cern y Bedd. + +The air of Builth is supposed to be very salubrious, and for this reason +many respectable families have chosen it for their residence. The +abundance of game in its woods and hills, and of trout, salmon, and +grayling in its streams is another inducement, and probably the _cause_ +of the good health of its visitors. In this neighbourhood are mineral +springs of three kinds,--saline, sulphurous, and chalybeate,--and a +pump-room, frequently attended by a numerous company. + +From a hill above the town is obtained a fine view of the Llynsyraddon, +the largest lake in Wales except Bala. The country people believe that +its bed was formerly the site of a city; and, as in Ireland, Brittany, +and other places where a similar tradition prevails, they still see the +towers of old "'neath the calm, cold wave reclining." Giraldus calls the +lake _Clamosam_, from the "terrible thundering noise it makes upon the +breaking up of the ice in winter." + +The valley of the Wye is less wild after passing Builth, but more +beautiful. After the fourth milestone, there is a magnificent specimen +of a formation of the hills which may be said to be the grand peculiarity +of this district. It consists of a massive range on the opposite bank, +laid out in square terraces, such as Martin delights to heap on each +other in his pictures. But here, where Nature is the builder, these +masses of architecture are of rough, disjointed stones, hoary with age, +and sometimes overgrown with moss and lichens. On the right bank where +we stood, a small house is built just above the road, as if to enjoy the +picture; and, a little further on, another of more aristocratic +pretensions. A view, including a portion of the latter--the green, +smooth-shaven pastures which answer for a lawn and extend to the water's +edge--the Wye foaming and brawling at the bottom, half hidden by trees of +the deepest shadow--with the castellated mount beyond, and the sweep of +the valley closed in by hills to the left--would form a whole, which +Gilpin, with the dogmatism of art, might call "correctly picturesque." + +A little further on, we had an opportunity of inspecting these rocks more +closely, which are only remarkable from the forms they assume. In the +instance before us, they were two immense cubes of stone, as precise as +if ruled by the square, and cut with the chisel. They stood exactly +horizontal with the ground, and the upper was of smaller proportions than +the lower. No other rock or even stone was near. At some distance +another entirely insulated mass presented itself, as large as a cottage +of two stories, with walls as perpendicular, and secluded like a cottage +by trees. + +The small village of Glasbury presents a view well worth notice. This is +particularly the case at Maeslough Hall, where Gilpin characterises the +scenery as "wonderfully amusing," declaring that the situation is one of +the finest in Wales. On passing the seventh milestone, the valley +spreads out into a wide plain bounded by an amphitheatre of hills; and as +we proceed, numerous villas peeping through the trees, show that we have +now left entirely behind us the peculiarities of Welsh scenery, and are +again on the borders of merry England. As we approach the Hay, the +aristocratical buildings become more numerous, and the romance of the +scene diminishes, till at length we enter a small, but neat and +comfortable-looking town. + +The Hay has some historical associations of the doings of Llewellin and +King John, by the latter of whom its castle was destroyed in 1216; but +with the exception of a Gothic gateway there are no remains to interest +the antiquarian. There are said, indeed, to be the fragments of some +Roman fortifications; but we are something like Sir Walter Scott in this +respect, who had seen so many ghosts, that at last he found it difficult +to believe in them. Tradition relates that the castle was built in one +night by the celebrated Maud de Saint Wallery, alias Maud de Hain, alias +Moll Walbee. "She built (say the gossips)," as we find in Jones's +Brecknock, "the castle of Hay in one night: the stones for which she +carried in her apron. While she was thus employed, a small pebble, of +about nine feet long, and one foot thick, dropped into her shoe. This +she did not at first regard; but in a short time, finding it troublesome, +she indignantly threw it over the river Wye into Llowes churchyard in +Radnorshire (about three miles off), where it remains to this day, +precisely in the position it fell, a stubborn memorial of the historical +fact, to the utter confusion of all sceptics and unbelievers." + +Between Builth and the Hay ends one series of the beauties of the Wye. +The stream hitherto is a mountain rivulet, sometimes almost a torrent, +and its characteristics are wildness and simplicity. Its course is +impeded by rocks, amidst which it runs brawling and foaming; and, +generally speaking, it depends upon itself, and upon the nature of its +own bed for the picturesque, the hills around forming only the back +ground. We shall see, as we get on, the manner in which this will +change, till the banks become the objects of admiration, and the stream +itself, although much increased in volume, is considered a mere adjunct, +and its bosom a convenient site from which to view them. + +Gilpin's observations on this point are very judicious, although he had +not the advantage of seeing with his own eyes the upper part of the Wye. +"It is possible, I think," says he, "the Wye may in this place (alluding +to the country between Builth and the Hay) be more beautiful than in any +other part of its course. Between Ross and Chepstow, the grandeur and +beauty of its banks are its chief praise. The river itself has no other +merit than that of a winding surface of smooth water. But here, added to +the same decoration from its banks, the Wye itself assumes a more +beautiful character; pouring over shelving rocks, and forming itself into +eddies and cascades, which a solemn parading stream through a flat +channel cannot exhibit. An additional merit also accrues to such a river +from the different forms it assumes according to the fulness or emptiness +of the stream. There are rocks of all shapes and sizes, which +continually vary the appearance of the water, as it rushes over or plays +among them; so that such a river, to a picturesque eye, is a continued +fund of new entertainment." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Clifford Castle--Lords-marchers--Fair Rosamond--Ruins of the Castle--The +silent cottage--Approach to Hereford--Castle--Cathedral--Nell +Gwynn--Cider--Salmon--Wolves. + +Leaving Hay, the valley widens, the background softens, and the whole +scene assumes the character of an English vale, where the hills on each +side are cultivated to the summit. On the right, as we proceed, a deep +umbrageous wood comes in to give effect, just where effect was wanting; +and, surmounting a conical eminence above the road, near the second +milestone, the hoary ruins of Clifford Castle intermix with the monotony +of modern life the associations of the olden time. + +Clifford Castle was built by William Fitzosborne, earl of Hereford, but +was held at the time of the Domesday Survey by Rudolphus de Totenie. It +was obtained by the Cliffords by the marriage of Walter Fitz-Richard with +Margaret, daughter of Ralph de Cundy. Walter Fitz-Richard--a descendant +of Richard II., duke of Normandy--whose father accompanied the Conqueror +into England, having married the heiress of Ralph de Cundy, of Clifford +Castle, took the name of De Clifford, and the place remained the baronial +seat of the family for two centuries. + +The nobles of that age were not merely required to do military service +for their lands, but other imposts were laid upon them by the feudal +custom, which had the effect of a true property tax. At the marriage of +Matilda, daughter of Henry I., with Charles V. of Germany, the king +collected a sum equal to about 135,000 of our money from the land, at a +fixed rate per hide; and the returns (_certificationes_) show very +clearly the distribution of property at the time. We find Walter de +Clifford set down for one hide in Herefordshire in Wales. It may be +noted, in passing, that Henry was not only generous in granting lands to +his own and his father's followers, but the same request being made to +him by some Flemings, whose share of terra firma had been wrested from +them by an incursion of the sea, he made no scruple to comply. "Being +very liberall," say the Welsh chronicles, "of that which was not his +owne, he gave them the land of _Ros_, in West Wales, or Dynet, where +Pembroke, Haverford, and Tenby are now built; and they there remain to +this day, as may well be perceived by their speech and conditions being +farre differing from the rest of the countrye." + +The Norman knights who settled on the Welsh borders acquired the name of +Lords Marchers, being styled Marchiones Walliae in the Red Book of the +Exchequer; although the title of nobility derived from this, _Marquis_, +was not introduced till the reign of Richard II. These lords marchers, +of whom were the Cliffords and other families in Hereford, had each a law +for his own barony, and determined of their own authority all suits +between their tenants. They were entitled to the goods and chattels of +such of their tenants as died intestate. This power, in fact, was such +as could only be continued by violence; and hence the coolness or +treachery of some of them when any serious attempt was made by the +sovereign to introduce the laws and customs of the English into Wales. +After the death of Llewellin, the last prince of Wales, this was at +length effected by Edward I.; but still, the Marches, not being included +in the division of the land into counties became a scene of such anarchy, +that it was found necessary to institute a court of judicature for that +district alone. This court continued till the first year of William and +Mary, when it was dissolved by an act of Parliament, in consequence, as +the preamble states, of its having become "a great grievance to the +subject." Previous to this, however, in the time of Henry VIII., the +Marches of Wales were definitely united to England; when Clifford and +other places, which were before a debatable land of bloodshed and +confusion, became a part of Herefordshire. + +But Clifford Castle is not associated merely with ideas of war and +rapine, but with those of love and beauty. Here was born that too +celebrated lady, of whom Dryden says-- + + "Jane Clifford was her name, as books aver, + Fair Rosamond was but her _nom de guerre_." + + [Picture: Clifford Castle] + +She was the daughter of one of the earls of Clifford, and became +celebrated for her amour with Henry II.; who built her a bower in +Woodstock Park, which he defended from his jealous wife by the classical +device of a labyrinth. Queen Eleanor, however, who was as well read in +ancient history as her spouse, was not slow in hitting upon the expedient +of the clue of thread; and, on reaching her rival, the historical +romancers add, she compelled her to swallow poison. Whatever may have +been her fate, Fair Rosamond was buried at Godstow, and a Latin epitaph +inscribed on her tomb to this effect: + + "Here lies not Rose the Chaste, but Rose the Fair, + Whose breath perfumes no more, but taints the air." + +The ruins of the castle, completely covered with ivy, look down solemn +and sad upon the Wye: + + "Clifford has fallen--howe'er sublime, + Mere fragments wrestle still with time; + Yet as they perish, sure and slow, + And rolling dash the stream below, + They raise tradition's glowing scene,-- + The clue of silk, the wrathful queen; + And link in memory's firmest bond + The love-lorn tale of Rosamond." + +We carried away with us for a considerable distance the dreamy repose of +Clifford Castle; but this was at length broken by repose of another +character. The scene was a little wayside hut, purporting to be an inn, +where the weary pedestrian might obtain shade or shelter, if no +refreshment. An old man, and an old woman, occupied the two fireside +corners, the one reading, the other sewing, in profound silence. Around +the hearth, there was a semi-circle of five cats, in various attitudes of +rest, but not one breaking the stillness of the place even by a pur. A +dog, apparently kept in proper order by his feline associates, lay +outside the semicircle, and shared in the tranquillity of the scene. We +paused for a moment at the door, feeling that our presence was an +intrusion; but, after a brief question, and a brief reply, the good wife +dropped her eyes again upon her work, and the dog, who had himself raised +his head, returned to his slumber with a sigh. As for the other +inhabitants, our presence had produced no effect upon them at all, and we +withdrew to proceed upon our wanderings, unconsciously taking care to +tread without noise. + +From this place to Hereford, the road runs through a rich and well +cultivated country, dotted here and there with houses and villages, but +not thickly enough to disturb the idea of pastoral repose. Approaching +Bradwardine, where the old castle said to have been the residence of the +family of that name is _not_, the soil swells into wooded eminences, one +of which is called Mirebeck Hill; and Brobury's Scar, a picturesque cliff +rising from the bank of the river, adds still further to the diversity of +the prospect. Then came the various villas which usually adorn the +neighbourhood of a large town--and which here are true embellishments to +the landscape; and finally we enter the ancient, sober, quiet cathedral +city of Hereford. + +Hereford was a principal town of Mercia under the Heptarchy, the palace +of Offa, the most powerful of the Mercian princes, being within three +miles of it on the north-eastern side. Its church, in the time of Offa, +was probably nothing more than a wooden building; but to the rise of that +church in wealth and reputation was owing, according to the usual +sequence of events at the period, the prosperity of the town. Offa had +treacherously inveigled to his court Ethelbert, prince of the East +Angles, when he murdered him, and usurped his crown. The body of the +victim was buried in the church, where by working of miracles it +attracted so much attention to the spot, that a new church of stone was +constructed on the site of the wooden edifice, and dedicated to _Saint +Ethelbert_. Multitudes of course flocked to visit the martyr's tomb; the +church was richly endowed by the remorse or hypocrisy of the assassin; +and Hereford speedily rose from its comparative obscurity. + +About the year 939, the city was first enclosed by walls, the fragments +of which now existing are supposed to stand upon the original +foundations. They were eighteen hundred yards in extent, enclosing the +town on all sides except towards the south, where it has the defence of +the Wye. There were six gates, and fifteen embattled watch-towers. The +castle, concerning the date of which antiquarians are not agreed, stood +on the south and east sides of the city, with the Wye on the south and +the cathedral on the west. Leland describes the keep as having been +"high and very strong, having in the outer wall ten semicircular towers, +and one great tower within." He adds, that "it hath been one of the +largest, fayrest, and strongest castels in England." In the time of the +civil wars, Hereford was the scene of some strife, but since then nothing +has occurred--not even the introduction of manufactures--to disturb its +repose. + +With the exception of the cathedral, a grand view of which is to be had +from the Castle Green Promenade--a fine public walk on a small +scale--there is nothing to detain the traveller. Some fragments of the +city walls, however, and of an old priory, may be visited by the +antiquary; together with an old house, a "brotherless hermit," the last +of a race demolished for the purpose of widening the street where the +town hall stands--or rather sits--resting uneasily on some thin columns. +The house, adorned with grotesque faces, bears its date, 1621. + +The traveller may also go, if he will, to Pipe Lane, formerly called Pipe +Well Street, leading from the bridge to the cathedral, to see the house +where Nell Gwynn was not born, and the bedchamber where she did not +sleep. These curiosities will be shown for a trifle, and they must now +suffice: the dwelling which really had the distinction of giving birth to +Mistress Eleanor having been pulled down more than twenty years ago. + +After the removal of this celebrated lady to London, she made her first +appearance in Drury Lane Theatre, in the character of a fruit-girl, not +on the stage, but in the lobby. Mr. Hart, the manager, however, was +induced to notice her by her natural humour and vivacity, and he produced +her upon the boards about the year 1667. Here she became a favorite of +Dryden, who wrote some of his prologues and epilogues expressly for her. +"The immediate cause of her becoming the object of the king's affection +is thus represented. At the duke's theatre, under Killegrew's patent, +the celebrated Nokes appeared in a hat larger than that usually assigned +to Pistol, which diverted the audience so much as to help off a bad play. +Dryden, in return, caused a hat to be made of the circumference of a +large coach wheel, and made Mrs. Gwynn speak an epilogue under the +umbrella of it, with the brim stretched out in its utmost horizontal +extension, not unlike a mushroom of that size. No sooner did she appear +in this strange dress, than the house was in convulsions of laughter. +Amongst the rest, the king gave the fullest marks of approbation, by +going behind the scenes after the play, and taking her home in his own +coach to sup with him." {41} Her son, born in 1670, was afterwards +created duke of St. Albans; and her grandson became a prelate of the +church, and the denizen of the episcopal palace nearly adjoining the +humble house in Pipe Lane, where his maternal ancestor was born. Mrs. +Gwynne was one of the few royal favorites who have not abused their +power, otherwise than in spending money which should have been under the +control of the nation. She was munificent in her charities, and may be +considered, if not the founder of Chelsea Hospital, the cause of its +having been founded. "Her stature was short, her hair inclined to red; +her eyes were small and lively, and she possessed what the French term +embonpoint. Her feet were of the most diminutive size, and as such were +the subject of frequent mirth to the merry monarch." + +The staple commodity of Hereford is cider; but the reputation of the +county for this production dates backward only to the reign of Charles +I., when, according to Evelyn, it became "in a manner one entire +orchard." The apples are merely a variety of the crab, as the pears are +descended from the common wild pear. The plantations are found in every +aspect, and on every soil; but in general the west winds, so much praised +by the Roman poets, and after them by Philips the bard of cider, are +unwholesome to the plant, from the circumstance of their blowing over the +Welsh mountains, which are capped with snow even in the spring. The best +colours for cider fruits are red and yellow, the juice of the green being +harsh and poor. The pulp should be yellow, but this part of the apple is +not so important as the rind and kernel, in which the strength and +flavour of the liquid reside; and for this reason the smaller the apple +is the better. From twenty-four to thirty gallons are required to fill +the provincial hogshead of one hundred and ten gallons. + +The cider-mill used even at this moment is a rude and imperfect +contrivance, consisting of a circular stone, about twelve hundred weight, +set on its edge in a shallow circular trough, and drawn round by a horse. +The apples are gradually introduced into the trough, and a quantity may +be thus mashed equal to a hogshead of cider in the day. The expressed +juice is put into casks, not quite filled, and in the open air; and as +soon as the vinous fermentation takes place, it is racked. When two +years old it may be bottled, after which it will become rich and +sparkling, and so remain for twenty or thirty years. Perry is made with +pears pretty nearly in the same way. + +The salmon is still the principal fish taken in the Wye, though far less +plentiful than formerly. It was at one time a common clause in the +indentures of apprentices that they should not be compelled to live on +salmon more than two days in the week. Wolves were formerly so numerous +in this district, that in 1234 a proclamation was issued commanding them +to be destroyed, and calling upon "all the king's liege people to assist +therein." A wolf would now be an extraordinary spectacle indeed on the +sunny slopes, or prowling among the apple orchards of Hereford! But the +Wye has seen changes more remarkable than this. + + [Picture: Hereford] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Beauty and tameness--The travelling hill--Ross--The silver tankard--The +Man of Ross--The sympathetic trees--Penyard Castle--Vicissitudes of the +river--Wilton Castle--A voyage to sea in a basket--Pencraig Hill. + +Comparatively speaking, there is little worthy of remark between Hereford +and Ross; and yet Gilpin's charge of _tameness_ is unjust. What it wants +is excitement. The valley of the Wye is here beautiful--neither more, +nor less; but its beauty is similar to that of the portion we have just +traversed between the Hay and Hereford, and we therefore call it tame. +Why did we not apply the word before? Because the contrast presented by +the valley after leaving Hay with the wilder or grander features we had +passed formed one of the _vicissitudes_ of the river. This will be +understood by a traveller who journeys up the stream. On reaching Ross, +after emerging from the tumult, or sublimity, of the lower passage, he +will gaze with delight on one of the most quietly beautiful landscapes in +England--whose smooth green eminences, gentle groves, orchards and hop +plantations (the latter far finer objects than the vineyards of the +continent), white cottages, villages, and village spires, give an endless +and yet simple variety to the picture. After passing Hereford, in quest +of new excitement, the scene-hunter will pronounce a similar character of +landscape _tame_. + +Six miles from Hereford, the Lay adds its waters to the Wye, and near the +confluence we remark an abrupt elevation, which being wholly different in +character from the rest of the soil conveys the idea of an accident of +nature. And such it actually is. + +Marclay Hill--for so the elevation is called--in the time of Elizabeth, +according to Camden, "rose as it were from sleep, and for three days +moved on its vast body with an horrible noise, driving everything before +it to an higher ground." Fuller states that the ascent gained by the +surprising traveller was eleven fathoms, that its bulk was twenty acres, +and that the time it took to perform the feat was fourteen hours. Sir +Richard Baker, in the "Chronicles of England," is still more minute. "In +the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth," says he, "a prodigious +earthquake happened in the east parts of Herefordshire, at a little town +called Kinnaston. On the seventeenth of February, at six o'clock in the +evening, the earth began to open, and a hill, with a rock under it, +making at first a great hollowing noise, which was heard a great way off, +lifted itself up, and began to travel, bearing along with it the trees +that grew upon it, the sheepfolds and flocks of sheep abiding there at +the same time. In the place from whence it was first moved it left a +gaping distance forty foot broad, and fourscore ells long: the whole +field was about twenty acres. Passing along it overthrew a chapel +standing in the way, removed a yew tree planted in the churchyard from +the west to the east: with the like force it thrust before it highways, +sheepfolds, hedges, and trees; made tilled ground pasture, and again +turned pasture into tillage. Having walked in this sort from Saturday +evening till Monday noon, it then stood still." The yew tree still +exists as a witness of the fact, and the church bell was dug up not many +years ago. + + [Picture: Ross] + +The traces of a Roman camp on Woldbury Hill, and on Eaton Hill those of +an ancient fortification, forming a link in the chain of defences which +formerly ran along this part of the country, may be inspected with +advantage by the pedestrian who is read in antiquarian lore; but to +others there will appear nothing which should detain their steps before +the little town of Ross. Here commences the tour of the lower Wye--of +that part of the river which is known to fame as _the_ Wye. As for the +town itself, it is neat and prim-looking, sitting quietly upon an +eminence above the river. It is full of memories of the Man of Ross, +which sanctify it from the boisterous vulgarities of a town. The +"heaven-directed spire" which he taught to rise is its prominent feature; +and this object keeps the lines of Pope ringing in our ears like the +church bell, and with a little of its monotony. + +This bell, by the way, is something more than an ordinary bell. It bears +the name of John Kyrle, and was cast at Gloucester, in 1695, at his own +expense. Nay, it possesses a relic more valuable than his name, for +there is incorporated with its substance his favorite silver tankard. He +attended himself at the casting, and, drinking solemnly the orthodox +toast of "Church and King," he threw the cup into the molten mass. In a +local guide-book, we find several little particulars of this fine old +fellow, which are interesting from their naivete. + +It appears he was entered a gentleman commoner, of Baliol College, +Oxford, in 1654, and that he was intended for the bar but soon +relinquished all thoughts of that profession, and returning to Ross gave +himself up to agriculture and building, and the improvement of his native +town. + +An old maiden cousin, of the euphonous name of Bubb, kept house for him +many years. In his person, John was tall, thin, and well-shaped; his +health was remarkably good, and he scarcely knew any of the frailties of +old age until within a very short time of his death. His usual dress was +a suit of brown _dittos_, and a king William's wig, all in the costume of +his day. He disliked crowds and routs, but was exceedingly fond of snug, +social parties, and "of dinnering his friends upon the market and fair +days." He was also exceedingly pleased with his neighbours dropping in +without ceremony, loved to make a good long evening of it, enjoyed a +merry story, and always seemed sorry when it was time to break up. His +dishes were generally plain and according to the season, but he dearly +loved a goose, and was vain of his dexterity in carving it. During the +operation, which he invariably took upon himself, he always repeated one +of those old sayings and standing witticisms that seem to attach +themselves with peculiar preference to the cooked goose. He never had +roast beef on his table save and except on Christmas day; and malt liquor +and good Herefordshire cider were the only beverages ever introduced. At +his kitchen fire there was a large block of wood, in lieu of a bench, for +poor people to sit upon; and a piece of boiled beef, and three pecks of +flower, made into loaves, were given to the poor every Sunday. The +number he chose at his "invitation dinners," were nine, eleven, or +_thirteen_, including himself and his kinswoman, Miss Bubb; and he never +cared to sit down to table until he had as many as made one of these +numbers. He not only superintended the labours of the road makers, +planters, and gardeners, but commonly took an active part in them +himself, delighting above all things to carry a huge watering-pot to +water the trees he had newly set in the earth. "With a spade on his +shoulder and a glass bottle of liquor in his hand, he used to walk from +his house to the fields and back again several times during the day." + +Without the trees planted by John Kyrle, Ross would be nothing, so far as +the picturesque is concerned; and a delightful tradition, the truth of +which is vouched by undeniable evidence, proves that the trees were not +ungrateful to their founder. A rector, as the story goes, had the +impiety to cut down some of these living monuments of the taste of John +Kyrle, which shaded the wall of the church beside his own pew; but the +roots threw out fresh shoots, and these, penetrating into the interior, +grew into two graceful elms, that occupied his seat with their foliage. +If any one doubt the fact, let him go and see. The trees are still +there; their branches curtain the tall window that opens upon the pew; +and their beautiful leaves cluster above the seat, + + "And still keep his memory green in our souls." + +Besides the elms in the churchyard and neighbourhood, there is a fine +avenue, planted by John Kyrle, called the Prospect, or the Man of Ross's +Walk. It is on the ridge of a hill behind the church, and commands a +view of the valley of the Wye, about which there is some difference of +opinion. In King's anecdotes the planter's taste for prospects is +commended; and it is said that "by a vast plantation of elms, which he +disposed of in a fine manner, he has made one of the most _entertaining_ +scenes the county of Hereford affords." Gilpin, on the other hand, who +travelled with an easel before his mind's eye, cannot make a picture of +it; and Gray the poet asserts, in reference to the spot in question, that +"all points that are much elevated spoil the beauty of the valley, and +make its parts, which are not large, look poor and diminutive." + +The only other relic shown at Ross is a fragment of an oak bedstead, on +which Charles I. slept, on his way from Ragland Castle. A house in +Church Lane, called Gabriel Hill's Great Inn, contains the chamber so +distinguished. + +Here the traveller may hire a boat, if he choose, for the remainder of +his journey. The Wye, however, is navigable to Hereford in barges of +from eighteen to forty tons; and sometimes in lighter boats even to the +Hay, but the shoals in summer and the floods in winter frequently +interrupt the navigation. In 1795 the river rose fifteen feet at the +former place within twenty-four hours, and carried away bridges, cattle, +sheep, timber, and everything that stood in its way. + +But even if he determine afterwards to proceed by the river, the +traveller will do well to walk from Ross to the ruins of Penyard Castle; +not that these ruins are in themselves worthy of his attention, but the +road is beautiful throughout, and from the summit, Penyard Chace, he will +see the little town he has left, and our wandering Wye in a new phasis. +The country is diversified with hills and valleys, and wooded spaces +between; and more especially when the shadows of evening are stealing +over the landscape, the whole is a scene of enchantment. + +Although the lower passage of the river commences at Ross, we do not, for +two or three miles further, get fairly into its peculiarities. From the +gentle, the graceful, the gay, it glides almost insensibly into the +picturesque, the bold, and the grand. The tranquillity of its course +from the Hay--a tranquillity dearly purchased by the labours of its wild +career during the upper passage--has prepared it for new vicissitudes, +and new struggles. The following description, by archdeacon Coxe, +applies to a great part of the portion we are now entering upon, and +cannot be improved either in fidelity or style. + + "The effects of these numerous windings are various and striking; the + same objects present themselves, are lost and recovered with + different accompaniments, and in different points of view: thus the + ruins of a castle, hamlets embosomed in trees, the spire of a church + bursting from the wood, figures impending over the water, and broken + masses of rock fringed with herbage, sometimes are seen on one side, + sometimes on the other, and form the fore-ground or background of a + landscape. Thus also the river itself here stretches in a continuous + line, there moves in a curve, between gentle slopes and fertile + meadows, or is suddenly concealed in a deep abyss, under the gloom of + impending woods." "The banks for the most part rise abruptly from + the edge of the water, and are clothed with forests, or are broken + into cliffs. In some places they approach so near that the river + occupies the whole intermediate space, and nothing is seen but woods, + rocks, and water; in others, they alternately recede, and the eye + catches an occasional glimpse of hamlets, ruins, and detached + buildings, partly seated on the margin of the stream, and partly + scattered on the rising grounds. The general character of the + scenery, however, is wildness and solitude; and if we except the + populous district of Monmouth, no river perhaps flows for so long a + course in a well cultivated country, the banks of which exhibit so + few habitations." + +A little below Ross, on the right bank of the river, are the ruins of +Wilton Castle, which was for several centuries the baronial residence of +the Greys of the south, and was destroyed by the Hereford royalists in +the time of Charles I. Let us relate, however, as a circumstance of +still more interest, that it was left, with the adjoining lands, by +Thomas Guy, to the admirable charity in London which he founded, known by +the name of Guy's Hospital. + +The Wye here passes under Wilton bridge, a construction of rather a +curious kind, which dates from the close of the sixteenth century. +Coracles are seldom seen so high up the river as this; but we mention +them here because the hero of Gilpin's often repeated anecdote was an +inhabitant of Wilton. This man, it seems, ventured into the British +Channel in a coracle, as far as the isle of Lundy; a very remarkable +voyage to be made in a canvass tub, the navigation of the estuary of the +Severn being quite as trying as that of any part of the British seas. +Previously, however, to this exploit, the very same feat was performed by +an itinerant stage-doctor of Mitchel Dean in the Forest. The coracles +are a sort of basket made of willow twigs, covered with pitched canvass +or raw hide, and resembling in form the section of a walnut-shell. +Similar rude contrivances are in use among the Esquimaux and other savage +tribes, and were employed by the ancient Britons for the navigation of +rivers. They are now the fishing-boats of the rivers of South Wales; and +when the day's work is done are carried home on the shoulders of their +owners, disposed in such a way as to serve for a hood in case of rain. +The early ships of Britain are described by Caesar and Pliny as being +merely larger coracles--clumsy frames of rough timber, ribbed with +hurdles and lined with hides. According to Claudian they had masts and +sails, although they were generally rowed, the rowers singing to the +harp. + +At the farm of Weir End, the river takes a sudden bend, and rolls along +the steep sides of Pencraig Hill, which are clothed with wood to the +water's edge. Soon the ruined turrets of Goodrich Castle present +themselves, crowning the summit of a wooded eminence on the right bank, +and as they vanish and reappear with the turnings of the river the effect +is magnificent. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Roman passes of the Wye--Goodrich +Castle--Keep--Fortifications--Apartments--Its history--Goodrich +Court--Forest of Dean--Laws of the Miners--Military exploit--Wines of +Gloucestershire. + +If the conjecture of antiquaries be correct, that the great Roman road +from Blestium to Gloucester, by Ariconium, proceeded by the ford of the +Wye at Goodrich Castle, it is possible that this spot may have been of +some consequence before the period when history takes any cognizance of +the fortress. Blestium is supposed to be Monmouth, from which the road +probably led along the line of the present turnpike, between an +entrenchment to the left, opposite Dixon Church, and an encampment on the +Little Doward, to the right, supposed by some to be Roman, but usually +described in the road books as British. The name of Whitchurch Street, +applied to a portion of this route further on, favours the supposition of +a Roman origin. Ariconium, the next station from Blestium, is Rosebury +Hill, near Ross, according to those who identify Monmouth with Blestium. +There was another Roman way which led from Blestium to Glevum +(Gloucester) by a more direct route; crossing the Wye at the former +place, and leading up the Kymin from the left bank of the river. At +Stanton, a little further on, the vestiges of a Roman settlement are +indubitable, not only in the name of the place itself, but in the +entrenchments that may be observed near the church, and the Roman cinders +scattered about the fields. At Monmouth and Goodrich Castle, therefore, +were the two great passes of the Wye used by the Romans. At the latter +the river is crossed by a ferry. + +"The awe and admiration could not be enhanced with which I wandered +through the dark passages and the spacious courts, and climbed the +crumbling staircase of Goodrich Castle." So says the German prince: +although the time of his visit was winter, when the Wye and its ruins are +stripped of the adjunct of foliage, which in the imagination of common +travellers is inseparably connected with ideas of the picturesque or +beautiful in natural scenery. + +Goodrich Castle forms a parallelogram, with a round tower at each angle, +and a square keep in the south-west part of the enclosure. A minute +account of this remarkable ruin is given in the "Antiqua Monumenta;" and +Mr. Bonner introduces his brief description, in illustration of his +perspective views, with the remark that "the fortification (although not +of large dimensions) contains all the different works which constitute a +complete ancient baronial castle." For this reason, if for no other, it +would demand special observation; but the tourist of the Wye, even if +ignorant of the interest which thus attaches to Goodrich Castle, will +acknowledge that it forms one of the finest objects hitherto presented by +the banks of the river. It stands on the summit of a wooded hill, in the +position of one of the castles of the Rhine, and in the midst of a scene +of solemn grandeur which Mason may have had in view when he wrote his +spirited description of the sacred grove of Mona, in "Caractacus." + + "Here, Romans, pause, and let the eye of wonder + Gaze on the solemn scene: behold yon oak + How stem it frowns, and with its broad brown arms + Chills the pale plains beneath him: mark yon altar, + The dark stream brawling round its rugged base, + These cliffs, these yawning caverns, this wide circus, + Skirted with unhewn stone: they awe my soul + As if the very genius of the place + Himself appeared, and with terrific tread + Stalked through his drear domain." + + "Yonder grots, + Are tenanted by bards, who nightly thence, + Robed in their flowing vests of innocent white, + Descend, with harps that glitter to the moon, + Hymning immortal strains. The spirits of the air, + Of earth, of water, nay of heav'n itself, + Do listen to their lay: and oft, 'tis said, + In visible shapes dance they a magic round + To the high minstrelsy." + +The keep is the most ancient remains of the castle, and presents, on a +small scale, all the usual features of this part of a fortification of +the olden times. It was composed of three stories, being intended to +overlook the works, and had no windows on the landward side. Each of +these stories consisted of a single small room, the lowest being the +prison, without even a loophole to admit air or light. "The original +windows," says King, "are the most truly Saxon that can be." This +applies more particularly to the one in the middle of the upper story, +which appears to have remained without any alteration; while, in the one +beneath, a stone frame for glass seems to have been inserted. The style +of this addition points to the time of Henry VI., and we may believe that +it was made by the celebrated Earl Talbot, who tenanted one of these +small chambers. Besides the glass window, this apartment boasts a hearth +for fire; and, as is usual in such buildings, the communication with the +floor above is by a circular staircase in an angle of the massive wall. +"To this staircase is a most remarkable door-way; it was one large +transom-stone, as if to aid the arch to support the wall above, and in +this respect resembles several other Saxon structures, in which this +strange kind of fashion seems to have been uniformly adopted; until it +became gradually altered by the introduction of a flattish _under-arch_, +instituted in the room of the transom-stone." {63} + +The entrance to the keep was by a flight of steps, leading to the above +apartment; but the dungeon had an entrance of its own, of a construction +which leads antiquarians to conjecture, that it was added in the reign of +Edward III., when Richard Talbot obtained the royal license for making +his dungeon a state prison. + +The fortifications to be surmounted before an enemy could arrive at the +keep, were numerous and complete. Independently of the fosse, there was +a deep pit, hewn out of the solid rock, to be crossed by a drawbridge, +and then commenced a dark vaulted passage between two semicircular +towers. Eleven feet within the passage was a massive gate, defended (as +likewise the drawbridge) by loopholes in the sides of the vault, and +machicolations in the roof, for pouring down molten lead or boiling water +on the assailants. A few feet farther on was a portcullis, and then a +second, the space between protected by loopholes and machicolations. +Presently there was another strong gate, and finally a stone projection +on both sides, intended for the insertion of beams of timber, to act as a +barricade. If we add that the passage thus defended was less than ten +feet wide, and that the exterior walls of the whole building were in +general seven feet thick, an idea may be formed of the strength of +Goodrich Castle. + +Within the ballium, or enclosed space, entered with such difficulty, were +the keep here described, the state apartments, chapel, &c.; but the whole +of these are in so ruinous a state, as to be nearly unintelligible except +to antiquaries. The great hall was sixty-five feet long and twenty-eight +broad, and appears to have been a magnificent apartment of the time of +Edward I., as its windows indicate. The fire-place is still +distinguishable in the great kitchen. Communicating with the hall is a +smaller room, from which a passage led into another room of state, +fifty-five feet by twenty; and this opened into the ladies' tower, +standing upon the brow of a lofty precipice, and commanding a delightful +view over the country. + +It is curious that so remarkable a structure should be almost destitute +of authentic history, till the very period when it ceased to exist but as +a ruin. All that is known of its origin is, that a fort, held by a +doomsday proprietor, of the name of Godric, commanded the ford of the +river at this place before the Conquest. The fort consisted, in all +probability, of little more than the keep; to which, at later periods, +additions were made, cognisable by their style, till Goodrich Castle +became a regular fortress. In 1165 it was the property of the earl of +Pembroke, then lord of the whole district from Ross to Chepstow; and, +subsequently, it was a seat of the Talbot family, who, in 1347, founded a +priory of black canons at Flanesford, which is now a barn, about a +quarter of a mile below the castle. During the civil wars this fortress +played a conspicuous part, being taken and retaken by the opposing +parties. In the first instance it held for the parliament; but was +afterwards seized by Sir Richard Lingen, who, in 1646, defended it with +great gallantry against Colonel Birch for nearly five months, and thus +conferred upon it the distinction of being the last castle in England, +excepting Pendennis, which held out for the king. In the following year +it was ordered by the parliament to be "totally disgarrisoned and +_slighted_," which sentence was just sufficiently carried into effect to +give the Wye a magnificent ruin at the very spot where taste would have +placed it. "Here," says Mr. Gilpin, "a grand view presented itself, and +we rested on our oars to examine it. A reach of the river, forming a +noble bay, is spread before the eye. The bank on the right is steep, and +covered with wood, beyond which a bold promontory shoots out, crowned +with a castle rising among trees. This view, which is one of the +grandest on the river, I should not scruple to call correctly +picturesque." + +Near the spot where Mr. Gilpin must have been is the ferry where Henry +IV., who was waiting to be taken across, received intelligence of his +queen's being delivered of a prince at Monmouth Castle. The king, +according to tradition, was so overjoyed at the news, that he presented +the ferry and boat, which at this time belonged to the crown, to the +ferryman. On the left bank, nearly opposite, are the church and village +of Walford, in the former of which is buried Colonel Kyrle, who deserted +the service of Charles I. for that of the parliament. + +Goodrich Court, to which a winding path leads from the castle, is +somewhat nearer Ross. It is the seat of Sir Samuel Meyrick, the well +known antiquary, and presents, in the architecture, an exact imitation of +a mansion of the middle of the fourteenth century. In this respect, as +well as in the arrangement of its proprietor's valuable collection of old +armour, the house may be said to be absolutely perfect. It forms in +itself and its contents, one of the most interesting museums in Europe; +and it is open, with very little ceremony, to the inspection of the +traveller, as all such things are, when they do not happen to be the +property of persons unworthy to possess them. + +The river sweeps boldly round the wooded headland on which Goodrich +Castle stands; and the ruin is thus presented again and again, in new +phases (but none so interesting as the first), to the voyager, as he +glides down the now varied and romantic river. A steep ridge on the +right bank is called Coppet, or Copped Wood Hill, where the stream makes +a sweep of five miles, to perform the actual advance of one. The mass of +foliage on the opposite bank is a part of the Forest of Dean, variegated, +by rocks, hamlets, and village spires. Bishop's Brook here enters the +Wye, and serves as a boundary between the counties of Hereford and +Gloucester, and between the parishes of Walford and Ruerdean. "The view +at Ruerdean church," says Mr. Gilpin, "is a scene of great grandeur. +Here both sides of the river are steep, and both woody; but on one +(meaning the left bank), the woods are interspersed with rocks. The deep +umbrage of the Forest of Dean occupies the front, and the spire of the +church rises among the trees. The reach of the river which exhibits this +scene is long; and of course the view, which is a noble piece of natural +perspective, continues some time before the eye; but when the spire comes +directly in front, the grandeur of the landscape is gone." + +The famous Forest of Dean is in the space which here lies between the +Severn and the Wye. "In former ages," as Camden tells us, "by the +irregular tracks and horrid shades," it was so dark and dreary as to +render its inhabitants more audacious in robberies. In the time of +Edward I. there were seventy-two furnaces here for melting iron; and it +is related, that the miners of those days were very industrious in +seeking after the beds of cinders, where the Romans of Britain had been +at work before them, which remains, when burnt over again, were supposed +to make the best iron. The privileges of these miners were, no doubt, +for the most part assumed, but some granted by law are highly curious. +The following are specimens:-- + + "Also, if any smith holder, or any other be debtor, for mine to a + miner, the which smith holder or other be within, then the miner is + bailiff in every place (except his own close), to take the horse of + the debtor, if he be saddled with a work saddle, and with no other + saddle; and be it that the horse be half within the door of the + smith, so that the miner may take the tail of the horse, the debtor + shall deliver the horse to the miner. And if he so do not, the miner + shall make and levy hue and cry upon the said horse, and then the + horse shall be forfeit to the king for the hue and cry made and + levied, and yet the miner shall present the debtor in the Mind Law, + which is the court for the mine." + + "And the debtor before the constable and his clerk, the gaveler and + the miners, and none other folk to plead the right, only the + ministers shall be there, and hold a stick of holly, and the said + miner demanding the debt, shall put his hand upon the said stick, and + none other with him, and he shall swear by his faith, that the said + debt is to him due; and the prove made, the debtor, in the same + place, shall pay the miner all the debt proved, or else he shall be + brought to the castle of St. Briavells till grace be made, and also + he shall be amerced to the king in two shillings. + + "Also the miner hath such franchises to inquire the mine in every + soil of the king's of which it may be named, and also of all other + folk, without withsaying of any man. + + "And also if any be that denieth any soil, whatsoever it be, be it + sound or no, or of what degree it may be named, then the gaveler, by + the strength of the king, shall deliver the soil to the miners, with + a convenient way, next stretching to the king's highway, by the which + mine may be carried to all places and waters that lean convenient to + the said mine, without withsaying of any man." + +The Forest of Dean plays a conspicuous part in the wars of Monmouthshire, +serving as a natural outwork for the county. The following transaction +is described by Sanderson, the historian of Charles I.:--"After Sir +William Waller," says he, "had refreshed his men, he advanced towards +Monmouthshire, invited by some gentlemen to reduce these parts. At his +coming to the town of Monmouth, the garrison of the lord Herbert retired, +leaving a naked place to Sir William; where he found small success of his +parties, sent abroad for supplies of money. He marches to Usk, and +spending some time to no purpose in that county, he returns, the stream +of the people affording him no welcome, being all universal tenants of +that county to the earl of Worcester. + +"In this time Prince Maurice enters Teuxbury, with a brigade of horse and +foot added to the lord Grandeson, resolving to make after Waller, or to +meet his return out of Wales. A bridge of boats wafts him over the +Severn, with a body of two thousand horse and foot. Waller was nimble in +his retreat, not to be catcht in a noose or neck of Wales; but, by a +bridge of boats, came back at Chepstow, with his foot and artillery, and +himself, with his horse and dragoons, passed through the lowest part of +the Forest of Dean, near the river side of Severn; and ere the prince had +notice, sends forth two parties to fall upon two of the Prince's +quarters, which was performed, while Waller's main body slipped between +both, and a party was left also to face them, and make good the retreat, +which came off but disorderly, with loss of some soldiers. It was held a +handsome conveyance, and unexpected, to bring himself out of the snare by +uncouth ways." + +Gloucestershire, of which the Forest of Dean forms a part, although still +boasting one of the richest soils in England, is no longer a _wine +country_. "The ground," according to William of Malmesbury, +"spontaneously produces fruit in taste and colour far exceeding others, +many of which will keep the year round, so as to serve their owners till +others come in again. No county in England has more or richer vineyards, +or which yield greater plenty of grapes, and of a more agreeable flavour. +The wine has not a disagreeable sharpness to the taste, as it is little +inferior to that of France in sweetness." On this Camden remarks, that +it is more owing to "the indolence of the inhabitants than to the +alteration in the climate," that in his time wine was no longer a +production of the county. + +Vines were introduced into Britain by the Romans, and the hills of South +Wales became more especially famous for their vineyards. They were +mentioned in the Domesday Book, before the time of William of Malmesbury; +and tithes of wines are frequently alluded to in the records of +cathedrals. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Iron furnaces of the Wye--Lidbroke--Nurse of Henry V.--Coldwell +Rocks--Symond's Yat--New Weir--Monmouth. + +The woods rising amphitheatrically on the left bank, just before reaching +Ruerdean, are called Bishop's Wood; and there will be observed, for the +first time of their presenting themselves conspicuously, the iron +furnaces, which form a very striking characteristic of the river. + +The iron furnaces on the Wye rather add to than diminish the effect of +the scenery. This is caused by the abundance of wood in the furnace +districts, which conceals the details, while it permits the smoke to +ascend in wreaths through the trees, and float like a veil around the +hills. These works, however, are merely a modern revival of a species of +industry which extends backwards beyond the reach of history. The heaps +of cinders which are discovered on the hills of Monmouthshire are the +production either of bloomeries, the most ancient mode of fusing iron, or +of furnaces of a very antique construction. The operation of smelting +was performed in both of these by means of charcoal; and after the lands +were cleared, the want of fuel led to the decline of the iron works. +About eighty years ago, in consequence of the discovery of the mode of +making pig iron, and subsequently even bar iron, with coal instead of +charcoal, this branch of industry suddenly revived; although on the Wye +charcoal is still burnt, and made upon the spot, where, instead of +vulgarising the district, it adds a very remarkable feature to the +picturesque. + +At Lidbroke, on the same side, the commoner sympathies of life come into +play, and the vulgar occupations of men serve at once to diversify the +scene, and even to give it a new character of the picturesque. The lower +passage has hitherto been chiefly distinguished by a romantic grandeur, +both in the forms of nature, and the associations of history; and even +the iron furnaces, from the circumstances we have mentioned, have added a +charm congenial to the character of the picture. At Lidbroke, the new +adjunct is nothing more than a _wharf_, with little vessels lying near +it,--boats passing and repassing,--horses, carts, men, women, and +children stirring along the banks: but the whole, in such a spot, forms +an assemblage which adds, by contrast, to the general effect. + +On the opposite bank the district of Monmouthshire, called Welsh Bicknor, +commences--for we have hitherto been in Hereford--and Courtfield claims +our attention for a moment, as the place where Henry V. is said to have +been nursed, under the care of the countess of Salisbury. The remains of +a bed, and an old cradle, were formerly shown as relics of the Monmouth +hero. Half a mile further down the river is Welsh Bicknor Church, which +has puzzled the antiquarians by its sepulchral effigy, representing a +recumbent female figure in stone, not ungracefully dressed in a loose +robe, but without inscription or coat of arms. Tradition will have it +that this is _the_ countess of Salisbury; and it is perhaps correct in +the person, though wrong in the name, for the lady who nursed Henry at +Courtfield (supposing him to have been there at all) was, in all +probability, Lady Montacute, who married a second son of the first earl +of Salisbury, but was no countess herself. Her son, however, Sir John de +Montacute, who possessed the manor of Welsh Bicknor, succeeded to the +earldom, and became earl-marshal of England. It was he who was chief of +the Lollards, and was murdered in 1400 by the populace of Cirencester. +The manor, although falling to the crown on account of his supposed +treason, was afterwards restored to the family, and became the property +of his descendant Richard, the great earl of Warwick and Salisbury. +Dugdale traces this ominous heirloom to Margaret, grand-daughter of the +great earl, daughter of the duke of Clarence, and wife of Lord Montague. +This lady, after witnessing the execution of her brother Edward, earl of +Warwick, and her son Henry Lord Montague, was herself beheaded in 1541. +The manor of Welsh Bicknor, and the mansion of Courtfield, passed +subsequently into the ancient family of Vaughan. We may mention here, +however, although the circumstance is of no great consequence, that Sir +Samuel Meyrick assigns the costume of the figure in Welsh Bicknor Church +to the era of Edward I., about a century before that of Henry V. + +A short distance below the church this abutment of Monmouthshire +terminates, and the right bank of the river lies as before in Hereford, +the left in Gloucester. At Coldwell, the view is closed in by a +magnificent rock scene, differing entirely in character from any yet +afforded by the Wye. To suffer this to appear--supposing the traveller +to be descending the river--a wooded hill, called Rosemary Topping, one +of the common features of the stream, shifts like a scene in a theatre, +and becomes a side-screen; so that the almost naked cliff remains the +principal object, and confers its character upon the view, to which the +river and its banks to the right and left are only adjuncts. + +The first grand mass of rock is nearly insulated, and reminds one at +first sight of the keep of some ruined castle. But the Coldwell rocks +want no associations of the kind: they are fragments of the temples of +nature, and have nothing to do with the history of man. To our judgment, +the shadowy hollows scooped out of the sides of the precipices, and +overhung by foliage, which are nothing more than the sites of _lime +kilns_, are more advantageous to the picture than the finest ruins +imaginable. They come in without pretence; they make no effort at +rivalry; but present the idea of human nature in an attitude of befitting +humility and simplicity. "These," says the German prince, "are craggy +and weatherbeaten walls of sandstone, of gigantic dimension, +perpendicular or overhanging, projecting abruptly from amid oaks, and +hung with rich festoons of ivy. The rain and storms of ages have beaten +and washed them into such fantastic forms, that they appear like some +caprice of human art. Castles and towers, amphitheatres and +fortifications, battlements and obelisks mock the wanderer, who fancies +himself transported into the ruins of a city of some extinct race. Some +of these picturesque masses are at times loosened by the action of the +weather, and fall thundering from rock to rock, with a terrific plunge +into the river." + +From Symond's Yat to the New Weir, this _kind_ of scenery continues; +although the masses of cliff of course change their form and situation. +The river, in a portion of its course, washes their base, at one time an +almost perpendicular wall, at another clothed in woods till near the +summit, which is seen rising out of the foliage, and tracing its +battlemented outline upon the sky. From these two points the distance is +only six hundred yards by land, and not less than four miles by water; +and the shorter route is in this case the better. On the river, we soon +lose the magnificence of the picture; while on shore, there is superadded +to this a view of the extravagant mazes of the Wye on either side of the +neck of land on which the spectator stands. If it be added that the +point of view, Symond's Yat, appeared to Mr. Coxe to be two thousand feet +high (although this is an evident mistake), it will readily be imagined +that this scene is of itself worth a pilgrimage to the Wye. The +prospect, comprehending portions of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and +Monmouthshire, embraces the following objects, according to those who are +versed in the local names. To the north is seen Coppet Wood Hill, +interspersed with rock and common;--to the north-west appear the spire +and village of Goodrich, and, at the foot of the hill, Rocklands and +Huntsholm Ferry;--to the west, Hunthsolm, behind which is Whitchurch, +and, in the distance, the Welsh hills;--to the south-west, the +mountainous side of the Great Doward;--to the south, Staunton Church, and +the Buck-stone, upon a promontory; and below, Highmeadow Woods and the +river; on the left, the rock of the New Weir, and on the right, the rocky +wall of the east side of the Doward;--to the south-east, the village of +English Bicknor, a side view of Coldwell Rocks, and Rosemary +Topping;--and, to the east, Ruerdean Wood, with the church in the +distance, Bishop's Wood, and Courtfield, with the woody ridges of +Hawkwood and Puckwood completing the panorama. + + [Picture: The New Weir] + +Gilpin calls the New Weir the second grand scene on the Wye. + + "The river," says he, "is wider than usual in this part, and takes a + sweep round a towering promontory of rock, which forms the + side-screen on the left, and is the grand feature of the view. It is + not a broad, fractured piece of rock, but rather a woody hill, from + which large projections in two or three places burst out, rudely hung + with twisting branches, and shaggy furniture; which, like the mane + round the lion's head, gives a more savage air to these wild + exhibitions of nature. Near the top a pointed fragment of solitary + rock, rising above the rest, has rather a fantastic appearance--but + it is not without its effect in marking the scene . . . On the right + side of the river, the bank forms a woody amphitheatre, following the + course of the stream round the promontory. Its lower skirts are + adorned with a hamlet, in the midst of which volumes of thick smoke, + thrown up at intervals from an iron forge, as its fires receive fresh + fuel, add double grandeur to the scene. . . . + + "But what peculiarly marks this view, is a circumstance on the water. + The whole river at this place makes a precipitate fall--of no great + height indeed, but enough to merit the name of a cascade, though to + the eye above the stream it is an object of no consequence. In all + the scenes we had yet passed, the water moving with a slow and solemn + pace, the objects around kept time, as it were, with it; and every + steep, and every rock which hung over the river, was solemn, + tranquil, and majestic. But here the violence of the stream, and the + roaring of the waters, impressed a new character on the scene: all + was agitation and uproar, and every steep and every rock stared with + wildness and terror." + +Let us add the testimony of another great authority on the picturesque; +more especially as his remarks serve to corroborate our own on the effect +received by the river from objects which elsewhere are mean and common. + + "A scene at the New Weir on the Wye, which in itself is truly great + and awful, so far from being disturbed, becomes more interesting and + important by the business to which it is destined. It is a chasm + between two high ranges of hills, that rise almost perpendicularly + from the water: the rocks on the sides are mostly heavy masses, and + their colour is generally brown; but here and there a pale craggy + shape starts up to a vast height above the rest, unconnected, broken, + and bare: large trees frequently force out their way amongst them; + and many of these stand far back in the covert, where their natural + dusky hue is heightened by the shadow that overhangs them. The river + too, as it retires, loses itself in the woods, which close + immediately above, then rise thick and high, and darken the water. + In the midst of all this gloom is an _iron forge_, covered with a + black cloud of smoke, and surrounded with half-burnt ore, with coal, + and with cinders: the fuel for it is brought down a path, worn into + steps narrow and steep, and winding among precipices; and near it is + an open space of barren moor, about which are scattered the huts of + the workmen. It stands close to the cascade of the Weir, where the + agitation of the current is increased by large fragments of rocks, + which have been swept down by floods from the banks, or shivered by + tempests from the brow; and the sullen sound, at stated intervals, of + the strokes from the great hammer in the forge, deadens the roar of + the waterfall. Just below it, while the rapidity of the stream still + continues, a ferry is carried across it; and lower down the fishermen + use little round boats called truckles (coracles), the remains + perhaps of the ancient British navigation, which the least motion + will overset, and the slightest touch may destroy. All the + employments of the people seem to require either exertion or caution; + and the ideas of fear or danger which attend them give to the scene + an animation unknown to the solitary, though perfectly compatible + with the wildest romantic situation." {85} + +To this, however, we must add as a note, that both Weir and forge have +now vanished. The more headlong rush and louder roar of the river mark +the place where the former stood; and some limekilns contribute the smoke +of the latter without its noise. + +During the whole of this part of the passage, the stream is interrupted +by fragments of rock, around which the water rushes tumultuously; but at +the New Weir these interruptions, above noticed, acquire a character of +sublimity, when taken in conjunction with the rest of the picture. The +river, roaring and foaming, is in haste to escape, and at length is lost +to the eye, as it seems to plunge for ever into sepulchral woods. + +Beyond this, there are several other rock scenes, but none that will bear +description after the foregoing; although to the traveller wearied with +excitement, they come in with good effect. Below New Weir, the river +stretches with a curve between Highmeadows Wood on the left bank, and the +precipitous cliffs of the Great Doward on the right. Then the Little +Doward peeps over a screen of rocks and shrubs. These two hills are +called King Arthur's Plain, and between these is King Arthur's Hall, the +level of an exhausted iron mine. Then we pass a cluster of rocks called +St. Martin's or the Three Sisters, and a pool of the river named St. +Martin's Well, where the water is said to be seventy feet deep. Various +seats and cottages give variety to the picture, situated in the midst of +rich woods and undulating eminences; and at length the landscape sinks +calmly down, and Monmouth--"delightsome Monmouth"--is seen in long +perspective, terminating a reach of the river. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Monmouth--History of the Castle--Apartment of Henry of +Monmouth--Ecclesiastical remains--Benedictine priory--Church of St. +Mary--Church of St. Thomas--Monnow Bridge--Modern town--Monmouth +caps--The beneficent parvenu. + +Monmouth lies embowered among gentle hills, only diversified by wood, +corn, and pasture; but to view it either from the Wye, or any of the +neighbouring eminences, one would be far from supposing it to have so +tame, or at least so quiet a site. From one point, its spire is seen +passing through a deep and mysterious wood; from another, it hangs +perched on a precipitous ridge; and from the Wye it rises with +considerable stateliness in the form of an amphitheatre. It stands at +the confluence of the Wye and the Monnow, from which it derives its +English name. + +A royal fortress existed here before the conquest, a circumstance which +renders its early history full of fearful vicissitudes, although these +are but very imperfectly traced. In the time of Henry III., the castle, +after changing hands repeatedly, was taken and rased to the ground. +"Thus the glorie of Monmouth," says Lambarde, "had clean perished, ne had +it pleased God longe after in that place to give life to the noble King +Henry V., who of the same is called Henry of Monmouth." It was a +favourite residence of the father of this prince, King Henry IV., and +also of his father, John of Gaunt, "time honoured Lancaster," to whom it +came by his marriage with Blanch, daughter and heiress of Henry, duke of +Lancaster, whose title he was afterwards granted. Henry V. was born here +in 1387, and from this circumstance is styled Henry of Monmouth. This +prince enlarged the duchy of Lancaster with his maternal inheritance, and +obtained an act of parliament that all grants of offices and estates +should pass under the seal of the duchy. Henry VI. and VII. possessed +the castle of Monmouth, as part of the duchy, by right of inheritance; +but between these reigns it was given by Edward IV. to Lord Herbert, +afterwards earl of Pembroke. Although the duchy, however, continued in +the crown, the castle, together with other possessions in Monmouthshire, +was alienated, and became private property, but at what period does not +clearly appear. In the reign of Elizabeth, it is ascertained, by +different grants, to have been still parcel of the duchy, and also in +that of James I., by the following presentment made under a commission: +"Item, wee present that his majestie hath one ancient castell, called +Monmouth Castell, situated within the liberties of the said towne, which +is nowe, and hath been for a long time, ruinous and in decaye, but by +whom it hath byn decayed wee knowe not, nor to what value, in regarde it +was before our rememberment, savinge one greate hall which is covered and +mayntayned for the judges of the assise to sitt in. And for and +concerning any demean lands belonginge to the same castell, wee knowe not +of any more save only the castell hill, wherein divers have gardens, and +the castell green, which is inclosed within the walls of the said +castell." + +Before the end of the seventeenth century, we find the castle in the +hands of the first duke of Beaufort, if the following anecdote, +indicative either of an ambitious or a fantastic spirit, can be believed. +"The marchioness of Worcester," says the author of the Secret Memoirs of +Monmouthshire, "was ordered by her grandfather, the late duke of +Beaufort, to lie in of her first child in a house lately built within the +castle of Monmouth, near that spot of ground and space of air, where our +great hero Henry V. was born." + +Whatever mutilations this castle may have undergone since the days of its +royal magnificence, by whomever it may have been at length "decayed," or +at whatever period it came into the hands of the Beauforts, this at least +is certain, that there is now not more than enough left to indicate its +site. "The transmutations of time," says Gilpin, "are often ludicrous. +Monmouth Castle was formerly the palace of a king, and the birthplace of +a mighty prince; it is now converted into a yard for fattening ducks." +The ruins, however, must have been concealed from his view by the stables +and other outhouses that had risen from the fragments, so as completely +to hide them from the townward side. Coxe, a much more correct observer, +although less learned in the laws of the picturesque, describes them in +1800 as presenting, when viewed from the right bank of the Monnow, "an +appearance of dilapidated grandeur which recalls to memory the times of +feudal magnificence." + +Although the roof and great part of the walls had already fallen, the +site of two remarkable apartments could be traced distinctly; that in +which Henry was born, and another adjoining which had been used, even +within the memory of some of the inhabitants, for the assizes. The +latter was sixty-three feet in length and forty-six in breadth, and was +no doubt the "greate hall" mentioned in the presentment quoted above as +being "mayntayned for the judges of the assise to sitt in." + +The apartment of Henry of Monmouth is thus described by the archdeacon: + + "The apartment which gave birth to the Gwentonian hero was an upper + story, and the beams that supported the floor still project from the + side walls; it was fifty-eight feet long, and twenty-four broad, and + was decorated with gothic windows, of which some are still remaining, + and seem to be of the age of Henry III. The walls of this part are + not less than ten feet in thickness. About fifty years ago, a + considerable part of the southern wall fell down with a tremendous + crash, which alarmed the whole town, leaving a breach not less than + forty feet in length. On the ground floor beneath are three circular + arches terminating in chinks, which have a very ancient appearance; + at the north-eastern angle, within a stable, may be seen a round + tower six feet in diameter, which was once a staircase leading to the + grand apartment." + +To the right of this apartment, the same author traced the vestige of the +original walls in a private house built within the ancient site. They +were from six to ten feet, formed of pebbles and mortar, and is so +compact a mass as not to yield in hardness to solid stone. + +Next to the ruined castle of an ancient town, come the ecclesiastical +remains; for the stronghold of the chief, and the cell of the monk, were +usually the nucleus round which the town was gathered. The principal +relics of the latter kind in Monmouth are those of a benedictine priory +of black monks, dedicated to St. Mary, which was founded as a cell to the +monastery of St. Florence, near Saumur in Anjou, by Wikenoc, lord of +Monmouth in the reign of Henry I. The ruins are small, but interesting; +and not the less so from containing an apartment distinguished by a rich +gothic bay window, pointed out by tradition as the study of that +mysterious personage, Geoffry of Monmouth. The church of the priory +stood on the site of the present parish church of St. Mary, of which the +tower and the lower part of the spire are the only remains of the +original. This spire, which is "lofty, and light, and small," is the +grand scenic feature of the town when viewed from a distance; and in +return, it affords to the traveller who will take the trouble to ascend +it a point from which to view the country to most advantage. The +beautiful vale in which the town stands, with its undulating eminences, +among which wander the Wye, the Monnow, and the Trothy, is seen in an +almost circular form, enclosed from the vulgar world, by a line of hills +mantled with woods and forests. + +The ancient church of St. Thomas stands near the bridge of the Monnow, +and from its circular arches, and extreme simplicity of appearance, is +probably older than the conquest. This does not apply, however, to the +entire building, the western window, and some other morceaux, displaying +the ornamented Gothic of a late period. The antiquity of the building, +it should be said, is rendered the more probable by its standing beyond +the bridge, where the suburbs of the modern town are supposed to occupy +the site of the British town during the Saxon era. + +The bridge, of which a view is given in Grose's Antiquities, is itself an +object of interest, containing, on its centre, the Monnow Gate, the only +one of the four original gates, mentioned by Leland, that remains entire. +Both bridge and gate bear evidence of very high antiquity, and were +probably erected by the Saxons as a barrier against the Welsh. The town +was farther fortified by a wall and moat, of which the latter was entire +in the time of Leland, and some fragments of the former remaining. But +all vestiges of those defences have now vanished, with the exception of +the Monnow Gate, and some pieces of a tower. + +Of the modern town, it can be said that it is neat and clean, with one +broad and well-built street. It is neither mean nor elegant, and +presents no offensive contrast to the beautiful scenery by which it is +surrounded. The navigation of the Wye is its principal support, for at +the present day at least it has no manufactories, although celebrated in +that of its own Henry for _caps_. "If your majestie is remembered of it, +the Welchmen did goot service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing +leeks in their Monmouth caps." The account given of this staple article +by Fuller, in his Worthies, is worth quoting. + + "These," says he, "were the most ancient, general, warm, and + profitable coverings of men's heads in this island. It is worth our + pains to observe the tenderness of our kings to preserve the trade of + cap-making, and what long and strong struggling our state had to keep + up the using thereof, so many thousands of people being thereby + maintained in the land, especially before the invention of + fulling-mills, all caps before that time being wrought, beaten, and + thickened, by the hands and feet of men, till those mills, as they + eased many of their labour, outed more of their livelihood. Capping + anciently set fifteen distinct callings on work, as they are reckoned + up in the statute: 1. carders, 2. spinners; 3. knitters; 4. parters + of wool; 5. forfers; 6. thickeners; 7. dressers; 8. walkers; 9. + dyers; 10. battelers; 11. shearers; 12. pressers; 13. edgers; 14. + liners; 15. band-makers, and other exercises. No wonder then that so + many statutes were enacted in parliament to encourage this + handicraft." * * * * "Lastly; to keep up the usage of caps, it was + enacted, in the 13th of Queen Eliz. cap. 19, that they should be + worne by all persons (some of worship and quality excepted) on + sabbath and holy days, on the pain of forfeiting ten groats for the + omission thereof. + + "But it seems that nothing but hats would fit the heads (or humours + rather) of the English, as fancied by them fitter to fence their fair + faces from the injury of wind and weather, so that the 39th of Queen + Elizabeth this statute was repealed; yea, the cap, accounted by the + Romans an emblem of liberty, is esteemed by the English (falconers + and hunters excepted) a badge of servitude, though very useful in + themselves, and the ensign of constancy, because not discomposed, but + retaining their fashion, in what form soever they may be crouded. + + "The best caps were formerly made at Monmouth, where the capper's + chapel doth still remain, being better carved and gilded than any + other part of the church. But on the occasion of a great plague + happening in this town, the trade was some years since removed hence + to Beaudley, in Worcestershire, yet so that they are called Monmouth + caps unto this day. Thus this town retains, though not the profit, + the credit of capping, and seeing the child keeps the mother's name, + there is some hope in due time she may return to her." + +Monmouth appears also to have dealt largely in ale, if we may judge by a +grant of Henry IV. as lord of the manor, to its burgesses. "That the +brewers of ale there, who were anciently held to pay the king's ancestors +and progenitors eight gallons of ale at every brewing, in the name of +Castlecoule, during the time the king, or his heirs, were dwelling in the +said town, should now pay in lieu thereof 10d. each brewing, except when +the king, his heirs or his councils, holding his sessions there, were +present in the said town, in which case the ancient custom of +Castlecoules should be observed." + +We must not omit an anecdote connected with the history of a free-school, +founded here in the reign of James I. William Jones, born at Monmouth, +as Burton tells us in his History of Wales, was forced to quit the place +for not being able to pay ten groats. He removed to the great field for +adventurers, London, and became first a porter, then a factor, and +afterwards went over to Hamburgh, where he found such sale for his Welsh +cottons, that in a very short time he realised a handsome fortune. He +founded a school in his native place, allowing fifty pounds a year to the +master, and a hundred pounds salary to a lecturer, together with an +almshouse for twenty poor people, each having two rooms and a garden, and +two shillings and sixpence a week. It is said, however, by other +authorities, that Jones was a native of Newland, in Gloucestershire; and +after having made his fortune in London, that he returned thither in the +assumed character of a beggar, to try the liberality of his townsmen. In +this he found them wanting, for they tauntingly told him to go and ask +relief at Monmouth, where he had lived at service. He took their advice, +and being better received there, founded the above charities in token of +his gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Welsh pedigree of queen Victoria--A poet's flattery--Castles of +Monmouthshire--Geoffrey of Monmouth--Henry of Monmouth--The +Kymin--Subsidiary tour--Sir David Gam--White Castle--Scenfrith--The +Castle spectres--Grosmont--Lanthony Abbey. + +"Monmouthshire," as has been well observed, "though now an English +county, may be justly considered the connecting link between England and +Wales, as it unites the scenery, manners, and language of both." In +ancient times, it was a debatable land of another kind, when Romans, +Saxons, and Normans, strove by turns against the aboriginal Britons. +During the Roman invasion it was a part of the territory of the Silures, +who inhabited the eastern division of South Wales, and were one of the +three great Welsh tribes; but in the conflict of the Saxons, Gwent (its +British name) played the most distinguished part of all, under its +sovereign Utha Pendragon and the renowned king Arthur. To Gwent, +moreover, if chronicles say true, we are indebted for our present +sovereign lady, who is descended collaterally from its princes. Merrich, +the son of Ithel, king or prince of Gwent, died without issue male, +leaving one daughter, Morvyth, who espoused Gwno, great grandson to Rees +ap Theodore, prince of South Wales, and lineal ancestor of Sir Owen +Tudor, grandfather of Henry VII. "So that it appears," say the Secret +Memoirs of Monmouthshire, "that the kings of Scotland and England are +originally descended from Morvyth, this Gwentonian prince's daughter, and +heir to Meyrick, last king of Gwent, who, according to several authentic +British pedigrees, was lineally descended from Cadwalladar, the last king +of Britain, and as our historians do testify, did prognosticate, fifteen +hundred years past, that the heirs descended of his loins should be +restored again to the kingdom of Britain, which was partly accomplished +in king Henry VII., and more by the accession of James I. to the British +throne, but wholly fulfilled in the happy union of all Britain by the +glorious queen Anne; whom God long preserved of his great goodness, and +the succession of the Protestant line." + +We know not what value may be attached to this illustrious ancestry by +Queen Victoria; but her predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, was fond of tracing +her descent from the ancient kings of her country--a predilection which +the courtly Spenser does not omit to flatter in his Faerie Queene. + + "Thy name, O soveraine Queene, thy realme and race, + From this renowned prince derived arre, + Who mightily upheld that royal mace + Which thou now bear'st, to thee descended farre + From mighty kings and couquerors in warre, + Thy fathers and thy grandfathers of old, + Whose noble deeds above the northern starre, + Immortall fame for ever hath enrold; + As in that _old man's booke_ they were in order told." + +The _old man_ have referred to is Geoffrey of Monmouth, of whom more +anon. + +It is to the Norman invasion that Monmouthshire owes its castles; for the +great barons were not employed by the state, as had been the case with +the Saxons, to conquer the territory, but were invited to enter upon +adventures at their own cost, and for their own gain. The lands they +subdued became their own; they were created lords-barons over them; and +castles speedily bristled up all over the territory to maintain the +authority so acquired. Pennant states the number for Wales at a hundred +and forty-three, of which Monmouthshire, as the frontier region between +the belligerents, had of course the greatest proportion, amounting, it is +said, to at least twenty-five. In these baronial lands, the writs of +ordinary justices of the royal courts were not current. The barons +marchers, as they were called, had recourse to their feudal lord the king +in person; and the same abuses and confusion were the result which we +have noticed in Herefordshire, till Henry VIII. abolished this anomalous +government, divided Wales into twelve shires, and withdrew Monmouthshire +into the list of the English counties. It is interesting to trace the +chain of fortresses thus destined to become, still earlier than in the +natural course of time, a series of ruins. They extend, in this county, +along the banks of the Monnow, the Wye, and the Severn, and from +Grosmont, diagonally, to the banks of the Rumney; while castellated +mansions, such as Raglan, which we shall notice presently (at first only +a rude fortress), arose in all quarters to keep the natives in due +respect. + +King Arthur, mentioned above as prince of Gwent, did not reign at +Monmouth, but at Caerleon; although he is closely associated with the +former place, inasmuch as the gothic room in the priory which we have +pointed out, on the authority of tradition, as the study of Geoffrey of +Monmouth, was in all probability the birthplace of his most heroic +achievements. Geoffrey, in fact, for it is needless to attempt to +conceal the fact from our readers, was an historical romancer rather than +an historian. The groundwork of his celebrated performance was Brut y +Breninodd, or the Chronicle of the Kings of Britain, written by Tyssilio, +or St. Telian, bishop of St. Asaph, in the seventh century; but Geoffrey +owns himself, that he made various additions to his original, +particularly of Merlin's prophecies. After all, however, if we may +venture to express our private opinion on so recondite a subject, it +seems to us that a monkish history, of the seventh century, must have +been reasonably fertile in itself in wonderful incidents and legendary +tales, and that in all probability Geoffrey of Monmouth deserves less +credit as a romancer than he has received from one party, as well as less +credit as an historian than he has received from the other. + +However this may be, the work has served as a valuable storehouse for our +poets and romancers. It has even supplied the story of King Lear to +Shakspeare, who deepened the pathos by making Cordelia die before her +father; whereas, in the original story, Lear is restored to his kingdom, +and Cordelia to life. Milton drew from it his fiction of Sabrina in the +Mask of Comus; and in early life he had formed the design of writing an +epic poem on the subject taken up from Geoffrey by Spenser, in the second +book of the Faerie Queene-- + + "A chronicle of Briton kings, + From Brute to Arthur's reign." + +Dryden, also, intended to produce an epic poem on the subject of king +Arthur, but he contented himself with an opera, in which he has sublimely +described the British worthy + + "in battle brave, + But still serene in all the stormy war, + Like heaven above the clouds; and after fight + As merciful and kind to vanquished foe + As a forgiving God." + +Pope followed, in like manner, with plentiful materials for the pavement +of a certain place--good intentions; but after all, our national history +has been left to the muse of Blackmore. {106} + +Geoffrey was born in Monmouth, and is supposed to have been educated in +the monastery, although the room pointed out as his study is evidently of +a more modern date. He became archdeacon of his native town, and in 1152 +was consecrated bishop of St. Asaph. This is all that is known of his +history; and his works, with the exception of his great romance adverted +to above, are confined to a treatise on the Holy Sacraments, and some +verses on the enchanter Merlin. + +Perhaps a word may not be amiss on the other worthy connected by birth +with the fame and the ruins of Monmouth. Henry V. passed some of his +earliest years in this county; but in his youth was transferred to +Oxford, where he studied under his uncle Cardinal Beaufort, then +chancellor of the university, and where, as Stowe relates, he "delighted +in songs, meeters, and musical instruments." He is thus described by the +chronicler, on the authority of John of Elmham: + + "This prince exceeded the meane stature of men, he was beautiful of + visage, his necke long, body long and leane, and his bones small; + neverthelesse he was of great marvellous strength, and passing swift + in running, insomuch that he with two other of his lords, without + hounds, bow, or other engine, would take a wild buck or doe in a + large parke." + +Henry is usually treated as a mere warrior; and it is the custom to sneer +at him as such, by those who are unable to judge of the minds of men by +the spirit of the age in which they live. He was remarkable, however, +for more than his military prowess, and exhibited many traits of a truly +great character. Some of these are very agreeably detailed by Mr. Coxe, +who relates also, from Speed, that "every day after dinner, for the space +of an hour, his custom was to lean on a cushion set by his cupboard, and +there he himselfe received petitions of the oppressed, which with great +equitie he did redresse." His sudden change from the wild licentiousness +of his youth is described by his contemporary, Thomas de Elmham, as +having taken place at the bedside of his dying father; and we need not +remark that in that age, the religious feeling he exhibited on the +occasion was not inconsistent with the ferocity of the hero. + + "The courses of his youth promis'd it not; + The breath no sooner left his father's body, + But that his wildness, mortified in him, + Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment, + Consideration like an angel came, + And whipped the offending Adam out of him; + Leaving his body as a paradise, + To envellop, and contain celestial spirits. + Never was such a sudden scholar made; + Never came reformation in a flood, + With such a heady current, scouring faults; + Nor ever hydra-headed wilfulness, + So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, + As in this king." + +Monmouth, as the half-way station between Ross and Chepstow for the +tourists of the Wye, usually claims a large portion of their attention; +and, independently of its historical associations, the delightful walks +in the neighbourhood abundantly repay it. The views from numerous points +are very beautiful; and one more especially, independently of the nearer +parts of the picture, commands on all sides an expanse of country which +seems absolutely unlimited. + +"If among these views," says the historical tourist, "one can be selected +surpassing the rest, it is perhaps that from the summit of the Kymin, +which rises from the left bank of the Wye, and is situated partly in +Monmouthshire, and partly in Gloucestershire. On the centre of this +eminence overhanging the river and town, a pavilion has been lately +erected by subscription, to which is carried a walk, gently winding up +the acclivity. . . . + +"I shall not attempt to describe the unbounded expanse of country around +and beneath, which embraces an extent of nearly three hundred miles. The +eye, satiated with the distant prospect, reposes at length on the near +views, dwells on the country immediately beneath and around, is attracted +with the pleasing position of Monmouth, here seen to singular advantage, +admires the elegant bend and silvery current of the Monnow, glistening +through meads, in its way to the Wye, and the junction of the two rivers, +which forms an assemblage of beautiful objects. + +"The level summit of the Kymin is crowned with a beautiful wood, called +Beaulieu Grove, through which walks are made, terminating in seats, +placed at the edge of abrupt declivities, and presenting in perspective, +through openings in the trees, portions of the unbounded expanse seen +from the pavilion. There are six of these openings, three of which +comprehend perspective views of Monmouth, stretching between the Wye and +the Monnow, in different positions. At one of these seats, placed on a +ledge of impending rocks, I looked down on a hanging wood, clothing the +sides of the declivities, and sloping gradually to the Wye, which sweeps +in a beautiful curve, from Dixon Church to the mouth of the Monnow; the +town appears seated on its banks, and beyond the luxuriant and undulating +swells of Monmouthshire, terminated by the Great and Little Skyrrid, the +Black Mountains, and the Sugar Loaf, in all the variety of sublime and +contrasted forms." + +It is not our intention to notice any of the numerous seats and mansions +with which this delightful region abounds; but, leaving the tourist to +make such easy discoveries for himself, we would hint to him that, while +at Monmouth, he has an opportunity, without great expense of time or +labour, of making himself acquainted with many interesting objects which +ought to be considered as adjuncts of the tour of the Wye. Between this +place and the Hay the river describes an irregular semicircle, of which +the Monnow, for about half way, may be said to be the cord; and this +latter stream, as the most important and beautiful tributary of the Wye, +has a claim upon the pilgrim which should not be set aside. + +This minor excursion, however, will not be complete without diverging a +little to the left at the outset for the purpose of visiting White +Castle; for this ruin is inseparably associated with the other reliques +of baronial power presented by the route. It is within a short distance +of Landeilo Cresseney on the Abergavenny road, where a farm will be +pointed out to the traveller, called the Park, belonging to the duke of +Beaufort, as the site of Old Court, formerly the residence of the valiant +Sir David Gam, who, before the battle of Agincourt, reported to Henry V. +that there were "enough of the enemy to be killed, enough to run away, +and enough to be taken prisoners." It is said that the children of this +Welsh worthy were so numerous as to form a line extending from his house +to the church. From Gladys, one of these children, the dukes of Beaufort +and earls of Pembroke are descended. The farm alluded to was formerly +the red deer park of Raglan Castle. + +White Castle must have been constructed in the earliest period of the +Norman era, if not before the conquest; and the massive ruins that still +remain attest that it must have kept the country side in awe, as the +abode of one of those fierce barons who were the prototypes of the giants +and dragons of the romancers. This fortress, with those of Scenfrith and +Grosmont on the banks of the Monnow, belonged to Brien Fitz Count, the +Norman conqueror of the tract called Overwent, stretching from the Wye to +Abergavenny; and they were afterwards seized by Henry III., and given by +him to the celebrated Herbert de Burgh. Herbert resigned them anew to +the crown, after being imprisoned and almost famished to death. Henry +granted them to his son Edward Crouchback, and they afterwards fell to +John of Gaunt, in the way we have related of Monmouth Castle, and became +parcel of the duchy of Lancaster. + +The ruins stand on the ridge of an eminence, surrounded by a moat. The +walls, which are very massive, describe nearly an oval, and are defended +by six round towers, not dividing the courtine in the usual way, but +altogether extramural, and capable, therefore, of acting as independent +fortresses, even after the inner court had been taken. The principal +entrance was protected by a portcullis and drawbridge, and by an immense +barbican, greatly disproportioned to the size of the castle, on the +opposite site of the moat. The name of the place was Castell Gwyn, White +Castle, or Castell Blanch, all which mean the same thing in British, +Saxon, and Norman. + +In the time of James I., it is presented as "ruinous and in decay time +out of mind," and yet, during the reign of his immediate predecessor +Elizabeth, it is described in the Worthines of Wales as "a loftie +princely place." + + "Three castles fayre are in a goodly ground, + Grosmont is one, on hill it builded was; + Skenfrith the next, in valley it is found, + The soyle about for pleasure there doth passe; + Whit Castle is the third of worthy fame, + The county there doth bear Whit Castle's name, + A stately seate, a loftie princely place, + Whose beauties give the simple soyle some grace." + +Scenfrith is not more than five miles from White Castle, but the access +to it is only fit for pedestrians. The ruin stands on a secluded spot in +the midst of hills, and overlooks the placid Monnow, the passage of which +it was no doubt its duty to guard. It is a small fortress severely +simple, and exhibiting all the marks of high antiquity. There are no +traces of outworks; but the walls are flanked by five circular towers. +About the middle of the area is a round tower, which was the keep or +citadel. Scenfrith seems to have no history peculiarly its own; it was +one of "the three castles," changing hands with them apparently as a +matter of course, and that was enough for its ambition. + +The road from Scenfrith to Grosmont leads through Newcastle; but the +remains of the fortress, from which this place derived its name, are +barely discernible, and its history has for ever perished. In the +absence of human associations, however, it is well provided with those of +another kind. The mount, or barrow, under which its fragments are +hidden, is the haunt of spirits; and an oak tree in the neighbourhood is +so completely protected by such means, that an attempt even to lop a +branch is sure to be punished by supernatural power. + +The ruins of Grosmont Castle stand on an eminence near the Monnow, +surrounded by a dry moat, with barbican and other outworks. Its pointed +arches declare it by far the youngest of the three sisters. The remains +now left enclose only a small area; but walls and foundations may be +traced, which show that its original size was really considerable, and +this is confirmed by the presence of a spacious apartment, which no doubt +formed the great baronial hall. In the reign of Henry III. it was +invested by Llewellin, and the siege raised by the king; and, on another +occasion, Henry retreated to Grosmont, where his troops were surprised by +the Welsh as they slept in the trenches, and lost five hundred horses, +besides baggage and treasure. The banks of the Monnow, from which the +ruins rise, are precipitous, and tufted with oaks, and the whole scene is +singularly picturesque. The hero of the village tradition is here John +of Kent, or Guent, who built a bridge over the Monnow in a single night, +by means of one of his familiar spirits. Many other stories as wonderful +are related of him by the inhabitants; some say he was a monk, versed in +the black art; others that he was a disciple of Owen Glendowr; and others +that he was the great magician himself. + +At Grosmont the line of the Monnow turns away to the west, towards its +source among the Black Mountains; but the traveller who eschews more +fatigue than is necessary will take the route by Craig-gate and +Crickhowell, and so get into a road which will lead him along the Honddy, +a tributary of the Monnow, to the magnificent ruins of Lanthony Abbey, +the furthest object we propose to him in this subsidiary tour. + + "Here it was, stranger, that the patron saint + Of Cambria passed his age of penitence-- + A solitary man; and here he made + His hermitage; the roots his food, his drink + Of Honddy's mountain-stream. Perchance thy youth + Has read with eager wonder how the knight + Of Wales, in Ormandine's enchanted bowers, + Slept the long sleep: and if that in thy veins + Flows the pure blood of Britain, sure that blood + Has flowed with quicker impulse at the tale + Of Dafydd's deeds, when through the press of war + His gallant comrades followed his green crest + To conquests. Stranger! Hatterel's mountain heights, + And this fair vale of Cwias, and the stream + Of Honddy, to thine after thoughts will rise + More grateful, thus associate with the name + Of Dafydd and the deeds of other days." + +"After catching a transient view of the Honddy," says archdeacon Coxe, +"winding through a deep glen, at the foot of hills overspread with wood +and sprinkled with white cottages, we proceeded along a hollow way, which +deepened as we advanced, and was scarcely broad enough to admit the +carriage. In this road, which, with more propriety might be termed a +ditch, we heard the roar of the torrent beneath, but seldom enjoyed a +view of the circumjacent scenery. We passed under a bridge thrown across +the chasm, to preserve the communication with the fields on each side: +this bridge was framed of the trunks of trees, and secured with side +rails, to prevent the tottering passenger from falling in the abyss +beneath. It brought to my recollection several bridges of similar +construction, which I observed in Norway, which are likewise occasionally +used as aqueducts, for the purposes of irrigation. Emerging from this +gloomy way, we were struck with the romantic village of Cwnyoy, on the +opposite bank of the Honddy, hanging on the sides of the abrupt cliff, +under a perpendicular rock, broken into enormous fissures. We continued +for some way between the torrent and the Gaer, and again plunged into a +hollow road, where we were enclosed, and saw nothing but the overhanging +hedgerows. . . . The abbey was built like a cathedral, in the shape of +Roman crosses, and though of small dimensions, was well proportioned. +The length, from the western door to the eastern extremity, is 210 feet; +and the breadth, including two aisles, 50; the length of the transept, +from north to south, 100. It was constructed soon after the introduction +of the Gothic architecture, and before the disuse of the Norman, and is a +regular composition of both styles. The whole roof, excepting a small +fragment of the north aisle, is fallen down, and the building is +extremely dilapidated. The nave alone exhibits a complete specimen of +the original plan, and is separated on each side by the two aisles, by +eight pointed arches, resting on piers of the simplest construction, +which are divided from the upper tier of Norman arches by a straight band +of _fascia_. From the small fragment in the northern aisle, the roofs +seem to have been vaulted and engroined, and the springing columns, by +which it was supported, are still visible on the wall. Four bold arches, +in the centre of the church, supported a square tower, two sides of which +only remain. The ornamental arch in the eastern window, which appears in +the engraving of Mr. Wyndham's Tour, and in that published by Hearne, has +now fallen. The only vestiges of the choir are a part of the south wall, +with a Norman door, that led into the side aisle, and the east end of the +south wall; a bold Norman arch, leading from the transept into the +southern aisle of the choir, still exists. The walls of the southern +aisle are wholly dilapidated; and the side view of the two ranges of +Gothic arches, stretching along the nave, is singularly picturesque; the +outside wall of the northern aisle is entire, excepting a small portion +of the western extremity; the windows of this part are wholly Norman, and +make a grand appearance. In a word, the western side is most elegant; +the northern side is most entire; the southern the most picturesque; the +eastern the most magnificent." + +The abbey originated in a small chapel, built here as a hermitage by St. +David, the titular saint of Wales; but for the account of its foundation +and history, we must refer the reader to Mr. Coxe's Tour, Dugdale's +Monasticon, or the History of Gloucestershire. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Raglan Castle--Description of the ruins--History of the Castle--The old +lord of Raglan--Surrender of the fortress--Charles I. and his host--Royal +weakness--The pigeons of Raglan--Death of the old lord--Origin of the +steam Engine. + +That magnificent specimen of what is called a castellated mansion, Raglan +castle, is so interesting in itself, and at so convenient a distance from +the river, that it forms an indispensable part of the tour of the Wye. +The ruins stand upon an eminence, near the village of the same name, +eight miles from Monmouth, and cover, with their massive forms, an area +of one-third part of a mile in circumference. This includes the citadel, +which was not contained within the fortress as usual, but formed a +separate building, connected with it by a drawbridge. It was called +Melyn y Gwent, or the Yellow Tower of Gwent. It was of a hexagon form, +five stories high, defended by bastions and a moat, and surrounded with +raised walks or terraces. The building was faced with hewn stone, of a +greyish colour, and from its smoothness resembling polished marble. + +The earliest style of this edifice dates only from the reign of Henry V.; +but the greater part was probably added afterwards, when, by the marriage +of Sir Charles Somerset into the house of Herbert, and the acquisition +then of the lordships of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower, the house of +Beaufort became one of the greatest in the county. The building is of a +description peculiar to that period in the history of Monmouthshire, when +the barons had superadded to their warlike habits those of modern luxury +and magnificence. Externally, the place has evidently been a strong +fortress; internally a splendid mansion. The ascent to the state +apartment is both noble and well contrived; while the circular staircase +in the hexagon citadel, the windows of the great hall, and the +chimney-pieces, with their light and elegant cornices, are in the style +of modern edifices. The kitchen and butlery were connected with the +hall, and indicate, by their construction, the princely hospitality of +the lords of Raglan. All the rooms had chimneys, those of each floor +distinct from the rest. The cellars were extensive--so were the +subterranean passages and dungeons. The architecture is various, some +parts of the most elegant gothic, some heavy and unwieldy, representing +at once the two distinct characters of luxury and war. The southern +declivity, towards the village, was laid out in fish-ponds; three parks +of considerable extent supplied game and recreation; and the proprietor +of this unique mansion was able, through the fertility of his surrounding +estates, to maintain a garrison of eight hundred men. + + "Of these noble ruins," says Mr. Coxe, "the grand entrance is the + most magnificent; it is formed by a gothic portal, flanked with two + massive towers: the one beautifully tufted with ivy, the second so + entirely covered, that not a single stone is visible. At a small + distance, on the right, appears a third tower, lower in height, + almost wholly ivyless, and with its machicolated summit, presenting a + highly picturesque appearance. The porch, which still contains the + grooves for two portcullises, leads into the first court, once paved, + but now covered with turf, and sprinkled with shrubs. The eastern + and northern sides contained a range of culinary offices, of which + the kitchen is remarkable for the size of the fire-place; the + southern side seems to have formed a grand suite of apartments, and + the great bow window of the hall, at the south-western extremity of + the court, is finely canopied with ivy. The stately hall which + divides the two courts, and seems to have been built in the days of + queen Elizabeth, contains the vestiges of ancient hospitality and + splendour: the ceiling is fallen down, but the walls still remain; it + is sixty feet in length, twenty-seven in breadth, and was the great + banqueting-room of the castle. At the extremity are placed the arms + of the first marquis of Worcester, sculptured in stone, and + surrounded with the garter: underneath is the family motto, which + fully marks the character of the noble proprietor, who defended the + castle with such spirit from the parliamentary army: 'Mutare vel + timere sperno;' 'I scorn either to change or to fear.' The + fire-place deserves to be noticed for its remarkable size, and the + singular structure of the chimney. The hall is occasionally used as + a fives court. + + "To the north of the hall are ranges of offices, which appear to have + been butteries; beyond are the traces of splendid apartments. In the + walls above I observed two chimney-pieces, in high preservation, + neatly ornamented with a light frieze and cornice: the stone frames + of the windows are likewise in many parts, particularly in the south + front, distinguished with mouldings and other decorations, which Mr. + Windham justly observes, would not be considered inelegant, even at + present. + + "The western door of the hall led into the chapel, which is now + dilapidated; but its situation is marked by some of the flying + columns, rising from grotesque heads, which supported the roof. At + the upper end are two rude whole-length figures, in stone, several + yards above the ground, recently discovered by Mr. Heath, under the + thick clusters of ivy. Beyond the foundations of the chapel is the + area of the second court, skirted with a range of buildings, which, + at the time of the siege, formed the barracks of the garrison. Not + the smallest traces remain of the marble fountain, which once + occupied the centre of the area, and was ornamented with the statue + of a white horse. + + "Most of the apartments of this splendid abode were of grand + dimensions, and the communications easy and convenient. The strength + of the walls is still so great, that if the parts still standing were + roofed and floored, it might even now be formed into a magnificent + and commodious habitation." + +The fountain mentioned above was called the White Horse, from the figure +from which the water played. In a note supplied by Dr. Griffin to +Williams's History of Monmouthshire, it is said that the people who +showed the ruins used to exhibit part of the body of a _black_ horse +which stood in the middle of the water which supplied the castle. The +cause of the change of colour was that during the siege the +parliamentarians poisoned the fountain! The horse, it seems, absorbed +the fatal drug, and not only became black, but when struck by any hard +substance, emitted a fetid smell. It is difficult to trace the early +history of the castle, from the contradictory accounts given of it by +Dugdale; but in the time of Henry V. the proprietor was Sir William ap +Thomas, second son of Sir Thomas ap Guillim, from whom the earls of +Pembroke, Powis, and Caernarvon are descended in the male, and the dukes +of Beaufort in the female line. William, the eldest son of this Sir +William, was created by Edward IV. lord of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower; +and, in obedience to the royal command, he discontinued the Welsh custom +of changing the surname at every descent, and took Herbert as his family +name, in honour of his ancestor Herbert Fitzhenry, chamberlain to Henry +I. Richard was for some time detained at Raglan in the custody of lord +Herbert, who was a distinguished partisan of the house of York, and who +at length died on the scaffold, at Banbury, in this cause, having +previously been created earl of Pembroke. His son, by the desire of +Edward IV., yielded this title to the Prince of Wales; and, dying without +male issue, the castle of Raglan, and many other noble possessions +devolved upon his daughter Elizabeth. The heiress married Sir Charles +Somerset, natural son of the duke of Somerset, who lost his head in 1463 +for his devotion to the house of Lancaster; and he, a brave soldier, a +prudent statesman, and an accomplished courtier, was created by Henry +VIII., for his services, earl of Worcester. + +It is probable that the castle of Raglan, owed a great part of its +magnificence to him. In the following reign, it is thus mentioned in the +Worthines of Wales. + + "Not far from thence, a famous castle fine, + That Raggland hight, stands moted almost round, + Made of freestone, upright, straight as line, + Whose workmanship in beauty doth abound. + + "The curious knots, wrought all with edged toole, + The stately tower that looks ore pond and poole, + The fountain trim, that runs both day and night, + Doth yield in showe a rare and noble sight." + +Four earls of Worcester held almost royal state in this princely abode; +but the fifth earl and first marquis was destined to witness its fall. +He was one of the most devoted friends of Charles I.; and may be said to +have defended not only his own mansion but all Monmouthshire from the +parliamentary arms. + +The defeat of the royal army at Marston Moor was the signal for the fall +of Monmouth and of Raglan Castle. Prince Rupert immediately directed his +attention to the marches of Wales, and ordered colonel Gerard to force +his way through Gloucestershire by the Aust passage: but the latter was +opposed by Massey, and defeated. Monmouth soon after fell into the hands +of Massey by the treachery of Kirle, lieutenant-colonel to Holtby, +governor of the town for Charles; and lord Worcester at Raglan, in great +alarm, demanded the assistance of prince Rupert's cavalry. + +Throgmorton, on whom the command of Monmouth devolved, set out with a +party of three hundred horse to surprise the castle of Chepstow, and in +his absence the following brilliant exploit was performed by the +royalists, which we give in the words of Sanderson. "The cavaliers from +Ragland and Godridg, about break of day, lodg themselves undiscovered +behind a rising ground near Monmouth, and viewing all advantages, fourty +of them come up to the higher side of the town towards Hereford, having a +sloping bank cast up of good height, with a ditch, over which they pass, +mount the bank, and climbed over, and so got to the next part, fell upon +the guard, some killed, other fled, and with an iron bar break the post +chain, force the gate, and open it to the horse, who ride up with full +career to the main guard, seized them, and took the rest in their beds, +with colonel Broughton, four captains, as many lieutenants and ensigns, +the committee, all the common souldiers, two hundred prisoners, two +sakers, a drake, nine hammerguns, ammunition and provision, and five +hundred muskets." + +But the fate of the war was now determined, and after the battle of +Naseby Charles was unable to meet the parliamentarians in a general +engagement, and retired to the castle of Raglan. Thence he secretly +departed to commit himself to the Scottish army; and the marquis of +Worcester was besieged at Raglan for six months. The old lord, who was +then eighty-four years of age, on hearing of the landing of his son lord +Glamorgan with some Irish forces, sent the following bold letter to the +parliamentarian committee at Chepstow. + + "Having notice that you are not ignorant of my son's landing with the + Irish forces, I am so much of a father, and tender of the whole + country's ruin, that if this coming to this place be hasted by the + occasion of your answer, you and not I will be the occasion of the + country's curse. You have taken from me my rents and livelihood, for + which if you give unbelied reparations, I shall be glad to live a + quiet neighbour amongst you; if otherwise, you will force me to what + my own nature hath no liking of, and yet justifiable by the word of + God, and law of nature. I expect your answer by the messenger, as + you give occasion. + + "H. WORCESTER. + + "Raglan, May 29, 1646." + +This brought on a long and fruitless negotiation. The old lord saw that +even the master of Raglan was not the master of circumstances; and, at +length, it was agreed that the castle should be delivered up. "Nobly +done," says Sanderson, "to hold out the last garrison for the king in +England or Wales." In the articles of surrender, however, the soldierly +honour of the marquis was spared as much as possible, it being agreed +"that all the officers, gentlemen, and soldiers, with all other persons +there, should march out with their horses and arms, colours flying, drums +beating, trumpets sounding, matches lighted at both ends, bullets in +mouth, each soldier twelve charges of powder, matches and bullets +proportionable, bag and baggage, to any place within two miles of any +garrison where the marquis shall mention." + +Soon after this surrender, the castle was demolished, and the timber cut +down in the parks, the loss to the family, in personal property, without +including the forfeiture and an estate of twenty thousand pounds a year, +being estimated at upwards of a hundred thousand pounds. The Chase of +Wentwood, including Chepstow Castle and Park, was immediately bestowed +upon Oliver Cromwell; who appears also to refer, in the settlements upon +his family to other estates in Monmouthshire, parcels of the noble +property of the marquis of Worcester. + +In a publication of that day, entitled "Witty Apothegms delivered at +several times, and on several occasions, by king James I., king Charles +I., and the marquis of Worcester," several anecdotes are given which +throw a strong light upon the character of this fine old lord of Raglan. + +"In the midst of the civil commotions, Charles I. made several visits to +Raglan Castle, and was entertained with becoming magnificence. The +marquis not only declined all offers of remuneration, but also advanced +large sums; and when the king thanked him for the loans, replied, Sir, I +had your word for the money, but I never thought I should be so soon +repayed; for now you have given me thanks, I have all I looked for." At +another time, the king, apprehensive lest the stores of the garrison +should be consumed by his suite, empowered him to exact from the country +such provisions as were necessary for his maintainance and recruit, "I +humbly thank your majesty," he said, "but my castle will not stand long +if it leans on the country; I had rather be brought to a morsel of bread, +than any morsels of bread should be brought me to entertain your +majesty." + +The following conversation shows the amiable weakness of Charles's +humanity. + +Sir Trevor Williams, and four other principal gentlemen of Monmouthshire, +being arrested for disloyalty, and conducted to Abergavenny, the king was +advised to order them to an immediate trial, which must have ended in +their conviction; but Charles, moved by the tears and protestations of +Trevor Williams, suffered him to be released, on bail, and committed the +others only to a temporary confinement. "The king told the marquess what +he had done, and that when he saw them speak so honestly, he could not +but give some credit to their words, so seconded by tears, and withal +told the marquess that he had onely sent them to prison; whereupon the +marquess said, what to do? to poyson that garrison? Sir, you should have +done well to have heard their accusations, and then to have shewn what +mercy you pleased. The king told him, that he heard that they were +accused by some contrary faction, as to themselves, who, out of distaste +they bore to one another on old grudges, would be apt to charge them more +home than the nature of their offences had deserved; to whom the marquess +made this return, Well, Sir, you may chance to gain the kingdom of heaven +by such doings as these, but if you ever get the kingdom of England by +such ways, I will be your bondman." + +Another conversation between the marquis and Sir Thomas Fairfax is worth +relating. + +"After much conference between the marquess and General Fairfax, wherein +many things were requested of the general by the marquess, and being, as +he thought himself, happy in the attainment, his lordship was pleased to +make a merry petition to the general as he was taking his leave, viz. in +behalf of a couple of pigeons, who were wont to come to his hand, and +feed out of it constantly, in whose behalf he desired the general that he +would be pleased to give him his protection for them, fearing the little +command that he should have over his soldiers in that behalf. To which +the general said, I am glad to see your lordship so merry. Oh, said the +marquess, you have given me no other cause, and hasty as you are, you +shall not go untill I have told you a story. + +"There were two men going up Holborn in a cart to be hanged; one of them +being very merry and jocund, gave offence to the other who was sad and +dejected, insomuch that the downcast man said unto the other, I wonder, +brother, that you can be so frolic, considering the business we are going +about. Tush, answered the other, thou art a fool; thou wentest a +thieving, and never thought what would become of thee, wherefore being on +a sudden surprised, thou fallest into such a shaking fit, that I am +ashamed to see thee in that condition: whereas I was resolved to be +hanged, before ever I fell to stealing, which is the reason nothing +happenning strange or unexpected, I go so composed unto my death. So, +said the marquess, I resolved to undergo whatsoever, even the worst of +evils that you are able to lay upon me, before I took up arms for my +sovereign, and therefore wonder not that I am so merry." + +"In the correspondence with Fairfax," says the author of the Historical +Tour, "which preceded the capitulation, the marquis of Worcester seems to +have strongly suspected that the parliament would not adhere to the +conditions. His apprehensions were not groundless, for on his arrival in +London he was committed to the custody of the Black Rod. He bitterly +complained of this cruel usage, and deeply regretted that he had trusted +himself to the mercy of the parliament. A few hours before his death, he +said to Dr. Bayley, If to seize upon all my goods, to pull down my house, +to fell my estate, and send up for such a weak body as mine was, so +enfeebled by disease, in the dead of winter, in the winter of mine age, +be merciful, what are they whose mercies are so cruel? Neither do I +expect that they should stop at all this, for I fear they will persecute +me after death. + +"Being informed, however, that parliament would permit him to be buried +in his family vault, in Windsor Chapel; he cried out, with great +sprightliness of manner, Why, God bless us all, why then I shall have a +better castle when I am dead, than they took from me whilst I was alive. +With so much cheerfulness and resignation did this hero expire, in the +eighty-fifth year of his age." + +The second marquis was the author of that puzzling "Century of the Names +and Scantlings of such Inventions as I can at present call to mind to +have tried and perfected." + +"It appears," we are told, "from a passage in the Experimental Philosophy +of Dr. Desaguliers, that Captain Savary derived his invention of the fire +engine, since called the steam engine, from the 68th article in the +Century of Scantlings; and that to conceal his original he bought up all +the marquis's books, and burnt them." The following is the "scantling." + + "An admirable and most forcible way to drive up water by fire, not by + drawing or sucking it upwards, for that must be, as the philosopher + calleth it, _intra sphaeram activitatis_, which is at but such a + distance. But this way hath no bounder, if the vessels be strong + enough; for I have taken a piece of a whole cannon, whereof the end + was burst, and filled it three quarters full of water, stopping and + screwing up the broken end, as also the touch-hole, and making a + constant fire under it, within twenty-four hours it burst, and made a + great crack; so that having a way to make my vessels that they are + strengthened by the force within them, and the one to fill after the + other, I have seen the water run like a constant fountain stream + forty feet high; one vessel of water, rarified by fire, drives up + forty feet of cold water. And a man that attends the work has but to + turn two cocks, that one vessel of water being consumed, another + begins to force and refit with cold water, and so successfully, the + fire being tended and kept constant, with the self-same person may + likewise abundantly perform in the interim between the necessity of + turning the said cocks." + +We now renew our onward course, but with many a lingering look at +"delightsome Monmouth." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Troy House--Anecdote--Antique custom--Village Churches of +Monmouthshire--White-washing--The bard--Strewing graves with flowers--St. +Briavels' Castle--Llandogo--Change in the character of the river--The +Druid of the Wye--Wordsworth's "Lines composed above Tintern Abbey." + +Just below Monmouth the Wye forms a sharp curve, the apex of which is met +by the Monnow and the Trothy, in such a way that these two streams, +tending to nearly the same point, but coming from different directions, +and the two sides of the Wye curve, make the place resemble the meeting +of four roads. We have already seen how interesting the Monnow is; the +Trothy, which passes White Castle, and has its source in the mountains +near the Great Skyrrid, is hardly less so; the Wye we have followed from +the summit of Plinlimmon, through a tract of mingled beauty and grandeur, +unrivalled in England; and we are now about to trace its course to the +monastic ruins of Tintern, and through the fairy land of Piercefield to +its destined bourne, the Severn. + +The banks are at first low, and the country laid out in level meadows, +framed in at a short distance by swelling hills. Troy House is the first +object that arrests our attention in front by its sombre woods. In the +reign of James I. it was the property of Sir Charles Somerset, the +brother of the gallant defender of Raglan Castle, between whom and +Charles I. a conversation relating to Troy House took place, which is +thus reported in the "Apothegms." + +"Sir Thomas Somerset, brother to the marquis of Worcester, had a house +which was called Troy, five miles from Ragland Castle. This Sir Thomas, +being a complete gentleman, delighted much in fine gardens and orchards, +where, by the benefit of art, the earth was made so gratefull to him at +the same time that the king (Charles the first) happened to be at his +brother's house, that it yielded him wherewithal to send him a present; +and such a one as (the times and seasons considered) was able to make the +king believe that the sovereign of the planets had now changed the poles, +and that Wales (the refuse and outcast of the fair garden of England) had +fairer and riper fruit than England's bowels had on all her beds. This +present, given to the marquis, he would not suffer to be presented to the +king by any other hand than his own. 'Here I present you, sir,' said the +marquis, (placing his dishes on the table) 'with that which came not from +Lincoln that was, nor from London that is, nor from York that is to be, +but from Troy.' Whereupon the king smiled, and answered the marquis, +'Truly, my lord, I have heard that corn grows where Troy town stood, but +I never thought there had grown any apricots before.'" + +Some articles said to be relics of Henry V. are preserved here: the bed +in which he was born, the cradle in which he was rocked, and the armour +in which he fought at Agincourt. There is also a carved oak +chimney-piece from Raglan Castle. + +Soon the hills approach nearer, and, covered with rich foliage, sweep +down more suddenly towards the river. On the right bank is Penalt +church, standing on a wooded eminence; and behind it, an extensive common +distinguished for a superstitious custom, derived, as is supposed, from +the days of the druids. When a funeral passed that way, the cortege +stopped at an oak tree, and placed the corpse on a stone seat at its +foot. The company than sang a psalm, and resumed their procession. It +may be remarked that wherever an old oak tree is found in this part of +the country, in an insulated or otherwise remarkable situation, there is +sure to be connected with it some religious tradition, or some observance +whose origin is lost in antiquity. The churches are usually an +interesting feature in the landscape, for it would seem as if their +founders had sought purposely out for them solitary places, by the banks +of rivers or in the midst of groves or fields. In general they are +exceedingly simple in appearance, many having the marks of great +antiquity, and almost all being whitewashed from top to bottom. An +antiquary has ingeniously accounted for this peculiarity, by the custom +the Normans had of constructing even large buildings of pebbles and +rag-stone, which obliged them to cover the inequalities, outside and +inside, by a coat of lime and sand. However this may be, the effect is +not unpleasing; more especially when the rural temple, as is frequently +the case, is shaped like a barn, and without a belfry. Such churches, +more especially in the mountainous districts, still present the rounded +arches, and other peculiarities, which denote that their rude walls were +raised by our Saxon ancestors, if not by the ancient Britons themselves. + +We find the white walls, so common in Wales, alluded to as a poetical +circumstance by one of the bards of the fourteenth century, in a piece of +considerable beauty; and in the succeeding paragraph there is an allusion +to another Welsh custom, of more classical authority, that of strewing +the graves of the dead with flowers. The poem is an invocation to +summer, to shed its blessings over the country of Gwent. The following +is the paragraph referred to, with the second allusion, terminating the +ode by an abrupt and pathetic transition. + + "If I obtain thee, O summer, in thy splendid hour, with thy fair + growth and thy sporting gems; thy serenity pleasantly bear, thou + golden messenger, to Morganoc. With sunshine morn gladden thou the + place, and greet the whitened houses; give growth, give the first + fruits of the spring, and collect thou blossoms to the bushes; shine + proudly on the wall of lime, full as light and gaily bright; leave + there in the vale thy footsteps in juicy herbage, in fresh attire; + diffuse a load of delicious fruits, in bounteous course among its + woods; give thy crop like a stream over every lawn, the meadows, and + the land of wheat; clothe the orchard, the vineyard, and the garden, + with thy abundance and thy teeming harvest; and scatter over its fair + soil the lovely marks of thy glorious course! + + "And oh! whilst thy season of flowers, and thy tender sprays thick of + leaves remain; I will pluck the roses from the branches; the + flowerets of the meads, and gems of the woods; the vivid trefoils, + beauties of the ground, and the gaily smiling bloom of the verdant + herbs, to be offered to the memory of a chief of favorite fame: + Humbly I will lay them on the grave of Ivor!" + +The Ivor here alluded to was Ivor Hael, or the Generons, an ancestor of +the Tredgear family of Morgans, whose pedigree is traced, by the Welsh +bards from the third son of Noah. The poet David, ap Gwillim, styled the +Welsh Ovid, loved a lady of the name of Morvid, in whose praise his +prolific muse produced no fewer than a hundred and forty-seven poems. A +rich rival, however, gained the unwilling prize; and the son of song +consoled himself by carrying off his lost mistress on two several +occasions, when her husband, Rhys Gwgan, was with the army in France, +where he served in the rank of captain at the battle of Crecy. For both +these offences he was fined and imprisoned, and in both instances +liberated by the gentlemen of Gwent, who came forward in a body in favour +of their darling bard. The above extract is taken from one of two poems +which he wrote in testimony of his gratitude. It may be added, that when +flowers are planted on graves, it was, and we believe is the custom to +surround the area with stones, which are periodically _whitewashed_. + +On the bank opposite Penalt, or a little further down, is Redbrook, upper +and lower, the one standing above the other on the hill side. The stream +from which they derive this name separates Monmouthshire from +Gloucestershire, and the Wye then continues the boundary. The brook, +also, serves the purpose of turning the wheels of some iron and tin +works; but without vulgarising any more than such accidents have done +heretofore, the scenic romance of the river. Wye Seal House comes next, +on the same side of the river, with the hamlet of Whitebrook and its +paper-mills on the opposite bank. Then Pan-y-van hill, and the ruins of +the old manor-house of Pilton--then an iron bridge over the Wye, and then +Big's-weir House, and its surrounding grove, with Hudknolls behind, and +the ruins of St. Briavels' Castle on their summit. + +This fortress stands in the forest of Dean, and dates from the reign of +Henry I., when it was founded by Milo, earl of Hereford, for the +residence and defence of some of the lords-marchers. St. Briavels, +formerly a place of some importance, is now a village. Its inhabitants +enjoyed several singular immunities which are now obsolete; but they have +still a right of common in Hudknolls wood, a tract of land on the banks +of the Wye seven miles long. They are supposed to enjoy the privilege +through the performance of a strange ceremony on Whit-sunday. Each +inhabitant pays twopence to the churchwardens, who buy bread and cheese +with the fund, which they cut into small pieces, and distribute to the +congregation immediately after the service is ended, in the midst of a +general scramble. They are also allowed to cut wood, but not timber, in +any part of the forest. It is said that a countess of Hereford procured +for them their privileges by the performance of a feat similar to that of +the Lady Godiva. + +St. Briavels' Castle was erected by Milo St. Walter, earl of Hereford, in +the time of Henry I., as a barrier against the Welsh. Two circular +towers alone remain entire with a narrow gateway between, composing the +north-west front. They contain several apartments, the walls of which +are eight feet thick. One is used as a prison for the hundred. In the +interior are two other similar gateways, on the right and left of which +are the remains of spacious rooms. + +The governor of St. Briavels--for it became a royal fortress after the +Hereford family had possessed it for about a century--had formerly +jurisdiction over the forest of Dean; and it is recorded, that in his +court the miners were sworn upon a branch of holly instead of the +testament, lest the holy book should be defiled by their fingers. + +We now enter a long reach of the river, with Tiddenham Chase Hill rising +boldly in front; till Llandogo appears, a beautiful little village on the +right bank, seated on a hill side in the midst of gardens and orchards, +and with its small church near the edge of the water, peeping through the +trees. This is a scene of quiet beauty, which after the massive forms we +have passed, we term _prettyness_. Whatever be its proper name, however, +in the pedantry of taste, it is not surpassed on the Wye in its own kind. +It is unfortunate, nevertheless, that at this spot an unfavourable change +should be observed in the river--although only in the river considered as +a volume of water, and not taken in conjunction with its scenery. Here +the Wye becomes a tide stream, acted upon by the ebb and flow of the +Severn sea; and in consequence, it is henceforward habitually turbid, and +no longer a current of pure element, subject only to the influence of +rains and freshes. + +This circumstance has also its effect upon the moral character of the +river. Large barges are floated up by the tide to Brook Weir, a little +lower down, which is midway between Monmouth and Chepstow, or nine miles +from each; and there they receive the merchandise brought thither in +small inland vessels from the upper part of the Wye. Our romantic +stream, therefore, whose outlines hitherto have been broken only by the +smokes of furnaces hidden among the trees, and whose still life has been +varied only by the corracles of the ancient Britons, and other inland +craft that never dreamt of the breezes of the salt sea, becomes now a +small highway of trade, a sort of water lane by which the corn, and +hoops, and fagots, and other productions of the interior are conveyed to +Bristol. But even the coasting barge, with her blackened sails, and +sixty tons of cargo, is not here "a jarring and a dissonant thing." +Creeping with the tide along those solemn banks, she acquires a portion +of their solemnity; floating silently through those pastoral vales, she +is invested, for the time being, with their simplicity. Her +characteristics are swallowed up in the character of the river--the spell +of the Wye is upon her! + +If you doubt the fact, let us wander on but a little further; let us turn +the point of Lyn Weir, and, looking along the reach beyond, inquire with +what vulgarised ideas, with what broken associations, we find ourselves +gliding into the region of Tintern! Near this spot, the great Druid of +the Wye, the poet of nature internal and external, produced a poem which +in all probability will be read, either with tears or smiles of delight, +long after the works of man shall have completely obliterated those +features of the grand, the beautiful, the simple, and sublime, to which +it is our humble task to point the finger. + + "Five years have past, five summers, with the length + Of five long winters! and again I hear + These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs + With a sweet inland murmur.--Once again + Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, + That on a wild secluded scene impress + Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect + The landscape with the quiet of the sky. + The day is come when I again repose + Here, under this dark sycamore, and view + These plots of cottage ground, these orchard tufts, + Which, at this season, with their unripe fruits, + Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves + Among the woods and copses, nor disturb + The wild green landscape. Once again I see + These hedgerows, hardly hedgerows, little lines + Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms, + Green to the very doors, and wreaths of smoke + Sent up, in silence, from among the trees; + With some uncertain notice, as might seem + Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods, + Or of some hermit's cave, where, by his fire, + The hermit sits alone. + + "These beauteous forms, + Through a long absence, have not been to me + As is a landscape to a blind man's eye: + But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din + Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, + In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, + Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart; + And passing even into my purer mind, + With tranquil restoration:--feelings too + Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps, + As have no slight or trivial influence + On that best portion of a good man's life, + His little, nameless, unremembered acts + Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust, + To them I may have owed another gift, + Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood + In which the burden of the mystery + In which the heavy and the weary weight + Of all this unintelligible world + Is lightened:--that serene and blessed mood, + In which the affections gently lead us on, + Until, the breath of this corporeal frame + And even the motion of our human blood + Almost suspended, we are laid asleep + In body, and become a living soul: + While with an eye made quiet by the power + Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, + We see into the life of things. + + "If this + Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft, + In darkness and amid the many shapes + Of joyless daylight, when the fretful stir + Unprofitable, and the fever of the world + Have hung upon the beatings of my heart; + How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, + O sylvan Wye! Thou wanderer through the woods, + How often has my spirit turned to thee. + + "And now with gleams of half extinguished thought, + With many recognitions dim and faint, + And somewhat of a sad perplexity, + The picture of the mind revives again, + While here I stand, not only with the sense + Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts + That in this moment, there is life and food + For future years, and so I dare to hope, + Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first + I came among these hills; when like a roe + I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides + Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams, + Wherever nature led: more like a man + Flying from something that he dreads, than one + Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then + (The coarser pleasures of my boyish days, + And their glad animal movements all gone by) + To me was all in all.--I cannot paint + What then I was. The sounding cataract + Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock, + The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, + Their colours and their forms, were then to me + An appetite; a feeling and a love + That had no need of a remoter charm, + By thought supplied, nor any interest + Unborrowed from the eye.--That time is past, + And all its aching joys are now no more, + And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this + Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts + Have followed; for such loss, I would believe, + Abundant recompense. For I have learned + To look on nature, not as in the hour + Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes + The still, sad music of humanity + Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power + To chasten and subdue. And I have felt + A presence that disturbs me with the joy + Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime + Of something far more deeply interfused, + Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, + And the round ocean and the living air, + And the blue sky, and in the mind of man: + A motion and a spirit, that impels + All thinking things, all objects of all thought, + And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still + A lover of the meadows, and the woods, + And mountains; and of all that we behold + From this green earth; of all the mighty world + Of eye, and ear,--both what they half create, + And what perceive; well pleased to recognise, + In nature and the language of the sense, + The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, + The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul + Of all my moral being." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Vales of the Wye--Valley of Tintern--Tintern +Abbey--History--Church--Character of the ruin--Site--Coxe's +description--Monuments--Insecurity of sepulchral fame--Churchyarde on +tombs--Opinions on Tintern--Battle of Tintern. + +The "Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the +banks of the Wye during a tour," are justly esteemed one of the +masterpieces of modern poetry; but independently of this, they belong so +peculiarly to the river we are attempting to illustrate, and are +associated so intimately with the character of its scenery, and its +reputation as a fountain of high thoughts and beautiful feelings, that +our volume would have been incomplete without them. It is curious that +this piece, which is dated in the concluding years of the last century, +should be the only fruits as yet given to the world of the poetical +inspiration of the Wye--for the effusions of Bloomfield are not to be +named with those of Wordsworth. + +We have seen that where the picturesque character of the Wye is chiefly +formed by its banks, which is the case from Goodrich Castle downwards, +these embrace the stream with more or less straitness, rising in naked +crags from the water's edge, or throwing their waving woods over the +current. At intervals, however, they recede to some little distance from +either side; picturesque hills forming the side-screens, and hills, +rocks, and trees terminating the perspective in front, and enclosing the +river like a lake. In such cases, the bottom is formed by a green +pastoral meadow, through which the stream wanders leisurely, as if +reposing after former struggles, and preparing for new ones. These +lonely vales are not merely secluded from "the hum, the crowd, the shock +of men," but from all turbulent thoughts and unholy desires. The world +lives in them only in the recollections of dead things, and feelings, and +persons. They are spots, to use the fine but unappreciated image of +Maturin, + + "Where memory lingers o'er the grave of passion, + Watching its tranced sleep!" + +The admirable taste so unequivocally displayed by the monks of old, in +the selection of sites for their ascetic retreats, could not have +overlooked this characteristic of the Wye; and accordingly we find, in +the most beautiful of these delightful nooks, standing on a gently +swelling meadow, by the banks of the lake-like river, the finest +conventual ruins in England. + + [Picture: Tintern] + +Tintern Abbey, though one of the oldest of the Cistercian communities in +this country, was never famous either for its wealth, or the number of +its brethren; and at the dissolution it contained only thirteen monks, +supported by a rental of between two and three hundred pounds at the +highest calculation. {158} It was founded in 1131 by Walter de Clare, +and dedicated to the Virgin Mary; but the endowments were greatly +increased by Gilbert de Strongbow, lord of Striguil and Chepstow, and +afterwards earl of Pembroke. The religious colony consisted of +Cistercians, otherwise called White Monks, introduced into England only +three years before, where they formed an establishment at Waverley in +Surrey. These brethren spread so luxuriantly, however, that in the reign +of Henry VIII. there were thirty-six greater, and thirty-nine lesser +monasteries, and twenty-six nunneries, of their rule. + +The founder of the church was Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk; and it would +appear that the choir was finished and consecrated before the rest of the +building was complete, a circumstance not unusual at that time. The +consecration took place in 1268; and in the body of the church the +architecture is of a style long subsequent. The remains of the church +are now the only interesting parts of the ruin, at least as a picture: +and they are in fact what is called "Tintern Abbey;" although there are +still fragments remaining here and there of the other parts of the pile. +The church was built in the regular cathedral form; with a nave, north +and south aisles, transept and choir, and a tower which stood in the +centre. + +Complete as the demolition is, there are at least vestiges, even in the +most ruinous parts, which explain the original form, and even most of the +details of the edifice. The very effects of time, as may be well +supposed, are here among the principal advantages. The broken outlines, +the isolated columns, the roofless walls, are all adjuncts of the +picturesque; but added to these, there are the curtains, the canopies, +the chaplets, coronals, festoons, of ivy, mosses and lichens, which give +as much effect to a ruin, as rich draperies do to naked walls. + + [Picture: Tintern Abbey] + +The tiles which formed the flooring have been removed; and a carpet of +smooth turf laid down, on which fragments of columns, monuments, statues, +and sculptures are scattered. This of course is not entirely the doing +of time; but art is not displayed obtrusively enough to offend. A ruined +edifice, it should be observed, although this is frequently forgotten by +critics, is a work of man and nature _conjointly_; and the traces, +therefore, of taste or ingenuity are not to be condemned, as if these +were exercised in shaping a cliff or amending a cataract. + +Gilpin describes Tintern Abbey as occupying "a great eminence, in the +middle of a circular valley;" and another author declares its site, +somewhat tautologically, to be a _flat plain_; to which some idle person +has taken the liberty of appending this marginal note, in the copy of the +work in the British Museum--"Flat plain indeed! It is situated just at +the brow of a richly wooded hill!" The truth is, that the ruin itself is +not to be entirely depended upon, as it contrives to assume a different +appearance even in respect of position, at every turn. Viewed from a +short distance down the river, it actually looks as if standing on an +eminence; but on a nearer approach, we find it in reality not greatly +elevated above line of the water. It is in fact built at the bottom of +the valley, in a spot chosen apparently for solitude and meditation. The +solitude, however, it must be confessed is not now so complete as one +would wish. The inhabitants of the monastery, it is true, have vanished, +but their places have been supplied by poor cottagers, who hide their +misery in the very cells of the monks; and, if this were not enough, +fragments of the ruin have been broken up, or unearthed, for the +construction of other hovels. In the following description will be found +the opinions on this remarkable scene of archdeacon Coxe, who, together +with the less correct, but more _artistical_ Gilpin, have been hitherto +the only recognised authorities of the Wye. + + "We disembarked about half a mile above the village of Tintern, and + followed the sinuous course of the Wye. As we advanced to the + village, we passed some picturesque ruins hanging over the edge of + the water, which are supposed to have formed part of the abbot's + villa, and other buildings occupied by the monks; some of these + remains are converted into dwellings and cottages, others are + interspersed among the iron founderies and habitations. + + "The first appearance of the celebrated remains of the abbey church + did not equal my expectations, as they are half-concealed by mean + buildings, and the triangular shape of the gable ends has a formal + appearance. + + "After passing a miserable row of cottages, and forcing our way + through a crowd of importunate beggars, we stopped to examine the + rich architecture of the west front; but the door being suddenly + opened, the inside perspective of the church called forth an + instantaneous burst of admiration, and filled me with delight, such + as I scarcely ever before experienced on a similar occasion. The eye + passes rapidly along a range of elegant gothic pillars, and, glancing + under the sublime arches which supported the tower, fixes itself on + the splendid relics of the eastern window, the grand termination of + the choir. + + "From the length of the nave, the height of the walls, the aspiring + form of the pointed arches, and the size of the east window, which + closes the perspective, the first impressions are those of grandeur + and sublimity. But as these emotions subside, and we descend from + the contemplation of the whole to the examination of the parts, we + are no less struck with the regularity of the plan, the lightness of + the architecture, and the delicacy of the ornaments; we feel that + elegance is its characteristic no less than grandeur, and that the + whole is a combination of the beautiful and the sublime. + + "The church was constructed in the shape of a cathedral, and is an + excellent specimen of gothic architecture in its greatest purity. + The roof is fallen in, and the whole ruin open to the sky, but the + shell is entire; all the pillars are standing, except those which + divided the nave from the northern aisle, and their situation is + marked by the remains of the bases. The four lofty arches which + supported the tower spring high in the air, reduced to narrow rims of + stone, yet still preserving their original form. The arched pillars + of the choir and transept are complete; the shapes of all the windows + may be still discriminated, and the frame of the west window is in + perfect preservation; the design of the tracery is extremely elegant, + and when decorated with painted glass must have produced a fine + effect. Critics who censure this window as too broad for its height, + do not consider that it was not intended for a particular object, but + to harmonise with the general plan; and had the architect diminished + the breadth, in proportion to the height, the grand effect of the + perspective would have been considerably lessened. + + "The general form of the east window is entire, but the frame is much + dilapidated; it occupies the whole breadth of the choir, and is + divided into two large and equal compartments, by a slender shaft, + not less than fifty feet in height, which has an appearance of + singular lightness, and in particular points of view seems suspended + in the air. + + "Nature has added her ornaments to the decorations of art; some of + the windows are wholly obscured, others partially shaded with tufts + of ivy, or edged with lighter foliage; the tendrils creep along the + walls, wind round the pillars, wreath the capitals, or, hanging down + in clusters, obscure the space beneath. + + "Instead of dilapidated fragments overspread with weeds and choked + with brambles, the floor is covered with a smooth turf, which, by + keeping the original level of the church, exhibits the beauty of its + proportions, heightens the effect of the gray stone, gives a relief + to the clustered pillars, and affords an easy access to every part. + Ornamented fragments of the roof, remains of cornices and columns, + rich pieces of sculpture, sepulchral stones, and mutilated figures of + monks and heroes, whose ashes repose within these walls, are + scattered on the green sward, and contrast present desolation with + former splendour. + + "Although the exterior appearance of the ruins is not equal to the + inside view, yet in some positions, particularly to the east, they + present themselves with considerable effect. While Sir Richard Hoare + was employed in sketching the north-western side, I crossed the + ferry, and walked down the stream about half a mile. From this + point, the ruins, assuming a new character, seem to occupy a gentle + eminence, and impend over the river without the intervention of a + single cottage to obstruct the view. The grand east window, wholly + covered with shrubs, and half mantled with ivy, rises like the portal + of a majestic edifice embowered in wood. Through this opening and + along the vista of the church, the clusters of ivy, which twine round + the pillars or hang suspended from the arches, resemble tufts of + trees; while the thick mantle of foliage, seen through the tracery of + the west window, forms a continuation of the perspective, and appears + like an interminable forest." + +The reputation of Tintern Abbey depends upon no historical associations. +The romance of its situation is heightened by no romance of incident. It +is simply a part of a picture, and might be entitled in the catalogue of +a gallery "an abbey." The sepulchral remains it holds retain neither +name nor date; and one of the most entire of the figures (supposed to be +the effigies of the founder of the monastery, which, however, must be +looked for at Gloucester, where according to Leland he was buried) is +disputed the possession of the usual number of fingers on the right hand; +one antiquary, hesitating between four and five, and another according to +it, more generously, five fingers--and a thumb! In no part of the +country has this means of prolonging fame been more constantly resorted +to than in Monmouthshire; but unfortunately, owing to its geographical +position as a frontier district, in no part of the country has the object +been more frequently defeated. As a solitary instance of this among +thousands, we are tempted to quote a fragment which just now catches our +eye, from the rhymes of _Churchyarde_ (a most suitable name), and the +rather that it exhibits the poet of the "Worthines of Wales" in a more +poetical light than usual. He is describing the tombs in the church of +Abergavenny; and after noting the arms and other particulars, proceeds-- + + "But note a greater matter now, + Upon his tomb in stone, + Were fourteene lords that knees did bow + Unto this lord alone. + Of this rare work a porch is made, + The barrons there remaine + In good old stone, and auncient trade, + To show all ages plaine, + What honour wass to Hastings due, + What honour he did win: + What armes he gave, and so to blaze + What lord had Hastings bin." + +But alas for the frailty of fame even so secured! The dilapidated +monument laughed in the unconscious rhymer's face through the rents of +time; the principal effigies had been removed to a window, and several of +the "fourteene lords" placed in a porch; and the very name of him whose +memory the whole had been intended to perpetuate, had become a matter of +doubt and controversy! "Some say this great lord was called Bruce and +not Hastings, but most do hold opinion he was called Hastings!" + +It may seem almost superfluous to give any further evidence respecting +the picturesque character of Tintern Abbey; but as we design this volume +not merely to act the part of a sign-post, but to save the common reader +the trouble of reference, we shall add two other quotations. + + "It would be difficult to imagine a more favourable situation, or a + more sublime ruin. The entrance to it seems as if contrived by the + hand of some skilful scene-painter to produce the most striking + effect. The church, which is large, is still almost perfect; the + roof alone, and a few of the pillars, are wanting. The ruins have + received just that degree of care which is consistent with the full + preservation of their character; all unpicturesque rubbish which + could obstruct the view is removed, without any attempt at repair or + embellishment. A beautiful smooth turf covers the ground, and + luxuriant creeping plants grow amid the stones. The fallen ornaments + are laid in picturesque confusion, and a perfect avenue of thick + ivy-stems climb up the pillars, and form a roof over head. The + better to secure the ruin, a new gate of antique workmanship, with + iron ornaments, is put up. When this is suddenly opened, the effect + is most striking and surprising. You suddenly look down the avenue + of ivy-clad pillars, and see their grand perspective lines closed, at + a distance of three hundred feet, by a magnificent window eighty feet + high and thirty broad: through its intricate and beautiful tracery + you see a wooded mountain, from whose side project abrupt masses of + rock. Over head the wind plays in the garlands of ivy, and the + clouds pass swiftly across the deep blue sky. When you reach the + centre of the church, whence you look to the four extremities of its + cross, you see the two transept windows nearly as large and beautiful + as the principal one; through each you command a picture totally + different, but each in the wild and sublime style which harmonises so + perfectly with the building. Immediately round the ruin is a + luxuriant orchard. In spring, how exquisite must be the effect of + these grey venerable walls rising out of that sea of fragrance and + beauty!" + +The other extract belongs to the class sentimental, and is not a +description of Tintern Abbey, but of the mood of mind to which it +disposes. + + "The great tree, or vegetable rock, or emperor of the oaks (if you + please), before which I bowed with a sort of reverence in the fields + of Tintern, and which for so many ages has borne all the blasts and + bolts of heaven, I should deem it a gratification of a superior kind, + to approach again with 'unsandaled feet' to pay the same homage, and + to kindle with the same devotion. But I should find amidst the + magnificent ruins of the adjoining abbey, something of a sublime + cast, to give poignancy to my feelings. I must be alone. My mind + must be calm and pensive. It must be midnight. The moon, half + veiled in clouds, must be just emerging from behind the neighbouring + hills. All must be silent, except the winds gently rushing among the + ivy of the ruins. I should then invoke the ghosts of the abbey; and + fancy, with one stroke of her magic wand, would rouse them from their + dusty beds, and lead them into the centre of the ruin. I should + approach their shadowy existences with reverence, make inquiries + respecting the manners and customs, and genius and fate of antiquity, + desire to have a glimpse of the destiny of future ages, and enter in + conversations which would be too sacred, and even dangerous to + communicate." + +The only event unconnected with the monastery which is assigned to this +locality is a _battle_. Whether it was fought on the hills above, or +whether the demon of war actually intruded within the charmed circle of +Tintern--or whether the whole is a fable, invented for the express +purpose of desecrating the very idea of the place--we cannot tell. But +however this may be, the fact, or the falsehood, is commemorated in the +following epitaph, which is placed on the north side of the chancel of +the church of Mathern. + + Here lyeth entombed the body of + Frederic, King of Morganoch or + Glamorgan, commonly called + St. Thewdrick, and accounted a martyr, + because he was slain in a battle against + the Saxons, being then Pagans, and in + defence of the Christian religion. The + battle was fought at Tintern, when he + obtained a great victory. He died here + being in his way homeward, three + days after the battle, having taken + order with Maurice his son, who suc- + ceeded him in the kingdom, that in the + same place he should happen to decease, a + church should be built, and his body buri- + ed in ye same, which was accordingly performed + in the year 1601. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The Wye below Tintern--Banagor Crags--Lancaut--Piercefield +Bay--Chepstow--Ancient and modern bridge--Chepstow Castle--Roger de +Britolio--Romance of history--Chepstow in the civil wars--Marten the +regicide. + +The Wye being now a tide river, time requires to be studied by the +traveller who would see it in its beauty or grandeur. The shores must be +hidden by the full stream, and the overhanging woods fling their shadow +as before over the glancing waters. Some bargain for the moon, to silver +the tree tops, and send her angel-visitings through the vistas of +foliage. But the truth is, before reaching this point we have become the +spoiled children of nature; we have grown fastidious in our admiration, +and would criticise perfection itself. + +With the one drawback of the sludginess of the shores at ebb water, the +Wye below Tintern is as worthy of our homage as ever. But it may be, +that the romance of its rocks and woods impending over the current, and +the deep stillness of the scene, broken only by the rippling sound of its +flow, may harmonize _too_ closely with the holy solitude we have left. +Our sensations are uninterrupted; we carry with us the ruins and their +associations; the mouldering abbey glides upon the stream before us; and +the recesses of the rocks, and deep paths of the woods, are peopled with +the spectres of the monastery. Thus we have no new impressions to mark +our progress, and one of the finest parts of the river escapes almost +without notice. + +There is notwithstanding much variety in this part of our course. The +reaches are short; the banks steep, sometimes overhanging in naked +precipices, sometimes waving with romantic woods; while numerous narrow +promontories intercept the view, and cut the scene into separate +pictures. Banagor Crags, on the left, form a stupendous wall of cliff, +extending for a considerable distance, without presenting anything in +themselves to relieve the eye, except here and there some recesses or +small shrubs, painting their interstices. But, as if aware of the +disadvantage even of a sublime uniformity, nature has spread upon the +opposite side a scene incomparable for richness and variety. A bright +green sward, broken into narrow patches, swells upwards from the water's +edge, till it is lost in acclivities mantled with woods; and rising from +the ridge of these, a mass of perpendicular rock towers aloft to the +height, as it is computed, of eight hundred feet, overhung with shaggy +thickets. + +We now turn the peninsula of Lancaut, which comes sloping down from +Tiddenham Chase, till it terminates in fertile meadows; and, on the +right, rise from the water's edge, with a kind of fantastic majesty, the +Piercefield cliffs, capped with magnificent woods. Twelve projecting +masses of these rocks have received the names of the twelve apostles, and +a thirteenth is called St. Peter's Thumb. While wondering where this +will end, we sweep round another point, and find ourselves in Piercefield +Bay. To the right a line of perpendicular cliffs is still seen, but +crowned instead of trees with an embattled fortress; which, for a moment, +might seem to have been cut out of the rock. The view is closed by a +range of red cliffs, with the magnificent iron bridge of Chepstow +spanning the river. This is the last of the great views _on_ the Wye; +and if seen under favorable circumstances of time and tide, it is one of +the finest. + + [Picture: Chepstow] + +Chepstow stands on the side of an acclivity, overlooked itself on all +sides by loftier hills, so that from every part of the town a different +view is obtained. Approaching it from the road which leads from the New +Passage, this position, owing to the singularity of a part of the higher +ground, gives the scene a very peculiar appearance. Nothing is seen but +the red cliffs of the Wye, and the tall masts of the shipping rising +among them; and it is not till close at hand that the houses appear, +shelving down to the river. Archdeacon Coxe observes, that he has seldom +visited any town whose picturesque situation surpassed that of Chepstow; +and according to Mr. Wyndham, another traveller in this district, "the +beauties are so uncommonly excellent, that the most exact critic in +landscape would scarcely wish to alter a position in the assemblage of +woods, cliffs, ruins, and water." Among these features, the Wye and its +banks are conspicuous. The ridge of cliff on the left bank below the +bridge is remarkable both for its form and variety of colouring; while, +on the opposite bank above, the gigantic remains of the castle, +stretching along the brink of the precipice, give an air of romance to +the picture, not frequently found in one of the crowded haunts of men. + +The bridge is of cast iron, and was completed only in 1816. There are +five arches, resting on stone piers; but although in reality a massive +structure, it has the air of lightness, when viewed from the river, which +iron bridges usually possess. The old bridge was formerly composed of a +level floor, carried along wooden piers, except in the centre, where a +massive pillar of stone, dividing Gloucester and Monmouth, was the +support. Afterwards, however, stone piers were substituted for those on +the Monmouth side, before the two counties joined in the erection of the +present noble structure. + +"According to tradition," says Mr. Coxe, "the bridge of the Wye was +formerly half a mile above the present bridge, at a place called Eddis, +nearly opposite to the alcove in Piercefield grounds, and seemingly in a +direction leading towards an ancient encampment which encircles the +grotto. The remains of the abutments are said to have been visible in +the memory of some of the present generation; and the vestiges of a +pitched road were recently found in digging near the spot. I walked to +the spot, but could not discern the smallest traces of the ancient +bridge, and the ground on which the pitched road was discovered was +planted with potatoes. I was, however, amply gratified for my +disappointment by the pleasantness of the walk by the side of the river, +the beauty of the hanging woods of Piercefield, and the picturesque +appearance of the castle." + +The castle of Chepstow is said by some antiquaries, to have been built +originally by Julius Caesar; which is denied by others, on the reasonable +grounds, that Julius Caesar never was there, and that Roman reliques, +although abundant in the neighbourhood, have never been discovered in the +town. However this may be, the name by which it is at present known, is +Saxon, and denotes a place of traffic; and Leland traces at least its +prosperity to its situation being favourable for commerce. "The towne of +Chepstowe," says he, "hath been very strongly walled, as yet well doth +appere. The walles began at the grete bridge, over the Wy, and so came +to the castel; the which yet standeth fayer and strong, not far from the +ruin of the bridge. A grete lykelyhood ys, that when Carguen began to +decay, then began Chepstow to flourish, for yt standeth far better, as +upon Wy there ebbing and flowing, by the Rage coming out of the Severn, +so that to Chepstowe may come grete shippes." + +The castle, as we have said, crowns the brow of a precipice, forming here +the right bank of the Wye; and its walls, on the northern side, are so +close to the edge as to seem nothing more than a prolongation of the +rock. The rest of the fortress was defended by a moat and its own lofty +towers. + +The area was divided into four courts. The first, which is entered by a +Norman gateway, contained the grand hall, the kitchen, and other +apartments, on a scale of considerable grandeur. At the south-eastern +angle of this court is the keep, or citadel, now called Harry Marten's +Tower. The second court contains no architectural remains, except the +walls; but in the third is a remarkable building, usually designated as +the chapel. It seems to have formed one magnificent apartment, probably +with a gallery running along the sides. The fourth court was separated +from the rest by a moat, which was crossed by a drawbridge. Whether a +former building stood here or not, William Fitzosborn, earl of Hereford, +is said in Domesday Book to have built the castle of Chepstow. It was +inherited by his third son Roger de Britolio, who was deprived of his +estates, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment for rebellion. The +fierce character of this Norman baron is well illustrated in the +following anecdote preserved by Dugdale. + + "Though he frequently used many scornful and contumelious expressions + towards the king, yet he was pleased, at the celebration of the feast + of Easter in a solemn manner (as was then used), to send to this earl + Rodger, at that time in prison, his royal robes, who so disdained the + favour, that he forthwith caused a great fire to be made, and the + mantle, the inner surcoat of silk, and the upper garment, lined with + precious furs, to be suddenly burnt. Which being made known to the + king, he became not a little displeased, and said, '_Certainly he is + a very proud man who has thus abused me_; _but_, _by the brightness + of God_, _he shall never come out of prison as long as I live_.' + Which expression was fulfilled to the utmost, for he never was + released during the king's life, nor after, but died in prison." + +In the reign of Henry I., we find Chepstow in the possession of the Clare +family; of whom Richard de Clare, surnamed, like his father, Strongbow, +is famous for his Irish adventures. 'At the solicitation of Dermot +Macnagh, king of Leinster, who had been dethroned by his rival Roderic +the Great, king of Connaught (for there were then five kings in Ireland), +he proceeded to that country with twelve hundred men, to espouse the +cause of the unfortunate potentate: being offered, in the spirit of the +age, his daughter for a wife, and his kingdom for an inheritance. +Strongbow landed at Waterford in 1171; married the princess; and his +father-in-law dying at the very moment demanded by poetical justice, +conquered his promised kingdom, and took possession of Dublin the +capital. The romance, however, was spoiled by Henry II., who, in high +dudgeon at this presumption of a subject, confiscated his estates, and +carried an army over to Ireland, with the purpose of annexing Leinster to +the English crown. Strongbow submitted; abandoned Waterford and Dublin +to his feudal master; was restored to his estates, and made constable of +Ireland. His character is thus described by Giraldus Cambrensis: + + "This earle was somewhat ruddie and of sanguine complexion and + freckle face, his eyes greie, his face feminine, his voice small, and + his necke little, but somewhat of high stature: he was verie + liberall, corteous, and gentle; what he could not compass or bring to + passe in deed, he would win by good word and gentle speeches. In + time of peace he was more redie to yield and obeie than rule and + beare swaie. Out of the campe he was more like to a souldier + companion than a captaine or ruler; but in the camp and in the warres + he carried with him the state and countenance of a valiante captaine. + Of himselfe he would not adventure anie thing; but being advised and + set on, he refused no attempts; but for himselfe he would not rashlie + adventure or presumptuouslie take anie thing in hand. In the fighte + and battell he was a most assured token and signe to the whole + companie, either to stand valiante to the fight, or for policie to + retire. In all chances of warre he was still one and the same manner + of man, being neither dismaied with adversitie, or puffed up with + prosperitie." + +By the marriage of a daughter of Richard Strongbow (who had no male +issue) our castle next came into the hands of one of the greatest men of +his time, William, marshal of England, lord protector of the kingdom; and +by the marriage of his daughter (for although he had five sons they all +died without issue), it fell to Hugh Bigod, earl of Norfolk. This +daughter was Maud, remarkable for having been in her widowhood created +_marshal_ in virtue of her descent, the king himself, Henry III., +solemnly giving the truncheon into her hands. She was buried in Tintern +Abbey in 1248, her body being carried into the choir by her four sons. + +After changing hands several times, Chepstow Castle appears to have been +_sold_ to the earl of Pembroke; whose heiress Elizabeth conveyed it by +marriage, as we have already had occasion to relate, to Sir Charles +Somerset, afterwards earl of Worcester. Churchyarde mentions the fact of +the sale in his uncouth rhymes. + + "To Chepstowe yet, my pen agayne must passe, + When Strongbow once (an earl of rare renown), + A long time since, the lord and maister was + (In princly sort) of casle and of towne. + Then after that, to Mowbray it befell, + Of Norfolke duke, a worthie known full well; + Who sold the same to William Harbert, knight, + That was the earle of Pembroke then by right." + +During the civil wars, this place was considered of great importance. + + "At first, Chepstow was garrisoned for the king, until in 1645, + Colonel Morgan, governor of Gloucester, at the head of three hundred + horse and four hundred foot, and assisted by the mountaineers, with + little difficulty made himself master of the town, and in a few days + compelled the governor, Colonel Fitzmorris, to surrender the castle. + But the castle was afterwards surprised by the loyalists, under Sir + Nicholas Hemeys, who, in the absence of the governor, by means of a + secret correspondence, obtained possession of the western gate, and + made the garrison prisoners of war. On this event Cromwell marched + against it in person, took possession of the town, but assailed the + castle without success, though garrisoned only by a hundred and sixty + men. He then left Colonel Ewer, with a train of artillery, seven + companies of foot, and four troops of horse, to prosecute the siege. + But the garrison defended themselves valiantly, until the provisions + were exhausted, and even then refused to surrender under promise of + quarter, hoping to escape by means of a boat, which they had provided + for that purpose. A soldier of the parliamentary army, however, swam + across the river, with a knife between his teeth, cut the cable of + the boat, and brought it away; the castle was at length forced, and + Sir Nicholas Hemys and forty slain in the assault. This event was + considered by the parliament so important, that the captain who + brought the news was rewarded with fifty pounds, and a letter of + thanks was sent to Colonel Ewer and the officers and soldiers engaged + in that service." + +In 1645, the castle, with the other estates belonging to the marquis of +Worcester, were settled upon Oliver Cromwell, but were given back to the +family at the restoration. + + "For thirty years secluded from mankind, + Here Marten lingered. Often have these walls + Echoed his footsteps, as with even tread + He paced around his prison. Not to him + Did nature's fair varieties exist: + He never saw the sun's delightful beams, + Save when thro' yon high bars he pour'd a sad + And broken splendor." + +All this, it now appears, is a poetical exaggeration, and the thirty +years' captivity (diminished to twenty years) passed away as easily as +the sense of captivity would permit. The regicide was permitted to spend +his property as he pleased, to enjoy the association of his wife, to +receive visits, and even to return them in the neighbourhood, accompanied +by a guard. + +Marten was one of the most zealous of those men who cast down the statue +of royalty from a pedestal, upon which, although re-erected, it can never +again stand securely of its own strength unsupported by public opinion. +He does not appear to have been himself of irreproachable character, but +he was honest at least in theory, and true to his principles, such as +they were. + +"Being authorised," says Anthony Wood, "by parliament, about 1642, he +forced open a great iron chest, within the college of Westminster, and +thence took the crown, robes, sword, and sceptre belonging anciently to +king Edward the Confessor, and used by all our kings at their +inaugurations; and with a scorn greater than his lusts and the rest of +his vices, he openly declared that there should be no farther use of +those toys and trifles, and in the jolity of that humour he invested +George Wither (an old puritan satyrist) in the royal habiliments; who +being crowned and royally arrayed (as well right became him) did first +march about the room, with a stately garb, and afterwards with a thousand +apish and ridiculous actions exposed those sacred ornaments to contempt +and laughter." + +Marten was a member of the high court of justice, regularly attended the +trial, was present when sentence was pronounced, and signed the warrant +of death. It is added, that when Cromwell took up the pen to sign, he +spattered some ink upon Marten; and Marten, when his turn came, returned +the frolic! The two friends, however, were enemies at last. Cromwell +would have made himself king if he had been able, but Marten said, "If +they must have a king, he had rather have had the last than any gentleman +in England; he found no fault in his person, but in his office." When +the regicides who surrendered to the king's proclamation were condemned, +they claimed mercy on the score of having given themselves up in order to +save their lives; and Marten, always forward and fearless, added, "that +he had never obeyed any proclamation before this, and hoped that he +should not be hanged for taking the king's word now." He was at length +condemned to perpetual imprisonment, but both in the Tower and in +Chepstow Castle he was treated with great lenity. He died of apoplexy in +the twentieth year of his confinement, and seventy-eighth of his age. He +was buried in the chancel of the parish church at Chepstow, and a stone, +with an inscription written by himself placed over his body. This was +removed, however, to another part of the church, by the pious loyalty of +a succeeding vicar; but the stone being defaced, a new one was +substituted, by order of the churchwardens, in 1812, with the original +epitaph. + + Here, + September the 9, in the year of our Lord 1680, + Was buried a true Englishman, + Who in Berkshire was well known + To love his country's freedom 'bove his own, + But living immured full twenty year, + Had time to write, as does appear, + + HIS EPITAPH. + + H ere, or elsewhere (all's one to you, to me), + E arth, air, or water, gripes my ghostly dust; + N o one knows how soon to be by fire set free. + R eader, if you an oft-tried rule will trust, + Y ou will gladly do and suffer what you must. + + M y life was spent in serving you, + A nd death's my pay (it seems), and welcome too; + R evenge destroying but itself, while I + T o birds of prey leave my old cage and fly. + E xamples preach to th' eye, care then (mine says) + N ot how you end, but how you spend your days. + +The church was part of the chapel of a priory of Benedictine monks, +founded here soon after the Conquest; and is interesting from its +architecture, being for the greater part in the early Norman style, but +with ornamented gothic windows--and a tower adorned by the taste of the +present age with Greek pilasters! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Piercefield--Points of view--Curious appearance--Scenic character of the +place--View from Wyndcliff--Account of Valentine Morris--Anecdotes--The +Wye below Chepstow--Aust Ferry--Black Rock Ferry--St. +Theodric--Conclusion. + +The romantic region of Piercefield, extending from Chepstow to +Wyndcliff--a distance of about three miles by the sinuous walk, is one of +the grand attractions of this place. It is nothing more, it is true, +than a gentleman's park; but then the landscape gardener by whom this +park was laid out is Nature herself, who has lavished here her beauty, +her grandeur, and her romance, in the wildest profusion. Art is entirely +subservient to her purposes, opening the view where it was shut in, and +forming paths for the pilgrim foot that would approach to worship. + +"In the composition of the scenery," says the historical tourist, "the +meandering Wye, the steep cliffs, and the fertile peninsula of Lancaut, +form the striking characteristics. + +"The Wye, which is everywhere seen from a great elevation, passes between +Wyndcliff and the Bangor rocks, winds round the peninsula of Lancaut, +under a semicircular chain of stupendous cliffs, is lost in its sinuous +course, and again appears in a straight line at the foot of the Lancaut +rocks, and flows under the majestic ruins of Chepstow Castle towards the +Severn. + +"The rocks are broken into a variety of fantastic shapes, and scattered +at different heights and different positions: they start abruptly from +the river, swell into gentle acclivities, or hang on the summits of the +hills; here they form a perpendicular rampart, these jet into enormous +projections, and impend over the water. + +"But their dizzy heights and abrupt precipices are softened by the woods +which form a no less conspicuous feature in the romantic scenery; they +are not meagre plantations placed by art, but a tract of forests +scattered by the hand of nature. In one place they expand into open +groves of large oak, elm, and beech; in another form a shade of timber +trees, copses, and underwood, hiding all external objects, and wholly +impervious to the rays of the sun, they start from the crevices of the +rocks, feather their edges, crown their summits, clothe their sides, and +fill the intermediate hollows with a luxuriant mass of foliage, bring to +recollection of the border + + "'Of Eden, where delicious paradise, + Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green, + As with a rural mound, the champaign head + Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides, + With thicket o'ergrown, grotesque and wild, + Access denied, and over head up grew + Insuperable height of loftiest shade, + + * * * * * * + + A sylvan scene and as the banks ascend + Shade above shade, a woody theatre + Of stateliest view.'" + +And this grandeur is heightened, not diminished, by the view presented in +the midst of fertile fields, and the simple details of rural occupation. +The peninsula of Laucaut, on the opposite bank of the Wye, is a +comparatively extensive farm, cultivated to the highest perfection, and +rich with the gifts of Ceres. It is dotted with trees, and a range of +elms fringes it on the side of the river. Towards the middle of its +pear-shaped area, or rather approaching the isthmus, stands the farm +house, with rocks and woods behind. The principal points of view are the +following: + +1. The Lover's Leap. 2. A seat near two beeches on the edge of the +precipice. 3. The Giant's Cave, which occupies the centre of the +amphitheatre and overlooks Lancaut peninsula. 4. The halfway seat under +a large beech tree. 5. The double view. 6. Above Piercewood. 7. The +grotto. 8. The platform. 9. The alcove. + +But other portions of the grounds not so frequently visited are noticed +by an observant traveller. "From the Giant's cave, a road winds +beautifully along the brow of the cliff to a grove of lofty oak, beech, +and sycamore, which is cleared from underwood, in the centre of the +extensive forest which spreads beneath the Lover's Leap. In this +charming and sequestered spot is a cold bath supplied by a copious and +transparent rill, which springs at the foot of the winding cliff, and +ripples down the side of the declivity. The road then descends to +Malridge meadow, on the bank of the Wye, where the river appears like a +lake, and the fertile peninsula of Lancaut rises in a gentle declivity +from the margin of the stream to the isthmus. + +"A beautiful walk, two miles in length, skirts this meadow, at the foot +of the stupendous range of Piercefield cliffs, and then mounts to the +house by steps, cut in a steep rock. As the house stands several hundred +feet above the river, the ascent is long and difficult, but the toil is +amply repaid by the beauty and sublimity of the scene." + +From some of these points, it may be observed, the Severn, seen _beyond_ +the Wye, appears to be considerably _above_ it; and, however easily +explained the phenomenon may be, an indescribably puzzling effect is +produced by the idea that the latter river, a few miles lower down, runs +into the former. The fact is noticed by Mr. Coxe, whose description is +truly excellent. + +"From the Lover's Leap the walk is carried through a thick mantle of +forests, with occasional openings, which seem not the result of art or +design, but the effect of chance or nature, and seats placed where the +spectator may repose and view at leisure the scenery above, beneath, and +around. This + + Bowery walk + Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day + Falls on the lengthened gloom, + +is conformant to the genius of Piercefield; the screen of wood prevents +the uniformity of a bird's eye view, and the imperceptible bend of the +amphitheatre conveys the spectator from one part of the fairy region to +the other without perceiving the gradation. Hence the Wye is sometimes +concealed or half-obscured by overhanging foliage, at others, wholly +expanding to view, is seen sweeping beneath in a broad and circuitous +channel; hence in one place the Severn spreads in the midst of a +boundless expanse of country, and on the opposite side to the Wye; at +another both rivers appear on the same side, and the Severn seems +supported on the summit of the cliffs which form the bank of the Wye. +Hence the same objects present themselves in different aspects, with +varied accompaniments; hence the magic transition from the impervious +gloom of the forest to open groves; from meadows and lawns, to rocks and +precipices, and from the beauties of English landscape, to the wildness +of Alpine scenery. + + [Picture: View from Wyndcliff] + +"The summit of Wind Cliff, which towers above the northern extremity of +the grounds, commands, in one point of view, the whole extent of this +interesting scenery: as I stood on the brow of this precipice, I looked +down on the fertile peninsula of Lancaut, surrounded with rocks and +forests, contemplated the hanging wood, rich lawns, and romantic cliffs +of Piercefield, the castle and town of Chepstow, and traced the Wye, +sweeping in the true outline of beauty, from the Bangor crags to its +junction with the Severn, which spreads into an estuary, and is lost in +the distant ocean. + +"A boundless extent of country is seen in every direction from this +commanding eminence, comprehending not less than nine counties. In the +midst of this expanse, I principally directed my attention to the subject +of my tour, which now drew to a conclusion. I traced, with pleasing +satisfaction, not unmixed with regret, the luxuriant vallies and romantic +hills of this interesting country, which I had traversed in various +directions, but I dwelt with peculiar admiration on the majestic rampart +which forms its boundary to the west, and extends in one grand and +unbroken outline, from the banks of the Severn to the Black Mountains, + + "'Where the broken landscape, by degrees + Ascending, roughens into rigid hills; + O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far clouds + That skirt the blue horizon, dusky rise.'" + +Till Piercefield was inherited by Valentine Morris, whose father had +obtained it by purchase, the capabilities of the place were unknown, +principally, we should think, from the view being hidden by a deep veil +of forest. Morris saw everything, however, with the eye of taste; and +without officiously intermeddling with nature, he contrived, by merely +displaying the treasures that before were concealed, and by opening out +paths through the woods to enable visiters to enjoy them, to render +Piercefield the fairy-land it now appears. He seems to have been a man +of a princely mind, but a thoughtless, unreflecting disposition. His +beautiful property was nothing to him without admirers; and he was so +grateful for admiration, that he caused his servants to wait upon and +feast, gratuitously, even the vagrant stranger, as soon as his foot had +entered the magic circle. It is hardly necessary to add, therefore, that +by the time the beauties of Piercefield had become extensively known, +their master was ruined. Various other circumstances, however, concurred +to dissipate a large fortune, and at length he retired to the West +Indies, where he had inherited considerable property. The following +anecdote is told of his adieu to Piercefield:-- + + "Before his final departure from England, he indulged himself with + bidding adieu to Piercefield. In company with a friend he surveyed + his own creation, for the last time, with apparent composure and + manly resignation. On his return to Chepstow he was surrounded by + the poor; who, throwing themselves on their knees, thanked him for + the numerous instances of his bounty, and implored the blessing of + Heaven on their generous benefactor. Even this affecting spectacle + he bore with silent fortitude, and entered the chaise which conveyed + him to London. But he no sooner reached the Gloucestershire side of + the bridge, than his ear was struck with the mournful peal of bells, + muffled, as is usual on the loss of departed friends; deeply affected + with this mark of esteem and regret, he could no longer control his + emotions, and burst into tears." + +He was made lieutenant-governor, and afterwards governor in chief, of St. +Vincent's; where his affairs prospered so much that he had almost +recovered his fortune, when the island was attacked by the French. With +his usual nobility of spirit, he advanced large sums out of his private +funds towards the defence, but all in vain: St. Vincent's was taken, and +Morris Piercefield never could obtain from government either his outlay +or arrears. He returned to England to seek redress; was arrested by his +creditors, and himself a creditor of the country to a large extent, +languished in a debtor's prison for seven years. His books, movables, +trifles, everything were sold for bread; and his wife sunk under the +horrors of their situation, and became insane. Morris at length +recovered his liberty, and Lord North determined to shame his +predecessors in the ministry, by performing an act of common honesty. A +minister, however, is seldom honest from choice, because the outlay of +money curtails his resources, and because the wilful withholding, even of +a just debt, does not involve his character in society as a man of +honour. Lord North accordingly delayed the restitution as long as he +could; and poor Valentine Morris in 1789, was indebted to his +brother-in-law for a bed on which to die. + +We cannot refrain from adding an anecdote relating to one of the family +of Walters, to whom the estate of Piercefield formerly belonged. + + "Holding one day a conversation with Mr. Knowles, whom he employed in + building the alcove, he made inquiries concerning the family of + Walters, and asked if any of them were yet living. Knowles replied + that William, the brother of John who sold the estate, was still + alive and in great distress. 'Bring him to Piercefield,' said + Morris, 'and I will make him welcome.' 'If you would give him your + whole estate he could not walk, he is so much affected with the gout + in his feet, and earns a precarious livelihood by fishing.' 'If he + then cannot come to me, I will take the first opportunity of calling + on him.' Being some time afterwards engaged with Knowles in forming + an opening in the wood, he saw two men in a boat; 'Stay here,' he + said to Knowles, 'I will cross the river in that boat, and examine + whether the objects I want to show can be seen from hence.' + Descending hastily he hailed the watermen, leaped into the boat, was + ferried over, and on his return entered into conversation with the + men, and inquired their names and condition. 'My name,' said one of + them, 'is * * * * *, I am a native of Chepstow; and that man, + pointing to his companion, is William Walters.' 'What, Walters of + Piercefield!' exclaimed Morris. 'Yes, please your honour, I am the + brother of John, who sold the estate that you now enjoy.' Morris + made no reply; but giving a gratuity to each of the men, leaped on + shore, rapidly ascended the hill, and rejoining Knowles, cried, 'I + have been talking with Walters:' taking out several guineas, he + added, 'carry these to him, and tell him that he shall never want + while it is in my power to assist him.' Knowles suggested, that as + the man was much addicted to liquor, he would render him more service + by a weekly allowance. The next market-day one of Morris's servants + carried to Walters a joint of meat, and a small sum of money, which + was continued weekly until his death. Morris defrayed the expenses + of his funeral, and his carriage conveyed the corpse to St. Arvans, + where it was interred in the family vault." {204} + +From Chepstow to the confluence of the Wye with the Severn, the distance +is three miles; but although the banks are in general lofty, they possess +no features of interest to the descending traveller. It may be +sufficient merely to name the Red Rocks, the Hardwick Cliffs, and +Thornwell Woods. After these St. Ewan's Rocks appear on the left bank; +and we glide gradually into the wide expanse of the Severn. A +prolongation, however, of the left bank continues for some time after we +are fairly out of the Wye; the peninsula of Beachley, extending almost +half way across the Severn. From this is the ferry of the Aust Passage, +supposed to have been named after one of the Roman generals. A +steam-packet now plies instead of an open boat, and lands passengers at a +handsome pier at all hours of the tide. + +On the Monmouthshire coast, a little way beyond the mouth of the Wye, is +the Black Rock Inn of the New Passage ferry, supposed, notwithstanding +its name, to be as ancient as the other. This ferry was suppressed by +Oliver Cromwell, on account of a catastrophe which took place here of a +very interesting description. When the king was pursued by his enemies, +he crossed the Severn to Chiswell Pill on the opposite side; but when the +boatmen returned to the Black Rock, they found a party of sixty armed +republicans, waiting to follow the royal fugitive. The ferrymen were +royalists, but there was no resisting commands enforced by so many drawn +swords, and reluctantly they took the enemies of their prince on board, +and pulled across the Severn. They landed their unwelcome freight upon +the English Stones, which appeared to be a part of the shore, but was in +reality separated by water, fordable only at low tide. The tide had just +turned. Some moments, no doubt, were lost in dismay, and some in +shouting to the treacherous boatmen, who lay upon their oars to watch the +event. The English Stones disappeared with a suddenness customary in the +flow of that river; and the cries of sixty drowning men were lost in the +rush of the wild waters of the Severn. + +Before the Black Rock Inn, and near the mouth of the Wye, is Mathern, +formerly the episcopal residence of the bishops of Llandaff. The church +close by is the one pointed to by tradition as having been raised over +the ashes of Theodoric, the hermit-king, who desecrated the holy solitude +of Tintern with the sounds of battle. + + "The manor of Matherne, where there is now a palace, was given to the + bishops of Llandaff by Maurice, king of Glamorganshire, about the + year 560, on the following occasion:--His father, St. Theodoric, as + he is usually called, having resigned his crown to this son, embraced + the life of a hermit. The Saxons invading the country, Theodoric was + reluctantly called from his hermitage to take the command of the + army; he defeated them near Tintern upon the Wye. Being mortally + wounded in the engagement, he precipitated his return, that he might + die among his friends, and desired his son to erect a church, and + bury him on the spot where he breathed his last: but scarcely had he + proceeded five miles, when he expired at a place near the conflux of + the Wye and Severn. Hence, according to his desire, a chapel being + erected, his body was placed in a stone coffin. As I was giving + orders to repair this coffin, which was either broken by chance or + decayed by age, I discovered his bones, not in the smallest degree + changed, though after a period of a thousand years, the skull + retaining the aperture of a large wound, which appeared as if it had + been recently inflicted. Maurice gave the contiguous estate to the + church, and assigned to the place the name of Merthur Tewdrick, or + _the martyrdom of Theodorick_; who, because he perished in battle + against the enemies of the christian name, is esteemed a martyr." + +Our task is now finished: we turn away to seek "fresh fields and pastures +new," but the murmur of the Wye will remain long in our ear. + + + + +DISTANCES IN THE TOUR OF THE WYE. + +From the source of the Wye to miles. +Stedva Gerrig 2.5 +Rhaiader 17.5 +Builth 14 +Hay 15.25 +Clifford Castle 2.5 +Hereford 16.5 +Ross 14.25 + +FROM ROSS TO MONMOTH AND CHEPSTOW. + + _By Land_. + _m_. _f_. _p_. +From Ross by the turnpike to Monmouth 10 0 0 +In a straight line, or as the crow flies 9 0 10 +From Ross to Chepstow by the turnpike 24 0 0 +By Coleford 21 0 0 +In a straight line 16 4 0 + +The base or supposed tunnel of the hill, between Coldwell and the New +Weir, is six hundred yards; the circuit of the river is four miles two +furlongs. + + _By Water_. + _m_. _f_. _p_. +From Ross to Goodrich Castle 4 4 0 +To Coldwell 7 0 0 +To New Weir 4 2 0 +To Monmouth 5 1 0 +From Ross to Monmouth 20 7 0 +To Tintern 10 4 0 +To Chepstow 6 4 60 +From Ross to Chepstow 37 7 60 + +NAMES OF PLACES AS THEY OCCUR IN DESCENDING THE RIVER FROM ROSS. + + RIGHT BANK. LEFT BANK. +Wilton Bridge and Castle +Weir End Hill or New Hill Court +Pencraig House and Wood +GOODRICH Court + Castle + Priory or Haverford Walford Church +North side of Coppet Wood Hill Lays Hill + Bishop's Wood + Ruerdean Church +Court Field Lidbrook +Welsh Bicknor Rosemary Topping +Mr. Warren's Monument COLDWELL ROCKS +South side of Coppet Wood Hill SYMOND'S YAT +Goodrich Church +Whitchurch NEW WEIR +Great Doward Highmeadow Woods +Arthur's Vale +Little Doward and Lays House Table Mount +Dixton Church +MONMOUTH +Troy House Halfway House +Penalt Redbrook +Whitebrook +Pen-y-van Hill and Maypole Wye Seal-house +Paper Mills +Pilstone House Big's Weir House +LLANDOGO St. Briavels +Coedithal Weir Hudknolls +Llyn Weir Brook Weir +Tintern +Fielding's House +TINTERN ABBEY + Bennagor Crags +WYNDCLIFF and Moss Cottage Fryer's Rocks +Lover's Leap Lancaut +PIERCEFIELD Piercefield Bay +Twelve Apostles Tiddenham Rocks +CHEPSTOW Tutshill + +FROM MONMOUTH TO CHEPSTOW BY THE NEW ROAD. + +Upper Redbrook 2.25 miles. +Lower Redbrook .25 +Florence College 3 +Big's Weir .5 +Llandogo 1 +Tintern 2.75 +Tintern Abbey .75 +Wyndcliff and Moss Cottage 2 +St. Arvans 1 +Crossway Green 1.5 +Chepstow .5 + 15.5 + +The distance from Chepstow to the embouchure of the Wye about three +miles. + + * * * * * + + * * * * * + + J. Haddon, Castle Street, Finsbury. + + + + +Footnotes + + +{41} Duncomb's Collections. + +{63} Monumenta Antiqua. + +{85} Whateley's Observations on Modern Gardening. + +{106} Of late years, Mr. Pennie attempted to revive a taste for such +subjects in his "Britain's Historical Drama," but without effect. It a +work, however, of considerable merit. Southey's Madoc has only a slender +groundwork in British history. + +{158} According to Dugdale, 132. 1s. 4d.; and Speed, 256. 11s. 6d. + +{204} Historical Tour. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WYE AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS*** + + +******* This file should be named 36367.txt or 36367.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/3/6/36367 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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