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authornfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>2025-02-04 16:50:30 -0800
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #63832 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63832)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 2 of
-2, by William Beattie
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this ebook.
-
-Title: The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 2 of 2
- from the national records, early chronicles, and other standard
- authors
-
-Author: William Beattie
-
-Illustrator: W. Whimper
- C. Cousen
- W.H. (William Henry) Bartlett
- J. C. Bentley
- A. Willmore
- S. Bradshaw
- E. Brandard
- W. Deebles
- S. T. Davis
-
-Release Date: November 21, 2020 [EBook #63832]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
- http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
- available at The Internet Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CASTLES AND ABBEYS OF ENGLAND;
-VOL. 2 OF 2 ***
-
-
- +---------------------------+
- | Transcriber's note: words |
- | surrounded by <g> and </g>|
- | were in Old English Font |
- | in the original book. |
- +---------------------------+
-
-
-
-
- THE
-
- CASTLES AND ABBEYS
-
- OF
-
- ENGLAND,
-
- FROM THE NATIONAL RECORDS, EARLY CHRONICLES, AND OTHER
- STANDARD AUTHORS.
-
- BY WILLIAM BEATTIE, M.D.,
-
- GRAD. OF EDIN.; MEMB. OF THE ROYAL COLL. OF PHYS., LONDON; OF THE
- HIST. INSTIT. OF FRANCE; AUTHOR OF “SWITZERLAND,” “SCOTLAND,” “THE
- WALDENSES,” “RESIDENCE IN GERMANY,” ETC. ETC.
-
-ILLUSTRATED BY TWENTY-SEVEN ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL AND NUMEROUS WOODCUTS.
-
- SECOND SERIES.
-
- [Illustration]
-
- GEORGE VIRTUE:
- LONDON AND NEW YORK.
-
-
- STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED
- BY WILLIAM MACKENZIE, 48 LONDON STREET,
- GLASGOW.
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
-
-
-<g>Chepstow Castle.</g>
-
-STEEL ENGRAVINGS.
-
-ARTISTS. ENGRAVERS. PAGE.
-
-CHEPSTOW CASTLE, from the Iron Bridge across the Wye.--This View, looking
-towards the West, shows part of the Town, the Castle Gate, the Citadel,
-the Keep, or Marten’s Tower, the Western Gate, the House and Groves
-Persefield, with the precipitous banks of the River.
-W. H. BARTLETT. C. COUSEN. 3
-
-CHEPSTOW CASTLE AND BRIDGE, taken from the right bank of the Wye,
-near the West Gate of the Castle.--This View, looking Eastward,
-shows the principal features of the Castle on the right; the New Bridge,
-the Harbour, with the Scenery on the left bank of the Wye.
-W. H. BARTLETT. E. BRANDARD. 13
-
-CHEPSTOW CASTLE AND TOWN, from the Wyndcliff, showing the windings of
-the Wye, its junction with the Severn, and the opposite coasts.
-W. H. BARTLETT. E. BRANDARD. 26, 27
-
-
-WOODCUTS.
-
-Vignette, Castles and Abbeys.
-W. BEATTIE. MASON. 1
-
-Shield, Sword, and Helmet.
-
-SARGENT. EVANS. 12
-
-Plan of Chepstow Castle.
-W. H. BARTLETT. W. WHIMPER. 13
-
-Marten’s Tower, the ancient Keep of Chepstow Castle.
-W. H. BARTLETT. W. WHIMPER. 15
-
-Ancient Oratory adjoining the Keep.
-W. H. BARTLETT. W. WHIMPER. 23
-
-The Arched Chamber in the Castle Rock.
-W. H. BARTLETT. W. WHIMPER. 24
-
-Passage leading to the Arched Chamber.
-W. H. BARTLETT. W. WHIMPER. 25
-
-Military Trophies; Age of Chivalry. 30
-
-
-<g>Tinterne Abbey on the Wye.</g>
-
-STEEL ENGRAVINGS.
-
-ARTISTS. ENGRAVERS. PAGE
-
-THE WESTERN WINDOW OF TINTERNE ABBEY.--This View is taken from a
-point near the Great Altar, showing in the foreground the clustered
-Pillars and Arches which formerly supported the Central Tower; the
-Door on the right leading to the Cloisters; Sepulchral Slabs, the Effigy
-of a Knight, with the much-admired Window to the West, and other
-features.
-W. H. BARTLETT. A. WILLMORE. 39
-
-THE REFECTORY OF THE ABBEY.
-W. H. BARTLETT. C. COUSEN. 52
-
-THE DEVIL’S PULPIT.--This View is taken from a romantic rock so called, on
-the left bank of the Wye, commanding a view of the Abbey westward;
-the Abbot’s Meadows stretching along the right bank of the Wye; the
-Church of Chapel-hill; the Village of Tinterne Parva lining the rim of
-the River Crescent.
-W. H. BARTLETT. J. C. BENTLEY. 62
-
-THE FERRY AT TINTERNE.--This Plate, taken from the left bank of the Wye,
-presents a North View of the Abbey, with the Western Front, the
-Nave, North Transept, part of the great Eastern Window, Remains of
-the Cloisters, the Abbey Gate communicating with the Ferry, with
-other Conventual Buildings now in ruins, or transformed into Cottages.
-The River at this point is of sufficient depth to float a moderately-sized
-trading craft.
-W. H. BARTLETT. J. C. BENTLEY. 66
-
-TINTERNE ABBEY, WEST FRONT, taken from the Road leading to the “Beaufort
-Arms” and the Ferry, shows the much-admired West Window, in correct
-and beautiful detail; the Door opening into the Nave, the Southern
-Aisle, Buttress, Pinnacle, Clerestory Windows, &c., with their masses
-of luxuriant and interlacing Ivy.
-W. H. BARTLETT. A. WILLMORE. 103
-
-DOORWAY LEADING INTO THE CLOISTERS.
-W. H. BARTLETT. E. J. ROBERTS. 105
-
-DOORWAY LEADING INTO THE SACRISTY.
-W. H. BARTLETT. E. J. ROBERTS. 113
-
-
-WOODCUTS.
-
-South Transept, Tinterne Abbey.
-W. H. BARTLETT. W. WHIMPER. 31
-
-Cistercian Monk.
-DUGDALE. W. WHIMPER. 34
-
-View from Entrance, Tinterne Abbey, taken from the Nave, showing the great
- Eastern Window.
-W. H. BARTLETT. W. WHIMPER. 40
-
-Initial Letters, illustrative of Baronial, Monastic, and
- Chivalrous Subjects. 1, 3, 13, 31
-Mutilated Effigy of Earl Strongbow, or Roger Bigod. 41
-Shields of the Clare and Bigod Families, from the Encaustic-Tile
- Pavement in the Abbey. 42
-Walter de Clare; Armorial Ensigns of the Family. 44
-Richard de Clare; Ancient Family Shield. 48
-Hospitium, or Guest Hall, with portions of the Refectory, and other
- Conventual Buildings. 50
-Conventual Alphabet, Letter H; Abbey Gate, Procession. 51
-Inner View; Sketch of an Altar, Tomb, &c. 54
-Conventual Alphabet, Letter P. 56
-Conventual Letter O. 60
-Abbatial Crosier, Cap, and Cushion. 62
-Letter A. 65
-Ground Plan of Tinterne Abbey. 108
-Five smaller Woodcuts, illustrative of the subject.
-Goodrich Castle. 122
-
-
-<g>Raglan Castle.</g>
-
-STEEL ENGRAVINGS.
-
-ARTISTS. ENGRAVERS. PAGE
-
-THE AVENUE, west of the Castle, from which the remains of the State Apartments
-are seen through the trees
-W. H. BARTLETT. J. C. BENTLEY. 128
-
-THE PAVED STONE COURT
-W. H. BARTLETT. S. BRADSHAW. 151
-
-THE BARONIAL HALL, showing the great Bay Window on the right of the _Dais_,
-with the Worcester Arms overhead; the ancient Fire-place, with =W=
-worked in brick over the Arch; the Corbel-heads that supported the
-Roof, &c. &c.
-W. H. BARTLETT. E. J. ROBERTS. 154
-
-GATEWAY IN THE FOUNTAIN COURT, with the Baronial Chapel
-W. H. BARTLETT. E. BRANDARD. 156
-
-THE MOAT.--This View of the Keep and adjacent Towers is universally admired,
-both for the splendour of architectural detail and the picturesque
-grouping of the features which it displays
-W. H. BARTLETT. C. COUSEN. 158
-
-THE GATEWAY TOWERS, as described in the text, with the Moat and part of the
-Donjon Tower on the left
-W. H. BARTLETT. E. BRANDARD. 177
-
-THE KEEP OR DONJON TOWER, from the Moat; on the right are seen the
-Gateway Towers, and in the centre is the Keep. In front, opening upon
-the water, is the old sally-port; and on the right bank, partially
-concealed by trees, is the private walk, formerly ornamented with
-statues and shell-work, as described in the text. The Keep is
-represented in the same state as when it was left by General Fairfax
-after the siege
-
-W. H. BARTLETT. J. C. BENTLEY. 200
-
-VIEW FROM THE BATTLEMENTS.--This View is taken from the top of the Keep,
-with the Moat, the Gatehouse, the Paved Court, &c., and Landscape to
-the westward
-W. H. BARTLETT. A. WILLMORE. 220
-
-
-WOODCUTS.
-
-Goodrich Castle 122
-Ancient Armour 131
-Feudal and Military Trophies 136
-Morning of the Tournament 138
-The Boar’s Head 146
-Old Apartments in the Gateway Tower 153
-Plan of the Castle 160
-Baronial Trophies 175
-The Armourer 178
-The Arquebusier 185
-The Tower of Gwent, or Keep 194
-Window in the State Apartments 198
-The Garter 213
-State Gallery, with ancient Statues of the Earl and Countess of
- Worcester 217
-View from the Battlements of the Keep, looking to Raglan Church 222
-View taken from the old Bowling Green, with the Keep in the centre,
- and the Gate to Fountain Court on the left 226
-Apartments called King Charles’s, carved Chimney-piece on the left, and
- Windows looking S. and S.W. 227
-The old Baronial Kitchen, as described in the text 234
-Bridge over the Monnow, described in the text 239
-
-
-<g>Llanthony Abbey.</g>
-
-STEEL ENGRAVINGS.
-ARTISTS. ENGRAVERS. PAGE
-
-THE NAVE OF LLANTHONY ABBEY, with the Central Tower, part of the South
-Transept, fragments of the Chancel, and great East Window
-W. H. BARTLETT. W. DEEBLES. 244
-
-LLANTHONY ABBEY from the North-west, showing the great West Door--the
-two Square Towers--the Nave--North Aisle--the great Tower connecting
-the Transepts, with fragments of the great Eastern Window
-W. H. BARTLETT. E. BRANDARD. 258
-
-LLANTHONY ABBEY from the rising Ground north of the Ruins, showing the
-whole Abbey, as it now appears, in the distance, with its surrounding
-Scenery, as presented from that point of view
-W. H. BARTLETT. S. T. DAVIS. 272
-
-
-WOODCUT.
-
-The Abbey Church from the East.
-
-
-<g>Uske--Pembroke--Cardiff--Tenby.</g>
-
-STEEL ENGRAVINGS.
-
-USKE CASTLE AND TOWN, showing the river Uske and the Bridge in the
-foreground--the ancient Castle on the right, with the Town under the
-acclivity--in the back ground, th
-e picturesque Scenery for which the
-banks of the Uske are so remarkable
-W. H. BARTLETT. A. WILLMORE. 283
-
-PEMBROKE CASTLE from the Water, comprising the Principal Gateway--the
-Postern--the great Round Tower, or Donjon--the Outworks. On the
-left, part of the Tower; and westward, in the horizon, the remains of the
-ancient Nunnery
-
-W. H. BARTLETT. J. COUSEN. 293
-PEMBROKE CASTLE.--Interior of the Great Court--Gateway, Towers, and
-Fortifications
-W. H. BARTLETT. J. COUSEN. 308
-
-
-WOODCUTS.
-
-Round Tower of Uske Castle--Chamber in the same--Curthose Tower
- in Cardiff Castle. 284, 286, 311
-
-
-<g>Manorbeer Castle--Neath Abbey--Kidwelly Castle--Llanstephan Castle--Carew
-Castle--Margam Abbey--Appendix.</g>
-
-STEEL ENGRAVINGS.
-
-MANORBEER CASTLE, near the Church
-W. H. BARTLETT. 321
-
-KIDWELLY CASTLE, from the Gwendraeth
-W. H. BARTLETT. 332
-
-KIDWELLY CASTLE, from the Inner Court--Chapel on the right
-W. H. BARTLETT. 334
-
-
-WOODCUTS.
-
-Neath Abbey, the Crypt 331
-Ancient Dwellings near Manorbeer Castle 335
-Margam Abbey, the Crypt 348
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-THE CASTLE OF CHEPSTOW,
-
-<g>Monmouthshire</g>.
-
- Around us spread the hills and dales,
- Where Geoffrey spun his magic tales,
- And called them history: the land
- Whence Arthur sprung, and all his band
- Of gallant knights.--BLOOMFIELD.
-
-
-[Illustration: I]t has been justly remarked by statistical writers,
-that, in point of fertility, picturesque scenery, and classic remains,
-the county of Monmouth is one of the most interesting districts in the
-kingdom. Highly favoured by nature, it is literally studded over with
-the labours and embellishments of art. Watered by noble rivers,
-sheltered by magnificent woods and forests, interspersed with
-industrious towns and hamlets, and enriched by the labour and enterprise
-of its inhabitants, it presents all those features of soil and scenery
-which contribute to the beauty and stability of a country. From whatever
-point the traveller may enter this county, historical landmarks meet him
-at every step: feudal and monastic ruins, rich in the history of
-departed dynasties, divide his attention, and fill his mind with their
-heroic deeds and pious traditions. In fields where the husbandman now
-reaps his peaceful harvest, he traces the shock of contending armies;
-whose deadly weapons still rust in furrows which their valour had won,
-and which the blood of the Roman, the Saxon, and Briton had fertilized.
-From these he turns aside to contemplate the fragments of baronial
-grandeur, which attest the glory of chivalry, but now, like sepulchral
-mounds, proclaim the deeds of their founders:--such is the Castle of
-<g>Raglan</g>.
-
-In another district, sculptures, pavements, altars, statues, coins, and
-inscriptions, bear testimony to Roman sway:--such is the Silurian
-settlement of <g>Caerleon</g>, with its classic vicinity.
-
-On another hand, where the ivy has clasped its hallowed walls, as if to
-prop their decay, the traveller halts at some monastic rain; and, amid
-the crumbling fragments of its lofty arches, its richly-carved windows,
-shafts, and capitals, dwells with a deep and melancholy interest on the
-page of its eventful history. In such places the voice of Tradition is
-never mute: the vacant niche, the dismantled tower, the desecrated
-altar, the deserted choir--all discourse eloquent and impressive music;
-and in places where the sacred harp was once strung, its chords seem
-still touched by invisible hands:--such are the Abbeys of <g>Tinterne</g> and
-<g>Llanthony</g>.
-
-It is among these remains and monuments of the past--the early homes of
-saints and heroes of the olden day--that we propose to conduct the
-reader. In the tour projected, we avail ourselves of such materials as
-personal investigation, with that of distinguished predecessors, poets,
-and historians, has furnished from times of remote antiquity, down to
-the present day.
-
-The scenery of the <g>Wye</g> is of classic and proverbial beauty: it is the
-theme alike of poet and historian, the annual resort of
-pilgrims--whether admirers of the picturesque, or valetudinarians; and
-nowhere in the kingdom is nature more lavish of those charms which
-attract all classes of tourists, than in the course and confines of this
-beautiful and romantic river.[1] There--
-
- Be thine object health or pleasure,
- Historic sites or classic treasure;
- The Roman camp, the Norman grave,
- Or war-tower crumbling o’er the wave;
- Or fertile vale, or vocal woods,
- Or hills, and flocks, and crystal floods;
-
-[Illustration: CHEPSTOW CASTLE,
-
-From the Iron Bridge across the Wye.]
-
- And haunts and homes that love to claim
- The patriot’s or the poet’s name--
- Then hither bend thy pilgrim way,
- Where <g>Taga’s</g> classic waters play;
- And here thy weary heart shall find,
- What soothes and renovates the mind.
-
-
-[Illustration: C]<g>hepstow</g> is of Roman foundation--the _Strigulia_ of
-ancient authors--and was for centuries one of the favourite strongholds
-of the kingdom. By the antiquarian researches, which are now conducted
-with unprecedented success and spirit, numerous vestiges of ancient
-times have been brought to light, and many more, it is believed, are
-reserved for the labours of archæology. The vicinity abounds in military
-encampments, all more or less remarkable for the strength of their
-position, and pointing to those days of border warfare when ‘might was
-right,’ and the sword the acknowledged lawgiver. But in the description
-of Chepstow, our observations must be restricted to the subjects
-selected for illustration; and these are so correctly depicted in the
-scene before us, that the reader will obtain a far more correct idea
-from the delineations of the pencil, than from any description that
-could be conveyed by the pen. Chepstow is supposed, and with much
-probability, to have been the chief seaport of the Silurian colony, as
-both Caerwent and Portscwet have for many centuries been deserted by the
-sea. Where the Roman galleys once flanked the beach, landing their
-freight of mailed cohorts, the modern steamer now unloads her crowded
-deck of peaceful tourists, merchants, mechanics, and students of the
-picturesque.
-
-In its general appearance--in its street architecture--Chepstow still
-presents some isolated features of the primitive style. Of these, the
-principal is the Western Gate, of unquestionable antiquity; and, in
-point of date, taking precedence of the castle itself. By a charter
-given in the 16th Henry VIII., the bailiffs were to have their prison
-for the punishment of offences within the Great Gate, “which they have
-builded by our commandment.” This is supposed to be a renewal of the
-ancient liberties of the town, granted by Howel Dhu, A.D. 940.
-
-<g>The Church</g>, part of a Benedictine priory of Norman work, has undergone
-many alterations and repairs; but repairs, in some cases, are more fatal
-to the style and symmetry of ecclesiastical monuments, than the wasting
-hand of time, or even the shocks of violence--for they only disfigure
-what they meant to adorn; and, by deviating widely from the original
-plan, lose or debase all its original beauty. The nave and aisles are
-nearly all that remain of the original edifice.[2] The church has
-disappeared; but the pillars which supported the central tower are
-still preserved on the eastern extremity, and convey some idea of the
-massive strength of the original edifice. The western porch is justly
-admired for its zigzag tracery; and, in this respect, it presents one of
-the finest specimens that have descended to our day, of the true
-Saxo-Norman character. The church contains several monuments, not
-remarkable for their style or antiquity; the chief of which is that to
-the memory of the second Earl and Countess of Worcester, with their
-effigies at full length, in the attitude of prayer.
-
-The repairs and restorations lately effected in this church, were
-suggested and carried out by the joint taste and liberality of the late
-Bishop of Llandaff and the parishioners. The result is creditable to the
-parties concerned; and here, it is to be hoped, their pious labours will
-not be suffered to terminate. The original priory was an alien branch of
-the Benedictine monastery of Cormeilles.
-
-The acrostic, written upon himself by the regicide Henry Martin--first
-discarded from the chancel, and latterly from the sacred enclosure, by a
-former vicar--has somewhat recovered from its disgrace, by gaining
-admittance into the vestry, but only on sufferance. In the town and
-immediate neighbourhood are some remains of religious houses, under
-various denominations; for the situation of Chepstow, presenting many
-advantages for commerce, was not less favourable for monachism.
-
- In iron times, when laws of battle were,
- That weakly folk, of prowess small in fight,
- The galling gyves of vassalage should bear;
- Ere castle seneschals, with pale affright,
- Heard the shrill horn wind of the errant knight--
- A foeman firm affianced to be
- To all who wrong’d the feeble of their right--
- Such folk the CHURCH _let from their thraldom free_,
- A deed that had not shamed the Knight of Chivalry.
- _Econ. of Monast. Life._
-
-We were told of a pleasing custom, transmitted from early times, and
-still observed here, that of repairing every Palm-Sunday to the graves
-of departed friends, and ornamenting them with flowers--much in the same
-way as the populace of Paris repair every All Saints’ morning to
-Père-la-Chaise, to scatter flowers and evergreens over the graves of
-their relations.
-
-One of the finest points of view is the centre of the new iron bridge,
-comprising the castle, the vessels at anchor under the stupendous wall
-of rock on which it is erected; with the lawns and groves of
-Piercefield--a favourite and familiar name in the list of picturesque
-tours--closing the landscape. The former bridge[3] was of prodigious
-height, erected on piles. The present structure was founded in 1815;
-and in the March of that year, the tide rose from low-water mark to the
-remarkable height of _fifty-one feet_ two inches. The new bridge
-consists of five arches, the centre one of which is one hundred and
-twelve feet in span; the two adjoining arches have a span of seventy
-feet, and the two outer ones a span of fifty-four feet each. It is of
-massive cast-metal, resting on stone piers; and its total length is five
-hundred and thirty-two feet.
-
-The depth of the moorings in the river here is so great, that, at low
-water, ships of 700 tons burthen may ride safely at anchor. The rise of
-tide is from thirty to nearly sixty feet, a circumstance scarcely to be
-paralleled--and caused by the extraordinary swell of water at the rocks
-of Beechley and Aust, which, by protruding far into the Severn, near the
-month of the Wye, obstruct the flow of tide, and thus impel it with
-increased rapidity into the latter.[4] In January, 1768, according to
-our local guide, it attained the height of seventy feet: its greatest
-rise of late years has been fifty-six feet.
-
-In 1634, we are informed, Colonel Sandys attempted to make the Wye
-navigable by means of locks; but after much labour and expense, the
-experiment failed, and the locks were removed. Every one curious in the
-phenomena of natural history, has heard of the intermitting well of
-Chepstow, which ebbs and flows inversely with the tide--that is, when
-the tide ebbs, the well flows; and when the tide flows, the well ebbs:
-when the tide is at its height, the well is nearly dry; a little before
-which it begins to subside, and soon after the ebb it gradually returns.
-It is neither affected by wet nor dry weather, but is entirely regulated
-by the tide. It is thirty-two feet in depth, and frequently contains
-fourteen feet of excellent water.
-
-In melancholy connection with the old bridge of Chepstow, is a family
-calamity which drew from the late poet Campbell an epitaph[5] worthy of
-his pen. The victims by the sudden catastrophe were a lady and her two
-daughters, personal friends of the poet, and for whom he entertained
-sentiments of great esteem and regard. The lady and her daughters were
-on a visit at Chepstow; and, after hearing sermon, went on the river in
-a boat. The tide was running strong at the time; and in his attempt to
-clear the centre arch of the bridge, the boatman missed his aim--the
-frail bark struck against the wooden pier, and upset; and the lady and
-her two daughters were carried down by the stream and lost. Their
-lifeless remains were afterwards recovered, and buried in the churchyard
-of Monckton, where a tomb, erected to their memory, bears the following
-inscription:--
-
- “In deep submission to the will above,
- Yet with no common cause for human tears,
- This stone to the lost Partner of his love,
- And for his children lost, a mourner rears.
- One fatal moment, one o’erwhelming doom,
- Tore threefold from his heart the ties of earth--
- His Mary, Margaret, in their early bloom,
- And Her who gave them life, and taught them worth.
-
- “Farewell, ye broken pillars of my fate!
- My life’s companion, and my two first-born!
- Yet while this silent stone I consecrate
- To conjugal, paternal love forlorn--
- Oh, may each passer-by the lesson learn
- Which can alone the bleeding heart sustain--
- Where friendship weeps at virtue’s funeral urn--
- That, to the pure in heart, _to die is gain_!”
-
-It is somewhat remarkable, that the text of Scripture which they had
-just heard expounded in the parish church the same morning, was--“For to
-me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Of the principal victim in
-this calamity, Campbell thus speaks in a private letter to a
-friend:--“We looked to Mrs. Shute as truly elevated in the scale of
-beings for the perfect charity of her heart. The universal feeling of
-lamentation for her, accords with the benign and simple-minded beauty of
-her character.”
-
-As the limits and object of this work do not permit us to enlarge our
-remarks on the particular history of Chepstow, we now proceed to that of
-the castle, whose roofless walls, and moss-clad ramparts, carry us back
-to the Norman Conquest, and fill an ample page in its subsequent
-history. The present structure, on a Roman or Saxon foundation, is
-ascribed to William Fitzosborne, Earl of Hereford,[6] upon whom his
-kinsman the Conqueror had bestowed vast possessions, in this and the
-neighbouring counties, which could only be secured by sword and
-stronghold. On the forfeiture of his son Roger, it passed to the Clares,
-another great Norman family.
-
-The hereditary lords of the town and castle were the old Earls of
-Pembroke, of the house of Clare, the last of whom was the renowned
-Richard[7] Strongbow, ‘Earl of Striguil, Chepstow, and Pembroke,’ who
-died in 1176, leaving a daughter, Isabel, by whose marriage the estates
-and title passed into the family of Marshall, and afterwards, by a
-similar union, into that of Herbert. In the reign of Edward the Fourth,
-the castle, manor, and lordship of Chepstow, were held by Herbert, Earl
-of Pembroke, who was beheaded after the battle of Banbury, in 1469. By
-the marriage of Elizabeth, sole daughter and heiress of William
-Herbert--Earl of Huntingdon, and Lord Herbert of Raglan, Chepstow, and
-Gower--it descended to Sir Charles Somerset, who was afterwards created
-Earl of Worcester. It is now one of the numerous castles belonging to
-his illustrious descendant, the Duke of Beaufort.
-
-During the wars of the Commonwealth, the castle was garrisoned by the
-king’s troops; but, in 1645, Colonel Morgan, governor of Gloucester, at
-the head of a small body of horse and foot, entered the town without
-much difficulty; and, on the 5th October, sent the following summons to
-Sir Robert Fitzmaurice: “Sir,--I am commanded by his Excellency, Sir
-Thomas Fairfax, to demand this castle for the use of the King and
-Parliament, which I require of you, and to lay down your arms, and to
-accept of reasonable propositions, which will be granted both to you and
-your soldiers, if you observe this summons: and further, you are to
-consider of what nation and religion you are; for if you refuse the
-summons, you exclude yourself from mercy, and are to expect for yourself
-and soldiers no better than Stinchcombe quarter. I expect your sudden
-answer, and according thereunto shall rest your friend,--THOMAS MORGAN.”
-
-To this summons the governor answered: “Sir,--I have the same reason to
-keep this castle for my master the King, as you to demand it for General
-Fairfax; and until my reason be convinced, and my provisions decreased,
-I shall, notwithstanding my religion and menaces of extirpation,
-continue in my resolution, and in my fidelity and loyalty to the king.
-As to _Stinchcombe quarter_, I know not what you mean by it; nor do
-depend upon your intelligence for relief, which in any indigence I
-assure me of; and in that assurance I rest your servant,--ROBERT
-FITZMAURICE.
-
-“P.S.--What quarter you give me and my soldiers, I refer to the
-consideration of all soldiers, when I am constrained to seek for any.”
-
-_Stinchcombe_, near Dursley on the Severn, was a place where the
-Parliament accused Prince Rupert of putting their men to the sword.
-
-In consequence of this answer the siege was commenced, and carried on
-with so much vigour, that, in the course of four days, the castle
-surrendered, and the governor and his garrison were made prisoners of
-war. Later in the history of that melancholy period, it was surprised by
-a body of royalists, under Sir Nicholas Kemeys. Cromwell then directed
-his whole strength upon it, and reduced the town; but, for a time, found
-the castle impregnable. At last, however, exhausted with fatigue, and on
-the verge of famine, the garrison were forced into a parley with the
-besiegers; and, in the surrender of the fortress, Sir Nicholas Kemeys
-“was killed in cold blood.” The following is Colonel Ewer’s report[8] on
-the reduction of Chepstow Castle. His letter is addressed to the
-Honourable William Lental, Speaker of the House of Commons:--
-
-“SIR,--Lieutenant-General <g>Cromwell</g>, being to march towards Pembroke
-Castle, left me with my regiment to take in the Castle of Chepstow,
-which was possessed by Sir Nicholas Kemish [or Kemeys], and with him
-officers and soldiers to the number of 120. We drew close about it, and
-kept strong guards upon them, to prevent them from stealing out, and so
-to make their escape. We sent for two guns from Gloucester, and two off
-a shipboard, and planted them against the castle. We raised [razed] the
-battlements of their towers with our great guns, and made their guns
-unusefull for them. We also plaid with our shorter pieces into the
-castle. One shot fell into the governor’s chamber, which caused him to
-remove his lodgings to the other end of the castle. We then prepared our
-batteries, and this morning finished them. About twelve of the clock, we
-made a hole through the wall, so low that a man might walk into it. The
-soldiers in the castle, perceiving that we were like to make a breach,
-cried out to our soldiers that they would yield the castle, and many of
-them did attempt to come away. I caused my soldiers to fire at them to
-keep them in. Esquire Lewis comes upon the wall, and speaks to some
-gentlemen of the county that he knew, and tells them that he was willing
-to yield to mercy. They came and acquainted me with his desire, to which
-I answered, that it was not my work to treat with particular men, but it
-was Sir Nicholas Kemish, with his officers and all his soldiers, that I
-aimed at; but the governor refused to deliver up the castle upon these
-terms that Esquire Lewis desired, but desired to speak with me at the
-drawbridge, while I altogether refused to have any such speech with him,
-because he refused Lieutenant-General Cromwell’s summons; but, being
-overpersuaded by some gentlemen of the country that were there,
-presently I dismounted from my horse, and went unto the drawbridge,
-where he through the port-hole spake with me. That which he desired was,
-that he, with all his officers and soldiers, might march out of the
-castle without anything being taken from them; to which I answered, that
-I would give him no other terms but that he and all that were with him
-should submit unto mercy, which he swore he would not do. I presently
-drew off the soldiers from the castle, and caused them to stand to their
-arms; but he refusing to come out upon those terms, the soldiers
-deserted him, and came running out at the breach we had made. My
-soldiers, seeing them run out, ran in at the same place, and possesst
-themselves of the castle, and killed Sir Nicholas Kemmish, and likewise
-him that betrayed the castle, and wounded divers, and took prisoners as
-followeth:--Esquire Lewis, Major Lewis, Major Thomas, Captain Morgan,
-Captain Buckeswell, Captain John Harris, Captain Christopher Harris,
-Captain Mancell, Captain Pinner, Captain Doule, Captain Rossitre,
-Lieutenant Kemmish, Lieutenant Leach, Lieutenant Codd, Ensign Watkins,
-Ensign Morgan, with other officers and soldiers, to the number of 120.
-These prisoners we have put into the church, and shall keep them till I
-receive further orders from Lieutenant-General Cromwell.
-
-“This is all at present, but that I am your humble servant,
-
-“ISAAC EWER.”
-
-“Chepstow, May 28, 1648.”
-
-The captain who carried the news of this event to London was rewarded
-with fifty pounds; and Colonel Ewer, with the officers and soldiers
-under his command, received the thanks of parliament. This was the
-closing scene of its warlike history; and from that period down to the
-present, the Castle of Chepstow has remained a picturesque and
-dismantled ruin.
-
-Of this brave but unfortunate governor of the castle, we collect the
-following particulars:[9]--
-
-<g>Sir Nicholas Kemeys</g>, Bart.,[10] the sixteenth in descent of this
-honourable house, “was colonel of a regiment of horse, raised for the
-king’s service, and governor of Chepstow Castle, which he bravely
-defended against the powerful efforts of Cromwell and Colonel Ewer; nor
-did he surrender that fortress but with his life, fighting in the most
-gallant manner, till death arrested his farther exertions.”[11] There is
-a traditional story, that “the Parliamentary troops, as soon as they
-entered the castle, in revenge for Sir Nicholas’ obstinate resistance,
-mangled his body in the most horrid manner, and that the soldiers wore
-his remains in their hats, as trophies of their victory; but a branch of
-the Kemeys family,” says the writer, “told me they considered it as one
-of those acts of the times, which each party adopted to stigmatize the
-memory of its political opponents. Not a stone, it is said, nor other
-tribute of recollection, in any cemetery in Monmouthshire, records the
-spot in which the remains of this brave officer were deposited.”[12]
-
-A portrait of Sir Nicholas Kemeys was “in the possession of the late
-Mrs. Sewel[13] of Little Kemeys, near Usk, in this county, now the
-property of John G. Kemeys, Esq. The picture is a three-quarters length.
-He is drawn in armour, and seems about forty years of age. He appears to
-have possessed a good person, if an opinion might be formed from his
-portrait. He has a fine open countenance, round face, dark piercing
-eyes, an aquiline nose, and wore his own hair, which was black and
-rather curly.” According to the fashion of his day, he is represented
-with whiskers, and a small tuft of hair growing under the lower lip--or,
-in modern phraseology, an _imperial_. “Although it is what an artist
-would pronounce a dark picture, yet, on the whole, it is in good
-preservation. There are two more portraits of this gentleman--one in the
-possession of the late Sir Charles Kemeys, Bart. of Halsewell, in
-Somersetshire; the other at Malpas, near Usk, probably all painted at
-the same time and by the same artist, but whose name has not been handed
-down in conjunction with his works.”
-
-The house of Kemeys,[14] “originally De Camois, Camoes, and Camys, is of
-Norman extraction, and the name of its patriarch is to be found on the
-roll of Battle Abbey. Large possessions were granted to the family in
-the counties of Sussex and Surrey; and, so early as the year 1258, Ralph
-de Camois was a baron by tenure. He was succeeded by his son, Ralph de
-Camois, who was summoned to parliament in the 49th year of Henry III.;
-and his descendants sat among the peers of the realm, until the demise,
-issueless, of Hugh de Camois, who left his sisters (Margaret, married to
-Ralph Rademelde, and Aleanor, wife of Roger Lewknor) his coheirs. A
-branch of the family which had settled in Pembrokeshire, there enjoyed
-large possessions, and, as lords of Camaes and St. Dogmaels, exercised
-almost regal sway. In the conquest of Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire,
-the Camays were much distinguished, and were rewarded with grants of
-“Kemeys Commander” and “Kemeys Inferior.” One branch became established
-at Llannarr Castle, in Monmouthshire (now in the possession of Colonel
-Kemeys-Tynte), and another fixing itself at Began, in Glamorganshire,
-erected the mansion of _Kevanmably_, the residence of the present chief
-of the family.
-
-“Edward Kemeys, son of Edward Kemeys who was at the conquest of Upper
-Gwent, married the daughter and heiress of Andrew de Began, lord of
-Began, a lineal descendant of Blethyn Maynerch, lord of Brecon, and thus
-acquired the lordship of Began, which, for centuries after, was the
-principal abode of his descendants. His great-great-great-grandson,
-Jenkin Kemeys of Began, married Cristley, daughter of Morgan ap
-Llewellyn, by whom he had one son, Jevan; and a daughter, married to
-Jevan ap Morgan of New Church, near Cardiff, in the county of Glamorgan,
-and was grandmother of Morgan Williams--living _temp._ Henry VIII.--who
-espoused the sister of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, and had a son,
-Sir Richard Williams, who assumed, at the desire of Henry VIII., the
-surname of his uncle Cromwell; and through the influence of that
-once-powerful relative, obtained wealth and station. His great-grandson
-was the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell.[15] From Jenkin Kemeys was
-lineally descended Sir Nicholas Kemeys of Kevanmably, who represented
-the county of Glamorgan in parliament, and was created a baronet 13th
-May, 1642. This gentleman, remarkable for his gigantic stature and
-strength, was pre-eminently distinguished by his loyalty to Charles I.,
-and on the breaking out of the civil war (as we have already observed),
-having raised a regiment of cavalry, was invested with the command of
-Chepstow Castle.”
-
-Notwithstanding the alliance with the blood of <g>Cromwell</g>, loyalty seems
-to have been hereditary in the house of Kemeys. In the family biography
-we have the following anecdote:--“Sir Charles Kemeys--knight of the
-shire for Monmouth, in the last parliament of Queen Anne, and for
-Glamorgan in the two succeeding parliaments--when on his travels, was
-shown great attention by George I. at Hanover, and frequently joined the
-private circle of the Elector. When his majesty ascended the British
-throne, he was pleased to inquire why his old acquaintance Sir Charles
-Kemeys had not paid his respects at court; and commanding him to repair
-to St. James’s, sent him a message, the substance of which was--that the
-King of England hoped Sir Charles Kemeys still recollected the number of
-pipes he had smoked with the Elector of Hanover in Germany. Sir Charles,
-who had retired from parliament, and was a stanch Jacobite, replied,
-that he should be proud to pay his duty at St. James’s to the Elector of
-Hanover, but that he had never had the honour of smoking a pipe with the
-King of England.”
-
-Sir Charles Kemeys died without issue, when the baronetcy expired, and
-his estates devolved on his nephew, Sir Charles Kemeys-Tynte, Bart. of
-Halsewell, at whose demise, also issueless, his estates vested in his
-niece, Jane Hassell, who married Colonel Johnstone, afterwards
-Kemeys-Tynte,[16] and was mother of the present (1838) Colonel
-Kemeys-Tynte of Halsewell and Kevanmably. Through the Hassells, the
-family of Kemeys-Tynte claim descent from the Plantagenets.[17]
-
-We now proceed to a brief description of the castle in its ruinous
-state.
-
-[Illustration: CHEPSTOW CASTLE AND BRIDGE.
-
-From the right bank of the Wye.]
-
-
-<g>Plan of Chepstow Castle.</g>
-
-[Illustration:
-
-EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN.
-
-1. Entrance Gateway.
-2. Marten’s Tower.
-3. Well.
-4. First Court.
-5. Rooms above the Vaulted Chamber.
-6. Second Court.
-7. Hall, or Chapel.
-8. Third Court.
-9. Sunken Way and Drawbridge.
-10. Fourth Court.
-11. Sunken Way and Bridge.
-12. Perpendicular Cliff.
-]
-
-
-[Illustration: B]UILT on a lofty perpendicular rock, that rises sheer
-from the bed of the Wye, the position of the Castle is at once strong
-and commanding; while, on the land side, the great height and massive
-strength of its walls and outworks, present the remains of all that
-ancient art could effect to render it impregnable.
-
-The grand entrance is defended by two circular towers of unequal
-proportions, with double gates, portcullises, and a port-hole, through
-which boiling water or metallic fluids could be discharged on the heads
-of the besiegers. The massive door, covered with iron bolts and clasps,
-is a genuine relic of the feudal stronghold. The knocker now in use is
-an old four-pound shot. This introduces us to the great court, sixty
-yards long by twenty broad, and presenting the appearance of a tranquil
-garden. The walls are covered with a luxuriant mantle of ivy, through
-which the old masonry appears only at intervals; and here the owl finds
-himself in undisturbed possession, unless when roused by the choir of
-numberless birds that flit from tree to tree, or nestle among the
-leaves. The lover of solitude could hardly find a retreat more suited to
-his taste. The area, interspersed with trees, and covered with a fine
-grassy carpet, is annually converted into a flower and fruit show, for
-the encouragement of horticulture, under the patronage of the noble
-owner.
-
-The castle, as one of its historians conjectures, is of the same
-antiquity as the town itself, to which it served the purposes of a
-citadel; but the precise epoch, neither Leland, Camden, nor any
-topographical writer has been able to ascertain. Stow, indeed,
-attributes the building of the castle to Julius Cæsar, but there is no
-evidence to support his supposition. Camden, on the contrary, thinks it
-of no great antiquity; for several affirm, says he, that “it had its
-rise, not many ages past, from the ancient <g>Venta</g>”--the Venta Silurum of
-Antoninus. Leland, in his Itinerary, says--“The waulles begun at the
-edge of the great bridge over the Wye, and so came to the castle, which
-yet standeth fayr and strong, not far from the ruin of the bridge. In
-the castle ys one tower, as I heard say, by the name of Longine.[18] The
-town,” he adds, “hath nowe but one paroche chirche: the cell of a blake
-monk or two of Bermondsey, near London, was lately there suppressed.”
-
-During the life of Charles-Noel, fourth Duke of Beaufort, the castle was
-let on a lease of three successive lives to a Mr. Williams, a general
-merchant or trader, who adapted some of the great apartments to the
-following purposes, namely--the great kitchen to a _sail_ manufactory;
-the store-room to a wholesale wine-cellar; the grand hall, or
-banqueting-room, was occupied by a _glass_-blower; and the circular
-tower by the gate, leading into the second court, was used as a nail
-manufactory. After the death of Mr. Williams, the roofs fell in, one
-after another--that of the Keep in 1799, the year in which the lease
-expired; and thus the stately castle was reduced to its present
-condition--a vast and melancholy ruin.
-
-The only apartments now inhabitable are those of its loyal and
-intelligent warden and his family, whose civility and general
-information respecting the castle are very acceptable to its daily
-visitors.
-
-One of the principal towers was converted, during the above-named lease,
-into a glass manufactory, the furnace of which has left its scars deeply
-indented in the solid masonry.
-
-In a small chamber off the banqueting-hall, seventy-five pieces of
-ancient silver coin were recently discovered, and are now at Badminton
-Park; but of what value or of what reign we have not yet ascertained.
-
-An ancient door--as ancient, we are told, as the castle itself--opens
-upon the second court, of very nearly the same dimensions as the first,
-and now also converted into a garden. Beyond this is an apartment,
-supposed by some to have been the garrison chapel;[19] but its pointed
-arches and elaborately-carved windows, all evincing an air of stately
-dignity, leave no doubt of its having been the great baronial hall,
-where the Clares, the Marshalls, and Herberts, drew around them their
-chivalrous retainers.
-
-Connected with this, by a winding path, is a third court, now cultivated
-as an orchard; so that, with trees, flowers, and luxuriant ivy, the
-whole enclosure presents a mass of vegetation, in which the stern
-features of warlike art have almost disappeared.
-
-A walk along the ramparts westward from this point, commands some
-glimpses of beautiful scenery, with the Wye at the base of the rocks
-expanding in the form of a lake, where vessels are seen riding at
-anchor, and boats passing to and fro--here gay with pleasure parties,
-and there laden with foreign or inland produce.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>The Keep</g> is another object which the tourist will regard with interest,
-as the twenty years’ prison of Henry Marten, whose vote, with those of
-his “fellow-regicides,” at the trial of <g>Charles</g> the First, consigned
-that unfortunate monarch to the block. To his epitaph written upon
-himself we have already alluded; and the reader is no stranger,
-probably, to Southey’s lines on the room where he was confined, which,
-with a sarcastic parody written by Canning, will be found in these
-pages.
-
-<g>Henry Marten</g>, who attained such unenviable notoriety, was
-the son of Sir Henry Marten, a judge of the Admiralty, and M.P. for
-Berkshire. He was an able and active partisan of Oliver Cromwell, one
-of the “Executive Council;” and in the old prints representing the
-trial of the martyr-king, Marten occupies the chair on Cromwell’s
-left hand, immediately under the arms of the Commonwealth.[20] At the
-Restoration, he was brought to trial, and sentenced to death; but his
-sentence was afterwards commuted to imprisonment for life. In the keep
-of this castle, since called “Marten’s Tower,” he spent twenty years;
-but much was done to soften the rigour of his sentence. “His wife
-was permitted to share his imprisonment; he was attended by his own
-domestic servants, who were accommodated in the same tower; and he had
-permission to visit, and receive visits from his friends in the town
-and neighbourhood. He died in 1680, at the mature age of seventy-eight,
-neither disturbed by the qualms of conscience, nor enfeebled by the
-rigour of confinement; and left behind him the character of a liberal
-and indulgent master.” At a comparatively recent period, the principal
-chamber of the <g>Keep</g> was frequently used by the inhabitants of
-Chepstow as a ball-room; and there is now residing in the town a lady,
-who remembers having been present at more than one of these festive
-reunions.
-
-For the following notice of this “stern republican,”--somewhat different
-from the preceding--we are indebted to Heath’s description of
-Chepstow:--
-
-Henry Marten,[21] commonly called Harry Marten, was born in the city of
-Oxford, in the parish of St. John the Baptist, in a house opposite to
-Merton College Church, then lately built by Henry Sherburne, gent., and
-possessed, at the time of Harry’s birth, by Sir Henry, his father. After
-he had been instructed in grammar-learning in Oxford, he became a
-gentleman commoner of University College in the beginning of 1617, aged
-fifteen years, where, and in public, giving a manifestation of his
-pregnant mind, had the degree of Bachelor of Arts conferred upon him in
-the latter end of the year 1619. Afterwards he went to one of the Inns
-of Court, travelled into France, and on his return married a lady of
-considerable worth; but with whom, it is said, “he never afterwards
-lived.”[22]
-
-In the beginning of the year 1640, he was elected one of the knights for
-Berks, to serve in the parliament that began at Westminster the 13th of
-April; and again, though not legally, in October, to serve in the
-parliament that began at the same place on the 3d of November following.
-We shall not enter into his political actions on the great theatre of
-public life--as they are to be found in all the histories of England,
-from the reign of Charles I. to the Restoration--but content ourselves
-with noticing those parts of it which are more peculiarly interesting to
-the traveller in Monmouthshire, namely, the manner in which he passed
-his time, with occasional anecdotes, during his confinement in the
-castle of Chepstow.
-
-<g>Wood</g>, an ultra-royalist, gives the following character of him:--“He was
-a man of good natural parts--was a boon familiar, witty, and quick with
-repartees--was exceeding happy in apt instances, pertinent and very
-biting; so that his company, being deemed incomparable by many, would
-have been acceptable to the greatest persons, only he would be drunk too
-soon, and so put an end to all their mirth for the present. At length,
-after all his rogueries, acted for near twenty years together, were
-passed; he was at length called to account for that grand villany, of
-having a considerable hand in murdering his prince, of which being
-easily found guilty, he was not to suffer the loss of his life, as
-others did, but the loss of his estate, and perpetual imprisonment, for
-that he came in upon the proclamation of surrender. So that, after two
-or three removes from prison to prison, he was at length sent to
-Chepstow Castle, where he continued another twenty years, not in
-wantonness, riotousness, and villany, but in confinement and repentance,
-if he had so pleased.”
-
-“This person--who lived very poor, and in a shabbeel condition in his
-confinement, and would be glad to take a pot of ale from any one that
-would give it to him--died with meat in his mouth, that is, suddenly, in
-Chepstow Castle (as before mentioned), in September, 1680; and was, on
-the 9th day of the same month, buried in the church of Chepstow. Some
-time before he died he made the epitaph, by way of acrostic, on himself,
-which is engraved on the stone which now covers his remains.”
-
-Mrs. Williams--“wife of the person who had the care of the castle, and
-who died in 1798, at a very advanced age--well knew and was intimately
-acquainted with the women who waited and attended on Harry Marten during
-his confinement in the castle. They were two sisters, and their maiden
-name was Vick.
-
-“From what I could learn, I am of opinion that the early part of
-Marten’s confinement was rather rigorous; for whatever Mrs. Williams
-mentioned had always a reference to the latter part of it; and in this
-conjecture I am supported by her remark, that though he had two
-daughters living, they were not indulged with sharing their father’s
-company in prison till near the close of his life. In the course of
-years, political rigour against him began to wear away, and he was
-permitted not only to walk about Chepstow, but to have the constant
-residence of his family, in order to attend upon him in the castle. This
-indulgence at last extended itself so far, as to permit him to visit any
-family in the neighbourhood, his host being responsible for his safe
-return to the castle at the hour appointed.
-
-“One anecdote of Marten, as mentioned by Mrs. Williams, I shall here
-repeat. Among other families who showed a friendly attention to the
-prisoner, were the ancestors of the present worthy possessor of <g>St.
-Pierre</g>, near Chepstow. To a large company assembled round the festive
-dinner-board Marten had been invited. Soon after the cloth was removed,
-and the bottle put into gay circulation, Mr. Lewis, in a cheerful
-moment, jocularly said to Marten, ‘Harry, suppose the times were to come
-again in which you passed your life, what part would you act in them?’
-‘_The part I have done_,’ was his immediate reply. ‘Then, sir,’ says Mr.
-Lewis, ‘I never desire to see you at my table again;’ nor was he ever
-after invited.[23]
-
-“Great credibility,” says our authority, “deserves to be attached to
-this story, as containing Marten’s political opinion at that day; and,
-to support a belief in it, the late Rev. J. Birt, canon of Hereford,
-thus speaks of him, in his letter to the Rev. J. Gardner, prefixed to
-his ‘Appendix to the History of Monmouthshire:’--‘Henry Marten, one of
-the incendiary preachers during the great rebellion, was, at the
-Restoration, imprisoned for life at Chepstow, and buried there. As far
-as I can recollect, he died as he lived, with the fierce spirit of a
-republican.’ The Rev. Mr. Birt, who died at the advanced age of
-ninety-two, held distinguished preferment in the neighbourhood of
-Chepstow, and had been in the habits of intimate acquaintance with all
-the first families in the county. His testimony might therefore be said
-to stamp the anecdote with the sanction of truth, without seeking for
-farther evidence.
-
-“Of his personal appearance, a friend of mine--on the authority of the
-late Mr. Harry Morgan, attorney at Usk, whose father had been in
-Marten’s company, and by whom he had been informed of it--says that Mr.
-Morgan described him, in general terms, as ‘a smart, active little man,
-and the merriest companion he ever was in company with in his life.’
-Wood praises his social qualities, and talent for conversation; but that
-‘he lived in a shabbeel condition, and would take a pot of ale from any
-one that would give it to him,’ may be doubted; unless he meant that the
-kindness shown to him by the families in and near Chepstow admitted such
-an interpretation.[24]
-
-“Let us attend him to the grave. It is hardly possible to admit that
-such a mind as that of Marten would have penned--much less to suppose
-that he would have wished to have engraved on his tomb--the wretched
-doggerel that goes under the name of his ‘Epitaph,’ and which is said to
-have been written by him during his confinement in the castle. Not the
-smallest circumstance respecting his funeral is left on record; and
-whether his obsequies were marked with public procession, or whether he
-retired to the grave unnoticed and unregarded, tradition has not
-preserved the slightest memorandum.”
-
-His biographer might, without difficulty, have concluded that--in those
-times, at all events--an imprisoned rebel would not be permitted to have
-any but the most private funeral. All that we are certain of is, that he
-was buried in the chancel of the church of Chepstow; and that, on a
-large stone from the Forest of Dean, is still to be traced the following
-“Epitaph, written on himself,” by way of acrostic, but now much
-defaced:--
-
- (ARMS.)
-
- Here, September the ninth,
- was buried
- A true Englishman,
- Who, in Berkshire, was well known
- To love his country’s freedom ’bove his own;
- But being immured full twenty year,
- Had time to write, as doth appear,
-
- HIS EPITAPH.
-
- =H= ere or elsewhere--all’s one to you, to me--
- =E= arth, air, or water, gripes my ghostly dust,
- =N= one knows how soon to be by fire set free:
- =R= eader, if you an oft-tryed rule will trust,
- =Y= ou’ll gladly do and suffer what you must.
- =M= y time was spent in serving you, and 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 the eye.--Care thou, mine says,
- =N= ot how you end, but how you spend your days.[25]
-
-Having retired to that asylum which is the common lot of humanity, his
-ashes were for some years permitted to rest in peace. But at length a
-clergyman of the name of <g>Chest</g>, we are told, was appointed to the
-vicarage of Chepstow, who, glowing with admiration for those principles
-of the constitution which he considered had been subverted, openly
-declared that the bones of a regicide should never pollute the chancel
-of that church of which he was vicar, and immediately ordered the corpse
-to be disinterred, and removed to the place where it now reposes, in the
-middle of the north transept, and over it the stone is placed that bears
-the epitaph before mentioned.
-
-About this time, as Heath informs us, “there came to reside at Chepstow
-a person of the name of Downton, who afterwards married a daughter of
-the Rev. Mr. Chest; but, whatever affection he might cherish for the
-lady, the father was one unceasing object of his ridicule and contempt;
-and when the vicar died, he publicly satyrised him in the following
-lines:--
-
- ‘Here lies at rest, I do protest,
- One Chest within another;
- The chest of _wood_ was very good--
- Who says so of the other?’”
-
-<g>Marten’s</g> apartment, as we have said, was in “the first story of the
-eastern tower, or keep; for this part of the building contained only a
-single room on each floor, if we except those near the top. Could he
-have detached from his recollection the idea of Sterne’s starling--‘I
-can’t get out, I can’t get out’--the situation might have been chosen
-out of remembrance or tenderness to the rank he had formerly held in
-society; for though it bore the name of a _prison_, it was widely
-different from the generality of such places. The room measured fifteen
-paces long, by twelve paces wide, and was very lofty. On one side, in
-the centre, was a fire-place, two yards wide; and the windows, which
-were spacious, and lighted both ends of the apartment, gave an air of
-cheerfulness not frequent in such buildings. In addition to this, he
-could enjoy from its windows some of the sweetest prospects in Britain.
-This apartment continues to bear the name of ‘Marten’s Room’ to this
-day, and few travellers enter the castle without making it an object of
-their attention.”
-
-“Marten,” says Mr. Seward, “was a striking instance of the truth of
-Roger Ascham’s observation, who, in his quaint and pithy style,
-says--‘Commonlie, men, very quick of wit, be very light of conditions.
-In youth, they be readie scoffers, privie mockers, and over light and
-merrie. In age they are testie, very waspish, and always over miserable;
-and yet few of them come to any great age, by reason of their miserable
-life when young; and a great deal fewer of them come to show any great
-countenance, or beare any great authority abroade, in the world; but
-either they live obscurely, men wot not how, or dye obscurely, men mark
-not when.’[26]
-
-“In the dining-parlour of St. Pierre, near Chepstow, there hung,” in the
-time of the writer, “a painting, said to be of Harry Marten. He is
-represented at three-quarters length, in armour. In his right hand he
-holds a pistol, which he seems about to discharge; while with the left
-he grasps the hilt of his sword. Behind him is a page, in the act of
-tying on a green sash; the whole conveying an idea that the person was
-about to undertake some military enterprise. Judging from the picture,
-the likeness appears to have been taken when Marten was about forty-five
-years of age. He there seems of thin or spare habit, with a high
-forehead, long visage; his hair of a dark colour, and flowing over the
-right shoulder. The cravat round the neck does not correspond with the
-age in which he lived, being tied in the fashion of modern times. There
-is a great deal of animation and spirit in his countenance,
-characteristic of the person it is said to represent.”[27]
-
-Having adverted to Mr. Southey’s “Inscription,” and its parody by
-_George Canning_, we subjoin the following copies from the originals.
-The first, by Southey, is thus headed:--
-
- INSCRIPTION
-
- _For the apartment in Chepstow Castle, where
- Harry Marten the regicide was imprisoned thirty years._
-
- 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 through yon high bars he poured a sad
- And broken splendour. Dost thou ask his crime?
- He had _rebelled against the king, and sat
- In judgment on him_; for his ardent mind
- Shaped goodliest plans of happiness on earth,
- And peace and liberty. Wild dreams! but such
- As Plato loved; such as with holy zeal
- Our Milton worshipp’d. Blessed hopes! awhile
- From man withheld, even to the latter days,
- When CHRIST shall come, and all things be fulfilled!
-
-
-
-The next is the parody by Canning, as published in the first number of
-the Anti-Jacobin, 1797:--
-
- INSCRIPTION
-
- _For the door of the cell in Newgate, where Mrs. Brownrigg
- the ’prentice-cide was confined
- previous to her execution._
-
-
- For one long term, or e’er her trial came,
- Here Brownrigg lingered. Often have these cells
- Echoed her blasphemies, as with shrill voice
- She screamed for fresh Geneva. Not to her
- Did the blithe fields of Tothill, or thy street,
- St. Giles, its fair varieties expand;
- Till at the last, in slow-drawn cart, she went
- To execution. Dost thou ask her crime?
- _She whipped two female ’prentices to death,
- And hid them in the coal-hole._ For her mind
- Shaped strictest plans of discipline. Sage schemes,
- Such as Lycurgus taught, when at the shrine
- Of the Orthyan goddess he bade flog
- The little Spartans: such as erst chastised
- Our Milton when at college. For this act
- Did Brownrigg swing. Harsh laws! but time shall come
- When France shall reign, and laws be all repealed!
-
-
-
-Adjoining the Keep, or Marten’s Tower, is a small chamber, or <g>Oratory</g>,
-remarkable for the elegance of its proportions, and the chaste but
-elaborate style of its ornaments. The lancet-pointed window, encircled
-by rows of delicately-carved rosettes, is in fine preservation.--_See
-the opposite page._
-
-The narrow path which, at a height of six feet above the ground,
-connects this portion of the castle with the donjon tower, commands a
-range of beautiful scenery, the prominent features of which are the
-lawns and groves of Persefield, the precipitous but picturesque banks of
-the river, with a noble background for the picture in the commanding
-summit of the Wynd Cliff, which overlooks the scene.
-
-The <g>West Gate</g>, a Gothic archway, strongly defended by a double
-portcullis, with moat and drawbridge, opens into the fourth or principal
-court already noticed; and as portions of Roman brick are here observed
-in the masonry, some doubts have arisen as to its date: but whether
-furnished from an earlier building on the spot, or transported hither
-from the ruins of Caerleon, is a question which, so far as the writer
-could ascertain, is still undecided. It seems very
-
-[Illustration]
-
-probable, however, that the commanding site occupied by the present
-castle was originally that of a strong military post, built and
-garrisoned by the Romans, the ruins of which were converted into a
-Norman fortress by William Fitzosborne.
-
-In the view from the right bank of the Wye, the western gate is seen in
-all its elegant and massive proportions. The square tower, with its
-machicolated parapet, angular turrets, and vertical balustrariæ--through
-which flights of arrows or other missiles met the assailants--give a
-striking foreground to the picture; while the contiguous towers and
-bastions, lessening as they recede, and assuming new and often fantastic
-shapes, present a vast and highly diversified mass of buildings. Here
-clothed with trees and shrubs, there jutting forward in bare and broken
-fragments, and here again rising sheer and high from the water’s edge,
-their huge blocks of masonry seem as if they were rather the
-spontaneous work of nature than the laborious productions of art. In
-this view are comprised the whole line of embattled walls flanking the
-river, the new bridge, and part of the lower town; the rocky boundaries
-to the southward, with the modern quay, where the daily steamer
-discharges her cargo and passengers. The precipitous cliffs, by which
-the river is there confined, terminate upwards in wooded and pastoral
-scenes--enlivened here and there by cottages and farms, which command
-some remarkable and striking views of the river, the town and castle,
-with its western landscapes of hill, forest, and park-like scenery. A
-short way beyond the extreme verge of the engraving, the river Wye will
-shortly be spanned by a magnificent bridge, part of the South Wales
-Railway, now in progress.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>An arched Chamber</g>, cut in the natural rock overhanging the river at a
-great height, is supposed to have been used as a prison, but more
-probably as a store-room; for, by anchoring the boats close to the rock,
-their cargoes for the service of the garrison, whether provisions[28] or
-ammunition, could be easily hoisted into security by means of a
-windlass; and no doubt, under the cloud of night, and with a
-spring-tide, many a goodly bark has been thus relieved of its freight;
-nor is it improbable that adventurous captives may have thus found their
-way to some friendly bark, and regained their freedom.[29] In the hands
-of a skilful romance writer, this scene might be turned to excellent
-account--more particularly if the descending basket contained a damsel
-“flying from tyrants jealous,” and her lover-knight stood in the boat to
-receive her--all heightened by such dramatic machinery as midnight, with
-the tender hopes and imminent hazards of the enterprise, would easily
-supply. But all this is foreign to the spirit of archæology, which turns
-with disdain from such puerile vanities, and beckons us forward to the
-breach where the iron balls of the Commonwealth were directed with such
-fury in the last assault. Their batteries played from the opposite
-height, which the guide will point out as the commanding position which
-rendered the cause of the defenders so useless and desperate, and added
-another triumph to the Parliamentary cannon.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>The Passage</g>, or gallery, leading down to the vaulted chamber, is
-accurately shown in the annexed woodcut. It has an air of Gothic
-antiquity that harmonizes well with the place, for its pointed style and
-proportions clearly show that it belongs to the earliest portion of the
-structure. The massive arch, seen through the opening, is that of the
-mysterious chamber already noticed. The window,[30] terminating the
-vista, overlooks the river, and seems to project from the precipitous
-rocks that here form an impregnable barrier to the fortress; and even
-when the tide is at its full, the window seems suspended at a dizzy
-height above the water. The uses to which the passage and its chamber
-were originally applied, were probably those of a temporary refuge and
-retreat; and were, no doubt, well understood and appreciated by the
-Norman castellan, to whom the means of successful resistance or safe
-retreat were the grand objects in a feudal residence.
-
-<g>Such</g> are the general features of this ancient stronghold.[31] But on the
-minuter points of its history, architecture, and internal arrangements,
-our restricted limits will not permit us to enlarge; but, aided by
-faithful engravings and woodcuts, the descriptions, however brief, may
-serve to convey a detailed and correct notion of the whole.
-
-<g>Persefield.</g>--In the immediate environs, many objects are found to invite
-the traveller’s attention; but, as a combination of rich English
-scenery, the attractions of Persefield, or Piercefield, stand
-pre-eminent. The house and grounds are thus briefly described: The
-latter extend westward along the precipitous banks of the Wye, as shown
-in the engraving. On the north is the Wind-Cliff, or Wynd Cliff. The
-grounds are divided into the lower and upper lawn by the approach to the
-house, a modern edifice, consisting of a stone centre and wings, from
-which the ground slopes gracefully but rapidly into a valley profusely
-shaded with ornamental trees. To give variety to the views, and disclose
-the native grandeur of the position, walks have been thrown open through
-the woods and along the precipitous margin of the river, which command
-the town, castle, and bridge of Chepstow, with the Severn in the
-distance, backed by a vast expanse of fertile valleys and pastoral
-hills. But to describe the romantic features of this classic residence
-with the minuteness they deserve, would far exceed our limits; it is a
-scene calculated to inspire the poet as well as the painter; and it is
-gratifying to add that, by the taste and liberality of the owner,
-strangers are freely admitted to the grounds and walks of Persefield.
-
-<g>The Wynd Cliff.</g>--This lofty eminence commands one of the finest and most
-varied prospects in the United Kingdom; while the scenery of the Cliff
-has a particular charm for every lover of the picturesque. Poet,
-painter, and historian, have combined their efforts to make it a place
-of pilgrimage; but, to be seen in all its beauty, the rich and various
-tints of autumn and a bright sun are indispensable accessories. It may
-be called the “Righi” of the Wye, commanding a vast circumference of
-fertile plains and wooded hills, all enlivened
-
-[Illustration: _Chepstow Castle and Town._
-
-From the Windcliff.]
-
-with towns, villages, churches, castles, and cottages; with many a
-classic spot on which the stamp of history is indelibly impressed--names
-embodied in our poetry, and embalmed by religious associations. From the
-edge of the precipice, nearly a thousand feet in height, the prospect
-extends into eight counties--Brecon, Glamorgan, Monmouth, Hereford,
-Gloucester, Wilts, Somerset, and Devon.
-
-For the enjoyment of this inspiring scene, every facility has been
-supplied; and even the invalid tourist, with time and caution, may reach
-the summit without fatigue. “The hand of art,” says the local guide,
-“has smoothed the path up the declivity, tastefully throwing the course
-into multiplied windings, which fully accord with its name, and the
-nature of the scenery which it commands. At every turn some pendant rock
-girt with ivy, some shady yew, or some novel glimpse on the vale below,
-caught through the thick beechy mantle of this romantic precipice,
-invite the beholder to the luxury of rest.” Still ascending, the tourist
-penetrates a dark-winding chasm, through which the path conducts him in
-shadowy silence to the last stage of the ascent, which gradually
-discloses one of the most enchanting prospects upon which the human eye
-can repose. From the platform to the extreme verge of the horizon, where
-the Downs of Wiltshire and the Mendip hills form the boundary line, the
-eye ranges over a vast region of cultivated fields, waving forests, and
-populous towns, sufficient of themselves to furnish the resources of a
-principality.
-
-The pens of Reed, Warren, and Gilpin, have been successively employed in
-sketching the features of this magnificent panorama; but nothing can be
-more correct and graphic than the following description by
-Fosbroke:--“What a cathedral is among churches, the Wynd Cliff is among
-prospects. Like Snowdon, it ought to be visited at sunrise, or seen
-through a sunrise-glass called a _Claude_, which affords a sunrise view
-at mid-day, without the obscuration of the morning mist. This cliff is
-the last grand scene of the Piercefield drama. It is not only
-magnificent, but so novel, that it excites an involuntary start of
-astonishment; and so sublime, that it elevates the mind into
-instantaneous rapture. The parts consist of a most uncommon combination
-of wood, rock, water, sky, and plain--of height and abyss--of rough and
-smooth--of recess and projection--of fine landscapes near, and excellent
-prospective afar,--all melting into each other, and grouping into such
-capricious lines, that, although it may find a counterpart in tropic
-climes, it is, in regard to England, probably unique. The spectator
-stands upon the edge of a precipice, the depth of which is awful to
-contemplate, with the river winding at his feet. The right screen is
-Piercefield ridge, richly wooded; the left is a belt of rocks, over
-which, northward, appears the Severn, with the fine shores between
-Thornbury and Bristol, rising behind each other in admirable swells,
-which unite in most graceful curves. The first foreground appears to
-the eye like a view from the clouds to the earth, and the rich contrast
-of green meadows to wild forest scenery,--the farm of Llancaut, clasped
-in the arms of the winding river, backed by hanging wood and rock. The
-further horn of the crescent tapers off into a craggy informal mole,
-over which the eye passes to a second bay; this terminates in Chepstow
-Castle, the town and rocks beyond all mellowed down by distance, into
-that fine hazy indistinctness which makes even deformities combine into
-harmony with the picture.”[32]
-
-<g>An observatory</g>, the guide informed us, was intended some years since to
-have crowned this noble eminence, and a subscription was got up for the
-purpose; but some difference having arisen between the projectors of the
-scheme and the proprietor of the land, it was dropped. It was suggested
-by a local writer, that a few Doric columns with architraves, however
-rude, would have had an imposing effect on the summit of the Wynd Cliff,
-and reminded the classic traveller of the ruined temple of Minerva on
-the Sunium promontory. “It might,” he says, “be partially immersed in
-wood; while, in the native rock, niches might be hollowed out; and on a
-tablet, at the finest point of view, the following words should be
-inscribed:--VALENTINE MORRIS[33] _introduced these sublime scenes to
-public view. To him be honour: to_ GOD _praise_.”[34] This is concise
-and classical; but it is reserved probably for another generation to
-witness the completion of the design.
-
-The whole scene, from this point to the Abbey of Tinterne, presents an
-uninterrupted combination of picturesque and romantic features. Above
-are hanging cliffs, richly clothed in variegated woods, perfumed with
-flowers, irrigated by murmuring rivulets, fountains, and cascades, and
-rendered vocal by the songs of birds. These woody solitudes are the
-annual resort of nightingales, whose note is familiar to every late and
-early tourist, who with slow and lingering step measures his leafy way
-between <g>Chepstow</g> and <g>Tinterne</g>--unable to decide at what point of the
-road there is the richest concentration of scenery. It is, indeed, a
-sylvan avenue of vast and variegated beauty, reminding us of the softer
-features of Helvetian landscape.
-
-Far below, and seen only at intervals through its thick curtain of
-foliage, the classic <g>Vaga</g> continues its winding course. Here basking in
-sunshine, there sweeping along under shadowy cliffs--now expanding its
-waters over a broad channel, or rushing through deep ravines, it is
-often enlivened by boats laden with produce, or visitors in
-pleasure-barges, who make the “descent of the Wye,” as, in former days,
-pilgrims made that of the Rhine and Danube; for the boats that perform
-the trip from Ross to Chepstow, make, in general, but one voyage, and
-are otherwise employed or broken up at its conclusion--
-
- Facilis descensus Averni--
- Sed revocare gradum.
-
-It is but recently, says a periodical authority, that the Wye has become
-at all frequented on account of its scenery. About the middle of last
-century, the Rev. Dr. Egerton, afterwards Bishop of Durham, was collated
-by his father to the rectory of Ross, in which pleasant town, situated
-on the left bank of the river, and just at the point where its beautiful
-scenery begins, the worthy doctor resided nearly thirty years. He was a
-man of taste, and had a lively enjoyment of the pleasures of society
-amidst the beautiful scenery of his neighbourhood. His chief delight was
-to invite his friends and connections, who were persons of high rank, to
-pay him summer visits at Ross, and then to take them down the Wye--
-
- “Pleased Vaga echoing through its winding bounds,”--
-
-which, as well as the town of <g>Ross</g>, had derived a new interest from the
-lines of Pope. For this purpose, we are told, Dr. Egerton built a
-pleasure-boat; and, year after year, excursions were made, until it
-became fashionable in a certain high class of society to visit the Wye.
-But when the rector of Ross was consecrated to the see of Durham, his
-pleasure-boat, like that of the Doges of Venice and Genoa, was suffered
-to rot at anchor; and with no successor of similar means and taste to
-follow his example, excursions on the Wye became unfrequent, because no
-longer fashionable. Yet the beauties of the scenery once explored,
-became gradually more attractive; and some pilgrim of Nature, deviating
-now and then from the beaten track, spoke and sang of its beauties,
-until, having again caught the public ear, it was admitted that we had a
-“Rhine” within our own borders--with no vineyards and fewer castles, but
-with a luxuriance of scenery peculiarly its own, and with remains of
-feudal and monastic grandeur which no description could exaggerate. Mr.
-Whately, a writer on landscape gardening, and an exquisite critic, first
-directed attention to the new weir at Tinterne Abbey, and one or two
-other scenes on its banks; and, in 1770, the Wye was visited by William
-Gilpin, who did good service to taste and the lovers of nature by
-publishing his tour. The same year, a greater name connected itself with
-the Wye--for it was visited by the immortal author of the “Elegy in a
-Country Churchyard.” “My last summer’s tour,” says Gray, in one of his
-admirable letters to <g>Dr. Wharton</g>, “was through Worcestershire,
-Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire--five of
-the most beautiful counties in the kingdom. The very principal sight and
-capital feature of my journey was the river Wye, which I descended in a
-boat for nearly forty miles, from Ross to Chepstow. Its banks are a
-succession of nameless beauties.”[35] The testimony thus bequeathed to
-it by the illustrious <g>Gray</g>, has been confirmed and repeated by
-<g>Wordsworth</g>, while other kindred spirits, following each other in the
-same track, have sacrificed to Nature at the same altar, and recorded
-their admiration in immortal song:--
-
-... “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.
- “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!”
- WORDSWORTH, _July 13, 1798_.
-
- * * * * *
-
- AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding
- article:--Dugdale’s Monasticon.--Baronage.--Camden’s
- Britannia.--Leland’s Itinerary.--County History.--Local Guides:
- Heath.--Wood.--De la Beche.--Williams.--Thomas.--Roscoe.--Burke’s
- Peerage and Commoners.--Chronicles.--Giraldus Cambrensis.--William
- of Worcester.--History of the Commonwealth.--Life of
- Cromwell.--Notes by Correspondents.--MS. Tour on the Wye, 1848;
- with other sources, which will be found enumerated in the article
- upon _Tinterne Abbey_.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration] TINTERNE ABBEY.
-
- “There are some, I hear, who take it ill that I mention monasteries
- and their founders; I am sorry to hear it. But, not to give them
- any just offence, let them be angry if they will. Perhaps they
- would have it forgotten that our ancestors were, and we are,
- Christians; since there never were more certain indications and
- glorious monuments, of Christian piety than these.”--CAMDEN’S
- _Britannia, Pref. Ages of Faith_, Book xi.
-
-
-[Illustration: T]<g>he Abbey of Tinterne</g>, though one of the oldest in
-England, makes no conspicuous figure in its history, a proof that its
-abbots were neither bold nor ambitious of distinction, but devoted to
-the peaceful and retiring duties of their office. We do not find that
-the secluded Tinterne was ever the scene of any rebellious outbreak, or
-the refuge of any notorious criminal. From age to age, the bell that
-summoned to daily matins and vespers was cheerfully obeyed; and all they
-knew of the great world beyond the encircling hills, was learned,
-perhaps, from the daily strangers and pilgrims who took their meal and
-night’s lodging in the _hospitium_.
-
-The name of <g>Tinterne</g>, as etymologists inform us, is derived from the
-Celtic words _din_, a fortress, and _teyrn_, a sovereign or chief; for
-it appears from history, as well as tradition, that a hermitage,
-belonging to Theodoric or Teudric, King of Glamorgan, originally
-occupied the site of the present abbey; and that the royal hermit,
-having resigned the throne to his son Maurice, “led an eremitical life
-among the rocks of Dindyrn or Tynterne.” It is also mentioned, as a
-remarkable coincidence in history, that two kings, who sought Tinterne
-as a temporary place of refuge, only left it to meet violent deaths. The
-first was Theodoric, who was slain in battle by the Saxons, under
-Ceolwilph, King of Wessex, in the year 600, having been dragged from his
-seclusion by his own subjects, in order that he might act once more as
-their leader. The next was “the unfortunate King Edward,[36] who fled
-from the pursuit of his queen,” Isabella. The Welsh monarch is said to
-have routed the Saxons at Mathern, near Chepstow, where his body was
-buried. Bishop Godwin says, that he there saw his remains in a stone
-coffin; and on the skull, after the lapse of nearly a thousand years,
-the wound of which he died was conspicuous--thus verifying the tradition
-as to the place and manner of his death.
-
-Nothing could be more happily chosen for the seat of a religious
-community, than the beautiful valley of which these ruins are the
-unrivalled ornament. It would be difficult to picture, even with the aid
-of a fertile imagination, scenes more fitted to cherish devout feelings;
-to instruct us, from the tranquil bosom of Nature, to look up to
-Nature’s God; and in the exclusion of the busy world, to feel
-aspirations of gratitude continually ascending towards Him who enriched
-the valley with his bounty, and in homage to whom that temple and its
-altars were first erected. The latter, as the work of man, and a prey to
-neglect and violence, have disappeared or crumbled into ruins; but the
-former, as the work of God, has lost nothing of its original beauty. The
-woods that curtain the scene; the river that sweeps along under pendent
-cliffs of oak; the meadows and orchards that cover and adorn its
-banks,--all continue as luxuriant, as copious and abundant, as verdant
-and blooming, as on that day when the first pilgrim-father planted his
-cross in the soil, and consecrated the spot to the service of God.
-
-It has been often observed--and the observation is confirmed by
-fact--that those venerable ascetics, who acted as pioneers in the army
-of Christian pilgrims, were no mean judges of soil and climate, and
-generally chose some fertile spot upon which nature had bestowed her
-special favour. But many instances may be pointed out where they chose
-even the inhospitable desert for their habitation; and, by unremitting
-labour, transformed that desert into a garden. To the personal example
-of those ancient Cistercians, the country is indebted for many
-improvements in all branches of cultivation and embellishment. From the
-model-garden and orchard of the monastery, hints were communicated and
-lessons taught, which found their way into every part of the country,
-and carried with them the principal arts of civilization and
-improvement. Thus, what first gave a prosperous agriculture to our own
-shores, is still in operation upon the barbarous islands of the Pacific,
-where Christian missions, religious fraternities, are busily
-propagating, by their own example, those domestic and mechanical arts
-which are the safest and best introduction to religious knowledge. Of
-this happy influence on the minds and habits of the peasantry, none of
-the monastic orders was more fully sensible than the Cistercians, whose
-laborious but abstemious lives, sumptuous temples, and gorgeous ritual,
-threw an air of luxury upon every spot where the Order had once set its
-name.[37]
-
-From the shadowy woods which shelter and encompass it, Tinterne may be
-justly denominated the _Vallis umbrosa_ of Monmouth; but the fertility
-of the soil, and solemn retirement of the scene, so desirable for a
-great sanctuary in the “<g>Ages of Faith</g>,” had an immense advantage in the
-noble and navigable river which formed the channel of communication
-between the interior and the sea; and, like an artery supplying
-nutriment to the system, brought its supplies of provision or treasure
-to the very gate of the abbey. And many a goodly cargo of corn from
-Hereford, and wine from Normandy, has been disembarked at that old pier,
-where the abbot’s galley has degenerated into a clumsy ferryboat, with
-old Richard Tamplin, the ferryman, for its commander.
-
-From ancient historical sources, which treat of the origin, progress,
-and dissolution of this abbey, we select the following materials:--The
-founder was <g>Walter de Clare</g>, a name famous in the annals of chivalry and
-church-building. The first stone was laid in the thirty-first year of
-the twelfth century; but more than a century and a half elapsed before
-its completion. In those days churches were the work of generations; and
-it was rarely, indeed, that the founder lived to witness the fulfilment
-of his vow. “These all died in faith.” In 1287, we are told the <g>White
-Friars</g> took possession of the edifice consecrated to the <g>Blessed
-Virgin</g>,[38] and commenced those hallowed services which the Eighth
-Henry, by his _sic volo_, was destined to silence. These services,
-however, had lasted for centuries; and who shall say, during the lapse
-of barbarous times, how much crime was prevented, how much good
-effected, by those holy men. Shut out from the haunts and habits of
-secular life, they exercised their spiritual functions, we may
-charitably believe, in a manner that drew many penitents to their altar;
-and, in the midst of wars and tumults, displayed the sacred banner of
-peace, and published the doctrine of salvation. Their record is on high.
-And, in justice to the Cistercians, it must be confessed, that if less
-learned, they were more exemplary, and not more worldly, than some other
-fraternities of higher pretensions. They exercised and patronised
-agriculture; and planting themselves, as the rule directed, in the
-depths of forests, or on desert heaths, they drew from the earth such
-sustenance as it would yield to the hand of labour; and trusted to those
-who sought their spiritual aid and counsel, for the means of building
-and embellishing their altars.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-The order of <g>Cistercians</g>, as the reader is aware, made its appearance in
-England about the year 1128. In imitation of CHRIST and his twelve
-Apostles, the brotherhood was limited to twelve, with an abbot at their
-head, according to the rule of the Founder:--“Et sicut ille monasteria
-constructa, per _duodecim_ monachos adjuncto patre disponebat, sic se
-acturos confirmabant.”--_Mon. Ang._ iv. 699. Their first establishment
-in England was at Waverley, in Surrey; and in the course of time, their
-numbers had so multiplied, that, shortly before the dissolution of
-religious houses, they had seventy-five monasteries, and twenty-six
-nunneries in this country. Their patriarch was St. Robert, Abbot of
-<g>Molesme</g>, a Benedictine monastery in the bishopric of Langres. This holy
-man becoming alarmed at the gradual decay of vital religion among the
-brotherhood, and their wilful neglect of the rules instituted by their
-founder, adopted measures for the immediate reformation of the order.
-Having obtained the Pope’s sanction in support of his design, he chose
-twenty-one of the brethren, and retiring from Molesme to the
-neighbourhood of Chalons-sur-Saone, took up his abode in the
-wilderness[39] of Citeaux; where, under the protection of Otho, Duke of
-Burgundy, and the Bishop of Chalons, he laid the foundation of a
-religious house, in which the rules of <g>St. Benedict</g> were to be strictly
-enforced, and the character of his followers restored. But the wisdom
-and piety of Robert having introduced several improvements into the
-rules of St. Benedict, the brotherhood began to present features so
-distinct from the parent establishment, that, on the return of St.
-Robert to Molesme, his successor, Albericus, obtained a charter from the
-Pope, constituting the monks of Citeaux into an independent order--that
-of Cistercians, or Whitefriars. Their rules were positive and stringent;
-they involved the surrender of all secular affairs into the hands of lay
-brothers, so that their lives and labours might be exclusively devoted
-to the exercise of charity and the service of the altar. In their choice
-of localities for the establishment of new houses, they were enjoined,
-as already observed, to avoid cities, and go forth into the wilderness.
-This was favourable to pilgrimages; and with the fruits of these, and
-benefactions from all classes, what they had found a desert on their
-arrival, was speedily converted by labour and industry into a garden;
-and what was at first only a cell or chapel, was gradually extended into
-a church and abbey. The revenue of the order was divided into four
-parts--to the bishop, a fourth; to the priests, a fourth; to the
-exercise of hospitality, a fourth; and another fourth for the support of
-widows and orphans, the relief of the sick, and the repairs of churches
-and cloisters. And inasmuch as they could not find, either in the life
-or rule of <g>St. Benedict</g>,[40] that their founder had possessed any
-churches, or altars, or ovens, or mills, or towns, or serfs; or that any
-woman was ever permitted to enter his monastery, or any dead to be
-buried there, except his sister; they therefore renounced all these
-things: “Ecce hujus seculi divitiis spretis cœperunt novi milites
-Christi cum paupere Christo pauperes inter se tractare, quo ingenio, quo
-artificio, quo se exercitio in hac vita se hospitesque divites et
-pauperes supervenientes quos ut Christum suscipere præcipit regula
-sustentarent.” For a time the Cistercians continued in exemplary
-observance of their rules: poverty and humility walked hand in hand;
-but, in proportion as their revenues increased, their discipline began
-to relax; a taste for luxury[41] succeeded; and whoever has visited
-their splendid abbeys abroad, will readily confess that, while
-professing abstinence and self-denial, they were lodged like princes,
-and like princes shared in the vanities and pleasures of the world.
-Their ruling passion was said to be avarice; but if they amassed riches,
-they spent them with a princely liberality; and their buildings, in this
-and other countries, present some of the finest specimens of taste ever
-raised by the hand of man.[42]
-
-<g>Cistercians</g> were Benedictines, according to the _letter_ of the rule,
-without mitigation.[43] Their peculiarities are thus described in
-Dugdale’s Warwickshire:[44]--“First, for their habits, they wear no
-leather or linen, nor indeed any fine woollen cloth; neither, except it
-be on a journey, do they put on any breeches, and then, after their
-return, deliver them fair washed. Having two coats with cowls, in winter
-time they are not to augment, but in summer, if they choose, they may
-lessen them; in which habit they are to sleep, and after matins not to
-return to their beds. For prayers, the hour of _Prime_, they so
-conclude, that before the _Lauda_ it may be daybreak, strictly observing
-their rule, that not one iota or tittle of their service is omitted.
-Immediately after Lauda, they sing the Prime; and after Prime, they go
-out performing their appointed hours in work. What is to be done in the
-day, they act by daylight; for none of them, except he be sick, is to be
-absent from his diurnal hours or Complinæ. When the Compline is
-finished, the steward of the house and he that hath charge of the guests
-go forth, but with great care of silence serve them.
-
-For _diet_, “the Abbot assumes no more liberty to himself than any of
-his convent, everywhere being present with them, and taking care of his
-flock, except at meat, in regard his talk is always with the strangers
-and poor people. Nevertheless, when he eats, he is abstemious of talk or
-any dainty fare; nor hath he or any of them ever above two dishes of
-meat; neither do they eat of fat or flesh, except in case of sickness;
-and, from the _ides_ of September till Easter, they eat no more than
-_once_ a day, except on Sunday, and not even on festivals.
-
-“Out of the precincts of their cloyster they go not but to work; neither
-there nor anywhere do they discourse with any but the abbot or prior.
-They unweariedly continue their canonical hours, not piecing any service
-to another, except the _vigils_ for the deceased. Their manual labour
-was as follows: In summer, after Chapter, which followed Prime, they
-worked till Tierce; and, after Nones, till Vespers. In winter, from
-after Mass till Nones, and even to Vespers, during Lent. In harvest,
-when they went to work in the farms, they said Tierce and the conventual
-Mass immediately after Prime, that nothing might hinder their work for
-the rest of the morning; and often they said divine service in their
-places where they were at work, and at the same hours as those at home
-celebrated in the church.[45]
-
-“They observe the office of <g>St. Ambrose</g>, so far as they can have perfect
-knowledge thereof from Millain; and, taking care of strangers and sick
-people, do devise extraordinary afflictions for their own bodies, to the
-intent their souls may be advantaged.” Of the same Order--
-
-Hospinian says--“They allowed to candidates a year’s probation, but no
-reception to fugitives after the third time. All fasts were observed
-according to the rule: to visitors prostration was enjoined, with
-washing of feet. At the Abbot’s table sat the guests and pilgrims: they
-laboured more than the rule required: delicate habits were exploded:
-obsolete and primitive fervour was diligently revived and practised. But
-of this powerful order, avarice was the besetting vice: they were great
-dealers in wool, generally very ignorant, and, in fact, farmers rather
-than monks.”[46] The best account of this brotherhood, as Fosbroke has
-told us, is to be found in the _Usus Cisterciensium_; but of their
-habits and ceremonies further notice will be found when we come to treat
-of the more opulent houses. Guyot le Provins, first a minstrel, then a
-monk, has thus satirized them in a poem, which he called a _bible_, or,
-more properly, libel. The Cistercian “abbots and cellarers have ready
-money, eat large fish, drink good wine, and send to the refectory, for
-those who do the work, the very worst. I have seen these monks,” he
-affirms, “put pig-sties in churchyards, and stables for asses in
-chapels. They seize the cottages of the poor, and reduce them to
-beggary.”--With this brief account of the Order, we return to the
-subjects selected for illustration.
-
-In a historical sketch, by the late Archdeacon Coxe, the ruins of
-Tinterne Abbey are thus described, and his description is at once
-accurate and graphic:--
-
-“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 us 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 once 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, no less than grandeur,
-is its characteristic, and that the whole is a combination of the
-beautiful and the sublime. The church, constructed in the shape of a
-cathedral, is an excellent specimen of Gothic architecture in its
-purity. The roof has long since fallen in, and the whole ruin is thus
-thrown 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 their 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
-arches and pillars of the transepts are complete: the shapes of all the
-windows may yet be discriminated; 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 gorgeous
-effect. The general form of the east window is also entire, but its
-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, with an appearance of singular
-lightness, which, in particular points of view, seems as if suspended in
-the air. To these decorations of art, nature has added her own
-ornaments. Some of the windows are wholly obscured, others partially
-shaded, with tufts of ivy, or edged with lighter foliage:
-
-[Illustration:
-
-_W.H. Bartlett_ _A. Willmore_
-
-THE WESTERN WINDOW.
-
-Tintern.]
-
-the tendrils creep along the walls, wind round the pillars, wreath the
-capitals, or, hanging down in clusters, obscure the space beneath. But
-instead of dilapidated fragments, overspread with weeds and choked with
-brambles, the floor is covered with a smooth verdant turf, which, by
-keeping the original level of the church, exhibits the beauty of its
-proportions, heightens the effect of the gray stone, gives 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, carved stones and mutilated figures of monks and warriors,
-whose ashes repose within these walls, are scattered on the green sward,
-and contrast present desolation with former splendour.”
-
-Although the exterior appearance of these ruins is not equal to the
-inside view, yet in some positions--particularly to the east--they
-present themselves with considerable effect. From a point on its left
-bank, and about half a mile down the river, the ruins assume a new
-character; and seeming to occupy a gentle eminence, impend over the
-river without the intervention of a single cottage to intercept 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,[47]
-forms a continuation of the perspective, and appears like an
-interminable forest.”
-
-<g>The Abbey</g> is a cruciform structure, built, it is said, after the model
-of Salisbury Cathedral,[48] consisting of a nave, north and south
-aisles, transepts, and choir. Its length from east to west is two
-hundred and twenty-eight feet, and from north to south, at the
-transepts, one hundred and fifty feet. The nave and choir are
-thirty-seven feet in breadth; the height of the central arch is seventy
-feet, of the smaller arches thirty feet; of the east window sixty-four
-feet, and of the west window forty-two feet. The total area originally
-enclosed by the walls of the abbey is said to have been thirty-four
-acres.
-
-The exterior of the western front is singularly striking; but, on
-entering, as already observed, the scene that represents itself is
-indescribably grand and impressive. “When we stood at one end of this
-awful ruin,” says Gilpin, “the elements of earth and air its only
-covering and pavement, and the grand and
-
-[Illustration: VIEW FROM ENTRANCE.]
-
-venerable remains which terminated both, perfect enough to form the
-perspective, yet broken enough to destroy the regularity, the eye was
-above measure delighted with the beauty, the grandeur, the novelty of
-the scene.”
-
-The inner walls of the church are nearly entire; most of the elegant and
-massive columns, as already noticed, which separated the nave from the
-south aisle are yet standing; and the four lofty and magnificent arches
-which formerly supported the central tower are nearly perfect. The
-columns that divided the nave from the north aisle have fallen; but
-their bases still occupy the ground, showing their number, shape, and
-dimensions.
-
-<g>Windows.</g>--The magnificent windows are little altered by time: and though
-somewhat obscured by a luxuriant and graceful drapery of ivy, the
-tendrils of which twine in their tracery, creep along the walls,
-encircle the columns, and form natural wreaths around the capitals, the
-forms of the principal objects are still so far preserved as to be
-easily discriminated. The tracery of the western window, as already
-observed, is exquisite; while the eastern window,[49] high and graceful,
-and occupying nearly the whole breadth of the choir, with its slender
-umbilical shaft rising to a height of fifty feet, and diverging at the
-top into rich flowery traces, has quite a magical effect. The other
-windows, though less ornamented, are all in character, and have the same
-elegant design and finish.[50]
-
-The floor, originally covered with encaustic tiles, is now enveloped in
-a thick smooth matting of grass, trimmed like a bowling-green, and here
-and there spotted with little heaps of mutilated sculpture, and striped
-with flat tombstones--all thrown open to the winds of heaven.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-The effigy of a knight in chain armour, a _pavache_ shield, and crossed
-legs, is supposed to be that of <g>Strongbow</g>, first Earl of Pembroke,
-already noticed, but more probably that of Roger Bigod, as Strongbow is
-historically known to have been buried in Dublin. This interesting
-relic, that had escaped the ravages of time and the hostile spirit of
-resolution, was at last, as Mr. Thomas informs us, wilfully mutilated by
-a native of the village.[51]
-
-The next relic is a group of the Madonna and Child, much disfigured, but
-with sufficient evidence of its having been the work of a skilful
-artist. Mr. Bartlett considered it to be of very graceful design and
-execution.
-
-Near the eastern window is the sculptured head of a friar, with the
-tonsure, but otherwise quite disfigured.
-
-In the centre, between the transepts, is another broad stone slab,
-supposed to cover the ashes of the <g>founder</g>; but the fall of the tower,
-and the continual dropping of loosened fragments--until the ruin became
-an object of interest and consideration--have not left one of the
-sepulchral tablets or inscriptions entire. Many fragments may be
-discovered among the rubbish, but to reunite the scattered members were
-a very hopeless task. In the southern aisle is the only sepulchral
-antiquity that bears a legible inscription. It is elaborately carved in
-black or slate marble, with a cross finely sculptured on its surface
-longitudinally, and near its base three trouts,[52] so entertwined as to
-form the symbolic triangle, with the figure of a salmon on the right and
-left. The inscription, in black letter, along the top of the cross, is
-simple--
-
- “<g>Hic jacet humatus Johann: Willino.</g>”
-
-The sepulchral brasses have all disappeared. For a century and more
-after the Dissolution, the Abbey appears to have been abandoned to every
-species of wilful depredators, who defaced the altars, ransacked the
-graves, and carried off without molestation whatever was curious or
-portable.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-In the same aisle, close to the wall, and now preserved with great care,
-is the lately-discovered pavement of encaustic tiles, with escutcheons
-of the ancient <g>Clare</g> and <g>Bigod</g> families intertwined. The figures on
-these coloured tiles represent flowers, animals, and knights in full
-career at a tournament. This pavement was probably that of a private
-altar, belonging to the founder, or benefactor of the Abbey. In the
-process of clearing away the vast accumulation of rubbish, many of the
-ancient memorials were removed in fragments; and of the few that remain,
-not one, probably, now covers the dust over which it was originally
-placed.
-
-Leaving the grassy lawn-like floor of the Abbey, the ascent to the top
-is still practicable by means of a spiral staircase in an angle of the
-northern transept. Those who conclude their survey of the ruins by this
-experiment, will be amply rewarded for any fatigue it may occasion. At
-the time of our visit, however, in the month of August last year, some
-unexpected obstacle prevented the custodier from gratifying our
-curiosity by a view from the summit: for the steps were either so unsafe
-or deficient, as to make the experiment rather hazardous.
-
-Mr. Thomas, from whose notes we have already quoted, and whose late
-professional residence near the Abbey rendered him familiar with all its
-minutest features, tells us that the prospect it commands is highly
-picturesque; and in turning from the outward landscape, to look down
-into the cloistered depths below, the view of clustering pillars, lofty
-arches, mullioned windows, and flowing tracery, is indescribably grand
-and impressive.
-
-The broken summit of the walls, throughout its whole outline, is adorned
-with a profusion of shrubs and flowers, that, with interlacing leaves
-and tendrils, cover the mouldering coping like a fragrant mantle. Where
-the labour of man appears to decay, nature has put forth her vigour and
-beauty, and transformed those roofless walls into a wild botanic garden.
-Here, and amidst the débris immediately adjoining, Mr. Thomas[53] found
-a luxuriant crop of shrubs and flowers, all of different families, some
-of them rare, and in number between forty and fifty.
-
-<g>Reed</g>, in his ‘Remains,’ gives the following eloquent and highly poetical
-description of the Abbey by moonlight:--“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 Tinterne, 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 an ‘unsandalled
-foot,’ 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 interest and give pregnancy 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 wind
-gently rustling among the ivy of the ruins; the river lulling, by its
-faint murmurings, its guardian genius to repose; and the owl, whose
-funereal shriek would some time die along the walls in mysterious
-echoes. 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; making inquiries respecting the
-customs, and manners, and genius, and fate of antiquity--desire to have
-a glimpse of the destiny of future ages, and enter upon conversations
-which would be too sacred and even dangerous to communicate.” The lines
-by Sir Walter Scott, on “Melrose Abbey by Moonlight,” are equally
-descriptive of Tinterne.[54]
-
-It has been well observed, that, as the Abbey of Tinterne is the most
-beautiful and picturesque of all our Gothic monuments, so is the
-situation one of the most sequestered and delightful. One more abounding
-in that peculiar kind of scenery which excites the mingled sensations of
-content, religion, and enthusiasm, it is impossible to behold. There,
-every arch infuses, as it were, a solemn energy into inanimate nature; a
-sublime antiquity breathes mildly in the heart; and the soul, pure and
-passionless, appears susceptible of that state of tranquillity which is
-the perfection of every earthly wish.[55] By the late Sir C. Colt Hoare,
-a man of taste and many travelled acquirements, this “seat of devotion,
-solitude, and desolation,” is pronounced as surpassing every other ruin
-he had seen in England or in Wales. Captain Barber, whose “Tour” is now
-very scarce, was so charmed with the scene, that he locked himself up in
-the Abbey, and employed several hours in delineating its picturesque
-features.
-
-From the general aspect of this venerable pile--a _coup d’œil_ that
-never fails to captivate the stranger--we proceed to a few detached
-features of the picture, all more or less interesting as relics of men,
-and times, that have long passed away.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Walter de Clare</g>, the founder, was grandson of Osbert, Lord of Tudenham
-and Wollaston, by gift of William the Conqueror.[56] He departed this
-life on the 10th of March, 1139, and dying without issue, was succeeded
-by his brother, <g>Gilbert</g>[57] de Clare, who survived him nine years, and
-dying on the 6th of January, 1148, was buried in the church of
-Tinterne. This Gilbert de Clare left two sons by his wife Elizabeth,
-daughter of Walleran, Earl of Melent--Richard, surnamed <g>Strongbow</g>, and
-Baldwin,[58] who, “fighting stoutly on the part of King Stephen, at the
-battle of Lincoln, was there taken prisoner.” <g>Richard</g> was one of the
-witnesses to that “solemn accorde,” made in 1153, between King Stephen,
-and Henry, Duke of Normandy, whereby the latter was to succeed to the
-crown of England after the king’s demise. In the year 1170 [16 Henry
-II.], the said Richard, Earl of Striguil or Pembroke, being stript of
-his paternal inheritance by King Henry II., invaded Ireland, and
-captured the cities of Dublin and Waterford. Soon after this event, when
-“the king, who was then at Argentine, was consulting with his nobles
-about an expedition into that realm; certain messengers from this earl
-being present, offered, on the part of Richard, the above-named cities,
-with all the castles which he had there captured, at the death of
-Dermot, king of Dublin, whose daughter and heiress he had married.” With
-this conciliatory offer, King Henry was so well pleased, that he
-restored to him all his lands, both in England and Normandy, and freely
-granted that he should enjoy all those in Ireland which he had received
-in dowery with his wife, constituting him at the same time constable or
-governor of that realm, and “thereupon passing thither, subdued it
-wholly without any considerable resistance.”
-
-By the daughter of the said King of Dublin or Leinster, this last earl
-of his family, Richard Strongbow[59] left an only child, Isabel, who
-remained in ward fourteen years to the king, and was then given in
-marriage to <g>William Marshall</g>, who thereupon became Earl of Pembroke,
-Lord of Striguil, or Chepstow, and took possession of Leinster, with all
-the inheritance of the said Strongbow; and being thus advanced to that
-honour, he bore the royal sceptre of gold, with the cross on the head of
-it, at the solemn coronation of King Richard I.[60] The history of this
-family is given at full length in the Monasticon and Baronage of
-England, but it is much too diffuse for our purpose. William Marshall,
-who, by his marriage with Isabel, only child of Richard de Clare, came
-into possession of his estates and titles, was a great benefactor to the
-church; he built and endowed many religious houses both in England and
-Ireland; and having, by his last will and testament, constituted the
-abbot of St. Augustine’s at Bristol, and Henry Fitzgerald, his
-executors, he departed this life at Caversham, in the third of Henry II.
-Being thence carried to Reading, his body was received in solemn
-procession by the monks of the abbey, and placed in their choir, whilst
-mass was celebrated for him. It was then taken to Westminster, where
-the solemnity was again performed, and on Ascension-day it was consigned
-to the earth[61] with the following epitaph:--
-
- Sum qui Saturnum sibi sensit Hibernia: Solem
- Anglia; Mercurium Normannia; Gallia Martem.
-
-These complimentary lines, meant to record his virtues, are
-characteristic of the times when heathen mythology was so frequently
-called in to assist in the eulogy of some great champion or benefactor
-of the Christian church. He certainly appears to have merited all that
-could be said of him as a great mover and promoter of monastic
-fraternities--especially the <g>Cistercians</g>; and in the same strain,
-Matthew of Paris has recorded that this mighty earl was a severe tamer
-of the Irish, a great favourer of the English, achieved much in
-Normandy, and was an invincible soldier in France--“Miles strenuissimus,
-ac per orbem nominatissimus.”[62] But of the five sons whom he left
-behind, with the fair and flattering prospect that his name and titles
-would descend through many generations, all died prematurely and without
-issue. This deplorable fact was much commented upon at the time:--“Some
-did attribute it to God’s especial judgment, by reason that, when the
-said William, first earl, was a great commander in Ireland, and,
-according to the practice of soldiers, exercised such cruelties of fire
-and sword as usually accompany that sort of life, he took away by
-violence two fair manors from a reverend bishop there, and possessed
-himself of them as the acquisition of war; and that the bishop, after
-frequent and earnest entreaties for their restitution, without any
-effect, did thereupon pronounce the sentence of excommunication against
-him for the fact, which he the earl contemned.” The bishop,[63] having
-proceeded to London, made his grievous wrong known to the king, showing
-wherefore he had excommunicated the said earl. “Whereupon the king, then
-very pensive, desired the bishop that he should go to his grave and
-absolve him, and _then_ he would satisfy his desire. Whereupon the
-bishop went, and the king with him, and spoke as followeth: ‘O William!
-who liest here buried, and shackled with the fetters of excommunication,
-if these lands which thou most injuriously didst take from my church, be
-restored with full satisfaction, either by the king or any of thy
-kindred or friends, I _then_ absolve thee: otherwise, I ratify that
-sentence to this end, that, being wrapt up with thy sins, thou mayest
-remain condemned in hell.’”
-
-<g>The king</g>, who was “much displeased at these his expressions, blamed him
-for his ghostly rigour;” but anxious to remove the curse from the
-illustrious defunct, he sent private messages to the heir and his
-brothers, advising them in a friendly manner to come to terms with the
-bishop, and thus “in mercy release their father’s soul.” But the
-brothers were obstinate; they would not restore even an acre of bog, nor
-a stock of timber; observing that, “as the old doting bishop hath
-pronounced the sentence unjustly, the curse will fall upon himself. For
-my part,” quoth the heir, “I will never lessen my patrimony descended to
-me by inheritance.” The king being still under tutelage, and fearing the
-resentment of so powerful a family, “forbore to displease them.” But the
-bishop, hearing thereof, was much grieved, taking more offence at their
-contumacy, than of the injury first done by their father; and going to
-the king, he said, “Sir, what I have spoken, I have spoken; and what I
-have written is not to be reversed: the sentence therefore must stand;
-the punishment of evil-doers is from God; and, therefore, the curse
-which the Psalmist hath written, shall come upon this earl, of whom I do
-thus complain. His name shall be _rooted out in one generation_, and his
-sons shall be deprived of the blessing--_increase and multiply_. Some of
-them shall die a miserable death, and their inheritance shall be
-scattered. And this, O king, thou shalt behold in thine own lifetime,
-yea, in thy flourishing youth.”
-
-Having spoken “thus much in the bitterness of his spirit, the bishop
-departed thence, leaving the defunct earl enthralled with that curse.
-Whereupon it happened that, in a few years after, all his sons died
-without issue.”[64]
-
-<g>William</g>, his successor, who, “in his father’s lifetime, had taken part
-with the barons, then in arms against the king, was one of those betwixt
-whom and the <g>King</g> those covenants were made, whereby the government of
-the realm was placed in xxv. of them, and the city of London thereupon
-put into their hands. Yea, so great a confidant was he of that
-rebellious pack, that they constituted him to be one of those xxv., for
-which respect amongst _them_ he underwent the sentence of
-excommunication by the Pope. But upon the death of King John, which
-happened soon after, his noble father reduced him to obedience; so that
-he became loyal to King <g>Henry</g> the Third, and thereupon had a grant of
-the lands of <g>Saier</g> de Quinci, Earl of Winchester, and David, Earl of
-<g>Huntingdon</g>, two of those great rebels, for his support in the king’s
-service.”
-
-A few years after this, “whilst he, the said <g>William Marshall</g>, was in
-Ireland, <g>Leoline</g>, Prince of Wales, took two of his castles; and having
-cut off the heads of those whom he found therein, manned them with his
-own soldiers. But when tidings thereof came to him, he soon returned
-into <g>Wales</g>; and having, with a great power, won them again, took the
-like revenge upon the Welsh: and thinking this not enough, he invaded
-the lands of <g>Leoline</g>, and wasted them with fire and sword. Whereupon
-Leoline advanced towards him with all his strength, but to little
-purpose; for, encountering him in battle, the Marshall totally routed
-his whole army, of which to the number of nine thousand were slain and
-taken.” This earl married Eleanor, daughter of King <g>John</g>; and dying at
-Kilkenny, in 1231, was there buried in the choir of the Mendicant
-Friars.[65]
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Richard</g>, his brother and successor, being irritated by the violent
-conduct of the king and his ministry, formed an alliance with <g>Llewellyn</g>
-ap Jowarth, Prince of Wales, and in 1233 defeated the king’s army at
-<g>Grosmont</g>; but with dutiful respect for his sovereign, he fell back with
-the Cambrian army before sunrise, to allow his Majesty’s retreat from
-the Castle of Gloucester. Henry, not appreciating the generous conduct
-of his reluctant foe, resisted this attack; and on the return of the
-Lord Marshall to his estates in Ireland, he was treacherously wounded to
-death at Kildare,[66] and there buried by the side of his brother
-William, whom he had survived only three years.
-
-<g>Gilbert</g>, the third son, married a daughter of Alexander, King of
-Scotland, and died in 1242.
-
-<g>Walter</g> Marshall, the fourth son, died at Goodrich Castle, in December,
-1245. And--
-
-<g>Anselm</g>, the fifth and last son of this doomed family, died like his
-brothers, childless, in the same month of the same year, in the Castle
-of Striguil or Chepstow, and was interred with his brother in Tinterne
-Abbey.
-
-Of their five sisters, Eve, the youngest, married “William de Braliuse
-or Braose,[67] of whose family more hereafter.
-
-The male line in him having thus failed, Maude, their surviving sister,
-and heiress to the family possessions, was espoused to Hugh Bigod, Earl
-of Norfolk. From this alliance sprang two sons, Hugh and Roger, or
-Rudulfus. The younger of whom, Roger, in right of his mother, was
-installed lord-marshal of the kingdom, and granted a charter[68] to
-Tinterne Abbey, confirming those granted by the Clares and Marshalls,
-and adding large possessions to the brotherhood. Maude, on the death of
-her husband, Hugh Bigod, married John de Warren, Earl of Surrey; and
-departing this life, anno 1248, was buried in the Abbey of Tinterne;
-when her four sons--two by each marriage--carried her body into the
-choir. To prosecute the descent farther, would far exceed our limits;
-but readers who may feel curious to trace the genealogy of the founders,
-will find ample details in the Baronage, the Monasticon, and old
-chronicles.
-
-Of Earl Roger it is told, that, being “openly reproached by the king as
-a traitor, he replied with a stern countenance that he lied; and that
-he, Bigod, never was, nor would be a traitor;” adding, “if you do
-nothing but what the law warranteth, you can do me no harm.” “Yes,”
-quoth the king, “I can thrash your corn and sell it, and so humble you.”
-“If you do so,” replied Bigod, “I will send you back the heads of your
-thrashers.”
-
-The <g>Hospitium</g>, or guest-chamber, was generally a large room with
-columns, like the body of a church, and called _palatium_--the original
-meaning of which was a place of short residence. If a visitor came
-before dinner to the refectory, notice was given to the refectioner; if
-he was too late to dine with the convent, he staid in the _locutorium_,
-or parlour, until the refectory was swept, and then was introduced. The
-_hosteler_ provided all things fit for Mass for the visitors; and if he
-was prevented, any one asked by him sang the mass and hours to them, for
-they had divine service as well as the convent. The visitors had meat
-and drink at solicitation, and the hosteler was to fetch the viands
-according to the rank of the person; all which, however, was accompanied
-with the appendage of a “soiled table cloth, very indifferent wine,
-grease in the salt, and a clownish servant.” The hospitaler[69] could
-not introduce them to the collation before the end of the first verse.
-When this was over, he lighted his lantern with which the visitors
-waited before the Chapter door. He then introduced them into the
-parlour, after which they had refection, and _Complin_ was sung to them.
-When the visitors wished to depart before daybreak, or at that time, the
-hosteler took the keys of the parlour from the Prior’s bed; but on
-Sundays, before _procession_, no one could receive the benediction, or
-ceremony of dismission.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-Persons of rank were received with processions and high honours. One of
-the great bells was struck three times, to give the monks notice of
-assembling in the church to robe themselves. Visitors were allowed to
-make a stay of two days and two nights, and on the third day, after
-dinner, they were to depart. If by accident a guest could not then go,
-the hosteler signified his request to the Abbot, or Prior, for a longer
-stay. If in health, he was to be present at Matins, and follow the
-convent in everything, unless he had leave to the contrary. Women were
-to be received who came with an honourable suite.[70] Particular
-attention was paid to the parents of monks, for whom necessaries and
-food were to be provided whenever they came to see their
-children--especially on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, wheresoever
-they took refection, in the town or house; and they were to be
-honourably received on the Vigil.[71]
-
-<g>The Refectory</g>, as described by monastic writers, was a large hall
-wainscoted on the north and south sides, and in the west and nether
-parts was a long bench of stone, in mason-work, from the cellar-door to
-the pantry, or cove-door. It had a dresser in it: above the wainscot
-was a large picture of CHRIST, the Virgin Mary, and St. John; but in
-most places--and here perhaps--was the Cross or Crucifixion, to which,
-on entering the Fratry with washed hands, the monks made obeisance with
-their faces to the east. Within the door on the left was an
-_Almery_--where stood the grace-cup (the classical αγαθου δαιμονος), out
-of which the monks, after grace every day, drank round the table--and
-another large one on the right, with smaller within, where stood the
-_mazers_, of which each monk had his peculiar one, with a ewer and
-basin, which served the Sub-prior to wash his hands in at the table, of
-which he sat as chief.[72] At the west end was a loft above the cellar,
-ascended by stairs with an iron railing, where the convent and monks
-dined together, the Sub-prior sitting at the upper end of the table. At
-the south end of the high table, within a glass window-frame, was an
-iron desk, ascended by stone steps, with an iron rail, where lay a
-Bible, out of which one of the novices read a part in Latin during
-dinner. The readers at the table were to give ear to the Prior in case
-of error; and if they did not understand his correction, they were to
-begin the verse again, even repeatedly, until they comprehended the
-Prior’s meaning. When the reader had finished, the master of the novices
-rang a silver bell hanging over his head, to call one of them to come to
-the high table to say grace; a single stroke of this bell (_skilla_),
-signified the conclusion of the lecture or the meal.[73]
-
-[Illustration: H]<g>ospitality</g>, which the monastic rule enjoined upon all
-its professors, was faithfully practised by the Cistercians. The
-Refectory, as well as the Hospitium, or Guest Hall, of this Abbey,
-appears to have been an elegant and capacious chamber, with a vaulted
-stone roof supported on Gothic pillars, the massive bases of which still
-remain. But as the buildings were long thrown open as a stone quarry,
-for the use of the public, the squared and sculptured materials with
-which they were built and adorned, were employed for ages in
-constructing those shapeless hovels which now cluster, as if in
-mockery, around the sacred pile, and show to what base uses in this
-changing world, even the masterpieces of art may be applied.
-
-<g>The Dole.</g>--An opening in the wall of the refectory westward, shows the
-place where the monk appointed to that duty, administered to the poor
-their daily portion of bread and beer. To that door the hungry and the
-weary never applied in vain--
-
- Pilgrim, whosoe’er thou art,
- Worn with travel, faint with fear,
- Halt, or blind, or sick of heart,
- Bread and welcome wait thee here.
-
-At the east end of the <g>Refectory</g> was “a neat table, with a screen of
-wainscot over it, for the master of the novices, the elects, and
-novices, to dine and sup at: two windows opened into the refectory from
-the great kitchen, one large for principal days, the other smaller for
-ordinary days; and through these the dishes were served. Over against
-the door in the cloister was a conduit or lavatory, for the monks to
-wash their hands and faces, of a round form, covered with lead, and all
-marble, excepting the outer wall, without which they might walk about
-the Tower. After the monks had waited a while on the <g>Abbot</g>, they sat
-down at two other tables, placed at the sides of the refectory, and had
-their service brought in by the novices, who, when the monks had dined,
-sat down to their own dinner. Fires in the refectory were ordered from
-All-hallows Day to Good-Friday, and the wood was found by the cellarer.
-Pinafores or super-tunics, to protect the clothes at dinner, are
-mentioned by Lynwood, and occur in foreign consuetudinals. Giraldus
-Cambrensis, on dining with the Prior of Canterbury, “noted sixteen
-dishes, besides intromels,” or _entremets_; “a superfluous use of signs,
-much sending of dishes from the Prior to the attending monks, and from
-them to the lower tables;” with “much ridiculous gesticulation in
-returning thanks, with much whispering, loose, idle, and licentious
-discourse;” herbs brought in but not tasted; numerous kinds of fish,
-roasted, boiled, stuffed, fried, eggs, dishes exquisitely cooked with
-spices; salted meats to provoke appetite; wines of various kinds;
-_pimento_ made of wine, honey, and spices; with claret, mead, and other
-beverages. Respecting these, it was not unusual, says Barnard, to see
-brought a vessel half full to try the quality and flavour of the wine;
-and that, after proof thereof, the monks decided in favour of the
-strongest. Superior dinners were always given on the feasts of the
-Apostles; but it was not lawful, it seems, to eat the flesh of any
-animal nourished on the earth, because this had been cursed by God; but
-the curse not extending to air and water, birds were permitted, as
-created of the same element as fish. Hence the prohibition of
-quadrupeds; but as it was found
-
-[Illustration: _The Refectory._
-
-Tintern Abbey.]
-
-impossible for inland monasteries to have fish enough, to eat flesh
-became unavoidable.[74] However, to the great rule all their articles of
-food bore relation; namely, bread, beer, soup, beans for soup, all Lent;
-oats for gruel, on Thursdays and Saturdays, in that season; flour for
-pottage, every day in the same season; fried dishes, _wastels_, or fine
-bread for dinner and supper, on certain feasts; _formictæ_, or fine
-flour cakes, in Advent, Christmas, against Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and
-certain feasts; ‘fat things,’ which appear to have been bacon,[75] were
-frequent with the Præmonstratenses; black beans and salt, with the
-Clugniacks; general bad fare with the <g>Cistercians</g>. In certain
-solemnities, we are told the convent was in the habit of retiring with
-the Abbot, leaving a few in the refectory, in order to eat meat
-elsewhere; and that they frequently dined in ‘extra-cloister’
-apartments, where “they used to invite women (devout nuns, perhaps) to
-talk, eat, and drink with them.”[76]
-
-<g>Diet</g> was strictly prescribed; variety of viands was forbidden; flesh was
-allowed only to the sick or invalids; fish, eggs, milk, butter, and
-cheese, were not to be used on common days, but only on special
-occasions, as dainties or “pittances.”[77] None but their guests and the
-sick were allowed any other than brown bread; they might use the common
-herbs of the country; but pepper and other spices were forbidden.
-
-These observations, quoted from various authorities, apply to the
-monastic Orders generally, among whom the regulations of the refectory
-appear to have been nearly the same; but that order to which the Abbey
-of <g>Tinterne</g> belonged, professed the greatest abstinence, mortified diet,
-and abhorrence of all luxuries. To the devout taste of St. <g>Bernard</g>, the
-most rigid rules were the most agreeable; and hence he became a
-<g>Cistercian</g>, the strictest of the monastic orders in France. At that time
-they were but few in number, for, owing to their excessive austerities,
-men were discouraged from joining them. Bernard, however, by his
-superior genius, his eminent piety, and his ardent zeal, gave to this
-<g>Order</g> a permanent lustre and celebrity. At the age of twenty-three, with
-more than thirty companions, he entered into the monastery, and was
-afterwards appointed Abbot of <g>Clairval</g>. To those noviciates who desired
-admission, he used to say--“If ye hasten to those which are within,
-dismiss your bodies which ye brought from the world; let the spirit
-alone enter here; the flesh profiteth nothing.” “Yet, amidst all these
-disagreeable austerities,” says his biographer, “the soul of Bernard was
-inwardly taught of God; and as he grew in the divine life, he learned to
-correct the harshness and asperities of his sentiments.”
-
-The <g>Cistercian</g> habit, as shown in the preceding woodcut, was a white
-robe in the nature of a cassock, with a black scapular and hood. Their
-garment was girt with a black girdle of wool; in the choir, they had
-over it a white cowl, and over that a hood, with a rochet hanging down,
-bound before to the waist, in a point behind to the calf of the leg.
-When they went abroad, they wore a cowl and a great hood, all black,
-which was also the choir habit.
-
-<g>The Lay Brothers</g> of this Order were clad in a dark colour; their
-scapular hung down about a foot in length before, and was rounded at the
-bottom. Their hood was like that which the priests wore over their cowl,
-excepting the difference of the colour. In the choir they wore a cloak
-or mantle, reaching to the ground, and of the same colour as the habit.
-
-<g>The Novices</g>, who were clerks, wore the same habit in the church, but it
-was all white; their scapular was not of the same length in all places,
-for sometimes it reached only half-way down the thigh, in others to the
-midleg, or even to the heels.[78]
-
-The sumptuary regulations extended even to the ornaments of their
-churches, and the vestments of the ministers. The altar cloth, the
-_alb_, and the service, were to be of plain linen; the stole and
-maniple, which were at first of cloth, were allowed afterwards to be of
-silk. Palls, capes, dalmatics, and tunics, were forbidden. The crosses
-were to be of wood, painted; and it was forbidden to have them made of
-carved work, or of silver or gold. The cruets for the service of the
-altar, were not to be of gold or silver: the <g>chalice</g> and fistula might
-be of silver gilt; the <g>candlesticks</g> were to be iron, and the <g>censers</g> of
-iron or copper. Pictures or painted glass were not to be allowed in
-their churches; which in all monasteries of this order were dedicated to
-<g>God</g>, under the invocation of the <g>Virgin Mary</g>.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Cistercians</g>, according to the reformed rule, were obliged to perform
-their devotions together seven times every twenty-four hours. The
-_Nocturnal_, the first of these services, was performed at two o’clock
-in the morning; two Matins, or _Prime_, commenced at six o’clock;
-_Tierce_, at nine o’clock; the _Sexte_, at twelve o’clock; the _None_,
-at three in the afternoon; _Vespers_, at six; and the _Compline_, at
-seven o’clock in the evening. As the monks retired to bed at eight,
-they had six hours to sleep before the Nocturnal began; and if they
-again betook themselves to rest, after that service, it was not
-considered any fault or infringement of the rule; but after matins, they
-were not permitted to have the same indulgence. At the first stroke of
-the convent-bell for prayers, they were to suspend all matters of
-business in which they might happen to be engaged at the moment; and
-those who copied books, or were employed in any kind of writing--even if
-they had begun a text letter--were not allowed to finish it. They were
-to fast every day in <g>Lent</g>, till six o’clock in the evening. During
-meals, as already mentioned in these pages, the Scriptures were read to
-them by one of the brethren, who performed this and other offices in
-weekly rotation. After the Compline, all conversation was prohibited,
-and they silently retired to rest. The dormitory was a long barrack-like
-room, not divided into separate cells, where each monk had his own bed
-furnished with a mat, blanket, coverlet, and a pillow which was not to
-exceed a foot and a half in length. When any of the fraternity went
-abroad, they always walked in couples, so that each might be a check
-upon the other, and incite him to edifying thoughts.[79]
-
-At a General Chapter of the Cistercian Order, held in the year 1134, it
-was resolved that the rules of St. Benedict regarding diet, clothing,
-morals, and divine service, should continue to be strictly observed; and
-to these were added many new regulations for the suppression of luxury.
-It was directed that their monasteries, as already observed, should be
-founded in the most retired and solitary places; that the members of the
-Order should provide the necessaries of life by the labour of their
-hands. They were allowed, however, to possess lands, rivers, woods,
-vineyards, and meadows; with sheep, oxen, horses, and other domestic
-animals; but no deer nor bears, nor other animals kept merely[80] for
-pleasure. They were forbidden to possess tithes, the advowsons or
-revenues of churches, dues of ovens or mills, bond-servants, or even
-rents of lands.[81] The reason for these restrictions was, that they
-might not live by the labour of others; yet, upon the pretext of
-enabling the monks to live in greater retirement and abstraction from
-the world, they were allowed to admit into their community a certain
-number of lay brothers, called converts, whose office consisted in
-managing the secular business of the Convent, including the cultivation
-of their lands, in which they were permitted to employ hired servants.
-These lay brethren did not take the monastic vow; but in every other
-respect they were treated exactly like the professed monks.
-
-With regard to the extension of their order, no convent was allowed to
-send forth a colony, unless the community consisted of at least sixty
-monks, and held a license, both from the general chapter, and from the
-archbishop, or bishop. Each monastery, as we have said, was to consist
-of at least twelve monks and their superiors;[82] and before they could
-be brought to their new residence, the buildings required for their
-immediate accommodation were to be provided; namely, an oratory, a
-dormitory, a stranger’s cell, and a porter’s lodge. The books required
-for divine service, were also to be got ready. The superior of the new
-establishment was bound to pay a visit to the parent monastery once a
-year; and the Abbots of all the monasteries of the <g>Cistercian</g> order,
-were obliged to attend the General Chapter held annually at
-Cisteaux,[83] those only excepted, who were excused by sickness or
-distance. Abbots in Scotland, Ireland, and Sicily, were obliged to be
-present only every fourth year. In some cases it was even allowed to
-send delegates.[84]
-
-[Illustration: P]<g>rofessions.</g>--No person desirous of becoming a monk was
-suffered to enter upon his noviciate under fifteen years of age. The
-candidate having made his petition to be admitted, was, after four days,
-brought before the abbot, and a select number of the monks in the
-Chapter-house, where he threw himself down with his face to the ground.
-Being asked by the Abbot what he desired, he replied,--“The mercy of God
-and yours.” Upon this the Abbot made him stand up, and explained to him
-the strictness of the rules, and the self-denial required in keeping
-them; after which, he asked him if he was willing to submit to the
-restraint they imposed. Upon his replying in the affirmative, the Abbot
-admonished him, and when he concluded with these words,--“May GOD finish
-the good work which he hath begun in thee;” all who were present said,
-_Amen!_ and then the candidate bowed, and retired to the guest-chamber.
-
-A similar ceremony was observed when he was again introduced into the
-<g>Chapter-house</g> next day, after having read the rules of the Order. On the
-third day, he was admitted into the cell of the novices, and began the
-year of his probation; during which he was prepared and instructed for
-taking the vows, by a person called the Master of the Novices, who was
-usually one of the oldest and most learned of the monks. At the
-conclusion of the twelvemonth’s probation, when it was supposed he had
-had a sufficient trial of their discipline and manner of life, he was
-again formally interrogated; and if he persisted in his request, he was
-allowed to make his profession, and become a regular member of the
-Order.[85] The following is a copy of the formulary used in English
-monasteries on such occasions:--
-
-“The first petycion in the Collogium: ‘Syr, I besyche yow and alle the
-Convent for the luffe of God, our Ladye Sanct Marye, Sanct John of
-Baptiste, and alle the hoyle cowrte of hevyne, that ye wolde resave me
-to lyve and dye here emongs yow, in the state of a monke, a prebendarye
-and servant unto alle, to the honour of God, solace to the companye,
-prouffet to the place, and helth unto my sawle.’
-
-“The answer unto the examinacyon: ‘Syr, I tryste through the helpe of
-God, and your good prayers, to keep alle these thyngs ye have now heyr
-rehersede.’
-
-“The first petycion before the profession: ‘Syr, I have beyn heyr now
-this twellmonth nere hand, and lovyde be God, me lykes ryght well both
-the ordour and the companye. Whereupon I besyche yow, and all the
-companye, for the luffe of God, our Ladye Sanct Marye, Sanct John of
-Baptiste, and alle the hoyle companye of hevyn, that ye will resave me
-unto my profession, at my twellmonth day, according to my petycion which
-I made when I was first resaved heyr emongs yow.’”[86]
-
-<g>The Cistercians</g>, much to their honour, took considerable pains to
-cultivate and promote learning. The transcribing of books was one of the
-principal occupations in all their monasteries. A certain number of the
-brotherhood were constantly employed in the <g>Scriptorium</g>, in making
-copies of the most esteemed works, to furnish and augment the common
-library. None, however, were permitted to write new books, without first
-obtaining a license to that effect from the General Chapter. In the
-principal monasteries a chronicle was kept, in which the monks recorded,
-in Latin, the most remarkable events, both of general and local
-interest, that occurred within their knowledge.[87] The chronicle of
-<g>Tinterne</g> Abbey, as partly transcribed in the Monasticon, contains copies
-of those deeds and charters, by which former rights and privileges were
-confirmed, and new benefactions added; but it includes no chronicle of
-passing events, public or private.
-
-Many and great were the privileges, franchises, and immunities granted
-to this <g>Order</g> in general, by sundry kings and pontiffs; and on some
-particular houses were conferred very special favours. The brothers of
-the order were exempted from appearing in any court, or at the trial of
-any cause whatever, if the distance from the monastery exceeded two
-days’ journey. They were exempted from tithes; the ordinary could not
-call upon, nor punish them for any crime; neither could their houses be
-visited by any one, except their own abbot. Their benefactors, those who
-frequented their mills [molendini], as well as their friends and
-servants, were all exempted from the ban of excommunication.[88]
-<g>Boniface</g> XI. made an effort to relieve them still farther, by exempting
-them from the payment of tithes for their lands, though let out to
-others; but this was rejected by King Henry IV., who would not permit
-the bull for that purpose to be executed. The monks of Tinterne, in
-common with their brethren of that order, enjoyed all the privileges and
-immunities here named. They were great proficients in the science of
-agriculture; and from the skill manifested in the cultivation of the
-abbey lands, and in those occupied by their tenants, produced the
-happiest effects on that important branch of rural economy.
-
-<g>The Cloister</g>, which is so often described in poetry as the abode of
-religious harmony, was nevertheless subject, at times, to all those
-unruly passions which in the world engender strife amongst brethren, and
-destroy the quiet of secular life. Every monastery contained within its
-own walls, those elements of malice and dissension, which it required no
-common energy on the part of the abbot to regulate and subdue. Perverse
-men, clothed in the robe of meekness, were a constant source of trial to
-those patterns of monastic discipline, who laboured to correct and
-reform them.[89] Persecution within the cloister existed occasionally
-under two forms: men of eminent sanctity suffered it from degenerate
-brethren, sometimes, simply on account of their superior justice; and at
-others, in consequence of their endeavours to reform them. Sometimes
-when the monastery fell under the dominion of an evil superior, the
-monks who persevered in sanctity fled from his persecution.[90]
-
-The character of a good <g>Cistercian</g> monk, contrasted with one of an
-opposite disposition, is thus drawn:--It happened that the pious <g>Gobert</g>,
-a monk of Villars, having to undertake a journey for the arrangement of
-certain affairs, set out accompanied by one of the brothers named Peter.
-Arriving late in the evening at a town where they were to pass the
-night, they were fatigued and exhausted with the labour and heat of the
-day; and Peter, causing a table to be spread, drew from the bag he
-carried, abundant provisions, and then ordered cups to be served, and
-many things made ready for their repast. To the pious Gobert, all this
-seemed to be more than necessary, more than was consistent with perfect
-moderation, and his conscience silently accused him of yielding too
-readily to the force of temptation. But after both had supped, he did
-not venture to give utterance to the compunctious feelings that were
-then passing in his mind. Next morning, however, as they were again
-prosecuting their journey through umbrageous lanes, he began meekly and
-humbly to disclose his thoughts; expressing his fears that the expense
-of the previous day had exceeded their wants; adding, that the patrimony
-of <g>Christ</g> ought not to be spent in superfluities, but given to the poor;
-that beneficed clerks are only dispensers of the <g>Church</g>, not lords of
-its substance; that when, in the words of St. Ambrose, we _assist the
-poor, we give nothing of our own, but only that which the church
-appoints us to dispense_; and, therefore, that ecclesiastical goods
-belong not to clerks, but to the poor.[91]
-
-Saying these and other things that pressed heavily on his mind, Gobert
-lamented that he should have squandered the money which did not belong
-to him. But brother Peter did not receive this reproof with a humble
-mind; on the contrary, he became so angry that he did not answer him a
-word. Thus they rode on for nearly three hours, Peter all the while
-preserving a sullen and painful silence, which the holy Gobert
-observing, he tried to soothe and turn away his displeasure, by
-addressing him in terms of mild and brotherly affection. At last, seeing
-that he could make no impression upon him, he said, “My brother, it is
-time for us to discharge the service of hours to our Creator!”
-Whereupon, according to the custom of the <g>Cistercians</g>, they dismounted
-and knelt down to begin the office. In this posture of devotion, while
-brother Peter was prostrate on the earth, Gobert, with clasped hands
-turned towards him, and bursting into tears, humbly implored his
-forgiveness for having, by words of admonition and seeming reproof,
-moved his resentment. But as this did not appear to soften the monk’s
-obdurate heart, he continued his entreaties, and declared that he would
-not rise from his knees until he had forgiven him. At last, touched and
-overcome by so much Christian humility, brother Peter relented; and,
-taking Gobert by the hand, with feelings of mingled shame and
-contrition, raised him up; and having freely forgiven him,[92] and
-received his forgiveness, they went on their way rejoicing.
-
-Thus far the chronicle, which the reader will find quoted in the Ages of
-Faith. “But,” says the learned author, “it was chiefly as _reformers_ of
-their respective communities, that the holy men of monastic life
-suffered persecution.” In estimating the fortitude of those who laboured
-in this vineyard, it is to be observed, that specious arguments were
-never wanting to excuse the evil for which they sought a remedy. The
-monks of St. Benedict, according to Orderic Vitalis, who resisted the
-reform introduced by the Abbot Robert,[93] defended themselves on this
-ground, urging that the different circumstances of the times required a
-life different from that of the hermits of Egypt. “God forbid,” said
-they, “that valiant knights, that subtile philosophers, and eloquent
-doctors, merely because they have renounced the world, should be
-obliged as mean slaves to occupy themselves in ignoble works.[94] On
-these occasions, however, the real source of hostility was seldom
-avowed. Much was advanced in the time of St. Bernard, in respect to the
-colour of habits; but St. Peter the Venerable disengaged the question
-from its adventitious appendages: “Perhaps,” said he, writing to St.
-Bernard, “there is another and a deeper cause for this dissension
-between the <g>Clugniacs</g> and the Cistercians--between the ancient and the
-modern communities. We are _restorers of piety that was grown cold_; we
-are distinguished from others in _manners_, as well as in habits and
-customs. This is the secret and urgent cause of the breach of charity
-and of tongues, that are sharpened like swords against us. And oh, how
-much to be deplored, if the abstinence, the purity of a whole life; if
-invincible obedience, if unbroken fasts, if perpetual vigils, if such a
-yoke of discipline, if so many palms of patience, if so many
-labours--not so much of an earthly, as of a celestial life--should be
-dissipated by one hiss of the serpent: how much to be deplored, if the
-old dragon should thus, in an instant, with one breath, dissipate all
-your treasures collected by the grace of God, and leave you empty in the
-sight of the Supreme Judge!”[95]
-
-[Illustration: O]<g>f</g> the miraculous legends connected with these
-institutions, the following, taken from the annals of a sister
-abbey,[96] may serve as a specimen:--One evening, three strangers
-knocked at the abbey gate, and being admitted to lodge there for the
-night, were immediately conducted into the church, as the rule of St.
-Benedict directs; and having there finished their devotions, they were
-led back to the Guest Chamber, and welcomed in by brother Walter.
-Thence, as soon as the ceremony of washing their feet was over, they
-were summoned to the Refectory; but scarcely had they taken their seats,
-when it was discovered that one of the strangers was missing, and his
-chair empty. “Where,” said the hospitaller, addressing the other two;
-“where is your companion?” “Companion!” said the strangers, greatly
-surprised at the question; “thy servants had no companion.” “Nay,” quoth
-the friar, “say not so, I pray you; for ’tis but this instant that I
-placed three at table, and he who sat betwixt you has left his chair
-empty.” “Nay, we assure thee,” rejoined the strangers, “that no _third_
-person entered with us, neither have we journeyed hither with any man;
-but, being overtaken by night, we came along to the abbey gate, nor have
-we spoken to any man, save only thyself.” Strong in his own conviction,
-friar Walter was immovable; and calling the porter and another monk to
-his assistance, the fact of a third person having entered was confirmed
-by their united testimony. Hereupon the strangers could only repeat what
-they had already asserted; but to give it more solemnity, they called
-St. Benedict himself to witness the truth of their words. All was
-amazement; diligent search was made, but no foot had repassed the gate,
-nor was any stranger to be found in church or cloisters; so the two
-visitors, being spared all further question, were hospitably entertained
-for the night, and dismissed with the usual benediction. The next night,
-however, the hospitaller had a vision in his sleep: a personage of
-angelic features appeared to him; and with a voice like that of
-celestial music, said, “<g>Walter</g>, dost thou know me? I am the stranger
-whose sudden disappearance last night so greatly moved the warder. Know
-then, that by the good pleasure of heaven I am appointed to watch over
-this Monastery; to attend the outgoing and the incoming of every holy
-brother; and that my present errand is to certify that the alms and
-oblations of this community, more especially of your <g>Abbot</g>, have
-ascended in sweet memorial to heaven, and are accepted.” Again--
-
-<g>Waltheof</g>, an abbot of whom we read in the Cistercian Annals, had many
-severe trials to undergo, not only with refractory monks, but with the
-arch-fiend himself, who appeared to have delegated the management of his
-other affairs to inferior powers of darkness, in order that he himself
-might direct his whole force and strategy against the uncompromising
-Waltheof. But the abbot, aware of all these machinations, never lost an
-inch of ground; every fresh rencontre was to him a fresh triumph; for
-knowing the strength and skill of the enemy, he took up the shield of
-faith, and, cased in this armour of proof, met his spiritual foe with a
-look of contempt and defiance. To report their numerous conflicts, would
-be to recapitulate the days of the life of Waltheof--for it was
-literally a warfare. At length, one evening after Compline--when all the
-monks had retired to the dormitory--the abbot continued lingering in the
-church; for, feeling a weight at heart, he wished to unburden his grief
-in solitary prayer and meditation. At such moments, it is well known,
-the powers of darkness are always most active--most on the alert; and
-Waltheof no sooner looked down the left aisle, than he perceived the
-arch-fiend moving stealthily from behind a pillar. In this instance he
-had assumed the habit of a monk; but as he cast no shadow behind him,
-and caused no sound as he shuffled along the tesselated floor, the abbot
-soon recognised his old customer, and calmly waited for him at the foot
-of the altar. Seeing himself thus baffled, the fiend suddenly threw
-aside his cowl, and assumed the terrific form of a soldier, armed at all
-points, and of such gigantic proportions, that in a moment every pillar
-in the nave seemed to have dwindled into insignificance. His grand
-object, as the abbot foresaw, was to inspire him with sudden terror, and
-thus drive him from his sanctuary; but the attempt was vain. He then
-brandished a huge spear, and belching forth streams of blue fire as he
-approached, made a feint, as if he would have hurled the weapon at his
-head. But the abbot, continuing to make the sign of the cross, kept the
-great adversary of mankind at bay; yet still finding that he did not
-quit the sacred pile, he armed himself with the pix which contained the
-sacred wafer; and then advancing, exclaimed, “Behold, thou wicked
-soldier, thou base hireling! here is thy judge, who shall quickly send
-thee to the bottomless pit! Wait for him if thou darest!” What need of
-words; at this sight the foul fiend suddenly collapsed in all his
-terrific proportions, and vanished in a cloud of smoke.[97]
-
-These two examples may suffice to give the reader some idea of the
-numerous legends with which the monastic annals abound: and, in addition
-to what has been already said of the internal administration of this
-order, we shall, from time to time, introduce other particulars, drawn
-from various sources, but chiefly from their own chronicles.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Environs.</g>--It would be difficult to name a locality that, within so
-small a compass, contains so many richly-varied landscapes, as the Vale
-of Tinterne. In whatever direction we move, the eye is arrested by new
-features, new combinations of the graceful and picturesque. A saunter
-along the river, where it forms a crescent between the abbey and the
-village, will gratify every lover of the picturesque, and bring before
-him the beauty and freshness of nature, in striking contrast with the
-sublime but faded monuments of art. The best hour for enjoying this
-scene is about sunset; and, on returning, the tourist may ascend the
-Chapel Hill, and thence, in a more extended panorama, look down upon
-what would have furnished a rich subject for the pencil of Claude. The
-river, with its fantastic windings, here clamorous among shallows--there
-gliding away with the rapid but inaudible march of time--masses of brown
-rock overhanging the pass, gleaming in confused blocks through the trees
-that clamber up their
-
-[Illustration: _The Vale of Tintern._
-
-From the Devil’s Pulpit.]
-
-steep sides, or crown their pinnacles with masses of verdure; while here
-and there a cottage, with its whitewashed walls, gives new life and
-interest to the scene.
-
- How oft the pilgrim, lingering here,
- Beneath that yew’s sepulchral shade,
- Hath dropt the penitential tear,
- And, sighing to himself, hath said--
- There’s solace here for all my woe,
- <g>St. Mary’s</g> altar gleams below;
- And blessèd be the hand divine,
- That leads the pilgrim to her <g>shrine</g>.
-
-But the point from which the Abbey of Tinterne is seen to most
-advantage, is that chosen by Mr. Bartlett in the illustration opposite.
-The way to the ‘<g>Devil’s Pulpit</g>,’ as it is called, runs along the left
-bank of the Wye, and, in its winding course, presents many little
-glimpses of the vale and river, that, like small cabinet-pictures, serve
-as a gradual introduction to the splendid panorama of nature--the
-features of which are here so faithfully illustrated by the pencil, as
-to render description superfluous.
-
- The river, rolling far below--
- Here swift as time, there still and slow;
- O’ershadowed here with arching bowers,
- There sweetly fringed with summer flowers;
- The Vale--where, through its orchard trees,
- The curling vapour meets the breeze,
- And, vast and venerably grand,
- The <g>Abbey’s</g> mouldering arches stand,--
- All these a wondrous scene impart,
- To charm the eye and melt the heart;
- The scroll of ages to unfold,
- And paint the wondrous men of old.
-
-Of this lofty and romantic scene Mr. Thomas writes:--“Who shall describe
-the glories of this splendid view? Who cannot but involuntarily think of
-the second scene in the Temptation, when the prince of the power of the
-air took the Prince of peace into an exceeding high mountain, and showed
-him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, in a moment of
-time? But let no satanic thought break in upon the holy influence which
-the soul delights to cherish in this lovely spot! It seems as though
-imagination, that potent enchantress of the mind, had transmitted us to
-some pinnacled mountain to show us the peace, the beauty, and permanence
-of the works of God, in vivid contrast with the feeble, the transitory,
-the desolated works of man--the ruined abbey encircled by the
-everlasting hills. This comprehensive panorama contains the most
-pleasing combination of nature and art, mountain and meadow, water and
-wood. There flows the glassy Wye, coiled like a serpent, and either
-buried in woods, or gliding peacefully through meadows spangled with
-fleecy flocks. Its buoyant bosom bears a little bark freighted with the
-gay partizans of pleasure, whose scarlet banner is playing with the
-summer’s breeze. The distant sounds of a solitary flute harmonize with
-the busy hum of bees, and the song of some half-secluded bird. Again, we
-hear the hoarser cry of the mariner, and the metallic voice of an
-industrious anvil. The unpretending church of Tinterne, in its unspotted
-whiteness, contrasts with its aged companion--a sombre yew, which, like
-an ample pall, is overshadowing the clustered monuments of death.”
-
-<g>Lancaut</g> cliffs, which contribute a striking feature to this part of the
-scenery, are rendered still more interesting by the following
-tradition:--During the calamitous war, so often referred to in these
-pages, Sir John Winter was eminently distinguished by his devotion to
-the royal cause. The personal risks and pecuniary sacrifices to which he
-was daily exposed, only served to give more warmth to his loyalty. When
-the Parliament sent their first troops to the banks of the Wye, Winter
-converted his house at Sidney into a fortress; and so promptly and
-skilfully was this accomplished, that it was rendered not merely
-inaccessible, but so well provisioned and fortified as to be able to
-stand a siege. In this, perhaps, there was some little exaggeration; for
-the garrison, then at Gloucester, and acting under the direction of
-skilful and determined leaders, were not likely to have been foiled, had
-they made any such attempt. Their grand object was Chepstow Castle; and
-if that fortress was ultimately found to be untenable, the defence of a
-private fortalice must have been a rash and hopeless attempt. It proves,
-nevertheless, that his loyalty admitted of no fear, and was prepared for
-every extremity. Acting under the command of Lord Herbert--whose
-operations will be detailed in our account of Raglan--Winter, by his
-rapid movements, frequently alarmed the troops under General Massey. But
-after the siege of Gloucester was raised by the Earl of Essex, the
-king’s interest in that part of the country was much impaired; and the
-Parliamentary forces continuing to advance, Sir John Winter was
-compelled by urgent duties to abandon his own residence, and retire
-across the frontier. In his retreat, however, through the forest of
-Tudenham, Cromwell’s dragoons were immediately on his traces; escape was
-seemingly impossible--he was completely hemmed in by the enemy on one
-hand, and the Wye on the other; and though well mounted, he soon
-perceived that his pursuers were sensibly gaining upon him. Determined
-that they should never boast of having taken him prisoner, he turned his
-horse’s head suddenly towards the rocks, which now bear his name, and by
-means, he knew not how, quickly disappeared and descended the cliffs in
-safety. At the base of these rolled the Wye, then in flood tide; but
-plunging into the river, his gallant steed carried him safely to the
-opposite bank, where he was soon joined by a party of royalists, and
-congratulated upon his miraculous escape. The point at which he
-descended the rocks is still called <g>Winter’s leap</g>. Of his escape, by
-scrambling down the cliff, there is no doubt; but to represent it as the
-result of a _leap_[98] on horseback, would be to assume the peculiar
-privilege of “Geoffrey of Monmouth.”
-
-After this perilous feat, the hardy royalist returned to his house at
-Sidney; but finding it, on closer inspection, to be quite untenable, he
-had it demolished, and then, joining the king’s forces, took part in the
-battle of Naseby, which gave a finishing blow to the king’s affairs.
-
-[Illustration: A] walk from the <g>Abbey</g> to the village of Tinterne Parva,
-will never fail to interest the stranger; in this short distance, many
-new features and new combinations of scenery crowd upon the view, and
-carry the mind back to remote times, when the cloister bell was the only
-sound that broke in upon the stillness of the scene. Sweeping round the
-outer ring of the crescent, within which the river flows in a deep
-smooth channel, the road is overhung by masses of rock, shaded by trees,
-and skirted by cottages, which, from the situations they occupy, rather
-than any taste or merit in their construction, present a picturesque
-appearance. As we advance, the scene is continually changing: the old
-abbey walls, beautiful from whatever point they are contemplated, assume
-a comparatively new aspect from the western approach, particularly about
-sunset, when the whole building appears as if bathed in a flood of
-yellow light. To enjoy the scenery of the place under such
-circumstances, is worth a long day’s pilgrimage. The river, which here
-doubles upon itself, so as to take the form of a horse shoe, is of a
-depth navigable for small craft; and though here and there fretted by
-rocks, the surface, as we passed, was smooth and limpid; through which,
-as in a mirror, the picturesque scenery on its banks appeared in
-distinct and beautiful reflexion.
-
-Near to the Cross, the ancient market-place of the village, the stranger
-is shown a ruined edifice, partly covered with ivy, and bearing the
-evidence of having suffered less from time than violence. This is
-supposed to have been the villa, or extra-cloister residence of the
-abbots of Tinterne, to which at certain seasons they could retire from
-the exercise of their public functions, and enjoy the privileges of
-social life--the society and conversation of friends and strangers,
-without the forms and austerities of the cloister. Of this building,
-nothing but a few shapeless walls is left; but from the size and
-structure of the windows, square-headed and divided by transoms, it
-seems probable that the house is not earlier than the reign of
-Elizabeth. Mr. Thomas thinks, that from its Tudor-Gothic style, it was
-probably built by the abbot and some of the brotherhood, as a retreat
-about the period when the original foundation was dissolved. During the
-war which devastated the frontier in 1645-6, it was taken and ransacked
-by the soldiers of the Commonwealth. Since that period it has often
-changed its owners; and at one time, we are told, though on rather
-uncertain ground, it was the residence of the family of Fielding the
-novelist--
-
- Whose name
- Still draws the pilgrim to its shattered frame,
- And bids him linger ’neath its shadow.
-
-The parish church of Tinterne Parva is a small but very ancient
-building, irregularly divided into porch, nave, and chancel. Its
-erection, according to the historian of the abbey, was anterior to the
-foundation of the monastery itself; and by some writers it is even
-considered to have been the parent church. The evidences of its great
-antiquity may be found in the building itself; and a practised eye will
-detect indications of a British origin, in certain niches or circular
-arched windows in the massive walls of the western side. The porch,
-which is chaste and in good preservation, is a subsequent erection, and
-yet of a remote age. The chancel, which “most uncouthly joins the nave,”
-is the latest portion of the fabric. There are fragments of some antique
-monuments scattered about the floor--memorials of ecclesiastics--which,
-the writer sarcastically observes, “have been judiciously cut up, and
-squared, to mend the pavement!” By this sage arrangement, the parochial
-economy has been brought into the sharpest practice; and although it has
-evinced no special veneration for the sainted dead, or the hallowed
-relics of antiquity, yet “the ruinous expense of hauling fresh slabs
-from the quarry, on the opposite side of the way, has been most
-considerately spared.” Moreover, he adds, “the pipe of the stove within,
-is picturesquely thrust through the only Gothic window remaining in the
-nave!”[99]
-
- As if its smoke, though dark and somewhat denser,
- Were meant to represent the ancient Censer,
- That once, with daily sacrifice, perfumed
- The ground where saints and heroes lay inhumed.
-
-By the churchyard stile, as Mr. Thomas happily describes it, “and
-beneath the dark mantling boughs of the yew-tree, a scene of exquisite
-sweetness steals upon the eye. The beautiful meadows beyond are skirted
-by a ridge of lofty woods, with the gentle Wye flowing like a liquid
-mirror below. Beneath the
-
-[Illustration: _The Ferry at Tintern._]
-
-renewed limbs of an aged elm-tree, hollowed and blasted by the storms of
-many winters, a flock of unmolested sheep repose in grateful shade;
-these are, indeed, made “to lie down in green pastures,” and are “led
-beside the still waters.”
-
-It would be difficult to picture to the mind’s eye a scene of more
-enchanting repose; in such a place as this, with such objects before
-him, the verdant pastures, the pendent groves, the winding river, the
-tranquil sky,--where the very clouds, with their fleecy wings stretched
-forth in vain to catch the subtile current, seem like a fleet becalmed
-on the wide ocean, waiting for the breeze;--with these before him,
-ambition forgets the world; sorrow looks up with more cheerful
-resignation; cares and disappointments lose both their weight and their
-sting: with so little of sordid earth, so much of the sublimity of
-nature to contemplate, his thoughts become chastened, soothed, and
-elevated; and the heart expands under a new sense of happiness, and a
-feeling of brotherly kindness and benevolence towards everything that
-breathes. He feels the poet’s exhortation in all its force--
-
- When thoughts
- Of the last bitter hour come, like a blight,
- Over thy spirit, and sad images
- Of the stern agony, the shroud, and pall,
- And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
- Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart,
- Go forth into the open sky, and list
- To Nature’s teaching!
-
-And then turning to Wordsworth:--
-
- For I have learnt
- 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 roused 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.
-
-<g>Striguil.</g>--The whole frontier of this interesting country--the land of
-Gwent--is sprinkled over with picturesque ruins,--the crumbling remains
-of those warlike strongholds raised by the Norman barons, as a defence
-to their newly-acquired possessions, which were brought into frequent
-jeopardy by the martial and reluctant subjects of the new dynasty. To
-these we can only advert in passing--for the plan on which this work is
-conducted, does not admit of their being noticed in detail. In the
-second century after the Conquest, six of these strongholds were erected
-near the British forest of Wentwood[100]--a still venerable chase of
-between two and three thousand acres in extent, and associated with many
-events in the history and traditions of the Welsh frontiers. The grand
-object of these castles was to form a chain of garrisoned forts for the
-protection of Norman interests against the incursions of a people who,
-although compelled to pass under a foreign yoke, still gloried in their
-independence, and embraced every occasion to prove that their martial
-spirit, though bowed, was not broken.
-
-One of the strongest of these embattled fastnesses was
-<g>Castell-glyn-y-Striguil</g>,[101] erected, according to Doomsday-book, by
-the Norman warrior so often named in this work, William Fitzosborne. In
-Hammer’s Irish Chronicle,[102] however, its erection is ascribed to
-Gilbert Strongbow, whose life and family we have already noticed in the
-account of Tinterne Abbey. The remains of this castle, though inadequate
-to convey any just notion of its original strength, are still
-sufficiently marked with regard to its size and proportions. Its
-outworks have mouldered down into shapeless masses, over which nature
-has thrown so dense a matting of underwood, that the traces of art have
-been almost obliterated. The form “was that of an oblong square, the
-angles of which, as usual in such cases, were defended by octagonal
-towers;”[103] at one extremity was the donjon, or keep, the situation of
-which is indicated by the shapeless mound of vegetation, which draws
-nutriment from its débris. The walls were encircled by a deep moat,
-supplied by two mountain rivulets, which unite at this point to form the
-<g>Troggy</g>, one of the silver tributaries of the river Usk.
-
-The other castles Avhich deserve a cursory notice, are, Llanvair,
-Llanvaches, Pencoed, Dinham, and Penhow.[104] The latter, an ancient
-seat of the <g>Seymours</g>, occupies a bold and romantic situation. The
-acclivity which forms the direct approach to it, is nearly
-perpendicular. The view which it commands consists of a valley, or
-rather wooded ravines, in the foreground; and in the distance, a range
-of barren hills that bound the horizon--
-
- Hills that, giving birth
- To circling fountains, glad the parent earth;
- And from their bosom, framed for martial toil,
- Sent forth the guardian heroes of the soil.
-
-By the marriage of the Lady Jane, daughter of Sir John Seymour, with
-Henry the Eighth, and the birth of their son, afterwards Edward the
-Sixth, the house of Penhow was placed in a situation to compete with
-that of Raglan; and by the fortuitous influence thus acquired, the
-Seymours took a leading authority in the management and direction of
-county affairs.
-
-This castle, or rather fortalice, appears to have derived its strength,
-more from its isolated and once inaccessible position, than from the
-extent of its walls or outworks. A portion of the interior has been
-repaired and rendered habitable, or rather a house has been erected on
-the site of the old _berçeau_, and thus future patriots and statesmen
-may yet “come forth of Penhow.”
-
-<g>Llanvair</g>, about six miles west from Chepstow, was the ancient residence
-of the Kemeys family, from whom sprang Sir Nicholas Kemeys, the last
-governor of Chepstow Castle, whose heroic but tragical fate has been
-already noticed in these pages. The ruins of this ancient homestead are
-too inconsiderable to challenge more than a passing glance from the
-tourist. The same may be said of Dinham, a hamlet in the parish of
-Llanvair-Discoed.
-
-<g>Goldcliffe</g>, “so called,” says Camden, “because the stones there, of a
-golden colour, by reverberation of the sunne shining full upon them,
-glitter with a wonderful brightnesse. Neither can I be easilie perswaded
-that nature hath given this brightnesse in vaine unto the stones, and
-that there should be a flowre here without fruit; were there any man
-that would serch into the veines there, and using the direction of Art,
-enter into the inmost and secretest bowels of the earth.”[105] But what
-was a mystery in the days of Giraldus, and even of Camden, admits of a
-very simple solution. The Gold Cliff, so called, consists of a rock
-nearly perpendicular, which rises abruptly to the height of a hundred
-feet in an extensive moor.[106] It consists of limestone strata, nearly
-horizontal and parallel, supported by a base of brown sandstone,
-abounding with yellow mica. The brilliant effect of the sun upon this
-micaceous surface, was a reason for the old belief in the neighbourhood,
-that the rock contained gold, and was therefore considered as a
-situation of peculiar value and sanctity.[107] The <g>church</g> of Goldcliffe
-belonged to a priory founded and endowed in 1113, by Robert de <g>Chandos</g>,
-eighteen years earlier than that of Tinterne Abbey, who, by the
-persuasion of Henry the First, annexed it to the Abbey of <g>Bec</g>, in
-Normandy, whence a prior and twelve Black, or Benedictine, friars were
-conveyed to it. On the suppression of alien priories, Henry Beauchamp,
-Earl of Warwick, obtained of King Henry the Sixth the patronage of the
-priory, with permission to annex it to the Abbey of St. Mary, at
-Tewkesbury, to which it was made a cell in 1442. The Cambro-Britons,
-however, being offended at this measure, obliged the prior and monks of
-Tewkesbury to quit Goldcliffe in 1445; but in the following year they
-were permitted to return. In the twenty-ninth of the reign of Henry the
-Sixth, Goldcliffe Priory was granted to the college at Eton, and to
-Tewkesbury again. At the accession of Edward the Fourth, but seven years
-later, it was restored to Eton college, in whose possession it has since
-remained.[108]
-
-<g>Caldicot.</g>--The castle of this name is said to have been erected by one
-of the ancient Bohuns, earls of Hereford, hereditary
-lords-high-constables of England,[109] for nearly two hundred years.
-From them the castle descended to Henry, Duke of Lancaster, and upon
-his accession to the throne as Henry the Fourth, it was invested in the
-crown. The ivy-mantled walls enclose a large court, with three
-entrances. The principal gateway is flanked by lofty square towers; and
-on the east side are the remains of the hall, comprising a range of
-windows, of large size and elegant workmanship. The style of masonry, as
-shown in the construction of the walls, is excellent; the courses of
-large and equal sized stones, are accurately squared and jointed; but
-the whole construction has more the appearance of an ancient domestic
-residence, than of a British stronghold--well suited for the
-accommodation of a feudal baron and his retinue in times of peace, but
-ill prepared to resist an enemy, or sustain a siege.
-
- Yet there Tradition tells her tale
- Of warrior-knights in glittering mail--
- Of martial feat, and festive hall,
- And banners waving from the wall;
- When Cambria’s rival spears were bent
- For martial joust and tournament;
- While Beauty, from her lattice high,
- Surveyed the scene with radiant eye--
- And Cambria’s Chivalry in arms
- Did faithful homage to her charms.
-
- But <g>Caldicot</g>, how lonely now!
- The wreath has withered from thy brow;
- The scene of song and martial deeds
- Is now a wilderness of weeds!
- Ah, such at last the homes shall be
- Of England’s proudest Chivalry!
-
-<g>Mathern</g> is remarkable as the burial-place of Theodoric or Teudrick, the
-hermit king of Glamorgan, already mentioned.[110] His hermitage “among
-the rocks of Tinterne,” to which he had retired for repose and
-meditation in the evening of life, is supposed to have stood on the site
-of the present abbey, which had thus, in the traditional records of the
-people, a spot already consecrated by royal example, as a foundation for
-those gorgeous altars by which it was subsequently distinguished.
-
-When dragged from his retreat by the supplications of his family and
-subjects, and armed once more against the Saxons, he solemnly enjoined
-his son that, in the event of his falling in battle, they should erect a
-Christian church over his remains, as a monument of his faith and
-patriotism. The battle that speedily ensued, as tradition reports, was a
-great victory, but a victory purchased with the blood of Teudrick; for
-during the fierce conflict that had covered the Vale of Tinterne with
-the slain, he received a blow from a Saxon battle-axe which proved
-fatal. From the field he was conveyed homeward as far as Mathern, where
-he died; and there his son, who succeeded him in the chieftainship,
-erected a church to his memory, the name of which has perpetuated his
-martyrdom.[111]
-
-The foundation of this church in its primitive state, consisted, like
-other British structures, of a nave only--a side aisle and chancel
-appear to have been added at a very early date; and, subsequently to
-these, a tower was erected which completed the sacred edifice, and
-rendered it more conspicuous as a historical landmark, and place of
-pilgrimage. It is distinguished by handsome Gothic windows, portions of
-which are adorned with stained glass; and the roof is supported by Saxon
-arches, resting on massive octagon piers.
-
-On a plain mural tablet in the <g>Chancel</g> of this ancient church, is the
-following inscription, supposed to have been written by Bishop Godwin.
-The fact of its being the sepulchre of the British Prince Teudrick, was
-finally ascertained by the discovery of his stone coffin, in which the
-skeleton was found almost entire. On the skull, also, in accordance with
-local tradition, a fracture was observed, which clearly indicated the
-manner of his death, and confirmed the testimony of local history.
-
-The following is the inscription:--“Here lyeth entombed the body of
-THEODORIC, King of Morganuch, or Glamorgan, commonly called <g>St.
-Theodoric</g>, and accounted a martyr, because he was slain in battle
-against the Saxons, being then pagans, and in defence of the Christian
-Religion. The battle was fought at <g>Tynterne</g>, where he obtained a great
-victory. He died here, being on his way homeward, three days after the
-battle, having taken order with Maurice, his son, who succeeded him in
-the kingdom, that in the same place where he should happen to decease, a
-church should be built, and his body buried in the same, which was
-accordingly performed in the year 600.”
-
-“On ascending the tower of this church,” says Mr. Thomas, “a scene of
-great extent and surpassing beauty is spread before the eye; on one side
-you have a long reach of water, strewn with vessels and rocks; on the
-other a wide undulating tract of land, overspread with villas and
-smiling meadows, crowded with many a gentle herd; while beneath, and not
-the least interesting objects of this scene, are those melancholy wrecks
-of bygone splendour--Mathern Palace and Moinscourt.” The first of these
-two objects, the old episcopal residence, is now “the ruinous retreat of
-some humble followers of the plough.” The north and north-east portions,
-comprising the porch and tower, were erected by Bishop De la Zouch, who
-was consecrated in the year 1408, and the chapel hall, and some other
-compartments, were added by Miles Sulley, who came to the see in 1504.
-Moinscourt, now reduced to the humble uses of a farmhouse, was another
-of the palaces, belonging to the see of Llandaff, and supposed to have
-been erected by Bishop Godwin, who made it his favourite residence.
-Passing beneath a Gothic porch, crowned with two lofty turrets, we enter
-a spacious quadrangular court, at the extremity of which stands the
-palace. Over the entrance is an escutcheon, on which are sculptured the
-arms of Godwin, impaled with those of the see, and bearing the date of
-1603. The court was formerly adorned with two monuments of Roman
-antiquity found in the vicinity--one a votive altar, the other an
-inscription, recording the rebuilding of the Temple of Diana, by T. F.
-Posthumius Varus. It was from the ancient Roman slabs, built into the
-garden walls of this residence, that Bishop Godwin supplied the drawings
-and inscriptions for Camden’s Britannia.[112]
-
-Before adverting to the final suppression of Tinterne <g>Abbey</g>, and the
-confiscation of its revenues to the king’s treasury, we shall now take a
-brief view of the circumstances which led to this grand revolution in
-our ecclesiastical government--quoting for our authority those writers
-of unquestionable veracity, who have treated of that momentous epoch.
-First, with regard to the
-
-<g>Dissolution.</g>--“Never,” says an historian of this epoch,[113] “never was
-there any exploit, seemingly so full of hazard and danger, more easily
-achieved than the subversion of our English monasteries.” The church
-commissioners presented a startling report of the vices[114] and
-deceptions of the monks and nuns; and, what was of equal weight in the
-condemnation, they sent in the title-deeds of their estates, with the
-inventory of their plate, jewels, and ready money. Upon this a bill was
-introduced, giving unto the king and his heirs all monastic
-establishments, the revenues of which did not exceed two hundred pounds
-sterling a year, with every kind of property attached to them, whether
-real or personal. Three hundred and eighty of the lesser houses fell
-within this category, and were suppressed; whereby the king was enriched
-by thirty-two thousand pounds per annum--an enormous sum in that day--in
-addition to a hundred thousand pounds in ready money, plate, and jewels.
-The bill, according to one writer, was not passed through the House of
-Commons without some difficulty; but <g>Henry</g>, sending for the ministers,
-and telling them that he would have either the bill or their heads, they
-passed it immediately.
-
-The parliament, which, by successive prorogations, had sat for the
-unprecedented term of six years, was now dissolved; and Henry, after all
-their passive obedience, appears to have been disgusted at this their
-last and feeble effort at opposition. He now named other commissioners
-to take possession of the suppressed monasteries, and to prepare
-measures for the seizure of others. If these men, mostly the friends of
-Cromwell or of Cranmer, had a better religion before their eyes, they
-certainly were not blind to the charms of lucre, and the temptations of
-fair houses and fat glebes; as many of them made a harvest for
-themselves, out of the spoils of the monks and nuns.[115]
-
-The superiors of the suppressed houses were promised small pensions for
-life, which were very irregularly paid. All the monks not twenty-four
-years of age were absolved from their vows, and turned loose upon the
-world without any kind of provision; the rest, if they wished to
-continue in the profession, were divided among the greater houses that
-were still left standing. The poor nuns were turned adrift to beg or
-starve; having nothing given to them, save one common gown for
-each.[116] “These things,” says Godwin, “were of themselves distasteful
-to the vulgar sort, of whom each one did, as it were, claim a share in
-the goods of the church; for many being neither monks, nor allied to
-monks, did, notwithstanding, conceive that it might hereafter come to
-pass that either their children, friends, or kindred, might obtain their
-share; whereas, when all their property was once confiscated, they could
-never hope for any such advantages. But the popular commiseration for
-the thousands of monks and nuns who were, almost without warning given,
-thrust out of doors, and committed to the mercy of the world, became a
-more forcible cause of discontent. There were not wanting desperate men
-to take advantage of this state of public feeling; and it was diligently
-rumoured in all parts, that this was but the beginning of greater evils
-and more general spoliations--only a trial of their patience; that, as
-yet, the shrubs and underwood were but touched; but unless a speedy
-remedy were applied, the end would be with the fall of the lofty oaks.”
-At the same time, the crowds of poor, who, by an ancient but defective
-system, had derived their support from the monastic establishments,
-became furious at finding their resources cut off, and at seeing the
-monks who had fed them now begging like themselves by the roadsides.
-
-In the midst of these general discontents, Cranmer and Cromwell issued
-certain doctrinal injunctions to the clergy, which were too novel to
-find immediate favour with the multitude; and certain Protestant
-reformers, who had more courage than they, ventured to print books about
-Iconolatria, image-worship, auricular confession, transubstantiation,
-and other fundamental tenets and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
-The king, who assumed all the authority in matters of dogmas that had
-ever been claimed by the popes, and much more than they had ever put in
-practice in England, pronounced rewards and sentences which irritated
-both parties alike, and all these questions were referred to him--thus
-occupying a good deal of his time, and keeping in dangerous activity his
-old political bile.[117] We find the Lord Chancellor Audley writing in
-great perturbation to Cromwell, telling him that “there is a book come
-forth in print, touching the taking away of images, and begging to know
-whether he was privy to the publishing thereof,” which Cranmer probably
-was,[118] though, had such a fact been known to his master at that
-moment, his neck would have been in jeopardy. The chancellor says, “I
-assure you, in the parts where I have been, some discord there is, and
-diversity of opinion among the people, touching the worshipping of
-saints and images; and for creeping, kneeling at cross, and such like
-ceremonies heretofore used in the church, which discord it were good
-should be put to silence; and this book will make much business in the
-same, if it should go forth. Wherefore,” he continues, “I pray you, I
-may be advised whether you know it or no, for I intend to send for the
-printers and stop them; but there may be many abroad. It were good that
-the preachers and people abstained from opinions of such things, till
-such time as by the report of such as the king’s highness hath appointed
-for the searching and ordering of laws of the church, his grace may put
-a final order on such things, how his people and subjects shall use
-themselves without contention. And if the people were thus commanded by
-proclamation to abstain till that time, such proclamation, drawn in
-honest terms, would do much good to avoid contention.”[119]
-
-The king was by no means backward in issuing his final orders and
-decrees spiritual; and the reformers herein concealing their ulterior
-views, he was led to reduce the number of sacraments from seven to
-three--Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Penance; to forbid the direct
-adoration of images; to abrogate a number of saints’ days or holidays,
-especially such as fell in harvest time; to declare the Scriptures, with
-the Apostolic, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds, the sole standards of
-faith; to order every parish priest to expound these to his parishioners
-in plain English; and to direct the printing and distribution of an
-English translation of the Bible, one copy of which was to be kept in
-every parish church. The king, in his wisdom, insisted on the necessity
-of auricular confession, and denounced any questioning of the ‘real
-presence’ in the eucharist as a damnable heresy, to be punished with
-fire and faggot. Purgatory, he confessed, puzzled him; steering a middle
-course, he declared himself to be uncertain on this head; and kindly
-permitted his subjects to pray for the souls of their departed friends,
-provided only that they fell into none of the old abuses of enriching
-religious houses and shrines for this object.[120]
-
-“Meanwhile,” says the historian, “the king continued much prone to
-reformation, especially if anything might be gotten by it.” Nothing was
-more easy than to prove that all the monastic orders had been engaged in
-the late insurrection;[121] and as many of the richest abbeys and
-priories remained as yet untouched, there was no want of wise
-counsellors, all anxious to share in the spoil, who recommended their
-total suppression. In some cases, out of a dread of martial law, or,
-what was equally bad, a prosecution for high treason, the <g>Abbots</g>
-surrendered, gave, and granted their abbeys unto the king, his heirs and
-assigns for ever; but still many replied, like the prior of Henton,
-“that they would not be light and hasty in giving up those things which
-were not theirs to give, being dedicated to the <g>Almighty</g> for service to
-be done to his honour continually, with other many good deeds of charity
-which be daily done in their houses to their Christian neighbours.”[122]
-“These recusants were treated with great severity; the prisons were
-crowded with priors and monks, who died so rapidly in their places of
-confinement, as to excite a dreadful suspicion.”
-
-Without waiting for a “needless act of parliament, the king suppressed
-many other houses; and soon after, with the full consent of Lords and
-Commons, finished the business, by seizing all the <g>abbeys</g> without
-exception, with all the other religious houses, except a very few,
-which, at the earnest petition of the people, were spared or given up to
-the representatives of their original founders.” Before proceeding to
-the “final suppression, under the pretence of checking the superstitious
-worshipping of images, he had laid bare their altars, and stripped their
-shrines of everything that was valuable; nor did he spare the rich
-coffins and the crumbling bones of the dead.” At the distance of four
-hundred years--exasperated at that extraordinary man’s opposition to
-the royal prerogative--he determined to execute vengeance on the bones
-and relics of
-
-<g>Thomas a Becket.</g>--The Martyr’s tomb was broken open; and by an insane
-process, worthy of a Nero or a Caligula, a criminal information was
-filed against him as “Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of
-Canterbury;” and he was formally cited to appear in court, and answer to
-the charges. Thirty days were allowed the saint; but we need hardly
-inform our readers that his dishonoured relics rested quietly at
-Canterbury, and did not appear to plead in Westminster Hall. With due
-solemnity the court opened its proceedings.[123] The attorney-general
-eloquently exposed the case for the prosecution, and the advocates of
-the saint--who no doubt spoke less boldly--were heard in defence; and
-that being over, sentence was pronounced, that “Becket” had been guilty
-of rebellion, treason, and contumacy; that his bones should be burnt as
-a lesson to the living not to oppose the royal will; and that the rich
-offerings with which many generations of men, native and foreign, had
-enriched his shrine, should be forfeited to the crown as the personal
-property of the traitor. “In the month of August,” continues the
-historian, “Cromwell, who must have smiled at the course pursued, sent
-down some of his commissioners to Canterbury, who executed their task so
-well, that they filled two immense coffers with gold and jewels, each of
-them so heavy that it required eight strong men to lift it.” “Among the
-rest,” says Godwin, “was a stone of especial lustre, called the _Royal_
-of France, offered by King Louis VII., in the year 1179; together with a
-great massive cup of gold, at what time he also bestowed an annuity on
-the monks of that church of an hundred tuns of wine. This stone was
-afterwards highly prized by the king, who did continually wear it on his
-thumb.” A few months after, the king, by proclamation, stated to his
-people, that forasmuch as it now clearly appears Thomas Becket had been
-killed in a riot provoked by his own obstinacy and insolence, and had
-been canonized by the Bishop of Rome merely because he was champion of
-that usurped authority, he now deemed it proper to declare that he was
-no saint whatever, but a rebel and traitor to his prince: and that,
-therefore, he, the king, strictly commanded that he should not be any
-longer esteemed or called a saint; that all images and pictures of him
-should be destroyed; and that his name and remembrance should be erased
-out of all books, under pain of his majesty’s indignation, and
-imprisonment at his grace’s pleasure.[124]
-
-<g>The revenues</g> of Tinterne Abbey, though far inferior to others of the
-same order, particularly those in Yorkshire, were still sufficient for
-the maintenance of the brotherhood, the repairs and decoration of the
-buildings, and the exercise of hospitality, which formed so important a
-feature in the monastic code. The estimate recorded by Dugdale is
-probably under the mark; while that of Speed may possibly exceed, by a
-few pounds, the actual rental of the abbey lands. The former has
-computed it at £192. 1s. 3d., the latter at £252. 11s. 6d., sums which,
-taking into account the value of money in those times, give no mean idea
-of its annual resources. This sum, however, is exclusive of the daily
-tribute received from the pious hands of pilgrims, and the donations of
-many distinguished guests, who, from time to time, sat at the <g>Abbot’s</g>
-table, or found refuge in its sanctuary.
-
-The details of the first endowments[125] of Tinterne Abbey, as well as
-various later benefactions, down to the seventh year of Henry the
-Third, are contained in a charter of confirmation from William Marshall,
-grandson of Walter de Clare, the founder.
-
-“Herein,” says Tanner, “were thirteen religious about the time of the
-dissolution, when the estates belonging to this monastery were rated at
-£256. 11s. 6d. in the gross, and £192. 1s. 4-1/2d. per annum, clear
-income.”
-
-The site of Tinterne Abbey, with all the monastic buildings, was granted
-28th Henry VIII. to Henry, Earl of Worcester. It is still the property
-of his descendant, the Duke of Beaufort. Leland, mentioning Tinterne
-Abbey in his Collectanea, says, “There was a sanctuary granted to
-Tinterne, but it hath not been used many a day.”
-
-The common seal of this monastery is appended to an instrument dated in
-the 6th of Henry VIII., whereby the abbot and convent appoint Charles,
-Earl of Worcester, and Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert, his son and heir
-apparent, chief stewards of their manor of Arle in Norfolk. The subject
-of this seal, of which only a mutilated impression in red wax remains,
-was the Virgin Mary and the infant Saviour, seated under an ornamented
-arch--in a niche underneath, was an abbot, with his crosier, on his
-knees praying. Nearly the whole of the legend is gone, the only part
-remaining being.... RII. BEATE.
-
-<g>William Marshall</g>, the “vetus Marescallus,” as he is called in
-black-letter chronicles--who married the daughter and heiress of Richard
-Strongbow--became the founder of a new Cistercian Abbey, near Wexford,
-in Ireland. Finding himself, once upon a time, in great peril during a
-voyage thither, he made a vow to the Virgin Mary, that if by her help he
-escaped shipwreck, and once more set foot on dry land, he would testify
-his gratitude by founding an <g>abbey</g> to her honour. The ship having got
-safe into port, he lost no time in commencing the pious work, to which,
-in compliment to her elder sister on the Wye, he gave the name of
-<g>Tynterna</g> _de Voto_.
-
-<g>Daughters of Tinterne.</g>--In addition to what has been already mentioned
-of the two daughters,[126] or offshoots, of Tinterne on the Wye, we
-collect the following particulars:--
-
-<g>Tinterne Abbey</g>, in the County of Wexford.--“This abbey was situated on
-the shore of Bannow Bay, in the barony of Shelburne, three miles
-north-east of Duncannon Fort. William, Earl of Pembroke, as already
-mentioned, being in great danger and peril at sea, made a vow to found
-an abbey in that place where he should first arrive in safety; and the
-place was the bay in question. He accordingly performed his vow,
-dedicated his abbey to the Virgin Mary, endowed it, and settled a
-convent of Cistercian monks in it, whom he brought from <g>Tinterne</g> in
-Monmouthshire. Archdale gives the particulars of the Earl of Pembroke’s
-endowment of this house, from King. The whole, however, was not
-completed in the earl’s lifetime, for Dugdale has given King John’s
-charter confirming the bequest of thirty carucates of land to this abbey
-in the earl’s will.”[127]
-
-<g>Kingswood Abbey.</g>--“ROGER DE BERKELEY received by gift of William Rufus
-certain lands, upon condition that he should confer them upon some monks
-or canons; but being prevented by death, he bequeathed them to William
-de Berkeley[128] his nephew, upon the same terms. And of which William,
-I find that he bestowed upon the monks of <g>Tynterne</g>, in Wales, a certain
-<g>Desart</g> near Berkeley, called <g>Kingswood</g>, there to found an abbey of the
-<g>Cistercian Order</g>; and that Maud the Empress, daughter to King Henry the
-First, confirmed that grant. The convent was built, but during the
-troublous reign of Stephen they removed to Haselden; but thence, on the
-return of peace, they were expelled by the proprietor, and again took up
-their abode at <g>Kingswood</g>. Reginal D. S. <g>Walerick</g> repenting, invited them
-back to Haselden; but, after a time, the place being found very
-inconvenient for lack of water, they were removed by him to <g>Tetbury</g>,
-Kingswood all this time being left as a mere _grange_ of the monastery.
-Of this the heir of the founder complained, and required that the
-convent should return thither, according to the conditions upon which it
-was given by his ancestor. A general chapter of the whole <g>Order</g>,
-however, decided against him, and determined that Kingswood should
-remain as a mere farm belonging to the convent of Tetbury; but that mass
-should always be sung at <g>Kingswood</g>, privately, by one monk, who was to
-have for his labour twenty-seven _marks_ and a half. But after this, by
-another general chapter of that Order, it was agreed that the Abbot of
-Waverley, in Surrey, should rebuild _Kingswood_ with the consent of the
-founder, and confirmation of the King; which being done without the
-privity of the convent at Tetbury, and Abbot of <g>Tynterne</g>, who opposed
-the same. Upon a meeting of divers other abbots at _Kingswood_, it was
-concluded, that the monks placed at Kingswood should be recalled, and
-that place reduced unto the state of a _grange_ to Tettebiry, as it was
-before.” These transmutations, however, were not yet concluded: “for
-Tettebiry being found a narrow place, too little for an abbey, and
-having no fuel but what was brought from Kingswood, which was far
-distant, Bernard de S. Walerick came to accord with Roger de <g>Berkley</g>,
-the founder of Kingswood, and therefore, obtaining a grant from him of
-forty acres of land adjoining to Kingswood, translated those monks from
-Tettebiry thither, and called it <g>Kingswood</g>, as a name of most
-note.”[129] Such were the vicissitudes of this abbey.
-
-According to Pope Nicholas’ taxation, the spiritualities of this
-monastery amounted in 1291 to the annual sum of £6. 4s. 4d.; the
-temporalities to £47. 17s. 2d.; making a total of £54. 1s. 6d. There is
-no valuation of Kingswood in the general ecclesiastical survey of the
-26th Henry VIII., though Tanner says it was valued at that time,
-according to Dugdale, at £244. 11s. 2d. per annum; according to Speed,
-at £254. 11s. 2d.; clear, £239. 19s. 7-3/4d. In a MS. record in the
-whole at £254. 5s. 10d. A survey of this house, taken in the 29th Henry
-VIII., is preserved in the appendix to the Monasticon Anglicanum. There
-is also a minister’s ‘accompt’ of it in the Augmentation office, 32nd
-Henry VIII.; but its possessions are there answered for, in gross, at
-the sum of £245. 8s. 8d., the whole of its estates being then on lease
-to Sir Nicholas Peyntz, Knt., under the seal of the Court of
-Augmentations, dated 10th March, 29th Henry VIII., for a term of
-twenty-one years at the above rent. In the second year of Queen
-Elizabeth, the site of this house was granted to Sir John Thynne, Knt.
-The _register_ of Kingswood Abbey was in the possession of John Smith,
-Esq. of Nibley, in the county of Gloucester. The common seal represented
-the Blessed Virgin crowned, holding in her arms the infant Jesus, and
-standing between two elegant pilasters, surmounted by a canopy; the
-field diapered; in base, under an arch, the half figure of a monk
-praying; the legend much flattened, so that no more of it can be read
-than S.COF ... CONVENTUS ... DE KINGEWOD. An impression of this seal on
-red wax is appendant to a conventual lease, temp. Henry VIII., in the
-Augmentation office.[130]
-
-[Illustration: F]<g>ROM</g> the above cursory notice of the spiritual daughters
-of “Holy Tinterne,” we return to the Mother-Abbey.
-
-In England, says an eminent Catholic writer, the scheme of plundering
-the ecclesiastical property by men of a certain class, had never been
-wholly abandoned. In Henry the Fourth’s time there was “the laymen’s
-parliament of those who countenanced Wickliffe, and loved the lands far
-better than they did the religion of the Church; but their designs at
-that time were defeated by the stout and religious opposition of Thomas
-Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, and other Prelates.”[131] Against
-these evils the ancient canons of the church in Germany provided, by
-prohibiting the faithful from holding any communication with men who
-disturb priests, and the state of the church.[132] “Now,” he continues,
-“if <g>St. Thomas</g> and the clergy of the middle ages are to be condemned for
-resisting such injustice by prayers, and law, and canonical censures,
-what will be thought of <g>St. Ambrose</g>, and other pastors of the early
-church, who, by still more uncompromising firmness, believed that they
-were imitating the apostles?” St. Ambrose declares that he will never
-relinquish the churches to the Arians, as the Emperor Valentinian
-commands, unless by force. “If any force remove me from the church, my
-flesh,” he says, “may be disturbed, but not my mind; for I am prepared
-to suffer whatever a priest may suffer, if the emperor should exert his
-regal power. I will never abandon the church voluntarily; but I cannot
-oppose force. I can grieve, I can weep, I can groan; against arms,
-soldiers, and Goths, tears are my arms; for these are the weapons of a
-priest. Otherwise I neither ought to resist, nor can I resist. When it
-was proposed to me to deliver up the vessels of the church, I sent word
-that I would willingly give up what was mine own, whether lands or
-houses, gold or silver; but that I could take nothing from the temple of
-God, nor lightly abandon what I had received to guard--not to deliver
-up. Fear not, therefore, for me, dearly beloved, since I know that
-whatever I am about to suffer, I shall suffer for <g>Christ</g>; and the will
-of Christ must be fulfilled, and that will be for the best. Let them
-decree the penalty of death, I fear it not; nor will I on that account
-desert the martyrs; for whither could I go where all things would not be
-full of groans and tears, when Catholic priests are ordered to be driven
-from the churches, or to be struck with the sword if they resisted; and
-this decree to be written by a bishop, who should quote ancient examples
-to prove himself most learned? <g>Auxentius</g>, thirsting for blood, demanded
-my church; but I say with the prophet--‘Absit ut ego patrum meorum
-tradam hæreditatem!’ Naboth was prepared to defend his vineyard at the
-expense of his blood. If he could not give up his vineyard, neither will
-we give up the church of <g>Christ</g>. Do I then return a contumacious answer?
-I have answered as a priest; let the emperor act as an emperor. Last
-year,” he adds, “when I was invited to the palace, and introduced before
-the council, when the emperor wished to take from us the church, I
-should have been subdued by the contemplation of the royal hall, and I
-should not have kept the constancy of a priest, or should have departed
-with loss of right. Do they not remember, then, how the people rushed to
-the palace, and overwhelmed every force, declaring that they would die
-for the faith of <g>Christ</g>? Then I was desired to appease the people, which
-I did by engaging that the church should not be given up; but now the
-Arians wish to give law to the church, and accuse us of sedition in
-resisting the emperor. Let him take our tribute or our lands, if they
-ask treasure: _our treasure is the poor of_ <g>Christ</g>; our defence is in
-the prayers of the poor. These blind, and lame, and weak, and aged
-persons, are stronger than robust warriors. I am to give to Cæsar what
-belongs to Cæsar; to God what belongs to God: the tribute is Cæsar’s,
-but the church is God’s. As for the fire, or sword, or banishment, which
-are threatened, we fear them not.”[133]
-
-Again, writing to his sister Marcella, he says: “Not only the <g>basilica</g>
-without the walls is now demanded, but also the new and greater one
-within the city. When the prince summoned me to resign them, I replied,
-what was of course, that ‘the temple of God could not be given up by a
-priest.’ The emperor cannot invade the house of a private man, and will
-he dare to take possession of the house of God! The palace belongs to
-the emperor, the church to the priest. If he be a tyrant, I desire to be
-aware of it, that I may know how to prepare against him, for I have the
-power to offer my body. If he thinks himself a tyrant, why does he delay
-to strike? By ancient laws empires were given by priests, not taken from
-them; and it is a common saying, that emperors have rather desired
-priesthood, than priests empire. The tyranny of a priest is his
-infirmity; for ‘when I am weak, then am I strong.’”
-
-With examples like this before them--and numerous others might here be
-cited--it is not surprising that many of the monastic priesthood
-preferred to endure fines, imprisonment, and even death, to the
-enjoyment of that life and freedom which could only be purchased by acts
-of apostacy. And on this portion of our subject we avail ourselves of an
-eloquent passage from one of the most popular works of the day:--
-
-The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity was the first of a
-long series of salutary revolutions. It is true that the church had been
-deeply corrupted both by that superstition, and by that philosophy,
-against which she had long contended, and over which she had at last
-triumphed. She had given a too easy admission to doctrines borrowed from
-the ancient schools, and to rites borrowed from the ancient temples.
-Roman policy and Gothic ignorance, Grecian ingenuity and Syrian
-asceticism, had contributed to deprave her; yet she retained enough of
-the sublime theology, and benevolent morality of her earlier days, to
-elevate many intellects, and to purify many hearts. Some things also
-which, at a later period, were justly regarded as among her chief
-blemishes, were in the seventh century, and long afterwards, among her
-chief merits. That the sacerdotal order should encroach on the functions
-of the civil magistrate, would, in our time, be a great evil. But that
-which in an age of good government is an evil, may, in an age of grossly
-bad government, be a blessing. It is better that mankind should be
-governed by wise laws well administered, and by an enlightened public
-opinion, than by priestcraft; but it is better that men should be
-governed by priestcraft than by brute violence,--by such a prelate as
-Dunstan, than by such a warrior as Penda. A society sunk in ignorance,
-and ruled by mere physical force, has great reason to rejoice when a
-class, of which the influence is intellectual, rises to ascendancy. Such
-a class will doubtless abuse its power; but mental power, even when
-abused, is still a nobler and better power than that which consists
-merely in corporeal strength. We read in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles of
-tyrants who, when at the height of greatness, were smitten with remorse;
-who abhorred the pleasures and dignities which they had purchased by
-guilt; who abdicated their crowns, and who sought to atone for their
-offences by cruel penances and incessant prayers. These stories have
-drawn forth bitter expressions of contempt from some writers who, while
-they boasted of liberality, were in truth as narrow-minded as any monk
-of the dark ages, and whose habit was to apply to all events in the
-history of the world the standard received in the Parisian society of
-the eighteenth century. Yet surely a system which, however deformed by
-superstition, introduced strong moral restraints into communities
-previously governed only by vigour of muscle, and by audacity of spirit;
-a system which taught even the fiercest and mightiest ruler that he was,
-like his meanest bondsman, a responsible being, might have seemed to
-deserve a more respectful mention from philosophers and
-philanthropists.[134]
-
-The same observations will apply to the contempt with which, in the last
-century, it was fashionable to speak of the pilgrimages, the
-sanctuaries, the crusades, and the monastic institutions of the middle
-ages. In times when men were scarcely ever induced to travel by liberal
-curiosity, or by the pursuit of gain, it was better that the rude
-inhabitant of the north should visit Italy and the East as a pilgrim,
-than that he should never see anything but the squalid cabins, and
-uncleared woods, amidst which he was born.[135]
-
-In times when life and female honour were exposed to daily risk from
-tyrants and marauders, it was better that the precinct of a shrine
-should be regarded with an irrational awe, than that there should be no
-refuge inaccessible to cruelty and licentiousness. In times when
-statesmen were incapable of forming extensive political combinations, it
-was better that the Christian nations should be roused and united for
-the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, than that they should, one by one,
-be overwhelmed by the Mahometan power. Whatever reproach may, at a later
-period, have been justly thrown on the indolence and luxury of religious
-orders, it was surely good that, in an age of ignorance and violence,
-there should be quiet cloisters and gardens, in which the arts of peace
-could be safely cultivated; in which gentle and contemplative natures
-could find an asylum; in which one brother could employ himself in
-transcribing the Æneid of Virgil, and another in meditating the
-Analytics of Aristotle; in which he who had a genius for art, might
-illuminate a martyrology, or carve a crucifix; and in which he who had a
-turn for natural philosophy, might make experiments on the properties of
-plants and minerals. Had not such retreats been scattered here and
-there, among the huts of a miserable peasantry, and the castles of a
-ferocious aristocracy, European society would have consisted merely of
-beasts of burden, and beasts of prey. The <g>church</g> has many times been
-compared to the ark of which we read in the Book of Genesis; but never
-was the resemblance more perfect than during the evil time, when she
-rode alone, amidst darkness and tempest, on the deluge beneath which all
-the great works of ancient power and wisdom lay entombed; bearing within
-her that feeble germ, from which a second and more glorious civilization
-was to spring.[136]
-
-[Illustration: U]<g>NDER</g> the blasting influence of an arbitrary power, that
-found its zealous instruments in the Commissioners appointed for that
-service, the suppression and confiscation of the English monasteries
-were quickly followed by a long train of national misery and
-degradation, of which lamentable evidence is found in the chronicles of
-that period. From these popular and authentic sources we extract the
-following picture:--
-
-In the final seizure of the abbeys and monasteries of England, the
-richest fell first. In the spring of 1540, all the monastic
-establishments of the kingdom were suppressed, and the mass of their
-landed property was divided among courtiers and parasites. The gold and
-silver, and costly jewels of shrines, had partly gone in that direction,
-and had partly been kept for the king’s use. The troubled fountain of
-the Reformation, it has been said, sent forth two streams--the one of
-sweet, the other of bitter waters.[137] “It is the duty of an impartial
-historian to dwell for a time by the bitter stream. Between the ignorant
-zealots of the new doctrines, and the rudeness of the men employed in
-the suppression, who were all most anxious for spoil, and who probably
-cared little for any form of religion, or any decency of worship,
-innumerable works of art were destroyed; magnificent specimens of
-architecture were defaced and left roofless. Statues and pictures, many
-of them the productions of Italian masters,--and which had, in the eye
-of taste, a sort of holiness independent of Saints and Madonnas,--were
-broken to pieces or burnt. The mosaic pavements of the chapels were torn
-up; and the same brutal hands smashed the painted windows, which, almost
-more than anything else, gave beauty and glory to our old abbeys and
-cathedrals. The church-bells were gambled for, and sold into Russia and
-other countries. Horses were tethered to the high altar; cattle were
-kept in stall in the very recesses of the shrines and the chapels; and
-these, according to good authority, were at times the least bestial of
-the occupants.” “The libraries, of which all the great houses contained
-one, numerously if not judiciously stocked,--but wherein existed, no
-doubt, many a book in manuscript, which we would now willingly
-possess,--were treated with the greatest contempt. And here we should
-wonder why the enlightened men who promoted the <g>Reformation</g> did not
-interfere, were we not convinced of the danger of opposing the king’s
-will, and the ruffianly character of the persons to whom the task of
-suppression and destruction was committed.” “Some books,” says Spelman,
-“were reserved to scour their candlesticks, some to rub their boots,
-some sold to the grocers and soapboilers, and some sent over the sea to
-bookbinders--not in small numbers, but at times whole shipfuls, to the
-wondering of foreign nations. A single merchant purchased, at forty
-shillings a-piece, two noble libraries, to be used as grey paper; and
-such as having already sufficed for ten years, were abundant enough for
-many years more.” Such is the testimony of an eye-witness.[138]
-
-All the abbeys were totally dismantled, except in those cases where they
-happened to be the parish churches also, or where they were rescued in
-part by the petitions and pecuniary contributions of the pious
-inhabitants, who were averse to the worshipping of God in a stable.
-Cranmer and Latimer in some cases petitioned the king; but, as it is
-proved by their letters, they were too dependent on the court, and too
-fearful of its wrath to do very much. Latimer was the bolder of the two;
-and even before the final dissolution, he ventured to condemn in public
-the practice, which <g>Henry</g> had already adopted, of converting some of the
-monasteries into stables, conceiving it a monstrous thing that abbeys,
-which were ordained for the comfort of the poor, should be kept for the
-king’s horses! “What hast thou to do with the king’s horses?” retorted a
-noble courtier of the right stamp--“Horses be the maintenance and part
-of a king’s honour, and also of his realm; wherefore, in speaking
-against them, ye are speaking against the king’s honour!”[139] The
-following were the
-
-<g>Results.</g>--The men who had recommended the wholesale spoliation of the
-church, had represented it as a never-failing <g>fund</g>, which would enable
-the king to carry on the government with none--or but the slightest
-taxes; and which would furnish him with the means of creating and
-supporting earls, barons, and knights, and of forming excellent
-institutions for the promotion of industry, education, and religion.
-But, in the event, the property was squandered in a manner which is
-scarcely accountable; for the king had the conscience to demand from
-parliament “a compensation for the expenses he had incurred in reforming
-the religion of the state:” and within a year after the completion of
-his measures, “the obsequious parliament voted him a subsidy of
-two-tenths and two-fifteenths for this express purpose. It is a striking
-fact, that none of the objects contemplated and spoken of were promoted
-by the money of the religious houses--always excepting the making and
-supporting of certain noblemen.”[140] Pauperism increased; as the whole
-body of the poor, which had been supported by the monks, who had funds
-for that purpose, were thrown, clamorous and desperate--unprepared for,
-and unprovided with, employment--upon the wondering nation, which had
-not before been aware of the extent of the evil. Education declined most
-rapidly; the schools kept in the monasteries were at an end; while
-other schools, and even the universities, were deserted. Religion was
-not promoted; for nothing but miserable stipends were given to the
-preachers, and none but poor and unlettered men would accept the office.
-To preach at <g>St. Paul’s Cross</g> had been a great object of clerical
-ambition; but now there was a difficulty of finding a sufficient number
-of preachers for that duty: and about four years after the final
-suppression, Bonner, Bishop of London, wrote to Parker, then Master of
-Corpus College, importuning him to send him some help from Cambridge;
-and not long after--during the short reign of Edward the Sixth--Latimer
-said, “I think there be at this day ten thousand students less than were
-within these twenty years.”
-
-<g>In the Country</g>, “the rural parishes were served by priests who had
-scarcely the rudiments of education.” Following an example set them by
-the king--who required Cromwell to give a benefit to a priest who was
-kept in the royal service, because “he had trained two hawks for his
-majesty’s pastime, which flew and killed their game very well”[141]--the
-patrons of livings gave them to their menials as wages or rewards; to
-their gardeners, to the keepers of their hawks and hounds; or otherwise
-they let in fee both glebe and parsonage; so that whoever was presented
-to the benefice would have neither roof to dwell under, nor land to live
-upon, being but too happy if his tithes afforded him a chamber at an
-alehouse, with the worshipful society of the dicers and drinkers who
-frequented it. According to Latimer, the parish priest, under these
-circumstances, frequently kept an alehouse himself--thus uniting the
-more profitable calling of a tapster with that of a preacher of the
-gospel.[142]
-
-So completely were the funds absorbed, and so greedy were the courtiers
-to keep fast hold of what they got, that no proper recompense was
-reserved for Miles Coverdale and his associates, who translated and
-published the first complete English Bible--the greatest achievement of
-the age, and the measure that most effectually promoted the Reformation.
-Coverdale himself was left in great poverty; and the printers, in order
-to cover their expenses, were obliged to put a high price upon their
-copies--thus impeding the circulation of the book, and thwarting the
-wishes expressed by the king himself.[143]
-
-In addition to these lamentable facts, the destruction of the
-monasteries left important gaps in the physical accommodations of the
-people, which not a pound sterling of the spoil was devoted to fill up.
-The monasteries had been hospitals, infirmaries, and dispensaries for
-the poor; caravanseras to the wayfarer; and in the absence of inns, the
-badness of roads, and the thinness of the population, their value in
-this respect had been felt both by rich and poor. In many of the wilder
-districts, the monastery had served as a nucleus of civilization; and
-sociality, personal safety, and hospitality, were nowhere to be found
-but within these walls.
-
-[Illustration: C]<g>RANMER</g> deplored “the woeful dissipation of church
-property, which he would have applied to the uses of religion,
-education, and charity; but he had not often the courage to press this
-subject with the king, whose displeasure, more easily excited than ever,
-was equivalent to a death-warrant. The archbishop, however, did what he
-could with safety to himself; and Henry, startled perhaps by a popular
-outcry, resolved to appropriate a part of the spoil to the advancement
-of religion. Parliament passed an act for the establishing of new
-bishoprics, deaneries, and colleges, which were to be endowed with
-revenues raised on the lands of the monasteries. But it was too late;
-the money and lands were gone, or the king and his ministers needed all
-that remained. The number of new bishoprics was reduced from eighteen to
-six--those of Westminster, Oxford, Peterborough, Chester, Bristol, and
-Gloucester; and these were so scantily endowed, that they hardly
-afforded the new bishops the means of living.” At the same time fourteen
-abbeys and priories were converted into cathedrals and collegiate
-churches, with deans and prebendaries; but the king kept to himself a
-part of the lands which had been attached to them, and charged the
-Chapters with the obligation of contributing annually to the support of
-the poor, and the repairing of the highways.[144]
-
-The preamble of the act for the suppression of the lesser monasteries
-thus concludes: “Whereupon the said Lords and Commons, by a great
-deliberation, finally be resolved that it is, and shall be, much more to
-the pleasure of Almighty God, and for the honour of this his realm, that
-the possessions of such houses now being spent and wasted for the
-increase and maintenance of sin, should be used and committed to _better
-uses_, and the unthrifty religious persons so spending the same, to be
-compelled to reform their lives.”[145]
-
-Besides that at Canterbury, already noticed,[146] “other shrines had
-been plundered, and certain miraculous images and relics of saints had
-been broken in pieces at St. Paul’s Cross, and the machinery exposed, by
-which some of the monks had deluded the superstitious people;” but now
-every shrine was laid bare; or, if any escaped, it was owing to the
-poverty of their decorations and offerings.
-
-Among the rest of these condemned images, there was “a crucifix in South
-Wales, called by the common people <g>David-Darvel-Gatheren</g>, which,
-according to an old legend or prophecy, was one day to fire a whole
-_forest_. It happened at this time that there was one Forest, a friar,
-who, after taking the oath of supremacy, repented of the deed, and
-declared it unlawful; wherefore he was condemned as a relapsed traitor
-and heretic. Hitherto King Henry, ‘Defender of the Faith,’ had burned
-the Reformers, and hanged the Catholics; but on the present occasion, he
-could not resist the temptation to make a point, or to figure as a
-mighty engine of fate, and a fulfiller of prophecy.” “The miraculous
-image was accordingly conveyed from Wales to Smithfield, to serve as
-fuel with faggots and other materials; and there, on the twenty-second
-of May, 1539, the monk was suspended by the armpits; underneath him was
-made a fire of the image, wherewith he was slowly burned--and thus by
-his death making good the prophecy that the image should fire a whole
-_forest_. There was a pulpit erected near the stake, from which Hugh
-Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, preached a sermon; and there was also a
-scaffold in the centre for the accommodation of the Dukes of Norfolk and
-Suffolk, the Lord Admiral Howard, the Lord Privy Seal, Cromwell, and
-divers others of the council; together with Sir Richard Gresham, Lord
-Mayor, and many citizens of repute, who stayed to witness the frightful
-execution.”[147] By frequent spectacles like this, the minds of the
-people were brutalized to a degree previously unknown in England.[148]
-
-<g>From</g> these revolting details of a fierce and persecuting spirit--a
-spirit opposed in every sense to that of Christianity--we turn with
-pleasure to the inspiring influence which monastic times and
-institutions have been supposed to exercise over the dominions of poetry
-and the fine arts; and of this Warton has transmitted us a glowing
-sketch:--The customs, institutions, traditions, and religion of the
-middle ages were favourable to poetry. Their pageants, processions,
-spectacles, and ceremonies, were friendly to imagery, to
-personification, and allegory. Ignorance and superstition, so opposite
-to the real interests of human society, are the parents of imagination.
-The very devotion of the Gothic times was romantic. The Catholic
-worship, besides that its numerous exterior appendages were of a
-picturesque, and even of a poetical nature, disposed the mind to a state
-of deception, and encouraged, or rather authorized, every species of
-credulity. Its visions, legends, and miracles, propagated a general
-propensity to the marvellous, and strengthened the belief of spectres,
-demons, witches, and incantations. These illusions were heightened by
-churches of a wonderful mechanism, and constructed on such principles of
-inexplicable architecture, as had a tendency to impress the soul with
-every false sensation of religious fear. The savage pomp, the capricious
-heroism, of the baronial manners, were replete with incident, adventure,
-and enterprise; and the untractable genius of the feudal policy held
-forth those irregularities of conduct, discordancies of interest, and
-dissimilarities of situation, that framed rich materials for the
-Minstrel-muse.
-
-The tacit compact of fashion, which promotes civility by promoting
-habits of uniformity--and therefore destroys peculiarities of character
-and situation--had not yet operated upon life; nor had domestic
-convenience abolished unwieldy magnificence. Literature, and a better
-sense of things, not only banished these barbarities, but superseded the
-mode of composition which was formed upon them. Romantic poetry gave way
-to the force of reason and inquiry: as its own enchanted palaces and
-gardens instantaneously vanished, when the Christian champion displayed
-the shield of truth, and baffled the charms of the necromancer.
-
-The study of the classics, together with a colder magic and a tamer
-mythology, introduced method into composition; and the universal
-ambition of rivalling those new patterns of excellence, the faultless
-models of Greece and Rome, produced that bane of invention--imitation.
-Erudition was made to act upon genius; fancy was weakened by reflection
-and philosophy. The fashion of treating everything scientifically,
-applied speculation and theory to the arts of writing. Judgment was
-advanced above imagination, and rules of criticism were established. The
-brave eccentricities of original genius, and the daring hardiness of
-native thought, were intimidated by metaphysical sentiments of
-perfection and refinement. Setting aside the consideration of the more
-solid advantages, which are obvious, and are not the distinct subject of
-our contemplation at present, the lovers of true poetry will ask, What
-have we gained by this revolution? It may be answered, Much good sense,
-good taste, and good criticism: but in the meantime we have lost a set
-of manners, and a system of machinery, more suitable to the purposes of
-poetry, than those which have been adopted in their place. We have
-parted with extravagances that are above propriety; with incredibilities
-that are more acceptable than truth; and with fictions that are more
-valuable than reality.[149]
-
-[Illustration: I]<g>N</g> addition to what has been already noticed in these
-pages, respecting the employment of the monks within the walls of their
-monasteries, and by which they daily contributed to the public good, we
-present to the reader the following epitome of their industrial habits,
-as recorded by monastic writers. In every conventual establishment there
-was a chamber called the <g>Scriptorium</g>, or writing-room; but it was
-sometimes applied to a more remote place, where there was room for other
-employments. The only persons who had free access to this apartment were
-the abbot, prior, sub-prior, and precentor. There was an especial
-benediction of the Scriptorium. Writing of books, as a monastic
-employment, is to be found in the earliest eras. Among British monks,
-St. David, the tutelary saint of Wales, had a study, or writing-room,
-and began the Gospel of <g>St. John</g> in golden letters with his own hands.
-
-<g>The Antiquarii</g> in monasteries, were industrious men continually employed
-in making copies of old books, either for the use of the monastery, or
-for their own emolument. Du Cange says, that _Antiquarii_ were those
-scribes who repaired, composed, and re-wrote books, old and obsolete
-with age, in opposition to the Librarii, who wrote both new and old
-books. Those of the religious community, who were found dull at the
-study of letters, were employed in writing and making lines. The
-monastic scribes were certain persons selected by the <g>Abbot</g>. The senior
-monks were employed on the church books; the junior monks in
-letter-writing, and matters which required expedition. Du Cange mentions
-a singular kind of scribes, called <g>Brodiatores</g>, who wrote books and
-letters in the manner of embroiderers, so lightly representing the
-object that it almost escaped the sight. It is to such writers, perhaps,
-that Petrarch thus alludes: “His writing was not wandering, nor loaded
-like that of writers of our age, who flatter the eye from afar, and
-fatigue it when near.”[150]
-
-To the credit of the monastic scribes, “very few instances of bad
-writing,” says the late Mr. Fosbroke, “have occurred during my
-researches.” In one manuscript, indeed, there was a shocking scrawl,
-which he took to be the writing of a nun, the lines being irregular, the
-letters of various size, and of rude make. Writing, after the Norman
-invasion, was neglected by the Anglo-Saxons. A neat running epistolary
-hand is quite modern, except among papers written by lawyers. Hamlet
-says--
-
- “I once did hold it, as our statists do,
- A baseness to write fair.”
-
-<g>The Gilbertine</g> rule prohibited the employment of hired writers--more
-probably, as Mr. Fosbroke thinks, limners. “At St. Alban’s, however,
-such limners, or writers, had commons from the alms of the monks and
-cellarer, that they might not be interrupted in their work by going out
-to buy food.” These had the too frequent drunken habits of artisans, who
-(‘because every man,’ says Johnson, ‘is discontented with his avocation,
-from the obligation to pursue it at all times, whatever be the state of
-his mind’) too often abuse relaxation. Barclay, without knowing that
-stimulants--however injurious, in a prudential and medical view, and
-never a good means--prevent, by the providential extraction of good from
-evil, much hypochondriacal influence and tedium, which might end in
-madness or suicide, says--
-
- “But if thou begin for drinke to call and crave,
- Thou for thy calling such good rewarde shalt have,
- That men shall call thee malapert or dronke,
- Or an abbey loune, or _limner of a monke_.”--ECLOGUE 2.[151]
-
-<g>Printing.</g>--This invention occasioned the following results: The scribes
-having less employment, there were few good artists of this kind, and
-writing lost much of its former beauty. About the year 1546, when all
-the religious houses had been dissolved, limners and scribes were
-reduced to great distress for want of employment; for, besides printing,
-engraving, “invented about 1460, superseded the illumination of initials
-and margins. The last specimen was the sectionary of Cardinal Wolsey at
-Oxford. Besides the rule, it was inquired whether the monks had made,
-taken, and received the king’s age and succession, according to act of
-parliament; for they were obliged to record these, and the births of the
-royal family, as well as other public events.”
-
-<g>Bookbinding</g> was generally very gorgeous; gold, relics, silver plate,
-ivory, velvet, and other expensive adornments, were bestowed upon the
-books relating to the church service--hence the vast amount of plunder
-derived from this source alone at the <g>Dissolution</g>, when the Vandal
-emissaries, hired for the work of destruction, stripped the sacred books
-of their gold, silver, and jewels, and sold them to the highest bidder.
-These ornaments, however, were not confined to the books of the Altar;
-for we hear of a book of _Poems_, finely ornamented, bound in velvet,
-and decorated with silver-gilt clasps and studs, intended for a present
-to the king.
-
-Books were written on purple vellum, in order to exhibit gold or silver
-letters, and adorned with ivory tablets. The most common binding was a
-rough white sheepskin, lapping over the leaves sometimes, with or
-without immense bosses of brass, pasted upon a wooden board; and
-sometimes the covers were of plain wood, carved in scroll and similar
-work. There were formerly leaden books with leaden covers, and books
-with wooden leaves.[152]
-
-<g>Music-schools</g>, says Davies, were built within the church. Great pains
-were taken with the pupils, who were instructed in the musical service
-of the altar.[153] Music, says Giraldus, was so prevalent in the middle
-age, that even _whistling_ became a fashion and amusement, from being
-asked for by an archbishop. In his own time, as Erasmus informs us,
-“they introduced into the church a certain elaborate theatrical species
-of music, accompanied with a tumultuous diversity of voices. All,” says
-he, “is full of trumpets, cornets, pipes, fiddles, and singing. We now
-come to church as to a playhouse; and for this purpose ample salaries
-are expended on organists, and societies of boys, whose whole time is
-wasted in learning to sing,--not to mention the great revenues which the
-church squanders away on the stipends of singing men, who are commonly
-great drunkards, buffoons, and chosen from the lowest of the people.
-These fooleries,” he adds, “are so agreeable to the monks, especially in
-England, that youths, boys, &c., every morning, sing to the organ, the
-Mass of the Virgin Mary, with the most harmonious modulations of voice;
-and the bishops are obliged to keep choirs of this sort in their
-families.”
-
-<g>Libraries.</g>--Mr. Nichols has made the following excellent remarks upon
-the library of Leicester Abbey:--From the catalogue it seems rather
-doubtful whether, in the library of this religious house, there might be
-any one complete collection of all the Holy Scriptures. Supposing
-_Biblie_, in the first article, to have included both the Old and the
-New Testaments, it was a tome defective and worn. The second consisted
-of each book of the Old Testament only; and the third contained the
-Gospels, without any mention of the Acts of the Apostles, of the
-Epistles, or of the Apocalypse. There is, however, a second mention of
-“_Actus Aplor’ gloss’_, _Apocalyps’ gloss’_, _Eple Pauli_ [but of no
-other apostle] _gloss’_, _Eple Canonice_;” and among the last occurs the
-“_Canticus Canticorum_.” Perhaps, he adds, there might be some of those
-Augustine monks, to whom the divine oracles in the learned languages
-would have been of little use; and yet to these was not indulged a
-translation in English, there being in the Consistorial Acts at
-Rochester, the minutes of a rigid process against the <g>Precentor</g> of the
-priory of that cathedral, for retaining an English Testament,[154] in
-disobedience to the general injunction of Cardinal Wolsey, to deliver up
-these prohibited books to the bishops of the respective dioceses.[155]
-
-It is worthy of remark, that Petrarch, as we learn from his “Memoires,”
-whenever he made a long journey, carried his books along with him upon
-extra horses, as carefully as others, passing through the Desert, carry
-their provisions of daily food.
-
-Leland’s story of the library of the Franciscans at Oxford has been
-often told: it was only accessible to the warden and bachelors of
-divinity; was full of cobwebs, moths, and filth; and contained no books
-of value, the best having been surreptitiously carried away.[156] In the
-monastic libraries the books were contained in painted presses or
-almeries. In the _Abbatial_ libraries, according to the catalogues given
-by Leland, there were only the following classics--Cicero and Aristotle,
-which were common; Terence, Euclid, Quintus Curtius, Sidonius
-Apollinaris, Julius Frontinus, Apuleius, and Seneca. From this disregard
-of the classics--not to the shameful destruction only of the monastic
-libraries at the Dissolution--probably ensued that loss of the Decades
-of Livy, &c., which has been so justly lamented.[157]
-
-<g>Museum.</g>--Adjoining the abbey library, says Erasmus, “was a certain small
-but elegant museum, which, upon the removal of a board, exhibited a
-fire-place if the weather proved cold, otherwise it appeared a solid
-wall.[158] Coryatt saw a stuffed crocodile in an abbey”--the one
-solitary specimen, perhaps, of Natural History.[159]
-
-Upon the utility of profane learning in ecclesiastical studies, Petrarch
-has thus emphatically expressed himself:--“I know by experience,” he
-says, “how much human learning may contribute to give just notions, to
-make a man eloquent, to perfect his morals, and, what is more, to
-_defend_ his religion. If it be not permitted to read the poets and
-heathen authors, because they do not speak of CHRIST, whom they did not
-know, with how much more reason ought we to prohibit heretical works?
-Yet the defenders of the <g>Faith</g> studiously peruse them. Profane
-literature, like certain solid aliment, does not hurt a good stomach,
-only a weak one. Reading, though wholesome to a sound mind, is poison to
-a feeble intellect. I know that letters are no obstacles to holiness, as
-some pretend. There are many roads to heaven. Ignorance is that which
-the idle take. The sciences may produce as many saints as ignorance. And
-surely we ought not to compare an ignorant devotion to an enlightened
-piety.”[160]
-
-<g>Monastic Wit.</g>--Speaking of the wit and humour that often enliven the
-otherwise dull uniformity of monastic writings--“I met with the
-following epigram,” says Mr. Fosbroke, “in a MS. of the Ashmole library,
-of which I have never seen a copy; but as it was in a collection of
-poems made in the sixteenth century, I cannot tell its age:”--
-
- <g>Marriage</g>, saith one, hath oft compared bin
- Unto a fest, where meet a public rout;
- Where those that are without would fain get _in_,
- And those that are within would fain get _out_.
-
-Acrostics were known to the Greeks; but the monks used those of a
-hieroglyphical kind, which could seldom be divined unless by aid of the
-inventor himself. In the hollow stonework over the kitchen chimney of
-Kingswood Abbey in Wilts--already noticed in this work--are a _T_iger,
-_h_art, _o_strich, _m_ermaid, _a_ss, and _s_wan; the initial letters of
-which make the name of the founder, T h o m a s.[161]
-
-<g>Abbey Seals.</g>--That of Tinterne Abbey, as already noticed in this volume,
-page 75, is imperfect.[162] Of ecclesiastical and monastic seals, those
-of a _round_ form generally denoted, according to Lewis and Blomfield,
-something of royalty in the possessor, or a more than ordinary extent of
-jurisdiction. Monasteries of royal foundation had commonly round seals;
-bishops and superiors of houses had usually oval seals; the former held
-the pastoral staff in their left hands, abbots in their right. The
-earliest conventual seals commonly bore mere rude representations of
-their patron saints; the more recent were highly finished, the most
-common device being the superior of the house praying to the patron
-saint, who was represented as looking down upon him. Previously to the
-reign of Edward the Third, the conventual seals represented their patron
-saints and abbots seated upon thrones; but after this period, they as
-constantly exhibited these figures sitting or standing beneath canopies
-and arches. The <g>Patron saint</g> subduing and treading upon the dragon, was
-symbolical of his overcoming sin. A star, the symbol of the Epiphany,
-and a crescent of the increase of the Gospel, are frequently introduced
-into the seals.[163] In the Cistercian and Premonstratensian orders, the
-custody of the seal, though in general ill observed, was committed to
-the prior, and four others of the establishment elected for that trust.
-
-Abbeys had not only different seals for different purposes, but these
-were often altered and changed; though, from the seal of Hyde Abbey
-being worth fifteen marks, the expense of having them engraved must have
-been extremely high. But so careless were the monks in the custody of
-it, that Matthew Paris mentions that it was thrown aside among a chest
-of papers. The abbot’s _Bajulus_, or domestic monk, was also the bearer
-of this seal. A silver seal and chain--‘sigillum argenti cum
-cathena’--is mentioned as that of a plain monk.[164]
-
-<g>Luxury.</g>--With respect to luxuries--which in some monasteries, it was
-alleged, were earned to a degree quite inconsistent with their professed
-abstinence--Thomas Pennant, Abbot of Basingwerk, is said to have given
-twice the treasure of a king in wine, and was profuse of more humble
-liquors. The apartments for the reception of persons of quality,
-according to Davies, were furnished in a most expensive and gorgeous
-manner. But their profuse expenditure in wine, it must be remembered,
-was in consequence of a too liberal hospitality; for, while the monks
-themselves were restricted to a meagre diet, their guests, when men of
-rank and influence, were plentifully regaled with whatever was best in
-cellar and larder; and the whole country furnished no better cooks or
-butlers than were to be found in conventual houses.
-
-[Illustration: C]<g>ISTERCIAN</g> abbeys, according to Giraldus Cambrensis,
-avoided all the bad consequences of _cells_, in the irregularities of
-their inhabitants, by _having none_; and by remedying all defects by
-visitors and chapters. Yet the Abbey of Kingswood, already noticed, was
-a cell of Tinterne, and the scene of as many irregularities and abuses,
-perhaps, as the cells of any other monastic order. The brethren who
-stayed at cells were to be three in every place, or two at least. “In
-food, in clothing, and the tonsure, they did not vary from the common
-institution. They kept silence at table, and did not speak in the
-church. They sung compline at an early seasonable hour, in summer and
-winter; and did not run about the village or elsewhere.” It was thought
-a great grievance to be sent to remote cells, or from cell to cell; and
-scandalous tales were occasionally told of the licentious lives of some
-of the monks, whom the abbots had sent thither for penance and
-reformation.[165]
-
-<g>In</g> reference to the introduction of Cistercian monks into England, we
-annex the following from an old Chronicler:--“About this time,” says
-he, “by means of one <g>Stephen Hardyng</g>, a munke of Sherburne, an Englyshe
-man of the order of Sisteaux, or whyte munkes, had his beginning in the
-wildernesse of _Cystery_, within the Provynce of Burgoyne, as witnesseth
-Ranulph, munke of Chester: but other wryters, as Jacobus Philippus, and
-the auctor of Cronyca Cronycorū, Matheolus, with other sayen, yᵗ this
-Stephen was the second abbot of yᵗ place, and that it was founded by the
-means of one Robert, abbot of Molynēse, in the yere of Grace,
-M.lxxx.xviij, which, to follow their sayinge, shulde be in the ix yere
-of yᵉ reyne of this Kynge” [Rufus.] “This <g>order</g> was after brought into
-Englande by one called <g>Walter Espeke</g>, that founded the firste abbey of
-yᵗ religion at <g>Ryuall</g> [Rivaux], about the yere of Grace xi.c.xxxi., the
-which shulde be about the xxxi. yere of the firste <g>Henry</g>, than Kynge of
-Englande.” This last is the correct date of the introduction of white
-friars into this country, and he adds:--“Somewhat of their religion is
-towched in the x chapitre of the vii boke of _Polychronicon_.”[166]
-
-<g>Abbey Windows.</g>--Warton says the stem of Jesse was a favourite subject,
-and Sugerius thus proves it: “I have caused to be painted a beautiful
-variety of new windows from the first, which begins with the stem of
-Jesse in the _caput ecclesiæ_, or part where the altar was erected. Any
-miraculous events happening to persons were represented in their chapels
-and churches in stained glass, or such as happened within the knowledge
-of the erector. Common subjects were a genealogical series of
-benefactors; arms and figures of donors of lights; the seven sacraments
-of the Romish Church; many crowned heads, with curled hair and forked
-beards, represent the Edwards, Richard the Second, and Henry the Fourth;
-whole length figures with crowns and sceptres, Jewish kings, connected
-with some Scriptural history, universally so when in profile.” The
-principal subjects in the great window of Tinterne Abbey appear to have
-been arms and figures of the founder, and of a series of benefactors.
-The last fragment, after many years of desolation, was a shield of the
-Bigod family.
-
-<g>Cowls.</g>--With respect to the habit, it is recorded that many noblemen,
-and others of high rank, gave directions that, after their decease, they
-should be dressed in monk’s gear, and be thus consigned to the grave.
-This was a very common practice in Wales; for as it was written, that
-“all were monks who shall gain heaven, or rather that there were none
-there but monks,”[167] it became necessary to assume the garb at least,
-as a safe though surreptitious passport to those happy seats. It was
-usual in some cases to wear the garb during sickness only, and lay it
-aside on the return of health; in others, to keep it in reserve for
-their death. Lewis, Landgrave of Hesse, said to his attendants--“As soon
-as I am dead, put on me the hood of the Cistercian order; but take very
-diligent care not to do so while I am living.”[168]
-
-<g>MSS., Books.</g>--In addition to what has been already quoted on this
-subject, it was long a proverbial saying, that a convent without a
-library, was like a castle without an armoury. When the monastery of
-Croydon was burnt in 1091, its library, according to Ingulphus,
-consisted of nine hundred volumes, of which three hundred were very
-large. “In every great abbey,” says Warton, “many writers were
-constantly busied in transcribing, not only the service-books for the
-choir, but books for the library.”[169] The <g>Scriptorium</g> of St. Alban’s
-Abbey was built by Abbot Paulin, a Norman, who ordered many volumes to
-be written there about the year 1080. Archbishop Lanfranc furnished the
-copies. Estates were often granted for the support of the Scriptorium.
-We find some of the classics written in the English monasteries very
-early. Henry, a Benedictine monk of Hyde Abbey, near Winchester,
-transcribed, in the year 1178, Terence, Boethius, Suetonius, and
-Claudian. Of these he formed one book, illuminating the initials, and
-forming the brazen bosses of the covers with his own hands. Other
-instances of the same kind are added. The monks were much accustomed
-both to illuminate and to bind books, as well as to transcribe them.
-“The scarcity of parchment,” it is afterwards observed, “undoubtedly
-prevented the transcription of many other books in these societies.
-About the year 1120, one Master Heugh, being appointed by the monastery
-of St. Edmondsbury, in Suffolk, to write and illuminate a grand copy of
-the Bible for their library, could procure no parchment for this purpose
-in England.” Paper made of cotton, however, was certainly in common use
-in the twelfth century; though no evidence exists that the improved
-kind, manufactured from linen rags, was known till about the middle of
-the thirteenth.[170]
-
-<g>The pavement</g> lately discovered in the Abbey Church of <g>Tinterne</g>, and
-described at page 42 of this volume, forms an interesting relic of its
-internal decorations. There is abundant proof, in the Norman centuries,
-that mosaic work was adopted as an embellishment of the high altar, and,
-as in the present instance, in the front of shrines. At first, these
-pavements exhibited scripture stories, painted upon glazed bricks and
-tiles of an irregular shape, fitted together as the colour suited, and
-upon the same plan as the glass in windows. By an improvement in the
-succeeding ages, the bricks, as in the specimen before us, were made
-equilateral, and about four inches square; which, when arranged and
-connected, produced an effect closely resembling the Roman designs, yet
-wanting their simplicity and taste. The wreaths, circles, and single
-compartments, retain marks of Gothic incorrectness, and of as gross
-deviation from the original as the Saxon mouldings.
-
-At what period heraldic devices were introduced cannot be ascertained
-with precision; but it is probable that, when they were first carved or
-painted upon escutcheons, or stained in glass, the floors received them
-likewise as a new ornament. The arms of founders and benefactors were
-usually inserted during the middle centuries after the Conquest, when
-many of the greater abbeys employed kilns for preparing them, from which
-the conventual, and their independent parish, churches were supplied.
-Some writers have conjectured that the painted tiles were made by
-Italian artists settled in this country; and it has been thought that
-monks, having acquired the art of painting and preparing them for the
-kiln in the manner of porcelain, amused their leisure hours by designing
-and finishing them.
-
-<g>The altar-pavement</g> here under notice is of an early period; but in those
-of a later age, when the branch of encaustic painting had reached
-perfection, the exquisite delicacy and variety of the colours--though
-seldom of more than two--are particularly discernible. The use of these
-painted bricks, or tiles, was confined to consecrated places, almost
-without exception; and those discovered since the Reformation have been
-all found upon the sites of convents, preserved either in churches or in
-houses, to which tradition confirms their removal.[171]
-
-Amongst the encaustic relics of a later date, family arms, impaled
-and quartered, as well as scrolls, rebuses, and ciphers, are very
-frequent. In the present instance, the tile exhibits a quartering of
-the <g>Clare</g> and <g>Bigod</g> shields. In others, the arms are
-interspersed with various devices, or single figures, such as griffons,
-spread eagles, roses, fleurs-de-lis, &c., of common heraldic usage,
-but not individually applied. It appears that in some instances they
-formed a kind of tesselated pavement, the middle representing a maze,
-or labyrinth, about two feet in diameter, so artfully contrived that
-a man, following all the intricate meanders of its volutes, could not
-travel less than a mile before he got from one end to the other. The
-tiles are baked almost to vitrifaction, and wonderfully resist damp
-and wear.[172] Actual tesselated pavements once existed. A manuscript
-Anglo-Saxon Glossary, cited by Junius, says--“Of this kind of work,
-mosaic in small dies, little is used in England. Howbeit, I have seen
-of it a specimen upon church floors, before altars--as before the high
-altar at Westminster--though it be but gross.”[173]
-
-<g>Abbey Wire-works.</g>--Among the objects of local industry in Tinterne, to
-which the stranger’s attention is usually directed, the Abbey Wire-works
-are the most interesting. “These,” to quote the words of the late Mr.
-Thomas, “as well as the stately pile in their vicinity, amongst whose
-silent recesses the tourist has so often and fondly trodden, are also
-the dominions of Art. But how widely different is the scene! Here she is
-met with in her busy laboratory, controlling and directing the energies
-of mankind, and seizing upon the very subjects of nature--the gurgling
-water and the lambent flame--to make them tributaries to her ambitious
-designs; whilst there, in the precincts of that ruined fane, she is
-beheld indolently reclining in the flowery lap of her indulgent
-rival--just as we have seen the wasted form of a lovely maiden pillowed
-on the bosom of her elder sister, and gently languishing through the
-departing hours of her insidious disease.”
-
-<g>It</g> was in the seventeenth century, during the times of the Stuart
-dynasty, that certain Swedish and German artisans, flying from
-continental tyranny, were induced to seek an asylum within the pale of
-the British constitution, and introduce into their adopted country the
-art of forging wire. They were received with open arms; locations were
-assigned them, denominated _Seats_; and a privilege of a vote in
-parliamentary elections, with an exemption from taxes, were constituted
-as part of the favours which our discerning government thought proper to
-confer. Of these seats <g>Tinterne</g> was one from the very first immigration;
-and here many of the descendants of the original settlers are still
-employed in the handicraft of their forefathers. Of the methods used in
-the manufacture of iron-wire before the introduction of improved
-machinery, tradition has preserved the following outline:--
-
-“A large beam was erected across the factory, to which were affixed as
-many seats--in the form of large wooden scales--as there were men
-employed, who were fastened in them by means of a girdle round their
-bodies. The artificers were employed near each other, while between them
-stood a piece of iron pierced with holes of different dimensions, for
-reducing the wire to an appropriate size. The worked iron was heated;
-the beam was put in motion by a water-wheel; and as the workmen swung
-backwards and forwards, they passed and repassed the iron through the
-holes described with forceps, until it was reduced by force to the
-required diameter. The motion was regulated; and if any workman chanced
-to miss seizing the iron with his forceps, he suffered a considerable
-shock on the return of the beam.”
-
-On the introduction of the improved system of wire factories, the nature
-of the contracts between the principals and their workmen underwent a
-necessary change. The struggle, however, was continued for some time,
-but ultimately subsided in the adoption of the present plan, and the
-alterations which it introduced. Under the management of the late Mr.
-Thompson--whose mausoleum forms a conspicuous object in the adjoining
-cemetery--the Tinterne Wire Works acquired a new impetus, which has been
-successfully kept up by his able and intelligent successor.
-
-<g>Natural History.</g>--On this interesting subject, we take advantage of the
-following notes from the journal of the late Mr. Thomas of
-Tinterne:--April 2d, half-past seven A.M. Notwithstanding a cold
-north-easterly wind, with fugitive showers, I saw a nightingale, for the
-first time this year, on the road to Chapel Hill, perched upon the
-topmost branch of a budding thorn. He uttered one or two of those rich,
-cheerful, metallic notes, so characteristic of his song; and quickly
-returned to his busy search for food amongst the low bushes adjoining.
-One of my friends informed me that he had listened to its music the
-evening before; and another averred that he had heard the nightingale as
-early as the second week of March. If these accounts be true, which I
-have not the slightest reason to doubt, they seem to favour the idea
-that some of these lovely songsters hibernate amongst us. Naturalists,
-by common consent, name the last week of April as the period of their
-ordinary arrival in this island. It seems probable, however, that those
-which winter amongst us undergo some variation of plumage, which may
-lead a cursory observer--if he did not pass them by unnoticed--to
-confound them with the female redbreast, the hedge-sparrow, or some
-other unpretending bird.
-
-In point of song from Nature’s choristers, says an enthusiastic admirer
-of the Wye, these woods might challenge all England. It is impossible to
-enjoy a higher treat of the kind than the harmony of these little
-warblers on a fine summer’s evening, when, on each side of the Wye, they
-seem to vie with each other in the richness and fullness of their notes.
-Mr. Heath had the following anecdote from Signor Rossignol, so
-celebrated for his imitations of the feathered tribes:--“While at
-Monmouth,” said he, “I often walked towards Hadnock at a late hour of
-the night, for the purpose of comparing my own _notes_ with those which
-I attempted to imitate. First, I began with those of the blackbird, when
-every bird of that species within hearing would instantly awake as it
-were with the rapture of day. Then came the thrush, next the
-nightingale, and so on, until I had called forth the song of every bird
-in the woods; and thus I continued to amuse myself for an hour together.
-If, in the meantime, a traveller happened to be passing the road, he was
-immediately forced to conclude that he had quite mistaken the time of
-day!”[174]
-
-<g>Walnut-trees.</g>--The Abbey appears to have been sheltered and enriched in
-its prosperous days by extensive orchards; but of the lofty
-walnut-trees, that formerly spread their luxuriant branches in its
-vicinity, one only remains. These trees were of great age: under their
-shadow many generations of monks and pilgrims had found shelter and
-repose; but having long survived their patrons, and attained that fatal
-majesty which insured their destruction, the axe was applied with
-ruthless force to their stems; they were hewn down, burnt, or sold; and
-the rich soil, from which they had derived their strength and fertility
-for centuries, was converted into patches of cabbage and potato ground,
-profusely bordered with weeds, and enlivened with pigsties that, to
-imaginative tourists, perhaps, may recall the memory of Friar Bacon.
-
-<g>The Abbot’s Meadow.</g>--“I have often felt incommunicable delight,” writes
-Mr. Thomas, “in a walk southward along the meadows skirting the Wye.
-During the bright summer evenings, the glorious sun tinges the summits
-of the encircling hills with his oblique golden rays, while a gentle
-breeze makes the ripening grass wave in elegant undulations. How sweet
-at that pensive hour to sit upon the sedgy bank, and hear the artless
-music of the feathery tribes! The reedwren chants his vesper-song; full
-many a robin swells it by his perennial response; whilst the inimitable
-thrush and tender cushat revive the thrilling echo on the distant
-cliff.”
-
-During this concert, “you turn round to behold the <g>abbey</g> embosomed
-amidst apple-trees, and so singularly foreshortened that the beautiful
-western window appears through the eastern. The entrance of the western
-valley is at the same time so happily disposed, that the effulgent light
-of the setting sun is seen through the roseate windows, gilding the
-interior of the abbey with an unearthly brightness; whilst, to complete
-the scene, multitudes of noisy daws are seen careering in fanciful
-circles, high in the balmy air, before they retire to roost within the
-mantling ivy of the ‘roofless house of God.’”
-
-At such an hour how appropriate the lines:--
-
- “When day, with farewell beam, delays
- Among the opening clouds of even,
- And we could almost think we gaze
- Through golden vistas into heaven;
- Those hues which mark the sun’s decline,
- So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine!”--_Moore._
-
-At length a poetic sound breaks upon the ear--the whetting of a scythe;
-and how picturesque are the fields beyond! After passing through a
-succession of luxurious meadows, you arrive at the humble and ivied
-ruins of a <g>Piscatory</g>. This building is apparently of ancient date, and
-was intended to supply the monastery during those numerous fasts in
-which the good <g>abbots</g> were wont to exchange “the very best meat for the
-very best fish.”[175] Soon after passing this ruin, the hitherto placid
-Wye falls noisily over a broad and shallow weir, and the steep wood
-encroaches upon its rocky bank. Our footsteps, therefore, pursue a
-sinuous path through its deep and pensive shade, until we somewhat
-suddenly emerge upon a tabular meadow, encompassed by an amphitheatre of
-ivied rocks, a stupendous rampart, at whose base the Wye is winding,
-and, at the same time, reflecting in its peaceful bosom the majestic
-scene.[176]
-
-<g>Climate of Tinterne.</g>--On this subject, a late intelligent medical
-practitioner at Tinterne says:--“I may here remark, that I am
-unacquainted with any warmer spot than this in England. Protected on the
-north and west by a steep hill, it is open alone to the east and south:
-it has therefore the sun upon it during the greater part of the day. On
-the third of February, 1839, at half-past 2 in the afternoon,” he adds,
-“while my thermometer on the mantel-shelf over the fire ranged at 60°,
-it rose to 99° outside the door. At nightfall, which ushered in a severe
-frost, the mercury fell to 44°. On the twenty-third of the same month,
-at 3 o’clock P.M., the thermometer ranged at 109° Fahrenheit, or nearly
-34° Reaumur; at half-past 11 at night, the mercury fell to 45° Fahr. On
-the fifteenth of May, at 12.16 P.M., the thermometer on the mantel-shelf
-indicated 50° Fahr. At 3 P.M. a violent snow-storm came on, succeeded at
-nightfall by a nipping frost.” These facts sufficiently indicate
-
-[Illustration: _The Door into the Cloister._
-
-Tinterne Abbey.]
-
-the capricious nature of the climate of Tinterne, where the transitions
-from a winter to a high summer temperature, and _vice versa_, are so
-frequent and remarkable.
-
-<g>Incidental Remarks.</g>--During the plunder of this abbey church, which was
-long carried on with impunity, many interesting relics of antiquity
-appear to have been either mutilated, or carried off and sold. Among
-other fragments of ancient art, was a brass hand grasping a spear, taken
-from a tomb in the church in which was found a body entire, with
-leathern buskins, and buttons on the coat; but which, on exposure to the
-air, crumbled into dust. Human skeletons, we are told, were found in an
-orchard to the eastward, formerly the abbey cemetery. From the size of
-these--monks or soldiers--it was ascertained that their living owners
-must have been considerably beyond the common stature. On the legs of
-one of them were found cloth buskins in apparent preservation; while the
-metal studs, or buttons, it is added, were almost bright. No coffins
-were found; the bodies were simply deposited under large flat stones;
-and were probably of an order inferior to those interred within the
-church. Adjoining the north door, a portion of wall, long supposed to be
-the side of a cloister, was at last stripped of the ivy that covered it,
-and disclosed a range of fine Gothic windows.[177] And when the rubbish
-that encumbered the entrance leading into the cross aisle was removed,
-two stones were found inscribed with the following memorials:--
-
- <g>Hic jacet Johannes de Lynas.
- Hic jacet Henricus de Lancaut.</g>[178]
-
-At the entrance by the west doorway a flight of steps was also
-discovered, which at the time was supposed to communicate with a vault,
-or crypt, under the church. But the passage was not explored; and the
-stone with which the opening was originally covered, was restored to its
-place. It is the opinion of antiquaries, however, that there is no
-crypt, or vault, under the church. Of
-
-<g>Tinterne village</g>, which still seems to derive its support from casual
-visitors to the abbey, much cannot be said in commendation. Little, if
-any improvement seems to have been made for many years, owing, we were
-told, to the restrictions laid upon building. With encouragement in this
-respect alone--or even with the ordinary accommodations of a spacious
-inn[179]--the place might speedily change its complexion, and become a
-cheerful and thriving hamlet. But, as in the days of Gilpin, it presents
-nothing inviting. The penury of the inhabitants may be less remarkable;
-“but they still occupy little huts raised among the ruins of the
-monastery, and seem as if a place, once devoted to indolence, could
-never again become the seat of industry.” “As we left the abbey,” says
-he, “we found the whole hamlet at the gate, either openly soliciting
-alms, or covertly, under pretence of carrying us to some part of the
-ruins which each could show, and which was far superior to anything
-which could be shown by any one else. The most lucrative occasion could
-hardly have excited more jealousy and contention.” In the present day,
-the duties of the abbey _cicerone_ are performed by a sensible and
-well-informed guide, named Christian Payne.
-
-<g>Of</g> the accommodations to be had at Tinterne Abbey in his day, Captain
-Barber has left the following reminiscence:--“Having despatched an
-attendant for a barber on my arrival at the inn, a blacksmith was
-forthwith introduced, who proved to be the only shaver in the place. The
-appearance of this man, exhibiting, with all the grim sootiness of his
-employment, his brawny arms bare to the shoulders, did not flatter me
-with hopes of a very mild operation; nor were they increased when he
-produced a razor that, for massiveness, might have served a Polyphemus.
-I sat down, however, and was plentifully besmeared with soap-suds. After
-this he attempted to supply the deficiency of an edge, by exerting his
-ponderous strength in three or four such vigorous scrapes as, without
-exciting my finer feelings, drew more tears into my eyes than might have
-sufficed for a modern tragedy. I waited no longer; but releasing myself
-from his iron gripe, determined to pass for a Jew Rabbi, rather than
-undergo the penance of another ‘shaving at _Tinterne_.’”
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Plan of the Abbey.</g>--The following simplified description may probably
-assist the reader to form a correct notion of the sacred and conventual
-buildings, of which the abbey was originally composed; and of the
-various compartments into which, in their former and perfect condition,
-these were so admirably arranged and subdivided:--
-
-Entering the church by the west doorway, the visitor passes along the
-nave, with the “pillared aisles” on his right and left, and the
-newly-discovered pavement. In the distance, and directly opposite, under
-the great east window, is the high altar, as distinctly shown in the
-engraved illustration. Moving along the nave, he observes five distinct
-clustered pillars, surmounted by the magnificent arches, described in
-these pages. At the commencement of the north and south transepts, he
-will examine the bases of the four massive columns which formerly
-supported the great central tower; the doors and windows of the
-transepts; the sepulchral fragments scattered along the smooth grassy
-parterre of the choir; then, at the north-west corner of the north
-transept, he will ascend a few steps of a spiral staircase leading to
-the top of the church; and, from the gallery which runs round within the
-wall, look down on the scene before and beneath him. Descending to the
-transept floor, he will enter a door near the angle where the nave and
-north transept unite; and entering a passage northward, through a richly
-ornamented doorway, he will observe the following apartments, viz.:--
-
-<g>The Cloister</g> on the left, forming a considerable quadrangle, the sides
-of which are of the same length as the nave of the church, on which it
-closely abuts, running parallel with it to the west doorway, and
-bordering the public road. Here, also, are some mutilated sepulchral
-effigies of ancient abbots, crosses, &c., from which the inlaid brasses
-have been sacrilegiously purloined. On the right hand of the visitor, as
-he enters, is the ancient
-
-<g>Vestry</g>, or sacristy, an oblong chamber, divided into two compartments,
-the second of which opens by a doorway into the North <g>Transept</g>. Closely
-adjoining this on the north, is
-
-<g>The Chapter-house</g>, of the same form and dimensions as the vestry, but
-not subdivided. Farther again on the right is a large hall, with the
-remains of five central pillars that supported the arched stone roof,
-supposed to be the ancient
-
-<g>Hospitium</g>, or guest-chamber, already described in these pages. On the
-east of this, and running parallel with it, are the remains of offices
-or apartments--probably dormitories--the precise use of which has not
-been ascertained. Beyond, eastward, lay the Cemetery. Adjoining the
-Hospitium on the west, and connecting it with the Refectory, are several
-small buildings, with the remains of other dormitories on the upper
-floor. Immediately adjoining this, on the west, is the
-
-<g>Refectory</g>, a spacious hall, in which the brethren, as already described,
-sat at table. The _Lectern_, or pulpit-desk, at which a reader presided
-during meals, is still visible about the middle of the west side. From
-the refectory, a tourniquet-door, for the passage of viands only,
-communicated with the <g>kitchen</g>; and close to this is the _dole_, where
-the indigent and wayfaring poor were daily supplied with victuals and
-refreshments. The kitchen runs parallel with the cloisters, and the west
-entrance of the church, along the public road leading to the ferry.
-
-The Scale annexed to the Plan of the Abbey--as shown by the
-woodcut--will enable the reader to ascertain, with tolerable accuracy,
-the dimensions of all the compartments named.
-
-[Illustration:
-
-1 Doorway leading into the <g>Cloisters</g>.
-2 <g>Effigies</g> of Abbots--the brasses removed.
-3 Door leading into the Vestiary and Sacristy.
-4 The <g>Chapter-house</g>--bases of pillars.
-5 Supposed <g>Hospitium</g>, or Guest-Hall--bases of central pillars.
-6 Buildings, with dormitories in the upper floor.
-7 The <g>Lectern</g>, or Reading-Desk, during meals.
-8 Tesselated <g>pavement</g>, lately discovered.
-9 <g>Staircase</g> leading to the Triforia, and top of the abbey.
-10 Aperture for serving the dishes from the kitchen.
-11 <g>Dole</g>, for the distribution of food to the poor.
-
-Proportions.--Length of Chancel and Nave, 228 feet.
- Length of Transepts across, 150 “
- Height of the Tower Arches, 70 “
- Height of the lesser Arches, 30 “
-]
-
-As a specimen of the marvellous connected with these ruins, we cannot
-resist introducing another characteristic
-
-<g>Legend.</g>--A party of gentlemen--_horresco referens_--who had inspected
-the abbey, employed several labourers to dig in the orchard adjoining,
-in hopes of discovering some antiquities. Part of one day and the
-following night were spent in this employment, when at last they were
-successful, and two human skeletons were discovered. Next day the same
-party resolved to celebrate their discovery by a dinner in the abbey.
-But scarcely had they commenced their sacrilegious repast, when a thick
-darkness overspread the horizon; deep thunder raised its tremendous
-voice, and shook the surrounding hills; lightnings flashed
-
-[Illustration: _Tintern Abbey._
-
-West Front.]
-
-throughout the ruin in sheets of livid flame; hail, succeeded by
-torrents of rain, deluged the plain, and
-
- “Peal on peal
- Crashed horrible, convulsing earth and heaven!”
-
-During this sudden and tremendous visitation, the indignant spirit of
-<g>Strongbow</g>--accompanied by the spectral forms of many whose death-sleep
-had been thus wantonly disturbed--arose from the grave, and fixed his
-eyes upon the petrified strangers. Then raising his gauntleted hand, he
-pointed to the abbey door--which at the sight had mysteriously
-opened--and sternly beckoned the impious visitors to depart! The awful
-signal was instantly obeyed; and some crawling, others trembling--all
-pale and speechless, the daring adventurers rushed from his presence,
-they knew not how, and fled they knew not whither; while the savoury
-viands left behind them were instantly swept over the abbey walls in a
-whirlwind.
-
-
-<g>The Engraved Views of Tinterne Abbey.</g>
-
-I.--<g>The West Entrance</g>,[180] a beautiful specimen of Decorated Gothic;
-the principal feature of which is the great west window, of which all
-visitors and writers on this subject have expressed their unqualified
-admiration. The stonework of this magnificent feature is nearly entire;
-the five mullions, tall, slender, and elaborately moulded, retain their
-original forms; and, terminating in the rich flowing tracery that fills
-and completes the arch, appear as if they wanted nothing but the ancient
-painted glass to restore the window to its primitive splendour. The ivy
-inserting itself into every joint, and hanging in graceful festoons,
-seems more like artificial garlands woven in honour of a fête day, than
-as the sure emblem and evidence of dilapidation and decay. Beneath this
-window is the richly-carved double doorway leading into the nave. On the
-right hand is another window communicating with the southern aisle,
-surmounted by a window of three compartments, and two buttresses
-terminating in pinnacles, of which only one remains. On the left hand is
-the north aisle, in form and dimensions exactly corresponding with the
-former, but much less perfect. Closely adjoining this were the abbey
-cloisters, the remains of which have been noticed in a former page.
-
-II.--<g>The Vale of Tinterne</g>,[181] as it is seen from a point--in the woods
-covering the left bank of the Wye--called the Devil’s Pulpit. This
-engraving conveys a most correct, beautiful, and comprehensive view of
-the abbey, and its circumjacent scenery. In the backgrounds is seen the
-hill country stretching westward towards Monmouth. On the left, crowning
-an eminence that overlooks the village and abbey, stands the church of
-Chapel-hill, with the characteristic feature of an immense yew-tree
-expanding its gloomy branches over the cemetery. Beneath is seen the
-public road from Chepstow running westward, and branching off in the
-village to right and left; the latter branch running along the hills
-towards Raglan, and the former following the course of the Wye to
-Monmouth. To the right, under the wooded rocks which appear to overhang
-its channel, the Wye is seen making a curve like a horseshoe, so as to
-form a peninsula, the outer rim of which, as described in the text, is
-lined with houses that rise one above the other, and planted here and
-there with tall poplars, and refreshed with numerous springs and
-rivulets, that, after murmuring down the rocks, throw their crystal
-tribute into the Wye. Here the river is seen enlivened with
-passage-boats, by means of which a daily communication between the
-villages above and below the abbey is kept open for the conveyance of
-market produce, or the convenience of passengers.
-
-In the foreground lies the glory of the scene--the <g>abbey</g> and its
-appendages--the latter much curtailed; but once, as history informs us,
-enclosing the goodly space of thirty-four acres. The view looks down
-upon the conventual church, showing the nave and transepts in their
-cruciform proportions, with the magnificent east window opening upon
-some rich productive orchards, the ground of which was consecrated in
-former times as the abbey cemetery. Stretching along the river eastward
-is a luxuriant tract of pasture land, called the Abbots’ Meadows,
-already described. Nothing can be more soothing and tranquil than this
-scene, embosomed, as it is, among sylvan landscapes, and bordered by a
-river whose smooth yet swift-flowing waters are heard in the calm summer
-evening like distant music.
-
- “And ever, as the summer sun goes down,
- From bank to bank, amidst yon leafy bower,
- The woodland songsters trill harmonious notes;
- Till every tree that crowns the verdant steep,
- Or shades the stream, that flows in amber light,
- Sends forth its melody.”
-
-III.--<g>From the Chancel</g>, westward.[182] This is justly considered to be
-the most imposing view in the whole abbey; and is that to which every
-stranger visiting the ruins is conducted at the close of his survey. The
-point from which it is taken, is under the area of the great tower, near
-the further angle of the north transept and chancel. Looking through the
-lofty arches that supported the central tower, it takes in the west
-window, the window of the north aisle, the nave, and on the right, the
-<g>doorway</g> leading into the cloisters--of which an engraving is here
-given--with the massive clustered pillars, lofty and delicately moulded
-arches, in which an airy lightness, combined with strength and solidity,
-strike the spectator with feelings of awe and admiration, to which it is
-hardly possible to give expression--
-
- “Silence sublime, and stillness how profound;
- Yet every arch, with clustered ivy hung,
- And every column, as thou gazest round,
- Seems to address thee in thy native tongue;
- Telling how first these mighty structures rose,
- And how they fell beneath their Vandal foes.”
-
-In the centre are the two sepulchral slabs, already described in another
-portion of the text; and on the left, leaning against the base of one of
-the pillars, is a mutilated statue, supposed to be that of Roger Bigod,
-or Gilbert de Clare, as shown in the woodcut, page 41. In various parts
-of the chancel, choir, and transepts, as well as in the nave and aisles,
-many dilapidated fragments are collected in heaps; among which the
-visitor will distinguish pieces of elaborate carving, particularly some
-ingenious and fancifully sculptured <g>bosses</g>, the connecting ornaments of
-the richly-groined roof that once overhung this gorgeous temple, and
-echoed back the anthems of its assembled choir.
-
-IV.--<g>From the Ferry</g>,[183] on the opposite or left bank of the Wye. On
-the foreground is the landing-place, from which a road,[184] or
-bridle-path, winding along the wooded heights, already noticed in our
-description of the ‘Devil’s Pulpit,’ presents many picturesque, and some
-romantic points of view. The river is here the boundary line between the
-counties of Monmouth and Gloucester, or, anciently, between England and
-South Wales. Directly opposite, and terminating the causeway leading up
-from the ferry, is an archway, the ancient <g>watergate</g> of the abbey.
-Through this gate the monastery received its supplies from the barges
-that daily ascended and descended the river, or lay at anchor under the
-protection of the abbey; for here, we were told, there is depth of
-water--which is increased at every tide--sufficient to float vessels of
-seventy tons burthen. The grove, which occupies the space between the
-water and the abbey walls, consists chiefly of apple and pear-trees,
-which form a continuous girdle of orchards round the abbey church, and
-are particularly luxuriant and productive, on the site of the ancient
-burial-ground. The ring of offices with which the abbey was originally
-enclosed on nearly three sides, has almost disappeared, leaving only the
-foundations, upon which, from time to time, mean hovels have been
-hastily thrown together--ill adapted for the health, comfort, or even
-convenience of human beings.
-
-The prominent features of the abbey as seen from this point, and taken
-in detail are--the <g>nave</g>, terminating in the great west window, with its
-own five lancet-pointed windows rising above the trees; the north
-<g>transept</g>, part of the south, and two windows of the <g>chancel</g>.
-
-Following the course of the river eastward, richly-wooded rocks are
-seen, closing the landscape, and commanding the minute and beautiful
-view of the “Vale of Tinterne,” already given as an illustration. All
-beyond the white sail on the stream is a scene of richly-wooded rocks on
-the left bank, and on the right a wide expanse of smooth and verdant
-meadows. The hills, immediately overlooking the abbey on the south,
-possess the same picturesque character as those opposite, but are
-enlivened by more frequent habitations, and with more traces of industry
-and cultivation. The ferry-house, close to the watergate, presents some
-features of antiquity; and stands, probably, on the old foundation of
-what was occupied by the abbot’s <g>Charon</g> of the olden time. A glance at
-the debris, under which some of the monastic buildings here lie half
-buried, suggests an idea that, with due permission and encouragement,
-antiquaries could hardly fail to discover excellent “diggings” in these
-purlieus. But thus far the prying archæologist has been regarded with
-suspicion and distrust, and condemned to look upon the antiquities of
-Tinterne as treasures laid up for the benefit of future generations.
-
-V.--<g>Doorway leading into the Cloisters.</g>--This beautiful specimen of art
-is one of the very finest in the abbey. The elegance of the design is
-only surpassed by the elaborate taste and skill displayed in its
-execution. The clustered mouldings of the doorway; the wavy multifoil
-outline of the inner arch; the beautifully carved ornament that
-surrounds the whole like a riband of delicate lacework; the whole
-crowned with the symbolic trefoil resting on the apex of the arch,
-present a combination of features--all harmonizing, and all elaborately
-adjusted to one another--rarely to be met with even among the
-masterpieces of Decorated Gothic.[185]
-
-Looking through this doorway, the window in the distance is that of the
-southern aisle, through which are seen the woods on the opposite hill;
-and inside the walls the ivy is seen climbing in verdant masses along
-the arches and pillars of the nave. Under the broken steps, where the
-group of figures is represented, are the remains of sepulchral
-stone-slabs, covering the resting-place of the old abbots, and formerly
-inlaid with the symbols of their holy office, as
-
-[Illustration: _The Door from Cloister into Sacristy._
-
-Tintern Abbey.]
-
-represented in the engraving. But the _brasses_ have long since
-disappeared, and left only the empty grooves to which they had been so
-elaborately adjusted by the skilful artists of that day. Brasses, or
-<g>Latten</g>, are considered to be good illustrations of the architecture of
-their period, owing to the designs of canopies, crosiers, &c. delineated
-upon them. They are seldom to be met with in any reign prior to that of
-Edward the Second; nor did they become general till towards the close of
-the fourteenth century, when the effigies are commonly surmounted by
-arched canopies, ogee-shaped and crocketed, of the same kind of inlaid
-work elaborately engraven. These subsequently vary, according to the
-style of the age, and in general rather preceding than following it. Of
-the brasses, which--owing to the rank and character of its founder and
-benefactors, as well as its abbots and others--must have formed no
-inconsiderable feature in the decorations of Tinterne Abbey, not a
-fragment remains.
-
- Where <g>Latten</g> marked the abbots’ grave,
- And sculpture spread her trophies round it;
- Rank weeds in wild luxuriance wave,
- And mock the gaudy shrine that crowned it.
- Here, they who for the <g>Cross</g> had died,
- And they who led the way to glory--
- Here mitred pomp, and martial pride,
- Have not a stone to tell their story.
-
-VI.--<g>Doorway leading into the Sacristy.</g>--This is a double doorway--a
-specimen of the Early English--divided by a moulded shaft, with a
-circular opening, or quatrefoil, over it. The outer arch is deeply
-‘recessed,’ consisting of five or six successive shafts, or mouldings,
-on either side, without capitals, and meeting above at the centre of the
-arch. The inner arches are foliated, and the cusps richly fluted.
-Clasping this elegant and massive structure, the ivy has so incorporated
-itself with the masonry, that--massive as it is--art must gradually
-yield to that natural process which seems to make every root of ivy, if
-once insinuated between the jointed stones, act like a fulcrum for their
-dislodgment--
-
- “Ha, ha!” laughs the Ivy, “let men uprear
- Their ‘<g>Castles and Abbeys</g>,’ far and near;
- Pile upon pile, let their fabrics rise,
- Darkening the earth, and mocking the skies;
- Lifting their turrets so haughtily--
- Boasting their grandeur--but what care I?
- Buttress and bastion, cloister and hall--
- _I conquer them all--I conquer them all!_”
-
-VII.--<g>The Refectory.</g>[186]--Of this building enough remains to show,
-that, in their palmy days, the Abbots of Tinterne had a truly noble hall
-for their private and state entertainments. Of refectories in general,
-some account has been already given at page 51 of this volume. Of the
-style of architecture employed in this dining-hall, the numerous
-windows, with their mullioned partitions, tall shafts, and foliated
-arches, face-shafts, and corbel heads along the walls, from which sprang
-the lofty groined vault that covered and connected the whole, present a
-tolerably distinct picture.
-
- “Along the roof a maze of mouldings slim,
- Like veins that o’er the hand of lady wind,
- Embraced in closing arms the key-stone trim,
- With hieroglyphs and cyphers quaint combined,
- The riddling art that charmed the Gothic mind.”
-
-With regard to the minor details, we may notice the <g>dole</g>, a small double
-aperture, near the archway on the left; and on the opposite side, is
-another door through which the dishes were handed in from the kitchen.
-Near the dole is a low-arched doorway in the eastern wall, showing the
-passage by which communication was kept up with the adjoining offices,
-the hospitium, the locutorium, and the dormitories. The situation of the
-reading-desk, or lectern, will be seen by referring to the new <g>plan</g> of
-the abbey here introduced; and this closes our notice of the engraved
-illustrations.
-
- * * * * *
-
-“On the whole,” says Grose, summing up his observations on Tinterne,
-“though this monastery is undoubtedly light and elegant, it wants that
-gloomy solemnity so essential to religious ruins; it wants those yawning
-vaults and dreary recesses, which strike the beholder with religious
-awe--make him almost shudder at entering them, and call into his mind
-all the tales of the nursery. Here, at one cast of the eye, the whole is
-comprehended, nothing is left for the spectator to guess or explore; and
-this defect is increased by the ill-placed neatness of the poor people
-who show the building, and by whose absurd labour the ground is covered
-over by a turf, as even and trim as that of a bowling-green, which gives
-the building more the air of an artificial ruin in a garden, than that
-of an ancient decayed <g>abbey</g>.”
-
-“How unlike,” he adds, “the beautiful description of the poet!--
-
- ‘Half-buried there lies many a broken bust,
- And obelisk and urn, o’erthrown by time,
- And many a cherub here descends in dust,
- From the rent roof and portico sublime;
- Where reverend shrines in Gothic grandeur stood,
- The nettle or the noxious nightshade spreads;
- And ashlings, wafted from the neighbouring wood,
- Through the worn turrets wave their trembling heads.’”
-
-These objections have been repeated by other writers of unquestionable
-taste; but we may venture to predict, that among the numerous strangers
-who annually resort to these deserted shrines, few will return home
-without expressions of unqualified admiration of “Tinterne, as it is.”
-The care employed by its noble owner in arresting the progress of decay,
-is creditable to his taste and reverence for antiquity. Had these ruins
-been consigned, as some would have had them, to the wasting hand of
-time, their vaulted wonders would long ere now have fallen piecemeal
-into the area beneath; but wherever a stone is observed to be losing its
-hold, the hand of art is immediately applied to restore it to its
-original place: and thus, what might have passed away in a few inclement
-seasons, has been propped up and secured for the delight of many
-generations to come.
-
- And lo, these mouldering fragments to sustain,
- Her graceful network nature’s hand hath hung;
- Bound every arch with a supporting chain,
- And round each wall her living verdure flung;
- And o’er the floor that sepulchres the dead--
- The saints and heroes of departed years;
- The flower of memory lifts its modest head,
- And morning sheds her tributary tears.--_W.B._
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>Poetical Votaries.</g>--Having quoted so largely from chroniclers and other
-prose writers in the preceding pages, we must not quit the subject of
-Tinterne Abbey, without selecting a few stanzas from those minstrels who
-have sought and found inspiration on the spot. Wordsworth, from whose
-poem on the Wye we have already quoted, addresses the following
-
-
-<g>Lines to a Cistercian Monastery.</g>
-
- ‘Here man more purely lives, less oft doth fall,
- More promptly rises, walks with nicer heed,
- More safely rests, dies happier; is freed
- Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal
- A brighter crown.’ On yon <g>Cistercian</g> wall
- _That_ confident assurance may be read;
- And, to like shelter, from the world have fled
- Increasing multitudes. The potent call
- Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart’s desire;
- Yet, while the rugged age on pliant knee
- Vows to rapt Fancy humble fealty,
- A gentler life spreads round the holy spires;
- Where’er they rise the sylvan waste retires,
- And aëry harvests crown the fertile lea.
-
-
-<g>Tinterne Abbey on the Wye.</g>
-
- Sudden the change; at once to tread
- The grass-grown mansions of the dead.
- Awful to feeling, where, immense,
- Rose ruin’d grey magnificence;
- The fair wrought shaft all ivy-bound,
- The tow’ring arch with foliage crowned,
- That trembles on its brow sublime,
- Triumphant o’er the spoils of time.
- There, grasping all the eye beheld,
- Thought into mingling anguish swell’d,
- And checked the wild excursive wing,
- O’er dust or bones of priest or king;
- Or rais’d some <g>Strongbow</g> warrior’s ghost,
- To shout before his banner’d host.
- But all was still. The chequered floor
- Shall echo to the step no more;
- No airy roof the strain prolong,
- Of vesper chant or choral song--
- <g>Tinterne</g>! thy name shall hence sustain
- A thousand raptures in my brain;
- Joys, full of soul, all strength, all eye,
- That cannot fade, that cannot die.--_Bloomfield._
-
-
-<g>Evening at Tinterne Abbey.</g>
-
- <g>A pilgrim</g>, at the vesper hour,
- I stood by Tinterne’s hallowed tower;
- While o’er the walls, in golden hue,
- The setting sun its farewell threw;
- Then, paling slowly, flushed and fled,
- Like a smile from the cheek of the recent dead.
-
- * * * * *
-
- <g>’Tis night</g>--on the ivy-mantled walls
- The shadows deepen, and darkness falls;
- And forth from his roost, in the fretted aisle,
- The solemn owl wheels round the pile;
- But no lighted shrine, no vesper-song,
- Is seen, or heard, these aisles among;
- For hymnless now the day returns,
- And voiceless sets on their nameless urns;
- Nor laud, nor chant, nor matin chime,
- Retard the fleeting steps of time.
-
- * * * * *
-
- <g>The Shrine</g>, from which the anthem rushed,
- When evening glowed, or morning blushed,
- Like them, who reared the pile on high--
- A landmark pointing to the sky;
- Like them, by slow and sure decay,
- That shrine is crumbling o’er their clay.--_W.B._, 1848.
-
-
-<g>The Abbey by Moonlight.</g>
-
- I tread the moonlit <g>abbey</g>! Oh, my soul,
- How nobly art thou struggling to be free,
- Spurning the temple’s, and the world’s control,
- And feeling most inadequate to thee
- The loftiest dome, the grandest scenery;
- O’er views that would oppress thee or appal,
- Rising, like light bark o’er the mounting sea;
- And where, if weak or mortal thou wouldst fall,
- Expanding to survey and compass more than all!
-
- <g>Palace of Piety</g>! Devotion here
- Should wear a crownèd angel’s robe of white,
- And antedate the ardours of a sphere,
- Where all is tranquil as this noon of night!
- The moon--the regal moon--intensely bright,
- Shines through the roseate window of the west;
- Each shaft, an artificial stalactite
- Of pendent stone, with slumber seems oppressed,
- Or with a charmèd dream of peaceful rapture blessed.
-
- And through thy lofty arch, a single star
- Is gazing from a depth of spotless blue,
- As if to learn how soft thy splendours are,
- And feel them deeply, as I fain would do!
- While now supine upon thy pave of dew
- I let thy loveliness my soul pervade,
- And pass with unimpeded influence through
- Its quiet depths, like moonlight through thy shade,
- To haunt with beauty still that shrine of hopes decayed.
-
- Forgive me, <g>abbey</g> of the watered vale--
- Forgive that, when I feel my spirit swell
- With an unwonted energy, I fail
- To hymn thy desolated glories well!
- Not yet the chrysalis has burst its shell--
- Not yet expanded its immortal wings;
- The restless rudiments of vast powers tell
- The soul a deathless thing; from earth she springs,
- But fast and feebly falls, the while of thee she sings.
- _J. C. Earle, St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford._
-
-
-<g>Tinterne Vesper-Hymn.</g>
-
- Like crimson on the dimpled Wye
- Sleeps the glowing summer sky;
- O’er the landscape, widely thrown,
- Belted rock, and mountain cone;
- Hamlet, tower, and haunted stream,
- Are basking in the vesper-beam;
- And holy <g>friars</g>, robed in white,
- Cross them in the waning light--AVE MARIA!
-
- Now, along the abbey walls,
- Soft the purple _gloaming_ falls;
- Aloft, on every turret’s height,
- In the dim and doubtful light,
- Here retiring, there advancing,
- Weeds are waving, wings are glancing,
- And yon effigies of stone
- Seem to hail the vesper-tone--AVE MARIA!
-
- Deeper yet, and deeper still,
- From winding stream, and wooded hill,
- Shadowy cliff and rippling _weir_,
- Nature’s music fills the ear;
- Notes of mingling praise and prayer
- Float along the solemn air,
- Where, from cloistered arches dim,
- Swells the everlasting hymn--AVE MARIA!
-
- Hark, ’tis midnight! but, unsleeping,
- Here their faithful vigil keeping;
- Pale <g>white friars</g> raise again,
- In lengthened chant, the solemn strain!
- Hark! throughout the sacred dwelling,
- High the mingled notes are swelling;
- Angels, stooping from the sky,
- Bear the sacrifice on high--AVE MARIA!--_W. B._ 1849.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-<g>Appendix.</g>
-
-
-Of the Abbots of Tinterne the historical notices are very scanty. The
-following occur in the “Parliamentary Writs,” by Sir Francis
-Palgrave:--[187]
-
- <g>A.D.</g> 1294.--<g>Abbas de Tynterne</g> is summoned to a council of the
- clergy, to be held before the <g>King</g> in person, at Westminster, on
- the Feast of <g>St. Matthias</g> the Apostle, on the twenty-first day of
- September, and twenty-second of <g>Edward</g> I. Again--
-
- 1295.--The <g>Abbas de Tynterne</g> is summoned to Parliament at
- Westminster, on Sunday next after the feast of <g>St. Martin</g>,
- thirteenth day of October, and twenty-third year of the reign of
- <g>Edward</g> I., prorogued to Sunday next, before the Feast of <g>St. Andrew</g>
- the Apostle, the twenty-seventh of November. Thirdly--
-
- 1296.--Summoned to Parliament at <g>Bury St. Edmund’s</g>, on the morrow
- of <g>All-Souls</g>, November the third day, and twenty-fourth year of the
- reign of <g>Edward</g> I.
-
- 1300.--<g>Abbas de Tynterne</g>--Letter of Credence addressed to him
- concerning the expedition against the <g>Scots</g>--at Blith, the
- seventeenth day of January, and twenty-eighth year of the reign of
- <g>Edward</g> I. Again, the same year, the <g>abbot</g> was summoned to
- Parliament in London, on the second Sunday in <g>Lent</g>, being the sixth
- day of March.
-
- 1301.--<g>Abbas de Tynterne</g> is summoned to Parliament at <g>Lincoln</g>--in
- eight days of <g>St. Hilary</g>--the twentieth day of January, and
- twenty-eighth year of the reign aforesaid.
-
- 1305.--Summoned to Parliament at Westminster, on Tuesday, in
- fifteen days of the <g>Purification</g>, the sixteenth of February;
- afterwards prorogued to Sunday next, after the Feast of <g>St.
- Matthias</g> the Apostle, the twenty-eighth day of February--but to
- which he was not resummoned--and thirty-third year of the reign of
- <g>Edward</g> I.
-
- 1316.--<g>Abbas de Tynterne</g>, certified pursuant to writ, tested at
- Clipston, March the fifth, as one of the lords of the township of
- <g>Acle</g>,[188] in the county of Norfolk, in the ninth year of the reign
- of <g>Edward</g> II.
-
- 1316.--<g>Johannes de Tynterne</g>, certified in like manner, as holding
- part of the burgh of <g>Lyme-Regis</g>, in the county of Dorset, in the
- ninth year of the reign of <g>Edward</g> II.
-
- * * * * *
-
-The following is the original document referred to in various passages
-of the foregoing articles on Chepstow and Tinterne:--
-
- <g>Genealogia</g> Fundatoris (Ex MS. Codice in Bibl. Cottoniana [sub
- Effigie Vitellii, F. 4], fol. 7).
-
- <g>Gunnora</g> Comitissa Normanniæ duas habuit sorores, una Turulpho de
- Ponte-Adamaro conjuncta erat in matrimonio, et procreavit <g>Humfridum</g>
- de Vetulis qui fuit pater <g>Rogeri</g> de Bellomonte, ex quo comites de
- Warwike et Leicestriæ processerunt.
-
- <g>Turketillus</g> fuit frater istius Turulphi, cujus filius Hasculfus de
- Harecurt aliam sororem predictæ Comitissæ Gunnoræ con ... erat duos
- procreavit filios; scilicet <g>Walterum</g> de Giffard, primogenitum, qui
- alium Walterum procreavit, et dictus fuit Walterius Giffard
- secundus. Rohesia, una sororum Walteri (duas plures enim habuit)
- conjuncta in matrimonio <g>Ricardo</g> filio comitis <g>Gisleberti</g>, qui in re
- militari, tempore Conquestoris omnes sui temporis magnates
- præcessit. Prædicta Rohesia supervixit et renupta <g>Eudoni</g>, dapifero
- Regis Normanniæ qui construxit castrum Colecestriæ, cum cœnobio, in
- honore Sancti Johannis, ubi sepultus fuit, cum conjuge sua, tempore
- <g>Henrici</g> primi. Margareta filia eorum nupta fuit <g>Willielmo</g> de
- Mandevill, et fuit mater <g>Gaufredi</g> filii comitis Essexiæ et jure
- matris, Normanniæ dapifer. Prædictus <g>Ricardus</g> apud sanctum <g>Neotum</g>
- jacet sepultus. Huic rex Willielmus concessit baroniam <g>De Clare</g>,
- villam verò cum castello de Tunbridge, de Archiepiscopo
- Cantuariensi, pro aliis terris in Normannia, perquisivit in
- excambium. <g>Baldwinus</g>, frater istius Ricardi, Willielmum, Robertum,
- et Ricardum, cum tribus sororibus genuit. Ex prædicta <g>Rohesia</g> hanc
- sobolem procreavit Ricardus, <g>Rogerus</g> natu secundus terras patris
- sui in Normannia adeptus est; <g>Walterus dominium Wenciæ inferioris,
- in Wallia, qui construxit Abbatiam de Tinterna, anno Domini</g> MCXXXI;
- <g>obiit sine prole</g>.[189]
-
-The <g>Deed</g>, by which the privileges originally granted by the founders
-were confirmed and completed by Roger Bigod, after the lapse of a
-hundred and seven years, is expressed in the following terms:--
-
-<g>Rogerus le Bygod Comes Norfolciæ</g>, et Mareschallus Angliæ, Salutem in
-Domino. Noverit universitas vestra me intuitu Dei et pro salute animæ
-nostræ, et animarum antecessorum nostrorum, et hæredum nostrorum,
-concessisse et confirmasse Deo et ecclesiæ beatæ <g>Mariæ de Tinterna</g>,
-Abbati et monachis et eorum successoribus ibidem Deo servientibus, in
-liberam puram et perpetuam elemosynam, omnes terras et possessiones,
-libertates, et liberas consuetudines subscriptas quas habent ex donis
-antecessorum nostrorum et aliorum fundatorum seu donatorum, sive ex dono
-nostro--videlicet: Totam hayam de <g>Porcassek</g>, et ex altera parte co
-opertorium nemoris [~c] omnibus pertinentiis suis in bosco et plano, et
-quicquid habet in Pentirk de tenementis terris redditibus boscis et
-planis [~c] aliis libertatibus suis et totam terram de <g>Modisgat</g> [~c]
-omnibus suis pertinentiis--videlicet: cum pastura ovium et aliorum
-animalium suorum ubique in _chacia_ nostra de <g>Tudenham</g>, et de Subbosco
-in dictu chacia quicquid eis necessarium fuerit ad ardendum et ad
-_hayas_ claudendas, etc. His testibus domino Joanne le Bÿgod fratre meo:
-Dom. Joanne le Bÿgod <g>Stocton</g>: Nicholao de <g>Kingeston</g>, militibus: Elya de
-Aylbreton, tunc Seneschallo meo de <g>Strugull</g>: Philippe de <g>Mora</g>: Rogero de
-<g>Sancto Mauro</g>: Willielmo de <g>Dynam</g>: Andreæ de <g>Bellocampo</g>, et aliis.
-
-Datum apud <g>Modesgat</g>, quarto die Augusti, <g>anno Domini</g> M.CCCI.
-
- * * * * *
-
- AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding article on
- Tinterne Abbey and its vicinity:--Dugdale’s Monasticon and
- Baronage--Thomas’s Tinterne--Camden--Giraldus Cambrensis--Robert of
- Gloucester--Matthew Paris--William of Worcester--Fosbroke’s British
- Monachism--Dallaway’s Arts--Reed--Barber--Mores Catholici--Life of
- St. Bernard--French Monastic Writers--Annales et Usus
- Cistercienses--Morton’s Monastic Annals--Nicolson’s History--West’s
- Furness--Wonders and Traditions of Wales--Bp.
- Godwin--Burnet--Pictorial Hist. of Engl.--Sir H. Ellis’s Original
- Letters--Wilkins’s Concilia--Macaulay’s History--Blunt’s Sketch of
- the Reformation--Latimer’s Sermons--Madden’s
- Penalties--Warton--Taylor’s Index Monast.--Heraldic
- Enquiries--Henniker--Cowel--Chronicles of England--Local historians
- and poets--Gilpin--Heath--Barber--Thomas, whose work on “Tinterne
- and its Environs” is the best hand-book that has yet appeared on
- this locality--Notes taken by the Editor during a Tour on the
- Wye--Hints and Suggestions from Correspondents, etc.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-On taking leave of Tinterne, we shall here introduce a short notice of--
-
-<g>Goodrich Castle</g>, once a stronghold of the Marshalls, whose names have
-been so often recorded in connection with the abbey. It stands on a
-finely wooded promontory, round which the river Wye flows in a
-semicircular direction. By whom it was originally founded is unknown,
-though the near affinity of its name to that of ‘<g>Godricus Dux</g>,’ who
-occurs as a witness to two charters granted by King <g>Canute</g> to the abbey
-of <g>Hulm</g>, has given birth to a not improbable conjecture that he was the
-founder. The <g>Keep</g> is evidently of a date antecedent to the Conquest; but
-the surrounding works are principally Norman, though various additions
-and alterations may be distinguished as the workmanship of different
-periods, even down to the time of Henry VI.
-
-In its general outline, this castle forms a parallelogram, with a round
-tower at each angle, and a square ‘keep’ standing in the south-west part
-of the enclosed area. The common thickness of the exterior walls is
-somewhat more than seven feet; the length of the longest sides--that is,
-those towards the south-east and north-west, including the projections
-of the towers--is about 176 feet; and that of the south-west and
-north-east sides about 152 feet.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>The keep</g> stands somewhat in the same manner as those of Porchester,
-Pevensey, and Castleton, close to the outward wall of the castle; and,
-like them, it has no window on the outside next the country. It had
-evidently three rooms or floors, one above the other; all of them,
-however, were very small, being only fourteen feet and a half square;
-and the room on the first floor had no sort of internal communication
-with the dungeon beneath--which had not even a single loophole for light
-and air, but was connected by a very narrow passage to a still smaller
-dungeon, strongly secured under the platform belonging to the steps of
-the entrance, and having a very small air-hole on the same side. “The
-original windows are Saxon; that in the middle of the upper story seems
-to have remained just as it was from the very first, without any
-alteration; and the manner in which the two large side columns stand,
-somewhat _within_ the arch, is consistent with the fashion adopted by
-the Saxons, and continued even to the time of Edward the Confessor. The
-large zigzag ornament on each side, between the columns, is in the rude
-form in which it was generally used by the early Saxons; and so also is
-that of the zigzag moulding, or band, that is carried by way of ornament
-quite across the tower, just under the window; and it is very
-remarkable, that the middle projecting buttress is carried no higher
-than this ornament.”[190]--See the preceding wood-cut.
-
-The window in the apartment beneath is similar in its general
-construction; but the columns which support the arch are somewhat
-higher, and a semicircular moulding of zigzag is carried beneath the
-arch; the middle part of the window, however, has been altered--a stone
-frame for glass having been inserted, of the style and age of Henry the
-Sixth, and probably in the time of the celebrated Earl Talbot, whom
-tradition represents as having his <g>own chamber</g> in this tower. In the
-second apartment is a fire-hearth, and, in an angle of the wall, a
-circular staircase leads to the upper story. “To this staircase is a
-most remarkable doorway; it has one large transom stone, as if to aid
-the arch to support the wall above, and in this respect it resembles
-several other Saxon structures, in which this singular fashion seems to
-have been uniformly adopted, until it became gradually altered by the
-introduction of a flattish _under-arch_, substituted in the room of the
-transom stone.”[191]
-
-<g>The principal entrance</g> was by a flight of steps on one side, distinct
-from the main building, and ascending to a platform before the doorway
-leading to the second chamber. The entrance to the dungeon, or lower
-apartment, was under “a very remarkable sort of pointed arch, formed of
-flat sides, which seems, from the appearance of the wall around it, and
-from its peculiar style, to have been inserted many ages after the tower
-was built, and in the time of <g>Edward</g> III.; a suspicion that appears to
-be most strongly confirmed, by the circumstance, that about the
-twenty-second year of Edward the Third, Richard Talbot, its then lord,
-obtained the royal license[192] for having in his castle a prison for
-male-factors, having also the cognizance of pleas of the crown, &c.,
-within his lordship of Irchinfield. The bottom of the keep-tower would
-undoubtedly, as usual, be the place where such a prison would be
-established; and on that occasion it should seem that this new and
-strong door-frame was first constructed, whilst the very annexation of
-the lordship of Irchinfield, or Urchenfield, to the possession of this
-keep-tower, both of which his lordship appears to have been possessed of
-before this license was granted, shows the exceedingly high antiquity of
-this castle, since Urchenfield was, indeed, the very place where St.
-Dubricius founded his college of Religious, about A.D. 512, to live,
-like the original Eastern recluses, by the work of their own
-hands.”[193] The body of the keep is an exact square of twenty-nine
-feet.
-
-<g>In</g> describing the additions made to this fortress in the Norman times,
-and during the successive reigns to the time of Henry the Sixth, we
-shall follow Mr. King, and begin with the strongly-fortified <g>entrance</g>,
-which, commencing between two semicircular towers of equal dimensions,
-near the east angle, was continued under a dark vaulted passage, to an
-extent of fifty feet. “Immediately before the entrance, and within the
-space enclosed by the fosse, was a very deep pit, hewn out of the solid
-rock, formerly crossed by a drawbridge, which is now gone, but which
-evidently appears to have exactly fitted, and to have closed, when drawn
-up, the whole front of the gateway between the towers. About eleven feet
-within the passage was a massive gate, the strong iron hinges of which
-still remain: this gate and the drawbridge were defended on each side by
-loopholes, and overhead by rows of machicolations in the vaulting. Six
-feet and a half beyond this was a portcullis, and about seven feet
-further a second portcullis; the space between these was again protected
-by loopholes and machicolations. About two feet more inward was another
-strong gate, and five feet and a half beyond this, on the right, a small
-door leading to a long narrow gallery, only three feet wide, formed in
-the thickness of the wall, and which was the means of access to the
-loopholes in the eastern tower, as well as to some others that commanded
-the brow of the steep precipice towards the north-east.” These works
-appear to have been thought sufficient for general defence; but a
-resource was ingeniously contrived for greater security, in case they
-had all been forced: “for a little further on are many stone projections
-in the wall on each side, like pilasters, manifestly designed for
-inserting great beams of timber within them, like bars, from one side of
-the passage, which was about nine feet ten inches wide, to the other, so
-as to form a strong barricade, with earth or stones between the rows of
-timber, which would in a short time, and with rapidity, form a strong
-massy wall.” Beyond these the passage opened into the great inner court
-of the Castle.
-
-<g>Chapel.</g>--The ruins of the chapel run parallel with the entrance on the
-left; the style of the broken ornaments, and particularly of those about
-its great window, show this to have been repaired and adorned even so
-late as the reign of Henry the Seventh. In one part is a very remarkable
-niche, and near it a smaller one, for holy water. On the opposite side
-is also another niche for the same purpose. Beneath the chapel was a
-deep vault, and over it a chamber, with a fireplace, which still appears
-projecting from the wall. Adjoining the chapel, and near the entrance,
-is a small octagonal watch-tower, which rises above the other buildings,
-and commands a fine view over the surrounding country.
-
-The buildings between the chapel and the south or garrison tower, to the
-upper part of which a passage, or covered-way, led along the top of the
-outer wall, are mostly in ruins. Here appear to have been the stables.
-The garrison tower adjoins the entrance to the keep; its foundation is a
-square of about thirty-six feet; but the three outward angles diminish
-as they ascend, and form triangular buttresses, so that the upper part
-of the tower is circular. The walls are at least eight feet in
-thickness. The entrances to this tower were so continued, that there was
-access to it from every part of the walls. It contained three floors,
-and in each of them a fire-hearth. The interior forms an irregular
-octagon, about twenty feet in diameter from the angles, and about
-seventeen from side to side.
-
-<g>Great Tower.</g>--The wall that extended between the keep and the west tower
-is in ruins. This tower, which is also greatly dilapidated, appears of
-more modern construction than the former, and is probably of the time of
-the Edwards. Its outward form is circular; but the interior is somewhat
-of an octangular figure, but very irregular, its general dimensions
-being thirty-three feet long, and twenty-five feet broad. In this
-appears to have been the great <g>kitchen</g>; the fireplace is still
-distinguishable, with a recess and loophole on each side. Here was a
-small doorway, or sally-port, communicating with a sort of outer
-_ballium_, which runs on the north-west side, and was enclosed by an
-outer wall. On this side also, and ranging between the west tower and
-the north or Ladies’ tower, were the state apartments.
-
-<g>The Hall</g> was a magnificent room of the time of Edward the First, as
-clearly appears from the style and architecture of its remains, and
-particularly from its long, slender, and narrow windows. This apartment
-was sixty-five feet long, and twenty-eight feet broad. Some years ago it
-contained a single beam of oak, “without knot or knarle,” sixty-six feet
-long, and nearly two feet square throughout its whole length. On the
-north-west side is the great fireplace; and behind it, projecting into
-the outer <g>ballium</g>, a vast mass of solid stonework, or buttress, which,
-in its upper part, appears to have had some little apartment, or
-guard-chamber. The hall communicated towards the north with a kind of
-withdrawing or retiring room, about twenty-nine feet by seventeen and a
-half, in which appears to have been a window looking into the hall. From
-this second apartment, a passage led into what seems to have been the
-great
-
-<g>State-room</g>, which was fifty-five feet and a half long by twenty broad.
-At the upper end, or towards the north, are two beautiful pointed
-arches, springing from a well-wrought octagon pillar in the middle of
-the apartment, and resting on corbels at the sides. Here seem to have
-been two large windows; but the walls are so much broken, or closely
-mantled with ivy, that this cannot with certainty be affirmed. The
-architecture of this part of the building is of the time of <g>Henry</g> the
-Fifth or Sixth. At the north angle of this room is an opening leading
-into the north or <g>Ladies’ tower</g>, which is so situated on the brow of a
-high and steep precipice, as to be the most defensible part of the
-castle. From the apartment within, which is a neat octagon, about
-fifteen feet in diameter, is a most beautiful view over the adjacent
-country. From the common appellation of this tower, there can be little
-doubt of its having been appropriated as a “Ladies’ bower.” Beyond the
-state-room, in the north-east wall, is a square recess and loophole,
-supposed to have been formed for the lodging and seat of the warden.
-
-<g>Such</g> was the original construction of Goodrich Castle; but almost every
-part has yielded to the iron tooth of age, and to the more speedy
-demolition of war. The ruins, however, are extremely grand; the massive
-towers are finely mantled with ivy; and even the great moat is
-embellished with the luxuriant foliage of tall forest-trees. From the
-adjoining woods the crumbling turrets have a very striking and
-interesting effect; and seen from the water, the view has been truly
-characterized as “one of the grandest upon the Wye.”
-
-Whoever was the original founder of this Castle, “whether Godricus Dux,
-who witnessed King <g>Canute’s</g> charters, or any chieftain prior to him,” it
-is certain that the earliest authenticated record yet discovered, is of
-A.D. 1204, when it was given by “King John to William Strigul, Earl
-<g>Marshall</g>, to hold by the service of two knights’ fees.” His son Walter,
-Earl of Pembroke--as noticed in a former page of this volume--died here
-in December, 1245. It was afterwards conveyed by a female to William de
-<g>Valentia</g>, Earl of Pembroke, whose third son, Aymer de Valence, became
-his heir, and was murdered in France in 1323. From him it passed to the
-Talbots, by the marriage of Elizabeth Comyn, daughter of Joan, his
-second sister, with Sir Richard, afterwards Lord Talbot, who procured
-the license from Edward the Third to have a prison here. This Richard
-was a renowned soldier and statesman; and is thought to have expended a
-considerable part of the ransoms, obtained from his prisoners taken in
-the French wars, on the reparation and improvement of Goodrich Castle.
-His descendant, John Talbot, the great Earl of Shrewsbury, who was
-killed at the battle of Castillon, in the year 1453, was first buried at
-Rouen; and in enumeration of his titles on the monument raised to his
-memory, he is styled “Lord of Goderich and Orchenfield.” His successors
-were equally distinguished for bravery, and were frequently employed in
-offices of great trust. George,[194] the sixth earl, had the custody of
-Mary, Queen of Scots, committed to his charge. That these places were
-really alienated is improbable, as Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury,
-was in possession of this castle and manor at the period of his death in
-the 14th of James the First. Elizabeth, his second daughter and
-co-heiress, conveyed them in marriage to Henry de Grey, Earl of Kent, in
-whose family they continued till the year 1740, when, on the death of
-Henry, Duke of Kent, they were sold to Admiral Griffin.
-
-In the civil wars between Charles I. and his Parliament, Goodrich Castle
-was alternately possessed by both parties. It was first seized by the
-Parliamentary army; but afterwards fell into the hands of the Royalists,
-who sustained a siege of nearly six weeks against Colonel Birch. The
-colonel began the siege on the 22nd of June, 1646. On the third of
-August, as appears from Whitelocke, “Colonel Birch entered some of the
-works of Gotherich Castle, whereupon the garrison hung out a white flag
-for parley, which Birch refused, and went on storming, until they all
-submitted to mercy. In the castle, besides the governor, were 50
-gentlemen and 120 soldiers, with arms, ammunition, and provisions.” On
-the twenty-fifth the Parliament gave orders that the Countess of Kent
-should be informed that there was a _necessity_ for demolishing the
-castle; and that “on the demolishing thereof, satisfaction should be
-made to her. On the first of March following, they finally resolved that
-the castle should be totally disgarrisoned, and _slighted_. The breaches
-of the Ladies’ tower, which is the most effectually ruined, were said to
-have been chiefly occasioned by the battering of the cannon during the
-siege.”[195]
-
-
-
-
-RAGLAN CASTLE,
-
-<g>Monmouthshire.</g>
-
- “<g>Stranger</g>! ponder here awhile;
- Pause in <g>Raglan’s</g> ruined pile;
- All that wealth and power, combined,
- With skill to plan, and taste refined,
- To rear a structure fit to be
- The home of England’s <g>Chivalry</g>,
- Was lavished here!--where, met in hall,
- Mailed <g>Barons</g> kept their festival;
- The night in lordly wassail spent--
- The day in tilt and tournament:
- Yet still, when England’s woes began,
- Were first to arm and lead the van;
- To shield the <g>Monarch</g> in his need,
- In Freedom’s glorious cause to bleed;
- To Loyalty surrendering all--
- Then, with their falling <g>King</g> to fall!”
-
-
-<g>The Castle of Raglan</g> is one of the most picturesque ruins in the
-kingdom, and closely associated with a momentous period of our national
-annals. Though roofless, tenantless, and dismantled, it still presents a
-majestic and venerable aspect. No visitor of taste or sensibility will
-ever traverse its spacious but long-deserted halls, without feeling a
-deep interest in its eventful history.
-
-It was on a bright autumnal evening that we quitted the comfortable
-little inn, the “Beaufort Arms,” at Raglan, to make our first survey of
-this baronial stronghold; and at that hour, and season of the year, it
-was seen through its embowering trees in all its glory. Ascending the
-gentle eminence on which it stands, we came to the outer gate, or
-barbican, portions of which still remain, and crossing the _ballium_,
-now covered with rich verdant pasture, we were received by the
-intelligent Warden, who conducted us to the majestic gateway, and
-pointed out to us, as we proceeded, the more imposing features of the
-Castle, as they alternately met and receded from the eye.
-
-[Illustration: _The Avenue._
-
-Raglan Castle.]
-
-The vista through the Gateway, taking in the Great Court--once adorned
-with statues and fountains, but now, like everything around it,
-abandoned to the weather, is very striking; while the absolute silence
-which pervades the scene, contrasts forcibly with its ancient stir and
-splendour, and compels us, while fancy is peopling it with troops of
-chivalry and their retainers, to exclaim, “Where are they?” A long
-wooden table with benches, the last symbols of that hospitality for
-which its noble owners were once conspicuous, stood on the grassy floor.
-But these were no relics of the ancient banquet-hall, but of a modern
-festive meeting, when the tenants upon the estates had met to express
-their attachment to the noble Marquess and his family. The manner in
-which the kitchen had been refitted for their entertainment, showed that
-it must have been ‘got up’ in a style not unworthy of its feudal renown;
-and, “as for the venison,”--
-
- “Finer or fatter
- Ne’er ranged in a forest, or smoked on a platter.”
-
-<g>We</g> arrived, however, too late for the feast, though another, a much
-simpler, and palatable treat awaited us--that which Nature, luxuriating
-amidst the ruins of Art, had lavishly spread before us. Such piles of
-masonry, such masses of ivy, were never before brought together! Here
-and there, indeed, the sturdy ramparts looked through their leafy screen
-with a sort of ghastly whiteness, like Hobbes’ spectre from behind the
-yew-tree, or the bones of some enormous skeleton, upon which the kindly
-hand of Nature had suspended her own green mantle. Nothing could be more
-strikingly novel and picturesque. Along the vast framework of the
-castle, on which the wealth and taste of centuries had been employed,
-until its strength and beauty could receive no farther additions from
-the hand of man, a straggling forest of vegetation expanded its mingling
-branches. Under the same leafy covert, from the timid wren to the
-ill-omened raven, birds of every feather had found a congenial roost.
-From the sepulchral yew the moping owl looked out upon everything around
-her as her own domain and cherished inheritance. Over our heads bats
-performed their swift circles in the still twilight sky; while daws
-chattered from the ancient keep, as if they had never heard a
-musket-shot, nor felt the slightest apprehension of being disturbed in
-their possession. On a lofty spray that overtopped every other tree, a
-loving thrush serenaded his mate in the fragrant thicket below. Numerous
-smaller birds, that seemed puzzled from the very abundance of the
-accommodation where to fix their roost, kept up a constant fluttering
-amongst the branches; while here and there was heard a bickering of
-wings and twittering of bills, as if contending for possession of some
-favourite branch for the night. Surely, we thought, there is room enough
-here for all; and yet even there--among those spacious green arbours,
-place and position were as eagerly sought and coveted by the feathered
-tribes, as by the equally volatile and jealous retainers of a court.
-
-At length all was seemingly adjusted; the stillness of night pervaded
-the scene; the last shadows of twilight had faded into one common pall;
-and night, attended by a host of sparkling satellites, took quiet
-possession of the long line of courts that once swarmed with life and
-enjoyment.
-
-And now, between the western sky--that still retained some warm
-lingering traces of sunset--and the donjon tower, mousing owls were seen
-enjoying their solemn pastime, here swimming lazily through the arched
-court, then along the battlements, or the margin of the clear glassy
-moat; then soaring aloft, and settling for a minute or two among the
-dark ivy; but still returning to make another circle and finding no
-wings abroad but their own.
-
-The contemplation of this Castle, at any period of the day, is
-calculated to make a lasting impression; but when the rising moon shot
-her mellow light through its old shattered casements, and the breeze
-seemed to waken at the same instant and set all the ivy in motion, the
-scene became still more impressive. Among the deep shadows that invested
-the spacious courts, every prominent object was now brought suddenly
-into view; and, with a little aid from fancy, the waving of plumes, and
-the flashing of steel armour, seemed distinctly visible on the
-battlements; while the fragments of crumbling masonry that lay scattered
-below, as if struck by an enchanter’s wand, presented the semblance of
-animated groups, that waited only the word of command to start into life
-and motion. The stillness, too, which but half an hour before had
-pervaded every court and tower, was succeeded by a soft rustling among
-the leaves, that now flickered like quicksilver as the moonlight fell
-upon them, and then lost itself in their massive branches; whilst the
-shrubs and flowers that grew wild and vigorous in every court, or
-clambered up the walls and archways, seemed to give forth their mingled
-odours to the night wind, as it passed wooingly through their leaves,
-and filled the air with incense.
-
- “We seemed to tread on faëry land;
- For, in every thing around us,
- We felt the touch of a viewless hand,
- And we heard the notes of a seraph band,
- Whose magic spell had bound us;
- While bright yclad, as in days of yore,
- <g>The Knight of Raglan</g> strode before.”
-
-The Pitched-court; the hall of state, with its magnificent bay-window;
-the chapel; the fountain-court, with the grand staircase on the south
-side opening upon it; then the elegant portal leading to the grand
-terrace that overlooks <g>Raglan church</g>, were all traversed in succession,
-with nothing to distract attention, or disturb the solitude, but the
-whistle of a night-hawk, or the sound of our own footsteps on the
-grassy carpet, that now forms the universal ‘pavement’ of these once
-sumptuous apartments. For over the once tesselated floor, and the
-tapestried walls, weeds have thrown an oblivious mantle, while--
-
- “Ha, ha!” laughs the Ivy, “old Time to me
- Hath given the glory and mastery!
- So poets may sing, if it like them well,
- From early matins till vesper bell;
- And others may list to their minstrelsie--
- I’ve a song of my own--so what care I?
- Your <g>castles</g>, though stately, and strong, and tall,
- _I_ conquer them all--_I conquer them all_!”
-
-But as the faint outline here sketched will be filled up when we take
-the architectural features of the <g>Castle</g> in detail, we pass on to a few
-preliminary remarks.
-
-[Illustration: Ancient armour.[196]]
-
-<g>Grose</g>, in his ‘Antiquities,’ observes that this castle is of no great
-antiquity, having been founded, as he conjectures, about the close of
-the fifteenth century, although many important additions were
-subsequently added. In the time of Henry VIII., as Leland informs us,
-Raglan, “yn Middle Venceland [Wentland], was a fair and pleasant castel,
-with to goodlye parkes adjacent;” and “the laste Lord Herbertes,” as
-Morgan told him, “builded all the best coffes of the Castle of Raglan.”
-Camden, in his account of the Silures, or Monmouthshire, notices it very
-briefly, as “a fair house of the Earl of Worcester’s, built
-castel-like.”[197]
-
-It is not stated by Grose on what authority he places Raglan Castle
-among the strongholds erected in the time of Henry VII. His observations
-can apply only to those portions of it which are comparatively modern.
-The Citadel, or Yellow Tower of Gwent, is of unquestionable antiquity.
-In the family history we are told that Sir John Morley, a military
-knight, who lived in the time of Richard II., resided here as ‘lord of
-Raglan Castle.’ But postponing this question at present, as one that
-will be considered more fully when we come to examine the Castle in
-detail, we shall merely observe that although, as it now appears, the
-Castle does not indicate any more distant origin than the reign of Henry
-V., yet traces may be discovered in various portions of towers built, or
-reconstructed, during every subsequent reign, down to that of <g>Charles</g>
-I.--with whose fate it is so painfully associated. Owing to the
-circumstance named, the learned antiquary may discover ‘a disunion of
-styles;’ but taken as a whole, the Castle of Raglan presents a
-remarkable harmony of proportions that hides every minute discrepancy,
-heightens the general effect, and leaves the spectator under a pleasing
-conviction that, in design and execution, it is the work, not of many,
-but of one master mind. But to this subject we shall return; and, in the
-meantime, we proceed to give a brief sketch of
-
-<g>The Founders of Raglan.</g>--By Mr. Jones the name of the founder is traced
-to that of Sir William ap Thomas.[198] This date, however, is too
-modern, and only a repetition of the conjecture thrown out by Grose.
-There is every reason to believe that the Clares, as early as the
-thirteenth century, had a castle at Raglan, the site, of which is now
-occupied by the Citadel, or Tower of Gwent, erected probably in the
-reign of Henry V. The above-named Sir William ap Thomas resided at
-Raglan Castle during the reign of Henry V., who knighted him for his
-valour in the wars of France. He married Gladys, daughter of Sir Richard
-Gam, and widow of Sir Roger Vaughan,[199] by whom he had three sons and
-a daughter. Of his eldest son, William, first Earl of Pembroke, we shall
-speak hereafter. But of the old military Lords of Raglan, little of
-historical interest has descended to modern times. From Richard
-<g>Strongbow</g>, of whom a notice has been given in the preceding sketches of
-Chepstow and Tinterne, Raglan descended to Walter Bloet, “in
-consideration of soldiers, money, and arms,” furnished by him for the
-expedition to Ireland, of which Strongbow was the leader. By the
-marriage of the daughter and heiress of Bloet with Sir James Berkeley,
-it passed into and remained in that ancient family until the reign of
-Henry V., when it became vested in Sir William ap Thomas, already
-mentioned; whose eldest son was created by Edward IV. Lord of Raglan,
-Chepstow, and Gower, and commanded to assume the surname of Herbert, in
-honour of his ancestor Hubert Fitz-Henry, chamberlain to King Henry I.
-To this nobleman was entrusted the care of the Earl of Richmond,
-afterwards Henry VII., who was for some time a prisoner in Raglan
-Castle. Sir Hubert was created, in 1469, Earl of Pembroke, in
-acknowledgment of his zeal to the house of York; but his career was
-brief and disastrous, for having the same year raised a corps of
-Welshmen, he marched against the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick,
-and being taken prisoner at Dane’s Moor, was beheaded at Banbury on the
-27th of July.[200] Of these calamitous events, the following account,
-abridged from the old <g>Chronicle</g>, may not be unacceptable to the
-reader:--
-
-“<g>King Edward</g> hearing of these Northerne proceedings, and that his
-brother and Warwicke were preparing against him, sent for the Lord
-Herbert, whom he had created Earl of Pembroke, to be his general in the
-North; and therefore accompanied with Sir Richard Herbert his brother,
-and eighteen thousand well-furnished Welshmen, marched towards the
-enemy; and after him was sent Humfrey Lord Stafford, with sixe thousand
-archers, to second him in his warres. These lords meeting together had
-notice by espials that the Northerne made towards Northampton; to
-intercept whom, the Lord Stafford, lately made Earl of Devonshire, was
-employed; and Sir Richard Herbert, who with two thousand horse layd
-themselves covertly by the side of a wood, and suddenly set upon the
-rereward, the rest having passed; but the Northerne very nimbly turned
-about and bad the Welshmen such welcome, as few of them returned to tell
-of their entertainment. The king understanding of this hard beginning,
-mustered his subjects on every side, intending to cope with the
-Northerne himself. And Earle <g>Warwicke</g>, as forward to advance his
-fortunes, gathered his friends, with purpose to encounter with <g>Pembroke</g>
-and his Welsh. But before any supplies came to either of them, it
-chanced the armies to meete unawares upon a fair plaine called _Dane’s
-Moor_, neere to the towne of Hedgecot, three miles from Banbury, and
-presently fell to a bickering, wherein Sir Henry <g>Nevill</g>, knight, son of
-the Lord Latimer, upon a lusty courage venturing somewhat too farre, was
-taken prisoner; and notwithstanding he yielded himselfe to his takers,
-was cruelly slaine; which unmartiall act rested not long unrepaied, with
-the loss of most of the Welsh next day. For the field withdrawne, the
-Lord <g>Stafford</g> repaired to Banbury, and there took his lodging, where his
-affections were much enamoured vpon a faire damsell in the inne. But the
-Earl of Pembroke coming to the same towne, tooke into the same inne,
-and commanded the Lord Stafford to provide himself elsewhere, contrary
-to their agreements made before. Whereat Stafford was displeased, and
-departing thence with his whole band, left the <g>Earl</g> naked of men in the
-towne, and disabled the field of the archers, whereby the day was lost
-upon the king’s part, for which he shortly lost his owne head. The
-Northerne, inflamed for the death of young <g>Nevill</g>, the next morning most
-valiantly set upon the Welshmen, and by the force of archers drave them
-from their ground of advantage, which Pembroke wanting supplied with his
-own prowess; and <g>Sir Richard</g>, his brother, with his poll-axe twice made
-way through the battell of the Northerne without any mortal or deadly
-wound; so that by their valours it was verily supposed the field had
-been wonne, had not John Clapham, an esquire and servant to Warwicke,
-displayed his lorde’s colours with his white beare, and from an eminent
-place cried, ‘_A Warwicke! A Warwicke!_’ Whereat the Welsh were so
-terrified as they turned and fled, leaving their general and his brother
-alone in the field, who, valiantly fighting, were encompassed and taken,
-with the death of five thousand of their men. The Earl with his brother,
-Sir Richard <g>Herbert</g>, were brought to Banbury, where, with ten other
-gentlemen, they lost their heads, Conyers and Clapham being their
-judges.
-
-“This second victory thus got, and the Northerne men now fleshed under
-the leadinge of Robbin of Riddesdale,[201] hasted to the king’s manor of
-Grafton, where the Earle <g>Rivers</g>, father to the queen, then lay, whom,
-with his sonne John, they suddenly surprised, and in Northampton strucke
-off their heads without any judgment. The death of these lords the king
-greatly lamented, and sought to revenge: first, therefore, writing his
-commissions for the apprehension of <g>Humfrey</g>, Lord Stafford of
-Southwicke, who, by diligent search, was found at Brentmarsh, and
-beheaded at Bridgewater, as he worthily deserved. Next hee prepared a
-mighty army, and with the same marched towards Warwicke, his company
-encreasing ever as he went.”[202] In another Chronicle the same
-disastrous events are thus related:--
-
-“<g>The Welshmen</g> got first the West hill, hoping to have recovered the East
-hill; which if they had obteyned the victorye had been theirs, as their
-unwise prophesyers promised them before. The Northern men encamped
-themselves on the South hill. The Erle of Pembroke and the Lord
-Stafforde of Southwike were lodged at Banbery yᵉ day before yᵉ field,
-which was <g>St. James’s Day</g>; and there the Erie of Pembroke put the Lord
-Stafforde out of an inne wherein he delighted much to be, for the love
-of a damosel that dwelled in the house, contrarie to their mutuall
-agreement by them taken; which was, that whosoever obtained first a
-lodging, should not be deceyved nor removed. After many great wordes and
-crakes had betweyne these two captaynes, the Lord <g>Stafforde</g> in great
-despite departed with his whole companye and band of archers, leaving
-the Erle of <g>Pembroke</g> almost desolate in the towne, which with all
-diligence returned to his hoste lying in the field unpurvoyed of
-archers, abiding such fortune as God would sende and provyde.” In the
-mean time, “Sir Henry Nevil, son to the Lord Latimer, tooke with him
-certaine light horsemen, and skirmished with the Welshmen in the
-evening, even before their campe, where he did divers valyaunt feates of
-armes; but, a little too hardy, he went so farre forward that he was
-taken and yeelded, and cruell slaine; which unmerciful acte the Welshmen
-sore rued the next day or night. For the Northern men being inflamed,
-and not a little discontented with the death of thys nobleman, in the
-mornyng valyauntly set on the Welshmen, and by force of archers caused
-them quickly to descende the hill into the valey, where both the hostes
-fought.”
-
-In this hot encounter, “the Erle of <g>Pembroke</g> behaved himselfe like a
-hardy knight, and an expert capitaine; but hys brother, Syr Richard
-Herbert, so valyauntly acquited himselfe, that with his poll-axe in his
-hand, as his enemies did afterwards report, he twice by fair force
-passed thorough the battaile of his adversaries, and without any mortal
-wound returned. If everye one of his felowes and companions in arms had
-done but halfe the actes which he that daye by his noble prowess
-achieved, the Northerne men had obteyned neither safetie nor victorie.”
-
-The chronicler then relates the circumstance which threw the Welshmen
-into a panic, by which they lost five thousand men, and then records the
-result with touching simplicity:--
-
-“The Erle of Pembroke, <g>Sir Richard Herbert</g>,[203] his brother, and divers
-were taken, and brought to Banbery to be behedded. Much lamentacion and
-no lesse entreatie was made to save the lyfe of Syr Richard, both for
-hys goodlye personage, which excelled all men there, and also for the
-noble chivalrie that he had shewed in the fielde the day of the
-battaile; insomuch that his brother, the Erle, when he should lay downe
-his head on the blocke to suffer, says to Sir John Conyers and
-Clapham--‘_Maisters, let me die! for I am old; but save my brother,
-which is yung, lustie, and hardie, mete and fit to serve the greatest
-prince of Christendome._’
-
-“But Coniers and Clapham remembering the death of the yung knight, Syr
-Henry <g>Nevill</g>, cosyn to the Erle of Warwicke, could not hear on that
-syde; but caused the Erle and his brother, with divers other gentlemen
-to the number often, to be there behedded.”[204]
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>William</g>, eldest son of this unfortunate nobleman, succeeded to the
-earldom of Pembroke, and was retained by the king to serve him in his
-wars of France and Normandy for one whole year, with forty men-at-arms
-and two hundred archers. But the king, being desirous to dignify his son
-Prince Edward with the title of Earl of Pembroke, procured a resignation
-of the same from this William, and in lieu thereof created him Earl of
-<g>Huntingdon</g>, on the fourth of July, 1479. Four years later he was
-constituted, by Richard III., Justice of South Wales, and entered into
-covenants with the king to take Dame Catharine Plantagenet, his
-daughter, to wife, before the feast of <g>St. Michael</g> following; as also to
-make her a jointure in lands to the value of two hundred pounds per
-annum: the king undertaking to settle upon them and their heirs male,
-lands and lordships of a thousand marks per annum. But this lady dying
-in her tender years, it is likely that this marriage did not take
-effect. He afterwards wedded Mary, the fifth sister of <g>Woodville</g>, Earl
-Rivers, by whom he had an only daughter, at whose marriage with Sir
-Charles Somerset, the Castle of <g>Raglan</g>, and its dependencies, passed
-into the family of Worcester.
-
-From the genealogical history of that house we collect the following
-particulars:--The Sir Charles here named was a natural son of Henry,
-third Duke of Beaumont, famous in his day for his desperate assault of
-the Castle of <g>St. Anjou</g>, in which he put three hundred Scots to the
-sword, and hanged all the Frenchmen therein. He was afterwards Governor
-of the Isle of Wight, and of Calais; was finally taken prisoner at the
-battle of Hexham, and there beheaded by <g>Nevil</g> for his adherence to the
-house of Lancaster. At his death his son <g>Charles</g> assumed the name of
-Somerset, and being a person of abilities attained to great wealth and
-honours under Henry VII.,[205] who entered him of his Privy Council,
-made him Constable of Helmsley Castle, Admiral of the Fleet, sent him as
-ambassador with the Order of the Garter to the Emperor Maximilian, made
-him a Banneret, Knight of the Garter, and Captain of the Royal Guard. On
-a second embassy to Maximilian, he concluded two treaties--gave a bond
-for the payment of £10,000 in aid of the Emperor against the Turks, and
-in support of the Christian religion. Living in high favour with his
-sovereign, his good fortune was established by his marriage with
-<g>Elizabeth</g>, heiress of William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, in whose
-right, in 1506, he bore the title of Lord <g>Herbert of Raglan</g>.
-
-On the accession of Henry VIII. he continued in the same high offices;
-and having, with six thousand men, attended the king into France, in
-1513, he was present at the taking of Therrouenne and Tournay. For his
-heroic conduct in this campaign, he received the office of Lord
-Chamberlain for life; and finally, on account of his descent from <g>John
-of Gaunt</g>, and alliance to the king by blood, he was advanced the
-following year[206] to the dignity of Earl of Worcester.
-
-By his will, dated March 24, 1524, he ordered his body to be buried
-beside that of his first wife in the chapel of <g>Our Lady</g>, now called
-Beaufort Chapel, in the Castle of Windsor. He directed that, in case he
-departed this life at <g>Raibo</g>, in London, or near the river Thames, his
-body should be conveyed by water to the said church at Windsor, as
-privately as might be, without pomp or great charge of torches, or
-clothing, hearse, wax, or great dinner; but only that twenty men of his
-own servants should each have mourning and bear a torch; and that the
-bier, or herse, should be covered with black cloth, and have a white
-<g>cross</g> upon it.
-
-<g>Henry</g>, the second Earl of Worcester, who, during his father’s lifetime,
-had distinguished himself in the king’s service, and been knighted by
-Charles <g>Brandon</g>, Duke of Suffolk, was appointed one of the commissioners
-for concluding a peace with the French. Departing this life in 1549, he
-was buried in the church of Chepstow, where a costly monument--already
-noticed--was erected to his memory.[207]
-
-<g>William</g>, his eldest son, and third Earl of Worcester, accompanied the
-Marquis of Northampton into France, to present King Henry II. with the
-royal insignia of the Garter. And again, in 1573, he was sent by Queen
-Elizabeth as her representative at the christening of a daughter of
-Charles IX., on which occasion, in the name of his royal mistress, he
-presented a font in pure gold. He married Christian, daughter of Lord
-North of Earthlodge.
-
-<g>Edward</g>, his only son and heir, was sent ambassador to the Court of
-Scotland, to offer the Queen’s congratulations to King <g>James</g> on his
-return from Denmark; and ten years later he was appointed Master of the
-Horse. At the accession of King James, he continued in the same office,
-and was also named one of the commissioners for executing the office of
-<g>Earl-Marshall</g>, the Duke of Norfolk being then under sentence in the
-Tower.[208] He was afterwards Lord Privy Seal; and dying on the third of
-March, 1628, ætatis 79, was buried in the family vault in Windsor
-Castle.[209]
-
-In his youth, as recorded by his colleague Sir Robert Naunton, “this
-earl was a very fine gentleman, and the best horseman and tilter of his
-times, which were then the manlike and noble recreations of the Court,
-which took up the applause of men, as well as the praise and
-commendation of ladies. And when years had abated these exercises of
-honour, he grew then to be a faithful and profound counsellor. He was
-the last liver of all the servants of her favour, and had the honour to
-see his renowned Mistress, and all of them, laid in the places of their
-rest; and for himself, after a life of very noble and remarkable
-reputation, he died rich, and in a peaceful old age--a fate that befel
-not many of the rest; for they expired like lights blown out--not
-commendably extinguished--but with the snuff very offensive to the
-standers by.”[210] Sandford describes him as “a great favourer of
-learning and good literature.”
-
-[Illustration: Procession.--Morning of the Tournament.]
-
-<g>Henry</g>, his son, the fourth earl, married Anne, daughter of John Lord
-<g>Russell</g>, heir apparent to the Earl of Bedford; and, in 1642, was
-created Marquess of Worcester. And this brings us down to the period,
-when the family fortunes--like the fortress they inhabited--were
-destined to undergo a lamentable change.
-
-As the civil commotions increased, the Marquess fortified his castle of
-<g>Raglan</g>, and there entertained his Sovereign with unbounded magnificence.
-Such were his unlimited sacrifices to the royal cause, that the king,
-fearing lest the garrison stores should become exhausted by his numerous
-suite, offered to invest him with powers to exact supplies from the
-neighbouring country. But with great magnanimity Worcester replied--“I
-humbly thank your Majesty; but my castle would not long stand, if it
-leant upon the country. I had rather myself be brought to a morsel of
-bread, than see one morsel wrung from the poor to entertain your
-Majesty.” But of this more fully when we describe the royal visit and
-the <g>Siege</g>.
-
-From these brief introductory notices of the lives and services of the
-primitive lords of Raglan, we proceed to give a few sketches of life, as
-it generally passed in the retirement of their own domains, in the midst
-of their friends and retainers at Raglan Castle.
-
-<g>Baronial Life.</g>--Of the expenses of a nobleman’s family and household in
-the olden time, some idea may be formed by adverting to the facts
-adduced by writers of the day. In a letter from the Earl of Shrewsbury,
-who had the custody of Mary of Scotland, to the Marquis of Winchester,
-and Sir Walter Mildmay, it is said--“May it please you to understand,
-that whereas I have had a certain ordinary allowance of <g>wine</g>, amongst
-other noblemen, for expenses in my household, without impost: the
-charges daily that I do now sustain, and have done all this year past,
-well known by reason of the Queen of Scots, are so great therein, as I
-am compelled to be now a suitor unto you, that you will please to have a
-friendly consideration, unto the necessity of my large expenses. Truly
-_two tuns in a month_ have not hitherto sufficed ordinarily; besides
-that which is sacrificed at times for her bathings, and such like use;
-which seeing I cannot by any means conveniently diminish, my earnest
-trust and desire is, that you will now consider me with such _larger_
-proportion in this case, as shall seem good unto your friendly wisdoms,
-even as I shall think myself much beholden for the same. And so I commit
-you unto God. From Tetbury Castle, this 15 of January, 1569. Your
-assured friend to my power.--G. SHREWSBURY.”[211]
-
-“This passage,” Mr. Lodge observes, “will serve to correct a vulgar
-error, relating to the consumption of wine in those days, which, instead
-of being less, appears to have been--at least in the houses of the
-great--even more considerable than that of the present time. The good
-people who tell us that Queen Elizabeth’s maids of honour breakfasted on
-roast beef, generally add, that wine was then used in England as a
-medicine, for it was sold only by apothecaries. The latter assertion,
-though founded on a fact, seems to have led to a mistake in the former;
-for the word apothecary [from the Greek αποθήχη, _a repositorium_] is
-applicable to any shopkeeper, or warehouseman, and was probably once
-used in that general sense.”[212] In the retinues and domestic
-attendance[213] of the nobles of this period, everything proclaimed that
-the era of feudal authority and magnificence had departed. Accordingly,
-when the civil wars had commenced, no peer, however wealthy or high in
-rank, could drag after him a regiment, or even a company, of unwilling
-vassals to the field. On the contrary, the meanest hind was free to
-choose between king and parliament. Something, however, of the mere pomp
-of feudalism was still maintained in the domestic establishments of the
-nobility and wealthier gentry. “The father of John Evelyn, when he was
-sheriff of the counties of Surrey and Sussex,[214] had _a hundred and
-sixteen servants, in liveries of green satin doublets_, besides several
-gentlemen and persons of quality, who waited upon him, dressed in the
-same garb.”
-
-One of the largest, if not the very largest, of English establishments
-ever maintained by a subject, was that of the Lord Treasurer, the Earl
-of Dorset,[215] heir of the Lord Buckhurst, and well-known poet of the
-court. It consisted of _two hundred and twenty servants_, besides
-workmen attached to the house, and others that were hired occasionally.
-
-The chief servants of the nobility--so they were called, but they were
-rather followers or clients--were still the younger sons of respectable,
-or even noble families, who attached themselves to the fortunes of a
-powerful patron, and served him either in court or military affairs,
-for which they were allowed separate retinues in men and horses, with
-gratuities in money, and promises of promotion.[216] The progress of
-improvement that had banished minstrels, jugglers, and tumblers, from
-princely establishments, had naturally introduced the drama in their
-room; and, accordingly, we sometimes find a company of actors classed
-among the servants of the chief noblemen, as well as a family physician,
-or even a whole band. <g>A steward</g>, distinguished by a velvet jacket, and a
-gold chain about his neck, presided as marshal of the household, and
-next to him was the clerk of the kitchen. But these cumbrous appendages
-were daily lessening, as domestic comfort came to be better understood.
-This improvement, however, had commenced still earlier among those of
-less rank and pretension. All who had their fortune still to seek in the
-court, or in the army, and all who repaired to the metropolis in quest
-of pleasure, found, so early as the time of Elizabeth, that the bustle
-and the scramble of new and stirring times, made a numerous train of
-attendants an uncomfortable appendage. The gallant, and the courtier,
-therefore, like Sir John Falstaff, studied “French thrift,” and
-contented himself with a single “skirted page,” who walked behind him
-carrying his cloak and rapier.[217]
-
-In consequence of the extravagant living introduced during this period,
-the spendthrift gentleman often sank into the serving-man, as we may see
-from the frequent recurrence of such a transformation in the old plays.
-When servants were out of place--as we learn from the same authentic
-pictures of the real life of the times--they sometimes repaired to St.
-Paul’s Churchyard, the great place of public lounge, and there stood
-against the pillars, holding before them a written placard, stating
-their peculiar qualifications, and their desire of employment.[218]
-
-“But whatever retrenchment,” observes the same author, “might be making
-in the household expenditure by a diminished attendance, it was more
-than counterbalanced by an extravagance in dress, and personal ornament,
-that had now become an absolute frenzy.” It is said that King <g>James</g>
-almost daily figured in a new suit, a humour that soon became prevalent
-among his courtiers. Still more generally influential than his own
-example was that of his several handsome favourites, all of whom having
-been indebted for the royal favour merely to their personal attractions,
-spared no pains nor cost to give those natural advantages their full
-effect.[219]
-
-When Buckingham was sent ambassador to France, to bring the Princess
-Henrietta to England, he provided for this important mission a suit of
-white uncut velvet and a cloak, both set all over with diamonds, valued
-at eighty thousand pounds, besides a feather made of great diamonds. His
-sword, girdle, hatband, and spurs, were also set thick with diamonds.
-Another suit which he prepared for the same occasion, was of purple
-satin, embroidered all over with pearls,[220] and valued at twenty
-thousand pounds. In addition to these, he had twenty other dresses of
-great richness. As a throng of nobles and gentlemen attended him, we may
-conceive how their estates must have been impoverished by the purchase
-of chains of gold, ropes of pearl, and splendid dresses, befitting the
-retinue of such an ambassador. Even a court festival, of the time of
-James the First, must have made a perilous inroad upon a year’s amount
-of the largest income. Thus, at the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth
-to the Palatine, Lady Wotton wore a gown profusely ornamented with
-embroidery, that cost _fifty_ pounds a yard; and Lord Montague spent
-_fifteen_ hundred pounds on the dresses of his two daughters, that they
-might be fit to appear at court on the same occasion.[221]
-
-The following letter--which we quote from a work of great merit and
-research--unfolds much of the domestic ‘economy’ and habits of a family
-of distinction during this reign. It is addressed to William, second
-Lord <g>Compton</g>, by his wife, soon after their marriage:--
-
-“<g>My Sweet Life</g>--Now I have declared to you my mind for the settling of
-your state, I suppose that it were best for me to think and consider
-within myself what allowance were meetest for me. I pray and beseech you
-to grant to me, your most kind and loving wife, the sum of £2,600,
-quarterly to be paid. Also, I would, besides that allowance, have £600,
-quarterly to be paid, for the performance of charitable works; and these
-things I would not, neither will be, accountable for. Also, I will have
-three horses for my own saddle, that none shall dare to lend or borrow:
-none lend but I; none borrow but you. Also, I would have two
-gentlewomen, lest one should be sick, or have some other let. Also,
-believe it, it is an undecent thing for a gentlewoman to stand mumping
-alone, when God hath blessed their lord and lady with a large estate.
-
-“<g>Also</g>, when I ride a hunting or a hawking, or travel from one house to
-another, I will have them attending; so for either of these said women,
-I must and will have for either of them a horse. Also, I will have six
-or eight gentlemen; and I will have my two coaches, one lined with
-velvet to myself, and four very fair horses; and a coach for my women,
-lined with cloth and laced with gold; otherwise with scarlet, and laced
-with silver; with four good horses. Also, I will have two coachmen, one
-for my own coach, the other for my women.
-
-“<g>Also</g>, at any time when I travel, I will be allowed not only _caroches_
-and spare horses for me and my women; but I will have such carriages as
-shall be fitting for all; orderly, not pestering my things with my
-women’s; nor theirs with either chambermaids; nor theirs with washing
-maids.
-
-“<g>Also</g>, for laundresses, when I travel, I will have them sent away before
-with the carriage, to see all safe. And the chambermaids I will have go
-before, that the chamber may be ready, sweet, and clean. Also, for that
-it is indecent to crowd up myself with my gentleman-usher in my coach, I
-will have him to have a convenient horse, to attend me either in city or
-country. And I must have two footmen. And my desire is that you defray
-all the charges for me.
-
-“<g>And</g> for myself, besides my yearly allowance, 1 would have twenty gowns
-of apparel, six of them excellent good ones, eight of them for the
-country, and six other of them _very_ excellent good ones. Also, I would
-have, to put in my purse, £2,000 and £200, and so you to pay my debts.
-Also, I would have £6,000 to buy me jewels, and £4,000 to buy me a pearl
-chain. Now, seeing I have been, and am, so reasonable unto you, I pray
-you do find my children apparel and their schooling; and all my
-servants, men and women, their wages.
-
-“<g>Also</g>, I will have all my houses furnished, and my lodging-chambers to
-be suited with all such furniture as is fit; as beds, stools, chairs,
-suitable cushions, carpets, silver warming-pans, cupboards of plate,
-fair hangings, and such like. So, for my drawing-chambers, in all
-houses, I will have them delicately furnished, both with hangings,
-couch, canopy, glass, carpet, chairs, cushions, and all things thereto
-belonging.
-
-“<g>Also</g>, my desire is that you would pay your debts, build up Ashley
-House, and purchase lands: and lend no money, as you love God, to my
-Lord Chamberlain, who would have all--perhaps your life--from you.... So
-now that I have declared unto you what I _would_ have, and what it is
-that I _would not_ have, I pray you, when you be an earl, to allow me
-£2,000 more than I now desire, and double attendance.”[222]
-
-Prodigality in feasting and riotous living soon became as conspicuous as
-extravagance with regard to dress. In proof whereof, we may mention the
-ante-suppers of the epicurean Earl of Carlisle. Weldon informs us, that
-he gave a banquet to the French ambassador at Essex House, where fish of
-such huge size were served up, and which had been brought all the way
-from Russia, that no dishes in England could hold them, until several
-were made for the express purpose. The household expenditure of James
-the First was twice as much as that of his predecessor, amounting to a
-hundred thousand pounds annually.[223]
-
-<g>Country Life.</g>--While such were the habits of the courtiers, the country
-aristocracy still followed that kind of life so much familiarized to our
-minds by the descriptions in the old songs and plays of “the golden days
-of good Queen Bess.” The rural knight, or squire, inhabited a huge
-building--half house, half castle--crowded with servants in homespun
-blue coats, many of whom were only serviceable in filling up the blank
-spaces of the mansion; but as these had been born in his <g>Worship’s</g>
-service, it was held as a matter of course that they should live and die
-in it.
-
-“The family rose at daybreak, and first of all assembled at prayers,
-which were read by the family chaplain. Then came breakfast; after which
-the master of the household and his sons got into their saddles, and
-went off to hunt the deer, followed by some score of mounted attendants;
-while the lady and her daughters superintended the dairy, or the
-buttery, prescribed the day’s task for the spinning-wheels, dealt out
-bread and meat at the gate to the poor, and concocted all manner of
-simples for the sick and infirm of the village. If leisure still
-remained, the making of confections and preserves was a never-failing
-resource; independently of spinning and sewing, or perhaps embroidering
-some battle or hunting piece, which had been commenced by the housewives
-of a preceding generation.”
-
-At noon dinner was served up in the <g>Great Hall</g>, the walls of which were
-plentifully adorned with stags’ horns, casques, antique brands, and
-calivers. The noisy dinner-bell, that sent the note of warning over the
-country, gave also a universal invitation and welcome to the hospitable
-board; and after dinner sack, or home-brewed ‘October,’ occupied the
-time until sunset, when the hour of retiring to rest was at hand.
-
-Such was the ordinary history of a day in the country mansion. When the
-weather prevented out-door recreation or employment, the family library,
-containing some six or eight tomes, that had perhaps issued from the
-press of Caxton, or Wynkyn de Worde, was in requisition; and, if the
-members of the family could read, they might while away the hours in
-perusing these volumes for the twentieth time. In this fashion, they
-derived their knowledge of religion from the Bible, and the “Practice of
-Piety;” their Protestantism and horror of Popery from “Fox’s Acts and
-Monuments;” their chivalrous lore from “Froissart’s Chronicles,” or,
-perchance, the “Merry Gests of Robin Hood;” their historical erudition
-from “Hall” or “Hollingshed;” and their morality and sentiments from
-“the Seven Wise Masters,” or the “Seven Champions of Christendom.”[224]
-
-<g>Holidays.</g>--In such a state of life the set holidays were glorious eras;
-the anticipation, the enjoyment, the remembrance of a single Christmas
-or birthday, furnished matter for a whole month of happiness. On such an
-occasion the lord of the manor was more than a king, as he proceeded
-with his family through the crowds of assembled peasants, to witness
-their games of merriment, and feats of agility or strength; for his
-smile inspired the competitors with double strength or swiftness; while
-the prize acquired a tenfold value because it was he who bestowed it. At
-evening, his bounty was expressed by oxen roasted whole, and puncheons
-of mighty ale, with which he feasted the crowd; while his house was
-thrown open to the throng of his more immediate acquaintances and
-dependents. After the feast, his hall was cleared for dancing; three
-fiddlers and a piper struck up; and as the “mirth and fun grew fast and
-furious,” the strong oaken floor was battered and ploughed in all
-directions by the hobnailed shoes of those who danced with all their
-might, and with all their hearts.[225]
-
-<g>Such</g> was the life of an old country gentleman when <g>James</g> succeeded to
-the crown of England. But these habits, the last relics of the
-simplicity of the olden times, did not long survive that event. Tidings
-of the gay doings at court, and the wonderful good fortune of the royal
-favourites, reached the ears of the aristocratic rustics; and from that
-moment rural occupations and village maypoles lost their charm. The
-young were impatient to repair to the metropolis; and the old were
-obliged to yield to the prevailing fashion. With all the fierce
-impetuosity of novices, rural esquires, and well-dowried country widows,
-rushed into the pleasures and excesses of a town life; and thus, with a
-rapidity hitherto unknown in England, and at which moralists became
-giddy, ancient manners were soon abandoned; fortunes, that had
-accumulated for generations, vanished; the hereditary estates of
-centuries became the property of men of yesterday; and the time-honoured
-names of some of the most ancient families disappeared from the scroll
-of English heraldry, and soon ceased to be remembered.[226]
-
-When <g>Charles</g> came to the throne, “the coldness of his character and his
-decorous habits discountenanced those coarse and profligate excesses;
-and the courtiers endeavoured to conform to something like the rules of
-external decency. A general sobriety of demeanour succeeded.” “But, as
-the stern ascetic Puritans grew into power, and advanced to the
-destruction of the monarchy with prayer and fasting, the court party
-soon became eager to distinguish themselves by an entirely opposite
-behaviour. All the excesses of the former reign were resumed; and
-Charles found himself unable to restrain, or even to rebuke, his
-adherents, who swore, drank, brawled, and intrigued, to show their
-hatred of the enemy, and their devotedness to the royal cause.”[227]
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Life at Raglan.</g>[228]--Down to this eventful period, the castellated
-mansion of Raglan had continued to bask in the sunshine of prosperity.
-Its halls were frequented by the elite of rank and station, and by many
-of that intellectual aristocracy whose genius threw so much lustre upon
-that and the preceding reign. The Earl, whose revenues were princely,
-lived in a style becoming the representative of an illustrious race; and
-while he observed great state, and gave sumptuous banquets to the
-magnates of the land, he did not neglect the humble votaries of the
-Muse.
-
-<g>Household.</g>--The following record is taken from a “List of the Household
-and method of living at Raglan Castle,” previous to the visit of <g>Charles</g>
-the First:--
-
-“At eleven o’clock in the forenoon the castle gates were shut, and the
-tables laid--two in the dining-room; three in the hall; one in Mrs.
-Watson’s apartment, where the chaplains eat (Sir Toby Matthews being the
-first); and two in the housekeeper’s room for the ladies’ women.
-
-“<g>First.--The Earl</g> entered the dining-room, attended by his gentlemen. As
-soon as he was seated, Sir Ralph Blackstone, steward of the house,
-retired. The comptroller, Mr. Holland, attended with his staff, as did
-the sewer, Mr. Blackburne; the daily waiters, Mr. Clough, Mr. Selby, Mr.
-Scudamore; and many gentlemen’s sons, with estates from two hundred to
-seven hundred pounds a year, who were bred up in the castle; my lady’s
-gentlemen of the chamber, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Fox. At the first table sat
-the noble family, and such of the nobility as came there.
-
-“<g>Second.</g>--At the second table in the dining-room sat knights and
-honourable gentlemen attended by footmen.
-
-“<g>Hall.</g>--In the hall, at the first table, sat Sir Ralph Blackstone,
-steward; the comptroller, Mr. Holland; the secretary; the master of the
-horse, Mr. Dolowar; the master of the fish-ponds, Mr. Andrews; my Lord
-Herbert’s preceptor, Mr. Adams; with such gentlemen as came there under
-the degree of a knight, attended by footmen, and plentifully served with
-wine.
-
-“<g>Second Hall.</g>--At the second table in the hall--served from my lord’s
-table, and with other hot meats--sat the sewer, with the gentlemen
-waiters and pages, to the number of twenty-four.
-
-“<g>Third.</g>--At the third table, in the hall, sat the clerk of the kitchen,
-with the yeomen officers of the house, two grooms of the chamber and
-others.
-
-“<g>Other Officers</g> of the household were--chief auditor, Mr. Smith; clerk
-of the accounts, George Whithorn; purveyor of the castle, Mr. Salisbury;
-ushers of the hall, Mr. Moyle and Mr. Cooke; the closet-keeper;
-gentleman of the chapel, Mr. Davies; keeper of the records; master of
-the wardrobe; master of the armoury; master-grooms of the stable for the
-war horses, twelve; master of the hounds; master falconer; porter, and
-his man; two butchers; two keepers of the home park; two keepers of the
-red deer park; footmen, grooms, and other menial servants to the number
-of one hundred and fifty. Some of the footmen were brewers and bakers.
-
-“<g>Out-officers</g> were--the steward of Raglan, William Jones, Esq.; the
-governor of Chepstow Castle, Sir Nicholas Kemys, Bart.;[229] housekeeper
-of Worcester House, in London; James Redman, Esq.; thirteen bailiffs;
-two counsel for the bailiffs to have recourse to; solicitor, Mr. John
-Smith.”[230]
-
-Among other distinguished individuals, who at this time filled offices
-in the household of Raglan, was the Earl’s--and soon afterwards the
-Marquess’s--chaplain, Dr. Thomas Bayly; to whom we owe those amusing
-“Apophthegms of the Marquess of Worcester,” published at the
-Restoration, and from which we take the following farce, in the
-chaplain’s own words, as presenting a characteristic picture of the
-times, when the Castle had become the scene of extraordinary
-festivity:--
-
-“I cannot tell whether it was upon the marriage of my Lord Edward
-Herbert with the Earl Caernarvon’s sister, or the Lord Montague with the
-Marquis of Worcester’s daughter, that there happened this merrie
-passage, or mock wedding, as an echo to the voices that were heard in
-Hymeneus’ chappel, between those lovely couple--think which you
-please--who had newly left being wholly themselves, by being half of
-each other; viz., one of those two pair of lovers had no sooner united
-two hearts into one, and had seated themselves by one of the too many
-proprieties belonging unto the honourable state of matrimony, viz. the
-boord; but this Tom Deputy, an old bachelour, chanced to cast his eye
-upon a pretty piece of waiting-woman, one of the appurtenances to this
-honourable bride. Her, this jovial Tom, having whetted his wit by the
-side of the marriage-bowle, fixes upon, being enabled sufficiently
-thereby to follow any humour, as a fit subject to make their ladiships
-some sport; which happened to be so suitable to the occasion, and so
-well performed, that it soon captivated the cares also of all the
-masculine nobility.
-
-“Thus encountering the faire bride--‘Madam, you have the prettiest piece
-of necessity yonder, at the side-table, that I know not how any man can
-be without a wife that may have her for asking. Madam, will you give her
-me? I protest I will marry her, and fancy myself to be a lord, and
-herself a lady. “My mind to me a kingdom is;” which shall make her a
-sufficient joynture.’
-
-“‘Tom, Tom,’ said the Marquess, ‘such men as you and I, whose joynts are
-enfeebled with the strokes of many years, must not think to winne young
-maides, by promising to make them joyntures of the mind. But will you
-make her deputy of Deputy Hall? and landlady of all the land that is
-belonging to it? and Mrs. of all the stock that is upon the land, and
-goods that is within the house? Answer me this, and then you shall heare
-what my daughter and her woman will say unto you.’
-
-“‘With all my heart,’ said Tom; ‘and all the hoggs and poultry that is
-about the house to boote; and she shall sleep upon six feather beds.’
-
-“‘Why, then, it shall be a match,’ said the lady, ‘with all my heart.’
-
-“‘Give me your hand, madam,’ sayes Deputy; ‘I will have her, if there be
-no more evills in the world.’ And presently he makes his addresses to
-the pritty little gentlewoman of the said table; who had heard all the
-discourse, and was persuaded, then, upon his approach, to answer his
-humour with a condescention at the first word, and informed that he was
-an old rich bachelor; he accosting her after this manner--‘This pritty
-moppit, now thy lady hath given her consent that I shall have thee, if
-thou saist so too, we’ll be married as soon as they.’
-
-“‘With all my heart, and thank you too,’ said the young gentlewoman.
-
-“‘By my troth, a match,’ said he; ‘give me thy hand--‘tis done. I’ll
-break such a jest this day as I never broke in my life.’
-
-“‘Aye; but do not break your promise,’ said the gentlewoman.
-
-“‘What! before all this company?’ said Deputy; ‘that were a shame.’
-
-“Up he goes again to the lady, and tells her that they were agreed. My
-lady drank to him upon the same condition. He pledged her, and wished
-the wine might be his poison if he did not marry her after dinner. The
-lady, willing to prefer her woman to such a fortune, held him to his
-word, and required performance of his promise, giving her many and high
-commendations.
-
-“Tom went not from any part of his promise, onely the time excepted; and
-that in regard he meant to buy himself some wedding clothes. The
-Marquess, willing to remove that obstacle, told him that he thought
-_his_ clothes would fit him; and bid him goe unto his wardrope, and take
-what he had a mind to. ‘Give me your key,’ said Tom. It was delivered
-unto him. Up went he, and then came down with his bever hat, sattin
-cloke, laid with plush, dawb’d with a gold and silver lace, suite of the
-same, silk stockings, with roses and garters suitable, inside and
-outside, capope, all as brave as if he carried a lordship on his back.
-
-“The lady-bride then takes her woman aside, and dresses her in one of
-her richest and newest gownes--that should have made every day of that
-week sensible of an exchange--with all things answerable thereunto; not
-without some store of slight jewels; and brings her down, as glorious as
-the morne, that breaks from the eastern hill, and chases night away.
-
-“They look upon one another, and all upon them both. Tom cries out, ‘I
-had best be in good earnest, my lady.’ Said my lady, ‘I thought you had
-been in sober sadness.’ ‘Neither, madam,’ said the new bridegroome.
-‘But, old Tom, I hope,’ said the lady, ‘you will not make me take all
-this paines for nothing?’ No, by no means,’ saith he; ‘if ever we
-repent, we will sell our fine cloathes and buy cattle! It is better
-being a lord for a week, than a slave for ever. Come thy wayes,’ quoth
-he--
-
- ‘How happy is the wooing
- That is not long a doing!’
-
-“Well--married they were, in the greatest pomp and ceremony; and the
-Queen of Beauty took delight in leading the eyes of the vulgar, which by
-this time were altogether fixed on the ladye of the May. Tom acted his
-scene of mirth in the hall--which proved to be a thing of that
-convenience, as if it had been an act of some set policie, to keep the
-crowd out of the parlour that the masquers might have roome enough to
-dance in.
-
-“At last, when the masque was ended, and time had brought in supper, the
-‘Cushine’ led the dance, out of the parlour into the hall, and saluted
-the old-new-made bridegroome and his lady, leading them into the
-parlour, to a table which was furnished with the same allowance that was
-allotted for all the nobles, where they were soon forced to sit down
-first--Tom taking upon him as much good cheer as they could give him.
-
-“In fine, supper being ended, the Marquess of Worcester asked the
-Lady-bride, ‘If she had a hundred pounds about her?’ She answered, ‘No,
-my lord, but I can send for as much.’ ‘I pray do,’ said the Marquess;
-‘but it must be all in gold.’ She sent for it, and presented it to her
-father; who pulled out another purse of an hundred pieces, and put the
-two hundred pieces in the bason, saying, ‘Madam, if you do not give
-earnest, Deputy will tell you in the morning, that he married your woman
-but in jest.’ Whereupon some gave fifty, others forty; some gave twenty,
-others ten; the least gave five gold pieces, who sat at the table--in
-all, £700. The apparel and other gifts, amounting to no lesse a value
-than one thousand pounds; which so transported the old man, that he
-protested, ‘that now he was in the humour, he would marry all the
-waiting gentlewomen they had; one every day in the week, as long as the
-wedding lasted.’ My Lord Marquess replied, ‘Ay, but Tom, you should have
-added, “at this rate.”’...
-
-“Not to be too tedious, the man--what with bounty, and what with that
-which was as free to every man, as was their purses unto him, which was
-good wine--the man was not himself when he should have gone to bed.
-Which being related to my lord, his lordship took occasion to tell the
-company the story of the beggar, who was made believe he did but dreame
-of the happiness which really happened; and, thereupon, the marquess was
-desirous to make experiment whether it could be related in the person of
-old Thomas. In order whereto, he gave command that my friend Thomas
-should be disrobed of his neat wedding garment, the rest of his fine
-clothes taken from him, and himself carried unto his old lodging in the
-porter’s lodge; and his wife to respite the solemnisation of the
-marriage, until his comportment should deserve so faire an
-admission--the which was done accordingly.
-
-“The next morning made the experiment to answer the height of all their
-expectations; for news was brought unto the Marquess--all the rest of
-the lords and ladies standing by--that Tom took all yesterday’s work but
-for a dream; or, at least, seemed to do so to humour the fancy.... But I
-should be endlesse,” says Bayly, “if I should relate unto you the sport
-that this fellow made.
-
-“To conclude: The Marquess called them both before him, and delivered
-unto them the money, with many good exhortations to them both, thus
-moralizing upon the premises”--in a strain very characteristic of that
-day:--
-
-“‘That which was first in intention, is oftentimes, both with God and
-man, the last in execution. As, for example, God had, before all worlds,
-determined to show his love for mankind, by wedding his onely Sonne to
-his Church; so
-
-[Illustration: _The Paved Stone Court._
-
-Raglan Castle.]
-
-that thus much we have gained already, viz., that the marriage that was
-made in paradise between Adam and Eve, though it was the first in time,
-yet it was but secondary to the first intention; and he that said,
-“Before Abraham was, I am,” was also before Adam was; and though the
-first marriage was but a type of the second, yet the second, according
-to the aforesaid intention, was an antecedent to the first. God, who
-having an intention to wed his Sonne to his beloved spouse, the Church,
-gave way to this type, or figure, or--to bring the similitude a little
-homer--mock-wedding, which was between Adam and Eve, whom to make appear
-more worthy and glorious in the eyes of his beloved, and all other
-creatures, he arrayed with full majesty, and the robe of righteousness.
-His mercy--the lady and empress of all the glorious attributes of
-God--arrais this type and figure of his Church with the robe of
-innocence, and gives them both a large proportion of his grace. These
-blessings, Adam, by tasting the forbidden fruit, lost with his paradise,
-and slept in death. Gentlemen,’ concluded the Marquess, ‘I will not make
-any application hereof, lest I may seeme to mistrust your wisdomes; but
-I have nothing to say to the woman.’”[231]
-
-The preceding is certainly a very curious passage in the history of
-
- A potent, grave, and reverend signior.
-
-It reminds one of some parts of Don Quixote and of Rabelais--all but the
-sermon at the close--which may have been imitated from one of the old
-“Mysteries” then in vogue. But to these “Apophthegms” and Dr. Bayly, the
-“martial chaplain” of the household, we may return in a subsequent
-portion of the work. In the meantime, we shall take a survey of Raglan
-Castle, as it now appears, and then proceed to a narrative of the Royal
-Visits.
-
-<g>Architectural Details.</g>--Of the strength, beauty, and attractions of this
-stronghold--which we are now to examine with some degree of
-minuteness--a quaint old poet[232] has thus recorded his admiration:--
-
- A famous Castle fine
- That <g>Raglan</g> hight, stands moated almost round;
- Made of free-stone, upreight, as straight as line,
- Whose workmanship in beauty doth abound,
- With curious knots, wrought all with edged tool:
- The stately Tower that looks o’er pond and poole;
- The fountaine trim, that runs both day and night,
- Doth yeald in shew a rare and noble sight.
-
-This description, of course, applies to times long before the guns of
-Fairfax had made a breach in the Yellow Tower; and while the Castle,
-with all its regal appendages, was the cherished abode of its
-illustrious owner--a repertorium of the fine arts, and the seat of
-unbounded hospitality. At no period of its history, however--not even
-while it was inhabited by worth and beauty, enriched with the precious
-works of art, and seemed to enclose within its walls an earthly
-paradise--at no period did it ever present so many features to fascinate
-the mind and eye of Taste as at this moment.
-
-And “Why is it”--inquires one of the ablest writers of the day--“Why is
-it that we feel so poetical a sympathy with the great men of ages long
-past? Why do <g>castles</g> please most when they are dismantled, and palaces
-when they are in ruins? Why is an old battle-field rather improved than
-otherwise by a crop of standing corn? Because we can _imagine_ nobler
-things than we can _see_. Because the heroic deed, not vile flesh and
-blood, is the impersonation of the hero. We should be rather displeased
-at meeting the Iron Duke walking to a pedometer on the field of
-Waterloo. We would doubt whether on the plain of Marathon we could be
-reconciled even to the ghost of Miltiades. Greatness shines more
-brightly when it is abstracted from the man.”
-
-We will now, as proposed, take the building in detail, beginning with
-the grand entrance, and proceeding onward, until we have completed the
-circuit of the walls, the inner apartments, battlements, terraces, and
-outworks. On these prominent features we shall dilate with more or less
-minuteness according to the interest of the subject--but always
-directing the reader’s attention more especially to those portions which
-have been chosen as subjects of illustration.
-
-<g>Grand Entrance.</g>--Here a magnificent and imposing spectacle bursts upon
-the eye--three pentagonal towers, crowned with battlements, and bearing
-on their mutilated outline marks of the cannon-shot directed against it
-by the besiegers. These, however, are less defaced than any other
-portions of the ruin, and are now invested with a luxuriant mantle of
-ivy, lichen, and parasitical plants, as if Nature interposed to protect
-the venerable edifice from further outrage and decay. In the gateway are
-grooves for two portcullises. The two pentagonal towers on the right and
-left were appropriated to the inferior offices of the castle.
-Immediately behind these were rooms occupied by the garrison, or
-household troops. Adjoining these on the right, was the third pentagonal
-tower, called the Closet Tower; and on the left again were the officers’
-apartments, which were demolished during the operations of the siege.
-
-<g>Gateway.</g>--Between the two foremost of the pentagonal towers,
-above-named, the great portal--a work of imposing strength and fine
-gothic proportions--opens into the second court. Halting under the
-archway, the curious visitor will examine, with mingled pleasure and
-surprise, the fine architectural details; the groined ceiling; its lofty
-span; its fine proportions, in which grace, strength, and beauty are
-eminently combined: while the deep grooves, worn smooth by the working
-of the double portcullis, show how readily this hospitable gateway
-could be transformed, when occasion required, into an impenetrable
-barrier, and employed as a destructive engine of war. The old <g>apartments</g>
-in the gateway tower are correctly represented in the following
-woodcut--
-
-[Illustration]
-
-In a vaulted room in the east tower there is a remarkable echo; and
-thither musical parties frequently resort during the fine season to
-spread their pic-nic, and exercise their vocal powers. This apartment is
-considered to have been the prison to which captives, or hostages of
-distinction, were formerly consigned;[233] and certainly no place in the
-Castle presents an air of more “hopeless security.” In the court
-below--as represented in a former woodcut--several pieces of ancient
-armour, and some heavy cannon shot, are shown to the visitor, as
-illustrative of the times to which they belong. The next compartment is
-
-<g>The Paved Court.</g>--All the buildings on the right of this court,
-particularly the Closet Tower--the third pentagonal tower at the
-entrance--suffered greatly from the enemy’s cannon during the siege; and
-here, on the north-east side of the wall, the breach was effected that
-hastened the capitulation. The Pitched, or Paved Court, the area of
-which was once the parade ground, thronged with armed men, as they
-joined in some military fête, or entered on some warlike preparation for
-the siege, is now surrounded by only crumbling walls, and as verdant as
-a bowling-green. The towering battlements are all richly festooned with
-ivy. Every crevice sends forth its trees and shrubs, that seem to
-luxuriate in the old mortar; and under the same canopy of leaves, as
-already noticed, birds of song and birds of ill omen congregate
-together. At the extremity of the Paved Court, on the right, as we
-proceed westward, and from the point marked by a seat under a shady
-ash-tree, the visitor obtains an imposing view of the architecture on
-the south side, which, with all its dilapidations, is eminently
-picturesque. “Its boundary is there hung with the richest tapestry that
-Nature can weave--a mantling vestment of evergreen--through which
-appears, in grand proportions, the majestic window of the Hall of
-State.” This is a prominent feature in the steel engraving.
-
-<g>The Kitchen.</g>--At the extremity of the court, and opposite to the portal,
-is an archway leading to the kitchen, which occupies the area of a
-pentagonal tower, projecting beyond the walls northward, and of narrow
-compass, but great solidity and strength. In an office adjoining is an
-extensive fireplace, the arch of which, thirteen feet in the span, is
-formed by two massive stones. The wide capacious chimney is worthy of
-notice. Beneath the kitchen is a room in perfect preservation, called
-the Wet Larder, which may be easily reached by a subterranean passage.
-From the kitchen a passage leads southward across the lower end of the
-Pitched Court to the Buttery, and this again to the common
-
-<g>Dining-Hall</g>, or Parlour.--This apartment measures forty-nine feet in
-length by twenty-one in breadth, with an opening at the east end into a
-narrow cross passage, which also communicates, by three openings or
-doors, with the great Hall, which lies between the Pitched Court and the
-Chapel, and occupies nearly the whole space between this dining-hall and
-the Officers’ Tower, at the great entrance. Adjoining these is the
-
-<g>Baronial Hall.</g>--This stately apartment, running parallel with the
-ancient chapel, occupies the interval between the two inner courts, and
-measures sixty-six feet in length by twenty-eight in breadth. The chief
-indications of its original grandeur consist in the majestic
-proportions--all of elegant design and masterly execution. The great
-bay-window is a feature that cannot fail to excite admiration; and were
-no other left entire, it would serve to convey a very distinct picture
-of that feudal magnificence which was in character with the splendour of
-its architecture. The fireplace, ten feet wide by eight feet high, is
-well adapted to the size of the apartment, and to those times when,
-instead of pit-coal, the branches or bole of a tree blazed on the winter
-hearth.
-
-<g>Arms.</g>--The arms of the Marquisate of Worcester, cut in stone, but much
-obliterated, adorn the eastern wall; for the noble badge was an
-offensive object to the republicans; and, on their taking possession of
-the castle, it was probably
-
-[Illustration: _The Baronial Hall._
-
-Raglan Castle.]
-
-used as a target,[234] and thus wantonly defaced. Over the fire-place,
-as shown in the engraving, is the letter W. worked in brick.
-
-<g>Roof.</g>--The geometrical roof, which once covered this noble hall, is
-allowed by all writers on the subject to have been of admirable
-construction. It was of Irish oak of the best quality, nicely adjusted,
-elaborately carved, and so ingeniously framed and fastened together,
-that the whole appeared as firm as if it had been chiselled out of a
-solid block; yet withal so lofty, so light and airy in appearance, that
-it seemed rather to be suspended from the sky above, than to rest upon
-the corbel heads and walls which it covered and adorned. In the centre
-was a gothic louvre adorned with painted glass, through which the
-descending light streamed upon the assembled guests--their arms,
-dresses, and accoutrements, in all the colours of the rainbow.
-
-At the lower end of the hall is the Buttery, an apartment, thirty-two
-feet long by eighteen broad; and attached to this is another of equal
-dimensions, called the Pantry.
-
-<g>Officers’ Barracks.</g>--Opposite the door of the great Hall, on the south,
-was a range of apartments, used as lodgings for the superior officers of
-the garrison. During the siege these were razed to the ground by the
-enemy’s artillery; so that the area on which they stood is now
-confounded with that of the Fountain Court. The latter apartments are
-distinct from those already described.
-
-<g>The Chapel.</g>--The Baronial Chapel stands in the rear of the apartments
-named. It is a long narrow structure, running parallel with the great
-Hall, and forming the north side of the Fountain Court; but the vestiges
-that remain convey no distinct notion of its architectural style and
-decorations; which were, no doubt, in harmony with other sacred
-buildings of that age and its character of a baronial chapel. If,
-however, we may form any opinion from two rudely carved stone
-effigies[235] projecting from the wall on the north side, and nearly
-covered with ivy, we should form but a very unfavourable estimate of its
-ornamental sculpture: unless, indeed, the deformity they exhibit be the
-result of wilful violence; and as they are at a good height, and not
-approachable in the ordinary way, we had no means of ascertaining the
-fact by close inspection. But the corbel heads, from which the arches
-sprung, do not appear to justify a more favourable opinion; for the
-workmanship exhibits neither skill in the design, nor spirit in the
-execution. The Chapel, therefore, was of a date perhaps much anterior to
-the surrounding buildings, and coeval with that of the Keep, or “Tower
-of Gwent,” a work of the eleventh century.
-
-<g>The Fountain Court.</g>--This court was formerly adorned with an equestrian
-statue, mounted on a lofty pedestal, and embellished with a
-fountain--the water for which was brought at great expense from the
-neighbouring hills--and, after being thrown up in jets-d’eau, was
-conveyed into the fish-ponds adjoining, so as to combine in its progress
-the useful with the ornamental. But the pedestal, the marble basin, and
-the statue, with every other fragment of the structure, have
-disappeared. The pipes that conveyed the water have been ploughed up in
-the fields adjoining the castle; but the classic beauty of the fountain
-lives in the history and traditions of the place: and from a laughable
-incident related in the “Apophthegms,” and which will be found in
-another portion of this work, we may infer that the Marquess of
-Worcester took great pleasure in this kind of embellishments.[236]
-
-<g>South-west Tower.</g>--Ascending the flight of steps commencing at the grand
-entrance, on the south side of the court, we were conducted through the
-desolate apartments, known traditionally as those occupied by Charles
-the First, after his flight from Naseby. This tower, and the whole range
-of apartments connected with it, are in a state of complete
-dilapidation; and were it not for the wooden scaffolding that secures
-and facilitates the visitor’s progress, a tour of the ramparts would be
-impracticable. A lady, we were told, who happened to be near this spot
-during a rather high wind, was blown over the wall; but an umbrella,
-which she had fortunately open in her hand, acted like a parachute, and
-broke her fall; and thus she alighted among the shrubs beneath without
-sustaining any material injury.
-
-In these royal apartments, we were shown a tunnel, like a chimney, in
-the wall of the king’s chamber, communicating with the outer rampart, by
-means of which, in case of surprise or danger, the royal fugitive could
-have been lowered in a basket, and enabled to make his escape beyond the
-walls. Had a similar contrivance existed at Carisbrook, it would have
-served his purpose better. But there he was indeed a prisoner. Here he
-had the lives and services of a whole garrison at his command; with
-Worcester himself, the most devoted friend the king ever possessed, to
-provide against every danger, and supply every want.
-
-A light and elegant stone window is here pointed out as that to which
-the king often resorted, on account of the richly variegated and
-extensive view which it commands of hill and dale, wood and water;
-trees, hamlets, and farmhouses, covering a rich and well-cultivated
-tract of land. These natural beauties are as fresh as ever; while the
-splendid building, from which he then
-
-[Illustration: _Gateway in the Fountain Court._
-
-Raglan Castle.]
-
-contemplated the scene, is reduced to a lonely ruin--thus apostrophized
-by the muse of Bloomfield:--
-
- “Majestic Raglan! harvests wave
- Where thundering hosts their watchword gave;
- When cavaliers, with downcast eye,
- Struck the last flag of loyalty!”
-
-<g>The Cellars.</g>--These subterranean receptacles are of vast extent; and, in
-massive strength and proportions--like a crypt under a cathedral--are
-worthy of the noble edifice that covers them. In times of danger, and
-particularly during the siege, they appear to have served the manifold
-purposes of cellars, storehouses, larders, magazines, and muniments of
-war, with provisions for a numerous garrison and household.
-
-At the north-eastern part of the court, the buildings were nearly all
-mutilated, or thrown down by the enemy’s batteries, which, from a rising
-ground in the line of his approach, played with destructive force upon
-this portion of the walls. Fragments, however, still remain to show the
-predominant features of the Castle--its strength and beauty. From this
-point, we are told, communication with the citadel was secured by means
-of a sumptuous arched bridge, with a gate to correspond. But of these no
-distinct vestiges are left. The “sumptuous bridge” is replaced by a
-rustic structure of wood; the moat it spans is half filled with decayed
-vegetables and debris; and the water, that formerly enclosed the Keep
-like a wall of crystal, is now covered with a sluggish green surface,
-that exhibits a very different kind of life.
-
-In other parts of the moat, however, it is deep and transparent, mostly
-so at the south corner, where masses of verdure--with a particularly old
-and very picturesque tree, as shown in the illustration--are reflected
-as if in a mirror. This is probably the most interesting point of view
-in the whole Castle. Of a still summer evening, about sunset, the
-outline of the gray towers and battlements, with all their contrasted
-features of light and shade, beauty and decay--here fringed with wood,
-and there displaying honourable scars--sleeps on the face of the water
-like an inverted picture. The scene, with all its singular
-accompaniments, has then a dreaminess of romance about it, similar to
-that which the Fata Morgana conjures up on the Straits of Messina--but
-with this important difference, that the scenery here, however romantic,
-is real and substantial; that all we behold is the work of Art, over
-which Nature has only thrown her splendid illusion of cloud, sunshine,
-and exuberant vegetation.
-
-<g>Tower of Gwent.</g>--This tall and massive structure, built as if to defy
-the united force of time and violence, forms the Citadel or Donjon-Tower
-of the fortress; and points very expressively to those remote times,
-when the peace of a great man’s household depended on the strength of
-his walls, and the number and courage of his retainers. In a direct
-line with this Castle were three gates; the first of brick, from which,
-at the distance of one hundred and eighty feet, and with an ascent of
-many steps, was the White Gate, built of square stone. At some distance
-on the left stands the <g>Melin y Gwent</g>, or Yellow Tower of Gwent, which
-for strength, height, and workmanship, surpassed most other towers, if
-not every other, in England or Wales. It had six sides, each thirty-two
-feet wide, and ten feet thick, built of square stone, and in height five
-stories. Its battlements, never meant to resist cannon shot, are only
-eight inches thick; but so symmetrical and compactly set, that they
-appear as if cut out of a solid block. During the siege--hereafter to be
-described--this portion was soon demolished by the batteries directed
-against it by Fairfax; but his heaviest guns, eighteen and twenty
-pounders, took no more effect on the body of the tower, than if they had
-opened upon a solid rock.[237] Our ancestors appear to have been
-particularly well skilled in the composition of their cement, which in
-Raglan is now nearly as hard as the stones it holds together. When the
-Goths and Vandals of the country--the blind instruments of Fairfax--were
-summoned to demolish with their pickaxes what the besiegers’ cannon had
-spared, their republican zeal was attended with little success; for
-“after battering of the top,” they were obliged, as we shall see, to
-desist from that method as fruitless, and adopt other means for its
-destruction.[238]
-
-This Tower communicated with the Castle by means of an elegant arched
-bridge encircled by an outer wall, with six arched and embattled
-turrets, all of square stone. Adjoining this was a deep moat, thirty
-feet broad, and supplied by a clear running stream, from which the
-water-works, so much the fashion in those days, threw up columns of
-water as high as the Castle battlements. Along the edge of the moat, was
-a commodious sunken walk, embellished with grotto-work, statues of the
-Twelve Cæsars, and otherwise ornamented with the choicest productions of
-Nature and Art. This was the walk to which the family could resort at
-all seasons, whether for exercise or meditation. Within the walls and
-the green adjoining--then the bowling-green, and twelve feet higher than
-the walk--was a garden plat, the size of which was proportioned to the
-tower. Next to this plat--as shown in the accompanying
-ground-plan--stood the Barn.
-
-In casting the eye over the whole circuit of these buildings, the mind
-is astonished at the immense labour which must have been exerted to
-collect together such a quantity of materials of various descriptions.
-And here it may
-
-[Illustration: _The Moat._
-
-Raglan Castle.]
-
-be observed that the majority of these baronial mansions are situated
-on, or near, the bank of some navigable river, for the purpose of
-defending some important pass or fortress, by means of which the
-carriage of stone is attended with comparatively little expense or
-trouble; but in the present instance, there is no navigable river nearer
-than the Wye, from which the Castle is distant at Monmouth ten, and at
-Chepstow twelve miles.[239] And what is very remarkable, there is no
-quarry in the neighbourhood from which the stone employed in building
-the Castle could have been procured. It is of a light grey colour, and
-very hard; but the name of the quarter from which it was taken is still
-a matter of vague conjecture. No such stone as that used for the
-chimney-pieces of Raglan is now to be found in Monmouthshire. Such is
-the neatness and exactness with which the facing stones are laid, that
-they exhibit the same perfect appearance as if the artist had but just
-left the scaffold. “The bricks which compose the south wall are
-extremely well baked, and of a quality not less durable than that of the
-stone.”
-
-In the present day, we can form but a very imperfect notion of the
-extent to which the original outworks were carried. When the demesnes of
-ancient families are let out as farms, the tenant soon brings about a
-revolution of ancient purposes. He adapts the whole to modern uses--to
-whatever will best enable him to pay his rent. He calculates how many
-bushels of potatoes will grow on the slope; how much the lawn will yield
-to the plough, how much to pasturage; and how much grass may be annually
-shorn from the old Bowling-green.
-
-So has it fared with the renowned fortress of Raglan.[240] With little
-interest in its history, little reverence for its ancient lords, every
-successive tenant, during a long series of years, has only studied how
-to turn it to the best advantage. Its ancient gardens have been
-obliterated; its lawns converted into pasture; its fountains, streams,
-and fish-ponds have been dried up; its materials carted away to erect
-some farmer’s homestead; its walls, that so stoutly resisted the enemy’s
-shot, and returned it with interest, seem to feel their degradation, and
-strive to hide it under a mantle of ivy.[241] Now, however, the grounds
-are kept in good order; while every feature and fragment of the
-venerable ruin are preserved with exemplary care by the resident warden,
-who happily possesses a taste for archæology.
-
-The accompanying <g>ground-plan</g> will enable the reader to trace the various
-apartments of the <g>Castle</g> in the same order in which they are described,
-and to follow with more interest the details of the <g>Siege</g>, upon which we
-are now to enter.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- 1 Keep, or Yellow Tower.
- 2 Chambers destroyed in the Siege.
- 3 Great Hall.
- 4 Parlour, or small Dining-Room.
- 5 Kitchen.
- 6 Gateway and Staircase.
- 7 Galleries and State-Rooms.
- 8 Chapel.
- 9 Gateway leading to the Bowling-Green.
-10 Spot formerly crossed by a bridge.
-11 Breach made during the Siege.
-12 On the upper story is King <g>Charles’</g> window.
-13 Moat surrounding the <g>Keep</g>.
-]
-
- “Our Donjon-tower is stout and tall,
- Each rampart mann’d and steady;
- And loyal hearts, from every wall,
- Shout--‘_Roundheads!_ we are ready!’
-
- Then here’s a health to <g>Charles</g> our King;
- And eke to noble <g>Worcester</g>!
- To each, to-morrow’s fight shall bring
- New loyalty and lustre!
-
- Then hoist the Royal Standard high!
- And crown our <g>Chief</g> with laurels!
- And where’s the man that would not die
- In combating for <g>Charles</g>?” &c. &c.
-
-We have next to take a brief survey of that portion of the Revolutionary
-movements, with which the history of <g>Raglan</g> and its loyal garrison are
-so closely associated.
-
-“The Parliament had now,” says Lord Clarendon, “such footing in
-Pembrokeshire, that many of the principal gentlemen had declared for
-them; and the harbour of Milford Haven gave their fleet opportunity to
-give them all supplies and relief.” This being the state of those parts,
-
-<g>The Lord Herbert</g>, eldest son of the Marquess of Worcester, not only
-offered but desired to receive that command, and engaged himself “not
-only to secure it from the opposition and malignity of the other party;
-but before the spring to raise such a strength of horse and foot, and to
-provide such an equipage to march with, that might reduce Gloucester,
-and then be added to the King’s army when he should be ready to take the
-field. And all this so much at his own charge, for his father, the
-Marquess, who was well able, would furnish the money--as was pretended
-upon the King’s promise to repay him when he should be restored to his
-own--that he would receive no part of the King’s revenue, or of such
-money as his Majesty could be able to draw for the supply of his own
-more immediate occasions.”
-
-This was a very great offer, and such as no man else could so reasonably
-make: for “the Marquess of Worcester was generally reputed the greatest
-mony’d man in the kingdom; and probably might not think it an unthrifty
-thing rather to disburse it for the King--who might be able to repay
-it--than to have it taken from him by the other party; which would be
-hardly questioned if they prevailed.”[242]
-
-The Lord Herbert himself “was a man of more than ordinary affection for
-the King; and one who, he was sure, would not betray him. For his
-religion, it might work upon himself, but would not disquiet other men.
-For though he were a Papist, he was never like to make others so; and
-his reputation and interest were very great with many gentlemen of those
-counties, who were not at all friends to his religion. It was to be
-hoped that the old grudges and prejudices, which had been rather against
-the house of Worcester and the Popish religion professed there, than
-against the person of their lord, would have been composed, and declined
-by his fair and gentle carriage towards all men--as of truth he was of a
-civil and obliging nature--and by the public-heartedness of those who,
-for the Cause and conscience’ sake would, it was hoped, sacrifice all
-trivial and private contentions to a union that must vindicate the
-religion, honour, and justice of the kingdom. Upon these reasons and
-these presumptions, the King granted such a commission as is
-before-mentioned to the Lord Herbert; who, with more expedition than was
-expected by many, or by others believed possible, raised a body of above
-fifteen hundred foot, and near five hundred horse, very well and
-sufficiently armed, which increased the merit of the service.”[243]
-
-Of the royalist army, raised and paid by the Marquess of Worcester, the
-command of the infantry was given to Major-General Lawley; that of the
-cavalry to Lord John Somerset, his second son; while Lord Herbert took
-the field as Commander-in-chief. Immediately on its being ascertained
-that Monmouth had declared for the Parliament, Lord Herbert placed
-himself at the head of a body of troops, and, joined by a party of
-volunteers from Goodrich, placed them behind a rising ground near the
-town. Here, with about forty intrepid followers, he proceeded to
-reconnoitre the enemy’s position, and surmounting an earthen mound which
-they had thrown up, he passed the ditch, and put the guard to the sword.
-They next succeeded in breaking the port chain and forced an entrance
-for the cavalry; then, joining their comrades, they entered the town at
-full gallop, and, surrounding the main guard, made them prisoners. “The
-result of this expedition was the capture of Col. Broughton, four
-captains, four lieutenants and ensigns, the republican committee, and
-all the private soldiers, with a considerable quantity of arms and
-ammunition.”
-
-<g>Raglan Castle</g> by this time had been put into a state of thorough
-defence, with a garrison of eight hundred men, many distinguished
-officers, and all the necessaries for maintaining a long and vigorous
-resistance. The Marquess himself--then on the verge of
-fourscore--infused by his presence and conversation an invincible spirit
-of loyalty into the garrison; and provisioned as it was, the place might
-well be viewed as almost impregnable.
-
-The clashing exploit of Lord Herbert, however, was speedily followed by
-a mortifying reverse; for as the <g>King’s</g> army was on its march to
-Gloucester, it was met near Coleford by a rabble force of disaffected
-peasantry, whose object was to obstruct the Royalists in their passage
-through the Forest of Dean; and a scuffle ensuing, Colonel Lawley, the
-captain-in-chief, was mortally wounded by a stone.[244] But order being
-restored, and Colonel Brett taking the command, the Royalists continued
-their march until arriving on the right bank of the Severn, they threw
-up defences at the “Vineyard”--the Bishop’s palace--and there fixed
-their quarters. But in the meantime, Sir William Waller, who was then
-with a regiment of horse on the borders of Worcestershire, put himself
-in motion, and by forced marches took up his position in front of the
-Royalists. This sudden apparition threw them into a panic; for,
-considering themselves in their newly-fortified position quite secure
-from all danger of surprise, Lord Herbert had gone to wait upon the <g>King</g>
-at Oxford; while his brother, Lord John, who commanded the horse, had
-set out with two or three troops on a reconnoitering party; so that no
-officer of skill or authority was left to direct or head the forces.
-All, therefore, was instant confusion in the camp; for, although their
-position was strong, well supplied with cannon, and certainly not to be
-stormed by any amount of cavalry that could be brought against them, yet
-they abandoned all thoughts of defence, and without striking a blow,
-surrendered to the first summons from Waller, on the simple grant of
-quarter.
-
-This unexpected disaster was a death-blow to the army of Worcester; “the
-raising of which was considered such an effort on the part of the
-<g>Marquess</g>, that it could hardly have been accomplished by any other
-nobleman in the realm.” That “mushroom army grew up and perished so
-soon, that the loss of it was scarce apprehended at Oxford, because the
-strength, or rather the numerical force, was not understood. But had the
-money,” as Lord Clarendon observes, “that was laid out in raising and
-paying a body of men, who never in the least degree advanced the royal
-interest, been brought into the King’s receipt at Oxford, and employed
-to the most advantage, the war might have been ended the next summer;
-for I have heard the Lord Herbert say, that those preparations, and
-others which by that defeat were rendered useless, cost above three
-score thousand pounds; the greatest part of which”--an enormous sum in
-those times--“was advanced by his father, the Marquess of
-Worcester.”[245] We now proceed to notice the
-
-<g>Royal Visit to Raglan</g>, which in its loyal devotion remained unshaken by
-these reverses; and the following anecdote gives us a favourable idea of
-the good humour, combined with courtly magnificence, with which Lord
-Worcester entertained the King on his first visit to the Castle. We
-relate the anecdote on the authority of the family Chaplain:--
-
-“Sir Thomas Somerset, brother to the Marquess, had a house which they
-called Troy--the principal residence of the Duke of Beaufort--within
-five miles of Raglan Castle. Sir Thomas Somerset being a neate man, both
-within and without his house, as he was a complete gentleman of himself
-every way, delighted very much in fine gardens and orchards, and in
-replenishing and ordering them with all the varieties of choicest fruits
-that could be got, and in defending his new plantations from the
-coldness of the climate by the benefit of art. The earth, that was so
-much made of, proved so grateful to him, that, at the same time that
-the King happened to be at his brother’s house at Raglan, it yielded him
-wherewithal to send his brother Worcester such a present, as at that
-time of the year and place, was able to make the King and all his lords
-believe that the Sovereign of the Planets, with all his prime electors,
-had new changed the Poles; and that <g>Wales</g>, the refuse and outcast of the
-fair garden of England, had fairer and riper fruit growing upon her
-stone rubbish, than England’s levels had in all her beds. This,
-presented to the Marquess, he could not suffer to be presented to the
-King by any other hands except his own. In comes the Marquess, at the
-latter end of supper, led by the arm, having such a goodly presence with
-him, that his being led became him, rather like some ceremony of state,
-than shew of impotence; and his slow pace, occasioned by his infirmity,
-expressed a Spanish gravity, rather than feebleness. Thus, with a silver
-dish in each hand filled with rarities, and a little basket upon his
-arm, as a supply, in case his Majesty should be over bountiful of his
-favours to the ladies that were standers by, he makes his third
-obeysance and thus speaks:--
-
-“‘May it please your Majesty, if the four elements could have been rob’d
-to have entertained your Majesty, I think I had done my duty; but I must
-do as I may. If I had sent to Bristol for some good things to entertain
-your Majesty, there had been no wonder at all. If I had procured from
-London some goodnesse that might have been acceptable to your Majesty,
-that had been no wonder indeed. But here I present your
-Majesty’--placing his dishes upon the table--‘with what neither came
-from Lincoln that was, nor London that is, nor York that is to be;[246]
-but I assure your Majesty that this present came from <g>Troy</g>.’ Whereupon
-the King smiled, and answered the Marquess--‘Truly, my lord, I have
-heard that corne[247] now growes where Troy town once stood; but I never
-thought there had grown any apricocks there before.’ Whereupon the
-Marquess replied--‘Anything to please your Majesty.’
-
-“The fruit was very much admired by every one, and it was acknowledged
-by all that were in the presence at that time, that they never saw the
-King served in greater state in all their lives. There were some about
-the King who followed my Lord Marquess when he departed the presence,
-and told his lordship that he would make a very good courtier. ‘Aye,’
-said the Marquess, ‘I remember I said one thing that may give you some
-hopes of me--Anything to please your Majesty.’”
-
-Of the Marquess’s farther proficiency in the art and mystery of a
-courtier, during the royal visit, we find this specimen:--
-
-“The Marquess had a mind to tell the King, as handsomely as he could, of
-some of his, as he thought, _faults_; and thus he continues his plot:
-Against the time that his Majesty was wont to give his lordship a visit,
-as commonly he used to do after dinner, his lordship had the book of
-John Gower lying before him on the table. The King casting his eye upon
-the book, told the Marquess he had never seen it before. ‘Oh!’ said the
-Marquis, ‘it is the book of books, which if your Majesty had been well
-versed in, it would have made you a king of kings.’ ‘Why so, my Lord?’
-said the King. ‘Why,’ said the Marquess, ‘here is set down how Aristotle
-brought up and instructed Alexander the Great in all the rudiments and
-principles belonging to a prince.’ And under the persons of Alexander
-and Aristotle, he read the King such a lesson, that all the standers by
-were amazed at his boldness; and the King supposing that he had gone
-farther than his text would have given him leave, asked the Marquess,
-‘If he said his lesson by _heart_, or whether he spoke out of the book?’
-The Marquess replied, ‘Sir, if you could read my heart, it may be you
-might find it there; or, if your Majesty please to get it by heart, I
-will lend you my book.’ Which latter proffer the King accepted of, and
-did borrow it. ‘Nay,’ said the Marquess, ‘I will lend it you upon these
-conditions: First, That you read it; secondly, That you make use of it.’
-But perceiving how that some of the new-made lords fretted, and bit
-their thumbs at certain passages in the Marquess’s discourse, he thought
-a little to please his Majesty, though he pleased not them, the men who
-were so much displeased already protesting unto his Majesty, that no man
-was so much for the absolute power of a king as Aristotle. Desiring the
-book out of the King’s hand, he told the King that he would show him one
-remarkable passage to that purpose, turning to that place that had this
-verse:--
-
- “A king can kill, a king can save,
- A king can make a lord a knave,
- And of a knave a lord also,” &c.
-
-“Whereupon there were divers new-made lords who slunk out of the roome,
-which the King observing, told the Marquess--‘My lord, at this rate, you
-will drive away all my Nobility!’
-
-“The Marquess replied--‘I protest unto your Majesty, I am as new a made
-lord as any of them all;[248] but I was never called knave and rogue so
-much in all my life, as I have been since I received this last honour,
-and why should not they bear their shares?’”
-
-But the Marquess, like many of the King’s party, seems to have wanted
-that undoubting confidence of success, which not unfrequently secures
-it. How different from the determined tone of a Cromwell is this:--“When
-the King first entered the gates of Raglan, the Marquess delivered his
-Majesty the keys, according to the ordinary custom; the King restoring
-of them to the Marquis, the Marquis said, ‘I beseech your Majesty to
-keep them, and you please, for they are in a good hand; but I am afraid
-that ere it be long, I shall be forced to deliver them into the hands of
-those who will spoil the compliment.’” And so it happened.
-
-The plans taken by the King, while residing in Raglan Castle, to
-persuade the Marquess of Worcester to farther advances of money, afford
-a subject for a humiliating chapter in the royal history. The aged
-Marquess had three ruling principles--loyalty to the King, attachment to
-the Roman Catholic religion, and fondness for money. His loyalty had
-been already extensively drawn upon, and there remained now to be tried
-an attempt upon his proselytizing zeal. He had now to be flattered with
-the idea that he might possibly persuade the King to profess the tenets
-of his ancestors. Charles, indeed, had not made great progress in
-Protestant doctrines; and the Marquess, confident in his theological
-powers, imagined he would find an easy convert. Here is Dr. Bayly’s
-account of the matter:--
-
-“Thus affected was that noble and, indeed, in his way, heavenly
-disposed, Henry, late Marquess of Worcester, to play the greatest prize
-that ever was played between any two that ever entered within those
-lists. Three diadems were to encounter with the tripple crowne, and the
-tripple crowne with three sceptres. Opportunity, that lucky gamester,
-that hardly loses a game in twenty, was on the Marquess’ side; time and
-place directed him how to take points in his own tables; the King at
-that time being in the Marquess’s own house at Raglan, and necessitated
-to borrow money to buy bread, after so great a loss in battle. The King
-being thus put to play the aftergame with the old Marquess, was a little
-mistrustful that he had not played the foregame with him so well, as
-that he had not thereby prejudiced the latter: for, though the Marquess
-and his son were the two ablest and most forward’st shoulderers up of
-the declining throne, especially the chip of the old block, whose
-disposition expressed itself most noble in not caring who had loved the
-King, so that he might be but permitted to love Alexander; whom he
-affected not only with the loyal respects of a subject towards his
-soveraigne, but also with such passionate ways of expressions and
-laboriousnesse in all good offices, as are wont to be predominant in
-those in whom simpathy is the only ground of their affections; yet there
-were not wanting some kind of men who made the averseness of this
-nobleman’s religion an occasion of improving their own envies. Which,
-though it could never lose him the least ground in his master’s good
-opinion of him--who never would judge no more a saint by his face than a
-devil by his feet, but both according to their several ingagements--yet
-there were some things which happened, as having relation to this
-family, which were not altogether pleasing. However, though his Majesty
-came thither ushered by necessity, yet he came neither unwelcomed nor
-uninvited; and entertained as if he had been more than a king, by reason
-of some late atchievements, rather than otherwise: and though money came
-from him like drops of blood, yet he was contented that every drop
-within his body should be let out at his command, so that he might
-performe so meritorious a piece of worke as, he thought, the being an
-instrument of bringing the father of his country to be the son of his
-church, would be unto his soul’s health. The Marquess having these
-resolutions within himselfe, thought to give them breath at the same
-time that his Majesty should make his motion for a further supply of
-money, which he daily and hourly expected; but was deceived in his
-expectations; for the relation having already reach’d the King’s ear,
-how an accident had made me no less fortunate to his lordship, than in
-being the means of preserving his lordship’s person, and no
-inconsiderable fortune then in the same venture with him; and how that I
-preserved both the one and the other, in concealing both, for the space
-that the moon useth to be twice in riding of her circuit,[249] (the
-particulars hereof, here to insert, would tend rather to much arrogance
-than any purpose, wherefore I further forbear,) until such time as the
-trust which Providence had reposed in me was crowned by the same hand
-with such successe as brought the Marquess safe to his own house in
-peace; which I had no sooner brought to passe, but the Marquess drew
-from me a solemn engagement never to leave him so long as we both should
-live; which I was so careful for to observe, that I neither left him in
-life nor death, faire weather nor foule, until such time as he left me,
-and I laid him under the ground in Windsor Castle, in the sepulchre of
-his fathers.”
-
-The author of the notice of the Marquess of Worcester in “Lodge’s
-Portraits,” says, that “the adventure here alluded to by Dr. Bayly is
-and must remain unknown.” It is, however, made sufficiently clear in the
-“First Apophthegm,” where Bayly tells us that he met the Marquess in the
-Welsh mountains, “flying a danger with a softer pace than it made after
-him.” Bayly, whose knowledge of the country must necessarily have been
-great, had it in his power to conceal the Marquess. This was their first
-meeting, and they ever after were inseparable. In nearly the words
-already used, Bayly in this passage also says, “From which time
-forward, until the time that I laid him in his grave in Windsor Castle,
-I never parted from him.”
-
-He continues--“And it was a strange thing, that during the time that I
-was thus a bond-servant to his lordship, which was for the space of
-twelve monethes thrice told, the difference in religion never wrought
-the least difference in his disposals of trusts of the highest nature
-upon me; but his speeches often shewed his heart, and his often lending
-me his ear, that they were both as much mine as any man’s. Of which, it
-seems, his Majesty being informed, I must be the beetle-head that must
-drive this wedge into the royall stock; and was also told, that no man
-could make a divorce between the Babilonish garment and the wedge of
-gold sooner than myself. To be brief--I was ingaged in the business; I
-could neither deny the employment, nor well tell how to go about it, I,
-not knowing the Marquess’ drift all this while, thought the Marquess had
-feared nothing more than what I myself was most afraid of, viz., that I
-should be made an instrument to let the same horse bleed, whom the King
-himself had found so free, that he was unwilling to give him the least
-touch with his spur. Howsoever, I went about it, and thus began to tell
-his lordship:--‘My Lord, the thing that I feared is now fallen upon me;
-I am made the unwelcome messenger of bad news--the King wants money!’ At
-which word the Marquess interrupted me, saying, ‘Hold, sir, that’s no
-news; go on with your business.’ ‘My Lord,’ said I, ‘there is one
-comfort yet, that as the King is brought low, so are his demands; and,
-like his army, are come down from thousands to hundreds: and from paying
-the souldiers of his army to buying bread for himself and his followers.
-My Lord, it is the King’s own expression, and his desire is but three
-hundred pound.’ Whereupon my Lord made a long pause before he gave me
-one word of answer. I knew by experience that in such cases it was best
-leaving him to himself, and to let that nature, which was so good, worke
-itselfe into an act of the highest charity--like the diamond, which is
-only pollished with its own dust. At last he called me nearer to him,
-and asked me, ‘If the King himself had spoken to me concerning any such
-business?’ To which I answered, ‘That the King himself had not; but
-others did in the King’s hearing.’ Whereupon he said, ‘Might I but speak
-unto him--but I was never thought worthy to be consulted with, though in
-matters meerly concerning the affaires of my own country--I would supply
-his wants, were they never so great, or whatsoever they were.’ Whereupon
-I told his lordship that, ‘If the King knew as much, he might quickly
-speak with him.’ Then said the Marquess, ‘The way to have him know so
-much is to have somebody to tell him of it.’ I asked his lordship, ‘If
-he would give me leave to be the informer.’ He told me, ‘He spake it to
-the same purpose.’ I hastened from him, with as much feare of being
-called back again, as I did towards the King, with a longing desire of
-giving his Majesty so good an account of my so much doubted embassie.
-
-“Half going and half running through the gallerie, I was stopt in my way
-by one Lieutenant-Collonel Lyllard, who told me, that if ever I had a
-mind to do my Lord Marquess and the garrison any good, now was the time:
-for even now one of the King’s ships had run herself on ground under the
-town of Chepstow. Calling unto me the captain of her (one Captain Hill),
-who related unto me that upon the surrender of Bristol he was forced to
-fly into the sanctuary of the King’s quarters, having formerly revolted
-from the Parliament, or rather returned to her due obedience. Telling
-me, moreover, that she was fraught with store of goods and rich
-commodities, as sugar, tobacco, linnen of all sorts, &c., and that the
-law in such a case appropriated the King to such a part of her lading;
-which I better understood then than I can relate unto you now; and that
-she had many fair brass and iron guns in her, with proportionable
-ammunition, usefull for the garrison; and that, for a word of speaking,
-I might have all this of the King for the use of the garrison. I
-(considering that it would be nevertheless the King’s for being
-converted to such an use, as also the business I was about) made no
-doubt but that I could easily beg all this for the Marquess, in
-consideration of the great charges his lordship had been at in
-entertaining his Majesty so long. Neither was I deceived, for the King
-granted it willingly.
-
-“But as to the matter in hand, I told his Majesty apart, that I had
-moved his lordship in matter of money; but found him a little
-discouraged, in regard that his Majestie having been twice at Raglan a
-moneth at a time, and that at neither of those times he ever vouchsafed
-his lordship so much honour as once to call him to councel, though it
-was in his own house, and must needs be acknowledged to be one who knew
-the countrey, and the constitution of the inhabitants, better than any
-other man that was about his Majestie had reason to understand.
-Wherefore I told the King, I thought his lordship leant my motion a
-deffer ear than he would have done, if his lordship had not been thought
-so uselesse a creature; and that I perceived his lordship had a desire
-to have some conference with his Majestie; which being obtained, I
-believed his Majestie’s request would be easilie granted, and his
-expectations answered in a higher measure than it may be his Majestie
-did believe. The King said, ‘_With all my hart_: and as to the other
-business which so much troubles my lord, in troth I have thought it a
-neglect in us heretofore; but the true reason why I did forbear to do so
-was, because I thought my Lord of Worcester did not desire it, by reason
-of his retiredness, unwieldiness of body, and unwillingness of mind to
-stir abroad; and therefore I thought it a contentment to him to be let
-alone.’ I told his Majestie, that I did verilie believe that his
-Majestie was in the rights in both respects, both of his Majestie’s and
-his lordship’s; and that if his Majestie had called him to councel, I do
-verilie believe his lordship would have been desired to be excused; but
-yet he did expect he should have been called. Whereupon the King said,
-‘I pray tell my Lord of Worcester, that I did not forbear that respect
-unto him out of any disestimation I had either of his wisedome or
-loyaltie; but out of some reasons I had to myself, which indeed
-reflected as much upon my lord as they did on me. For had he used to
-have come to the councel board, it would have been said that I took no
-other councel but what was conveighed to me by Jesuites, by his
-lordship’s meanes: and I pray tell him that that was the true cause.’ I
-told his Majestie that I would, and that I thought it an easie matter to
-cause him to believe no less; but withal I intimated to his Majestie
-that I knew the Marquess had an earnest desire to have some private
-conference with his Majestie this night; which, if granted, it might
-conduce very much to his Majestie’s behoof. The King said, ‘How can that
-be?’ I told his Majestie that my lord had contrived it before his coming
-to the castle, and told his Majestie of the privacie of the
-conveighance. Thereat his Majestie smiled and said, ‘I know my lord’s
-drift well enough: either he means to chide me, or else to convert me to
-his religion.’ Whereupon I told his Majestie, I doubted not but that his
-Majestie was temptation-proof as well as he was correction-free; and
-that he might returne the same man he went, having made a profitable
-exchange of gold and silver for words and sleep.”[250]
-
-It seems to have been thought necessary to make a great state secret of
-this conference; and, in order that the company might not observe any
-communication going on between the King and the Marquess, who,
-doubtless, knew his guests, he hastily made answer--“I will tell you
-what you shall do, so that you shall not need to fear any such thing. Go
-unto the yeoman of the wine cellar, and bid him leave the keys of the
-wine cellar with you, and all that you find in your way, invite them
-down unto the cellar, and shew them the keys, and I warrant you, you
-shall sweep the room of them if there were a hundred; and when you have
-done leave them there.”[251] This ruse appears to have been so
-successful, that after Bayly published his book, some of those who had
-been in Raglan denied that ever there had been private conversations
-between the King and the Marquess. But Bayly’s good faith seems to have
-been unjustly suspected; and he replies to the objectors with humour and
-severity in his Preface to the “Apophthegms.”
-
-The Marquis having “lain down, the Chaplain found him asleep when he
-went to let him know the time to meet the King was come. He expressed
-much annoyance and fear on account of what had been arranged; but after
-taking a pipe of tobacco and a little glassful of _aqua mirabilis_, he
-recovered his spirits.”
-
-<g>Shortly</g> after the King’s departure from Raglan, an adventure occurred
-which placed the venerable Marquess in a novel and rather ludicrous
-position. It was this:--
-
-“There was a certain great man in the King’s army,[252] between whom and
-the house of Raglan,” says Bayly, “there was at that time animosity. The
-Marquess of Worcester had heard that this party should cast a dubious
-saying, as the case then stood, viz., ‘That he intended to _take_ Raglan
-in his way;’ and was so far as good as his word, as that he marched into
-the parke, and there drew up his men, and fac’d the Castle. Whereupon
-the line was manned, and command was given that none should be suffered
-to come near the line, nor within such a distance; which command was so
-observed, that some of the officers of the army approaching within the
-place prohibited, the centry bid stand. They did not. The centry called
-upon them again to stand. They refused. The Lieutenant called upon the
-centry to give fire. The centry, preferring the knowledge of his friends
-to his duty to his officer, did not give fire; but swore he would give
-fire if they did not stand. Whereupon one of them told him that it was
-such a Generall, and wonder’d that the officer would bid the souldier
-give fire upon him. The Generall forthwith coming to the drawbridge,
-desired to speak with the Lord Charles; whom he no sooner saluted, but
-required satisfaction for the affront. He was desired to come into the
-Castle, and told that the matter should be examined before him, and if
-any affront were given, he should receive satisfaction. Whereupon, being
-come within the Castle, the Lieutenant was sent for; who told the
-Generall, that though he knew him to be the Generall, yet, as a
-souldier, he was not to take any notice of him, until such times as he
-had declared himself, which when he did, he respected him accordingly.
-Furthermore telling him, that he had been an old souldier, and that he
-had in other parts seen rewards given unto souldiers who stood centry,
-for firing upon their generall, having the like occasions; but never
-knew it a fault before. All this would not serve turn. The Generall said
-he was affronted, and must have satisfaction, requiring my lord to call
-a councell of warre, and to do him justice; and so took his leave and
-went his way. The <g>Marquess</g> of Worcester, sleeping upon his bed all this
-while, and not dreaming of any of all this that had happened in the
-interim, hearing the whole relation, he asked all his officers, ‘Whether
-or no the Lieutenant had offended?’ They all answered, ‘No;’ and
-commended him for what he had done. Then said the Marquess, ‘This is but
-a pretence--they have a mind to quarrel with us. If ye should call a
-councell of warre, and acquit him, that is what they desire, and thence
-they would ground their quarrel; and if ye should inflict any punishment
-upon him to give them satisfaction, that were basenesse and injustice;
-therefore I will have it thus: Send a guard with him to the Generall of
-such souldiers as are able to witness the truth; and let him try him at
-his councell of warre, and see what law he hath for it, and so we shall
-break the neck of the quarrell.’
-
-“‘And so,’ said the Lieutenant, ‘I shall hang by the neck for my
-labour!’ Whereat the Marquis replyed, ‘What friends hast thou in the
-garrison?’ The Lieutenant made answer, ‘I have a wife and a daughter.’
-Then said the Marquis with some vehemence, ‘I protest unto thee, if they
-hang thee, I’ll marry thy wife and provide for thy daughter.’ The
-Lieutenant replied, ‘I had rather you would marry my daughter, and
-provide for me.’ ‘I protest,’ said the Marquess, ‘so I will; I will
-marry thy daughter, and I will provide for thee an honourable grave; but
-thou shalt be hanged first.’ ‘My Lord,’ said the Lieutenant, ‘shall I
-bespeak my grave?’ ‘Thou shalt,’ said the Marquess. ‘Then,’ said the
-Lieutenant, ‘I will be laid in the vault in Raglan Church between your
-father and your grandfather; and I pray God I may be hanged before I see
-you again.’ And so saying he flung out of the roome, leaving my Lord in
-the merriest veine that ever I saw him in; who, remembering himself,
-sent him five pieces to beare his charges.
-
-“The Lieutenant being brought to the Generall at Monmouth, the Generall
-dismissed him of his guard, and sent him to Hereford with an oath at his
-heeles, that he would hang him if there were no more men in England.
-
-“Then the Lieutenant cried out, ‘This makes for us, sure enough. I do
-but think how finely I shall lie between the two old earles.’... The
-particulars hereof being brought to the Marquess, his lordship was not a
-little perplext between feare of having his new mistresse and loosing
-his old friend; which he had run himself into between jest and earnest.
-The time was come that the Marquess was not so much merrier than we
-heretofore; but we were as much merrie as he upon the return of this
-news. But the greatest sport of all was concerning the hopefull Lady
-Marchioness, who was ever and anon enquiring and asking many questions
-concerning the Marquess, whom she never saw. What manner of man he was?
-How old? Whether he went with a staff, or no? What was the reason he
-kept his chamber so much, and did not come abroad sometimes? What
-ailments he had? And how long it was since his lady died? With many
-other necessary questions to be asked by a young woman in her condition.
-
-“Sport enough there was for both the garrisons of Raglan and Hereford.
-Nevertheless, it stood the Marquess upon to be sollicitous in the
-business, being sore prest between two strong passions, love and pitty.
-Me he sends to solicit the businesse, with instructions; whose telling
-me never so often, ‘that it was no laughing matter,’ could not make me
-forbear laughing.
-
-“But having taken my leave, his Lordship called me back again, and with
-a loud and angry voice said to me, ‘Tell the Generall, that if he hang
-my Lieutenant, I’ll hang the centry for not giving fire upon him when he
-was bid.’ Whereupon I said unto his Lordship, ‘What doth he care how
-many you hang?’ ‘God bless us all,’ said the Marquess; ‘if he neither
-cares who he hangs of the King’s party, nor who other folkes hang; for
-aught I know he cares not an’ we were all hanged.’
-
-“So taking my second leave of the Marquess, and then my humble leave of
-the Lady Elizabeth, who fearing nothing more but that I would prove too
-good a sollicitor for her good, I went to Hereford, and made some sport
-there; and so brought home the Lieutenant to his wife and daughter, who
-ever after was called ‘My Lady Marquess.’”
-
-We now proceed to that part of our subject, in which the desperate
-fortunes of the Monarch are connected with his last visit to Raglan.
-
-After the battle of Naseby, nothing prospered with the King. His army,
-it was suspected, had not displayed on that day their former valour.
-Though not disaffected, they were dispirited; the mass of the infantry
-threw down their arms and cried for quarter; and with Cromwell’s horse
-thundering in his rear, the King escaped to Leicester, and thence
-through Bewdley, in Worcestershire, to Hereford. Only five days before
-this ruinous defeat he had written in a letter to the Queen, that since
-the rebellion began, “his affairs were never in so fair and hopeful a
-way.” On the sixth he was a fugitive. But he had still hopes--strange as
-it must appear--of getting together an army in South Wales.[253] At
-Hereford, Prince Rupert took leave of the King, and hastened to
-Bristol, that he might put it into a condition to resist the victorious
-army that was speedily to make its appearance before it; and thence,
-says Lord Clarendon, “his Majesty went to Abergavenny to meet the
-Commissioners. As they were for the most part persons of the best
-quality and the largest fortunes of these counties, so they had
-manifested great loyalty and affection from the beginning of the war, by
-sending many good regiments to the army; and with their sons and
-brothers and nearest kindred--many of whom had lost their lives bravely
-in the field. They now made as large professions as ever, and seemed to
-believe that they should be able in a very short time to raise a good
-army of foot, with which the King might again look upon the enemy, and
-accordingly agreed what numbers should be levied upon each of the
-counties.” From hence, says the historian, “his Majesty went for the
-last time to <g>Raglan Castle</g>, the noble house of the Marquess of
-Worcester, which was well fortified and garrisoned by him who remained
-then in it.” There the King “resolved to stay till he saw the effect of
-the Commissioners’ mighty promises. But in a short time he found that,
-either by the continued successes of the Parliament armies, the
-particular information whereof was every day brought to them by
-intelligence from their friends, or the triumphs of their enemies in
-Monmouth or Gloucester, there was little probability of their raising an
-army in those parts, where all men grew less affected, or more frighted:
-which produced one and the same effect.”
-
-In his progress--for it was more like a “progress” than a
-retreat--through Monmouthshire to Raglan, the King was greeted with
-every expression of loyal sympathy by his Welsh subjects. In the “_Iter
-Carolinum_,” printed amongst the “Somers’ Tracts,” it is recorded, “that
-King Charles slept at Tredegar, the seat of Sir William Morgan, in this
-county, on the seventeenth of July, 1645; and that he arrived at Sir
-Philip Morgan’s,[254] Ruperra, in Glamorganshire, on the twenty-fifth,
-and there remained till the twenty-ninth of the same month.” This must
-have been immediately before his return to Raglan Castle, in August.
-Entering upon a melancholy progress from house to house, among the
-staunch royalists of South Wales, he had thus sought relief from the
-gloomy reflections by which his mind was oppressed after the total
-defeat at Naseby.
-
-At Raglan, however, says the historian, “the King, as on his former
-visit, passed days and weeks in sports and ceremonies, in hunting and
-audience-giving;” for every effort was employed by those around him to
-obliterate all recollections of the past by promises and predictions of
-a brilliant future. When his Majesty re-entered the gates of
-Raglan--which was indeed a harbour of refuge in his distress--the loyal
-Marquess, kneeling down, kissed his <g>Liege’s</g> hand; and then rising up
-saluted him with this compliment--“_Domine! non sum dignus_.” To which
-the King replied--“My Lord, I may very well answer you again: _I have
-not found so great faith, no not in Israel_. No man would trust me with
-so much money as you have done.” To which the Marquess replied--“I hope
-your Majesty will prove _a defender of the Faith_.”
-
-[Illustration]
-
-By this time Lord Herbert (Earl of Glamorgan) had sailed for Ireland to
-raise, if possible, new forces for the King’s service, and the renewal
-of the war. Pleased with his zeal and loyalty, his Majesty had thus
-written to him from Hereford:--
-
- “Glamorgan--I am glad to hear that you are gone to Irland, and
- asseure you that as myselfe is nowais disheartned by our late
- misfortune, so nether this country; for I could not have expected
- more from them then they have now freely undertaken, though I had
- come hither absolute victorious; which makes me hope well of the
- neighbouring sheers; so that, by the grace of God, I hope shortly
- to recover my late losse, with advantage, if such succours come to
- me from that Kingdome which I have reason to expect; but the
- circumstance of tyme is that of the greatest consequence, being
- that wᶜ now is cheefliest and earnestliest recomended to you by
- your most asseured, reall, constant frend,
-
-“<g>Charles R.</g>”[255]
-
-
-
-Among the numerous and more humble examples of loyal affection, by which
-the fallen Monarch was soothed during his retirement in Raglan Castle,
-the following is well deserving of notice:--The reverend individual,
-whom his own act has immortalized, was Thomas Swift,[256] incumbent of
-the neighbouring parish of Goodrich. Fully aware of the King’s pecuniary
-distress, he mortgaged his estate; and with the money thus raised he
-proceeded to Raglan Castle. The Governor, with whom he was personally
-acquainted, asked the object of his visit, and whether he could serve
-him; for he was equally esteemed as a zealous pastor, and a staunch
-royalist. “I am only come,” said he, “to give his Majesty my coat;” and,
-in taking it off, the Marquess pleasantly observed: “Thy coat, I fear
-me, is of little worth.” “Why then,” said Swift, “take my waistcoat
-also.” And here was the hidden treasure, for, on being ripped up, it was
-found to contain three hundred broad gold pieces. “And the King,” says
-Lord Clarendon, “received no relief that was more seasonable and
-acceptable than this during the war.” Mr. Swift’s zeal and activity in
-the royal cause exposed him to much danger and many sufferings. “He was
-plundered,” says Heath, “more than _thirty times_ by the Parliament’s
-army, and ejected from his church living. His estate was sequestered,
-and he himself thrown into prison.”
-
-At Raglan the King “stayed until news came that Fairfax, after taking
-Leicester, had marched into the west, and defeated Goring’s troops at
-Lamport; at the same time that the Scottish army, on its march, had
-taken a small garrison between Hereford and Worcester by storm, and put
-all within it to the sword;” while Prince Rupert sent for all those
-foot, which were levied towards a new army to supply the garrison. But
-the expectations, which had been industriously fostered in the King’s
-mind of a more propitious fortune, became every day more faint. Of all
-the schemes that had been set afoot for retrieving his past errors, and
-regaining the hearts of his alienated subjects, not one was permitted to
-prosper. And as a fatal climax to his unhappy fortunes, “it was at
-Raglan Castle,” says Lord Clarendon, “that the King received the
-terrible information of the surrender of Bristol (September 11, 1645),
-which he so little apprehended, that if the evidence thereof had not
-been unquestionable, it could not have been believed. With what
-indignation and dejection of mind the King received this advertisement,
-needs no other description and enlargement than the setting down in the
-very words of it the letter which the King writ thereupon to Prince
-<g>Rupert</g>; which, considering the unspeakable indulgence his Majesty had
-ever shewed towards that Prince, is sufficient evidence how highly he
-was incensed by that act, which yet he took some time sadly to think of
-and consider, before he would allow himself to abate so much of his
-natural candour towards him. As soon as he received that surprising
-intelligence, the King removed from <g>Raglan Castle</g>.”
-
-[Illustration: _The Gateway Towers._
-
-Raglan Castle.]
-
-<g>The King</g> took leave of Raglan Castle on the 15th of September,
-mournfully observing to the Marquess, that by so doing he hoped “to ease
-his lordship of a heavy burden.” His Majesty then thanked his noble and
-devoted host for the large sums of money which had been advanced to him
-in the course of his troubles. Whereupon the Marquess replied: “Sire, I
-had your word for the money; but I never thought to have been so soon
-repaid; for now that you have given me thanks, I have all I looked
-for.”[257] Well might the royal guest have expressed his feelings on
-quitting Raglan in the following lines, taken from his own
-‘Collection:’--
-
- I fall! I fall!
- Whom shall I call?
- Alas! can he be heard,
- Who now is neither loved nor feared?
- You, who were wont to kisse the ground,
- Where’er my honour’d steps were found,
- Come, catch me at my last rebound!
-
- How each admires
- Heaven’s twinkling fires,
- When from their glorious seat
- Their influence gives life and heat!
- But, oh! how few there are--
- Tho’ danger from that act be far--
- Will stoop and catch a falling star.[258]
-
-“Distracted with a thousand griefs, and accompanied by a few trusty and
-disconsolate servants, the royal victim wandered about the country,
-thankful to accept protection from any one who had fortune or
-inclination to minister to his distress. And many ‘cruel days’ to use
-his own words, were spent in weary marchings without food, narrow
-escapes, and precipitate retreats, before he took his last farewell of
-the land of Gwent.”[259]
-
-On one occasion he was hotly pursued in his retreat through Shire
-Newton, by a party of sixty Roundheads; but reaching a place called
-Charleston Rock, near the New Passage, a fishing-boat was found, in
-which he was safely ferried over the Severn into Gloucestershire. His
-pursuers coming up in the meanwhile, but only to find their object
-defeated, seized upon the remaining boats, and with drawn swords
-compelled the fishermen to ferry them across. They hurried into the
-boats, and, with the royal fugitive still in view, made all haste to be
-once more on his traces. The poor fishermen, however, being royalists at
-heart, had no sympathy with these king-hunters; but rowing lustily
-towards a reef of rocks called the “English Stones,” within a gunshot of
-the Gloucester shore, there hauled in their oars; and landing their
-freight on the rocks, told them the water was so shallow that the boats
-could go no further, and they might easily wade to the opposite bank.
-And such, in fact, was quite practicable at low water; but, in the
-present instance, the tide flowed so rapidly, that in making the attempt
-to reach the opposite bank the whole party were drowned.
-
-Informed of the catastrophe, Cromwell abolished the ferry, which was not
-renewed until 1718, after a protracted lawsuit between the proprietor of
-St. Pierre and the Duke of Beaufort’s guardians,[260] when it was named
-the “_New Passage_.”
-
-[Illustration: Armourer.]
-
-<g>The Siege.</g>--Early the following spring a resolution was passed that the
-Castle of Raglan, which had so often thrown open its gates to the King,
-and still supported a garrison in his service, should be reduced without
-loss of time. It was the last fortress that held out, and until its
-walls were dismantled, and the garrison made prisoners, the spirit of
-loyalty in Monmouth would never be thoroughly subdued. The Castle was
-accordingly invested by Major-General Glenham and Sir Trevor
-Williams;[261] but the latter, it has been asserted, was not very hearty
-in his opposition to the King; for he had many misgivings respecting the
-ultimate designs of Cromwell, who also, as it appears from existing
-documents,[262] was equally suspicious of Sir Trevor. The first summons
-to surrender the Castle to Parliament was received by the garrison with
-indignation and defiance.
-
-Early in June they were joined by Colonel Morgan, who, with a strong
-body of men[263] from Worcester, took the command. The troops of the
-garrison made divers gallant sallies, and in one of these killed a
-cornet of Morgan’s, and carried off the colours. But after the surrender
-of Oxford to the Parliament, Colonel Morgan had a reinforcement of two
-hundred men, and being now in a position, both as regarded the works and
-the efficiency of the troops, to act with vigour, he sent the following
-summons:--
-
-
- I.--COLONEL MORGAN TO THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER.
-
- “MY LORD,--By his Excellency’s command, this is my second summons,
- whereby you are required forthwith to deliver to me, for the uses
- of both Houses of Parliament, the Castle of Raglan, with all
- ordnance, arms, ammunition, and provisions, and all other
- necessaries that belong to war, that are now in it; which if you
- will be pleased to do, you may haply find mercy, as other garrisons
- have had; and if you do refuse, expect but the ruin of yourself,
- your family, and this poor distressed country. For I must acquaint
- your lordship that his Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax, having now
- finished his work over the kingdom except this Castle, hath been
- pleased to spare his forces for this work, which are now upon their
- march this way with all materials fit for it; though I made no
- doubt but I had of mine own strength sufficient to effect it. If
- your lordship will deny to submit to this summons, and that more
- blood must be spilt, your lordship may be confident that you shall
- receive no favour from both Houses of Parliament. So, expecting
- your answer this night by nine of the clock, I rest your lordship’s
- servant,
-
-“THO. MORGAN.
-
-“FROM THE LEAGUER BEFORE RAGLAN,
-
-“June 28, 1646.
-
- “Upon the faith and honour of a soldier, this is a true copy of his
- Majesty’s letter[264] to the Governors of Oxford, Lichfield,
- Wallingford, and Worcester, and all other garrisons in England and
- Wales; which I thought fit to present to your lordship, that you
- may clearly see what possibility of relief you are like to have.”
-
-
- II.--THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER TO COLONEL MORGAN.
-
- “SIR,--I have received this day two advertisements from you; the
- first I read, containing, as you would have me believe, a true
- copy of his Majesty’s warrant to several garrisons upon honourable
- terms to quit. But truly, Sir, it is not in the power of man to
- make me think so unworthily of his Majesty, that to one, in the
- opinion of the world, that hath given, himself and family, soe
- great a demonstrance and testimony of his and their faith and
- fidelitie towards him, that he would not please so much as name his
- name, or Raglan. I entreat you, give me leave to suspend my
- belief.[265]
-
- “And for your second summons, it makes it too evident that it is
- desired that I would die under a hedge like a beggar, having no
- house left to put my head into, nor means left to find me bread.
- Wherefore to give you _answer_, I make choice (if it soe please
- God) rather to dye nobly, than to live with infamy. Which answer,
- if it be not pleasing to you, I shall not think you worthy to be
- styled by me your loving friend,
-
-“H. WORCESTER.
-
-“FROM MY HOUSE OF RAGLAN,
-
-“June 28, 1646.”
-
-
-
-This was followed by a third letter from Colonel Morgan:--
-
- “MY LORD,--Since it is not in my power to make you nor your son
- believe anything concerning the surrender of those garrisons, by
- his Majesty’s order, that comes from me or any of our party: once
- more, and the last before I send your answer to his Excellency Sir
- Tho. Fairfax, I shall give your lordship way to send an officer,
- with another of mine, to those lords in Oxford to whom his
- Majesty’s letters were directed, for your better satisfaction. This
- I do, my Lord, to prevent your utter ruin, and that of this poor
- country, so much occasioned by your lordship’s obstinacy. I expect
- your present answer, and rest your servant,
-
-“THO. MORGAN.
-
-“June 28th.”
-
-
-
-
- IV.--THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER TO COLONEL MORGAN.
-
- “SIR,--In respect of your mentioning of any respect or kindness
- towards me, lest to be divulged to the world should do you any
- prejudice, I have thought fit in your own letter to return you
- thanks for the same. And for Sir Tho. Fairfax, if he were here
- with all his army, he should receive no other from me than what you
- have had. I hope I serve (though not so well as I should) a Master
- that is of more might than all the armies in the world; and to his
- holy will and pleasure I submit myself, and yourself to do what you
- think fitting.--Your friend and servant,
-
-“H. WORCESTER.
-
-“FROM MY DWELLING AT RAGLAN,
-
-“June 28.”
-
-
-
-In the first week of August ensuing, General Fairfax arrived from Bath
-to hasten the siege--which was in great forwardness both for works and
-approaches--and then sent in another summons[266] to the Marquess:--
-
-
- V.--SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX TO THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER.
-
- “MY LORD,--Being come into these parts with such a strength as I
- may not doubt but, with the same good hand of Providence that hath
- hitherto blessed us, in short time to reduce the garrison of Raglan
- to the obedience of the Parliament, I have, in order thereto,
- thought good to send your lordship this summons, hereby requiring
- you to deliver up to me, for the Parliament’s use, the said
- garrison and Castle of Raglan; which, as it only obstructs the
- kingdom’s universal peace, the rendition may beget such terms, as
- by delay or vain hopes cannot hereafter be expected.--I remain, my
- Lord, your lordship’s most humble servant,
-
-“THO. FAIRFAX.
-
-“LEAGUER BEFORE RAGLAN,
-
-“August 7, 1646.
-
- “Your lordship’s speedy answer to this summons is desired.”
-
-
- VI.--THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER TO SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
-
- “SIR,--Although my infirmities might justly claim privilege in so
- sudden an answer; yet, because you desire it, and I am not willing
- to delay your time, to your letter of summons to deliver up my
- house, and the only house now in my possession to cover my head in,
- these are to let you know, that if you did understand the condition
- I am in, I daresay out of your judgment you will not think it a
- reasonable demand. I am loth to be the author of mine own ruin on
- both sides; and therefore desire leave to send to his Majesty to
- know his pleasure what he will have done with his garrison. As for
- my house, I presume he will command nothing; neither am I knowing
- how, either by law or conscience, I should be forced out of it. To
- these I desire your return, and rest your Excellency’s humble
- servant,
-
-“H. WORCESTER.
-
-“FROM MY POOR COTTAGE AT RAGLAN,
-
-“Aug. 7, 1646.”
-
-
-
-
- VII.--SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX TO THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER.
-
- “MY LORD,--Touching your sending to his Majesty, it is that which
- hath been denied to the most considerable garrisons of England,
- further than an account to his Majesty of the thing done upon the
- surrender; which I do else freely grant to your lordship. And for
- that distinction which your lordship is pleased to make, that _it
- is your house_, if it had not been formed into a _garrison_, I
- should not have troubled your lordship with a summons; and were it
- disgarrisoned, neither you nor your house should receive any
- disquiet from me, or any that belong unto me.
-
- “This I thought good to return to yours, and thereby to discharge
- myself, before God and the world, of all extremities and sad
- consequences that will ensue upon the refusal of the rendition of
- your garrison upon my summons.--I remain yours,
-
-“THO. FAIRFAX.
-
- “August 8.”
-
-
- VIII.--THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER TO SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
-
- “SIR,--I do much confide in your honour, as that being at stake,
- concerning leave to send to his Majesty, and will at this time
- forbear to make further motion in it; only one thing which is
- extraordinary, I offer to your consideration, for the just cause,
- besides my allegiance, of my reasonable request; which is, That
- upon his Majesty’s promise of satisfaction, I am above 20,000
- pounds out of purse; and if I should do anything displeasing unto
- him, I am sure all that is lost, and no benefit to the Parliament.
- If you knew how well known I was, in Henry Earl of Huntington’s
- time, unto your noble grandfather at York, I am assured I should
- receive that favour at your hands that safely you might afford. God
- knows, if I might quietly receive my means of subsistence, and be
- in security, with the Parliament’s approbation, and freed from the
- malice of those gentlemen that are of the Committee within this
- county, I should quietly quit myself of the garrison; for I have no
- great cause to take delight in it. I have that high esteem of your
- worth, nobleness, and true judgement, that knowing you will offer
- nothing ignoble or unworthy for me to do, as the case stands with
- me, I desire to know what conditions I may have, and I will return
- you present answer. And, in the meantime, I rest your humble
- servant,
-
-“H. WORCESTER.
-
- “August 8, 1646.”
-
-
- IX.--SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX TO THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER.
-
- “MY LORD,--According to your lordship’s desire, I have returned you
- conditions, such as may be fit and satisfactory to the soldiery. To
- your lordship and family I have granted quiet and security from all
- violence of any that belongs to me. I would persuade your lordship
- not to fear any ill or disrespect from the Committee of this
- county; I shall easily reconcile that party; or that they will not
- do anything but as they shall receive order from the Parliament. By
- this means you are at liberty to send to the Parliament; and upon a
- present surrender and submission to their mercy and favour, your
- lordship cannot but think to receive better terms for yourself than
- if you stand it out to the last extremity; when, besides the hazard
- of your person, and of those in your family, (which I do presume
- are dear to you,) and the spoil of the Castle, which cannot be
- avoided in extreme undertakings against it; your lordship hath no
- reason to expect better than the Marquess of Winchester received,
- who, in making good Basing House to the last, narrowly escaped in
- his own person, lost his friends, subjected those that escaped to
- great frights and hazard, his house and estate to utter ruin, and
- himself to extremity of justice.
-
- “Touching your lordship’s 20,000 pounds, your lordship hath liberty
- to solicit about that by the same hands your lordship shall give an
- account of the surrender to his Majesty. I desire your lordship
- upon receipt of these to dismiss my trumpeter, and to return an
- answer by one of your own.
-
-“THO. FAIRFAX.”
-
-
-
-
- X.--THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER TO SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
-
- “SIR,--The difficulty of resolution by the soldiers and officers
- (other than I thought) causeth my request for your patience in not
- giving you full answer to the conditions you sent me yesterday; but
- as soon as I shall obtain it, you shall not be long without it. But
- one thing, and that of moment, I desire to be satisfied in,
- Whether, if any conclusion should be made, that afterwards I shall
- be left to the mercy of the Parliament, for alteration at their
- will and pleasures; and if it be so, I shall endeavour in vain to
- study more about it. For example, in my Lord of Shrewsbury’s case,
- and divers others, how conditions have been broken doth a little
- affright me. I know, by your will and consent, it should never be;
- but soldiers are unruly, and the Parliament unquestionable; and,
- therefore, I beseech you pardon my just cause of fear, and I will
- rest your humble servant,
-
-“H. WORCESTER.
-
- “August 11.”
-
-
- XI.--SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX TO THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER.
-
- “MY LORD,--I have perused your letter of this 11th of August. As to
- your scruple, wherein you desire to be satisfied, (so far as I
- understand it,) I can only give you this resolution, that what I
- grant I will undertake shall be made good. As to the instance you
- give in my Lord of Shrewsbury’s case, the actors in that breach
- (who were none of my army) have received their censure, and by this
- time I believe the execution. But here, if any conclusion be made
- while I stay, I dare undertake there shall be no such thing; or, if
- any, there shall be reparation.
-
-“THO. FAIRFAX.
-
- “August 11, 1646.”
-
-
- XII.--THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER TO SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
-
- “SIR,--For the better accommodation of these unhappy differences,
- if you please there may be a cessation of arms and working, and to
- engage your honour for the return of my commissioners to-morrow by
- ten of the clock, they shall wait upon you in your Leaguer; where
- they shall vindicate me from being the only obstruction of the
- general peace. So, in expectation of your sudden answer, I rest
- your humble servant,
-
-“H. WORCESTER.
-
- “August 13, 1646.”
-
-
- XIII.--SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX TO THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER.
-
- “MY LORD,--Having not yet received by any of your letters a direct
- answer to the conditions I sent you, I have no grounds or
- consideration for such a cessation of arms and working, as in your
- letter you desire; but if it be your purpose to return your answer
- by commissioners, I shall, by the hour you mention, appoint
- commissioners of mine own to receive the same in the Leaguer as you
- desire, and engage myself for the safe return of yours, not
- exceeding six commissioners and as many servants; and, in order to
- this, I shall be content there be a cessation of arms and working
- from nine of the clock to-morrow morning till two in the
- afternoon.--Yours,
-
-“THO. FAIRFAX.
-
- “Uske, August 14.”
-
-
- XIV.--THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER TO SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
-
- “SIR,--Had I not thought you had been in the Leaguer, to the end
- that the propositions from the place, in answer to yours, might
- have been first presented unto you; and to avoid delays, which I
- thought your side would best like of, it was resolved to send
- commissioners together with our propositions; but considering it
- was otherwise, I have sent you such as I am advised unto, to take
- into your consideration. And because there is some addition to
- yours, I would have been glad you had heard the just reasons
- thereof, to the end you might not have been persuaded to slight
- them without just cause. Your pleasure for the ordering of
- business, I, at your leisure, expect; and, if you please, the
- dismission of this messenger; and so rest your humble servant,
-
-“H. WORCESTER.”
-
-
-
-
- XV.--SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX TO THE MARQUESS OF WORCESTER.
-
- “MY LORD,--I have perused the propositions sent out by your
- commissioners, which I find such as deserve no answer. I have
- offered your lordship and the rest conditions which you may yet
- have, if you accept in time. If there be any thing in them obscure,
- needing explanation, or wanting circumstantials, for the better
- performing of the things intended therein I shall be willing to
- appoint commissioners on my part to treat with yours to that
- purpose upon these propositions of mine; provided you send
- commissioners instructed with power to treat and conclude, and
- return your resolution herein by six of the clock in the
- evening.--Yours, &c.,
-
-“THO. FAIRFAX.
-
- “August 14, 1646.”
-
-[Illustration]
-
-In the meantime the besiegers went on with their approaches toward the
-Castle--their main works being not above some sixty yards distant--and
-had planted four mortar pieces in one place, and two mortar pieces at
-another, each mortar piece carrying a grenade shell twelve inches
-diameter.
-
-Towards the end of the siege, whilst the cannon of Fairfax was playing
-upon the Castle from the neighbouring height, and when casualties within
-the walls were of hourly occurrence, an incident occurred, which shows
-that in these perilous times even ladies deemed it necessary to
-apologise for being afraid of leaden bullets. “One evening, during the
-hottest period of the cannonade,” says Dr. Bayly, “there came a musket
-bullet in at the window of the withdrawing room, where my lord used to
-entertain his friends with his pleasant discourses after dinners and
-suppers, which, glancing upon a little marble pillar of the window, and
-from thence hit the Marquess upon the side of his head, and fell down
-flattened upon the table, which breaking the pillar in pieces, it made
-such a noise in the room, that his daughter-in-law, the Countess of
-Glamorgan, who stood in the same window, ran away as if the house had
-been falling down upon her head, crying out--‘O Lord! O Lord!’ But at
-length finding herself more afraid than hurt, she returned back again,
-no less excusing her--as she was pleased to call it--rudeness to her
-father, than acknowledging her fears to all the company. To whom the
-Marquess said: ‘Daughter, you had reason to run away when your father
-was knocked on the head.’ Then pausing some little while, and turning
-the flattened bullet round with his finger, he further said: ‘Gentlemen,
-those who had a mind to flatter me, were wont to tell me that I had a
-_good head_ in my younger days; but if I don’t flatter myself, I think I
-have a good head-piece in my old age, or else it would not have been
-_musket proof_.’”
-
-Of the exemplary good order observed by the household, before the
-establishment of a garrison within the Castle, an eye-witness has
-transmitted the following testimony:--
-
-“I have lived in Raglan Castle,” said he, “three years, and in all that
-time I never saw man drunk, nor heard an oath, amongst any of all his
-(the Marquess’s) servants; neither did I ever see a better ordered
-family; and that which was most wonderful unto me was, that the servants
-of his house, being half Papists and half Protestants, were never at
-variance in point of religion--which was brought about by prohibiting
-disputations.[267] Neither was any man the less accepted for his
-religion, if his _service_ were acceptable. But when the Castle was
-filled with officers and soldiers, he used to be more grieved to hear
-and witness the drunkenness that was then and there too much practised:
-insomuch, that when some of his chief officers had told him, how that
-they had fortified such and such a place so and so; and that the enemy
-could not come; and that there it was impossible. ‘Ay, ay,’ said my
-Lord; ‘but you have left the main place open and unprotected. You have
-no fortifications against Heaven. For there is so much swearing and
-drunkenness amongst you, that from thence I fear me will come our
-greatest enemy, and you have made no provision against _him_.’ And,
-indeed, he said justly; for, in truth, the royalists were grievously
-addicted to many vices, to which, on the contrary, the companions and
-followers of Cromwell were comparatively strangers.”
-
-The importance attached by the Parliament to the reduction of Raglan
-Castle is shown by the following report from their commissioner:[268]--
-
-“Your assured friend and servant, W. C.,” (as the letter is signed,)
-writes to the Parliament man from “Usk, August 15, 1646.--I shall now
-give you an account how near our approaches are made unto the Castle.
-That which is our maine work is about sixty yardes from theirs, and
-that’s the most. We have planted four mortar pieces, each of them
-carrying a grenado shel twelve inches diameter; and two mortar peeces
-planted at another place carrying shels about the like compas; soe that
-in case the treatye doe breake off, we are then ready to show by what
-extremitye they must expect to be reduced. This we are very confident,
-that the grenadoes will make them quit their workes and outhouses, and
-solely betake themselves into the Castle, which indeed will be a worke
-of time before we are able to undermine it, in regard we must mine down
-a hill[269] under a moate, and then the workes, before we can come to
-the Castle; yet we conceive it feasible to be done with some losse. Our
-engineer, Captain Hooper, a painful and honest man, proceeding, as he
-hath begun, with exact running trenches, which we made so secure as if
-they were workes against a storme, will, with God’s blessing, come
-within ten yards in a few dayes; and then, I believe, we shall make
-galleries, mines, and many batteries. The General is every day in the
-trenches, and yesterdaye appointed a new approache, which the engineer
-of this army, who is now returned from Worcester, is to carry on with
-all expedition. He has already broken the ground, throwne up approaches
-of about an hundred yardes in length and circuit, and is within sixty
-yards of the under part of their workes.”
-
-The writer then proposes that the Parliament should agree to moderate
-terms, and accept of an honourable answer. That the plan might succeed
-he deems quite certain, though not without farther loss; and he adds, in
-terms less courteous than characteristic of the times, that “it would
-not be worth while to gaine this old man’s carkasse at so dear a
-rate.”[270]
-
-AUG. 14.--Fairfax appointed a new approach, which the engineer, Captain
-Hooper, had so far proceeded in as to throw up approaches of an hundred
-yards in circuit, making exact running trenches (as secure as if they
-were works against a storm), coming within sixty yards of their works.
-
-AUG. 15.--The Marquess sent forth his desire to treat upon the General’s
-propositions; whereupon the treaty was appointed at Mr. Oates’s house,
-(about a mile and a half from Raglan,) to begin at two of the clock that
-afternoon. Fairfax’s commissioners were Colonel Birch, Mr. Herbert,
-Quartermaster-General Grosvenor, Lieutenant-Colonel Ashfield, and Major
-Tulida.
-
-By Monday the 17th of August, two days after the date of this report,
-the preliminaries for capitulation were finally arranged.[271]
-
-<g>Surrender.</g>--During the blockade of Raglan, the Parliamentary General
-fixed his head-quarters at Kevantilla House,[272] the residence of Mr.
-Oates, about a mile and a half from Raglan; and there the treaty for the
-surrender of the Castle was finally adjusted and prepared for signature.
-The commission deputed for the occasion by Fairfax, were Colonel Birch,
-Quarter-Master Herbert, General Grosvenor, Lieutenant-Colonel Ashfield,
-and Major Tuliday. The meeting, as previously arranged, took place at
-two o’clock in the afternoon of Saturday, August the fifteenth; and, on
-the Monday following, the document was ratified, by appending to it the
-signatures of the authorized commissioners. The capitulation was agreed
-to on the following conditions:--
-
-<g>Article</g> the First. The garrison, ammunition, and artillery of Raglan, to
-be surrendered to General Fairfax on the third day after the
-ratification of the said treaty; namely, at ten o’clock on the morning
-of the Wednesday following, being the nineteenth day of August.
-
-<g>Article</g> the Second, stipulated that all the officers, soldiers, and
-gentlemen of the garrison, should march out with horses and arms;
-colours flying; drums beating; trumpets sounding; matches lighted at
-both ends; bullets in their mouths; and every soldier with twelve
-charges of powder and ball; with permission to select any place, within
-ten miles of the Castle, for the purpose of delivering up their arms to
-the general in command; after which the soldiers were to be disbanded
-and set at liberty.
-
-<g>Article</g> the Third, engaged the General’s safe conduct and protection to
-all the gentlemen and others who had sought refuge within the walls of
-Raglan Castle to their respective homes.
-
-<g>Article</g> the Fourth, was an enlargement of the preceding article, by
-which three months’ protection was guaranteed to certain other
-gentlemen, until they should either have made their peace with
-Parliament, or departed the realm.
-
-<g>Article</g> the Fifth, guaranteed the protection and care of the sick and
-wounded left in the Castle.
-
-<g>Article</g> the Sixth, was an indemnity for all words and acts of the
-garrison during the siege of the Castle.
-
-On Wednesday the nineteenth of August, in pursuance of these
-arrangements, the Castle and Garrison of Raglan were duly surrendered to
-Sir Thomas Fairfax, for the use of both Houses of Parliament. The
-garrison, which at first had mustered eight hundred men, was now reduced
-to less than half that number; and as certain of the warlike muniments
-were becoming so diminished as to expose them at last to the chances of
-seeing the Castle entered by storm, a prolonged resistance must have
-been attended with disastrous consequences.
-
-“The garrison had no sooner marched out,” says an eye-witness, “than
-Fairfax entered the Castle, took a view of it, had some conversation
-with the Marquess, and then, quitting the scene of his last operation in
-the way of siege, proceeded to Chepstow, where he was received in
-triumph by the committee; and, after a brief halt in the Castle,
-returned to his head-quarters at Bath,”
-
- “A conqueror; and blushing on his sword
- The stains of blood, by loyal Raglan pour’d.”
-
-Yet Fairfax, as far as lay in his power, was very exact in observing
-every condition to which he was a party. It is recorded to his honour,
-that, “far from allowing violence, he would not even permit insults, or
-expressions of triumph over the unfortunate Royalists.” Something of
-this generous bearing towards his opponents may be observed in his
-correspondence with the Marquess of Worcester. He is painted by
-historians as equally eminent for personal courage and for humanity; and
-though strongly infected with prejudices, or principles derived from
-religious and party zeal, he never seems, in the course of his public
-conduct, to have been diverted, by private interest or ambition, from
-adhering strictly to these principles. Sincere in his professions,
-disinterested in his views, open in his conduct, “he had formed,” says
-Hume,[273] “one of the most shining characters of his age, had not the
-extreme narrowness of his genius in everything but in _war_, and his
-embarrassed and confused elocution on every occasion but when he gave
-orders, diminished the lustre of his merit, and rendered the part which
-he acted, even when vested with the supreme command, but secondary and
-subordinate.”
-
-With this just tribute to his merits as a man and a soldier, we take
-leave of the Conqueror of <g>Raglan</g>, annexing the following
-
-<g>Anecdotes.</g>--When Fairfax, as we learn from the same authority, laid
-siege to Raglan Castle, and fair terms were offered to all the garrison,
-the Marquess only excepted, the generous old Nestor entreated his
-friends to accept the proposal, and allow _him_ to be the ‘Jonas.’ But
-this proposition, it may be readily believed, had the opposite effect,
-of strengthening their determination to stand by him to the last man. In
-thanking his officers for their devotedness, he added, in his own
-peculiar way, “I do not much like that way of embalming neither--to be
-served up to my audit as a thing newly taken out of the cost of many
-friends’ blood.”
-
-In the conversation above alluded to, when Fairfax took possession of
-the Castle, the Marquess is said to have made a jocular request,
-bespeaking the General’s indulgence in favour of some pigeons that still
-kept possession of their ancient haunt. To which he gravely replied,
-that he was glad to perceive his Lordship in so ‘merrie’ a frame of
-mind. Whereupon the Marquess told him the following story:--
-
-“There were two rogues once going up Holborn in a cart to be hanged; but
-the one being very jocund on so serious an occasion, gave offence to his
-companion, who, being very downcast, reproved him. ‘Tush, man,’ said the
-other, ‘thou art a fool; thou wentest a thieving, and never once
-thoughtest of what would become of thee; wherefore, being on a sudden
-surprised and taken, thou fallest into such a shaking fit, that I am
-ashamed to see thee in such a pitiful condition. Whereas I was resolved
-to be hanged before I fell to stealing, which is the reason I go so
-composedly unto my death.’ So, in my own case,” continued the Marquess,
-“I resolved to undergo whatsoever--even the worst--evils that you were
-able to lay upon me, before I took up arms for my sovereign; and,
-therefore, wonder not that I am so _merrie_.”
-
-<g>The fall of Raglan</g> Garrison was a source of much triumph and
-congratulation to the Parliamentary forces. “There were delivered up
-with it,” says Rushworth, “twenty pieces of ordnance, but only three
-barrels of gunpowder; for within the walls they had a mill with which
-they could make a barrel a day. There was found, however, ‘great store
-of corn and malt, wine of all sorts, and beer in abundance;’ but hay and
-forage for their horses had been so completely exhausted, that these
-noble animals were almost starved to death, and ‘had like to have eaten
-one another for want of meat, had they not been tied with chains.’”
-
-The captors found also great store of goods and rich furniture in the
-Castle, which Fairfax committed to the care and custody of Mr. Herbert,
-commissioner of the army, Mr. Roger Williams, and Major Tuliday, or
-Tulida, to be inventoried. And in case any inhabitants of the country
-could make a just claim to them--as having been violently taken from
-them, or they compelled to bring them thither--that they should have
-them restored.
-
-Agreeably to the terms of surrender, as recorded in the history of the
-siege, there marched out of the Castle--“The Marquess of Worcester, then
-in the eighty-fourth year of his age; the Lord Charles, the Marquess’s
-sixth son, Lieutenant-Governor of the Castle under his father: [he
-subsequently retired to Flanders, and died a canon of Cambray;] the
-Countess of Glamorgan; the Lady Jones; Sir Philip Jones; Dr. Bayly, so
-often quoted in the preceding narrative; Commissary Gwilliam; four
-Colonels; eighty-two Captains; sixteen Lieutenants; six Cornets; four
-Ensigns; four Quartermasters; fifty-two Esquires and Gentlemen.”
-
-It is worthy of record in this place, that, of all the forts and
-garrisons in the King’s interest, those of Raglan and Pendennis endured
-the longest sieges, and held out the last of any forts or castles in
-England--being bravely defended by two persons of very great age--and
-were at length delivered up within a day or two of each other. “<g>Raglan</g>,”
-says Lord Clarendon, “was maintained with extraordinary resolution and
-courage by the old <g>Marquess of Worcester</g> (then 85) against Fairfax
-himself, until it was reduced to the greatest necessity. Pendennis
-refused all summons; admitting no treaty till all their provisions were
-so far consumed that they had not victuals left for four-and-twenty
-hours; and then they treated, and carried themselves in the treaty with
-such resolution and unconcernedness, that the enemy concluded they were
-in no straits, and so gave them the conditions they proposed, which were
-as good as any garrison in England had accepted. The governor of
-Pendennis was <g>John Arundel</g> of Trerice, in Cornwall, an old gentleman of
-near fourscore years of age, who, with the assistance of his son
-Richard, afterwards made a baron in memory of his father’s service, and
-his own eminent behaviour throughout the war, maintained and defended
-the same to the last extremity.”[274]
-
-Returning to the subject of Raglan, we must not overlook the following
-predictions, as calculated to excite no little attention in times when
-witchcraft, sorcery, and apparitions, were admitted as articles of
-popular belief.
-
-<g>Prophecies.</g>--Of the prophetic warnings which, from time to time, and
-particularly during the siege, had taken possession of the vulgar mind
-regarding the fall of Raglan and its hereditary lords, the following
-passage is sufficiently characteristic:--One evening, during the
-progress of the siege, one of his officers was relating to the Marquess
-how strangely the narrator, Dr. Bayly, had escaped a shot by means of
-the iron bar of a window that looked out upon the leaguer. Standing, for
-example, in a window of the castle, there came a musket bullet and hit
-full against the edge of an iron bar of a chamber window, so that it
-parted the bullet in halves, the bar expatiating itself by degrees
-towards the middle; “one half of the bullet,” said he, “flew by me on
-the one side, and the other half on the other side; so that, by God’s
-providence, I had no hurt.”
-
-“The Marquess hearing this, asked me in what chamber it was. I told him.
-His Lordship then said, as I remember, ‘The window was cross-barred; and
-you will never believe me,’ said he emphatically, ‘how safe it is to
-stand before the <g>Cross</g>, when you face your enemy!’”
-
-But returning to the subject of predictions:--“Never,” says the family
-historian, “never was there a noble house so pulled down by
-_prophecies_--ushered into its ruin by predictions, and so laid hold
-upon by signes and tokens! I shall tell you no more,” he continues, “but
-what I have both read and seen long before the fall of that proud
-fabric, which had the honour to fall the last of any that stood upon the
-tearmes of honour. Now there was one old book of prophecies that was
-presented to the Marquess, because it so much concerned <g>Raglan</g> Castle,
-wherein there were these predictions: namely, That there should come an
-Earl that should first build a _white_ gate before the castle-house, and
-after that should begin to build a _red_ one; and before that red one
-should be finished, there should be wars over all the land.”
-
-Now all this was fulfilled in the Marquess’s own day, who, having built
-the one gate and begun the other, yet by reason of the distractions of
-the time, was forced to discontinue the latter, which at the time of the
-siege remained unfinished. Some one standing by while this prophecy was
-mentioned, exhorted the Marquess--half in jest, half in earnest--to make
-haste and finish his red-gate house, because we should have no quiet
-until that were up.
-
-“Hark’ye,” said the Marquess, “nobody shall ever prophesy so much money
-out of my purse in such times as these! Besides, the prophet does not
-say _until_, but _before_--‘before the red gate is up;’ and, for aught I
-know, if I should make haste with that building, I should hasten the war
-to my own sorrow; for the prophet says, ‘before the red-gate house shall
-be finished, there shall be wars all over the land.’ But what if I had
-built neither the one nor the other, how could this prophecie have
-concerned me?”
-
-“Oh, my Lord,” said one of the company, “it is done; and you could not
-otherwise choose but to do what you did.”
-
-“Ay; but I can choose,” said the Marquess, “whether I will _believe_ the
-prophet or not.”
-
-“Another prophecie there was,” continues our authority, “that the king
-of the country should lose a great battle, [Naseby,] and afterwards fly
-to Raglan Castle for safety; that the enemy should pursue him; and that
-after a short time he should leave the Castle, and that the enemy should
-besiege and set fire to the Castle wall. All of which was literally
-fulfilled.”
-
-Moreover it was said, that “an eagle should come into the park and be
-there slain, which should be a forerunner to the destruction of that
-house; which I saw literally performed; but yet executed by one that
-_never_ heard of the prophecie. It was furthermore foretold, that a
-cloud of bats should hang over the Castle before its final demolishment;
-this, three days before, all the Castle beheld to their no small
-astonishment, and it continued a quarter of an hour, about twilight, so
-thick that you could not, towards the middle of them, see the sky,
-though clear. Being shot at with hail-shot, some of them fell down, and
-the rest flew away.
-
-“The Marquess being told of this, asked what those kind of creatures
-might signify. Some about him answered, that they were scripture emblems
-of ruin and desolation.[275] He then asked if they were all gone. It was
-told him that they were. Whereupon the Marquess asked us whether or no
-the enemy had begirt us round. It was answered that they had. ‘Then,’
-said his Lordship, ‘I am glad of it; for then those emblems of ruin
-cannot fly away from us, but they must also fly over the heads of the
-enemy.’”
-
-The Chaplain then proceeds, according to the superstitious belief of the
-times, to relate the following prediction regarding the King
-himself:--“The strangest prophecie of all,” he affirms, “both for
-signification and accomplishment, is this, which I read before I saw it
-in this book, and fourteen years before the war.” He then gives it in
-the Welsh language, and explains that _fab-anne_, as it is one word,
-signifies a baby, and joined to another Welsh word, should imply a
-crowned infant, that, on growing up to man’s estate, and ruling these
-realms for a season, should at last “fall by the stroke of an _axe_,”
-or, “he shall be slain with an axe.” We shall not detain our readers by
-following the Chaplain through the various arguments by which he appears
-to establish the truth of this singular prediction; but, referring them
-to the “Apophthegms,” in which it is recorded, we proceed to another
-portion of our history.
-
-As soon as the Castle was fairly occupied by the new garrison, the work
-of demolition began. The peasantry were summoned to their aid; but on
-the great tower their united labours made but slight impression. So,
-“after battering the top with pickaxes,” they resolved to effect their
-purpose more expeditiously, and, transferring their implements to the
-foundation, succeeded in undermining it. As they proceeded, the gaps
-were propped up with timber, and when the personal risk became too
-imminent to continue the work, they set fire to the timber, and the
-instant the charred props gave way, down came a solid mass of the
-
-<g>Tower of Gwent</g>, half filling the moat, where it now lies; a specimen of
-as firmly compacted a structure as ever was framed by the hand of man.
-The mortar, indeed, seems harder and more durable than the materials
-which it cements together. Of its massive construction the annexed
-woodcut, showing the staircase in the centre of the wall, and the
-engravings opposite, give a very clear and distinct notion.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-Much treasure, it was conjectured, had been thrown into the moat during
-the siege, while under the apprehension of being given up to plunder; so
-the people were set to work with axes, shovels, and pickaxes, to drain
-off the water, and collect the treasure. But nothing valuable being
-discovered in the moat, they were next set to cut the stanks of the
-fish-ponds, where they had store of very large carp and other fish. From
-these reservoirs, during many generations, the family had drawn an
-abundant supply for the table; and in times when the fasts of the Church
-were rigorously observed, fish-ponds were indispensable to every large
-establishment. The artificial oak roof of the great hall, already
-noticed in the introductory sketch, could not be removed with advantage;
-it was therefore allowed to remain full twenty years after the siege.
-But the sheet-lead with which it was covered was found to be a very
-“convertible material,” and was therefore rolled up, sent to market, and
-the product paid over to the Parliamentary Exchequer.
-
-Above thirty <g>vaults</g> of all sorts of rooms and cellars, and three arched
-bridges, are yet standing; but the most curious arch of the chapel, and
-rooms above, with many others, are totally destroyed. Many coins of
-Queen Elizabeth have been found, but none deserving of preservation from
-the crucible of the silversmith, to whom they were speedily consigned by
-the finders.
-
-These dreary “souterrains,” in the present day, are, of course, haunted
-by goblins, or other beings with lungs not likely to be affected by the
-damp and mephitic gases, which they are said to exhale. Never was place
-better adapted for unearthly visitants; and wherever blood has been
-spilt or treasure concealed, the spirits of vengeance or avarice seize
-upon the spot as their own exclusive territory. As it appeared to us,
-however, the _genii loci_ were spirits of a very different stamp--beings
-with whom the painter, the philosopher, and the poet, would choose to
-make their abode. Not so the cicerone who showed these mysterious
-caverns to Bloomfield. “Look down there,” said she, pointing to the
-great cellar; “something very awful; candles wont burn there! Some
-people says it’s because the damp chokes ’em. For my part, I think it’s
-the devil himself; and not much fancying to be seen at his work, he
-blows ’em out. Well, sir, you may smile as you please; but one puff of
-brimstone’s enough for me. Let’s step into the Fountain Court. All the
-wine’s gone; so a cellar with only bad spirits in it, is hardly worth
-notice.”
-
-Passing from the cellar to the dairy, we may observe that during the
-siege, and for many generations previously, the fine meadows on the
-banks of the Olwy, in the adjoining parish of Llandenny, were
-appropriated as the dairy-farm of the Castle.
-
-The Marquess’s <g>Library</g> was considered one of the best selected, and most
-extensive in Europe; and we cannot doubt that the <g>Gallery</g> of Paintings
-bore equal and corresponding testimony to the liberality and taste of
-the noble owner.[276]
-
-The loss sustained by the family in the immediate destruction of the
-castle and woods, according to the printed statement, was computed at
-one hundred thousand pounds; besides enormous sums furnished to his
-Majesty for the raising and equipment of two armies, and the maintenance
-of a numerous garrison, of which the daily expenses alone must have
-required a princely revenue. With this evidence of the Marquess’s
-resources, it is not surprising that he should be described by Clarendon
-as “the most moneyed man of the kingdom.” The siege was followed by the
-sequestration and sale of the whole estate, which, by the parliamentary
-audit of 1646, amounted to twenty thousand pounds per annum, and
-remained in the hands of Cromwell till the Restoration, a period of
-fourteen years. All the old timber in the parks adjacent was cut down
-and sold; the lead was stript from the roof of the great hall, and sold
-for six thousand pounds; and a quantity of the timber was carried to
-Bristol, and there used in rebuilding the wooden houses upon the old
-bridge, which had recently been destroyed by fire. But the loss of the
-library was in every sense a national loss, for in this, among many rare
-invaluable manuscripts, were the archives of Gwent, with the earliest
-records of Welsh literature. “One of these manuscripts,” says the late
-Mr. Thomas,[277] “was an interesting work by Geraint Bardd Glass y
-Cadair, an illustrious Welshman, who flourished about the ninth century.
-He was the first who composed a Welsh grammar, a work that was revised
-by Einion and Edeyrn, which form and arrangement are now extant; but the
-original MS. was in the Raglan library at its capitulation.”
-
-In his palmy days, long before he was created Marquess, the good Earl
-lived in princely state in this Castle. Surrounded by faithful friends,
-numerous retainers, and a household that, by its daily expenditure,
-bespoke almost unlimited resources, he enjoyed in age all the happiness
-to which men look forward as the reward and solace of a virtuous youth;
-for, though long practised in the offices of Court, he could still
-relish the sweets of domestic retirement, the humanizing influence of
-science, and the conversation of pious and learned men. He was a friend
-of literature, a pattern of religious consistency, an example of loyalty
-which no reverses could shake; and when at last plunged into the deepest
-adversity, stript of his property, bent down with years, and suffering
-from bodily pain, he maintained a degree of mental serenity that
-softened the remembrance of his wrongs, showed the true foundation of
-his faith, and enabled him to view every dispensation of good or evil as
-coming from God, and intended, by weaning his thoughts from this world,
-to give him nearer and clearer views of heaven. Reduced in four short
-years from the height of prosperity into the very abyss of
-adversity--his home desolate, the prospects of his family blasted, his
-friends hopeless or in prison, himself an inmate of the Tower--it is
-impossible to withhold our sympathy from a man who, in no circumstances,
-forgot the true nobility of his nature, and the obligations of his
-creed; but in every trial could exclaim, in the words of his own
-motto--_Mutare vel timere sperno_.
-
- “Go, empty joyes,
- With all your noyse,
- And leave me here alone,
- In sweet sad silence to bemoane
- Your vaine and fleet delight;
- Whose danger none can see aright,
- Whilst your false splendour dims his sight.
-
- Go, and insnare,
- With your false ware,
- Some other easie wight,
- And cheat him with your flattering light;
- Rain on his head a shower
- Of honours, favour, wealth, and power--
- Then _snatch it from him in an hour_.”[278]
-
-On his melancholy departure from these ancestral halls, which he was
-never more to behold, the venerable Marquess--accompanied by certain
-members of his family and a few tried friends, among whom was the
-devoted Bayly--was conducted to London, and placed under the custody of
-the Black Rod. Expecting to be treated as a declared enemy of
-Parliament, notwithstanding the terms of capitulation, his lordship was
-agreeably surprised to find the severity, with which such cases were
-usually visited, was relaxed in his favour. “Lord bless us,” said he to
-Dr. Bayly, who never left him, “what a fearful thing was this Black Rod
-when I heard of it first! It did so run in my mind, that it made an
-infliction out of mine own imagination. But when I spoke with the man
-himself, I found him a very civil gentleman; and I saw no black rod! So,
-methinks, if we would not let these troubles and apprehensions of ours
-be made worse by our own fears, no rods would be black.” And although--
-
- “The pride of life has vanished,
- And here I stand alone,
- Degraded, stript, and banished
- From all that was mine own;
- Yet in dreams, when friends surround me
- With the loyal and the true,
- The youthful links that bound me,
- Seem all riveted anew.
-
- When I hear their loyal voices,
- I half forget my wrongs,
- And again my heart rejoices
- In our good old loyal songs.
- Pent up in these dark regions,
- The only gems I boast,
- Are my _honour and allegiance_--
- All else of earth is lost.”[279]
-
-But we shall leave the worthy Marquess for a time, to observe what is
-passing in that dearly beloved, but now desolate mansion, the gates of
-which were now closed upon him for ever.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-The woodcut here introduced represents one of the richly ornamented, but
-now dilapidated, windows of the front range of the Castle.
-
-Of the settling of some portion of the Marquess of Worcester’s estates
-upon Cromwell, we take the following particulars from a popular writer
-of our own times:--“The Commons,” he observes, “now dealing with
-delinquents, do not forget to reward good servants--to ‘conciliate the
-grandees,’ as splenetic Walker calls it. For about two years (writing
-after the conclusion of the war) there has been talk and debate about
-settling £2,500 a year on Lieutenant-General Cromwell; but difficulties
-have arisen. First, they tried Basinghouse lands, the Marquis of
-Winchester’s, whom Cromwell had demolished; but the Marquis’s affairs
-were in disorder. It was generally found that the Marquis had only a
-life-rent there--only Abbotson and Itchin in that quarter could be
-realized. Order thereupon to settle lands of papists and delinquents to
-the requisite amount wheresoever convenient. To settle especially what
-lands the Marquis of Worcester had in that county of Southampton; which
-was done, though still with insufficient result. Then came the army
-quarrels, and an end of such business. But now, in the Commons’
-Journals, March 7th, this is what we read:--‘An ordinance for passing
-unto Oliver Cromwell, Esquire, Lieutenant-General, certain lands and
-manors in the counties of Gloucester, Monmouth, and Glamorgan, late the
-Earl of <g>Worcester’s</g>, was this day read third time; and, upon the
-question, passed and ordered to be sent unto the Lords for their
-concurrence.’” <g>Oliver</g> himself, we shall find, has been dangerously sick;
-and the following is what Clement Walker reports upon the matter of the
-grant:--“The sixth of March brought an ordinance to settle two thousand
-five hundred pounds a year of land out of the Marquis of Worcester’s
-estate--the old Marquis of Worcester at Raglan--father of the Lord
-Glamorgan, who, in his turn, became Marquis of Worcester, and wrote the
-‘Century of Inventions.’ But £2,500 a year out of the old Marquis’s
-estate upon Lieutenant-General Cromwell! I have heard some gentlemen,
-that knew the manor of Chepstow and the other lands, affirm that in
-reality they are worth £5,000, or even £6,000 a year. You see,”
-continues he, “though they have not made King Charles a ‘glorious king,’
-they have settled a crown revenue upon Oliver, and have made _him_ as
-glorious a king as ever John of Leyden was.”[280]
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>In</g> addition to the personal anecdotes, or ‘pithy sayings,’ already
-introduced, the following are too original and piquant to be
-overlooked:--“We were talking one day,” says the family chronicler, “of
-an old drunken fellow, who having used his body to sad disorder in
-drinking all his lifetime, and at last giving it over, he presently
-died. The fact being thus brought before him, the Marquis observed,
-‘there was nothing to be wondered at in such a termination of the man’s
-life; for if you take a brand,’ said he, ‘out of the fire that is
-thoroughly burnt, it will fall to pieces; but if you let it lie there
-still, it may remain a pretty while before it is turned to ashes.’”
-
-This clearly shows that his Lordship was not a novice in the science of
-pathology; for, had he made the ‘anatomy of drunkenness’ his particular
-study, he could not have expressed himself by a figure that more
-completely illustrates the case. The burnt log may not only last longer,
-but also preserve its shape, and diffuse light and heat through the
-whole apartment, while it remains in the fire; but if suddenly removed,
-and the fire extinguished, it is soon transformed into a heap of black
-ashes. The comparison applies very forcibly to those in whom the
-pernicious habit of spirit-drinking has been long a rooted evil. If they
-suddenly reform, the constitution--to use the same figure--has been so
-thoroughly carbonized, that, on the artificial temperature being
-withdrawn, it breaks down like the charred firebrand and is
-extinguished; but if cautiously and gradually withdrawn, before the
-charring process has reached the core, it may live to furnish a better
-light than any that could be expected from it while in the furnace of
-dissipation. In the Marquess’s time, as already noticed, the habit of
-drinking was carried to a most fatal excess; and we may readily believe
-that the ‘apophthegm’ here recorded, was the result of personal
-observation among the troops of his own garrison, who--
-
- “Red-hot with drinking;
- So full of valour that they smote the air
- For breathing in their faces.”
-
-As the preceding anecdote shows the venerable Marquess as a pathologist,
-so the following exhibits him in the more congenial character of a
-quaint theologian:--“I was walking one day with his lordship,” says the
-narrator, “in the private walk about the Great Tower,[281] and there we
-spied where a bird had made her nest, whom we disturbed from hatching
-her young ones, and sitting upon her eggs; which act of nature my lord
-compared to the manner of the creation: ‘For,’ said he, ‘God having made
-his nest in the world, and brought forth his young at first imperfected,
-did by his Spirit _incubate_, and by his wings of prudence spread over
-them, he gave them life and power; and by his word he brake the
-shell--_et sic pullulavit mundum_.’” This method of giving a quaint and
-solemn turn to the most familiar incidents of life was characteristic of
-the times, and often introduced into their homilies by the clergy, who
-made use of the most homely figures to illustrate some of the highest
-questions in theology. But from the Marquess of Worcester, then at a
-very advanced age, the effort to extract a moral, or to expound a
-scriptural text, came very gracefully; and he omits no opportunity, as
-we perceive, of improving others, by directing their thoughts to those
-passages of scripture with which his own mind was familiar. It is almost
-impossible, however, to resist the ludicrous ideas which religious
-sentiment is made to conjure up when employed by the Parliamentary
-leaders, and those irreverent applications of scripture which are to be
-found, not only in their daily conversations, but in their speeches, and
-even dispatches. _Cant_ was the fashion of the day; and where a letter
-was not profusely interlarded with the language and figures of Holy
-Writ, the author was liable to be suspected of indifference or
-disaffection to the cause.
-
- “An evil soul, producing holy witness,
- Is like a villain with a smiling cheek----”
- “And thus he clothes his naked villany
- With old odd ends stol’n forth of Holy Writ.”
-
-The Marquess’s contempt of hypocrisy and deception is exemplified in
-another apophthegm:--“A Roman Catholic being sorely pressed to take the
-oath of supremacy, and being acquainted with another gentleman, who was
-a Protestant, and so like unto him that you could hardly distinguish
-them whilst they were together, much less asunder,--this _imago
-sui_--this lifelike
-
-[Illustration: _The Keep Tower, from the Moat._
-
-Raglan Castle.]
-
-resemblance--as if Nature herself had chosen him to be his
-representative--the right stone being pulled out, and a counterfeit set
-in the right ring--and what with the likeness of his countenance, and
-the identity of apparel, he passed for current; which jest my Roman
-thought so good, that he must needs brag of it to the Marquess. But my
-lord no way liked it; asking him--‘Would you put another upon doing that
-which you would not do yourself? What if the devil--you two being so
-like one another--should mistake you for him? I assure you he would go
-neare to mar the conceit.’ For, he might have added, though honesty be
-no Puritan, yet it will do no hurt.”
-
- “Mine honour is my _life_; both grow in one;
- Take honour from me, and my life’s undone.”
-
-In the next passage, the Marquess undertakes the duty of admonishing a
-party who had come to visit him; and his method of doing so is somewhat
-amusing. We shall give the lecture, as nearly as we can, in his
-chaplain’s own words:--“There was a new-married couple,” says he,
-“presented before the Marquess. The bride was a goodly proper woman, her
-face well-featured, an excellent eye she had, but she was pitifully
-disfigured with the smallpox. The Marquess, looking much upon her, and
-saying nothing to her for a long while, we all knew that silence was in
-labour for some notable production. At last he advances toward the young
-bride, and asked her: ‘Gentlewoman, do you know why it is said that God
-Almighty created man and builded woman?’ The lady, somewhat out of
-countenance, answered, ‘No, indeed, my lord.’ The Marquess asked her
-again: ‘Do you know why you women are called housewives?’ ‘I think, my
-lord,’ said the bride, ‘because good wives should keep at home, and not
-gad abroad.’ ‘It is a good answer,’ said the Marquess, ‘but not the
-right one; for women may be bad wives at home, as well as abroad;
-otherwise they would never scold their husbands out of doors. The answer
-to my first question is: Woman is not said to be _made_ as Adam was,
-which only signifies plain work; but to be _built_, which signifies
-curiosity and contrivance; and, therefore, as to my second question, a
-woman is called a housewife, because she is a house out of which all the
-royal families of kings and emperors derive their extract. Neither are
-you only compared to houses; but unto cities, kingdoms, churches, and
-commonwealths. But do you know what house you are like?’ ‘No, indeed, my
-lord,’ answered the bride. ‘Why, then, I’ll tell you,’ resumed the
-Marquess; ‘when God builded the first woman, he made her his storehouse,
-wherein he had laid up all the race of mankind, wherewith he replenished
-the whole earth. But I must tell you, my lady, God Almighty did not make
-you coaches nor waggons, that you should be always gadding about.’
-Whereat the bridegroom made answer: ‘My lord, I thank you for this; I
-hope my wife will remember it.’ ‘My lord,’ said the young bride, ‘you
-will read such a lecture to my husband, that he will never let me go
-abroad.’ ‘Oh no, my lady,’ said the Marquess, ‘he must not debar you of
-that liberty, provided you never go abroad but when you go out like the
-snaile; who seldom stirs abroad but whilst that blessing, the dew of
-heaven, is upon the earth, that she may gather benefit; and by her
-greatest care, and equal management, still carries her house upon her
-back.’ ‘Oh, my lord,’ said she, ‘if I should goe abroad like the snaile,
-I should carry not only a house upon my back, but horns upon my
-forehead!’ ‘No, lady,’ said the Marquess; ‘though she pockes at you, yet
-they are not horns; the snaile can soon draw them in if you touch them,
-which no horned creature can perform; but she carries them in her head
-to teach you what you should provide, and bear in mind against you go to
-hay-making.’
-
-“But the Marquess fearing he had a little displeased the young couple,
-he thought to make amends by the following, though somewhat equivocal,
-discourse:--‘Sir,’ said he to the bridegroom, ‘you know I have compared
-your wife unto a building, and I much commend your choice, for a goodly
-house should not be chosen for the smoothness or whiteness of the
-wall--for such a one may be but a dairy-house or a milk-house; nor
-according to the colours or paintings of the outside--for such a one may
-be but a tavern or an alehouse; but if I see a house that is lofty and
-stately built, and hath fair windows, though the outside be but
-rough-cast, yet I am sure there are goodly rooms therein.’
-
-“And so,” adds Bayly, “both parties were well pleased.” For what the
-Marquess meant to express by this string of similes was, that although
-the lady was much disfigured by the smallpox, yet her fine expressive
-eyes, intellectual forehead, noble carriage, and cultivated mind, amply
-atoned for accidental disfigurement; and left a balance in her favour
-which no outward appearance could disparage or conceal.
-
-These <g>anecdotes</g> of an octogenarian, however unsuited to modern ideas,
-and of rather doubtful merit on the score of compliment, are
-characteristic of times when the court-jester was still thought a
-necessary appendage to a great household; and when riddle and allegory
-were the daily vehicles of political wit and private satire, as well as
-the legitimate promoters of loyalty, mirth, and good-fellowship. That
-they were considered by Dr. Bayly himself--a grave and learned man--as
-reflecting honour upon the Marquess who uttered them, and creditable to
-his own taste and industry in transmitting them to posterity, is a proof
-that, agreeably to the taste of the age, they were fully entitled to the
-distinction of ‘apophthegms.’
-
-Here follows another, in a more serious and figurative sense, to which
-Juxon himself would not have objected, even from the pulpit:--“We were
-talking upon one occasion of Christ’s miracles, more particularly of his
-turning water into wine, and of the five loaves and two fishes. ‘Truly,’
-said the Marquess, ‘these miracles He works amongst us every day; but
-they are so ordinary, or familiar, that we take no notice of them. God
-sends rain upon the earth; this water gets up into the vine, and the
-sappe of the vine-tree God turneth into wine. And as few graines of
-corne as will make _five loaves_ being covered in the earth, will
-multiply and encrease to such advantage as will feed five thousand with
-bread; and _two fishes_ will bring forth so many fishes as will suffice
-so many mouths.’” It was by these serious and intelligible, as well as
-original, remarks upon subjects accidentally brought out in
-conversation, that the Marquess sought to impress upon all around him
-those religious sentiments and convictions which he had himself imbibed
-by diligent study of the Scriptures; the benefit of which he daily
-acknowledged, when overtaken by the accumulated evils of age and almost
-unparalleled adversity.
-
- “Such a house broke--
- So noble a master fallen! All gone--
- And not one friend to take his fortune by the arm!”
-
- * * * * *
-
-We now turn to the faithful friend who has recorded these anecdotes of
-his illustrious patron; who attended him during the whole progress of
-the siege, and, after the closing scene at Raglan, accompanied him to
-London, soothed him under the new series of afflictions to which he was
-there exposed, and never left him until he saw the Master whom he loved
-and honoured consigned to his final resting-place in the Beaufort Chapel
-at Windsor. This companion, friend, and counsellor, was Dr. Bayly; and,
-although our notice must be brief, it is a grateful task to commemorate
-the virtues of a man, whose name has almost passed into oblivion; but
-whose loyal devotion, genius, talent, and misfortune, justly entitle him
-to a place in the same page that records the merits and sufferings of
-Henry, first Marquess of Worcester.
-
-<g>Dr. Thomas Bayly</g> was the fourth and youngest son of Dr. Lewis Bayly,
-Bishop of Bangor. After finishing his curriculum at the University of
-Cambridge, and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1638, he was
-presented by King <g>Charles</g> to the subdeanery of Wells. In the troubles
-that continued to distract the nation, he took an active and unremitting
-interest; and having retired with other loyalists to Oxford in 1644, he
-was there created Doctor of Divinity. Previously to the battle of
-Naseby, he had accepted Lord Worcester’s appointment as chaplain to the
-household; and, as we have seen in the preceding account, acted in
-several instances as confidential adviser between the King and the
-Marquess. He was present during the whole course of the siege of Raglan,
-more as a soldier than a chaplain, and took his full share of the perils
-and responsibilities in which the officers of the garrison were then
-involved.
-
-When terms of capitulation were finally tendered by General Fairfax, and
-accepted by the Marquess, Dr. Bayly was employed to draw up the articles
-upon which the garrison was to be disbanded: and when the castle was
-delivered up to the besiegers, he accompanied the Marquess to London,
-attended him during his imprisonment as a friend and servant, consoled
-him as a minister of religion, vindicated his character, advocated his
-rights, and, when the final hour arrived, he performed over his grave
-the last sad offices of religion and humanity.
-
-After this event, Dr. Bayly repaired to the Continent, where he
-continued to reside, chiefly in France, until the “martyrdom of King
-Charles,” when he returned to England, and published the work already
-mentioned, entitled, “Certamen Religiosum; or, a Conference between King
-Charles I. and Henry, late Marquess of Worcester, concerning Religion,
-in Raglan Castle, anno 1646.” This conference, however, was believed by
-many to whom he stood opposed, to have no real foundation in truth; and
-to be merely sent forth as a prelude to his declaring himself a convert
-to the Roman Catholic faith; or, in the original words, to his “becoming
-a Papist.”
-
-In the course of the same year he published another work, entitled, “The
-Royal Charter granted unto Kings by God himself,” &c.; to which is
-added, “A Treatise,” wherein is proved that Episcopacy is _jure divino_.
-By these writings he incurred the heavy displeasure of the
-Government--to which all such topics were obnoxious--and the author was
-committed to Newgate, where he languished for some time. But at length,
-a favourable opportunity having been presented, he made his escape into
-Holland, where he carried his religious views into immediate practice,
-and became a zealous Roman Catholic.
-
-Previous to this date, and during his confinement in Newgate, he wrote a
-piece, entitled, “Herba Parietis; or, the <g>Wallflower</g>, as it grows out of
-the stone chamber belonging to the metropolitan prison; being an
-historie which is partly true, partly romantic, morally divine; whereby
-a marriage between Reality and Fancy is solemnized by Divinity.”[282]
-
-Shortly after this publication, he quitted Holland, and took up his
-residence at Douay in France, where he sent forth another book, with the
-title of “The End to Controversy between the Roman Catholic and
-Protestant Religions, justified by all the several manner of ways
-whereby all kinds of controversies, of what nature soever, are usually
-or can possibly be determined.”[283] This was followed by “Dr. Bayly’s
-<g>Challenge</g>,” the last of his published works; after which he proceeded to
-Italy, where he spent the residue of his days, and died, as his
-biographers conclude, in poverty and distress. It is more likely,
-however, that, after having, by his controversial talents, rendered some
-service to the church of his adoption, he retired into a monastery, and
-there ended his chequered pilgrimage in exercises of devotion. This,
-however, is matter of conjecture, for he is said by Dodd to have died in
-the family of Cardinal Ottoboni; while Dr. Trevor, Fellow of Merton
-College, who travelled in Italy in 1659, reports that he died in a
-public hospital, and that he had seen his grave. His fate, however, like
-that of many others--driven into involuntary exile by similar causes--is
-involved in a mystery which no recent attempt has been made to
-elucidate. _Requiescat in pace._
-
-To the books or pamphlets above named, Dr. Bayly received various
-replies, which showed that, by their spirit and execution, they had
-excited no little attention among the able and fierce controversialists
-of that day. Among those who took the field against him were Christopher
-Cartwright, L’Estrange, Robert Sanderson, Peter Heylin, and others.
-
-A “Life of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester,” is also ascribed to the pen of
-Dr. Bayly; but his title to that work is not fully substantiated. His
-Dedication of “Worcester’s <g>Apophthegms</g>,” to the second Marquess, author
-of “A Century of Inventions,” is manly and elegant. The conclusion is in
-these words:--“I layd your noble father in his grave with mine own
-hands; and I could not let a memorial of him lye buried under my own
-manuscript, but thought it a duty belonging to his fame, and your own
-merit, to dedicate this book unto your lordship, heir to all, but
-apparently to nothing but his virtues and this memorial of them.”
-
-In his Epistle to the Reader, he enters upon a lively vindication of the
-genuineness of his “Certamen; or, Discourse Concerning Religion;” the
-veracity of which had been bitterly impugned by his enemies; and states
-that he published it in vindication of the King’s constant affection to
-the _Protestant_ religion. There is considerable spirit in the
-preface:--“Some,” he says, “will not admit of that controversie
-otherwise than as a parable: First, because they were there--that is, at
-Raglan Castle--and heard no such thing; Secondly, because they believed
-not the <g>Marquess</g> of Worcester to be so able a man; as I hear it hath
-been said by some of his Majesty’s field chaplains, who envying that a
-loyal pen should wagge, where they can be contented to sew pillowes
-under the elbowes, to bead cushions over the heads of the people,[284]
-and preach such wholesome and sound doctrine of mortification,
-sanctification, justification, and good life, that they thought they
-might safely get up into any pulpit, not caring what bottom it had, nor
-what canopie was over head. Not much unlike the man who went to preach
-after [upon] the sureness of his foundation, when his house was all on
-fire. These men will tell you that this was no real thing; because they
-were there--at <g>Raglan</g>--all the while; whilst, in fact, they were not
-there at all except at _meales_; and when I tell you that they were the
-doctours, that were better at smelling a good dinner than a disputation,
-I have as good as told you their names. I expected truly better reason
-from those doctours, than from the knight that said, ‘He was sure there
-should be no such thing at Raglan, for his boy Tom was there all the
-time!’
-
-“But you will say,” he continues, “you do not believe there was any such
-private discourse. Chuse then; who cares? Let him believe that will; it
-was writ for the satisfaction of Christians--not of Infidels. But it may
-be that ‘mendax Fama’ means to requite me for the wrong she did my
-father, who writ a good book;[285] and some would not believe it to be
-his; and now that I have set out a book none of mine own, she will have
-it to be _mine_. I thank her kindly; but I had rather be without her
-praises, than to be thought such an ingenious lyar.”
-
-The suspicion that Bayly was the inventor, and not reporter, of the
-“Certamen Religiosum,” is not supported by any testimony to which we can
-attach implicit reliance; for those who charged him with the deception,
-were of the party to whom he was politically as well as religiously
-opposed. That conversations of the kind actually occurred between the
-King and the Marquess, can hardly be doubted; but as Bayly, in the midst
-of a garrison, could not be so cool and accurate as a modern reporter
-for the press, we may fancy that he clothed the arguments, sent forth in
-the “Certamen,” in his own language; and perhaps insensibly coloured
-them with his own sentiments.
-
-It has been farther said of him, that, besides taking part in the
-defence of <g>Raglan</g>, he fought, on some occasion of his subsequent and
-chequered career, as a common soldier. This is by no means unlikely; for
-he was of an active and adventurous spirit; never reluctant to take up
-arms in a good cause; and like some other ecclesiastics of his day, as
-well known in the “tented field” as in the pulpit.
-
-In his “Book of Apophthegms,”[286] he mentions the fact of his having
-saved Lord Worcester from the enemy, by giving him timely notice of
-their approach, when he found him wandering on the Welsh mountains; and,
-recording this incident as the occasion and origin of his acquaintance
-with the Marquess, he says: “From that time forward, until I laid him in
-his grave in Windsor Castle, I never parted from him.” Such enthusiastic
-attachment--disinterested as, under all the peculiar circumstances of
-the case, it must have been--does infinite credit to the memory of
-Bayly; for it generally happens that fallen greatness, like court
-favourites, has no real friends.--We now return to the closing scene of
-the master whom he had served with so much constancy, and whom it was
-literally his misfortune to survive; for after his obsequies at Windsor,
-Bayly was left a friendless wanderer, denounced at home, received with
-suspicion abroad, and indebted to charity for bread and--a grave.
-
-Reduced, as we have seen, to the humiliating condition of a prisoner,
-the Marquess of Worcester did not long require the vigilance of the
-Black Rod. From the day that Raglan was delivered up to General Fairfax,
-his health, which during the siege had suffered from great mental
-anxiety, rapidly declined under the absence of all that reconciles
-worldly men to the evils of life. But, armed with that Christian
-philosophy which is the only panacea for the outrages of fortune, he
-preserved the inward calm of a resigned and tranquil spirit; and,
-looking forward to another and a happier existence, he regarded passing
-events, like his own bodily infirmities, as visitations from an unseen
-Power, who, through a rugged and stormy path, was conducting his servant
-into a new region of sunshine and peace. At his death, which took place
-in December, all that descended to his family, as unconvertible to
-Parliamentary uses, were the example he had set before them of unshaken
-loyalty, well-grounded faith, and a patient endurance of evils which the
-practice of such hereditary virtues might incur. By his wife, whom he
-long survived, he had issue nine sons and four daughters: namely, Lord
-Herbert, Earl of Glamorgan, who succeeded to the honours; Lord John, who
-married a daughter of Thomas, Lord Arundel of Wardour; and Lord Charles,
-who, during the siege of Raglan, acted as second in command under his
-father, and after signalizing himself in the royal service, devoted
-himself to the church, and died, as already observed, in exile at
-Cambray. These are the only members of the family that require to be
-noticed in this place.
-
-<g>Edward</g>, the second Marquess, maintained the same spirit of loyalty which
-had actuated his father through life. The services which he had
-hitherto, as Lord Herbert, rendered to the royal cause, were followed by
-others which won for him the entire confidence of his Sovereign, by whom
-he was constituted Lord Lieutenant of North Wales, and invested with the
-highest authority ever delegated by a king to his subject. To this
-remarkable fact allusion has been already made;[287] but in this place,
-where it may be more properly introduced, we shall quote the original at
-full length. In the preceding history, as we have seen, the King
-addressed him in letters patent from Oxford, by the title of Earl of
-Glamorgan, Baron Beaufort of Caldecot; and to complete the honours
-showered upon him, his Majesty invested him, in 1644, with the following
-commission:--
-
-
- “<g>Charles</g>, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France,
- and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., to our right trusty and
- right well-beloved cousin Edward Somerset _alias_ Plantagenet, Lord
- Herbert, Baron Beaufort of Caldicote, Grosmond, Chepstow, Raglan,
- and Gower, Earl of Glamorgan, son and heir apparent of our entirely
- beloved cousin, Henry, Earl and Marquess of Worcester, greeting.
-
-
- “Having had good and long experience of your prowess, prudence, and
- fidelity, do make choice, and by these nominate and appoint you
- our, &c., to be our generalissimo of three armies, English, Irish,
- and Foreign, and admiral of a fleet at sea, with power to recommend
- your Lieut.-General for our approbation; leaving all other officers
- to your own election and denomination, and accordingly to receive
- their commission from you, willing and commanding them, and every
- of them, you to obey as their general, and you to receive immediate
- orders from ourself only. And lest, through distance of place, we
- may be misinformed, we will and commend you to reply unto us, if
- any of our orders should thwart or hinder any of your designs for
- our service. And there being necessary great sums of money to the
- carrying on so chargeable an employment, which we have not to
- furnish you withal, we do by these empower you to contract with any
- of our loving subjects of England, Ireland, and dominion of Wales,
- for wardships, customs, woods, or any our rights and prerogatives;
- we by these obliging ourselves, our heirs, and successors, to
- confirm and make good the same accordingly. And for persons of
- generosity, for whom titles of honour are most desirable, we have
- entrusted you with several patents under our <g>Great Seal</g> of England,
- from a Marquis to a Baronet, which we give you full power and
- authority to date and dispose of, without knowing our further
- pleasure. So great is our trust and confidence in you, as that,
- whatsoever you do contract for or promise, <g>We</g> will make good the
- same accordingly, from the date of this our commission forwards;
- which, for the better satisfaction, We give you leave to give them,
- or any of them, copies thereof, attested under your hand and seal
- of arms. And for your own encouragement, and in token of our
- gratitude, we give and allow you henceforward such fees, titles,
- preheminences, and privileges, as do and may belong to your place
- and command above-mentioned; with promise of our dear daughter
- <g>Elizabeth</g> to your son Plantagenet in marriage, with three hundred
- thousand pounds in dower or portion; most part whereof we
- acknowledge spent or disburst by your Father[288] and you in our
- service; and the title of <g>Duke</g> of Somerset to you and your heirs
- male for ever; and from henceforward to give the <g>Garter</g> to your
- arms, and at your pleasure to put on the <g>George</g> and blue ribbon.
- And for your greater honour, and in testimony of our reality, we
- have with our own hand affixed our great seal of England unto these
- our commission and letters, making them patents.
-
- “<g>Witness</g> ourself at Oxford, the first day of April, in the
- twentieth year of our reign, and the year of our <g>Lord</g> one thousand
- six hundred and forty-four.
-
-“<g>Charles.</g>”
-
-
-
-The result of this commission, full of promises, offers a striking
-instance of the uncertainty of “the best laid schemes” of men. Lord
-Glamorgan’s eldest son married; but no matrimonial alliance took place
-between the Royal family and his. Nor is it mentioned that any use was
-made of his unprecedented power to make peers; and what is singular
-enough, the title of Glamorgan, granted to Lord Herbert himself, was
-disputed, on account of some informality, at the Restoration of Charles
-II., and surrendered by him when Marquess of Worcester. He seems,
-indeed, to have regarded neither his private interest nor his public
-reputation in comparison with those of his Royal master. He was sent to
-Ireland, as already noticed, with a secret commission to negotiate with
-the Roman Catholics; and upon its discovery, and being disowned by
-Charles, he took all the fault on himself, to the imminent hazard of his
-own life. At the Restoration he met with no adequate reward for his
-devoted loyalty. Charles the Second, probably, had not all the power
-that was supposed, as he certainly had not all the inclination that was
-expected, to reward the adherents of his family.
-
-Horace Walpole, in his “Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,” gives a
-lively, but a very careless and unfair, account of this Marquess of
-Worcester. He ridicules his “Century of Inventions;” but, in truth, Lord
-Orford’s opinion will not go far on scientific subjects. An opinion,
-very different from that of the critic-peer, will be formed on
-consulting the new edition of the “Century of Inventions,” with
-historical and explanatory notes, published in 1835, by Mr. Charles F.
-Partington.
-
-The title the Marquess gives the original work is, “A Century of the
-Names and Scantlings of such Inventions, as at present I can call to
-mind to have tried and perfected, which (my former notes being lost) I
-have, at the instance of a powerful friend, endeavoured now, in the year
-1655, to set these down in such a way, as may sufficiently instruct me
-to put any of them in practice.”
-
- “Artis et naturæ proles.”
-
-He dedicates it to the King in language of unabated loyalty; and in a
-second address impressively recommends his discoveries to the attention
-of both Houses of Parliament. In the sixth of these “Inventions,” Mr.
-Partington recognises an improved construction of the telegraph, as it
-was used before the electric telegraph came into use.
-
-In VIII. IX. and X. various engines of war are hinted, which have since
-been perfected by Congreve and others. The reader who is curious in such
-subjects, will be well repaid by a perusal of Mr. Partington’s book. We
-can only find room for those inventions which foreshadow the
-steam-engine.
-
-“XC. An engine so contrived that, working the _primum mobile_ forward or
-backward, upward or downward, circularly or cornerwise, to and fro,
-straight, upright or downright, yet the pretended operation continueth
-and advanceth; none of the motions above-mentioned hindering, much less
-stopping the other; but unanimously and with harmony agreeing, they all
-augment and contribute strength unto the intended work and operation;
-and, therefore, I call this a _semi-omnipotent engine_, and do intend
-that a model thereof be buried with me.
-
-“XCIX. How to make one pound weight raise an hundred as high as one
-pound falleth; and yet the hundred pounds weight descending doth what
-nothing less than one hundred pounds can effect.
-
-“LXVIII. An admirable and most forcible way to drive up water by fire,
-not by drawing and sucking it upwards, for that must be, as the
-philosopher calleth it, _infra spheram activitatis_, which is had at
-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, stopping and screwing up the
-broken end, as also the touchhole; and making a constant fire under it,
-within twenty-fours it burst, and made a great crack. So that having
-found a way to make my vessels, so that they are strengthened by the
-force within them, the one to fill after the other, have seen the water
-run like a constant fountain stream forty feet high; one vessel of
-water, rarefied by fire, driveth up forty of cold water; and a man that
-tends the work is but to turn two cocks, that one vessel of water being
-consumed, another begins to force and refill with cold water, and so
-successively, the fire being tended and kept constant, which the
-selfsame person may likewise abundantly perform in the interim between
-the necessity of turning the said cocks.
-
-“C. Upon so potent a help as these two last-mentioned inventions, a
-waterwork is, by many years’ experience and labour, so advantageously by
-me contrived, that a child’s force bringeth up, an hundred feet high, an
-incredible quantity of water, even two feet diameter. And I may boldly
-call it the most stupendous work in the whole world! Not only, with
-little charge, to drain all sorts of mines, and furnish cities with
-water, though never so high seated, as well to keep them sweet, running
-through several streets, and so performing the work of scavengers, as
-well as furnishing the inhabitants with sufficient water for their
-private occasions; but likewise supplying the rivers with sufficient to
-maintain and make navigable from town to town, and for the bettering of
-lands all the way it runs; with many more advantageous and yet greater
-effects of profit, admiration, and consequence. So that, deservedly, I
-deem this invention to crown my labours, to reward my expenses, and make
-my thoughts acquiesce in the way of farther inventions. This making up
-the whole century, and preventing any farther trouble to the reader for
-the present, meaning to leave to posterity a book, wherein, under each
-of these heads, the means to put in execution and visible trial all and
-every of these inventions, with the shape and form of all things
-belonging to them, shall be printed by brass plates.” And he devoutly
-concludes:--“_In bonum publicum, et ad majorem_ DEI _gloriam_.”
-
-On these Mr. Partington has the following note:--“The three last
-inventions may justly be considered as the most important of the whole
-‘Century;’ and when united with the 68th article, they appear to suggest
-nearly all the data essential for the construction of a modern
-steam-engine. The noble author has furnished us with what he calls a
-definition of this engine; and although it is written in the same vague
-and empirical style which characterises a large portion of his
-‘Inventions,’ it may yet be considered as affording additional proofs of
-the above important fact.”
-
-The Marquess’s “Definition” is exceedingly rare, as the only copy known
-to be extant is preserved in the British Museum. It is printed on a
-single sheet, without date, and appears to have been written for the
-purpose of procuring subscriptions in aid of a water company, then about
-to be established:--
-
-“A stupendous, or a water-commanding engine, boundless for height or
-quantity, requiring no external nor even additional help or force, to be
-set or continued in motion, but what intrinsically is afforded from its
-own operation, nor yet the twentieth part thereof. And the engine
-consisteth of the following particulars:--
-
-“A perfect counterpoise, for what quantity soever of water.
-
-“A perfect countervail, for what height soever it is to be brought unto.
-
-“A _primum mobile_, commanding both height and quantity, regulator-wise.
-
-“A vicegerent, or countervail, supplying the place, and performing the
-full force of man, wind, beast, or mill.
-
-“A helm, or stern, with bit and reins, wherewith any child may guide,
-order, and control the whole operation.
-
-“A particular magazine for water, according to the intended quantity or
-height of water.
-
-“An aqueduct, capable of any intended quantity or height of water.
-
-“A place for the original fountain, or river, to run into, and
-naturally, of its own accord, incorporate itself with the rising water,
-and at the very bottom of the aqueduct, though never so big or high.
-
-“By <g>Divine Providence</g> and heavenly inspiration, this is my stupendous
-water-commanding engine, boundless for height and quantity.
-
-“Whosoever is master of weight, is master of force; whosoever is master
-of water, is master of both; and, consequently, to him all forcible
-actions and achievements are easy.”
-
-“It is said,” continues our authority in another place, “that the
-Marquess, while confined in the Tower of London, was preparing some food
-in his apartment, (a singularly good result from a marquess having been
-obliged to be his own cook,) and the cover of the vessel having been
-closely fitted, was, by the expansion of the steam, suddenly forced off
-and driven up the chimney. This circumstance attracting his attention,
-led him to a train of thought, which terminated in the completion of his
-‘water-commanding <g>engine</g>.’”
-
-Thus, we think, posterity has something more to thank the noble owner of
-Raglan for, than deeds of arms, or the defence of castles. His great
-castle, however, was ere this time in ruins, and furnishing another
-instance of the folly with which the conquerors at that period destroyed
-the noble buildings which had belonged to their enemies the Royalists;
-as if it had not been enough, and more wise and provident, to have kept
-them in their own possession, and converted them to republican uses.
-
-<g>The Marquess</g> survived the publication of his “Century” only about two
-years. He died in retirement, near London, on the 3d of April, 1667, and
-was buried in the vault of Raglan Church, on the 19th of the same month,
-near his grandfather, Edward, Earl of Worcester.[289]
-
-After the <g>Restoration</g>, as already noticed, a committee was appointed by
-the House of Lords,[290] to take the patent above quoted into serious
-consideration. The consequence was, that in a very few days thereafter
-it reported that the Marquess was willing, without further question, to
-deliver it up to his Majesty; and accordingly, on the third of September
-following, the said patent, “granted,” as it was alleged, “in prejudice
-to the Peers,” was formally surrendered to the Sovereign, as the only
-fountain of national honours.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Henry</g>, only son of the second Marquess, succeeded him in all those high
-titles and appointments, by which the King endeavoured to make him
-amends for the vast sacrifices which his family had incurred by a long
-course of unflinching and untarnished loyalty. And to crown the whole,
-he was installed K.G., and finally advanced to the highest rank of the
-peerage. Having been “eminently serviceable to the King”--as expressed
-in the patent--“since his most happy restoration to the throne of these
-realms; in consideration thereof, and of his most noble descent from
-King <g>Edward</g> the Third, by John de Beaufort, eldest son of <g>John of Gaunt</g>,
-Duke of Lancaster, by Catherine Swinford, his third wife,” the Marquess
-of Worcester was created, in December, 1682, Duke of Beaufort, with
-remainder to the heirs male of his body.
-
-At the funeral of <g>Charles</g> the Second, his Grace was one of the
-supporters to <g>George</g>, Prince of Denmark, chief mourner. By <g>James</g> the
-Second he was made Lord President of <g>Wales</g>, and Lord Lieutenant of
-twelve different counties in the Principality; and at the Coronation, in
-April following, he had the distinguished honour of carrying the Queen’s
-crown. He was afterwards made Colonel of the 11th Regiment of foot, then
-first raised. He next exerted himself against the Duke of Monmouth; and
-endeavoured, though ineffectually, to secure Bristol against the
-adherents of the Prince of Orange. Upon that Prince’s elevation to the
-British throne, his Grace refused to take the oaths, and abjuring public
-life, lived in retirement until his death, which took place in 1699, in
-the seventieth year of his age.
-
-<g>Charles</g>, the second but eldest surviving son of the first Duke, is
-mentioned in the family history as a nobleman of great parts and
-learning. He died in the lifetime of his <g>father</g>, in consequence of an
-accident, in the thirty-eighth year of his age. His horses, we are told,
-taking fright, and running down a steep hill, the danger became
-imminent; when, to avoid the casualty which threatened him, he unhappily
-leaped out, broke his thigh-bone, and only survived the accident three
-days.
-
-<g>Henry</g>, his eldest son, succeeded his grandfather as second Duke of
-Beaufort. On <g>Queen Anne’s</g> visiting the University of Oxford in 1702, and
-going thence in her progress to Bath, the Duke met her Majesty near
-Cirencester, on the twenty-ninth of August; and, attended by great
-numbers of the gentlemen, clergy, and freeholders of the county,
-conducted her with great pomp to his seat at <g>Badminton</g>, where she was
-received with regal splendour. This act of loyal hospitality--so
-becoming in a descendant of Henry the first <g>Marquess</g> of Worcester--was
-most graciously acknowledged by the Queen and her royal consort Prince
-George of Denmark.
-
-Three years after this event, the Duke took his seat in the House of
-Lords; but did not appear at court until after the change of ministers
-in 1710, when he frankly told her Majesty that he could “then, and only
-then, call her Queen of England.”
-
-After being installed in various high offices, and while promising a
-long and distinguished career in the service of his country, he was
-prematurely cut off in the thirty-first year of his age, and buried at
-Badminton, where a monument records his titles, character, and public
-services.
-
-<g>Badminton</g>, which we have just named, is the principal seat of the
-Beaufort family, and comprises one of the finest parks in England.
-Badminton Church, which contains the monuments above-named, was rebuilt
-at the expense of the late Duke of Beaufort in 1785, after a plan by
-Evans. It stands within the Ducal Park; and, besides various other
-specimens of art, represents the arms of Somerset--“foy pour
-devoir”--faith for duty--worked in mosaic in the pavement of the
-chancel. On the destruction of
-
-<g>Raglan Castle</g>, as already described in these pages, was laid the
-foundation of Badminton Park, where the household gods of the family
-were formally enshrined, and insured the possession of a more peaceful
-and propitious home.
-
- “Here, in forgetfulness of many woes,
- The loyal <g>Founder</g> sought and found repose;
- Here, in sweet landscapes to the Muse endeared,
- Soothed by Religion, and by Science cheered;
- Tasted the sweets that rarely can be known,
- Save when we make the public weal our own.”
-
-This beautiful seat--long prior to the time in question--had been the
-hereditary demesne of the <g>Botelers</g>, whose names appear in the earliest
-period of British history. The house is built in the Palladian style of
-architecture--a style for which the first Duke of <g>Beaufort</g> had acquired
-a taste at Vicenza; and when the time had arrived that a house, worthy
-of his illustrious ancestors, should be erected in this county, a
-decided preference was given to the Italian model. The principal front
-is of great length, having in its centre division a composite colonnade,
-surmounted by an attic, on which is sculptured the family arms. The
-wings of the mansion, extending considerably on each side, are
-terminated by Tuscan arches, leading to the offices and stables. Over
-each extremity of the centre is a cupola. The interior decorations of
-this palace are splendid, but still in good keeping, and evincing due
-regard to the classical taste in which the building itself originated.
-
-The great dining or banquet hall is tastefully ornamented by wood
-carvings, from the designs of the celebrated Gibbons--all of elaborate
-execution, and presenting some of the finest specimens ever produced by
-that artist. The picture gallery--which the stranger will admire for its
-fine proportions and classical simplicity--presents a series of family
-portraits, with which, individually, are associated many pleasing, and
-some painful events and circumstances of the national history--
-
- “Of lofty stem! the beautiful, the bold--
- Names that still blazon the historic page!
- Faintly, yet brightly, hath the painter told
- Their worth and virtues to a latter age--
- ‘In faith inflexible;’ in beauty’s charms
- Triumphant; and invincible in arms.”
-
-<g>The park</g>, by which the mansion is encircled, is of great extent--more
-than nine miles in circumference; and although the natural scenery is
-comparatively tame, the walks and drives are exceedingly picturesque;
-and, to the practised eye of strangers, present many points of view
-which will linger on the memory long after other and more romantic
-scenes are forgotten.
-
- “Here waving woods--a mass of living green--
- With varied shade diversify the scene;
- Flowers of all hues perfume the haunted dell,
- Where streams descend, and bubbling fountains dwell;
- Where busts of heroes glimmer through the trees,
- And Nature’s music floats upon the breeze--
- Such, as in olden time, was heard to wake
- The slumbering echoes of the Larian lake;
- Or soothed, with dulcet tones, the opal sea,
- That clasps thy beauteous shore--Parthenopè!
- Yet brighter rises--fairer sets the sun
- Upon _thy_ classic shades--fair <g>Badminton</g>.”
-
-With these particulars, which bring down the family history to
-comparatively modern times, we close this portion of the subject, and
-return to the scene of our illustrations--
-
-<g>Raglan Castle.</g>--By those unacquainted with the subject, it has been
-often regretted that, when prosperity had again visited the family of
-Worcester, no effort was ever made to restore this castle to something
-of its original splendour. But the obstacles that opposed such a
-patriotic design were innumerable; and although the apartments at vast
-expense might have been rendered habitable, yet the parks, and the
-timber--the growth of centuries--having all been cut down and swept away
-in the Revolution, and nothing left but a comparatively bleak and
-uncultivated waste, the grand ornament of the manor was not to be
-replaced by the hand of art. Turrets might again multiply along the
-battlements, and splendid courts be rescued from the cumbrous ruins that
-had long hid and disfigured them; but trees must be raised by a slower
-process, and he who should replant the wasted demesne must do so, not
-for himself, but for the benefit of future generations.
-
-But, in addition to other obstacles that need not here be noticed, the
-habits and manner of society had become so thoroughly changed after the
-Restoration, that a feudal stronghold was no longer indispensable for
-the security and comfort of great families. The military chief had now
-thrown aside his cumbrous mail, and entered into the every-day duties of
-civil life; and by improved intercourse with his fellow-men--confidence
-in the stability of government--a taste for agriculture, and love of
-national sports and pastimes, he felt his own happiness advanced by the
-new facilities of promoting that of the people around him. He found that
-to sleep soundly, required the aid of neither drawbridge nor portcullis.
-Public order and confidence once restored, domestic feuds, which had so
-long kept men strangers to one another--except in some field of
-conflict--were succeeded by family alliances, which united them by new
-ties of friendship and affection; and instead of mutual distrust and
-mutual defiance, the nobles of the land were gradually weaned back from
-an immoderate love of war to the arts of peace, and the practical
-illustration of loyalty and patriotism. The feudal castle, built chiefly
-for defence, was now of course a structure of which every one could
-perceive the comfortless inconvenience. A host of retainers was no
-longer required either for the safety or the baronial state of the
-mansion; a new form of society required new and more simple forms of
-accommodation; and the rural mansion, with its waving woods, gardens,
-orchards, farm-like offices, well-stocked preserves, and richly
-variegated lawns, succeeded those stern fortifications within which
-former generations had maintained their haughty independence--but which,
-in reality, was little better than “the freedom of a state prisoner”--
-
- “For still the ramparts, tall and grim,
- Were _barriers_ ’twixt the world and him!”
-
-<g>Raglan</g> Castle, however--even while occupied as a feudal
-residence--possessed many advantages over its contemporaries. Its
-spacious courts, lofty halls, numerous suites of chambers, extensive
-battlements, ancient gardens, shady walks, and variegated prospects,
-were luxuries to which few, if any, of our domestic fortalices could lay
-claim. Within the walls of the castle, the riches of art, pictorial and
-sculptured, were scattered with taste and liberality on every object
-that could please the eye or amuse the fancy; while the skill and
-science illustrated in their arrangement improved the mind, and imparted
-a classic grace and colouring to the whole structure. Of its luxuries in
-this respect--in its library, its <g>Gallery</g> of paintings and
-sculpture--the description of an old poet may be quoted as not
-inapplicable to the scene presented by Raglan, at the commencement of
-the seventeenth century:--
-
-[Illustration: State Gallery--looking south.]
-
- “For the rich spoil of all the continents,
- The boast of art and nature, there was brought;
- Corinthian brass, Egyptian monuments,
- With hieroglyphic sculptures all inwrought;
- And Parian marbles, by Greek artists taught
- To counterfeit the forms of heroes old,
- And set before the eye of sober thought
- Lycurgus, Homer, and Alcides bold--
- All these and many more that may not here be told.”
-
-But of all the artificial embellishments for which Raglan Castle was
-famed, its <g>Water-works</g>--on a most ingenious and expensive scale--are
-allowed to have formed a principal feature; and these Lord Herbert and
-the first Marquess appear to have brought to a degree of perfection
-previously unknown in this country. In their day--long before the name
-of Cromwell had inspired sentiments of either respect or alarm--Raglan
-Castle was probably as much distinguished in this respect amongst
-baronial mansions, as the “Palace of the Peak” among the aristocratic
-mansions of our own times. During the numerous fêtes celebrated within
-its gates in honour of the King’s visit, these water-works came in for a
-large share of royal admiration; and who can doubt that the rushing
-fountains of Raglan had, perhaps, as soothing an influence upon the
-distracted mind of the first <g>Charles</g>, as those of Tivoli are said to
-have had on that of Mecænas, whom the distracting cares of state, as
-tradition reports, had rendered sad and sleepless? Fresh from the field
-of Naseby, the sound of welcome that met King Charles at the gate of
-Raglan, must have been peculiarly grateful to _his_ ear, on which the
-shouts of loyalty were destined never to fall again with so much truth
-and fervour. As the equestrian group in the <g>Fountain Court</g> threw up its
-snowy column during the night, the spray may have reached the very
-casement of the King’s chamber, and invited that repose which
-unparalleled reverses had scared from his pillow. If, under the ordinary
-circumstances of royalty, “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” his
-must indeed have been “unrest,” from whose head the crown was so surely
-but insensibly falling.--These, however, are sentimental conjectures,
-with which the topographer has little or nothing to do; we turn,
-therefore, to the subject in question, the water-works of Raglan, and
-the hero of the scene, the first Marquess, of whom local history reports
-the following
-
-<g>Anecdote.</g>--At the beginning of the Long Parliament, we are told, certain
-rustics of the neighbourhood, availing themselves of the prejudices
-excited against Lord Worcester on account of his creed, presented
-themselves one morning at the gate of Raglan, and in the name of
-Parliament demanded possession of the household arms. Apprised of their
-design, the noble owner met them at the White Gate; and after hearing
-them repeat the demand for arms, put the question, “Whether, seeing that
-they had come to disarm him and his servants, they intended also to
-follow up that act of violence by robbing him of his money and goods?”
-“No,” said the intruders; “we want your arms, and that only because you
-are publicly denounced as a recusant!” “Nay,” said his lordship; “I am
-indeed a peer of the realm, but I am no convicted recusant; and
-therefore the law cannot in reason take notice of any such thing, much
-less sanction this violent proceeding.”
-
-Thus checked in their first attempt, the Marquess proceeded to warn them
-of the danger they had incurred by pressing an unlawful demand; and
-threatening them with serious consequences, they were well pleased to
-forego the prime object of their visit, and turning round prepared to
-retire without further parley. The Marquess, however, seeing their
-contrition, invited them to enter the gate of the castle, and amuse
-themselves, in a peaceable way, with a sight of whatever it contained.
-His design, however, was to punish them, in a manner they little
-expected, for the unnecessary alarm they had occasioned to the
-household.
-
-Condescending to be his own cicerone in the case, he conducted the
-rustic band from one place to another, until--greatly wondering at
-everything they saw--they had traversed nearly the whole premises. At
-last, just when they had come to that part of the Castle Moat, over
-which a lofty bridge communicated with the Keep,[291] he invited them to
-pause, and examine the scene at leisure.
-
-“Now, at this point,” says Bayly, “Lord Herbert had lately contrived
-certain water-works, which, when the several engines and wheels were set
-agoing, vast quantities of water through the hollow conveyances were to
-be let down from the top of the high tower.” All being ready for action,
-a signal from the Marquess brought down through these a deluge of
-cataracts, which, by their roaring, hissing, and foaming through the
-hollow tubes, produced such a hideous and deafening noise, that every
-echo from the buildings around was roused into imitation; while the
-visitors themselves, suddenly enveloped in a magic circle of roaring
-cataracts, knew not what to think, nor which way to turn. Describing the
-effect in his own graphic style, the Chaplain writes:--
-
-“Such was the roaring, as if the mouth of hell had been thrown wide
-open, and all the devils had been conjured up, that the poor silly men
-stood so amazed, as if they had been half dead; and yet they saw
-nothing!”
-
-At last, as the plot was contrived, up comes a man in great haste and
-affected trepidation; and staring wildly at the half-petrified rustics,
-cried out as he passed them--“Look to yourselves, my masters; look to
-yourselves; for, by’r Lady, the lions are all broke loose!” Hereupon the
-rustic “arms-searchers” fell into such a dancing fit of ague, that, in
-their attempts to escape the lions’ jaws, they tumbled so over one
-another as they scampered down stairs, that it was feared one half of
-them had broken their necks. Nor did they once look behind them, until
-they found themselves a full mile beyond the gates of the castle.
-
-By this _ruse_, the Marquess completely succeeded in warding off any
-second party disposed to make a similar experiment. The demand for arms
-was not repeated; the roar of Worcester’s “lions” kept all intruders at
-bay; and the recent adventure, which had lost nothing by telling, did
-more for a time to insure the tranquillity of Raglan Castle, than could
-have been accomplished by a regiment of cavalry.
-
-<g>View from the Keep.</g>--The Donjon Tower, where the above adventure
-occurred--and which has been already described in these pages--commands
-a magnificent view over the surrounding country, particularly to the
-south-west, where the landscape--broken into verdant masses of
-vegetation--gradually swells into a mountain range, which limits the
-view, and depicts its own bold outline on the distant horizon. In
-describing this view, we shall be as particular as our limits will
-permit; for it is one of the finest in the county. The ascent, as usual
-in such buildings, is by a tourniquet staircase, which opens at each of
-the five different stories into the ancient, and, in the present case,
-lofty apartments; to which, in cases of imminent danger, the family
-could retreat as to an inviolable sanctuary. But this was an extremity
-to which--so far as we are informed--none of the Worcester family were
-ever compelled to resort. So that there are no dramatic incidents
-associated with the tower, upon which a romantic story of siege and
-storm might be founded.
-
-Of this view, however, all visitors of taste in landscape-painting speak
-in terms of admiration; and, having made the experiment on a beautiful
-evening in September, we are bound, from the enjoyment it afforded us,
-to recommend to all visitors a tour of the battlements, closing with a
-view from the top of the Keep. In this view, as shown in the
-accompanying engraving, is comprehended a wide panorama, enriched and
-embellished with all the characteristic features of English landscape,
-from the green valley and fertile wheat-field to the bleak pastoral
-uplands that partly enclose the scene. All the foreground is occupied by
-smiling cottages and cultivated farms, half buried, as Mr. Thomas[292]
-has described them, in the umbrageous and many-coloured foliage that
-enriches the scene, and in which the melancholy yew-tree is conspicuous.
-The appearance of the ruins in this bird’s-eye view is particularly
-striking. Every tower, arch, and battlement--here diverging into
-distinct form and outline, and there grouped in picturesque
-confusion--strike the spectator with mixed feelings of surprise and
-amazement; for it is only from this elevation that he is enabled to form
-any correct estimate of the beauty, variety, and extent of a building,
-that seems every way fitted to have been the residence of a regal court.
-
-The following table, as recommended by Mr. Thomas,[293] will assist the
-curious visitor in discovering the various hills and landmarks which are
-generally visible from the Tower of Gwent. Ranging from east to south,
-the prominent features of the landscape appear in the following order:
-namely--the Kymin, a conical hill overlooking the town of Monmouth, and
-crowned with its pavilion. The next is Troy Park, the favourite seat of
-the Ducal family; Craig-y-Dorth, the scene of a famous battle between
-Henry IV. and Owen Glendower; then the Trellig range of hills,
-particularly Beacon Hill--so called
-
-[Illustration: _View from the Battlements._
-
-Raglan Castle.]
-
-from being used as such in the late war during the threatened invasion.
-The next is
-
-<g>Llanishen</g> Hill, with the church of St. Dionysius; and continuous with it
-rise the Devaudon and “New Church Hills,” opposite the Elms; the royal
-forest of Wentwood and Pen-y-Cae Mawr; Kemeys Firs, near to Caerleon, an
-elevation which commands a view of thirteen counties.[294]
-
-In the south-west are seen the heights of Caerleon and Pen Twyn Barlwm;
-Gaer Vawr, on which is an ancient encampment--the largest in the
-county--with the site of a British town; Dial Carig; and Craig-y-Garcyd,
-two miles north-west of Usk, the site of a Roman camp. In the immediate
-foreground are the village and church of Raglan.
-
-Westward appear Abersycan and the hills near Pontypool; the Blorenge
-hill, nearly two thousand feet high.[295] The opening which occurs in
-the range at this point, allows of a glimpse of the Breconshire hills at
-Crick Howell to Bwlch, within eight miles of the county town. The next
-in succession are--the Sugar Loaf, or Pen-y-Foel--so called from its
-conical shape--near Abergavenny, which crowns the summits of four
-converging hills, and rises eighteen hundred and fifty-two feet above
-the channel of the river Gavenny, which flows near its base.
-
-The same view takes in the Hatteril Hills, or Black Mountains, crowned
-with Roman encampments; and near which is Oldcastle, once the residence
-of Lord Cobham, whose unhappy fate forms a painful page in the national
-history. From these hills the Monnow takes its source. Beneath lies the
-dark Vale of Ewias; and in its bosom are the ruins of Lanthony, a
-Cistercian Abbey of the twelfth century, which forms one of the
-illustrated subjects of this work. In the same direction is seen the
-Skyrrid Vawr, a lofty hill, seen in a volcanic fissure, which is
-supposed to have been thrown open during one of those remote convulsions
-of nature, of which in these districts the traces are so distinct and
-frequent.
-
-Looking northward, the prominent objects are Campstone Hill, and the
-Craig, at the foot of which lie the picturesque remains of Grosmont
-Castle, which gives the title of Viscount to the Beaufort family. To
-these, but more northward, succeed Garway, Broad Oak, the Skinch-Cwm,
-and White Hills, which close the panorama from Raglan Keep.--We have
-been thus particular in designating the objects seen from the different
-points of view, in order that the tourists who annually visit this
-scene, may be in some degree prepared for the enjoyment which it is so
-well calculated to afford.
-
-[Illustration: From the top of the Keep.]
-
-Descending from this lofty tower, where on festive occasions the family
-ensign still floats, the contrast between the Natural scenery, which has
-just faded from the spectator’s eye, and the iron-bound work of Art,
-forces itself upon the mind, and elicits a spontaneous burst of
-gratitude that, under the protecting banner of the English Constitution,
-the peasant is now as safe in his cottage as ever Baron of Raglan was in
-his Keep; that at last “right” is a match against “might,” and that the
-strong arm of Justice falls with impartial force on the culprit--whether
-he be robed in ermine, or clad in hodden grey.
-
- “Yet <g>Barons</g> of the land! to you
- A grateful people still retains
- Proud memory of the swords ye drew--
- The swords that broke a tyrant’s chains,
- And planted Freedom on our plains!
- For Freedom’s cradle was the <g>Keep</g>,
- Her guardians were the Barons bold;
- Who placed her temple on the steep,
- And on her head a crown of gold;
- And cried--‘The deed is done! Behold,
- Henceforth our British land shall be
- The glorious land of Liberty!’”
-
-The visitor, as he crosses the rustic bridge that now spans the moat,
-will recall the interesting fact, that this very spot, so to speak, was
-the “birthplace” of the <g>Steam-engine</g>; a circumstance which, had Raglan
-no other claim to their notice, must entitle it to a more than cursory
-observation from all who have an hour to spend within its walls. The
-spot where it is believed to have been first placed by the
-inventor--then Lord Herbert--was in a building erected close under the
-wall of the Keep, where the drawbridge rose; but which has left few or
-no traces, in shape or dimensions, that are now visible above the moat.
-It is satisfactory, however, to know that the ground is stamped by
-tradition as the spot where the noble inventor, during his father’s
-lifetime, made his first experiments on the uses and powers of steam;
-and where he probably constructed that “model of his invention,” which
-he desired might be placed with him in his coffin.
-
-If ancient warriors considered it an honourable distinction to be
-consigned to the tomb in a full suit of armour, it was excusable in one
-who had carried with him through life the remembrance of many wrongs,
-many sacrifices, to desire that, at least, the evidence of one bloodless
-triumph, one proof of scientific discovery, might accompany him at his
-final departure from this scene. It was the favourite child of his
-matured judgment, the result of those scientific researches, after which
-he had been straining for many years--the mighty consequences of which
-were dimly foreshadowed in his imagination. It was the reward and
-consolation of a life of suffering, as well as of science; and there is
-something both natural and touching in the wish that this model--the
-only mechanical evidence that told him “he had not lived in
-vain”--should be deposited with him in the grave.
-
-Some of his commentators have affected to smile at this wish, as
-evincing a feeling of weakness and vanity on the part of Lord Worcester,
-incompatible with a philosophic mind. But in this they only allege what
-cannot be proved; and the charge falls harmless when applied to a man
-who was--what can never be disputed--one of the most ingenious and
-scientific men of his day. When Columbus--a schoolboy at Genoa--first
-rigged his tiny skiff, and sent it dancing over the blue waters, on
-which it moved like the shadow of coming events; no one foresaw that
-this mere toy would one day be succeeded by vessels, directed by the
-same master-pilot, that should throw open another continent to the old
-world. Nor, while Lord Worcester was squandering much time and treasure,
-as it was thought, in useless experiments in the Keep at Raglan, did any
-one imagine that these very experiments were preparing the way for that
-stupendous power, that should one day give incredible impulse to the
-arts of civilized life, cross the Atlantic, and traverse the Pacific,
-with a celerity that promises to unite in one bond of fellowship all the
-nations of the earth.
-
-It can hardly be doubted that results similar to these haunted the
-imagination of Worcester, and kept up within him that spirit of
-discovery which animated him in all his labours, soothed him with the
-hope of being numbered among the benefactors of his country, and a
-prospect of that immortality which attends the favoured votaries of
-science. He may often have indulged the thought, though never embodied
-in words--and it was a remarkable prediction on the part of him who
-uttered it long afterwards--
-
- “Soon shall thine arm, triumphant Steam, afar,
- Drag the slow barge, and drive the flying car!”
-
-It has been alleged by Desaguliers,[296] that Savary, the reputed
-inventor of the steam-engine, obtained his notions from the work already
-named, “The Century of Inventions;” and that, in order to conceal the
-original, he purchased all the Marquess’s books that could be had for
-money, and committed them to the flames. Of this, however, we have no
-direct proof, and Captain Savary must be acquitted; but it is quite
-certain that, as already mentioned, the original work is so rare, that
-not a copy is to be found except in the British Museum, and perhaps in
-the Beaufort Libraries at Troy House or Badminton Park. It is to be
-observed, however, that no contemporary record exists to illustrate or
-verify the Marquess’s description of the contrivance, which we presume
-to call a Steam-Engine; or to inform us where, and in what manner, it
-was carried into effect. Yet it is very evident from his account, that
-he had actually constructed and worked a machine that raised water by
-steam; an operation which was sufficient to produce on the minds of
-rustics, the effect ascribed to the “roaring of lions,” as mentioned in
-the preceding anecdote. The Marquess’s description, though short and
-obscure, would appear to favour the belief, that the force of his engine
-was derived solely from the _elasticity_ of steam; and that the
-condensation of steam by cold was no part of his contrivance, but the
-invention of Captain Savary, who, in 1696--nearly thirty years after the
-Marquess’s death--published an account of his machine in a small tract,
-entitled, “The Miners’ Friend.” In these engines--several of which he
-had erected previously--the alternate condensation and pressure of the
-steam took place in the same vessel into which the water was first
-raised from a lower reservoir, by the pressure of the atmosphere, and
-then expelled into a higher one by the elastic force of strong steam.
-Steam was thus employed merely to produce a vacuum, and to supply the
-strength that was applied, for a like effect, to the sucker or piston of
-an ordinary pump; and it was a great and important step to have
-discovered a method of bringing the air to act in this manner, by the
-application of heat to water, without the assistance of mechanical
-force.
-
-To the simple incident which, during his confinement in the Tower of
-London, first set the warm and fertile imagination of the Marquess to
-work on this subject, we have already adverted; and must now turn from
-the curiosities of science, to such portions or features of Raglan
-Castle as still remain to be noticed.
-
-<g>The Tilt-yard.</g>--The exact situation of this important adjunct to the
-Castle is still a question among the learned. By some, what is now
-called the Bowling-green is described as the ancient Tilting-ground.
-This conjecture, however, being rendered improbable by a careful
-examination of the ground, another has been thrown out, namely--the
-Grand Terrace on the north-west side of the Castle. But this locale is
-also disputed, particularly by one who is resident near the spot, and
-fully conversant with whatever has descended to our own times respecting
-the original plan of the Castle. His opinion is, that the ancient
-Tourney-field must have been on the outside of the present walls. An
-experienced officer of the Royal Engineers, who lately inspected the
-grounds, with the view of ascertaining the exact spot, confirms this
-opinion; and observes that the Tilt-yard occupied the space immediately
-outside of the present gate, and enclosed between the two moats which
-surrounded the gateway. This opinion will probably set the question at
-rest--particularly as it comes from a quarter well qualified to decide
-in such doubtful cases--and allow the Bowling-green to retain its
-hereditary fame and honours.[297]
-
-In this enclosure it was usual for the lords of Raglan to exhibit those
-chivalrous fêtes which gave a character to the age. They brought into
-martial competition those aspirants of knightly fame, whose dexterity in
-the use of the lance was perfected by daily practice in the tourney. In
-these gorgeous pastimes, all that could fascinate the eye, and kindle
-admiration in the spectators, was brought into brilliant operation.
-Beauty, presiding at the lists, bestowed the palm on him who had
-disarmed his rival in the charge, and thus established his claim to
-knightly honours. Here, no doubt, many a lance has been couched, many a
-spear broken in rival combat; for one of the old lords, as already
-mentioned, was renowned as the best horseman of his day; and to support
-this character, joust and tournament may have been no unfrequent
-spectacles under the walls of Raglan.
-
-It cannot be doubted that these martial exercises--conducted with
-admirable tact and courtesy--contributed, in a very special degree, to
-foster a spirit for military enterprise; to inculcate a high and
-chivalrous sense of honour; to form the young soldier to habits of
-fortitude and endurance which procured him the respect of his comrades,
-and future distinction in the field. A knight, thoroughly trained
-according to the system of feudal times, was a being whom we are
-accustomed to regard as the beau-ideal of a soldier; whose high bearing,
-indomitable courage, inflexible faith, unsullied honour, and loyal
-devotion to his “ladye love,” are themes on which poets and historians
-of the middle ages have lavished many glowing panegyrics.
-
-For the education and discipline of those military aspirants, the grand
-palæstra was the tilt-yard. For the feudal tournament--descriptions of
-which are handed down to us by contemporaneous authors--no substitute is
-left in these times. Nothing could have been more animated and dazzling,
-when celebrated with all those details of martial pomp and
-ceremony--indispensable to such exhibitions--than a pageant, in which
-all who aspired to distinction were required to evince, in action, the
-pure and elevating principles of love, loyalty, and religion. For these,
-and many other reasons, impartial taste, as Gibbon observes, must prefer
-a Gothic tournament to the Olympic games of classic antiquity. Instead
-of the naked spectacles which corrupted the manners of the Greeks, the
-pompous decoration of the lists was crowned with the presence of chaste
-and highborn beauty, from whose fair hands the conqueror received the
-prize of his dexterity and courage.[298]--And with this flattering
-
-[Illustration]
-
-contrast between the demoralizing festivals of Greece, and the high tone
-of refinement which characterised those of our Gothic forefathers, we
-pass on to such other points in the history of Raglan Castle as have
-been selected for illustration. In the woodcut introduced in the
-preceding page, the view is taken from the old
-
-<g>Bowling-green</g>--erroneously supposed to have been the Tilt-yard. Directly
-opposite, in the centre, is the Donjon, or Tower of Gwent, so often
-described or otherwise referred to in these pages. On the left, where a
-massive gateway is seen, is the entrance to the <g>Fountain Court</g>, from
-which, as formerly noticed, a noble staircase conducts to the State
-apartments occupying the south side of the Castle. These are now in a
-state of utter dilapidation; but the framework itself affords abundant
-evidence--so far as architectural design and elaborate ornament can
-assist us in such a conclusion--of their original splendour.
-
-[Illustration: The royal apartments.]
-
- “But now th’ unsightly brier grows,
- Where once, in gilded bower,
- The Queen of Beauty trained the rose--
- Herself a fairer flower.
- And damp the hearth, and cold the bed,
- Where he who wore the crown,
- With anxious heart, and aching head,
- In slumber laid him down!
- But brief the slumber, long the night--
- For <g>Naseby’s</g> fatal day,
- And sorrow’s still increasing weight,
- Had scared his sleep away!”
-
-There is a tradition, that the Bowling-green was King Charles’s
-favourite walk during his visit. It commands a varied and extensive
-prospect; the vegetation is vigorous; and the grassy carpet, though not
-in courtly trim, is still uninjured by plough or spade; and to
-sentimental tourists it seems the very spot--aided by the adjoining
-ruins--where, in the mirror of fancy, pictures of the olden day, the
-hues of domestic life as it passed in the fifteenth century, may be seen
-faithfully reflected.
-
- “There is a spirit brooding o’er these walls,
- That tells the records of a bygone day;
- When, midst the splendour of thy courtly halls,
- A pageant shone, whose gorgeous array,
- Like Pleasure’s golden dream, has passed away;
- Where Beauty’s smiles, and winning graces, lent
- The witching radiance of their love-lit ray;
- And from the scene a mingled strain was sent
- Of music, laughter, festive song, and merriment.”--_Raglan._
-
-The game of bowls was unknown to the ancients, and bowling-greens are
-said to have originated in England; where, in the course of time, every
-castle, and most houses of the nobility, had each a bowling-green
-attached to them. The “greens” were in some places narrow strips turfed
-over; but if covered with gravel, they were called “Bares.”
-Bowling-alleys were so called from being roofed over for play when the
-weather was unfavourable; and these appear to have been the usual
-appendages to taverns, and other places of public resort, particularly
-in towns. In an old inventory we have--“To Sparke of Bury, Roper, for
-vi. li. etc., of herryng line for the <g>Bowling-alley</g>, iij_s._ iv_d._” At
-the same place [Hengrave Hall] a bowling-alley occupied the space
-between the north side of the moat, having the convenience of an open
-corridor communicating with the Hall. Flat bowls were best for a close
-alley; “round biassed bowls” for open ground, of advantage; bowls, round
-as a ball, for green swarths which were plain and level; and of the
-latter description is the Bowling-green of <g>Raglan</g>, now under notice.
-
-In a plate of “Strutt’s Sports,” two small cones are placed upright, at
-a distance from each other, and the players bowl at each
-alternately--the winner was he who could lay his bowl nearest to the
-mark. A small bowl or jack was also used as a mark; and only one bowl
-for each person--not two or three, as in the present day.[299] There
-were also ground-bowls, driven by a baton or mace through an arch.
-Half-bowl--so called because it was played with one half of a
-sphere--was prohibited by Edward the Fourth; and is the rolly-polly
-still practised in Herts.[300]
-
-<g>Tennis-Court.</g>--The site of this is still a question in the topography of
-Raglan, although “the practice” cannot be doubted. Henry the
-Seventh--who was a prisoner in Raglan Castle--his son Henry, and Charles
-the Second, were all tennis players. In the sixteenth century,
-tennis-courts were quite common in England. They were divided by a line
-stretched in the middle; and the players, standing on either side with
-their rackets, had to receive and return the ball, which the rules of
-the game required to be struck over the line.[301]
-
-Having already spoken of the <g>Tilt-field</g>, it is proper to remark that the
-jousts and tournaments, for which it was set apart, differed from one
-another in the following respects:--The latter consisted of parties of
-knights, engaged at the same time; the former of two persons only. The
-Joust was at first called the “Cane Game,” because hollow canes were
-used instead of lances. On some occasions the combatants with swords and
-lances were on foot, with a barrier of wood breast-high between them.
-Toys, made to imitate the joust, consisted of knights on horseback, who
-could be thrown off and unhorsed by the shock of their adversaries’
-spears. Some had wheels, others not.
-
-There were also boat-jousts, as represented in old paintings. The
-conqueror was he who could best turn aside the blow of his antagonist by
-one blow of his shield; and, at the same time, strike him with a lance
-in such a manner as to throw him over into the water, himself remaining
-unremoved from his station.[302]
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>Tradition.</g>--On taking a final survey of these extensive ruins, and
-speculating on the style and date of several of their component parts,
-the difficulties that attend antiquarian decision--as great in the
-present day as in that of the first Marquess--remind us of the following
-anecdote:--
-
-During an excursion in the vicinity, “We were told,” says his Chaplain,
-who relates the story, “that we should come to a place that was famous
-for a miracle, which, according to popular tradition, was wrought by the
-preaching of St. David to three thousand people.” To accommodate the
-saint, the ground on which he stood at the time, being too low to admit
-of his being advantageously seen and heard by the multitude, most
-obligingly rose up into a green knoll, carrying the saint with it, and
-there settled at a proper elevation. Whereupon <g>St. David</g>, pitching the
-cross on which he leant into the miraculous soil, and continuing his
-discourse, was distinctly heard and seen, much to their comfort and
-edification, by the whole assembly. This cross, at the time in question,
-“was yet standing, with some words, or letters, which time and Welsh
-weather had so defaced that they were no longer intelligible to vulgar
-eyes.” In memory, or rather in _proof_, of the miracle, the guardian
-saint had caused a church to be erected on the spot, and many were the
-pilgrims, during the long lapse of centuries, who had resorted to the
-<g>Cross</g>, and borne testimony to the celestial influence which still
-hovered round the spot; and in those who were already gifted with that
-“faith which can remove mountains,” produced the most wonderful changes.
-
-This relation, working upon the Marquess’s mind, made him desirous to
-turn aside for a little, and inspect the hallowed ground in person.
-Having reached the churchyard, the cross was instantly visible; but in
-shape and ornament bearing all the marks of venerable antiquity. The
-inscription was almost obliterated; and among the gentlemen who attended
-the Marquess, it became an object of competition who should best
-decypher the original; though all that could be traced with any
-resemblance to an alphabet, were--<g>Crx</g> ... <g>Xti</g> ... <g>Dd</g>, and part of an <g>s</g>.
-The enigma that had puzzled so many others, however, appeared to his
-lordship of very easy solution. “Why,” said he to the gentlemen around
-him, “these letters are neither more nor less than fragments of three
-simple but sacred words; to wit--<g>Crux Christi Davidis</g>.” “Which we all
-wondered at,” says the Chaplain, “that no man could find out, though it
-afterwards appeared so plain. ‘Look ye now,’ said the Marquess; ‘I,
-without my spectacles, and ill eyes, could read it sooner than all you
-that needed none, and had good eyes. And mark me,’ he added, ‘it is not
-a good eye but a good <g>faith</g> that attains to a knowledge of such things;
-whilst you pore so much upon the letters you lose the meaning. Now, I
-will tell you how I came to find it out: I considered what had been told
-me, with the help whereof I came to understand what the words might
-signify; so that in this, I am sure, <g>tradition</g> was a means to help me to
-the understanding of the scripture.’”
-
-The quaint simplicity of the last sentence--so full of meaning--and the
-lesson it inculcates regarding the authority of Traditions, illustrate
-in a quiet way the Marquess’s opinions as to those of the Church; and to
-antiquaries, the aid of tradition is thus very ingeniously recommended.
-Where authentic history falls short of the mark in researches, the
-traditions of a castle are entitled to consideration; and in the
-preceding account of Raglan, it has been our study to combine the
-two--though not in the sense recommended by the Marquess.
-
-<g>Of Lord Herbert</g>, the following anecdote is recorded:--Some time after he
-was created Earl of Glamorgan, he received the King’s commission, as we
-have seen,[303] to proceed to Ireland, and there ascertain what could be
-done to strengthen the royal cause. Setting out on this expedition, and
-accompanied, as we are told, by a distinguished retinue of officers,
-knights, and gentlemen--“all of the red letter”--who had staked life and
-fortune on the enterprise, his lordship arrived at Caernarvon, where he
-was to embark for Ireland. Here they were detained a short time; and
-Glamorgan continuing to receive at his table the loyalist gentlemen of
-the place, the conversation turned upon some old prophecies, which it
-was thought were fast reaching their fulfilment. “And particularly one,”
-said a gentleman of the company. “It is an old Welsh prediction, and
-says--‘That in these latter times there should come to this very town a
-_magpie_, and build her nest in the royal crown; that next a _jackdaw_
-should arrive, and beat off the magpie; then a _buzzard_ should appear
-on the same roost, and drive away the jackdaw; and then there should be
-seen no crown, but that of _thorns_, upon the King’s head! Farther, that
-there should come a band of men from a far country, and take away the
-thorns, and then the crown should appear again.’”
-
-And thus far, as the townsmen averred, the prophecy had been
-accomplished; to wit--“Over the gate of Caernarvon Castle, there was a
-statue of King Edward the First, in full proportion, with a crown upon
-his head. Well, there did come a magpie, as every one could tell, which
-built, her nest in the said crown; then came a jackdaw that beat away
-the magpie, as foretold; and, in like manner, came at last a buzzard,
-and drove away the jackdaw.” “And all this,” said the worthy townsmen,
-“we assure your honour to be as true as Holy Writ.”
-
-Hereupon the Earl of Glamorgan, having listened with deep interest to
-the recital, replied with much animation--“And why may not we, my
-gallant friends and comrades--why may not _we_ be that band of men from
-a far country, that shall take away these thorns from the King’s
-head--first, in type, and then in substance?” And thereupon all
-concluded themselves to be the men destined for that glorious service.
-They resolved that, on rising from table, they would satisfy their eyes
-with the sight, as their ears had already been with the relation, and
-lend willing and helping hands to disencumber the figure. Nothing else
-could be thought of; and dinner being ended, the Earl and his company
-sallied forth to the castle gate, resolved to signalize the day by an
-act of loyalty that would endear their names to posterity. Looking up,
-accordingly, with great eagerness to the royal badge, that seemed to
-implore their assistance, its appearance, sure enough, was in literal
-accordance with the disordered condition in which crowns are generally
-left by rival combatants. It was, in fact, quite a heart-breaking sight
-to see the diadem of England so covered and entangled with thorns, as if
-artificially platted round the King’s temples.
-
-“Verily,” said one of the nobles present, “never hath mine eye beheld a
-sadder spectacle!” “The Earl himself, almost frantic with grief and
-indignation, straightway commanded the nest to be torn down; which was
-done with every mark of ignominy; and then the company began to breathe
-again. The materials composing the nest being examined with severe
-scrutiny, were found to be of white-thorn--a substance whereof never was
-bird known before to build her nest!”
-
-A thing so unprecedented, both as regards the nest and the material[304]
-thereof, caused in the beholders a degree of amazement not to be
-expressed: in memorial whereof, every one present thrust a sprig of
-thorn in his hatband, and so wore it as a talisman. So far, “in type,”
-the thorns were removed from the King’s crown--but not “in substance.”
-
-This adventure in Caernarvon being duly narrated to the Marquess at
-Raglan, he paused for a minute, and then inquired of those about him,
-“What was the nickname which the Roundheads were wont to give the
-Bishops?” But there were none about him who could even guess at his
-meaning; which he perceiving, said, “As I take it, they used to call the
-Bishops _Magpies_, whom they reproach for building their nests in the
-crown; then came the Presbyterian _Jackdaws_, and beat them out; and the
-next thing that you shall see will be the Independent _Buzzard_, which
-shall drive them away. And who shall come next, God only knows!”
-
-To this solution, one with a Roman nose made answer: “I hope, my lord,
-that after these men have played their pranks sufficiently, no man
-hereafter will presume to build his nest in the crown; but I hope there
-will be a knot of good fellows that may case the King’s head from the
-pricking of those thorns, and clear the crown from those incumbrances.”
-Whereupon the Marquess, replying, asked the party who related the story,
-“What manner of crown it was--of what form--that was upon the King’s
-head?” The gentleman replied, “A _royal_ crown.” “Ay; but I mean,”
-rejoined my lord, “was it an open or an imperial crown?” “An _open_
-one.” “Oh, then, that was the reason; the King’s crown was too open: had
-it been close at top, with the <g>Cross</g> overhead [a sly word for the Roman
-Catholic faith], such unlucky birds could never have come there to have
-built their nests; but one thing there is,” said he, in conclusion,
-“that I mislike in the story, namely, that after they had taken the
-thorns from the King’s head, they should afterwards wear them in their
-own hatbands.”[305] This was what no one present could explain to the
-Marquess’s satisfaction. And Lord Glamorgan’s negotiations in Ireland
-proved a failure to remove any “thorns from the royal crown.”--So much
-for a prophecy which shows the superstition and credulity of the
-times--a credulity which tainted even those who were charged with the
-highest offices of the state. Yet such--
-
- “The superstitious, idle-headed eld
- Received, and did deliver to our age.”
-
-In those days, no fortress surrendered, no castle fell, no band of
-heroes was discomfited, but in fulfilment of some irresistible
-“prophecy.”--But here we must close the subject with a few words on the
-
-<g>Outworks of Raglan.</g>--On this head little remains to be added. The
-details, given in the first volume of this work, respecting castles of
-the middle ages, preclude the necessity of our doing more than simply
-referring the reader to those passages in the description of Rochester
-and Arundel, which equally apply to Raglan. With respect to the outworks
-of the latter, a very brief notice may here suffice. By a practical eye
-the line of fortification may still be traced; and what remains of the
-original defences thrown up during the siege, shows very clearly that
-the military engineers employed were men whose skill and science did
-credit to the age. The vestiges of this lamentable war are mostly
-observable on the west side of the castle, where a strong bastion,
-projecting from the exterior wall of the fortification, forms a striking
-feature of the outworks, and a no less striking contrast with the
-luxuriant vegetation which now crowns, and almost conceals, these
-monuments of a barbarous and unnatural war. The point to which we
-allude, is that represented in the engraving, and entitled the “Avenue,”
-where the state apartments, unlatticed, roofless, and dilapidated, look
-down upon the green belt of trees and underwood that surround them with
-a melancholy aspect--but a melancholy that imparts feelings of
-thankfulness to the lovers of peace; for it tells very plainly that the
-devastating storm has long subsided, and that the sunshine of national
-prosperity and contentment has again visited the scene. The engines of
-war have disappeared; the ramparts, raised by men for the destruction of
-their fellow-men, are now razed to the ground. Nature--striving to throw
-her green mantle of oblivion over a scene from which she was so rudely
-banished by the violence of war--smiles at her own bloodless triumph,
-and peoples the over-arching groves with feathered tribes that sing no
-songs but those of peace and joy--
-
- “Where once the steel-clad warrior trod,
- Spring renews her verdant wreath;
- And o’er the once ensanguined sod,
- Flowers their mingled incense breathe.
- Where the clang of clarion rose,
- All is silence and repose;
- Save where, in yonder <g>halls</g> of state,
- The blackbird serenades his mate.”
-
-[Illustration]
-
-We now proceed to a brief notice of the environs:[306]--
-
-<g>Raglan</g> Church has little to interest the archæological inquirer beyond
-its antiquity--and its claim to this distinction is fully vindicated by
-its appearance. It consists of a nave, side aisles, a chancel, and a
-square embattled tower, which, with a few trees throwing their shadows
-over the burial-ground, forms a pleasing landmark in the distance. We
-had the pleasure of uniting in the Morning Service before leaving the
-village, and were much gratified by the religious demeanour which
-pervaded the congregation, and edified by the simple but impressive
-discourse with which the service was terminated.
-
-Every feature seems stamped with the seal of antiquity; at first sight
-nothing seems to have been renewed, or removed in the sacred edifice,
-for at least two centuries. The great-great-grandfathers of the present
-race may have occupied the same pews, knelt at the same altar, and been
-addressed from the same pulpit; for the materials of which these are
-composed seem as if framed to survive kingdoms and empires.
-
-Over the Raglan <g>Vault</g> in the chancel, already noticed, some rusty
-trophies of chivalry are suspended; and beneath repose several of the
-ancient lords by whom they were worn, or wielded. To the state of the
-monument itself, we have already alluded;[307] and judging from that of
-its prostrate or dislocated compartments, the sculpture must have been
-among the best specimens of its day, and employed on materials worthy to
-transmit the family names to posterity; for it is of rare and variegated
-marble, and appears to have been, according to monkish--but in contempt
-of all classical--taste, elaborately gilded.
-
-It has been regretted by visitors, that a tomb, in which are deposited
-the remains of a nobleman--to whom the credit of a renowned invention
-unquestionably belongs--should not be restored, or at least repaired. By
-others, who regard it merely as an example of the Arts at that early
-period, it is only a broken link in the chain of sepulchral
-associations, which the skill and pencil of the artist can readily
-supply. There might, indeed, be an appearance of inconsistency--a want
-of harmony--in restoring the old family sepulchre, while the Castle
-itself is left to destruction. In certain conditions and situations, a
-fragment is more interesting than the original monument; and such,
-perhaps, is the only interest which that in question ought to excite.
-But with regard to the noble dust, we need only say--
-
- “Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven;
- Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,
- But not remembered in thy epitaph.”
-
-The family residence, more immediately connected with that of Raglan,
-and to which, in the course of this article, special attention was
-directed in our notice of the royal visit to the Marquess of Worcester,
-is--
-
-<g>Troy House.</g>--This name--which the King was so much pleased to use as a
-classical synonyme, in his acknowledgment of the fruits which it had
-furnished for the royal table while at Raglan--is so called from its
-situation on the river Trothy. The village of Mitchell Troy, about a
-mile and a half from Monmouth, contains a church dedicated to St.
-Michael; but the chief object to which the tourist’s eye is directed is
-the baronial mansion above-named. The house, which was already in high
-repute at the time of the King’s visit to Raglan, was built by Inigo
-Jones, who, in the suite of Christian IV. of Denmark, came back to
-England in 1606. In consequence of the patronage of James the First--and
-more particularly of his Queen--he was induced to settle in the
-metropolis; and hence originated the sacred, regal, and aristocratic
-edifices which bear his name. He was consequently appointed one of the
-commissioners for repairing St. Paul’s Cathedral; but this was not
-commenced until the spring of 1623. In the following reign he was much
-employed in preparing <g>Masques</g> for the entertainment of the court, and in
-building the Banqueting-house at Whitehall; but while thus engaged, he
-fell under the displeasure of Ben Jonson, who ridiculed him on the
-stage, and made him the subject of his epigrammatic muse. Jones realized
-a handsome fortune; but being a Roman Catholic, and a partisan of
-royalty, he suffered severely in the Civil War. At length, worn out with
-sorrow and physical sufferings, he died in July, 1652, leaving behind
-him many monuments of his genius, of which the subject under notice was
-not the least considerable.[308]
-
-The fame of Troy House, however, depends less on the fact of its being
-the work of Inigo Jones, than upon the celebrity of its gardens--the
-fruits of which are still said to vie with those of tropical
-growth.[309] The excellence of these fruits, as already noticed, caused
-the King to remark, “That the Sovereign of the Planets had now changed
-the poles; and that Wales, the outcast of England’s fine gardens, had
-fairer and riper fruits than England’s valleys had in all her beds.” Sir
-Charles Somerset, sixth son of the fourth Earl of Worcester, married
-Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir William Powel of Troy and
-<g>Llanpylt</g>, and added the influence of a considerable estate to that of
-the house of Worcester. It was from his gardens that the dessert for the
-royal table at Raglan was supplied.
-
-In the picture gallery of Troy House is a large and beautiful portrait
-of the first Marquess of Worcester, by Sir Peter Lely. He is represented
-in an open field, seated before a tent, with the Marchioness and an
-infant daughter by her side, and wears a fancy dress, with a scarf over
-his right shoulder--the ribbon and badge of the Garter. The other
-portraits are those of the Ducal house of Beaufort, since its creation
-in 1682.
-
-The situation of this hereditary mansion is too low to produce a
-striking feature in the landscape; but it commands very agreeable views
-of the town of Monmouth and its environs--with the rivers Monnow and
-Wye, whose waters unite and form one channel a short distance below Troy
-House.
-
-<g>Grosmont</g>, from which the lords of Raglan take the rank of Viscount, is
-entitled to a brief notice in this place. In old writings it is spelt
-Grysmond, and contains a population of about eight hundred. The parish
-church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is in the patronage of the Prince of
-Wales. In the churchyard, in the east wall of the chancel, is a
-monumental slab, said to cover the remains of Kent, or Gwent, a
-Franciscan monk, whose wonderful achievements in the early part of the
-fourteenth century[310] afford materials for many local traditions.
-According to one of these, the inhabitants are indebted to this good
-neighbourly monk for the bridge over the Monnow, on the road to
-Kentchurch in Herefordshire. It is called <g>John of Kent’s Bridge</g>, and is
-said to have been built in one night.
-
-<g>The Castle</g> of Grosmont is a picturesque ruin.[311] It stands on a height
-commanding the view of a beautiful valley watered by the river Monnow,
-and bounded by Craig Savenny and the Garway Hill. The remains of this
-ancient castle occupy the summit of this hill, or rather eminence; its
-ivied walls, partly impending over the precipitous banks of the river,
-and towering at intervals through a grove of wide-spreading oaks, render
-the view extremely picturesque.
-
- “By Grysmond’s ruins, scarred with years,
- On yonder roofless turret standing,
- How rich--how beautiful appears
- The scene beneath my eye expanding!
- The oak’s green banner clothes the steep,
- There--herds and harvests bless the Giver;
- And there, in many a crystal sweep,
- Descends the Monnow’s classic river!
- And here--if e’er romance be found
- To love the vale or haunt the mountain--
- Here is her home, with ivy bound,
- And here her grot, and crystal fountain.
- And here--to him who seeks repose,
- By sorrow worn, or passion driven--
- Here is a refuge from his woes,
- And here sweet intercourse with Heaven!” &c.
-
-<g>Monmouth.</g>--Of this ancient town and its <g>Castle</g>, the limits prescribed to
-the present work will not permit us to indulge in any minute
-description. But before entering upon the Abbey of <g>Llanthony</g>--the next
-subject for illustration--the birthplace of Henry the Fifth is entitled
-to a general notice. The bridge over the Monnow, with its ancient
-gate-house at the west end, is, perhaps, the most striking feature of
-the place. Two other bridges, one over the Trothy, and a third over the
-Wye, contribute in no small degree to heighten the picturesque effect,
-as the stranger perambulates the scene and recalls the many interesting
-facts, connected with Monmouth and its vicinity, which to history and
-romance have given an early and permanent lustre.
-
-<g>The Castle</g>--of which so little remains that its original appearance can
-only be described by reference to the historical fragments that still
-mark the spot--is of unquestionable antiquity. It is supposed to have
-been built--or rather perhaps rebuilt--by <g>John of Monmouth</g>, whose
-adherence to the Barons cost him his estate, but contributed to the
-success of the cause in which he had embarked. The King having created
-his son Earl of Lancaster, this estate was annexed to the earldom. The
-Castle became a favourite residence of John of Gaunt, to whom it
-descended by his marriage with Blanche, daughter of Henry of Monmouth,
-Duke of Lancaster. It was in this Castle that the unfortunate Edward the
-Second was confined when taken prisoner by his Queen Isabella.[312]
-
-But the glory of the place is its association with <g>Henry V.</g>, son of
-Henry of Bolingbroke, who was born here,[313] and whose name and renown
-are so familiar to every reader of our national history and the drama.
-His dissipated habits while Prince of Wales, and his glorious
-achievements in the conquest of France, have been so inimitably
-portrayed by Shakspeare, that he still seems to live in our own age--in
-the country which his worth and valour adorned--and to be as agreeably
-associated with our familiar recollections as the most illustrious
-characters of our own day. His good-humoured dissipation and pleasantry
-in youth, became the foil to his subsequent greatness; and was probably
-as much the origin of that strong admiration with which he is still
-regarded, as his general talents, or the splendour of those victories,
-to which his personal courage and address so mainly contributed. At the
-time, as the reader may recollect, when the French realm was torn
-asunder by the opposing factions of the Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy,
-Henry took the favourable moment for reviving the claims of his
-predecessors upon France. Placing himself at the head of his army, he
-landed at Harfleur, and with only fifteen thousand men, opposed to
-upwards of fifty thousand, won the battle of Agincourt, and returned to
-England covered with renown. Apart from the splendour, however, which
-attended the campaign, it has been justly remarked that his reign was
-more brilliant than beneficial; for whilst his triumph entailed great
-misery on France, it “did more harm than good” to the true interests of
-England.[314] But his life was short--too short for maturing the plans
-he had in view for consolidating the fruits of a brief but eventful
-career; and while his greatest projects seemed to be advancing to a
-successful issue, <g>Henry</g> of Monmouth was suddenly cut off at the age of
-thirty-four.
-
-The connection of this gallant prince and sovereign with Monmouth,
-invests it with a lasting claim to veneration on the part of those
-tourists who judge of the soil by the character of its products. In the
-words of Fluellen, “All the water in <g>Wye</g> cannot wash your Majesty’s
-Welsh plood out of your pody;” nor, we may add, weaken a single link of
-that chain which connects the hero of Agincourt with the history of
-Monmouth.
-
-<g>The Bridge</g>, of which a cut is here introduced, was erected by Edward the
-First in 1272. Surmounting the Saxon gateway is a room, used as a
-guard-room or a magazine; and immediately above the arch are three
-loopholes, made by the authorities of the place, when, at a very recent
-period, they apprehended a sudden irruption of Chartists from Newport.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-During the civil war, Monmouth was justly considered as a position of
-vast importance. After the defeat of the King’s army at Marston Moor,
-Prince Rupert directed his attention to the marches of Wales. He
-resolved to fortify Beachley, and with troops of horse to secure the
-isthmus between the rivers Severn and Wye; but in this attempt he was
-out-manœuvred by Colonel Massey. Lieut.-Colonel Kyrle afterwards
-negotiated with Massey to deliver up the town of Monmouth, then held for
-the King. Having revolted from the Parliamentary army on the loss of
-Bristol, he was willing to purchase reconciliation at the price of
-Monmouth. He proposed to Colonel Massey to feign a sudden return with
-his forces from Beachley to Gloucester, when he agreed to make a sortie
-from Monmouth, as if to fall on his rear, which might then drive him
-back, and in the pursuit enter the town with him. Massey, accordingly,
-gave out the necessity of a retreat; and having marched three miles,
-lodged his troops in the Forest of Dean. This was no sooner reported at
-Monmouth, than Kyrle drew out his men to follow in the rear of Massey.
-Accordingly, about a mile from Colford, he was surprised by Massey, and
-all his horsemen were led towards Monmouth. But the town having been
-alarmed by an officer who had escaped, the garrison were on the alert;
-yet, as Kyrle himself advanced to the drawbridge with a hundred horse,
-and pretended to be returning with many prisoners, the officers and
-soldiers were thrown off their guard; and with the consent of the
-governor, Colonel Holtby, the drawbridge was lowered, and the town was
-entered. “The governor and most of the garrison escaped, some prisoners
-were made, and the rest were put to the sword.”
-
-The loss of Monmouth, so justly considered the key of South Wales,
-alarmed the garrison of Raglan Castle. The old <g>Marquess</g> called in the
-assistance of Prince Rupert’s cavalry, which obtained some advantages
-over the flying parties of Massey, but could not disturb his possession
-of Monmouth, in which he was strongly fortified.
-
-<g>Geoffrey</g> of Monmouth, whose name gives additional lustre to the place,
-was also a native of this town. He is supposed to have been educated in
-the ancient Benedictine Priory, founded by Wihenoc de Monmouth, in the
-reign of <g>Henry</g> the First. A small chamber of the ancient monastery has
-long been shown to inquisitive tourists, as the library of Geoffrey. The
-apartment bears in the ceiling and windows certain traces of former
-magnificence; but the art is of a later period than the first Henry’s
-reign, and probably contemporary with that of Tinterne. Geoffrey, whose
-fame as the historian of Britain takes precedence of all his
-contemporaries, was archdeacon of his native town, and subsequently,
-through the patronage of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and Alexander,
-Bishop of Lincoln--both renowned as the friends of learning--promoted to
-the bishopric of St. Asaph. His history is considered to be a vitiated
-translation of the “Annals of the British Kings,” written by St.
-Thalian, Bishop of St. Asaph, who flourished in the seventh century. It
-is very entertaining, and forms an epoch in the literature of this
-country, being almost the first production which introduced that species
-of composition called _Romance_. “Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History,” says
-Campbell in his elaborate Essay on English Poetry, “was not a forgery,
-but derived from an Armorican original, and with the pseudo-Turpin’s
-Life of Charlemagne, was the grand historical magazine of the romancers.
-Popular songs,” he adds, “about Arthur and Charlemagne--or, as some will
-have it, Charles Martel--were probably the main sources of Turpin’s
-forgeries, and of Geoffrey’s Armorican book.”
-
-In Geoffrey will be found the affecting history of Lear,[315] King of
-Britain, who divided his kingdom between Gonerilla and Regan, his two
-elder daughters, and disinherited his youngest daughter Cordelia. Hence
-Shakspeare drew his incomparable tragedy of “King Lear,” but improved
-the pathos of the story by making the death of Cordelia precede that of
-Lear; while in the original, the aged father is restored to his kingdom,
-and Cordelia survives him. Milton also was indebted to Geoffrey of
-Monmouth for his beautiful fiction of Sabrina in the “Mask of Comus.”
-But to return to the scene under notice:--
-
-<g>The Priory</g>, of which little remains, was a cell belonging to the
-Benedictine Monastery of Saumur in Anjou; and in this, as we have said,
-the renowned Geoffrey is believed to have prosecuted his studies. By
-some writers he is called a monk of the Dominican order; but, according
-to Leland, the fact has never been established; nor have we any sure
-grounds for believing that, as others report, he attained the dignity of
-Cardinal under the Holy See. He has higher claims to the reverential
-remembrance of posterity, than either a monk’s cowl or a cardinal’s hat.
-But notwithstanding his reputed Treatise on the Holy Sacrament, and
-poetical Commentaries on Merlin, his fame must ever rest on the
-original, or translated, History[316] of Britain, to which we have
-already alluded.
-
-Queen Elizabeth, we are told, was fond of tracing her descent from the
-British line; and Spenser, in his “Faërie Queen,” introduces his
-Chronicle of Briton Kings, from Brut to Arthur, with the following
-address:--
-
- “Thy name, oh Soveraine <g>Queene</g>, thy realme and race,
- From this renowned Prince derived arre,
- Who mightily upheld that royal mace,
- Which now thou bear’st, to thee descended farre,
- From mighty Kings and Conquerors in warre.
- Thy fathers and thy grandfathers of old,
- Whose noble deeds above the northern starre,
- Immortal Fame for ever hath enrolled,
- As in that <g>Old Man’s</g> book they were in order told.”
-
-Near the bridge of the Monnow stands the ancient--
-
-<g>Church of St. Thomas.</g> The simplicity of its form--to quote the
-historian of the place--the circular shape of the door, the arch
-separating the nave from the chancel, the ornaments of which bear a
-Saxon character, seem to indicate that it was constructed before the
-Conquest. The western window and some of the other apertures--which are
-ornamented Gothic--have been evidently formed since the original
-foundation.
-
-<g>Monmouth</g>, the Blestium of Antoninus, is supposed to have been the site
-of a Roman station. We know, from historical records, that it was a
-fortress in early times, and one of the strongholds occupied by the
-Saxons to maintain their conquests between the Severn and the Wye, and
-check the incursions of the Welsh. The town appears to have been
-fortified with a wall and a moat, except where it was secured by the
-river. At the Leland’s Survey, parts of the dilapidated walls were still
-remaining, the moat entire, the four gates standing, which he calls the
-Monk’s Gate, to the north; the Eastern Gate; the Wyegate; and the Monnow
-or Western Gate. At present there are few or no distinct vestiges of the
-walls; and the only part of the moat which can be traced, was pointed
-out as that stretching from the back of Whitecross Street to the remains
-of an ancient gateway, and thence to the Wye. Of the four gates
-mentioned by Leland, that called the Monk’s Gate, which stood near the
-Hereford road, is now demolished. Parts of two round towers which
-flanked the eastern gate are visible. Of the latter no traces are left.
-But that over the Monnow, as shown in the preceding cut, is nearly
-entire, and bears the marks of very great antiquity. It was the opinion
-of a celebrated historian of the place, that the circular arches, the
-massive solidity of the structure, and some minuter features, were
-sufficient to remove all doubts as to its Saxon origin; and that the
-alterations it underwent in the time of the first Edward, were only
-repairs executed in conformity with the original plan. But as this is
-not a field for antiquarian disquisitions--but only a record of opinions
-generally received--we are content to follow the popular belief, and
-assign to it a date somewhat anterior to that of the Conquest.
-
-Of Monmouth, Churchyard sings:--
-
- “The Kinge here borne did prove a peerless Prince;
- He conquered France and reigned nine yeares in hap;
- There was not here so great a victor since,
- That had such chaunce and fortune in his lap.
- For he by fate and force did covet all,
- And, as turn came, stroke hard at Fortune’s ball,
- With manly mind, and ran a reddie waye
- To lose a feint, or winne the gole by playe.
- If Monmouth bring such princes forth as this,
- A soyle of grace it shall be call’d of right;
- Speake what you can, a happie seat it is,
- A trim shiere town for noble Baron or Knight;
- A cittie sure, as free as is the best,
- Where ’Size is kept, and learned lawyers rest;
- Such auncient wise, in meete and wholesome ayre,
- Where the best sort of people do repayre.”
-
-<g>Kymin Hill</g>, on the south-east side of Monmouth, commands one of the
-finest views in the kingdom. To this enchanting prospect, the celebrated
-lines by Dyer may be applied with little alteration:--
-
- “Now I gain the mountain’s brow--
- What a landscape lies below!
- No clouds, no vapours intervene;
- But the gay, the open scene,
- Does the face of Nature show
- In all the hues of heaven’s bow;
- And, swelling to embrace the light,
- Spreads around beneath the sight.
- Old castles on the cliffs arise,
- Proudly towering in the skies;
- Rushing from the woods, the spires
- Seem from hence ascending fires.
- Half his beams Apollo sheds
- On the yellow mountain heads,
- Gilds the fleeces of the flocks,
- And glitters on the broken rocks.”
-
- “And see the rivers, how they run
- Through woods and meads, in shade and sun!
- Ever charming, ever new,
- When will the landscape tire the view?”
-
- * * * * *
-
- AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding article on
- Raglan Castle and its vicinity:--Dugdale--Camden--Collins’
- Peerage--Speed--Hollinshed--Williams’ Monmouth--Grafton--Robert of
- Gloucester--Illustrations of British History--Peck’s
- Curiosa--Stow--Winwood--Manners and Customs of England--Pictorial
- History--Memoirs of the Court of James I.--Osborne’s
- Memoirs--Evelyn’s Diary--Strutt--Somers’ Tracts--Howel’s
- Letters--Barber’s Tour--Bayly’s Apophthegms of the Marquess of
- Worcester--Churchyard--Wood’s Rivers of Wales--Thomas’
- Raglan--Carne--Archæological Journal--Clarendon’s History--Certamen
- Religiosum--Ellis’s Original Letters--Memoirs of
- Swift--Carlyle--Parliamentary Papers--Mercurius
- Civicus--Edwards--The Family History--History of the Civil
- War--Chronicles--Rushworth’s Papers--Lodge’s Illustrations--County
- History and Local Descriptions--Sir R. Colt Hoare--Coxe--Notes of a
- Personal Visit to Raglan--Communications from Correspondents,
- etc.--_See_ APPENDIX.
-
-
-
-
-LLANTHONY ABBEY,
-
-<g>Monmouthshire</g>.
-
- “‘Mongst Hatteril’s lofty hills, that with the clouds are crowned,
- The valley <g>Ewias</g> lies immured so steep and round,
- As they believe that see the mountains rise so high,
- Might think the straggling herds were grazing in the sky;
- Which in it such a shape of solitude doth bear,
- As Nature at the first appointed it for <g>prayer</g>;
- Where in an aged cell, with moss and ivy grown,
- In which not to this day the sun hath ever shone;
- That reverend British <g>Saint</g>, in zealous ages past,
- In contemplation lived, and did so truly fast,
- As he did only drink what crystal <g>Hodney</g> yields,
- And fed upon the <g>leeks</g> he gathered in the fields.
- In memory of whom, in the revolving year,
- The <g>Welshmen</g> on his <g>day</g> that sacred <g>herb</g> do wear!”--_Drayton._
-
-
-[Illustration: S]<g>AINT DAVID</g>, uncle of the renowned King Arthur, and
-titular Saint of Wales, was the first who introduced the rites of
-Christian worship into these mountain solitudes. Selecting for his
-hermitage a spot which had all the characteristics of a rude and
-unfrequented wilderness, he built a chapel on the banks of the
-Honddy--the stream by which it was watered--and there spent many years
-of his life in the exercise of an austere devotion. The reputation of
-his sanctity having spread over the surrounding country brought many
-pilgrims to his cell; and when at length he was added to the list of
-canonized saints, it was still resorted to as a place long consecrated
-by the practice of a holy life.
-
-In the reign of William Rufus--as attested by the Abbey records--the
-hallowed retreat was thus discovered. Hugh de Laci, a great Norman
-baron, having on a hunting excursion followed the deer into this
-secluded valley, sat down at the conclusion of the chase to refresh
-himself and his attendants. The wildness and beauty of the scenery
-around them appeared to have affected their minds with unwonted
-impressions; and the accidental visit was thus prolonged for the sake of
-the rude but romantic valley which the morning’s adventure had so
-unexpectedly thrown open.
-
-[Illustration: _The Nave._
-
-Llanthony Abbey.]
-
-<g>William</g>, one of the Baron’s retainers, feeling oppressed by the heat of
-the weather, and fatigued by the roughness of the mountain tract through
-which they had passed, gladly threw himself down on the soft grass to
-seek a few minutes’ repose. But the novelty and grandeur of the scene
-awakening his curiosity, he was tempted to make a hasty survey of the
-spot; and turning towards the river, that here and there filled the
-solitude with its murmurs, he caught a glimpse of the little <g>chapel</g> with
-which St. David had hallowed the scene. Suddenly inspired with religious
-enthusiasm, he felt an irresistible inclination to linger near the spot;
-and at last, dismissing his attendants, he took up his new abode in the
-desert; and, like his devout predecessor, consecrated his life to the
-service of God, or rather to the contemplation of divine things. He laid
-aside his belt--says the recording monk of Llanthony--and girded himself
-with a rope. Instead of fine linen, he made unto himself a vestment of
-haircloth; and instead of a soldier’s cloak, he loaded himself with
-heavy iron. The suit of armour which, in his warrior life, had defended
-him from the weapons of the enemy, he now wore as a garment highly
-suitable for hardening him against the temptations of his old enemy,
-Satan. So that the outer man being thus mortified by austerity, the
-inner man might become day by day better disposed and purified for the
-service of God. And in order that his zeal might not cool, adds the
-pious historian, he thus sacrificed himself, and continued to wear his
-hard armour, until the iron and steel were absolutely worn out with rust
-and age.
-
-In this manner the devout ascetic spent his years, which otherwise might
-have been devoted, like those of his kinsmen, to acts of plunder and
-bloodshed; and it only leaves room for regret that his example was not
-more generally followed by his companions, whose armour, unfortunately
-for mankind, was never suffered to “rust;” and who often, at that
-period, transformed the beautiful Welsh frontier into a wide
-battle-field. The austerity of his life, witnessed by the rust on his
-armour, established his reputation for sanctity; and the cell that
-harboured a pious philosopher, was soon regarded as a shrine where he
-maintained constant intercourse with those angels and blessed spirits,
-whose office was to watch over the saints of that early day.
-
-His fame becoming general among the religious fraternities, Father
-<g>Ernesi</g>, confessor to Queen Maude, was induced to make a pilgrimage to
-the Honddy; and there, entering into a holy alliance with the steel-clad
-hermit, he set immediately to work, and with most laudable industry
-erected a chapel on the spot, which was consecrated by Urban, Bishop of
-the Diocese, and Rammeline, Bishop of Hereford, and dedicated to the
-honour of St. John the Baptist, whose solitary life in the wilderness
-they affected to imitate.
-
-Soon after this event, in the early history of Llanthony, Hugh de Laci,
-Earl of Hereford, listening to the ghostly exhortation of Ernesi, to
-evince his faith by good works, founded a Priory of Canons-Regular of
-the Order of <g>St. Augustine</g>, and placed it with all solemnity, as in the
-former instance, under the patronage of the blessed St. John. Of this
-new establishment, Father Ernesi, as he had a good right to expect, was
-elected Prior. This was the commencement of a new and important era for
-the fame of Llanthony, which, under the united management of the twain
-brothers--both in the odour of sanctity--acquired daily reputation, and
-drew to its sacred precincts some of the greatest men of the realm. The
-temporal affairs of the rising Abbey attained unwonted prosperity by the
-personal countenance and support of King Henry and his Queen, who were
-but too happy to exchange a portion of their superfluous wealth for an
-interest in the prayers of that holy brotherhood, who had elevated the
-banks of the Honddy to a near relationship with Heaven, and held in
-their hands--as it was currently believed--the “title-deeds of rich and
-extensive settlements in Paradise. And as the latter were assigned,
-without partiality, to the highest bidder,” the proceeds for masses
-alone--we speak not ironically but historically--increased the annual
-revenues to an amount that, in those times, was justly considered a fair
-proof of monastic prosperity. On the other hand, it is piously averred,
-that such was the disinterestedness and unworldly-mindedness of the
-brotherhood, that they despised everything that bore not the stamp of
-spiritual riches--that they declined all offers of lands, goods, and
-chattels, that were liberally tendered to their house.[317] In that case
-it seems probable that the Abbey of Llanthony was not erected in the
-ordinary way; that is, by dint of money, but by the force of miracles;
-and, like a certain city of old, was conjured into its fair and lofty
-proportions by the powers of Harmony. But after duly weighing the
-question, the evidence in favour of money seems conclusive; and indeed
-certain _scripta_ are now extant to show that the brotherhood of
-Llanthony were not less sensible of the value of money--as a spiritual
-means--than any of their illustrious fraternity. But it may be said,
-with much truth, that the uses to which their money was applied,
-produced those “miracles” of Art, which it is the object of this work to
-illustrate.
-
-[It is always to be kept in view, that these holy men, in professing
-poverty, were, literally, personally poor. The riches, of which they
-were merely the guardians--but which are so often charged against them
-as proofs of their avarice--were expended on the house of God; in other
-words, in fostering the arts, in relieving the poor, in practical
-hospitality, and in cultivating a niggardly soil. Personally, they were
-poor trustees upon a vast property, which they were bound to employ for
-the glory of God and the good of mankind; and if, in some cases that may
-be named, the funds thus contributed by the pious were perverted to less
-laudable purposes, the fact that, in general, they were applied to the
-excellent uses contemplated by the testators, is not to be controverted.
-The churches, hospitals, almshouses, cells, and priories, which were
-thus founded, built, and endowed from these sources, are proofs of the
-fidelity, good sense, and Christian philanthropy, with which the church
-property was then administered.]
-
-Once upon a time, as the Monkish historian has told us, the Queen of
-King Henry, who desired to bestow a boon on William, of whose entire
-disinterestedness she was not apprised, desired permission to put her
-hand into his bosom;[318] and when, with great modesty, the holy man
-submitted to her importunity, she conveyed a large purse of gold between
-his coarse chemise and iron boddice; and thus, by a pleasant and
-innocent subtilty, administered, as she imagined, the means of comfort.
-But, oh, his wonderful contempt of the world! He displayed a rare
-example that the truest happiness is found to consist in possessing
-little or nothing of the good things of this life. He accepted, indeed,
-the Queen’s gift; but it was only that it might be expended, not in any
-worldly or selfish gratification, but in beautifying the house of God.
-
-But having by this act overcome the scrupulous delicacy with which he
-had hitherto resisted the temptation of riches, they now flowed in from
-every quarter, until that noble edifice was completed, the mouldering
-<g>Nave</g> of which is represented in the engraving opposite.[319]
-
-Of the situation of the <g>Abbey</g>, a very picturesque and glowing
-description, in good Latin, is given by the old historian, who paints
-the wild scenery, in which the first hermits took up their abode, with
-the pencil of a Salvator.[320] The following translation, though from a
-modern pen, is also a picturesque and not inaccurate sketch of the
-scene, which retains all the natural features ascribed to it by the
-first writer; but with one engrossing feature superadded--that of a
-stately abbey in the last stage of desolation--its towers and arches
-bearing witness to the arts employed in its construction, and the sacred
-objects of its foundation. In the following passage, Giraldus alludes
-to the Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin[321] in 1188.
-
-“In the deep Vale of <g>Ewyas</g>,” he writes, “which is about an arrow-shot in
-breadth, encircled on all sides by lofty mountains, stands the church of
-St. John the Baptist, covered with lead, and an arched roof of stone;
-and considering the nature of the place, not unhandsomely constructed on
-the very spot where the humble chapel of <g>St. David</g> had formerly stood,
-decorated only with moss and clay, a situation truly calculated for
-religious retirement, and better adapted for canonical discipline than
-all the monasteries of the British isle. It was founded, as already
-observed, by two hermits, in honour of religious seclusion, far removed
-from the bustle of life, and planted in a solitary vale watered by the
-river Hodeni--from which it was called Lanhodeni; for _lan_ signifies an
-ecclesiastical place.[322]
-
-“Owing to its mountainous situation, the rains are frequent, the winds
-boisterous, and the clouds in winter almost continual. The air of the
-place, though heavy, is found to be salubrious; and diseases are so
-rare, that the brotherhood, when worn out with long toil and affliction
-with the daughter--that is, New Llanthony on the Severn--no sooner
-return to this asylum, and their mother’s lap in the Vale of Ewyas, than
-they regain their wonted strength and vigour. For, as my topographical
-history of Ireland testifies, in proportion as we proceed to the
-eastward, the face of the sky is more pure and subtile, and the air more
-piercing and inclement; and as we draw nearer to the westward, the air
-becomes more cloudy, but, at the same time, is more temperate and
-healthy.
-
-“Here, while sitting in their cloister, and enjoying the fresh air, the
-monks, when they happen to look up towards the horizon, behold the tops
-of the mountains, as it were, touching the heavens, and herds of wild
-deer feeding on their summits. The body of the sun does not become
-visible above the heights of the mountains, even in serene weather,
-until about the first hour, or a little more. Truly this is a spot well
-adapted for contemplation--a happy and delightful spot--fully competent,
-from its first establishment, to supply all its own wants, had not the
-extravagance of English luxury, the pride of a sumptuous table, the
-increasing growth of intemperance and ingratitude, added to the
-negligence of its patrons and prelates, reduced it from freedom to
-sterility; and if the step-daughter [Lanthonia Secunda], no less
-enviously than odiously, had not supplanted her mother.
-
-It seems worthy of remark, that all the priors who were hostile to the
-old monastery died ‘by Divine visitation.’ William, who first despoiled
-the place of its herds and storehouses, being deposed by the fraternity,
-forfeited his right of sepulture among the priors. Clement seemed to
-like this place of study and prayer; yet, after the example of Heli
-[Eli], the priest, as he neither reproved nor restrained his brethren
-from plunder, and other offences, he died by a paralytic stroke. And
-Roger, who was more an enemy to this place than either of his
-predecessors, and openly carried away everything which they had left
-behind--robbing the church of its books, ornaments, and privileges--was
-also struck with a paralytic affection long before his death, resigned
-his honours, and lingered out the remainder of his days in sickness and
-solitude.
-
-In the reign of <g>King Henry</g> the First, when the Mother-Church was as much
-celebrated for her affluence as for her sanctity[323]--two qualities
-which are seldom found thus united--the fame of so much religion
-attracted hither Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, who was at that time Prime
-Minister; for it is virtue to love virtue, even in another man; and a
-great proof of innate goodness it is to show a detestation of those
-vices which hitherto have not been avoided.
-
-When he had reflected with admiration on the nature of the place, the
-solitary life[324] of the fraternity, living in canonical obedience, and
-serving God without a murmur or complaint, he returned to the King, and
-related to him what he thought most worthy of remark; and after spending
-the greater part of the day in the praises of this place, he finished
-his panegyric with these words--“Why should I say more? The whole
-treasure of the King and his kingdom would not be sufficient to build
-such a cloister.”
-
-Having held the minds of the King and the Court for a long time in
-suspense by this assertion, he at length explained the enigma, by
-saying, that he alluded to the “cloister of mountains,” by which this
-church is on every side environed. But
-
-<g>William</g>--the warrior who first discovered this place--and his companion
-Ernisius, a priest, having heard, perhaps--as it is written in the
-Fathers, according to the opinion of Jerome--“that the church of Christ
-decreased in virtues as it increased in riches”--were often used
-devoutly to solicit the Lord, that this place might never obtain great
-possessions. They were exceedingly concerned when this religious
-foundation began to be enriched by its first lord and patron, <g>Hugh de
-Lacy</g>, and by the lands and ecclesiastical benefices conferred upon it
-by the bounty of others of the faithful. From their predilection to
-poverty, they rejected a great many offers of manors and churches; and
-being situated in a wild spot, they would not suffer the thick and
-wooded parts of the valley to be cultivated and levelled, lest they
-should be tempted to recede from their eremitical mode of life.
-
-But whilst the Mother-Church increased daily in riches and endowments, a
-rival <g>Daughter</g>--as we shall see--availing herself of the hostile state
-of the country, sprang up at Gloucester, under the protection of Milo,
-Earl of Hereford; as if, by Divine Providence, and through the merits of
-the saints, and prayers of those holy men (of whom two lie buried before
-the high altar), it were destined that the Daughter-Church should be
-founded in superfluities, whilst the Mother continued in that laudable
-state of mediocrity, which she had always affected and coveted.
-
-“Wherefore let the active reside there, the contemplative here; there
-the pursuit of terrestrial wishes, and here the love of celestial
-delights; there let them enjoy the concourse of men, here the presence
-of angels; there let the powerful of this world be entertained, here let
-the poor of Christ be relieved; there, I say, let human actions and
-pompous declamations be heard, but here let reading and prayers be heard
-only in whispers; there let opulence, the parent and nurse of vice,
-increase with cares; here let the virtuous and golden mean be
-all-sufficient.
-
-“In both places, the canonical discipline instituted by <g>St. Augustine</g>,
-which is now distinguished above all other orders, is observed; for the
-Benedictines, when their wealth was increased by the fervour of charity,
-and multiplied by the bounty of the faithful, under the pretext of a bad
-dispensation, corrupted, by gluttony and indulgence, our <g>Order</g>--that is,
-the Augustinian--which, in its original state of poverty, was held in
-high estimation. The Cistercian order, derived from the former, at first
-deserved praise and commendation, from its adhering voluntarily to the
-original vows of poverty and sanctity, until ambition, the blind mother
-of mischief, unable to fix bounds to prosperity, was introduced; for as
-Seneca[325] says, ‘Too great happiness makes men greedy, nor are their
-desires ever so temperate as to terminate in what is acquired.’”
-
-Here the author, as if to contrast them with those of <g>Llanthony</g> Prima,
-indulges in a learned and eloquent apostrophe against the luxury and
-pride of several orders of monks. He concludes it with this anecdote: “I
-have judged it proper to insert in this place an instance of an answer
-which King Richard--Cœur de Lion--made to Fulke, a good and holy man, by
-whom God, in these our days, has wrought many signs in the kingdom of
-France. This man had, among other things, said to the king, “You have
-three daughters, namely, Pride, Luxury, and Avarice, and as long as they
-shall remain with you, you can never expect to be in favour with God.”
-To which the king, after a short pause, replied, “I have already given
-away those daughters in marriage--Pride to the Templars, Luxury to the
-Black Monks, and Avarice to the White.”[326]
-
-“It is a remarkable circumstance,” he continues, “or rather a miracle,
-concerning Llanthony, that although it is on every side surrounded by
-lofty mountains, not stony or rocky, but of a soft nature, and covered
-with grass, yet Parian stones are frequently found there, and are called
-Freestones, from the facility with which they admit of being cut and
-polished; and with these the church is beautifully built. It is also
-wonderful, that when, after a diligent search, all the stones have been
-removed from the mountains, and no more can be found; yet, upon another
-search, a few days afterwards, they reappear in greater quantities to
-those who seek them.”
-
-After some farther remarks on the manners of the monastic orders, the
-venerable author thus beautifully concludes:--“In these temperate
-regions I have obtained, according to the usual expression, a place of
-dignity, but no great omen of future pomp or riches; and possessing a
-small residence near the castle of Brecheinoc [Brecknock?], well adapted
-to literary pursuits, and to the contemplation of _eternity_,[327] I
-envy not the riches of Crœsus; happy and contented with that mediocrity,
-which I prize far beyond all the perishable and transitory things of
-this world.”
-
-So far the monk of Llanthony--whose partiality is very excusable; but,
-unfortunately, the <g>act</g> or charter of Edward IV., uniting the two abbeys,
-gives a different colouring to the transactions between the two
-abbeys--mother and daughter. It recites that, owing to the depredations
-committed on the convent by the neighbouring inhabitants, and the
-frequent removal of the priors and other members of the convent, the
-religious functions were negligently performed, and acts of charity and
-hospitality to strangers no longer exercised: Also, that as John Adams,
-the prior, had profusely squandered away the revenues of the church,
-maintaining only four canons besides himself, who paid no attention to
-the holy duties of the establishment: And whereas all due regard and
-reverence were paid to the sacred offices of the church by the members
-of the monastery of new Llanthony near Gloucester, the king hereby
-grants all the lands--both in England, Wales, and Ireland--now
-appertaining to the convent of Llanthony in Wales, to the prior of the
-convent of Llanthony near Gloucester, to have and to hold for ever, on
-the payment of the fine of three hundred marks, and on condition that he
-maintains an establishment--dative and removable at will--of a prior and
-four canons, as the mother-church, for the purpose of performing
-religious service and mass for the souls of its founders. “Thus,”
-continues our author,[328] “in the short period of thirty years, we see
-the simple chapel of St. David transmuted into a spacious and elegant
-abbey; that same building nearly deserted, and another, still more
-magnificent, erected and translated from the solitary banks of the
-little river Hodni, to the rich and luxurious shores of the Severn.”
-
-<g>Milo, Founder</g> of Llanthony Secunda.--Under this head, it is recorded in
-the Abbey Chronicle, that in the reign of King <g>Henry</g>, son of the
-Conqueror, there flourished a certain warrior of noble family named
-Gwalterus, or <g>Walter</g>, who was Constable, under the King, of the Castles
-of Gloucester and Hereford. The said Walter caused to be erected on his
-own demesne the Castle of Gloucester, and dying some time thereafter,
-his remains were conveyed to <g>Llanthony Abbey</g>, in Wales, and there
-buried. The aforesaid Walter left an only son, <g>Milo</g> by name, whom King
-Henry created Earl of <g>Hereford</g>; and moreover, by way of augmentation to
-the said earldom, made over to him and his heirs for ever a grant of the
-whole Forest of <g>Dean</g>.
-
-This <g>Milo</g>, first earl of the name, took to wife Sibylla, heiress of
-<g>Brecknock</g>, and daughter of <g>Bernard</g> and <g>Agnes</g> of New March.[329]--The
-offspring of this marriage were five sons and three daughters, namely,
-Roger, Henry, Walter, Matthew, and William, Margery, Bertha, and Lucy.
-He founded the Abbey or Priory of New Llanthony, near Gloucester, on the
-25th of May, 1136, being the first of King Stephen’s reign; and dying on
-Christmas-eve, 1143, was buried in the chancel of the <g>Abbey</g> which he had
-founded seven years before. After his demise, he was succeeded in his
-titles and estates by each of his five sons, one after the other; but
-all of whom died without legitimate issue. Hereupon his possessions were
-shared in equal proportions by his three surviving daughters.[330] <g>Lucy</g>,
-his third daughter, was married to Herbert <g>Fitz-Herbert</g>, and had for her
-share and dowry the Forest of Dean, and other estates in England.[331]
-The offspring of this marriage was a son named <g>Peter</g>, who became the
-father of a long line of descendants.
-
-Bertha, second daughter of Count Milo, married William <g>de Brewes</g>, and
-took for dowry the lordship of Brecknock. The offspring from this
-marriage were three sons, <g>William</g>, <g>Egidius</g>, and <g>Reginald</g>. William, their
-eldest son and heir, in the time of King John, having made war upon his
-enemy Guenhunewyn, subdued him, and slew no less than three thousand
-Welsh in one day at <g>Elvel</g>. This battle took place on the morrow of <g>St.
-Lawrence</g> the Martyr, in the year of our Lord 1498. But for this
-rebellious act he was disinherited by <g>King John</g>; and, without trial,
-condemned to quit the realm of England. He died in exile; while his
-unhappy wife and their only son, being thrown into prison by the same
-heartless and arbitrary power, died shortly after in captivity.
-
-<g>Egidius</g>, the second son, became Bishop of Hereford; and <g>Reginald</g> de
-Brewes, the third son, after the death of King <g>John</g>, and that of his two
-brothers the afore-named William and Egidius, was pronounced heir to all
-the possessions which had been forfeited by his brother William, and
-took possession of the same accordingly. He married a daughter of
-William <g>de la Bruere</g>, and had by his wife a son whom he named William de
-Brewes, _quartus_. The latter espoused the lady Eve, daughter of the
-renowned William, Earl Marshall, so frequently mentioned in these
-pages.[332] By this union he had issue four daughters--Isabella,
-Matilda, Eve, and Alionora. Of these, <g>Isabella</g> was married to David, son
-of <g>Llewellyn</g>, Prince of Wales.
-
-But at a great festival where he presided, immediately after the Paschal
-Feast, in 1229, Llewellyn conceiving a bitter jealousy between his wife
-and the said William de Brewes, most treacherously caused the latter to
-be ignominiously hanged--an atrocity which threw the whole Welsh
-frontier into the greatest confusion and alarm; for at that time <g>King
-Henry</g> was still in France with a large army; and in his absence the
-country was but ill provided with the means of enforcing the law.
-
-<g>Matilda</g>, the second daughter, married Roger <g>Mortimer</g>, Lord Wigmore, from
-whom sprang a numerous progeny. <g>Eve</g>, the third daughter, married William
-<g>de Cartello</g>. <g>Alionora</g>, the fourth and youngest, married Humphrey <g>de
-Bohun</g>, with the lordship of Brecknock, which for some time had belonged
-to the Counts or Earls of Hereford. Among the names here mentioned,
-those of Bertha and Lucy, daughters of <g>Milo</g>, are to be held in special
-reverence as eminent patrons and benefactors of <g>New Llanthony</g>.
-
-And here, for the present, we take leave of the genealogical table,
-which exhibits in many striking examples the instability of fortune, the
-frailty of human nature, the vanity of riches, and the uncertain tenure
-of life.
-
-[Illustration: C]<g>HARTERS.</g>--The following is an extract from the charter
-of King John, in the first year of his reign, wherein all grants
-previously made in favour of <g>Llanthony</g> are recited and confirmed:--
-
-“<g>Know</g> all men by these presents, that I, <g>John</g>, King of England, have,
-out of love to God, confirmed in perpetual offering to God, to the
-Blessed Virgin, St. John the Baptist, and the Canons-Regular of
-<g>Lantonay</g>, the donations or grants hereunder described, which have been
-reasonably and lawfully conceded to them, viz.: By deed of gift from our
-father the late King Henry, the chapel near the Castle of Gloucester,
-the school in the same town, a moiety of the fishery of <g>Horsepol</g>, which
-is in our domain, with iiij lib. of land in the manor of <g>Bernington</g>, as
-alms in perpetuity.”--So much for the new Abbey near Gloucester.
-
-He then recites and confirms the benefactions of Hugh and Walter <g>de
-Laci</g>, consisting of lands, woods, fisheries, villages, houses, and
-whatever property in those times was essential to the prosperity of a
-great religious establishment. It is a long deed; and, besides those
-already noticed, introduces a full list of benefactors, whose names and
-families--though of great note and influence at that day--have long
-vanished from the political horizon, and are seldom found but in ancient
-title-deeds, or charters like the present, in which their good works are
-faithfully and minutely registered.
-
-It is to be observed, however, that after the establishment of <g>New
-Llanthony</g> on the Severn, the benefactions to the Mother-Abbey are few
-and insignificant. The former, under the patronage of the <g>Milo</g> family,
-became suddenly rich, and able to introduce those embellishments of art,
-and that luxurious mode of life, which opened a wide channel for the
-diffusion of its revenues; but while it increased its splendour, insured
-its ultimate poverty.
-
- * * * * *
-
-By a <g>Deed</g> given by <g>Edward</g> the Second, in the eighteenth year of his
-reign, the property conveyed to Llanthony by Walter <g>de Laci</g> and others,
-is again revised and confirmed. He grants also permission to elect from
-their own body, or from any other, as they may see meet, a fit person to
-preside over the Church and Priory of Llanthony, whenever a vacancy
-occurs, concluding--“Et ut hæc libertas eligendi eis in perpetuum
-perseveret illibata, huic scripto <g>Sigillum</g> meum est appositum.”
-
-The Deed given by <g>Walter</g> and <g>Hugh</g> de Laci to the Canons of Llanthony is
-then recited; and by this document a vast amount of property,
-privileges, arable lands, pastures, fisheries, hunting-grounds, and
-various other benefactions, are described as finally made over to the
-Prior and Brotherhood, out of pure love for the glory of God, the
-welfare of their own souls, the souls of their predecessors, successors,
-and kinsfolk.
-
-In this munificent grant is comprised the whole valley--‘totam
-vallem’--of the <g>Ewyas</g>, with all its appurtenances, in which the church
-is situated; describing, at the same time, its boundaries:--“Et concedo
-quod habeant omnimodam venationem et dominationem infra metus terræ
-suæ.” All this is followed by other unquestionable privileges, such as
-united with the spiritual an amount of despotic power, which invested
-the Prior and Canons of Llanthony with an authority in things temporal,
-no way inferior to that exercised by a feudal Baron in his own castle,
-and over his own vassals.[333]
-
- * * * * *
-
-But in spite of its revenues, and the ‘personal example and influence of
-a few--but only a few--distinguished members and benefactors of this
-monastery, it fell gradually into disrepute and decay.’ The principal
-cause has been generally ascribed to the rival Abbey at Gloucester, by
-which benefactors were alienated, and good works averted from that on
-the Honddy. But there were other causes at work--the evil lives of the
-Priors themselves; their indolence, luxury, and licentiousness; their
-dissipating the funds, and perverting their use to unsanctified
-purposes; which did more to degrade monastic habits, and pull down the
-sacred edifice, than could have been accomplished by their most
-inveterate enemies. And enemies they certainly had--both formidable and
-frequent; for they were exposed, by their insulated position and
-supposed wealth, to irruptions from those bands of marauders, to whom
-plunder and forced contribution from holy men were more like a pastime
-than military enterprise. But of this hereafter.
-
-[Illustration: W]<g>E</g> are now to give some account of the decline and final
-dissolution of Llanthony, brought about by causes which are thus
-recorded by the Latin historian:--Whereas certain priories and religious
-houses, but more especially the aforesaid Priory of St. John the Baptist
-of <g>Lanthony</g> _Prima_ in Wales, as well by frequent removals and
-expulsions of the Priors and occupiers of the places aforesaid, as by
-divers secular persons and others, tenants of these possessions, were so
-profligately squandered, dilapidated, and mismanaged, both in regard to
-their houses, substance, and affairs, that divine service and the
-regular observance of religious duties have become less frequent than
-ever; that the means of hospitality, almsgiving, and, above all, the
-works of piety and charity, which had been there established of old, and
-customarily done and observed in the place, are now withdrawn and
-perverted from the original design: And whereas John <g>Adams</g>, Prior of
-<g>Lanthony</g>, as we are plainly informed, hath wasted and destroyed, and
-continues to waste and destroy, the fruits, revenues, products, and
-emoluments of the said <g>Priory</g>; and hath found and supported no Canons,
-except himself and four others, little given to a religious life; that
-he hath withdrawn, and does withdraw, the forms of divine worship, works
-of hospitality, piety, and charity, which were there wont to be done and
-maintained, according to the original foundation of the same; whereby
-the vows and intentions of the Founders have been and are so
-fraudulently perverted, to the manifest offence and great displeasure of
-Almighty God, and contrary to the design of the Founder: And whereas our
-will is, that the pious vows of the <g>Founders</g> of the said Priory be not
-thus shamefully frustrated and forgotten; but in reverence of the
-salutary order observed by those godly men, the Prior and Canons-Regular
-of the Monastery of <g>Lanthony</g>, near Gloucester; and observing in what an
-exemplary manner divine service and punctual observances are every day
-celebrated therein, with honour and strict obedience, according to the
-full extent of its revenues: And whereas it is our earnest desire to
-make suitable provision for the honour of <g>God</g> and his Church, by a
-restoration of the forms of divine worship, and by application of the
-revenues left by the Founder to their original and legitimate object:
-We, therefore, have here, by an act of special grace, granted and
-conceded to our beloved in CHRIST, <g>Henry Deen</g>, Prior, etc., of Lanthony,
-near Gloucester, to that Convent and his successors for ever, the right
-of patronage, and the advocation of the Priory and Conventual Church of
-<g>Lanthony</g>, etc., in Wales. <g>Also</g> the Priory, etc., with all members,
-cells, churches, chapels, domains, lands, and tenements, whatsoever and
-wheresoever--in England, Wales, and Ireland--as parcels of the said
-Priory, or in whatever manner belonging thereto; <g>With</g> all rents, etc.,
-to have and to hold by the said Prior and Convent of <g>St. Mary</g> of
-Lanthony, and their successors--for the sum of three hundred marks, paid
-to us beforehand--in pure and perpetual alms for ever. And
-
-<g>Moreover</g>, we grant to the said Prior and Convent, the Conventual Church
-or Monastery of <g>Lanthony</g> in Wales; with the priorate, and all rights,
-privileges, and appurtenances, to the Prior and Convent of Lanthony,
-near Gloucester--their Conventual Church and successors--to be
-consolidated, united, appropriated--to transfer, or to be transferred to
-their management; and that they possess these in full and proper use for
-themselves and their successors for ever; together with, etc.
-
-<g>And</g> these things, all and singular, as promised and permitted,
-consolidated, etc., and transferred to them and their successors
-aforesaid, to have and to hold for ever, for their proper use, and for
-masses and prayers to be performed for our prosperity, and that of
-<g>Elizabeth</g>, our well-beloved consort, so long as we remain in the body;
-and for the health of our souls when we shall depart this life. <g>Also</g> for
-the souls of our progenitors; and for the souls of all who have departed
-this life in the <g>Faith</g>.
-
-<g>And</g> it is hereby ordered, that the Prior of New <g>Lanthony</g> and his
-Convent, they and their successors, shall exhibit and defray their own
-and all expenses incurred in the maintenance of Old <g>Lanthony</g>, and the
-Prior and Canons there resident. That the latter office shall be in the
-gift of the former, removable at the will and pleasure of the Prior and
-Convent for the time being. That four Canons[334] shall there reside,
-for the celebration of masses and other divine offices; and for the
-administration of the sacraments, and sacramental duties, to the
-parishioners and rural population, so long as they are not impeded or
-interrupted therein by the rebellious disturbers of our peace. And to
-pray for the souls of the Founders of <g>Lanthony</g> _Prima_, and for the
-souls above-named; and to be removable at the word or sign of the
-Prior, for the time being, of New <g>Lanthony</g> aforesaid, etc. etc.--By the
-<g>King</g> at <g>Westminster</g>, the x day of May.[335]
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>From</g> this date the Abbey of Old Llanthony, which had been grievously
-interrupted in its religious duties, and damaged by its own internal
-misgovernment, the reckless lives of its inmates, and the frequent
-imposts and exactions to which it was subjected by the rebels and
-marauders above alluded to, was suffered to fall into decay and
-disrepute. Its resources, in obedience to the above decree, were drawn
-off from their legitimate channel, and employed to augment the revenues
-and foster the pride of its undutiful and “rival Daughter” on the banks
-of the Severn. Thus--as the old historian has pathetically
-observed--“Filii Matris meæ pugnaverunt contra me; nam leviùs communia
-tangunt, sed quodammodo specialiori et tanto atrociori flere, clamando,
-Filii uteri mei pugnaverunt contra me, quia--
-
- Non sua sunt summa leviter perstricta sagitta
- Pectora, descendit vulnus ad ossa suum.”
-
-Yet, after the lapse of centuries, the Abbey of Old Llanthony presents
-an imposing aspect. In that solitude, over which it was erected for the
-diffusion of spiritual life and light, it is still an object of
-venerable grandeur; while of the luxurious temple of “her Daughter,”
-built on one of the most fertile spots in the kingdom, elaborately
-ornamented and munificently endowed, the remains are few and
-insignificant. Thus, if the old monastic fathers could burst their
-cerements and look around them, they would perceive that Time, the
-avenger, has drawn a line of as marked distinction between the two
-monasteries, as between a greater and a lesser criminal; and, by a just
-and discriminating sentence, consigned one to the plough, and the other
-to pilgrims and archæologists.[336]
-
-[Illustration: _Llanthony Abbey._
-
-N.W. View.]
-
-The wrongs, of which the older monks of Llanthony so justly complained,
-are thus told by their own pious chronicler:--When the storm subsided,
-and peace was restored, then did the sons of Llanthony tear up the
-bounds of their Mother-Church, and refuse to serve God, as their duty
-required, in the old Sanctuary. For great is the difference, said they,
-between the rich city of Gloucester, and the wild rocks of the
-Hatterill--between the fertile vale of Severn, and the craggy banks of
-the Honddy; between the wealth and civilization of England, and the
-barren hills and beggarly natives of Wales; between a land of smiling
-meadows and fertile orchards, and a region of trackless mountains and
-roaring cataracts; in fine--to justify their desertion--between a home
-amongst smiling gardens, and a grave in the howling wilderness!
-
-Some of the renegade brethren declared that they wished every stone of
-the old foundation were a fleet hare and the hounds after it, that not a
-vestige might be left. Alas, says the ‘Jeremiad,’ they of Gloucester
-have usurped and lavished all the revenues of the Mother-Church: for
-their new abode, they have built stately offices; and the old they have
-left to moulder into ruins. But to avoid the open scandal of deserting
-their Mother, they send hither, as to a dependent cell, their old and
-decrepit members to be cherished in that very bosom--fostered in those
-very arms--which they have insulted by ingratitude, and weakened by
-wrong and robbery. So great was the poverty to which the few inmates
-were reduced, that they were actually without surplices, and at times so
-destitute of raiment that they could not with proper decency appear at
-divine service. Sometimes the allowance of bread for one day had to
-serve for two; whilst in the offshoot at Gloucester there was not only
-enough, but abundance and superfluity. When entreated to return to their
-Mother, these heartless brethren, who had tasted the sweets of a new
-residence, and been corrupted by unwonted luxury, only derided their
-appeal. “What!” they replied, “would you have us return to sing
-_Miserere_ to the wolves? Do the whelps of wolves delight in choral
-harmony?” And when any one was sent to Old Llanthony, whether for health
-or discipline, they would exclaim--“Why, what has he done? what fault
-has he committed? what law has he broken, that he should be sent into
-banishment, shut up in such a prison?”--for it was thus that they spoke
-of the Mother-abbey--calling it a dungeon, a prison-house, fit only for
-the punishment of great criminals.
-
-In like manner, says the monk, the library was despoiled of its books
-and MSS.; the record-room of its deeds and charters; the silk vestments
-and relics, embroidered with gold and silver, were carried away from
-the vestiary; the treasury was stripped of everything valuable. Whatever
-was precious or ornamental--even the bells, notwithstanding their great
-weight, were carried off to the rival abbey without the slightest
-resistance or redress. It was under these distressing circumstances that
-King Edward set about effecting the union to which we have adverted.
-
- * * * * *
-
-But there were other causes at work. It is very apparent that the
-religious peace and contemplation to which it was consecrated, were but
-rare guests in the old Abbey of Llanthony. Situated on the very border
-of countries that were mutually engaged in making or repelling
-aggressions, the sanctity of the place was often invaded by those who
-returned across the marches from some lawless foray, or by others who
-entered the Welsh frontiers to make reprisals. The calm serenity which,
-for a brief season, reigned within and around the sanctuary, was
-disturbed by continual apprehensions of violence or extortion. The
-ministering priest was often interrupted in his sacred office by the
-shouts of armed men. The stranger who had come in pilgrim weeds,
-confessed, and done penance, was too often found on departure to be a
-traitor, ready to conduct the next troop of marauders to the gate, and
-extort fresh contributions from the already impoverished brotherhood.
-
-It is also alleged, with plausibility, that from the Cambrian
-people--who hated the place because its founders, benefactors, priors,
-and brotherhood, were aliens by birth, nation, and language--the abbey
-had no very cordial protection or support. During the long border
-struggles that preceded and followed its “foundation in the wilderness,”
-it was the mark of every invading or retreating foe. Instead of Matins
-and Vespers, and the meditations of holy men, the Vale of Ewias was
-often the retreat or the rallying point of adventurers, whose
-Parthian-like movements rendered them equally dangerous in the charge
-and the retreat. The sanctity and seclusion of the place once disturbed,
-the spell was broken; outrages were repeated and multiplied with
-impunity by those who, having no law, were a law unto themselves; and to
-such extremes were these carried, that the Prior and Canons--habituated
-as they were, by the rule of their Order, to fasting, and at best to a
-coarse and scanty fare--were often reduced to the verge of famine.
-
-In one of the numerous expeditions by which the spirit of retaliation
-was kept up, and by which the religious houses were harassed and
-plundered, a soldier of the English army writes--“We lie here watching,
-praying, fasting, and freezing! We _watch_ in dread of the Welsh, who
-beat up our quarters every night; we _pray_ for a safe passage homeward;
-we _fast_, for hardly have we any food, the halfpenny loaf being raised
-to fivepence; and we _freeze_ for want of clothing, having only a linen
-tent to keep out the cold!”
-
-If such was the penance done by an officer of the “victorious army,”
-great must have been the sufferings endured by those who had to supply
-the “loaf,” as the monks of Llanthony had to do, either in substance or
-in coin.
-
-While the Abbey was yet faintly struggling to recover a healthy activity
-in its affairs, its temporal revenues, and spiritual offices, so great a
-dearth occurred all over Wales, that the Bishop of St. David’s is said
-to have died of grief; the Bishop of Llandaff to have been stricken
-blind; while the Bishops of Bangor and St. Asaph, on their sees being
-rendered utterly destitute, were reduced to the necessity of
-supplicating alms. The bondage and destitution of the Welsh at this
-period--the evils of want and war--are thus expressed by an old
-writer:--“The harp of the churchman is changed into sorrow and
-lamentation; the glory of our proud and ancient nobility is faded away.”
-
-It was about this time that the Bishop of Hereford, then Prior of
-Llanthony, the better to rescue them from a gross insult and trespass by
-a powerful neighbour, and accommodate their numbers to the scanty means
-of subsistence within the Welsh border, drew off the major part of the
-canons from Llanthony, and gave them an asylum in his own palace.
-
-[After describing, in graphic language, the distractions of the country,
-the robbery, violence, murder, and rapine, that were daily perpetrated
-in their immediate vicinity, and which threatened the very existence of
-the brotherhood, the flagrant desecration that immediately led to their
-removal to Hereford is thus recorded:--Est præterea et aliud quod animos
-innocentium plus omnibus hiis in fixorio angustiarum acerbiùs terrebat.
-Unus namque ex vicinis Wallensibus inimicorum minis et jaculis undignè
-impeditus, cùm nullus ei tutus ad latendum vel evadendum locus
-superesset, [=c] omni domo sua, ad <g>Lanthoniam</g> convolavit; hanc sibi
-constituens domum Refugii ut salvus fieret, quem inimici odio
-inexorabili persequentes non longè ab atrio in insidiis sedentes
-vigilantiùs opportunitatem observabant, quando in eum casu aliquo tandem
-oblatum irarum virus evomere prævalerent. Ipse verò in interiores
-officinas, quò securior redderetur, cum suis et ancillis, se ingessit;
-ità ut ubi <g>Fratres</g> reficere consueverant, ibi _mulieres_ choros ducere,
-et cætera muliebria, ignominiosè tractare non erubescerent!
-
-Quid facient milites <g>Christi</g> tot hostium cuneis tarn atrociter vallati!
-Ecce foris pugnæ, et intus timores! Non enim possunt ab intus fratres
-divinis officiis, præ ingratorum hostium insolentia, consueta
-veneratione interesse: Luget <g>Martha</g> quia pascere non permittitur: dolet
-<g>Maria</g> quia sanctæ refectionis epulis privatur; et præterea nimis timet
-ne in infirmioribus membris suis alicujus culpæ dehonestetur.]
-
-The result of this, after two years’ residence at Hereford, was the
-foundation of the new monastery at Gloucester; but which it was at first
-intended should be only a <g>cell</g>, dependent on the Mother-Church on the
-Honddy. But inured to this species of daily warfare--familiar with the
-dangers of their position, and strong in the belief that they were
-objects of regard in the eyes of Him who would assuredly carry them, as
-he did the faithful of old, through all their troubles--they are said to
-have left the scene of their trials and privations with reluctance; and
-to have declared that the gardens of Hereford, and the vineyards of
-Gloucester, had no attractions for them like the barren rocks of “Ewias
-and the Honddy:”--
-
- And when at last these holy men,
- With lingering step and slow,
- Had wound their way along the glen
- Where <g>Honddy’s</g>[337] waters flow,
-
- They halted--gazed--and heaved a sigh,
- And dropt a parting tear--
- “Oh, never till this hour,” they cry,
- “Was <g>Ewias’</g> vale so dear!
-
- Through richer lands our feet may roam--
- But long our hearts will pine,
- And feel they have no earthly home
- But Honddy’s hallowed shrine!
-
- Oh, Blessed <g>Mary</g>, shield us well!
- And, when the storm is past,
- Grant we beside that hallowed <g>cell</g>
- May lay our bones at last.”
-
- The prayer was heard--their labours o’er,
- Behold their nameless bier,
- Beneath the <g>Chancel’s</g> grassy floor,
- Where pilgrims drop the tear!
-
- The simple daisy loves the spot,
- And there, the leafy June
- Strews many a sweet _Forget-me-not_
- Beneath the dewy moon.
-
- And hallowed--hallowed be the ground
- Where sleep the good and brave,
- Decked by the firstlings of the Spring,
- And soothed by Honddy’s wave! &c.
-
-It has been already observed, that monastic establishments were not
-generally popular among the Cambrians. They reminded them too sensibly
-of the haughty domination of those Norman lords, who had parcelled out
-the country amongst them, and hoped to extenuate their crimes by the
-building and endowment of religious houses. But the memory of what was
-gained by force or fraud, was not to be effaced by multiplying shrines
-and priories--great crimes were not to be buried under abbey walls. To
-every free-born Cambrian, the sight of an abbey appeared like a monument
-of his country’s degradation and bondage, for it was difficult to
-separate in his mind the blessings of religion from the galling yoke of
-oppression; he saw that what was at first gained by force of arms, was
-to be retained by the yet stronger hand of spiritual despotism. The
-ecclesiastical power was at times more efficient in subjugating a chief,
-than all that a feudal baron could carry with him into the field; and
-when both united for the purpose of conquest, their strength was
-irresistible, the result certain; and the hatred of the oppressed was
-naturally roused against the grinding sense of a twofold oppression.
-
-Superstition was a mighty engine. An austere old writer gives us the
-following instance of its working in this golden age of the
-Church:--“The yeare after this, Gruffyth, son to Conan ap Owen Gwyneth,
-a nobleman, died, and was buried in a monke’s cowle at the Abbey of
-Conway; and so were all the nobles, for the most part, of that time
-buried. For they were made to believe by the old monkes and friers, that
-that strange weed was a sure defence betwixt their soulis and hell,
-howsoever they died. And all this baggage and superstition received they
-with monkes and friers, a few yeares before that, _out of England_. For
-the _first_ abbey or frier-house that we read of in Wales, sith the
-destruction of the noble house of <g>Bangor</g>, which savered not of Romish
-dregges, was the Twy Gwyn, built the yeare 1146; and after that they
-swarmed like bees through all the countrie; for then the Cleargie had
-forgotten the lesson that they had receaved from the noble clerk,
-Ambrosius Telesinus, who, writing in the yeare 540, when the right
-Christian faith, which <g>Joseph of Arimathea</g> taught at the isle of Avalon,
-reigned in this land, before the proud and bloodthirsty monke <g>Augustine</g>
-infested it with the Romish doctrine, in a certaine ode hath these
-verses in <g>Welsh</g>, which may be thus Englished, almost word for word:--
-
- “Wo be to that priest yborne,
- That will not cleanlie weed his corne,
- And preach his charge among!
- Wo be to that <g>Sheepherd</g>, I saie,
- That will not watch his flocke alwaie,
- As to his office doth belong!
- Wo be to him, that doth not keepe
- From Romish Wolves his simple sheepe,
- With Staffe and weapon stronge!
-
-“And because that no man should doubt of them, I have set them down here
-as they were written by him that made them; whereby it may be produced
-that the Britaynes, the first inhabitants of this realme, did abhorre
-the Romish doctrine taught at that time.”[338]
-
-<g>Architecture.</g>--The Abbey of Llanthony was built, like those already
-described, in the cathedral form--with a nave, lateral aisles,
-transepts, and chancel. It measures in length, from the western door to
-the great eastern window, two hundred and twelve feet; and the breadth
-of the nave, including the side aisles, is fifty feet. The style is a
-compound of Norman and Early English, or Gothic, of which the
-lancet-pointed windows in the nave are illustrations; while the Norman
-character is preserved in the arch between the choir and south transept,
-and again in the outer wall of the same transept by a double window. Of
-the roof, which was was of stone, nothing remains except a fragment in
-the north aisle; the transepts have also crumbled down; but the central
-tower, which connected the whole fabric, still presents a massive,
-though mutilated, feature of the ancient pile.
-
-The <g>Nave</g>, with its six noble arches, which separates the body of the
-church from the north aisle, is the grand and imposing feature of the
-scene. To the spectator, who takes his stand at the west door, the
-objects present a picture of wild and melancholy grandeur. Before him
-rise the monuments of a religious Order, who exercised no small
-influence over the destinies of mankind; and, when their own were
-fulfilled, left behind them, in the ruins that still adorn the land, the
-strongest evidence--with the highest homage that art and science can
-offer to religion.
-
-We do not pretend to say that the remains of Llanthony are equal in
-architectural beauty to those of many other religious houses in the
-kingdom; but as every object of this description depends--for the
-_effect_ it may exert over the spectator’s mind--upon the character of
-the scenery, and the circumstances under which it is viewed, we may
-safely claim for these ruins an effect much beyond what others, though
-more lofty, elaborate, and extensive, could ever inspire. The monastic
-ruins that, in more favoured districts, attract and command attention,
-do not, and cannot, take such hold of the imagination as the
-contemplation of this temple of the Desert, where everything seems in
-harmony with the thoughts suggested; and where the combined features of
-Nature and Art invest the scene with peculiar solemnity.
-
-The nave was separated from the two aisles, north and south, by eight
-noble arches, supported by massive pillars on each side. But of these
-several have disappeared on the south, and left only their grass-covered
-bases to indicate their size and position. Of the great tower, only two
-sides remain; and on that facing the nave, may be seen the angular lines
-where it was joined by the stone roof to the nave. On a line with the
-tower on the right are seen part of the south transept, with its double
-Norman window opening into the interior; and at the base, externally, a
-lancet-shaped doorway, opening into a side chapel. On the centre of each
-pillar, and on a line with the upper tier of windows, or _clerestory_,
-are seen the remains of the springing columns, which supported the
-groined roof--showing, by the triple-moulded shaft, the base or impost
-from which the ribbed arch threw its delicate ramifications along the
-stone vault, and connected the walls under a magnificent canopy, adorned
-at every intersection of the ribs with carved bosses and rosettes; but
-of which scarcely a fragment is left.
-
-The ornamented arch in the eastern window, so long the admiration of
-travellers, has mouldered away. But the Norman arch, already noticed,
-between the choir and the south aisle, is a bold and characteristic
-feature that points very distinctly to the twelfth century. The walls of
-the north aisle are wholly dilapidated; but the outside wall of the
-south aisle, as observed, is the most entire. Of this the windows are
-Norman, lofty and finely proportioned. “The western side is considered
-by all connoisseurs to be the most elegant; the northern, the most
-entire; the southern, the most picturesque; and the eastern, the most
-magnificent.” Taken altogether, the remains of this Abbey present a
-_coup d’œil_ that will bear comparison with many of far higher name. It
-unites the sublime and the picturesque in a more than ordinary measure,
-while the general effect is greatly enhanced by the natural solitude of
-the place.
-
-On the south of the remaining transept is a neat Gothic chapel, with an
-engroined roof, in tolerable preservation. It measures twenty-two feet
-in length, by ten and a half in breadth; and on the south of this chapel
-are the remains of an oblong room, supposed to have been the
-Chapter-house, or more probably the Vestiary. The other offices--the
-Refectory, Hospitium, Dormitory, and Cloisters--may be easily traced by
-an experienced antiquary; but, to a common observer, their respective
-boundaries are indistinct. In a barn, westward of the ruins, is a fine
-arch, supposed to have formed the grand entrance to the Abbey. But now--
-
- Stone after stone the hallowed temple falls,
- Fierce lightnings scathe, and torrents sap the walls;
- No mantling ivy round the ruin weaves
- Its verdant panoply of glittering leaves;
- No pious hand, with patriotic care,
- Props in its fall the ancient house of <g>Prayer</g>;
- But still yon Arch, that braves the winter blast,
- Stands the proud chronicler of ages past.
-
-<g>On the</g> architecture of this period, we may here introduce a few
-desultory remarks, without entering into any disquisition on the
-subject.
-
-The most remarkable works of architecture,[339] as opposed to that of
-the feudal strongholds, are the religious edifices erected about this
-period, and improved during the three following centuries. These
-structures uniting, as in the present instance, sublimity in general
-composition with the beauties of variety and form--intricacy of
-parts--skilful, or at least fortunate, effects of light and shade--and,
-in some instances, with extraordinary mechanical science, are naturally
-apt to lead those antiquaries, who are most conversant with them, into
-too partial estimates of the times wherein they were founded. They
-certainly are accustomed to behold the fairest side of the picture. It
-was the favourite and most honourable employment of ecclesiastical
-wealth, to erect, to enlarge, to repair cathedral and conventual
-churches; and upon these buildings in England, between the Norman
-Conquest and the Reformation, an immense capital must have been
-expended. And it is pleasing to observe how the seeds of genius, hidden,
-as it were, under the frost of that dreary winter, began to bud to the
-first sunshine of encouragement.
-
-In the darkest period of the middle ages, especially after the
-Scandinavian incursions into France and England, ecclesiastical
-architecture, though always far more advanced than any other art,
-bespoke the rudeness and poverty of the times. It began towards the
-latter end of the eleventh century, when tranquillity, at least as to
-former enemies, was restored, and some degree of learning reappeared to
-assume a more noble appearance.
-
-The Anglo-Norman cathedrals were, perhaps, as much distinguished above
-other works of man in their own age, as the more splendid edifices of a
-later period. The science manifested in them, according to the authority
-here quoted, is not very great; and their style, though by no means
-destitute of lesser beauties, is, upon the whole, an awkward imitation
-of Roman architecture, or, perhaps, more immediately of the Saracenic
-buildings of Spain, and those of the lower Greek Empire.[340] But about
-the middle of the twelfth century, when Llanthony, Tinterne, and so many
-remarkable edifices sprang up, this manner began to give place to what
-is improperly denominated the Gothic architecture. We are not concerned
-at present to inquire whether this style originated in France or
-Germany, Italy or England, since it was almost simultaneous in all these
-countries; nor from what source it was derived--a question of no small
-difficulty. I would only venture to remark, that whatever may be thought
-of the pointed arch, for which there is more than one mode of
-accounting, we must perceive a very oriental character in the vast
-profusion of ornament, especially on the exterior surface, which is as
-distinguishing a mark of Gothic buildings as their arches; and
-contributes, in an eminent degree, both to their beauties and their
-defects. This, indeed, is rather applicable to the later than the
-earlier stage of architecture; and rather to Continental than English
-churches. The Cathedral at Amiens is in a far more florid style than its
-contemporary at Salisbury. The Gothic species of architecture is thought
-by some to have reached its perfection--considered as an object of
-taste--by the middle of the fourteenth century; or at least to have lost
-something of its excellence by the corresponding part of the next
-age--an effect of its early and rapid cultivation; since arts appear to
-have, like individuals, their natural progress and decay. Yet this
-seems, if true at all, only applicable to England; since the Cathedrals
-of Cologne and Milan--perhaps the most distinguished monuments of this
-architecture--are both of the fifteenth century. The mechanical
-execution, at least, continued to improve; and is so far beyond the
-apparent intellectual powers of those times, that some have ascribed the
-principal ecclesiastical structures to the fraternity of
-Freemasons--depositaries of a concealed and traditionary science. There
-is probably some ground for this opinion; and the earlier archives of
-that mysterious association, if they existed, might illustrate the
-progress of Gothic architecture, and perhaps reveal its origin. The
-remarkable change in this new style, that was almost contemporaneous in
-every part of Europe, cannot be explained by any local circumstances, or
-the capricious taste of a single nation.[341]
-
-“The Normans,” says “William of Malmesbury, “live in large edifices with
-economy. They _revived_ by their arrival the observances of religion,
-which were everywhere grown lifeless in England. You might now see
-churches rise up in every village, and monasteries in the towns and
-cities--all built after a style previously _unknown_ in this country.”
-It was soon after the renovation and introduction here mentioned, that
-the Abbey of <g>Llanthony</g>--though one of the smallest and least known of
-its class--sprang up in the desert, as a signal to many others, on a
-more extended and noble scale that quickly followed, and stamped their
-architectural character upon the age. It was most probably finished
-before the middle of the twelfth century--so prolific in ecclesiastical
-edifices. The style is of that period--designated as the transition from
-late Norman to early English, where the predominant features are
-Gothic--characterized by the pointed arch; by pillars which are so
-extended as to lose all trace of classical proportions; by shafts which
-are placed side by side, often with different thicknesses, and are
-variously clustered and combined.[342]
-
-This style is divided into three distinct periods--besides that of
-transition between the circular and pointed styles--which lasted
-through the greater part of the twelfth century, when the circular and
-pointed arches are frequently--as in the nave and south transept before
-us--used indiscriminately in the same building. The ornaments, although
-generally partaking of the earlier style, begin to be better executed,
-and more elaborate; and the general appearance of the building assumes a
-lighter character. The first style of Gothic in this country, <g>The Early
-English</g>, prevailed through the greater part of the twelfth century; and
-of this style the subject in question is one of the numerous examples
-that followed its introduction in every part of the kingdom. Among these
-the variations, in all save dimensions, are so slight and unimportant,
-that the description of almost any one monastic structure of that
-century applies to every other of the same style and period. We possess
-in the ruins of Llanthony a pure example of this style, unchanged by any
-subsequent additions or alterations; for as the Abbey became reduced
-both in numbers and revenues, immediately after the establishment of the
-Abbey at Gloucester, it shared in none of the changes introduced by the
-decorated style; but has continued to the present day what it was in the
-middle of the twelfth century. To account for the splendour of
-conventual churches in general, we have only to remember that personal
-expense or secular indulgence were highly culpable in a monk; and that
-whatever was expended in ornamenting the Church was glorifying GOD.
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>William</g> of Llanthony--the warrior monk already noticed--appears to have
-had followers in his penance; for Peter Damian mentions a man who wore
-an _iron_ corslet next his skin, had iron rings around his limbs, so
-that he performed with pain and difficulty his _Metaneas_, or
-penitential inclinations, and very often dashed his hands upon the
-pavement. In “Strutt’s Dresses” is a female pilgrim lying on the ground,
-apparently to perform this penance of slapping the ground. The lady of
-Sir Thomas More, in reply to her husband, who counselled her to desist
-from scolding her servants during Lent, replied that she wore a “Monk’s
-girdle,” and therefore had nothing to fear.[343] The virtues of the
-monk’s girdle, it appears, were equivalent to those of the _cowl_,
-already alluded to in our notice of Tinterne.
-
-<g>The revenues</g> possessed by Llanthony appear to have been very
-considerable at the outset; but through negligence or mismanagement--or
-rather by the prejudicial influence of a rival abbey--they fell off
-gradually, and at the dissolution were valued at a sum[344]
-considerably less than those of Tinterne Abbey.
-
-When we read, in the Monastic Annals, of entire districts, towns, and
-villages being conveyed to monasteries, we are surprised at the
-boundless liberality of the founders. But when we reflect that, at the
-time of these princely endowments, the land, in many instances, was
-neither cultivated nor peopled, the question of prodigal generosity is
-materially altered. At the period of transition, as it may be termed,
-when it passed from the hands of the feudal Baron to the Abbot or Prior,
-the products of the consecrated territory were often nothing more than
-wood and pasture; nor, until it had been long subjected to the system of
-agriculture, so generally practised and taught by the monks, was it
-brought into a state fit for the sustenance of man. If we compare--so
-far as written documents enable us--the state of agriculture and its
-population, when these lands were transferred to the Abbot, with the
-condition they were in when taken from him, we shall see very clearly to
-what a vast amount they had improved under monastic management; and how
-much cause there was to applaud the stewardship of the venerable monks,
-in whose hands the physical aspect of the country underwent an entire
-change. Theirs were truly the arts of peace. Obliged, by the rule of
-their order, to plant their convents in sterile and uncultivated wilds,
-where intercourse with more favoured districts was neither easy nor
-expedient, circumstances required that they should, like the apostles
-and fathers of old, depend for daily bread on the labour of their hands.
-While some went to prayer, others went to work; and thus the blessing of
-heaven and the bounty of earth were believed to descend upon them, and
-abide with them, in those sacred habitations which had sprung up under
-their hands, and exercised on everything around them a mild and
-harmonizing influence.
-
-This spirit of improvement, however, varied according to the different
-<g>Orders</g> of which the great monastic brotherhood was composed. To those
-who--in imitation of the <g>Baptist</g>--desired to limit their physical wants
-to a diet of “locusts and wild honey,” or to whatever the unaided hand
-of Nature might place within their reach, were content to consume their
-days in fasting and prayer. And observing--as he probably did--that
-whenever wealth and luxury had increased in religious houses, strict
-discipline had as certainly relaxed, the Monk of <g>Llanthony</g> appears to
-have preferred the desert to any of those “seductive landscapes” into
-which it might have been, in some degree, converted by means of industry
-and manual labour. He had also before his eyes the baneful effects
-produced by the luxurious indulgences of New Llanthony upon the minds of
-the absent brothers, whose piety, that had preserved its fervour amongst
-rocks and glens, became vapid and lukewarm when transplanted to the rich
-landscapes of the Severn. Where riches abounded, “pride and license did
-much more abound.” It was better to continue a poor but pious friar on
-the banks of the Honddy, than become a luxurious wine-bibbing canon in
-the Vale of Gloucester.
-
-The space, therefore, in which the most distant resemblance to ancient
-cultivation can be traced is comparatively small. It was, perhaps, under
-a strong conviction of great piety and great property being in their
-very nature antagonistic, that the “Province of Berkeley,” which the
-King had offered to the Canons of Llanthony, was so firmly declined. The
-vineyards, which it is understood were then common on the banks of the
-Severn, were not likely to fortify the mind against temptation, or
-reconcile the brotherhood to the abstinence and austerities of
-conventual life. But when he speaks of the tract as a “province,” we can
-easily imagine that, fertile as the native soil undoubtedly was, only a
-small portion of it was under cultivation; so that the annual revenue
-bore an exceedingly small proportion to its extent in acres. And so it
-was with the almost innumerable tracts of Church lands in every part of
-the kingdom; for until they were brought into cultivation and crop,
-their value was merely nominal. And how much is due to the skill and
-perseverance of the monks in the encouragement of agriculture? There is
-scarcely a hill or valley in the kingdom, from which their judicious
-exercise of plough, and spade, and mattock, did not produce its annual
-return in the necessaries of life. And hence the revenues, that in the
-course of years and centuries flowed in upon them, were the legitimate
-result of a liberal and vigilant economy. We are too apt to forget,
-whilst reckoning up the vast territories bequeathed from age to age to
-the church by penitent benefactors, that these same tracts were, in many
-instances, of little or no current value to their original owners; and
-that it was only by passing them into more skilful and industrious
-hands, that they became actually appreciable, as corn lands, orchards,
-and vineyards.
-
-<g>The Canons</g> of Llanthony, in their local position, had neither the
-advantages of a fertile soil, nor the acquired habits, nor obligations
-of Rule, which rendered its cultivation imperative. Their revenues were
-drawn from a distance--some from remote parts in Ireland. But in their
-immediate neighbourhood, the monks had a brook and enclosed ponds that
-produced fish; forests that bred herds of deer, hares, and wild fowl;
-while patches of garden, orchard, and rye-field, supplied their table
-with that allowance of fruits and vegetables, herbs and roots, and
-coarse bread, which formed the daily items of their scanty fare. But
-when a stranger of note or a noble pilgrim arrived at the gate, the
-Prior’s table assumed the appearance of more than frugal hospitality;
-and all that forest or river could furnish for the entertainment of the
-honoured guest was liberally supplied.[345] As an established
-
-<g>Sanctuary</g>--from which even the greatest offenders were not excluded--we
-have already noticed the shame and desecration inflicted upon Llanthony
-by a powerful native, who in the hour of despair had fled to its gate
-for shelter. To this disastrous visit no opposition could be offered.
-The sanctuary of <g>St. John</g> was alike available to all--to the guilty as
-well as to the innocent. And if it was too frequently a refuge for those
-who had set all laws at defiance, it was happily still more so to the
-sick and the friendless; to the helpless victim of oppression, who from
-the horns of the altar appealed to heaven for redress; and to the
-penitent, who could find no escape from the snares of evil associates,
-but in the confessional and the cloister. It had been a difficult task,
-in such circumstances, to discriminate between the claims of those who,
-in their distress, flew to the sanctuary--between great criminals and
-true penitents; and therefore it was better the gate should be open
-alike to all, than that one sincere penitent should be driven back into
-a world which, in the bitter hours of remorse, he had resolved to
-abandon. In such institutions there was a gentle union of wisdom and
-mercy, which the refinement of later times has done much to loosen, and
-little to perpetuate.
-
-[Illustration: The Abbey Church from the East.]
-
-<g>Of Llanthony</g>, as it _now_ appears, the following sketch is from the pen
-of a recent visitor; and the contrast is picturesque and striking:--
-
-“At the western end of the Nave rise two towers--one of them, with
-modernized doors and windows, is inhabited. An open arcade extends in
-front of part of the adjoining cloister, and advancing through the open
-door it shaded, we found ourselves in a long vaulted half-parlour
-half-kitchen, with old arms suspended above the fire-place; sides of
-bacon nobly flanking the whitewashed walls; old chairs and cabinets, and
-various minor articles of furniture, all arranged with a neatness which
-betokened that the presiding genius of the place was feminine. Just as
-we had come to this conclusion, forth stepped from an inner recess the
-gentle tenant of the abode of the ancient monks, with a quiet simplicity
-of manner which went to the heart of a weary pilgrim, and made him feel
-instantly as if at home, and welcome. A little repose, and a cup of tea
-beside a blazing hearth--for even in summer the air is shrewd among
-these hills at evening--entirely refreshed us; and just as the sun was
-going down in the west, we sallied forth to see the ruins. Albeit the
-hospitality in early times was here dispensed by shaven monks, and now
-by maidens fair, there is a singular charm felt by all who visit
-Llanthony, in this quiet living within the precincts of the Abbey, which
-interests the imagination, and helps to blend agreeably the past and
-present.
-
-“With this half-dreamy feeling I went forth, and ascended a slight
-eminence to the westward, whence the whole pile extended at length its
-ruined towers and arches, half-buried in trees, and overhung with the
-lofty hills which shut in the vale, and opened no view to the distant
-world beyond. These hills were cultivated half-way up their sides; a few
-farms, each sending up its column of smoke, appeared at intervals, with
-paths leading up into the wild heath that clothed the summits. The
-evening sun cast a broad red light upon the west front and towers of the
-pile, and half gilded the remaining portion. I thought I had never
-beheld, even among the secluded abbeys of the Yorkshire dales, anything
-more romantically serene. It was getting dusk ere I could tear myself
-from the spot. The moon was that evening at the full; and it gave me the
-opportunity of rambling among the ruins, before I repaired to my
-dormitory in the abbey tower, which I ascended by a narrow flight of
-stone steps. One might, in idea, have gone back to the olden time, and
-fancied oneself a pilgrim in very earnest, receiving hospitality from
-the ancient tenants of the place, had it not been for the dainty
-whiteness of the bed, which occupied a story of the old tower--far
-different, I trow, from the rude pallets of these romantic but
-uncomfortable ages.”[346]
-
-[Illustration: _Llanthony Abbey._]
-
-Sir R. Colt Hoare says, that when his friend Mr. Wyndham made the tour
-of Wales, in the year 1777, the Eastern front of the abbey was standing,
-but has since fallen; and its design is now only preserved by the view
-engraven of it in his book. When he accompanied Mr. Coxe, in the year
-1800, to make drawings for his historical tour through Monmouthshire,
-the western front still retained its superior elegance: in the year
-1801, one of the fine windows gave way; and two years later he was a
-mournful eye-witness, not only to the total downfall of the three
-windows which composed the principal ornament of the front, but of some
-modern architectural innovations, highly injurious to the picturesque
-appearance of this venerable structure. It is a melancholy reflection to
-the traveller, who repeats, at certain intervals, his visits to the many
-interesting spots selected by our ancestors, either for military or
-religious establishments, that at each visit he will, most probably,
-find them progressively verging to decay. But Llanthony, even amidst its
-ruins, still supplies the artist with many fine subjects for his pencil,
-and furnishes ample matter of inquiry and investigation to the architect
-and antiquarian. From certain data we have of its first construction,
-about the year 1108, and subsequent desertion in 1136, we are enabled to
-ascertain the style of architecture then adopted in monastic buildings,
-as there can be little doubt but that the ruins we now see are those of
-the original abbey.[347]
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>Summary</g>--[For the following details--slightly altered and abridged--we
-are indebted to a recent and popular Description of Llanthony
-Priory,[348] by the Rev. George Roberts, M.A., in which the ruins are
-traced with archæological taste and accuracy:]--
-
-The west end is flanked by two low square massive <g>Towers</g>. The one on the
-south was fitted up by Colonel Wood, a former proprietor, with
-apartments for the grousing season, and is covered in with a sloping
-roof. The Abbot’s lodging, which joins on to the south side, is also
-turned into a dwelling-house for the steward of the estate, where
-visitors are obligingly accommodated. The stone staircase is perfect in
-the south tower, but broken in the north. The staircases were lighted by
-five chinks. Each tower on the outward face is divided into five stages
-by bold string-courses; the base is beveled off, and the ground story is
-broad and plain. The second and third stages are ornamented,
-arcade-fashion, on the side next to the west window, and the arches are
-pointed. The central compartment in each successive stage recedes. In
-the lowest story, two pointed windows have been disfigured by modern
-innovation. In the centre of the second story, a beautiful example of
-the round-headed Norman window remains perfect to the depth of the wall;
-the dripstone over it is plain in the north tower, but in the south is
-terminated by two corbel-heads. The third story is ornamented with a
-double long lancet-shaped blank window, of great elegance in design; the
-pointed heads spring from triple shafts with plain Norman capitals.
-Between these towers, thus ornamented so as to correspond, stood the
-great
-
-<g>West Window</g> over the principal entrance, already noticed. Joining on to
-the south tower, there is a round-headed deep window, with a broad
-trefoiled head, belonging to a plain vaulted chamber called the <g>Prior’s
-Lodging</g>. This chamber abuts upon the church, and commences the
-conventual buildings. Entering by the west you see the interior of the
-whole church. The <g>Nave</g> was separated from the two <g>Aisles</g> on each side by
-eight obtusely-pointed arches, supported on massive pillars square
-without capitals; the bases ornamented with _ogee_ mouldings. A round
-moulding, deeply let in, runs from the base entirely round the arch, to
-the base on the opposite side.
-
-<g>The Arches</g> on the north side still stand perfect. On the south four only
-remain, and these imperfect--two at each end of the Nave. The central
-arches fell in thirteen years ago (1837), on Ash-Wednesday, without any
-external notice, and whilst the family were at dinner. Had they fallen a
-few minutes sooner, some person must have been killed. The pressure of
-the clerestory windows, which on this side were destroyed, as upon the
-other, _overweighted_ the arches beneath, and forced them in. The four
-others remaining are in a very tottering condition--and would have
-fallen, if Mr. Webb, the steward, to whom the building is much indebted
-for its preservation, had not built up some rude but well-intentioned
-buttresses; which, however much they may disfigure, are essential to the
-strengthening of the remains. He also ingeniously hooped with iron two
-of the pillars, and by the application of the screw, has managed to
-bring them back into their former position.
-
-<g>The Side Aisles</g> are completely down; but the termination of the North
-Aisle, with the only specimen of the roof remaining, is to be seen in
-the North Tower of the west front. Here there is also a long, deep,
-round-headed Norman window, looking to the north. The arch at the end of
-the Nave, next to the Tower, springs from a corbel, consisting of three
-truncated pillars with capitals. The bit of the <g>roof</g> of the Aisle which
-remains is heavily groined, and formed by the intersection of round
-arches. The flat wall buttress, on either side of the Tower, has at the
-top a square moulding, fluted, from which springs an arch spanning the
-Aisle--the only one of the series in existence. This is the most
-acutely pointed in the whole building, and gives an idea of the
-character of the rest belonging to the <g>Aisles</g>.
-
-<g>The Arches</g> are divided from what seems to have been a triforium [Coxe,
-who saw it when perfect, calls it an upper tier of Norman arches], by a
-straight plain band. Between each arch is a corbel, formed of _three_
-clustered pillars, as before, with plain Norman capitals, and worked off
-to a point, where the base should have been, six in number, and from
-these, evidently, sprung the vaulted and groined roof.
-
-In the interior, above, nothing remains but a double window, pointed and
-elegant, which seems to have formed the lower portion of the deep Norman
-recessed arch, through which the passage ran along to the Bell-tower.
-This may be clearly traced from the exterior of the building. A low
-round-headed plain door connected each aisle with its contiguous
-transept. The square
-
-<g>Bell-tower</g> was supported upon four large and noble pointed arches, of
-which the west and the south, together with the sides above them, are
-standing; although there is reason to fear for the latter, from the
-pressure of the superincumbent building, which has shattered and bowed
-it out. Only sixty years ago the Bell-tower was thirty-seven feet higher
-than at present, viz., sixty-three feet, as taken by an
-instrument--whence the entire height was at first exactly a hundred
-feet. The ruin now reaches but a short way above the dripstone of the
-roof. The west arch springs from a corbel of three stunted pillars,
-clustered, and terminating in a flower--the corbel on the opposite
-terminating in a square moulding of the ogee description. The gable in
-the western arch is pierced by two small plain Norman windows, and has a
-third narrow-pointed window in the apex.
-
-<g>The Staircase</g> communicating with the belfry is lighted by a round-headed
-window. We may conjecture there were several _bells_ in the
-tower--carried off to Gloucester by Prior Roger.[349]
-
-<g>Transepts.</g>--Nothing remains of the North Transept but one side of the
-window.--[See the woodcut.]--The South Transept is lighted upon the
-south by a double Norman window, the moulding and shaft plain, the
-window eighteen feet by three; and above them, in the gable, is a plain
-<g>Rose</g> window, of which nothing but the circular rim remains. The effect
-of this composition, from its simplicity, is exceedingly imposing. A
-bold Norman arch, supported by a plain Norman corbel pillar, with a
-cushion capital, communicates on the east, from the transept, with the
-Lady Chapel; and one step from the Tower leads into the Choir.
-
-<g>The Roof</g> was supported upon pillars--lofty with Norman capitals. One on
-the south is perfect, and the base of the corresponding pillar is to be
-seen. The string-course runs over this pillar, and along the wall to the
-extremity of the Choir. At the distance of eighteen feet are traces of
-steps to the High <g>Altar</g>, flanked on either side by triple pillars,
-clustered; the distance from these steps to the east window is also
-eighteen feet. A long and exquisitely-proportioned round-headed window
-lighted the choir on the north side, and is quite perfect, except that
-the masonry above it is gone, leaving the naked rim of the head standing
-alone, with an effect at once graceful and melancholy. The space on the
-south side points out where the corresponding window stood. A gap shows
-the space occupied by the great east window, which was standing in
-Wyndham’s time. From his drawing, it appears to have been a fine pointed
-window, with tracery in the head, and having two small Norman lights in
-the gable above. A few mouldings are still extant, with slender shafts
-and Norman capitals in the wall where it was inserted.
-
-As you return from the east, continues the historian of the Abbey, you
-are struck with two windows in the Bell-tower on the south side, in the
-second story. They consist of a round-headed arch, divided into two
-lights by a sturdy _balustre_, standing in the middle of the wall, and
-extending from its plinth to its capital, right through the centre to
-the top of the arch. Beyond this, in the thickness of the wall, vestiges
-of a passage are discovered, which seems to have formed a gallery round
-the tower. A round-headed plain Norman door, the jambs being low pillars
-with cushion capitals, at the west end of the choir, on the south side,
-leads into
-
-<g>The Lady Chapel.</g> The slight remains of the corbels, from which the roof
-sprung, are here more elaborate in their work than in any other part of
-the building. We had some difficulty in tracing out the foundation.
-
-<g>The Chapter-house</g>[350] was built in contiguity to the south side of the
-south transept. On the north side of it a stable is inserted, which
-prevents accurate observation. In a calf-pen or shed, however, we
-discovered the corresponding base of the columns to the other
-unencumbered side. It seems to have been a spacious and elegant room, of
-an oblong form, lighted at the east and at the south, where there is a
-deep recess, and traces sufficient to warrant the surmise that there
-were three Norman windows on that side. The south wall is ornamented and
-divided into four compartments by clusters of triple pillars, upon which
-the roof rested. The east end narrows in, and the entrance is from the
-west. On the south of the church, between the transept and the
-Chapter-house, is an
-
-<g>Oratory</g>--the chapel already named--with an engroined roof in complete
-preservation. The central arch springs from a Norman corbel on each
-side, and two other arches form the angles of the building in the same
-manner. By their intersection the roof is formed. A deep Norman window
-is fixed in the east wall. The sides of the door consist of two pillars,
-capitals with flowers, and bases, ogee-shaped. South again of the
-chapter, a large space for a doorway--the side pillars of which are
-partly standing--opens into
-
-<g>The Refectory</g>, of which the slight traces still in existence, defy
-anything like accuracy of detail. A rude window, chimney, and vaults,
-broken in and filled with rubbish, show where the offices and kitchen
-lay. Beyond these is a splendid <g>Sewer</g>, which has been mistaken by the
-common people to be the commencement of a subterraneous passage leading
-to “Oldham Castle,” under the mountains.
-
-<g>The Vivarium</g>, or Fish-pond, is east of the church, and a mountain rill
-still runs through it. The whole of the conventual buildings, together
-with a close, amounting to seven acres, were surrounded by a wall. At
-some little distance south-west from the church, and divided from it by
-what is now a long meadow, stand
-
-<g>The Hospitium</g> and Porter’s Lodge--the first of which is a barn, and has
-been enlarged for that purpose. A fine pointed arch, already alluded to,
-under which was the entrance gateway, still remains. The pillars upon
-which it rests are immensely strong--the capitals Norman and rudely
-carved. Above this were apartments lighted by two round-headed windows
-in the north gable; and in the south gable, by two windows with trefoil
-cusps, and one round-headed. An old fireplace above is also visible. The
-arches on the other side are blocked up with solid masonry. The Porter’s
-window is pointed, and looks to the west. In the “bay” of the barn, and
-on a level with the ground, on the west side, is a window deeply set in
-the wall, pointed; and in a line with it, a square open space, like the
-top of a buttery-hatch, with a large flat stone below, whence probably
-the <g>dole</g>[351] was distributed.
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>RULES of St. Augustin.</g>--Of these, the rules of Llanthony--which the
-reader will find printed at full in the history of the <g>Order</g>[352]--a few
-extracts may here suffice.
-
-<g>A.</g> By the first rule, or condition, every candidate for admission into
-the Order was called upon to relinquish all property. He was to enter on
-a term of probation by the <g>Prior</g>. No Canon, on taking leave of the Order
-from necessity, was permitted to take any property away with him. If
-anything were offered him as a present, he was not at liberty to accept
-it, until he had obtained leave from the Prior. This rule was to apply
-equally to all, from the Superior downwards. Punishment was to be
-denounced for contumacy, and offences to be declared to the <g>Præpositus</g>,
-before whom all disagreements were to be laid for consideration and
-adjustment. All property detained as above-mentioned, through necessity,
-was to be handed over to the <g>Superior</g>.
-
-<g>B.</g> They were carefully to remember what psalms were appointed to be sung
-at the stated hours, and nightly readings after <g>Vespers</g>. Manual labour
-was to continue from morning until <g>Sext</g>; and from Sext till <g>Nones</g> was to
-be employed in reading. After refection, work was to be resumed till
-Vespers. In all matters of business connected with the convent, two
-monks were to act in concert; but none were permitted to eat or drink
-out of the house. Brothers sent to dispose of goods in public, for the
-benefit of the convent, were to be cautious of doing anything against
-the Rule. Idle talk, or gossiping, was strictly forbidden; and they were
-enjoined to proceed with their work in silence.
-
-<g>C.</g> The union, or brotherhood, was to subsist in one house. Food and
-raiment were to be distributed by the Superior, and everything was to be
-held and enjoyed in common. Due consideration was to be observed towards
-infirmity; but no allowance to be made for pride on account of
-difference of birth. Concord was indispensable; and in attending divine
-service at the appointed hours, they were to observe the strictest
-punctuality. They were not to make use of the church for any other
-service than that to which it was consecrated, unless when, out of the
-proper hours, they found leisure and inclination for private prayer.
-While chanting the psalmody, they were to revolve and write the
-sentiment in their hearts. Nothing was to be sung but what was duly
-appointed. They were bound to mortify the flesh by frequent abstinence
-and fasting; and those who did not fast, were to take nothing after the
-usual time of dining, unless when sick. The scriptures were to be read
-during meals in the <g>Refectory</g>. To the sick a better kind of food was
-allowed; but not to make the others discontented. Brothers of delicate
-habit, or infirm health, were to have diet and clothes suitable to their
-condition; and such indulgence was not to excite envy or disgust in
-others. The sick were to be treated with all the care which their cases
-required; and as soon as they recovered their wonted health, they were
-to return to the fixed rule and habit of the house.
-
-<g>D.</g> The <g>Habit</g> of the Order was to be sober, not conspicuous. When they
-went abroad, they were to walk two together, and so remain at the
-journey’s end. In gait, look, habit, or gesture, everything that could
-be termed indecent or offensive, was to be regarded as criminal. They
-were not to fix their eyes upon women; and when two were in church in
-the presence of women, they were mutually to support each other, in
-observing a serious and modest decorum--“invicem vestram pudicitiam
-custodite. Deus enim qui habitat in vobis, etiam isto modo custodiet vos
-a vobis....” All such offences or misdemeanours were to be punished by
-the Superior. The clandestine receipt of letters or presents was a
-punishable offence. Their clothes were to be taken from one common
-<g>Vestiary</g>, and their food from one Larder. All vestments presented by
-relatives were to be stored in the common Vestiary. All labour was to be
-considered as done for the common good. He who stole, and he who
-concealed his knowledge of a theft, were to be punished with equal
-severity.
-
-<g>E.</g> Their clothes, and the linen of the house, according to the order of
-the Superior, were to be washed either by themselves or by fullers. In
-cases of illness, ablutions were to be used according to the physician’s
-advice; or, on refusal, by order of the Superior. They were to go to the
-baths only by two or three, and were then to be accompanied by a person
-duly appointed by the Superior. The sick were to have an <g>Infirmarer</g>; and
-cellarers, chamberlains, or librarians, were to serve the brethren with
-cheerfulness and good-will. <g>Books</g> could not be obtained for perusal but
-at the stated hours. Clothes and shoes were to be given out when needed.
-No litigations or quarrels were permitted. If a difference arose, it was
-to be instantly adjusted or put to silence by the authorities. For all
-offences, satisfaction--for all wrongs, retribution--was to be given;
-and the offended were commanded to practise, in all cases, the sacred
-duty of forgiveness towards the offender.
-
-<g>F.</g> Harsh or uncharitable expressions were to be carefully avoided; and
-if hastily uttered, they were to be followed by an immediate apology.
-Obedience to the Superior was strictly enjoined; but if, in the exercise
-of his duty, he spoke harshly to any one, he was not to be called upon
-for any apology. They were to yield cheerful obedience to the head over
-them; but chiefly to the <g>Priest</g>, or Presbyter, on whom devolved the care
-of the whole house. If, in any emergency, the Superior found his
-authority unequal to the occasion, he was to have recourse to that of
-the Priest, or <g>Elder</g>. The Superior was bound to exercise his authority
-in the spirit of Christian charity and meekness, yet with firmness and
-impartiality. To be practically strict in discipline; but so to demean
-himself towards the brethren, as rather to win their love by kindness
-than excite their fear by severity; to set before their eyes an example
-of godly life; to excite imitation, and conciliate affection.[353]
-
-The Rule of <g>St. Augustin</g>, it has been observed, is more courteous than
-that of <g>St. Benedict</g>; for among the Canons-Regular, every brother is
-well shod, well clothed, and well fed; they go out when they like, mix
-with the world, and converse at table. The Rule of St. Augustin was
-followed by the Dominicans; but with severe additions in food, fasts,
-bedding, garments, and utter dereliction of property.--See and compare
-the Cistercian <g>Rule</g>, as given in the foregoing article on Tinterne
-Abbey.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: F]<g>OUNDER.</g>--Hugh de Laci was an adventurer in the suite of
-William the Conqueror; and, like most of his Norman followers and
-compatriots, received in compensation of services, or in testimony of
-the royal favour, certain grants of land from which the ancient Saxon
-nobility had been expelled. All that we learn of his subsequent career
-is, that he founded the Priory of <g>Llanthony</g> in the manner already
-described, spent his days in strict religious seclusion, and departed
-this life in the odour of sanctity--but without issue. His possessions,
-therefore, were divided between his two surviving sisters, Ermeline and
-Emma--the former of whom died without heirs; and the latter, married to
-a gentleman, whose name has not descended to posterity, had by her
-husband a son named <g>Gilbert</g> de Laci. The latter, by his marriage with a
-lady unknown to the chronicler, had two sons, <g>Hugh</g> and <g>Walter</g> de Laci.
-Hugh died without issue, and Walter espoused Margery, daughter of
-Matilda de <g>S. Walerick</g>, wife of William <g>de Brewes</g>. To this family were
-born several sons and daughters; all of whom died without heirs, except
-<g>Gilbert</g> de Laci, who took to wife the Lady Isabella, one of the five
-daughters of the great warrior William, Earl <g>Marshall</g>, of whose family
-history and exploits some account has been given in our notice of
-Tinterne Abbey.
-
-<g>Margery</g>, daughter of the above-named Gilbert and Isabella de Laci, was
-married to John <g>de Verdon</g>; and at the death of her father, who left no
-male issue, she became joint heiress with her sister Matilda, the wife
-of Galfrid <g>de Genevile</g>.
-
-From <g>Walter</g> de Laci, the right of all his inheritance descended to a
-certain <g>Gilbert</g> de Laci, as his son and heir; and from the said Gilbert,
-in default of male issue, it descended to his two sisters Margery and
-Matilda aforesaid, co-heiresses; between whom the family property left
-by their father was equally divided. The above-named Margery, as we have
-said, married John _de Verdon_; and to <g>Nicholas</g>, her son by this
-marriage, descended all the property she inherited from her father. From
-Nicholas, who died without legitimate issue, the family estates passed
-to his adopted brother <g>Theobald</g>, as his brother and heir. From
-Theobald, in like manner, they descended to <g>John</g>; from whom, having no
-heirs, they descended to <g>William</g>, who also dying childless, they
-descended to Johanna, Elizabeth, Margery, Isabella, and Catherine,
-daughters and coheiresses of the above-named Theobald de Verdon. Of
-these, Catherine dying unmarried, her share of the property fell in
-equal proportions to her sisters; the eldest of whom wedded Thomas <g>de
-Furnivall</g>: Elizabeth, the second daughter, married Bartholomew <g>de
-Burghersh</g>; Margery, the third daughter, William <g>Blount</g>; and Isabella
-took to husband Henry <g>de Ferrers</g>--names well known in history.
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>Baldwin</g>, the Bishop above named, was a native of Exeter, where he
-received, what was considered in those days, a liberal education; and in
-the early part of his life discharged the functions of a grammar-school
-in that city. After taking holy orders he was made Archdeacon of Exeter;
-but soon quitting the duties of that office, he took the habit of the
-Cistercian Order in the Monastery of Ford, in Devonshire, of which, in a
-few years afterwards, he was elected Abbot. He was next promoted to the
-episcopal dignity, and on the 10th of August, 1180, consecrated Bishop
-of Worcester. On the death of Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, four
-years later, he was translated to that see--though not without
-difficulty, from his being the first of the Cistercian Order in England
-who had ever been promoted to the archiepiscopal dignity. He was
-enthroned at Canterbury, May the 19th, 1185, and the same day received
-the bull from Pope Lucius III., whose successor, Urban III., appointed
-him to the office of Legate for the diocese of Canterbury. Soon after
-his installation, he began to build a church and monastery at
-Hackington, near Canterbury, in honour of “St. Thomas à Becket,” for the
-reception of secular priests; but, being violently opposed by the monks
-of Canterbury supported by the Pope’s authority, he was compelled to
-abandon his undertaking.
-
-On the third of September, 1190, he solemnly performed the ceremony of
-crowning <g>King Richard</g> the First--Cœur-de-Lion--in the palace of
-Westminster. The same year, the King having given the see of York to his
-natural brother, Geoffrey, Bishop of Lincoln, <g>Baldwin</g> took occasion to
-assert the pre-eminence of the see of Canterbury, forbidding the Bishops
-to receive consecration from any other than the Archbishop himself.
-
-The next year, designing to follow King Richard into the Holy Land, he
-made the “Itinerarium” into Wales already alluded to; visited the Abbey
-of <g>Llanthony</g>, which he described in the words already quoted; said mass
-pontifically in all the cathedral churches, and persuaded many of the
-Welsh to quit their homes and take part in the crusade. After completing
-this progress, he returned to Canterbury; and then, embarking at Dover
-with the Bishop of Salisbury, sailed for the Holy Land, where he joined
-the King’s army in Syria. Shortly after his arrival, however, he was
-seized with a mortal distemper, and died at the siege of Acre, or
-Ptolemais, where he was buried with all the solemnity due to a great
-luminary of the church.[354]
-
-<g>Descent.</g>--At the period of the dissolution of monasteries, Llanthony
-Abbey was given to Richard, or Nicholas Arnold; then sold to Auditor
-Harley, and remained in the Oxford family, until sold again to Colonel
-(afterwards Sir Mark) Wood, of Persefield, near Chepstow; from whom it
-passed to the present owner, WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR, Esq.
-
-<g>Arms</g> of Llanthony Abbey: “Party per pale azure and purpure on chevron
-argent, between three oak-branches argent, three marigolds
-proper.”--_Dugdale._
-
- * * * * *
-
-We now close the subject of Llanthony with the late Mr. Southey’s
-
-
-INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT IN THE VALE OF EWIAS.
-
- Here was it, Stranger, that the <g>Patron Saint</g>
- Of Cambria passed his age of penitence,
- A solitary man; and here he made
- His <g>Hermitage</g>; the roots his food, his drink
- Of Honddy’s mountain stream.
-
- Perchance thy youth
- Has read with eager wonder, how the <g>Knight</g>
- Of Wales, in Ormandine’s enchanted bower,
- 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 <g>Dafydd’s</g> deeds, when through the press of war
- His gallant comrades followed his green crest
- To conquests!
-
- Stranger! Hatterill’s mountain heights,
- And this fair vale of <g>Ewias</g>, and the stream
- Of Honddy, to thine after-thoughts will rise
- More grateful--thus associate with the name
- Of <g>Dafydd</g>, and the deeds of other days.
-
- AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding article on
- Llanthony Abbey:--Dugdale’s Monasticon and Baronage, and their
- Commentaries--Tanner’s Notitia Monastica--Spelman’s Glossar.
- Archæologicum--Hist. of the Reformation--Histories of Monmouth, by
- Hoare, Coxe, and others--Giraldus Cambrensis--Howel’s
- Hystorie--Hallam’s Middle Ages--Camden’s
- Britannia--Speed--Hollinshed--Robert of Glo’ster--Roberts’ History
- of Llanthony Abbey--Thomas’ History of Owen
- Glendower--Collins--Notes by Correspondents, etc.
-
-[Illustration: _Usk Castle & Town._]
-
-
-
-
-USKE CASTLE,
-
-<g>Monmouthshire</g>.
-
- HERE still the feudal bulwark frowns,
- With many a tale of siege and sally;
- And there the mouldering Abbey crowns
- The silent and secluded valley.
-
- And still, when Twilight spreads her wings,
- By Abbey wall or Castle hoary,
- The pilgrim hears harmonious strings
- Struck to the theme of <g>Cambria’s</g> glory.
-
- Again--from yonder halls of state,
- Where now the hermit-owl is dwelling--
- In song, assembled Bards relate
- The daring deeds of bold <g>Llewellyn</g>.
-
- Again from yonder Abbey choir--
- Its dim religious lights revealing--
- The lofty strains of <g>David’s</g> lyre
- From arch and pillared aisles are pealing.
-
- But no! the morning’s ruddy beam--
- The breath of day--is on the river;
- And all that peopled Fancy’s dream
- Is scattered in its light for ever.
-
-
-[Illustration: T]<g>HE CASTLE</g> of Uske occupies a commanding position--an
-abrupt rocky eminence which overlooks the town, river, and valley, which
-were once the property of its feudal lords. It is a domestic fortress of
-great antiquity, and with the advantages of its natural site,
-strengthened and improved by all the appliances of military art--art as
-it was practised in the days of chivalry--these mouldering walls, though
-now stripped of all their massive proportions, must have presented a
-bold and almost impregnable aspect. The lapse of centuries, however, has
-materially changed its appearance; and the Castle that once entertained
-the redoubtable <g>Strongbow</g> and his companions, is now little more than a
-mass of ruins--the chief recommendation of which is its picturesque
-character as a prominent feature in the landscape.
-
-The ruins consist merely of a shell, enclosing an area or court, and
-some outworks on the west, formed by two straight walls converging one
-to the other, and strengthened at their union by a round tower, as
-represented in the accompanying woodcut. At the extremity of the south
-wall is a grand pointed gateway, with grooves for a portcullis, which
-was the principal entrance. The upper part has been converted into a
-farm-house with considerable additions.
-
-[Illustration: Tower in Uske Castle.]
-
-Like other castles of its style and period, it consists of straight
-walls, fortified with round and square towers, and no apertures
-externally but loopholes or œillets, except where these have been
-enlarged for modern use and convenience. Several of the apartments have
-chimneys--a comparatively modern refinement. The baronial hall measures
-forty-eight by twenty-four feet; far inferior in dimensions to some of
-the halls already described, but still a noble apartment, and dignified
-from its association with Strongbow and his knights, whose occasional
-rendezvous was within these walls.
-
-At the time of the Roman occupation, this county formed part of the
-Silurian territory, which included also the counties of Glamorgan,
-Brecknock, Radnor, and Hereford; and in order to secure the conquest of
-this part of the country, the new masters were compelled to form a range
-of strongly fortified posts. No less than five stations were erected in
-that part of Siluria included in Gwentland, as at Caerwent, Caerleon,
-Abergavenny, Monmouth, and Uske. In the attempts of the Saxon monarchs
-to subjugate Wales, the Gwentians, or inhabitants of Monmouthshire,
-opposed the most formidable resistance; nor does it appear that they
-were ever vanquished during the Saxon period. The Conqueror, however,
-adopted a new and more effective mode of curbing their resistance. He
-directed his barons to make incursions at their own expense, and gave
-them leave to hold the lands they conquered _in capite_ of the crown.
-These feudal tenures became petty royalties; the barons became despots,
-and, intrenched in their fortified castles, assumed independent
-sovereignty, until these baronial governments were abolished by Henry
-VIII., who divided Wales into counties.
-
-<g>The river</g> Uske takes its rise from a lake on the northern side of the
-Bannau-Sir-Gaer, in Carmarthenshire, and after running first north and
-then east as far as Brecknock, is joined by the Honddi, which, as
-already described, waters the monastic vale of Ewias. It then flows
-south-east as far as Abergavenny, and in this part of its course is
-joined by the Grwyneu-fawr, and about three miles below this it enters
-Monmouth. The extent of its course is about sixty miles, every portion
-of which is distinguished more or less by scenes of pastoral and
-picturesque beauty--enhanced by vestiges of ancient encampments,
-religious edifices, and feudal strongholds. The river is spanned at Uske
-by a stately bridge of five arches.
-
-The annexed woodcut, with which we close this brief notice, represents a
-chamber in the Castle, with an arched window and a fireplace,
-comparatively modern. Chimneys do not seem to have been introduced much
-before the time of Henry the Eighth, as appears from the following
-extract from Leland’s Itinerary:--“One thynge I much notyed in the haule
-of Bolton,” built temp. Rich. II., “how chimneys were conveyed by
-tunnels made in the syds of the wauls, betwyxt the lights in the haule;
-and by this means, and by no others, is the smoke of the harthe in the
-haule wonder strangely carrayed.”[355] Previously to this period, the
-smoke was suffered to escape from the louvre, or lantern-turret in the
-roof, in large halls and kitchens, the fire being made of logs of wood
-laid on iron or brass dogs, in the centre of the room. But in the
-smaller rooms, like that in the woodcut, fireplaces were built, the
-arches or chimney-pieces of which often remain; but the chimney itself
-was carried up only a few feet, where an aperture was left in the wall
-for the smoke to escape,[356] and there was frequently a window over the
-fireplace, as in the hall at Raglan.[357]
-
-<g>Uske</g> is supposed to occupy the site of the Roman _Burrium_--the
-_Bullæum_ of Ptolemy; it stands on a point of land formed by the
-confluence of the two rivers, Uske and Olway, and the situation is
-considered to be one of the most beautiful in South Wales. The
-successive ranges of woods and hills on each side of the river are
-richly varied and picturesque; while every year adds something to the
-natural embellishment of the scene, by the distribution of fruit and
-forest trees--for which the soil is naturally adapted--and that growing
-taste for agriculture and rural improvement which is everywhere
-conspicuous in the county of Monmouth. The boundaries and outlines of
-the valley--which is everywhere pleasing--perpetually vary as the points
-of view are changed; so that every change in his position opens to the
-spectator a new combination of features which pass before him like a
-moving panorama--
-
- “Ever changing, ever new.”
-
-[Illustration: A Chamber in the Castle.]
-
-<g>Uske</g> has a melancholy pre-eminence among the strongholds of this county,
-as a point at which the fury of intestine war was often lighted into
-flames. During the long and disastrous warfare with Owen Glendower, it
-was subjected to every species of hardship and oppression. From the
-battle of Uske, when the Cambrian chief was defeated and driven into the
-mountains, it remained in possession of the royal troops; but while it
-suffered the fate of a vanquished post, it derived little support from
-the victors; for whatever standard floated from its walls, it was only
-the signal of systematic oppression. From the military chronicle of
-those unhappy times, we take the following particulars of the
-
-<g>Battle of Uske.</g> This was the last effort on the part of Owen Glendower
-to drive the English from the frontier. Having assembled an army of
-eight thousand men enthusiastically attached to him, he prosecuted his
-march through scenes of fire and bloodshed--desolating the country,
-ravaging the Marches, and practising every cruelty which the spirit of
-revenge could suggest. Grosmont[358]--or more probably Uske--was given
-to the flames. This marauding division was opposed by a handful of men
-commanded by Sir Gilbert Talbot--joined by Sir William Newport and Sir
-John Geindre--on the 11th of March, and cut to pieces, no quarter being
-given except to one person, whom young Henry, in his despatch to his
-father, styles ‘un grand chieftyn entre eulx;’ and humanely adds, that
-“he would have sent him this prisoner, but that he could not ride with
-ease.” Prince Henry at the time of this action was at Hereford--at the
-head of the army, with which he was to open the campaign--when the news
-of the victory reached him. The ancient Britons, who lost a thousand men
-in this battle, appear to have fought with less than their accustomed
-valour. They were probably raw recruits, without good officers or strict
-discipline; and without Glendower’s presence to direct and animate them
-in the charge, they appear to have fallen an easy prey to the enemy. The
-interception of young March, and this defeat, hastened the fall of
-Glendower; but, resolved to make a strong effort to retrieve his lost
-credit in the field, he sent one of his sons with another army, which,
-on being joined by many fugitives from the late disaster, was found
-sufficiently strong to risk another engagement. This took place on the
-15th of the same month; but the results were still more disastrous than
-on the previous battle; for of the Welsh army fifteen hundred were slain
-or taken prisoners. Tudor, the brother of Owen, was left dead on the
-field; while his son, who had the chief command, was made prisoner, and
-retained as a hostage in the English camp. The historian relates that so
-great was the personal resemblance between Owen and his brother Tudor,
-that when the dead body of the latter was discovered in the field, it
-was immediately reported that Glendower himself had fallen, and that,
-with the death of their leader, the Welsh must necessarily abandon the
-contest. On closer examination, however, it was found that the
-exultation thus spread through the English camp was premature; for
-although the resemblance was very striking, it was observed that a wart
-over the eye--a mark which distinguished the “great Owen”--was not to be
-traced in the present individual, and it was at once admitted that
-Tudor, and not Owen, had fallen in the conflict.
-
-Prince Henry, according to Carte,[359] commanded at this battle,
-supposed to have taken place near Uske. Wynne also mentions an action
-fought on the same day on which the son of Owen was made prisoner; and
-the number of those slain and made prisoners, coincides with the above
-account of Mr. Pennant, but the scene of action is removed to Uske,
-where he says “the Welsh received a sad blow from the Prince of Wales’
-men.” In the history of this period there is a confusion which Mr.
-Pennant thus clears up:--Hollinshed mentions another defeat sustained by
-the Welsh in the month of May, in which Griffith Yonge, Owen’s
-chancellor, was made prisoner. But in this, according to Pennant, the
-chronicler confounds this battle with the action near Grosmont. If Yonge
-was the “grand chieftyn” there made prisoner, which is questionable, he
-must have soon escaped from the power of the English, or have been
-released, as he is a witness the following year to a pardon granted by
-Owen to one Ieuan Goch. Here Mr. Thomas[360] suggests that the two
-accounts by Hollinshed and Wynne might be reconciled, by allowing that a
-battle was actually fought at Uske, subsequent to that on the 15th of
-March. Dates among earlier writers are often uncertain, always
-perplexing. But Uske in many parts bears evident marks of Owen’s
-desolating system of warfare; a ruinous aspect bespeaks its having been
-stormed by an enemy at no remote date; and all these circumstances
-deriving weight from local tradition--which corroborates the surmise,
-and attributes the havoc to Glendower--Uske may be fairly set down as
-the scene of devastation referred to in the text.[361]
-
-<g>Craig-y-Gaeryd</g>, near Uske, is supposed to have been a Roman camp. It
-covers the brow of a precipice overhanging the eastern bank of the
-river, and is now overgrown with copsewood; but in many places the
-intrenchments are thirty feet deep. Within the area are several tumuli
-from fifteen to twenty feet high. From the small torrent of <g>Berden</g>, near
-this point, some authors have derived the name of Burrium, as being
-placed at its confluence with the river Uske.[362]
-
-With regard to these camps and intrenchments, Mr. King, in his
-“Monumenta Antiqua,” supposes that most of the strong intrenchments on
-the summits of natural hills must be attributed to Britons, although
-subsequent conquerors might have occupied them. They are designated,
-indiscriminately, Roman camps, Danish forts, or Saxon intrenchments, but
-often erroneously. The _Roman_ camps were quadrangular, divided into a
-pavilion for the general and chief officers, and another portion for the
-tents of the common soldiers. It was fortified with a ditch and parapet,
-termed _fossa_ and _vallum_. The Danes did not undergo the labour of
-erecting them on the high hills where they are often found, nor run the
-risk of being cooped up and starved in them during their invasions; nor
-can we suppose them to be their work after they settled here as
-conquerors. The great castle of Norwich, built by Canute, and the great
-tower at Bury, prove their civilization and skill in architecture.
-Neither could these hill-camps be Saxon. During the Heptarchy, they
-erected fortresses of stones. Besides, their earth-works were
-encampments on plain ground with double ditches, and with either the
-whole or part of the area raised above the level of the adjacent
-country, and sometimes with a very small mount for a watchguard. The
-magnificence of the Norman castles, still splendid in their ruins, will
-not allow them to have had any share in throwing up these rude
-intrenchments. They must, therefore, have been the strongholds of the
-ancient Britons, where their families were lodged, and their cattle
-housed, on any emergency or invasion.[363]
-
-<g>The Church</g>, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure of
-Anglo-Norman origin, but apparently curtailed in its dimensions to suit
-the diminished population of modern Uske. The square embattled tower
-which now stands at the east, formerly occupied the centre, and
-communicated with a transept and choir. Four pointed arches now separate
-the nave from the north aisle. The windows are ornamented Gothic, or
-rather Norman; and the porches, though not elegant, are in the same
-style. This was the Priory Church; and of the conventual building, the
-remains are seen on the south-east side of the tower. From the
-churchyard, a circular arched portal leads through the court to the
-ancient edifice now converted into a farm-house. It was founded by one
-of the Clare family as a priory for five Benedictine nuns, about the
-middle of the thirteenth century. In an apartment on the first floor,
-the frieze of the ceiling is ornamented with thirty devices, and
-emblazoned coats of arms. At the Dissolution, this priory was valued at
-£69. 9s. 8d. per annum; and the site granted to Roger Williams of
-Langibby. Rowland Williams of Langibby was distinguished by Queen
-Elizabeth and James the First, and received the honour of knighthood.
-His grandson, Sir Trevor Williams, was created a baronet in
-consideration of his services and loyal attachment to <g>Charles</g> the First.
-
-<g>Founder.</g>--Tanner, quoting from a MS. in the office of First Fruits, says
-they accounted Sir Richard de Clare and Sir Gilbert his son, Earls of
-the Marches, for their Founders, and prayed for them as such; for which,
-at the time of the Dissolution, an allowance appears to have been made
-amongst the reprises.
-
-The temporalities of this priory are thus valued in Pope Nicholas’s
-Taxation, A.D. 1291:--Priorissa de Uska habet viginti quatuor acras
-terræ quæ valent per annum viii.s.: De annuo redditu, vi.s. viii.d., de
-Molendino. ibidem x.s., de perquisitis cur. v.s. _Item_, habet apud
-Shirencnewt [Shire Newton?] de reddit, assis. iii.s. = Summa £1. 12s.
-8d.
-
-Among the spiritualities of the diocese of Llandaff, we find the
-following churches, of which the priory and convent of Uske appear to
-have been patrons, namely, Raglan, Mykenny, Uske, Langrerion, Lampadock,
-and Lamyhangel.
-
-In another place, it is said:--Capitulam Landav. percipit de tenentibus
-de Landconyan unam marcam, et illam reddunt luminar. prioratus de Uske.
-In the diocese of Worcester, we find, “Porcio priorissæ in capell. de
-Hatherlo j.l. The gross value of this priory [26th Hen. VIII.] was rated
-at £69. 9s. 8d., the clear income at £55. 4s. 5d. The site and other
-lands were granted 28th Hen. VIII. to Roger Williams, grandfather of Sir
-Trevor Williams [of whom Cromwell speaks in his letter from Pembroke.]
-At the Dissolution, Elen Williams was the lady prioress. In the Lord
-Treasurer’s Remembrancer’s office is the following:--“Uske: De Elizea
-John ap Jevan vidua, occasionat. ad ostendendum quo titulo tenet domum
-et situm Prioratus de Uske, et alias terras in comitatu Monmouth. That
-the said widow be called upon to show by what title she holds the house
-and site of the Priory of Uske, and other lands in the county of
-Monmouth.” Leland describes it briefly as “a priory of Nunnes at Cair
-Uske, a flite shot from the castel.”
-
-An impression from the conventual seal of this priory is extant in the
-Chapter-house at Westminster, attached to the acknowledgment of
-Supremacy. [25 Hen. VIII.] It represents the Virgin Mary seated on an
-ornamented chair between two pilasters, the infant Jesus in her lap.
-Above are a crescent and star, the legend--S. SĈE MARIE ET CONVENTUS DE
-USKE.
-
- * * * * *
-
-The emblematical devices and emblazoned arms already mentioned, as
-covering the frieze of the ceiling in the chief apartment, are supposed
-to represent the armorial bearings of the various benefactors of the
-priory.
-
-<g>Prioresses.</g>--The last Prioress, or Superieure, was the above-named “Elen
-Williams.” Among the Gilbertine Nuns there were three prioresses, one of
-whom presided in turn, and had then the first stall--one of her
-coadjutors standing on the right hand, the other on the left. The
-presiding Prioress held the Chapter, enjoined the penances, granted all
-the licences or allowances, visited the sick, or caused them to be
-visited by one of her companions. She had obedience and respect paid to
-her by all. The food was delivered by the Cellaress, but the vestments
-of the Nuns were cut, sewed, and divided by the Prioress. She could not
-sit near any _man_ in their house, unless some discreet sister sat
-between them. The Prioress was to endeavour to visit the Nuns, unless
-when she was in the kitchen, or confined to her dortoire by sickness.
-If any sister wished to confess, she signified her desire to the
-Prioress, if she was in the cloister or church; or she confessed to her,
-or to any person authorised to act for her. On holidays she sent some
-“learned nun” with a book to her sisters, to teach them somewhat that
-might operate to the profit of their souls, or confirm the rigour of the
-Order. She presided over the Chapter of the Sisters, and one of her
-coadjutors often took their _veniæ_ in the evening Chapter. On festival
-days she visited them “if she had time,” and diligently inquired of
-their strict observance of the rules of the Order. If she left the
-dormitory after dinner, or after complin, she did not go out unless with
-attendant nuns. She was obliged to indicate the cause of her departure
-to the Prior of all. If she left the church through sickness, she
-confessed in the Chapter, and no one stood in her stall except at Mass,
-and when necessity required it.--[Brit. Monach.]
-
-She was bound to shun conferring with the _Scrutatrices_, or
-sister-visitors, from other houses, that were deputed to her; or to make
-search for anything except in the common Chapter. If she was in the
-Infirmary, she was required to conduct herself more reservedly; and not
-to speak with more than two together, and that only in a “bounded
-place,” unless, perhaps, necessity compelled her to talk with more for
-the sake of consultation; or when she happened to hold the Chapter of
-the Sick. She had authority, upon emergencies, to hold the Chapter of
-the Convent, and receive confessions, and if she was confined by severe
-illness, she could, like the rest, talk and give her directions in
-bed.[364]
-
-<g>Uske</g> enjoys the hereditary distinction of having been the “residence of
-Richard, Duke of York, and the birth-place of his two sons, Edward the
-Fourth, and Richard the Third;” names which have furnished many stirring
-incidents, many sparkling and many disastrous achievements to the
-British annals. The town of Uske is disposed in the form of an oblong
-square, the principal street forming the public road to Abergavenny. The
-corporation consists of a mayor or bailiff, a community, and
-burgesses;[365] and in the town-house are held the petty sessions for
-the upper division of the hundred of Uske. The only native manufacture
-is that of japan ware.
-
-The river is famous for trout, particularly salmon trout--
-
- “So fresh, so sweete, so red, so crimpe withal,”[366]
-
-which, in conventual times, afforded an ample supply to the numerous
-religious communities on its banks, to whom a carneous diet was only
-permitted as an occasional indulgence. Epicures confirm the ancient
-reputation of the river in this respect; and during the season, the
-disciples of Isaak Walton, and the readers of Sir Humphrey Davy’s
-“Salmonia,” are constant visitors to the banks of the Uske, which, by
-way of climax, is said to produce better sport for the angler than any
-other river in Wales--or even the Severn--a quality which has become
-proverbial.
-
- “Though bright the waters of the Towy,
- The Wye, the Severn, and the Tivy;
- Yet, well I wot, they cannot shew ye
- Such _salmon_ as the Uske can give ye!
-
- It was--(we choose not to go farther)--
- The favoured dish of bold King <g>Arthur</g>;
- Who, when he chose like king to dine,
- Went down to Uske with rod and line,
- And there drew slily to the bank
- Such trout as best became his rank;
- Sometimes by twains, at others singly,
- But always with a twitch so kingly,
- The salmon seemed as much delighted,
- As if they really had been ‘knighted!’
- No wonder, for they quickly found
- An _entrée_ at the <g>Table Round</g>,
- Where, seated with his gallant knights,
- Those heroes of a hundred fights;--
- ‘Leave,’ quoth he, ‘acorns in the husk,
- Here’s glorious salmon from the Uske!’” &c.
-
-[Illustration: _Pembroke Castle_]
-
-
-
-
-PEMBROKE CASTLE,
-
-<g>Pembrokeshire</g>.
-
- “Hic exarmatum terris cingentibus æquor,
- Clauditur, et placidam descit servare quietem.”
-
- “In agro totius Walliæ amœnissimo, principale provinciæ municipium
- Demetiæq. caput, in Saxosa quadam et oblonga rupis in capite
- bifurco complectitur. Unde Britannis <g>Pembro</g> dicitur, quod caput
- marinum sonat, et nobis Penbroke.”--_Gyrald._
-
-
-<g>Earldom.</g>--“There have been divers Earls of Pembroke,” says Camden, “out
-of sundry houses. As for <g>Arnulph</g> of Montgomery, who first wonne it, and
-was afterwards outlawed, and his castellan <g>Girald</g>, whom King Henry the
-First made afterwards president over the whole country, I dare scarcely
-affirm that they were <g>Earles</g>. The first that was styled Earle of
-Pembroke was Gilbert, surnamed ‘Strongbow,’[367] son of Gilbert de
-Clare, in the time of King <g>Stephen</g>. This Gilbert, or Gislebert, de
-Clare, let it unto his sonne, the said Richard Strongbow, the renowned
-conqueror of Ireland, and descended, as Gyraldus informs us, “ex clara
-Clarenium familia”--the noble family of Clare, or Clarence. His only
-daughter, <g>Isabel</g>,[368] brought the same honour to her husband, William,
-surnamed the <g>Mareschal</g>, for that his ancestours had beene by inheritance
-mareschals of the King’s palace, a man most glorious in war and
-peace,[369] and protector of the kingdome in the minority of <g>K. Henry</g>
-the Third,[370] concerning whom this pithie epitaph is extant in
-Rodburne’s Annales: ‘Sum quem Saturnus,’[371] &c., which is thus done
-into English--
-
- ‘Whom Ireland once a Saturn found, England a sunne to be;
- Whom Normandie, a Mercury, and France, Mars,--I am he.’”
-
-“After him,” continues our authority, “his five sons were successively,
-one after another, Earles of Pembroke; namely, William, called the
-younger; Richard, who, after he had rebelled against King Henry the
-Third, went into Ireland, where he was slain in battle; Gilbert, who, in
-a tournament at <g>Ware</g>,[372] was unhorsed, and so killed; Walter and
-Anselm, who severally enjoyed the honor but a few daies; and all dying
-without issue, the King invested in the honor of this earldome William
-de <g>Valentia</g>, his brother by the mother’s side, who had to wife Joan,
-daughter of Gwarin de <g>Montchensi</g>, by the daughter of the foresaid
-William the Mareschal.”
-
-Of this Earl Valence we read, shortly after this, that the King,
-solemnizing the festival of St. <g>Edward’s</g> translation, in the church at
-Westminster, with great state, sitting on his royal throne in “a rich
-robe of Baudekyn,” and the crown on his head, caused this William de
-Valence, with divers other young noblemen, to be brought before him, and
-so girt him with the sword of knighthood.
-
-In a tournament held at Bruckley, it is said that he much abused Sir
-William <g>Adingsells</g>, a valiant knight, through the countenance of
-Richard, Earl of Gloucester. The following year he was signed with the
-<g>cross</g>, together with the King himself, and divers other noble persons,
-in order to an expedition to the Holy Land; and at the same time he
-obtained the King’s precept to Robert Walrane, to distrain all such
-persons as did possess any of the property belonging to Joan his wife,
-one of the cousins and heirs to Walter Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, to
-perform their suit to the county of Pembroke, as they had wont to do in
-the time of that earl.[373]
-
-This Earl <g>Valence</g> was present at the battle of Lewes, some particulars
-of which have been detailed in the first volume of this work. “When he
-had lost the day, and with the Prince was made prisoner, William de
-Valence, then called Earl of Pembroke, though not before, as it is
-thought, being a principal commander in the van of the King’s army,
-seeing the day lost, with the Earl of Warren and some others, escaped by
-flight, first to the castle of Pevensey, and thence to France. After
-which, all being in the power of the Barons, his lands were seized, and
-those in Surrey and Sussex committed to the custody of John de Aburnum
-and John de Wanton. And whereas <g>Joan</g> his lady was then great with child,
-and with her family and children in Windsor Castle, she was commanded to
-depart thence, and betake herself to some religious house or other place
-near at hand, until after her delivery. In which distress, the King,
-still their prisoner, being forced to comply with them in whatsoever
-they required, submitted to their ordinances of Oxford; the chief of his
-friends also giving oath for the due observance of them; amongst whom
-this William de Valence, then come back into England, was one.”
-
-“<g>But</g> long it was not ere the two principal ringleaders in this tragic
-action, namely, <g>Montfort</g>, Earl of Leicester, and <g>Clare</g>, Earl of
-Gloucester, fell at odds--Clare stomaching Leicester for assuming to
-himself the whole sway in the government; betaking him, therefore, to
-those true-hearted Royalists who had stood firm to the King in his
-greatest miseries, a means was contrived for the Prince to escape from
-Hereford Castle, where, with the King his father, he was kept prisoner.”
-“Whereupon this
-
-<g>William</g>, Earl of Pembroke, with John, Earl <g>Warren</g>, who had been banished
-the realm by a public edict of Montfort, landing at <g>Pembroke</g>, about the
-beginning of May, with about a hundred and twenty men, horse and foot,
-joined with them; and within a short time after, giving battle to
-Montfort and his party at <g>Evesham</g>, totally vanquished all their whole
-army; whereby the King, being set at liberty, was again restored to the
-exercise of his regal power.”[374]
-
-This Earl William had issue three sons: to wit, John, who died young;
-William, and Aymer. “William was lord of Montygnac and Belluc; and in
-the 7th Edw. I. did oblige himself, on the behalf of John, Lord <g>Visci</g>,
-who had married Mary, the sister of Hugh de Lezinian (Lusignan), Earl of
-<g>March</g>, for the repayment of two thousand five hundred pounds _Tournois_,
-in case she should die without issue. After which, being with Gilbert,
-Earl of Gloucester, in a skirmish which he had with the <g>Welsh</g>, near
-Llantipowhir, was there slain in his father’s lifetime.” So that
-
-<g>Aymer</g> de Valence, the third son--a name of great celebrity--succeeded to
-the earldom of Pembroke. He attended the King in the expedition made
-into Flanders; and the same year was assigned one of the commissioners
-to ratify the agreement betwixt the King and Florence, Earl of Holland,
-touching those auxiliaries which he was to have from that Earl in his
-present wars; as also one of the ambassadors sent to treat of truce
-betwixt King Edward and the King of <g>France</g>. He next attended the King
-two years in his wars in Scotland; and was then sent ambassador to treat
-with those from the King of France, touching a peace with the Scots. Two
-years after this he was again in Scotland; and the same year (33d Edw.
-I.) he had license to go beyond sea on his own occasions.
-
-On his return he obtained a grant from the King, of the castles of
-Selkirk and Troquair in Scotland; also of the borough of Peebles, to
-hold by the service of one knight’s fees; likewise of the whole forest
-of Selkirk in fee-farm, paying a hundred and thirty pounds per annum;
-and to be sheriff there [as Sir Walter Scott was in our own times,
-though with very different powers]; with authority to build towns,
-churches, castles, and other fortifications; as also for free warren,
-and power to _deafforest_ and make parks therein at his own pleasure.
-Shortly after which he made a “pile”[375] at Selkirk, and placed a
-garrison therein. <g>Next</g> year he was sent, as Warden of the Marches of
-Scotland, toward Berwick-upon-Tweed; and being thereupon made the King’s
-Lieutenant, and Captain-General of the soldiery--horse and foot--for the
-defence of those parts against Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and his
-complices, he had an assignation of two hundred pounds in part of his
-wages, to be paid to him by John de Sandale, Chamberlain of
-Scotland.--[Chronicle.]
-
-Shortly after this, Bruce, compassing that realm, and receiving the
-homage of many, came near to St. Johnstone [or Perth], to the defence
-whereof this Earl being arrived but a little before, Bruce sent to him,
-by way of challenge to battle, whereunto returning answer that he would
-meet him the next day, Bruce retired; which being discovered by this
-Earl, he sallied out and slew divers of the Scots, unarmed, as it is
-said. Bruce therefore being advertised hereof, fled to the Isle of
-Kintyre, whereupon he followed him, supposing to find him in the castle
-there. But upon his taking possession thereof, and discovering none but
-his wife, and Nigel de Bruce, his brother, he hanged up Nigel and all
-the rest who were with him, excepting only her. Bruce, therefore,
-growing exceedingly exasperated at this his great cruelty, raised all
-the power he could, and giving battle to him, forced him to flee to the
-castle of Ayr. Soon after this, being with King Edward, on his
-death-bed, at Burgh-upon-the-Sands, not far from Carlisle, he was one of
-those whom the King desired to be good to his son, and not to suffer
-Piers de Gaveston to come into England again, to set him in riot; for
-which he was much hated by Piers, as divers others of the nobility were,
-being called by him <g>Joseph the Jew</g>, in regard that he was tall, and pale
-of countenance.--[Chronicle.]
-
-But as it would far exceed our present limits to notice all that the
-chronicles have recorded of him, we conclude with a few brief
-particulars:--In the second of Edward II. he was sent with Otto de
-Grandison and others to the Pope upon special business; he next joined
-the Earl of Lancaster and others in the design of putting down
-Gaveston--agreeably to the promise he had made to the dying King; so
-likewise with John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, in the siege of
-Scarborough Castle, in which Gaveston had taken refuge; and having there
-seized upon him, intended to have carried him to Wallingford, but
-lodging him at Deddington in Oxfordshire, he was taken thence in the
-night by the Earl of Warwick, and by him beheaded on Blacklow Hill, near
-Warwick, where a monument has been erected to perpetuate the deed.
-
-Three years after this, the Earl was sent again to Rome, and obtained a
-grant in general tail from the King, of the house and place called the
-“New Temple” in London, as also of certain lands called _Fleet-crofts_,
-with all other the lands in the city and suburbs of London, which
-belonged to the <g>Knights-Templars</g>, with remainder to the King and his
-heirs.
-
-In the tenth of Edward II. he was engaged in the Scottish wars; but
-before the end of that year, being taken prisoner by Sieur Moilly, a
-Burgundian, and being sent to the Emperor, he was constrained to give
-twenty thousand pounds of silver for his ransom, by reason, as Moilly
-alleged, that himself having served the King of England, had not been
-paid his wages. Upon this occasion King Edward wrote letters to divers
-foreign princes, soliciting his deliverance, which was effected; for we
-find him immediately thereafter appointed governor of Rockingham Castle,
-and heading the King’s army in Scotland. But at last, after many
-important and honourable services to the State, performed with great
-ability, he was constituted Warden of all the Forests south of Trent;
-and being still Warden of Scotland, had license to travel beyond sea.
-
-Upon the taking of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, at Boro’bridge, he was one
-of those who passed sentence of death upon him at Pontefract. “After
-which it was not long that he lived; for, attending Queen Isabella into
-France in 1323, he was there murdered in the month of June, by reason,”
-as the chronicle supposes, “of his having had a hand in the death of the
-Earl of Lancaster.” He left vast demesnes in England, in nine or ten
-counties, but no issue by any of his three wives.--[Chronicles.]
-
-His eldest sister, Elizabeth, one of his heirs, “wedded unto John, Lord
-<g>Hastings</g>, brought this dignity into a new family; for Laurence Hastings,
-his grandson, Lord of Weishford and Abergavenny, was made Earle of
-‘<g>Penbrock</g>,’[376] by virtue of King Edward the Third, his <g>brieffe</g>, the
-copy whereof I thinke good to set doune here, that we may see what was
-the right by heires generall in these honorary titles. It runs
-thus:--<g>Rex</g> omnibus ad quos ... Salutem, etc. The which being
-interpreted, is--
-
-“<g>Know ye</g> that the good praesage of circumspection and vertue which we
-have conceived by the towardly youth and happy beginnings of our most
-welbeloved cousin <g>Laurence Hastings</g>, induce us worthily to countenance
-him with our especiall grace and favour, in those things which concerne
-the due preservation and maintenance of his honor: <g>Whereas</g>, therefore,
-the inheritance of Aimar de Valence, some time Earle of Penbrok (as he
-was stiled), deceased long since, without heire begotten of his body,
-hath beene devolved unto his sisters, proportionably to be divided among
-them and their heires: because we know for certain that the foresaid
-<g>Laurence</g>, who succeeded the said <g>Aimar</g> in part of the inheritance, is
-descended from the elder sister of <g>Aimar</g> aforesaid; and so, by the
-avouching of the learned with whom we consulted about this matter, the
-prerogative both of name and honor is due unto him: <g>Wee</g> deem it just and
-due that the same Laurence, claiming his title from the elder sister,
-assume and have the name of <g>Earl of Penbroke</g>, which the said Aimar had
-whiles he lived: which verily <g>Wee</g>, as much as lieth in Us, confirme,
-ratifie, and also approve unto him: willing and granting that the said
-<g>Laurence</g> have and hold the prerogative of Earle Palatine in those lands
-which he holdeth of the said Aimar’s inheritance, so fully and after the
-same manner as the said Aimar had and held them at the time of his
-death. In <g>witnesse</g>, the King at Mont-Martin, the thirteenth day of
-October, and in the thirteenth of oure reign.”
-
-And now to continue:--
-
-<g>After</g> Laurence, succeeded his sonne <g>John</g>, who, being taken prisoner by
-the Spaniards in a battle at sea, and in the end ransomed, died in
-France in the yeere 1375. The circumstances are these: “Having undergone
-four years’ imprisonment in Spaine, with most inhumane usage, he sent to
-Bertrand Clekyn, Constable of France, desiring that he would use some
-means for his enlargement; who thereupon interceding for him to the
-<g>Bastard</g> of Spaine, then calling himself King, obtained his liberty, in
-consideration of part of that money due to himself: which being agreed
-upon, he was brought to Paris. But after his coming thither, it was not
-long ere he fell mortally sick of poysin, as some thought, given him by
-the Spaniards, who were reputed to have such a special faculty in that
-<g>art</g>, as that the potion should kill at what distance of time they
-pleased. The French, therefore, seeing his death approaching, being
-eager to get his ransom before he died, made haste to remove him to
-<g>Calais</g>; but on his journey thitherward he departed this life, upon the
-xvi. day of April, leaving his sonne and heire only two and a half years
-old.”
-
-Agreeably to the superstition of the time, all his misfortunes and death
-were looked upon as judgments, for various alleged offences committed
-against the Church revenues: recommending that the clergy should be
-taxed more than the laity--for living an ungodly life--for “everything
-that could render him hateful in the eyes of monks, whom he insulted and
-exposed.”
-
-After him followed his sonne <g>John</g>, second Earle of his line, who, in
-running a tilt[377] at Woodstock, was slaine by Syr John <g>Saint John</g>,
-casually, in the yeare 1397. And hereupon, for default of his issue,
-there fell very many possessions and fair revenewes into the King’s
-hands, as our lawiers use to speake: and the <g>Castle</g> of Penbrock was
-granted unto Francis <g>At-Court</g>, a courtier in especiell great favour, who
-commonly thereupon was called Lord Penbrock. Not long after, Humfrey,
-sonne to King Henry the Fourth, before he was Duke of Gloucester,
-received this title of his brother, King Henry the Fifth: and before his
-death Henry the Sixth granted the same in reversion--a thing not before
-heard of--to William <g>De la Pole</g>, Earle of Suffolk, after whose downfall
-the said King, when he had enabled Edmund of <g>Wadham</g>, and Jasper of
-<g>Hatfield</g>, the sonnes of Queen Katherine, his mother, to be his lawfull
-half brethren, created <g>Jasper</g> Earle of Penbroke, and <g>Edmund</g> Earl of
-Richmond, with pre-eminence to take place above all Earles--for Kings
-have absolute authority in dispensing honours. But King Edward the
-Fourth, depriving Jasper of all his honours by attainder and forfeiture,
-gave the title of <g>Penbrok</g> to Syr William <g>Herbert</g>, for his good service
-against Jasper in Wales;[378] but he shortly afterwards lost his life at
-the battle of Banbury. Then succeeded his son, bearing the same name,
-whome King Edward the Fourth, when he had recovered the kingdom,
-invested in the Earldom of Huntingdon, and bestowed the title of
-<g>Penbrok</g>, being surrendered, upon his eldest sonne and heire, <g>Edward</g>
-Prince of Wales.--[Chronicle.]
-
-Long after this period, “<g>Henry</g> the Eighth invested <g>Anne</g> Bollen, to whom
-he was affianced, Marchioness of Penbroke, with a mantle and coronet, in
-regard both of her nobility and also her virtues--for so runne the
-wordes of the patent. At length King <g>Edward</g> the Sixth adorned Sir
-William Herbert, lord of <g>Caerdiff</g>, with the title of Earl of Penbroke,
-after whom succeeded his sonne Henry, who was Lord President of <g>Wales</g>
-under Queen Elizabeth. And now”--says our old <g>King-at-arms</g>, speaking
-courteously of his contemporaries--“his sonne, richly accomplished with
-all laudable endowments of body and minde, enjoyeth the same title. And
-this family of Herberts, he concludes, is honourable, and of great
-antiquity in these parts of Wales, as lineally propagated from Henry
-Fitz-Herbert, Chamberlayne to King Henry the First, who married the said
-King’s <g>Paramour</g>, the mother of Reginald, Earle of Cornwall, as I was
-first informed by Robert <g>Glover</g>, a man passing skilfull in the study of
-genealogies, by whose untimely death that knowledge hath sustained a
-great losse.”
-
-So much for the Genealogy of the old lords of Pembroke. In this
-department of history--the tracing of genealogies--in which the Cambrian
-families are proverbially expert, but which others affect to ridicule,
-we must not omit the defence of a learned Welshman: “That there have
-been,” says he, “parasites in the art, must be acknowledged; and family
-pride may sometimes have been flattered. However, upon the whole, much
-credit is due to our ancient genealogists, who were appointed and
-patronized by Royalty, and professed that art prior to their initiation
-into the higher mysteries of <g>Bardism</g>. Their records are still extant,
-and bear every mark of authenticity. A bard and a _genealogist_ were
-synonymous; and though a bard can plead _licentia poetica_, yet fiction
-was not allowed in recording the actions of their heroes,[379] nor in
-registering the descent of families. The Welsh bards continued their
-genealogical pursuits down to the reign of Elizabeth; therefore, as
-Humphrey Lwyd, a learned antiquary and historian, observes: “Let such
-disdainful heads as cant know their own grandfathers, leave their
-scoffing and taunting of Welshmen for that thing that all other nations
-in the world do glory in.” Yet, in justice to the ancient Saxons on this
-point, it must be allowed that they themselves were not altogether
-indifferent to the study of genealogy, since their deducing of their
-King Ethelwulph from <g>Adam</g> is an instance of their _accuracy_ in the
-art--
-
- “Can Bourbon or Nassau go higher?”[380]
-
-On the “Herbert genealogy,” Mr. Willatt relates the following
-characteristic <g>Anecdote.</g>--About two miles from Abergavenny, says he, is
-Handel--once a mansion of no less magnificence than antiquity; but in
-the present day it is only interesting from its having been the cradle
-of the ancient and numerous family of <g>Herbert</g>. Of the vast possessions
-of this family, the inheritance of the last lineal descendant, who died
-twenty years ago, had dwindled down to less than two hundred a year. But
-however reduced in fortune, his pride of ancestry had lost nothing of
-its strength or spirit by the change. Meeting a stranger one day near
-his mansion, who took an interest in the local history and natural
-beauties of the scenery, they entered into conversation.
-
-“And pray, Sir,” inquired the stranger, “whose is that antique-looking
-mansion before us?”
-
-“That, Sir,” replied the last of the Herberts, “is Handel--a very
-ancient house, for _out_ of it came the Earls of <g>Pembroke</g> of the first
-line; and the Earls of Pembroke of the second line; the Lords Herbert of
-Cherburg; the Herberts of Coldbrook, Rumney, Cardiff, and York; the
-<g>Morgans</g> of Acton came _out_ of it; so also did the Earl of <g>Hunsdon</g>; the
-<g>Joneses</g> of Treowen and Llanarth, and all the <g>Powells</g>. Out of this house
-also, by the female line, came the Dukes of <g>Beaufort</g>!”
-
-“And pray, Sir,” inquired the stranger, “who lives in it now?”
-
-“I, Sir--I live in it,” was the answer.
-
-“Then pardon me, Sir, if I presume to give you a little advice. Do not
-lose sight of so many prudent examples, but come _out_ of it yourself,
-or it will assuredly fall _in_ upon you, and crush you in its ruins!”
-
-With this digression, suggested by the subject, we return to Pembroke.
-
-<g>The Castle.</g>--In the words of Giraldus, already quoted in our motto, the
-situation of the Castle of Pembroke is thus correctly described:--A
-tongue of the sea, shooting forth of Milford-Haven, encloseth in the
-forked end thereof the principal town of the whole country, and chief
-place of Dimetia, seated on the ridge of a certain craggy and
-long-shaped rock, from which circumstance the Britons gave it the name
-of <g>Penbro</g>, which signifies a head of the sea. Arnulph Montgomery, so
-often mentioned in the early portion of this work, was the first who
-built a temporary fortress on this promontory--a very weak and slender
-thing, God wot, says Giraldus--consisting of merely walls, held together
-by stake and turf; and which, after returning into England, he delivered
-unto Girald of <g>Windesor</g>, his constable and captain, to be kept with a
-garrison of a few soldiers. The absence of Arnulph, however, was the
-signal for immediate revolt; and the warlike inhabitants of South Wales
-hastening to the spot, laid siege to the brittle fortress. But here they
-met with such a hot reception and stubborn resistance from Girald and
-his small garrison, that they were speedily disheartened and raised the
-siege. This attack served as a warning for Girald to strengthen his
-position; and he lost no time in fortifying the town and castle with
-walls and towers, sufficient to maintain him in quiet possession of the
-new territory. When this was accomplished, he began to retaliate; and
-acting upon the aggressive, invaded the surrounding country far and
-near. At length, finding himself at the head of a powerful garrison, yet
-willing to conciliate the natives--and thereby preserve his own estates
-and those of his followers free from the vexation of hostile
-irruptions--he ingratiated himself with <g>Gruffin</g>, the prince of the
-country, who gave him his sister, the beautiful <g>Nesta</g>,[381] in marriage;
-and thus cemented a friendly alliance between the native Welsh and the
-Anglo-Normans. Great prosperity followed this event, and the
-Anglo-Normans--as Giraldus Cambrensis, who was a scion of the family,
-informs us--not only maintained peace along the sea-coasts of South
-Wales, but won also the “waulls of Ireland.”
-
-The Giraldus de Windesor above mentioned was the first of that name; and
-is considered as the great progenitor of the Fitzgeralds of the present
-day--of whom the chief families are of Irish extraction, and familiar in
-the pages of modern history.
-
-It is also written in the same documents, in regard to the tenure of
-this castle and town, likewise of the “castle and town of Tenbigh, of
-the Grange of Kingswood, of the Convent of Croytargath, and of the
-manors of Castle-Martin and Tregoire, that Reginald Grey, at the
-coronation of King Henry the Fourth, made suit to carry the second
-sword, but in vain; for answer was made him, that those castles and
-possessions were in the King’s hands, in the same manner as the town and
-castle of Pembroke now are”--[that is, at the date of the present
-extract.]
-
-<g>The Siege.</g>--We now proceed to give a few details of Pembroke Castle, as
-it figures in the chronicles of <g>Richard</g> the Third and <g>Charles</g> the First.
-
- * * * * *
-
-The more rational and less bigoted part of the nation regarded Henry,
-Earl of Richmond, as the future deliverer of the kingdom, from the
-thraldom it endured from the tyranny of the sanguinary King Richard; for
-in Henry were to be united the pretensions of both the “Houses” of York
-and Lancaster. The Earl was, meanwhile, resident in Brittany, and living
-on good terms with the duke of that Province, who appeared to favour his
-claims, and treated him with marked respect and hospitality. But the
-circumstance that more immediately favoured his accession to the throne
-of England was the following:--Morton, Bishop of Ely, was confined in
-the Castle of Brecon, in custody of Henry, Duke of Buckingham, who had
-been a minion of Richard, and a powerful instrument of his advancement
-to the throne; but finding that his services in a bad cause were
-forgotten, and that Richard refused to ratify his claims to the Bohun
-estates and titles--to which he was heir--Buckingham entered warmly into
-the plans concerted by Morton and others for the recall of Richmond, and
-by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward the Fourth, to
-establish a double right to the throne. Dugdale assigns another reason
-for Buckingham’s secession from the usurper: after asserting that he was
-reinstated in those possessions which he claimed as a descendant of
-Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and giving him an abstract of the
-instrument that put him in possession, he adds his opinion on the
-alteration which took place in his political sentiments, and ascribes it
-either to a remorse of conscience for raising Richard to the throne,
-after the murder of his nephews, or finding himself neglected by him:
-but with this question we have nothing to do.[382] Having concerted the
-plan of elevating Richmond to the throne, the secret was intrusted to
-Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, and Richard Kyffin, Dean of Bangor--both strenuous
-friends of the House of Lancaster--who transmitted, by means of
-fishing-boats, the necessary intelligence to the Earl of Richmond, with
-assurance of all possible aid on his arrival in Wales. This was an
-occasion too alluring for the Welsh Bards to continue silent; one of
-whom, Dafydd ap Llwyd ap Llywelyn ap Dryffyd, lord of Mathafarn, an
-illustrious poet and herald, rendered himself very serviceable in the
-cause. His dark, mysterious, Pythonic prophecies, that a chieftain of
-Wales would liberate the nation from Saxon bondage, so wrought upon the
-valour of his countrymen, that many thousands enlisted under the banner
-of Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, who afterwards joined Richmond on his arrival at
-Milford.
-
-Apprized of the state and feeling of the country, and of the facilities
-which were now presented to him of recovering his position and station,
-Henry embraced the invitation as a message from Heaven; and, in the
-month of August, 1485, set sail for England. For this enterprise the
-Duke of Brétagne furnished him with a military force of two thousand
-men; and, with these distributed in a small fleet, he landed at
-Milford-Haven, where he was received with joy and acclamation by a vast
-concourse of friends, who now openly espoused his cause and predicted
-his triumph.
-
-From Milford, Richmond proceeded to Dale and Haverfordwest, where he was
-joined by the above-named Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, Arnold Butler, Richard
-Gryffydd, John Morgan, Sir George Talbot, with the young Earl of
-Shrewsbury, his ward, Sir William Stanley, lord of Bromfield Yale and
-Chirkland, Sir Thomas Burchier, and Sir Walter Hungerford.[383]
-
-After a most hospitable reception at Carew Castle, it was agreed, in
-order to prevent disputes between the armies, that in the march to
-Shrewsbury, the Earl should shape his course to Cardigan, and Sir
-Rhys-ap-Thomas by Carmarthen. In this march, Dafydd-ap-Ievan had the
-honour of entertaining the illustrious Prince and his army at
-Llwyn-Dafydd, Cardiganshire, for one night; and the following night he
-was received with loyal enthusiasm at Wern-Newyd, by Einon-ap-Dafyd
-Llwyd. To Dafydd-ap-Ievan the Earl presented a superb hirlas, or
-drinking-horn, richly mounted on a silver stand, which was afterwards
-presented to Richard, Earl of Carbery, and may still be seen[384] at
-Golden Grove, the seat of Lord Cawdor, Carmarthen.
-
- “Pride of feasts, profound and blue,
- Of the ninth wave’s azure hue;
- The drink of heroes formed to hold,
- With art enriched and lid of gold.”--_Hoare’s Gir._
-
-From his hospitable quarters in Cardiganshire, Richmond sallied forth to
-meet the usurper; and marching through Shrewsbury, Newport, Stafford,
-and Lichfield, encountered him at Bosworth--
-
- “What, ho! young Richmond, ho! ’tis Richard calls thee!
- I hate thee, Harry, for thy blood of Lancaster!
- Now, if thou dost not hide thee from my sword,
- Now, while the angry trumpet sounds alarms
- And dying groans transpierce the wounded air;
- Richmond, I say, come forth and singly face me!
- Richard is hoarse with daring thee to arms!”
-
-The fate of that day is so familiar in the page of Shakspeare, that we
-close this part of our subject, and proceed to other particulars:--
-
-<g>Anecdote.</g>--Of one of Richmond’s adherents, the following is told by
-Turner in his “History of Remarkable Providences:”--Mr. Henry Wyatt, a
-gentleman of Kent, was a confederate in the plan, and intrusted with the
-correspondence between the friends of the Earl, which he conducted with
-great personal risk, but the greatest fidelity, being the bearer of
-several dispatches to and from the parties at home and abroad. But at
-last his conduct being suspected, he was arrested, examined, and
-discharged for want of conclusive evidence. But on a second charge being
-brought against him, he was committed to the Tower, and there put to the
-torture; but such were his fortitude and resolution, that nothing could
-be drawn from him either to prove his own participation in the designs
-laid to his charge, or to incriminate others. Finding threats, tortures,
-and fair promises alike unavailing, he was cast into a dungeon, fed upon
-bread and water, and thus continued until the question of supremacy was
-decided by the battle of Bosworth Field. The pittance, it is said, to
-which he was condemned, would have been quite inadequate to support
-nature, _had not a cat brought him food daily_. He lived to be made a
-baronet, in compliment to his unflinching loyalty, and served in the
-Privy Council of Henry VII.-VIII.
-
-A picture is said to be still preserved in the family, in which a cat is
-represented creeping in at a grate--having a pigeon in its mouth--with
-these lines:--
-
- Hunc. macrum. rigidum. mæstum. fame. frigore. cura
- Pavi. fovi. acui. carne. calore. joco.
-
-<g>Cromwell</g>, before marching against the Scottish army, thought it
-advisable to suppress the returning loyalty of South Wales, which had
-recently defeated the Parliamentary forces. The town and castle of
-Pembroke had been consigned by Parliament to the government and defence
-of Colonel Poyer; but on his declaring for the King, the “gallant
-conduct of himself and the garrison afforded a brilliant example of
-devotion to the Royal cause.” The defence was continued with so much
-obstinacy and resolution, that the presence of Cromwell himself was
-necessary for the reduction of the castle: while the garrison, having
-suffered for some time from great deficiency of provisions, was at
-last--owing, as we shall see, to Lord Jermyn’s total neglect of his
-engagements--reduced to the verge of absolute famine.
-
-Cromwell, in the meantime, was quite unaware of the real position of
-affairs within the walls; and thinking, from the resistance already
-offered, that the place might hold out much longer than would be
-consistent with his other plans, was on the point of raising the siege.
-But while this question was agitating his mind, a deserter from the
-Royalist camp brought him intelligence that, owing to the pressure of
-famine, it was impossible that Poyer and his companions could maintain
-their post beyond twenty-four hours. This unexpected news determined him
-to continue the siege; but however much he prized his timely
-information, he determined to express his abhorrence of the “informer;”
-and--as a salutary warning to all traitors--he ordered him to be hanged.
-
-It has been doubted, however, whether, in his “military capacity,”
-Cromwell was ever in this part of Wales--though Mr. Yorke allows that he
-might have made a friendly visit there; for in an old house at Kinmael,
-that once belonged to the Llwyds, of the tribe of Maredudd--but at that
-period to Colonel Carter, an officer in his favour--there is a room
-called <g>Cromwell’s parlour</g>; and, with other circumstances taken into
-consideration, little doubt, he thinks, can be entertained of Cromwell’s
-having in person conducted the siege of Pembroke.[385]
-
-But the following documents, written by Oliver Cromwell himself, are
-conclusive:--
-
- “To Major Thomas Saunders, at Brecknock, these:
-
-“Before PEMBROKE, 17th June, 1648.
-
- “SIR,--I send you this enclosed by itself, because it’s of greater
- moment. The other you may communicate to Mr. Ramsey, as far as you
- think fit, and I have written. I would not have him and other
- honest men be discouraged that I think it not fit, at present, to
- enter into contests. It will be good to yield a little for public
- advantage; and truly that is my end: wherein I desire you to
- satisfy them. I have sent, as my letter mentions, to have you
- remove out of Brecknockshire; indeed, into that part of
- Glamorganshire which lieth next Monmouthshire. For this end: We
- have plain discoveries that Sir Trevor Williams of Llangibby,” &c.,
- [is suspected, and must be _secured_. See “Raglan,” page 178.]
-
-Again--
-
- “PEMBROKE, June 28.--I have some few days since despatched horse
- and dragoons for the North. I sent them by the way of Winchester;
- thinking it fit to do so in regard of this enclosed letter, which I
- received from Colonel Dukenfield: requiring them to give him
- assistance on the way.”... “Here is, as I have formerly acquainted
- your Excellency, a very desperate enemy, who, being put out of all
- hope of mercy, are resolved to endure to the uttermost extremity,
- being very many of them gentlemen of quality, and men thoroughly
- resolved. They have made some notable sallies upon
- Lieutenant-Colonel Reade’s quarter, to his loss. [Reade had been
- intrusted with the siege of Tenby, ended June 2, and was now
- assisting at the reduction of Pembroke.] We are forced to keep
- divers posts, or else they would have relief, or their horse break
- away; our foot about them are four and twenty hundred; we always
- necessitated to have some in garrisons. The country, since we sat
- down before this place, have made two or three insurrections, and
- are ready to do it every day. So that--what with looking to them,
- and disposing our horse to that end, and to get us in provisions,
- without which we should starve--this country being so miserably
- exhausted and so poor, and we with no money to buy victuals.
- Indeed, whatever may be thought, it’s a mercy we have been able to
- keep our men together in the midst of such necessity, the
- sustenance of the foot, for most part, being but bread and water.
- Our guns, through the unhappy accident at Berkley, are not yet come
- to us; and, indeed, it was a very unhappy thing they were brought
- thither, the wind having been always so cross, that since they were
- recovered from sinking, they could not come to us: and this place
- not being to be had without fit instruments for battering--except
- by starving. And truly I believe the enemy’s straits do increase
- upon them; and that within a few days an end will be put to this
- business--which surely might have been before, if we had received
- things wherewith to have done it....”
-
- “PEMBROKE, July 11, 1648.--To Hon. W. Lenthal, Esq., Speaker of the
- House of Commons.
-
- “SIR,--The town and castle of Pembroke were surrendered to me this
- day, being the eleventh of July, upon the provisions which I send
- you here enclosed. [See Rushworth, vol. vii., 1190.] What arms,
- ammunition, victuals, ordnance, or other necessaries of war, are in
- the town, I have not to certify you--the commissioners I sent in to
- receive the same not being yet returned, nor like suddenly to be;
- and I was unwilling to defer giving you an account of this mercy
- for a day. The persons excepted are such as have formerly served
- you in a very good cause; but being now apostatized, I did rather
- make election of them than of those who had always been for the
- King, judging their iniquity double, because they have sinned
- against so much light, and against so many evidences of divine
- Providence going along with and prospering a just cause, in the
- management of which they themselves had a share.
-
-“I rest your humble servant, OL. C.”
-
-
-
-[Colonel Poyer has had to surrender the castle; Maj.-Gen. Laugharne and
-certain other “persons excepted,” have had to surrender at mercy; a
-great many more on terms. “Pembroke happily is down, and the Welsh war
-is ended.”]
-
-The “certain persons” here alluded to were Colonels Laugharne, Powel,
-and Poyer. They were tried by court-martial and found guilty; but
-Parliament having determined to punish only one, three papers were given
-to them, on two of which were written, “Life given by God;” the blank
-paper fell into the hands of the unfortunate Poyer, and served as his
-death-warrant.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Of these three officers--“heads of the insurrection in South
-Wales”--Clarendon gives the following account:--“Laugharne, Powel, and
-Poyer, commanded those parts under the Parliament, which they had served
-from the beginning. The first of them was a gentleman of good
-extraction, and a fair fortune in land in those counties, who had been
-bred a page under the Earl of Essex, when he had a command in the Low
-Countries, and continued his dependence upon him afterwards, and was
-much in his favour; and by that relation was first engaged in the
-rebellion, as many other gentlemen had been without wishing ill to the
-King. The second, Powel, was a gentleman too, but a soldier of fortune:
-the third, Poyer, had from a low trade raised himself in the war to the
-reputation of a very diligent and stout officer, and was at this time
-trusted by the Parliament with the government of the town and castle of
-Pembroke. These three communicated their discontents to each other, and
-all thought themselves ill-requited by the Parliament for the services
-they had done, and that other men, especially Colonel Mitten, were
-preferred before them; and resolved to take the opportunity of the Scots
-coming in, to declare for the King upon the Presbyterian account. But
-Laugharne, who was not infected with any of these freaks, and doubted
-not to reduce the other two when it should be time to sober resolution,
-would not engage till he first sent a confidant to Paris, to inform the
-Prince of what he had determined, and of what their wants consisted,
-which if not relieved, they should not be able to pursue their purpose,
-desiring to receive orders for the time of their declaring, and
-assurance that they should in time receive those supplies they stood in
-need of. And the Lord Jermyn sent him a promise under his hand, ‘that he
-should not fail of receiving all the things he had desired, before he
-could be pressed by the enemy,’ and therefore conjured him and his
-friends ‘forthwith to declare for the King, which, he assured them,
-would be of singular benefit and advantage to his Majesty’s service,
-since, upon the first notice of their having declared, the Scottish army
-would be ready to march into England.’ Hereupon they presently declared,
-before they were provided to keep the field for want of ammunition and
-money, and when Pembroke was not supplied with provisions for above two
-months, and were never thought of after.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>Pembroke Castle</g> contained many elegant apartments, appropriated to the
-use of its lords, in one of which <g>Henry</g> VII. first saw the light of day.
-In the inner ward stands the <g>Keep</g>, a circular tower of vast strength and
-elegant proportions. The height is computed at seventy feet, the
-interior diameter at twenty-four, and the walls from fourteen to
-seventeen feet in thickness. <g>The State Apartments</g> appear to have been
-finished in a style of great elegance. On the north of the great tower
-is a long range of apartments, which seem to be of more recent
-construction, or to have been modernised in later times by one or other
-of its titled proprietors. From this part of the castle a staircase
-communicates with Leland’s “marvellus vault callid the Hogan”--a large
-cavern in the rock, opening upon the water, and extending a great way
-under the buildings. The entrance is now partially walled up, and formed
-into a spacious doorway. The name _Hogan_--which has occasioned some
-discussion among antiquaries and etymologists--is probably derived from
-_ogof_ or _ogov_, the British name for a cavern. This castle is justly
-considered one of the most splendid remnants of military architecture in
-the United Kingdom; and, from the state of preservation in which it is
-maintained, the design and execution of every compartment may still be
-traced with accuracy and precision.
-
-[Illustration: _Pembroke Castle._
-
-Interior of the Great Court.]
-
-
-
-
-CARDIFF CASTLE,
-
-<g>Glamorganshire</g>.
-
-
-[Illustration: C]<g>ARDIFF</g>, a neat and well-built town, stands at the mouth
-of the river Taafe, from which it probably derives its name.[386] Its
-chief ornaments are the church and the castle--the latter a structure of
-great antiquity, and now converted into a modern residence, in which the
-features of a Norman stronghold are made to harmonize with the
-embellishments of a refined age; and where, instead of prancing steeds
-and bristling spears, the _ballia_ are lined with wallflower,
-shrubberies, and all those tranquil emblems, which indicate the reign of
-peace, and the cultivation of taste. Such innovations and refinements,
-however, are rather out of character with the place.
-
-The town, when such protection was necessary, was surrounded by a wall,
-flanked with towers, and fit to resist and repulse an army of besiegers;
-but these warlike appendages, like those who built them, have passed
-away, and left behind them little more than the tradition of their
-massive strength and number. The towers, as well as the castle, were the
-work of Fitz-Hamon, who, as already noticed, possessed himself of
-Glamorganshire at the close of the eleventh century, and divided the
-spoils among his retainers. The following account of his
-expedition--somewhat different from the chronicle above quoted--is from
-Caradoc of Llancarvan:[387]--About the same time also died Cadifor, the
-son of Calhoyn, lord of Dyfed, whose sons, Llewellyn and Eineon, moved
-Gruffydh-ap-Meredith to take up arms against his sovereign prince,
-Rhys-ap-<g>Twdor</g>, with whom they joined all the forces they could levy
-among their tenants and dependants; and then passing with their army to
-Llandydoch, boldly challenged Rhys to fight; who thereupon gave them
-battle, and after an engagement, maintained with great resolution on
-both sides, the rebels were at length put to flight, and so closely
-pursued that Gruffydh was taken prisoner, and executed as a traitor. But
-his brother Eineon making his escape, and not daring to trust himself to
-any of his kindred, fled to Jestyn-ap-Gurgant, lord of Morgannwe, then
-in actual rebellion against <g>Prince Rhys</g>. And, to ingratiate himself the
-more in Jestyn’s favour, he promised, on the performance of certain
-articles--one of which was, that he should receive his daughter in
-marriage--that he would bring over to his aid a considerable body of
-Normans, with whom he was intimately acquainted, from the fact of his
-having served with them in England. These articles being agreed to,
-Eineon hastened across the frontier, and soon prevailed on Fitz-Hamon
-and his knights to take up the cause of Jestyn. Early in the spring they
-arrived in Glamorganshire, and joining Jestyn marched with their
-combined forces into the dominions of Prince Rhys, where, without the
-least show of mercy to his countrymen, <g>Eineon</g>, by his own example,
-encouraged the Normans to destroy all that came before them. The prince,
-then more than ninety-eight years of age, and sadly grieved to find his
-people and territory so unmercifully harassed, speedily raised an army
-and marched against the invaders. They met near Brecknock, and there,
-after a most sanguinary engagement, the venerable prince fell at the
-head of his army, and left his country a prey to Norman domination.
-Having discharged their stipulated service, and received the promised
-reward, <g>Fitz-Hamon</g> and his army prepared to embark for England. But
-before they set sail, Eineon made his complaint that Jestyn had
-ungratefully affronted him, and absolutely refused--now that the Normans
-were dismissed--to make good the conditions previously agreed upon
-between them; and such was the malignity of his revenge, that he
-resolved rather to see his country pass under the yoke of the Normans,
-than continue under the dominion of a chief who could thus forget the
-hand that had procured him the victory. He therefore made use of every
-argument most likely to influence the Norman spirit, and prevailed. They
-returned from their ships and prepared for another campaign; and great
-was the surprise of <g>Jestyn</g> when he learned that the friends whom he had
-so lately dismissed laden with the reward of their services, and
-satisfied with his liberality, were again on shore with the avowed
-intention of engaging him in mortal conflict. He now lamented his folly
-in having so rashly broken his promise with Eineon; but that was an
-error which it was now too late to rectify. The Norman standard was once
-more waving from the adjoining heights. The soldiers were animated with
-the prospect of another victory--the rich spoils they were to share--and
-charmed with the accounts which Eineon had promulgated among them, as
-baits to their cupidity, of the fertile settlements that here awaited
-them. The conflict was brief. Jestyn had little to oppose to men who
-were resolved to possess themselves of the country. Unable to protract
-the contest, he abandoned his lordship of Glamorgan to the invader, and
-retired into obscurity--there to meditate on his own folly, and the
-degradation to which it had reduced him.
-
-The Normans, as usual, took the “lion’s share.” They divided the best
-portions of the soil--all that was most pleasant and productive--among
-themselves; and left only the mountainous and craggy ground to Eineon,
-with whatever enjoyment a sense of gratified revenge, and the voluntary
-subjugation of his country, was calculated to furnish. From this moment
-the Normans were established in Wales; and soon began to erect those
-monuments of their sway, which it is our present object to notice and
-illustrate.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Curthose Tower.</g>--The apartment where Prince Robert was confined by his
-unnatural brother, is traditionally known as “Curthose’s Tower.” So in
-Chepstow Castle, the keep is distinguished as “Marten’s Tower;” but
-between the fate of the two prisoners, who have left their names thus
-associated, there is no resemblance. The more illustrious the captive,
-the more dismal was the cell in which he was immured. It must have been
-at all times a wretched dungeon, such only as a malignant fiend would
-have assigned to its human victim. A ray of light, barely sufficient to
-distinguish the difference between night and day, is admitted by a small
-square hole perforated through the wall upwards; and the mere fact of
-his having existed in this dreary cell for the long period of twenty-six
-years, proves that Robert Curthose must have possessed no ordinary
-degree of fortitude and resignation. But the courage inspired by
-conscious innocence is proof against the machinations of Fortune--
-
- “He that has light within his own clear breast,
- May sit i’ th’ centre and enjoy bright day;
- But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts,
- Benighted walks under the mid-day sun--
- Himself is his own dungeon.”
-
-The sufferings inflicted upon Robert in this dismal prison, are a theme
-on which the old chronicles dilate with painful minuteness. It would be
-a relief to imagine that the acts of wanton cruelty practised upon the
-defenceless victim, may have been, like many other points of history,
-exaggerated or misrepresented; but, taken in connection with other deeds
-of the time, there is but too just grounds to conclude that the story of
-Robert’s imprisonment, and the tortures with which it was accompanied,
-is no fable, but one of those tragical dramas of real life, to which the
-force of imagination can impart no additional horror. The subject,
-although referred to in the previous volume of this work, may justify a
-few more extracts:--
-
-“But long it was not ere Duke Robert, weary of this unwonted duresse,
-sought to escape; and having to walke in the Kinge’s meadows, forests,
-and parkes, brake from his keepers without any assisters, or meanes for
-security; who being missed was presently pursued and taken in a
-quagmire, wherein his horse lay fast. Whereupon the King hearing of this
-attempt, considering that woods were no walls to restrain the fierce
-lyon, and that to play with his claws was to endanger the state,
-commanded him not onely a greater restraint and harder durance, but
-also--a thing unfit for a brother to suffer, and most unworthy for
-Beauclearke to act--both his eyes to be put out. To effect this truly
-barbarous act, he caused his head to be held in a burning basin--thereby
-avoiding the deformity of breaking the eye-balls--until the glassie
-tunicles had lost the office of retaining their light.”
-
-But at last, after twenty-six years’ imprisonment, “through griefe
-conceived at the putting on of a faire new roabe--(too little for the
-Kinge himselfe, and therefore, ‘in kindnesse,’ says the Chronicle, ‘sent
-to Duke Robert to weare’)--he grew weary of his life, as disdaining to
-be mocked with his brother’s cast cloaths; and cursing the time of his
-unfortunate nativity, refused thenceforth to take any sustenance, and so
-pined himselfe to death.”
-
-<g>Cardiff</g>, in later times, was a point on which Owen Glendower discharged
-his vengeance. The inhabitants of Glamorganshire, as descendants of the
-Norman conquerors above named, were pre-eminently distinguished for
-their loyalty to the King, and their oppression of the natives. But now
-they were to feel “the dire resentment of an irritated injured
-countryman.” The visit of Ivor Bach to Fitz-Hamon was not more welcome
-than this of Owen to his descendants. “Ivor Bach, a Briton,” says
-Camden, “who dwelt in the mountains, a man of small stature but of
-resolute courage, marched by night with a band of soldiers, and seized
-Cardiff Castle, carrying away William, Earl of Gloucester, Fitz-Hamon’s
-grandson by the daughter, together with his wife and son, whom he
-detained prisoners until he had received full satisfaction for all
-former injuries.” The residence of this renowned Briton was Castell
-Goch, an outport of Cardiff. He was attached to the daughter of
-Jestyn-ap-Gwrgant above named; and being rejected as a suitor for her
-hand, he stormed Cardiff Castle, carried her off by force; but, being
-overtaken in his retreat near a valley called Pant-coed Ivor, he fell
-under the swords of his pursuers.
-
-To return to Glendower: “Having burnt, pursuant to his desolating
-system, the Bishop’s palace of Llandaff and other houses, he proceeded
-to Cardiff, which he also consigned to the flames.” The town in these
-days contained many religious houses--“a goodly priory founded by
-Robert, the first Earl of Gloucester; a priory of Black Monks, or
-Benedictines; a house of Black Friars in Crokerton Street; a house of
-Grey Friars, dedicated to St. Francis, under the custody or wardship of
-Bristol; and also a house of White Friars.” None of these houses
-experienced any favour from Glendower except the Franciscans, who,
-having been firm adherents to King Richard, and on good terms with Owen,
-escaped the conflagration; for the whole town was burnt down except the
-street where their monastery stood. In this destructive raid through
-Glamorganshire, he demolished the ancient Castle of <g>Penmarc</g>, which
-belonged to Gilbert Humphreville, one of Fitz-Hamon’s knights, before
-named; and which has remained in ruins ever since.[388] But we need not
-prosecute these records of a barbarous age further than our subject
-demands.
-
-
-
-
-TENBY CASTLE,
-
-<g>Pembrokeshire</g>.
-
- “Terra hæc triticea est marinis piscibus, vino que venali copiose
- referta; et quod omnibus præstat, ex Hiberniæ confinio aëris
- salubritate temperata.”--_Gyraldus._
-
-
-[Illustration: T]<g>ENBY</g>, so justly celebrated in the present day as a
-delightful watering-place, possesses in its traditions and antiquities
-many features of deep interest to the archæologist; and although not
-selected as a subject of special illustration in this work, it is fully
-entitled to the admiration of the tourist--whether in search of health,
-the gray landmarks of History, or studying the picturesque face of
-Nature in one of her most delightful aspects. Part of its buildings
-occupy the crest of an almost insulated tongue of land projecting into
-the sea; others slope down gradually to the harbour at its foot; while
-the extreme point of the promontory is crowned with the ruins of the
-Castle. “Nothing,” to quote the words of a late sketch,[389] “can be
-prettier than its little bay, encircled with rocks of romantic unusual
-form, and beautiful warm rich colouring, in some places overhung with
-wood, more crystalline than the emerald sea which washes their base, or
-more white and firm than the rim of sand which encircles it. In addition
-to these, the expanse of sea is everywhere magnificent. Nothing can
-surpass the view from the highest part of the town, where it overlooks
-the busy little Harbour--the Castle--the Bay, with Caldy Island; the
-black Rocks of Giltar Point--the distant Mountains of
-Carmarthenshire--and the Peninsula of Gower, with its conspicuous and
-fantastic termination--the Worm’s Head Promontory.
-
-“To these natural beauties must be added the mingling of old-world
-relics with its modern buildings; traces of towers and fortifications,
-antiquated back streets, and crumbling fragments of the Castle, hanging
-over the verge of its sea-beaten rock. But a still greater
-recommendation to ordinary visitors is the extreme purity and softness
-of the air, the neatness and cleanliness of the streets, the quiet yet
-cheerful look of the place, and the romantic coast-scenery of the
-neighbourhood, with the ruins of castles and other buildings thickly
-studded within the circuit of a few miles.” With all these before us, it
-may well be questioned whether any other watering-place in the kingdom
-can offer a combination of attractions equal to those of Tenby.
-
-The town appears to have derived its earliest importance from its
-fisheries;[390] and this, added to the many obvious advantages of its
-site, at a time when the Anglo-Norman lords made their first successful
-descent upon these shores, clearly pointed it out as a fit locality for
-the establishment of a new colony, and the erection of a strong castle
-for their protection. When the Flemish settlers--after being driven from
-their own home by successive inundations--had this coast assigned to
-them, the prosperity of Tenby became gradually accelerated and secured.
-Under the example of that industrious people, who had brought with them
-a more refined knowledge of commercial intercourse and its numerous
-advantages, the harbour was improved, the population of the town were
-soon engaged in an extensive woollen manufactory, which, with an
-increase of inland and foreign traffic, gradually enriched and enlarged
-the place. The commercial spirit of the inhabitants, by increasing the
-wealth of the native lords, procured for Tenby the numerous privileges
-and immunities which it received under successive governments; while the
-Earls of Pembroke, much to their honour, were liberal and munificent in
-the foundation and endowment of religious and charitable institutions.
-
-<g>History.</g>--Among the historical facts in the records of Tenby, is the
-escape of Richmond, afterwards Henry the Seventh, from this harbour, by
-the connivance of Thomas White, the mayor. “Henry, who had been besieged
-in Pembroke Castle, succeeded at last in passing the guard, and making
-his way to the nearest harbour, where he meant to embark for the
-continent.” Here he was received by the mayor, a wealthy wine merchant,
-whose commercial intercourse with France gave him every facility for
-serving the Prince in this necessitous position of his fortunes. He was
-no sooner aware that young Richmond and his mother were in need of his
-advice and aid, than he provided them with a temporary shelter from all
-danger of their enemies; and as soon as a vessel could be got ready,
-conducted them on board, and placing the royal fugitives under the care
-of a skilful and trusty skipper, commended them to Heaven, and saw them
-safely entered on their prosperous voyage to Brittany.
-
-It is pleasing to add that, when the fortunes of Richmond had placed him
-on the throne, the generous conduct of the worthy mayor of Tenby was
-not forgotten. The royal favour was expressed by giving him a
-life-grant of the King’s lands in and around Tenby, with all the
-privileges thereto belonging; and thus making him, in his own person and
-experience, a pleasing exception to the proverbial ingratitude of
-princes.
-
-The town was formerly--and so long as fortifications were
-indispensable--a place of great strength. But of the massive walls and
-gates, by which it was attached to the Castle as a citadel, the remains
-present no features of paramount interest, except, perhaps, to the
-plodding antiquary, whose eyes penetrate far below the surface, and
-trace bastions and circumvallations where ordinary men see nothing but
-the weeds that cover them.
-
-<g>The Church</g> is a capacious edifice--not remarkable for its architecture,
-but with a lofty spire which, like most others on the coast, serves as
-an imposing landmark. Churches, dedicated to St. Nicholas, were
-generally planted on some commanding eminence overlooking the sea; so
-that a glimpse of the sacred landmark might inspire the bewildered
-mariner with fresh courage to renew the struggle, or new light to direct
-his course, when overtaken by storms or darkness.
-
-The interior of the Church is enriched with an elaborately-carved
-ceiling, and various sepulchral antiquities--some of which are curious
-and interesting. But that to which the stranger will probably turn with
-a partial eye, is the tomb of the worthy Mayor already named, containing
-the effigies of John and <g>Thomas White</g> in the quaint costume of their
-time, which it was the great merit of “old mortality” sculptors to
-imitate, in strict subserviency to the tailor and embroiderer. Here
-also--as in several other churches elsewhere--is the effigy of a human
-figure in the last stage of emaciation; supposed to be that of a Bishop
-of St. David’s, when bishops were known to fast as well as to pray.
-Perhaps of him who, in the great dearth--mentioned in a former page of
-this work--is said to have died of famine--a very improbable conjecture;
-for these exhibitions of frail mortality were only intended as monitors
-to the living, and to remind the thoughtless and idle spectators that to
-“this they must expect to come at last.” On a flat tombstone in the
-floor is an inscription which suggests revolting ideas of the barbarous
-practices that once disgraced the “inhospitable” shores of our own land.
-The words are, “Walter Vaughan, iv. Jan. 1637;” the name, as it is
-conjectured, of the once notorious “wrecker of Dunraven:” a miscreant
-who, by hanging out false lights in tempestuous weather, allured unhappy
-merchantmen, and other vessels, to the rocks; and when the sea had
-broken over them, and the crews were struggling in the arms of despair,
-descended with his fellow-ruffians to the double exercise of murder and
-plunder. Having amassed capital in this manner, he is supposed to have
-selected this coast as an “elegant retirement,” where he could enjoy
-the pleasures of society, without betraying the secret of his trade,
-and take his place at last among those worthies who have enriched the
-hallowed pile with their dust. We would gladly indulge the hope that
-this story, though repeated as a fact, is to be regarded only in the
-light of a fable; although every reader is aware that the wreckers of
-Cornwall were not imaginary beings.
-
-<g>The Carmelites</g>, whose rule was founded upon that of St. Basil, had a
-house here, founded by John de Swynmore, of which the convent, or
-college, dedicated to <g>St. Mary</g>, stood near the parish church. But the
-ancient features of the town are fast passing away, and in a few years
-hence--if the march of improvement continue to advance at the same
-rate--many of the antiquities of Tenby will have become rather objects
-of faith than of sight.
-
-<g>Of the Castle</g>, the only portions now standing that indicate its former
-strength are a bastion and a square tower. The rest of the structure
-exhibits rather the air of a splendid mansion than of a military
-fortress. On the north are the ruins of a large hall, about a hundred
-feet in length by twenty in breadth--not the usual proportions; and near
-the grand entrance gate is another apartment, eighty feet long by thirty
-feet wide. Attached to these two apartments are several others of
-smaller dimensions--used probably as offices, or barracks for the
-garrison. The situation of this fortress was admirably adapted for
-defence. It occupied the extreme point of the promontory; and on every
-side--except that facing the town, which was strengthened by art--it was
-secured by inaccessible rocks. The original founder of this stronghold
-is supposed to have been one or other of those Anglo-Norman lords who,
-in the manner already described, rendered themselves masters of the
-country. In their wars with the native princes, this Castle became a
-frequent object of attack; and in the year 1151, it was taken by
-Meredydd and Rhys, sons of Gruffyd-ap-Rhys, who put the garrison to the
-sword, in revenge for the shelter they had given to certain persons
-charged with having attacked and wounded their brother Cadell, while
-engaged in a hunting excursion in the neighbourhood. Again, in 1186, it
-was invested by Maelgwn, son of Rhys-ap-Gruffyd, who, by bringing an
-overwhelming force against it, took the fortress, and demolished the
-works. But the history of this stronghold, like that of most others
-built and garrisoned for the same purpose, is nothing more than a
-catalogue of disasters, of siege and storm, capture and surrender; where
-spectacles of blood were followed by scenes of barbaric splendour, and
-he who conquered to-day was often to-morrow’s captive.
-
-<g>Corporation.</g>--Tenby was incorporated about the time of Edward the Third,
-by charters granted by the Earls of Pembroke, the provisions of which
-were afterwards confirmed and extended by Richard the Third and his
-successors. Previous to 1835, the government was vested in a mayor,
-common council, and an indefinite number of burgesses--the mayor and
-common council being the governing body; and the style of the
-Corporation--“The Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of
-Tenby.”
-
-Besides the ecclesiastical buildings already noticed, there are the Town
-Hall, the Assembly Rooms, a Theatre, spacious baths, and various minor
-edifices. All these combine to give an air of taste, comfort, and
-prosperity to the borough; and present to the mind’s eye a pleasing
-contrast to the crumbling monuments of feudal vassalage, that for
-centuries held this flourishing little town in its iron grasp. The
-harbour consists of two piers, which shoot into a corner of the bay, and
-nearly encircle a small but safe spot for the anchorage of vessels. The
-woollen trade, first introduced by the Flemish settlers, has been long
-superseded. The imports are chiefly articles of domestic consumption;
-and the exports consist of butter, corn, coal, and culm. During the
-fishing season, Tenby is a station for the vessels belonging to Plymouth
-and Broxham; and the oyster-beds constitute a source of considerable
-profit to the fishermen. The prosperity of the place, however, depends
-more upon its attractions as a watering-place, than upon any advantage
-it possesses as a seaport; and in this respect, as already observed, it
-takes unquestioned precedence over the majority of those fashionable
-resorts which have so long flourished under the smile of popular favour.
-
-<g>Flemings.</g>--The cause which immediately led to the Flemish settlement on
-this coast is as follows:--An inundation[391] of great magnitude
-happening in the Low Countries soon after the Conquest, a vast number of
-Flemings, driven from their homes, betook themselves to their ships, and
-landing in England implored an asylum. An increase of industrious
-peaceable subjects was an object not to be overlooked by the Conqueror.
-They were accordingly received with alacrity, and treated with cordial
-hospitality. After a time these strangers were distributed over the
-country, and wherever they settled contributed to the prosperity of the
-district. “Many Flemings,” says Malmesbury, “came over to England on
-account of relationship to the mother of Henry the First, by her
-father’s side; insomuch that--like the Germans of the present day--they
-were burthensome to the kingdom.” “Farther,” says the old historian,
-“William Rufus had generally ill fortune against the Welsh, which one
-may well wonder at, seeing that all his attempts elsewhere were crowned
-with success. But I am of opinion that the unevenness of their country,
-and the severity of the weather, favoured their rebellion; so it
-hindered their progress. But King Henry found out an act to frustrate
-all their inventions, by planting Flemings in their country to curb and
-continually harass them. King Henry often endeavoured to reduce the
-Welsh, who were always prone to rebellion. At last, very advisedly, in
-order to abate their pride, he transplanted thither all the Flemings
-that lived in England. Wherefore, because their numbers created
-uneasiness, and were burthensome to the kingdom, he thrust them all into
-<g>Ros</g>, a province of Wales, as unto a common shore, as well to rid the
-kingdom of them, as to curb the obstinacy of his enemies.”
-
-To the multitude of Flemings thus disposed of, Henry the Second added,
-by banishing out of England all the Flemish soldiers who had taken
-service under King Stephen, and granting them permission to join their
-compatriots in Pembrokeshire. But although historians in general confine
-the influx of Flemish settlers to the lower part of Pembrokeshire, it is
-certain that they extended over a much wider district, namely, the whole
-sea-coast bounding the counties of Pembroke, Carmarthen, Cardigan, and
-Glamorgan. Of the Flemish colony who settled in Cardiganshire, there are
-unequivocal proofs in our own times; for their posterity, who continue
-to inhabit the tract assigned to their ancestors, differ materially from
-the aboriginal Welsh, not only in the peculiarities of speech, but in
-those physical distinctions which mark the different races of mankind.
-“There is a farm called Nant-y-Flyman,” says Mr. Thomas,[392] “in the
-parish of Verwick, two miles north of Cardigan, which is said to derive
-its name from the landing of this colony at Traeth-y-Mwnt, a small creek
-hard by. The reception they met with on disembarking, was from the
-swords of armed natives; and in the carnage that ensued, fell many of
-the best and bravest on both sides. In commemoration of this disastrous
-rencounter, several heaps of sand adjoining <g>Mount Church</g> point out to
-this day the cromlechs of the slain, and are traditionally called “the
-graves of the Flemings--Beddau’r Fflemings--where bones of gigantic size
-often make their appearance.”
-
-In the Welsh Chronicle, we read that the Normans and Flemings inhabited
-the county of Carmarthen, about Llanstephan--the castle of which we
-shall presently notice; and under the conduct of Girald and William de
-Hay invested the said castle. That they extended likewise coastwise to
-Glamorganshire, is evident from the Gower Whittle--a provincial article
-of dress peculiar to the Flemings, and from them adopted by the Welsh in
-general. The south-west portion of Gower, according to Mr. Collins, is
-inhabited by the descendants of a colony of Flemings, who do not talk
-the Welsh language, and are distinguished by their own peculiar dress.
-They seldom intermarry with their neighbours on the north-west side of
-the Gower. Mr. Pye supposes that the Flemings in Wales still speak the
-language of Flanders; and relates that a servant, inquiring the road,
-“could not understand the language of some cottagers, nor make them to
-understand him, though a Welshman; and he was certain they did not speak
-Welsh. After much altercation, and inquiry at an alehouse, all
-ineffectually, a clergyman solves their doubts by relating that some
-Flemish families had settled in that part of South Wales, and have
-retained their language to this day.” Here, however, Mr. Pye must have
-been misinformed; for they all speak--that is, the lower class--a horrid
-provincial dialect of the English language, though not much worse than
-certain counties of England, retaining many Saxon words now obsolete,
-and unintelligible to any but an antiquary. Camden says, “They speak a
-language so agreeable with the English (which indeed has much affinity
-with the Dutch), that this small country of theirs is called by the
-Britons--‘Little England below Wales.’” “But here Mr. Pye is to be
-regarded as a novelist,” says Thomas;[393] “for his account is not
-historically true.”
-
-The policy of King Henry in settling these Flemings in Wales, for the
-purposes of conquest, security, and strength, was very judicious. Being
-a very warlike people--Belgæ--inevitably attached to their benefactors
-the English kings, they were always ready to join their standard, or to
-make a diversion in their favour against the Welsh. But such frontier
-military posts as surrounded the Welsh--such a cordon of warlike
-foreigners settled on their coasts--became a source of much evil to the
-natives; and altogether inadequate for the purpose which their
-introduction was intended to serve; namely, “to secure the fidelity of
-the Welsh nation”--whom, on the contrary, their harsh usage and
-oppression only contributed to alienate from the English crown, until
-their antipathy and resentment found vent in the open insurrection of
-Owen Glendower.
-
-The colony is thus described by Giraldus:--“Gens hæc fortis et robusta;
-continuoque belli conflictu gens Cambrensibus inimicissima, gens
-lanificiis, gens mercimoniis usitatissima, quocumque labore sive
-periculo, terra marique lucrum quærere. Gens prævalida vicissim loco et
-tempore, nunc ad arma, nunc ad aratra gens promptissima.”
-
-[Illustration: _Manorbeer Castle._
-
-Near the Church.]
-
-
-
-
-MANORBEER CASTLE,
-
-<g>Pembrokeshire</g>.
-
- <g>Manober</g> turribus et propugnaculis erat eximium, ab occidente portum
- extensum a Circio et Barea, sub ipsis muralibus vivarium habens
- egregium tam sua venustate, quam aquarum profunditate
- conspicuum.”--_Gyrald._
-
-
-<g>MANORBEER</g>, another of those feudal strongholds with which the
-Principality abounds, possesses an additional interest as the
-birth-place of Giraldus Cambrensis, a sketch of whose life will be found
-in these pages.
-
-The Castle, says Leland, “stands between two little hillettes”--the
-rocky bases of which repel the fury of a boisterous sea--and is very
-imposing as we come upon it, through an antiquated village of
-Flemish-looking houses, with singular chimneys--old as the Castle
-itself. It is called Manorbeer, or Maenor Byrr, from its being the manor
-of the Lords, or the mansion or manor of Byrr. It occupies the crest of
-a hill, which commands an extensive prospect of land and sea--the latter
-expanding its waves, until they are enclosed by the distant promontory
-of St. Gowan’s Head, and presenting at times a scene of great animation
-by the numerous vessels that glide along the coast. With its sheltered
-green park on one hand, a bare hill, with the slender tower of the old
-Norman church, on the other, and the whole mass as if suspended over the
-sea-beach that takes its angle and curve from the protruding rocks, the
-scene presents a combination of features that never fail to impress the
-stranger with mingled sentiments of picturesque beauty, solitude, and
-desolation.
-
-<g>The Castle</g> of Manorbeer is a capacious Norman edifice of the first
-class, with massive towers, ponderous and lofty gates, high embattled
-walls with loopholes, but no windows in the exterior. It presents the
-characteristic features of a stronghold, whose chief, at once hated and
-feared, retained possession of his conquered manor by no better security
-than that of armed retainers--vassals and mercenaries, whose rights and
-sense of justice were measured by their swords.
-
-<g>The Gateway</g> forms a grand and imposing feature; and through this, the
-principal entrance, we reach the interior Court, upon which the windows
-of the quadrangle open, and discover the apartments once occupied by the
-Baron and his family--who were thus barred in from the fair face of
-nature, and condemned to consider security and seclusion ample
-compensation for the sacrifice of other advantages. Here the justice was
-retributive; for he who plotted against the rights and liberties of his
-fellow-creatures, was little better than a prisoner in his own Castle;
-and, even among his sworn retainers, had often cause to suspect an
-assassin, and to be the reluctant slave of those fears which no doubling
-of his “tried sentinels” could exclude.
-
-<g>The Outworks</g> of the Castle are extensive, and worthy appendages to what
-is considered “a perfect model of a Norman Baron’s residence,” the
-general characteristics of which were the following:--The simple rude
-tower of the Anglo-Saxon was enlarged and improved into what, taking its
-name from the builder, was called a Gundulph Keep, the entrance to which
-was at a great height. It was approached by a grand staircase, which
-went partly round two of the outside fronts of the Castle, and ended in
-a grand portal, before which was a drawbridge. The entrance was
-indispensably gradual. The first step in advance was the drawbridge,
-with a gate about the middle of the staircase, to arrive at the portal.
-Secondly, upon arriving at this point, you found it merely the entrance
-to a small annexed tower, the whole of which might be demolished without
-injury to the body of the Castle. This tower was for the use of the
-guard or sentinel. Within this tower was a sort of vestibule, and from
-thence was a second entrance--the real entrance to the Keep--through a
-second portal, placed in the thickness of the walls. Both the first and
-second portals were defended by a portcullis and double gates; so that
-there were three strong gates to be forced, and two portcullises to be
-destroyed, before even this entrance could be gained. In the thickness
-of the wall were two niches, in addition to the second portal, for
-wardours or sentinels. Besides this, there was the sally-port, another
-small entrance--ascended only by a movable ladder--which had no
-communication with the floor above, except by a “small winding
-staircase, that, from its narrowness and form, could easily be defended
-by one man, and to which additional security was provided by strong
-doors. On the
-
-<g>Ground floor</g>--as already observed in this Castle--there were no windows,
-very few loopholes, and those so constructed that no missile thrown in
-could reach farther than the bottom of the arch. In the first floor
-there were no windows, but only loopholes within the tower itself. In
-the second floor the windows were so high that no weapon discharged into
-them could take effect, as it struck the arch of the window, and
-dropped harmless on the floor. On the side near the principal entrance
-there were no windows nor lights whatever--not even loopholes on the
-same side as the entrance and top of the staircase, because, if so
-placed, they would have been exposed to an enemy who, having once gained
-the steps, was attempting to force the portal. In
-
-<g>The Vestibule</g> were large windows, because--as the author of the
-“Monumenta” supposes--that place was of no importance in a siege: but
-this opinion is considered by others to be untenable. A full command of
-view was here indispensable; and that this was the object may be
-inferred from the loopholes and windows being in an inverted order to
-what they are in the great one, and from the vestibule being immediately
-over the dungeon, so that, on any attempt at attack, escape or rescue
-would be detected. On the
-
-<g>Third story</g>, which contained the state apartments, there was a gallery
-within the walls for the conveyance of orders. Mr. King, in his
-description of fortified buildings, has noticed a stone arch and false
-portals, a round angular tower, and an _affected_ appearance of weakness
-in the small square tower and vestibule, as deceptions to mislead the
-enemy. But this, as observed by Fosbroke, is questionable; for such
-expedients do not occur in all castles of this era--and, had they been
-usual, must have been too well known to mislead the enemy. The lower
-apartments of these strongholds were reserved as storerooms for the use
-of the household and retainers.
-
-<g>The Dungeon</g>, for the security of prisoners, was beneath the ground floor
-of the Keep, with which it communicated by a steep, dark, and narrow
-staircase. It had, of course, no windows nor loopholes; and the only
-aperture for the admission of air was a trap-door in the vestibule. A
-gutter carried off water from the floor, which, for this purpose, was
-made sloping towards it.
-
-<g>In the centre</g> of the main walls were square wells, opening at bottom
-into arches, for the removal and distribution of stores to the upper
-apartments; and through the solid walls, also, flues were perforated for
-the conveyance of information by the voice. And these contrivances, with
-considerable improvements, continue in our own times to facilitate
-domestic intercourse in large establishments. In the centre of the
-partition wall--as seen at Rochester[394]--was a well for water--like
-the shaft of a coal pit--going from the bottom of the tower up to the
-very leads; and over every successive floor were small arches in the
-wall, forming a communication between the pipe of the well and the
-several apartments, so that, by means of a pulley, water could be
-distributed to every part of the Castle. The fireplaces in general were
-semicircular arches--as already shown and described in this work. The
-chimneys were in the form of a sloping cone, and terminated in
-loopholes. In some instances, as at Chepstow, they were covered
-internally with a hard glazing of cement, so as to prevent the
-accumulation and lodgment, and facilitate the removal, of fuliginous
-matter on the surface. The great chimney of Raglan Castle is a fine
-specimen of its kind, and so capacious as to appear like the
-perpendicular shaft of a deep well. The sinks are similar cones, but
-ending sideways, obliquely, to prevent the introduction of weapons. The
-great state apartments of the Castle consisted of three rooms: of these,
-the two principal ones were separated only by large arches, open at the
-top, so that there might be a free circulation of air; but under the
-arch was a partition wall, in later times of oak-panelling, for hanging
-the arras.
-
-Such are a few of the characteristic features of a Norman fortress of
-the twelfth and thirteenth centuries--the model upon which the great
-castles of Wales were constructed by Edward the First--of which various
-particulars have been already given, and others will be found
-interspersed in subsequent portions of this work.
-
-While wandering over the ruins of these dilapidated strongholds, of
-whose founders it may here be truly said--_stat nominis umbra_, we are
-humbled into a sense of the vain and fragile tenor by which all earthly
-possessions are held. “There the thistle shakes its lonely head; the
-moss whistles to the winds; the fox looks out from the windows, the rank
-grass of the wall waves round his head. Desolate is the dwelling of
-Moina; silence is in the house of her fathers.”
-
- “Thrice happier he who tends his sheep
- Where yonder lowly cot appears;
- Than Baron in his iron Keep,
- Encircled by his glittering spears.”
-
-<g>The Church</g> of Manorbeer stands upon a high slope, fronting the south
-side of the Castle, and forms an interesting feature in the landscape.
-It is of Norman architecture, consisting of a tall square tower,
-chancel, and nave, divided by a row of massive and rudely-fashioned
-pillars. In the north side of the chancel is the monument of a
-Crusader--one of those enthusiastic knights, perhaps, who, having heard
-the preaching of Archbishop Baldwin, obeyed the summons and followed his
-lion-hearted Sovereign to the Holy Land. The effigy, reposing under a
-plain canopy, represents a warrior in ring and plate armour, the legs
-croisés, and the shield charged with the <g>Barri</g> arms. An effigy is also
-pointed out on the same side as that of Giraldus Cambrensis, or Barri,
-whose life and literary merits we have so often had occasion to notice.
-On the south side of the church are the remains of a “Chantry or
-Collegiate building,” erected probably by one of the Barri family, who,
-in 1092, joined Fitz-Hamon in his marauding enterprise against a native
-prince of the country, and afterwards, as we have seen, divided the
-conquered land, in <g>Seigneuries</g>, among his twelve knights and retainers.
-
-<g>The Founder</g> of Manorbeer, so far as we have ascertained, does not make
-any distinct figure in history. He was one of the mass of Norman
-warriors, who, by their collective strength, personal courage, and
-vaulting ambition, made themselves alternately the dread and the support
-of Royalty; and who--each in his feudal demesne, within the gates of his
-own castle--were absolute sovereigns. And yet few will deny, that out of
-the accumulated evils, that like clouds collected and darkened for a
-time the apparent destiny of Wales, permanent good was elicited. In the
-words of a great poet:--
-
- “Still the ramparted ground
- With a vision my fancy inspires,
- And I hear the trump sound,
- As it marshalled our Chivalry’s sires.
- On each turf of that mead,
- Stood the captors of England’s domains,
- That ennobled her breed,
- And high mettled the blood in her veins!
- O’er hauberk and helm--
- As the sun’s setting splendour was thrown--
- Thence they look’d o’er a realm,
- And the morrow beheld it their own!”
-
-Wherever they were victorious in battle, there they built a stronghold.
-What was gained by violence, was to be held by the same means: while
-superior knowledge--superior tactics--the confidence of men accustomed
-to victory--of plausible designs and refined policy--were more than a
-match for mere “abettors in a good cause,” who could oppose nothing to
-the practised arms of the invader but the brute force of undisciplined
-hordes, whose indomitable love of home and freedom furnished them with
-courage to vindicate their country; and where that failed, with
-resolution to perish in the attempt. But we need not here enlarge upon
-the merits of a struggle which was protracted for centuries; and if at
-last the Norman made good his footing within the Welsh border, it was
-only after numerous checks and discomfitures, at a cost which no other
-nation could have incurred, and by a system of warfare in which success
-was often the result of accident, and where the laws of humanity were
-too often trampled under foot.
-
-<g>Giraldus Cambrensis</g> was born at Manorbeer about the year 1146. He was
-sent on three different occasions to France, for the sake of
-improvement; and prosecuted his studies with so much diligence and
-success, as to give him an honourable position among the learned men of
-that early period. He obtained great reputation in rhetoric, which soon
-brought him into notice; and he was successively promoted, to a canonry
-in the cathedral of Hereford, and to the archdeaconry of Brecon. In the
-thirtieth year of his age he was elected, by the Chapter of <g>St. David’s</g>,
-bishop of that see; but the King’s approbation being withheld, he
-resolved to make another journey into France, and resume his studies in
-the University of Paris. On his return home, a few years afterwards, he
-found the whole country in a state of violent excitement, the canons and
-archdeacon of Menevia having joined with the inhabitants in driving out
-the bishop of that see, the administration of which was committed to
-Barri by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Under this authority he governed
-the see of <g>St. David’s</g> for three or four years, and made many
-reformations in it.
-
-The next event in his life was the King’s command, in 1185, to attend
-the young Prince <g>John</g> into Ireland. Two years afterwards he returned to
-Wales, and employed most of his time in writing and revising his
-<g>Topographia</g>, to which, after putting the last hand, he proceeded to
-Oxford, and read it in a public audience of the University.[395] But the
-incident in his life which more particularly entitles him to a notice in
-this place, is the fact of his having accompanied Archbishop Baldwin in
-his progress through Wales, and with him, also, visited and described
-the principal features of the country.
-
-The object of this progress--as above noticed--was to preach a crusade
-for the recovery of the Holy Land, for which the lion-hearted <g>Richard</g>,
-accompanied by the flower of his nobility, had already set out.
-Giraldus, smit with the same enthusiasm which he endeavoured to kindle
-in others, took up the <g>Cross</g>. On his departure for the Holy Land, the
-King left the chief government of the realm in the hands of William
-Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, and appointed Giraldus to act with him in the
-commission; but this could not be valid until he obtained a dispensation
-from the Pope’s legate for discontinuing the voyage.
-
-In 1190, the Bishop of Ely and the Pope’s legate offered him the see of
-Bangor; and again, the following year, Prince John offered him the
-bishopric of Llandaff; both of which he declined, in hopes that the see
-of St. David’s, on which he had set his heart, might one day fall to his
-lot. The following year Girald retired from court; and, removing to
-Lincoln, wrote several works which bear his name. Here he continued
-until the death of Peter, Bishop of St. David’s, in 1198, when he was
-nominated to the vacant see, but rejected by Herbert, Archbishop of
-Canterbury, who sent a mandate to the Canons to elect and admit
-<g>Geoffrey</g>, Prior of <g>Llanthony</g>, for their bishop. Girald appealed to the
-Pope and the Canons by letter, entreating his Holiness to consecrate
-him. He took a journey to Rome, and there presented the letter in
-person. The Prior of Llanthony, furnished with letters from the
-Archbishop, did the same; and the Pope, seeing no likelihood of the
-cause being speedily determined, appointed Giraldus administrator, both
-in spiritualities and temporalities of the bishopric of St. David’s, and
-sent him home.
-
-But in November, 1202, Giraldus was induced to make a third visit to
-Rome, where he continued until the 15th of April following; on which day
-the Pope gave a definitive sentence in the cause, and vacated the claims
-of both candidates. In the month of August, Giraldus returned home to
-solicit a new election; but in spite of the opposition, Geoffrey of
-Llanthony was elected by the Canons. Giraldus finding it useless to
-oppose the Archbishop, resigned all further pretensions to the see of
-St. David’s; and shortly after resigned the archdeaconry of Brecon to
-his nephew. The remainder of his life seems to have been spent in
-retirement, where he composed many works. But there is no evidence of
-his having taken an active part in any public affairs, political or
-ecclesiastical; and as he was subsequently offered the bishopric of St.
-David’s [in 1215], it was on conditions which compelled him to reject
-the very see to which he had so ardently aspired. The year of his death
-is not mentioned: but in 1220, as we ascertain from contemporary
-documents, he was still living.
-
-With a very excusable partiality for his native place, he has
-transmitted to posterity the following description of its beauties,
-natural and artificial:--
-
-“<g>Maenorpyrr</g> is distant about three miles from Penbroch. The Castle is
-excellently well defended by turrets and bulwarks. On the right hand a
-rivulet[396] of never-failing water flows through a valley, rendered
-sandy by the violence of the winds.”... “The country is well supplied
-with corn, seafish, and imported wines, and is tempered by a salubrious
-air. <g>Demetia</g>--or territory of St. David’s, with its seven cantreds--is
-the most beautiful as well as the most powerful district of Wales:
-Penbroch is the finest province of Demetia, and the place I have now
-described is the most delightful part of Penbroch. It is evident,
-therefore, that Maenorpyrr is the <g>Paradise</g> of all Wales.”
-
-
-
-
-NEATH ABBEY,
-
-<g>Glamorganshire</g>.
-
- “So fares it with the things of earth
- Which seem most constant: there will come the cloud
- That shall enfold them up, and leave their place
- A seat for emptiness. Our narrow ken
- Reaches too far, when all that we behold
- Is but the havoc of wide-wasting Time--
- Or what he soon shall spoil.”
-
-
-WE learn from Bishop Tanner, that Richard de <g>Grainville</g>, and Constance,
-his wife, gave their chapel,[397] in the Castle at <g>Nethe</g>, the tithes
-belonging to it, a large tract of waste land, and other possessions, in
-the time of Henry I., to the abbot and convent of Savigny, near Lyons,
-that they might build an abbey here in Wales. And a very fair abbey,
-dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built accordingly on the west side of
-the river, a little below the town of Neath, for monks of the order of
-Savigny, or <g>Fratres Grisei</g>, who soon afterwards became Cistercians.
-
-Notwithstanding the original gift to Savigny, as we learn from the same
-authority, he did not find any proof that this house was ever subject to
-that foreign abbey, or accounted as an alien priory. Being an abbey, it
-could not be a cell; and appears rather to have been a daughter-house to
-Savigny, in the same way as already described in our account of the two
-Llanthonys--mother and daughter. In the Appendix to the Monasticon may
-be seen the founder’s charter, with two subsequent charters of
-confirmation from King John.[398] From a manuscript notice in Benet’s
-College, Cambridge, we learn that, at the time of the dissolution, there
-were only eight monks in Neath Abbey. In the twenty-sixth of Henry
-VIII., the gross revenue of the house amounted to £150. 4s. 9d., the
-clear income to £132. 7s. 7-1/4d. The site was granted to Sir Richard
-Williams, alias Cromwell,[399] in exchange.
-
-<g>The Seal</g> of the abbey represented the Blessed Virgin, crowned and
-standing, holding in her right hand a lily, in her left the infant
-Jesus; in a base, a shield with the arms of <g>Grainville</g> the
-founder--namely, three clarions: the legend--“Sigillvm. Comvne.
-Monaster. Beate. Marie. de Neth.” A very imperfect impression of this
-seal is to be seen in the Augmentation Office.
-
-In Moore’s Monastic Remains, it has been observed, in a passage quoted
-from Leland, that Neath Abbey was ‘once the fairest in all Wales;’ and,
-from the ruins still remaining, much credit may be given to this
-description. The west end, excepting the great arch, was tolerably
-perfect in 1788; but previously to that time the east end and principal
-part of the nave had been demolished, while the lateral aisles remained
-covered with ivy. In addition to these, several apartments of the abbey
-were still standing on the south side of the church.
-
-This monastery is said to have been so extensive, that seven preachers
-might hold forth at the same time in different parts of the building,
-without being mutually heard; but in the present day the crypt is the
-only characteristic feature that is left. The ruins, however--spread
-over an extensive area--still afford accommodation for numerous workmen
-employed in the famous iron-works of the place. It was in the
-Abbey-house of Neath, where he had taken refuge, that the unfortunate
-King Edward the Second was arrested:--
-
-“Whither,” says the Chronicle, in a passage at once pathetic and
-picturesque,--“whither, in the meane space, doth woeful Edward flye?
-What force, what course, what way takes he, poore Prince? Oh! fearful
-condition of so great a monarche’s state, when a wife, a son, a kingdome
-are _not_ trusted; and those only _are_ trusted, who had nothing strong
-but a will to live and die with him!”... “The Queen, passing from
-Oxford to Gloucester, onward to the siege of Bristol Castle, grew all
-the whyle in her strength like a rouled snowball, or as a river, which
-spreads still broader from the fountaine to the ocean--‘_vires acquirit
-eundo_.’ For thither repayred to her, for the love of the young Prince,
-the Lord Percy, the Lord Wake, and others, as well out of the North, as
-the Marches of Wales. But Edward, having left the Earle of Winchester,
-and the elder Lord Spenser, in the Castle of Bristol, for the keeping
-thereof, meditates flight with a few into the isle of Lundie, in the
-Severne sea, or into Ireland; and while he wandereth about, not finding
-where to rest safe, his royall credite, name, and power--like a cliffe
-which, falling from the top of some huge rocke, breakes into the more
-pieces the further it rolles--are daily more and more diminisht as they
-scatter, till now at last they are come to a very nothing.
-
-“After a week, therefore, spent upon the sea, Sir Thomas Blount
-forsaking him, and comming to the <g>Queene</g> he came on shore in
-Glamorganshire, where, with his few friends, he entrusted himself to
-God, and the faith of the Welsh, who indeed still loved him, lying
-hidden among them in the <g>Abbey of Neath</g>.
-
-“<g>The King</g> not appearing, proclamations were every day made in the
-Queene’s army, declaring that it was the common consent of the realme
-that he should returne and receive the government thereof, so as he
-would conform himself to his people. This--whether stratagem or
-truth--not prevailing, Henry, Earle of Lancaster, the late Earle’s
-brother, Sir William de la Zouch, and Rhese-ap-Howell, a Welshman--who
-all of them had lands in that quarter where the Kinge concealed
-himselfe--were sent with coyne and forces to discover and take him.
-
-“What will not money, diligence, and faire words doe, with corrupt
-dispositions--everting of all bonds of either religious or civil duties?
-By such means, therefore, the desolate, sad, and unfortunate <g>Kinge</g> fell
-into his cousen of Lancaster’s hands, in the Abbey-house of Neath;” [or,
-according to others, in the Castle of Llantrissant, a place of great
-strength; but as the gates were thrown open by treachery, neither the
-strength of the Castle nor the courage of those around him could avail
-the royal victim,[400] doomed to expiate, it was supposed, the ruthless
-cruelty of his father in massacring the bards.
-
- “Weave the warp, and weave the woof,
- The winding-sheet of Edward’s race;
- Give ample room and verge enough,
- The characters of Hell to trace.
- Mark the year, and mark the night,
- When Severn shall re-echo with affright,
- The shrieks of death, through Berkeley’s roof that ring--
- Shrieks of an agonizing King!”]
-
-<g>Richard de Greenvile</g>,[401] the reputed founder of Neath Abbey, and lord
-of the adjoining Castle, is thus noticed in the ‘Baronage of
-England:’--“In the fourth of William Rufus, Jestin, the son of Gurgunt,
-being lord of Glamorgan, Rees-ap-Theodore, prince of South Wales, made
-war upon him; and that Jestin, discerning himself to be unable to make
-defence, sent one Enyon, his servant, to Robert Fitz-Hamon,[402] then a
-knight of the privy chamber to the King, for his aid, with large
-promises of reward for his help. And that hereupon Robert, having
-retained twelve knights, marched with what power they could all make
-into <g>Wales</g>; and so joining with Jestin, slew Rees, and Conan, his son.
-Furthermore, that after this victory, demanding his reward according to
-the agreement so made with Enyon, and Jestin refusing to perform his
-promise, the difference came to be tried by battle; and that Jestin
-being therein slain, this Robert Fitz-Hamon had full possession of all
-that territory.
-
-“<g>Whereupon</g>, for reward to those twelve knights, with other his
-assistants, he gave unto them divers castles and manors; and, as second
-on the list, he gave to Richard de Greenvile the lordship of <g>Nethe</g>.”
-
-Subjoined is a view of the Crypt of this once magnificent <g>Abbey</g>, which,
-though long exposed to the wasting hand of Time, and the depredations of
-enemies, is still a monument of early piety, upon which few pilgrims
-will look unmoved, and no archæologist can survey without admiration.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-KIDWELLY CASTLE,
-
-<g>Carmarthenshire</g>.
-
- “For some brief passion
- Are centuries of high splendour laid in dust,
- And that eternal honour, which should live
- Sun-like above the rock of mortal fame,
- Changed to a mockery and a by-word.”
-
-
-[Illustration: K]<g>IDWELLY</g> is supposed to have been erected by Rhys,
-Prince of South Wales, at the close of the twelfth century; and even
-now, after the lapse of five hundred years, it presents, in strength and
-appearance, one of the most striking examples of feudal architecture in
-Wales, where the science of castle-building attained the highest
-perfection. The old town of Kidwelly, over which the Castle once threw
-its protecting arms, is now ruinous; but a new Kidwelly, reared in
-happier times, and thriving under the arts of peace, seems to cast a
-glance of mingled pity and reproach upon the enormous fortress, whose
-very existence in such a situation is a melancholy proof of barbarism
-and bondage--
-
- “When ‘might was right,’ and spear and brand
- Subdued and meted out the land--
- Demesnes, which he who built the strongest,
- And only he, retained the longest.”
-
-<g>History.</g>--Describing the situation of Kidwelly, the Chronicle says, “So
-great is the bay or creek that here getteth within the land, that this
-country seemeth, as it were, for very fear to have shrunke back, and
-withdrawn itself more inwardly. The territory around this bay was held
-for a time by Keiani the Scot’s sonnes, until they were driven out by
-Cuneda, the Cambro-Briton, and is now counted part of the inheritance of
-the Dutchy of Lancaster, by the heires of Maurice of London, or De
-Londres, who, making an outroad hither out of Glamorganshire, after a
-dangerous war, made himself master hereof, and
-
-[Illustration: _Kidwelly Castle._]
-
-fortified old Kidwelly with a wall and castle to it, which now for very
-age is growen to decay, and standeth, as it were, forlet and forlorne:
-for the inhabitants, having passed over the little river
-Vendraeth-Vehan, built a new <g>Kidwelly</g>, enticed thither by the commodity
-of the harbour, which, notwithstanding being at this day choked with
-shelves and barres, is at this present of no great use. While Maurice de
-Londres,” continues the Chronicle, “invaded these parts,
-[Gwenliana,[403]] the wife of Prince Gruffin--a stout and resolute woman
-in the highest degree--_ultimæ audaciæ mulier_--in order to recover the
-losses and declining fortunes of her husband, came, with displaied
-banner, into the field, and assailed him, but the successe of her
-enterprise not answering to her courage, she, with her sonne Morgan, and
-other men of especial note, was slaine in battle.
-
-“By Hawes, or Avis, the daughter and heire of Sir Thomas de Londres,
-this passing faire and large patrimony, together with the title of Lord
-Ogmoor and Kidwelly, came unto Patrick Chaworth, and by his son
-Patrick’s daughter, unto Henrie, Earle of Lancaster. Now the heires of
-the said Maurice of London, as we learn from an old inquisition, for
-this inheritance were bound to this service--namely, that if their
-sovereign lord the King, or his Chiefe Justice, came into the parts
-about Kidwelly with an armie, they should conduct the foresaid army,
-with their banners and their people, through the mids of Nethland, as
-far as to Loghar.”
-
-<g>The Castle</g> is in a more perfect state than any other ruin in the
-Principality: “meately well kept up,” says old Leland, “and veri faire
-and double waullid;” having been repaired by Alice de Londres, wife of
-one of the Dukes of Lancaster, and lastly in the reign of Henry the
-Seventh. Its appearance is literally grand and imposing. The ruins
-comprise a quadrangular area, enclosed by strong walls, defended by
-massive circular towers at the angles, and also by bastions in the
-intervals--as shown in the accompanying illustrations. The principal
-entrance, which is at the west side, is under a magnificent gateway,
-flanked by two round towers, and is still in good preservation. Many of
-the state apartments are almost entire. Of these the groined ceilings,
-in some instances, with other portions of the edifice, display many
-interesting features of the early style of English architecture. The
-chapel is sufficiently indicated in the engraving by its lancet-pointed
-windows, and forms a noble and characteristic feature of this truly
-majestic edifice.
-
-<g>Kidwelly</g> is strongly situated, having on two sides a precipitous descent
-to the river Gwendraeth, and few things are finer than the first view of
-its massive and turreted bulwarks ranging along the summit of the cliff.
-The principal entrance was on the west, by means of a gateway, flanked
-by round towers, one of the most perfect and beautiful in the kingdom.
-This, however, is now closed, and the visitor, after clambering up the
-steep old street on the other side of the bridge, is conducted to an
-entrance in the rear of the building, communicating with a “pleasaunce,”
-or terrace promenade, now overgrown with noble trees. On entering the
-interior, the extent and massiveness of the remains create a feeling of
-astonishment. There were three courts divided by walls and towers; and
-in the centre is a building defended by four other towers, the grouping
-of which surpasses that of any other interior in Wales, unless, perhaps,
-that of Pembroke.
-
-“We then clambered on the ramparts, entered the chapel, adorned with
-delicate lancet-pointed windows, and looked down from a dizzy height
-upon the river Gwendraeth, which rolls its melancholy stream through the
-marshy valley below. Altogether we were quite unprepared for the extent
-and preservation of this magnificent fortress, and regretted much that
-previous arrangements had left us so little time for its
-exploration.”[404]
-
-The view from the ramparts is extensive: the valley of the
-Gwendraeth--the old town and its spire--the distant marshes and the
-sea--all blend together, and form a grand but melancholy picture, which
-harmonises with the feeling inspired by the aspect of the whole place
-and neighbourhood--
-
- “How grand, and beautiful, and vast,
- Fortress and hall of ages past!
- With battlement and turret crown’d,
- And iron ramparts girdled round;
- Whose shadow, stretching o’er the land,
- Whose bulwarks, desolately grand,
- Whose chambers, voiceless and forsaken,
- A tide of mingled thoughts awaken,
- And dreams of fancy that restore
- The Barons and the Bards of yore,
- When trumpet-peal, from turret wall,
- Proclaimed the knightly festival.”--_MS._
-
-The air of the place is considered salubrious and the town healthy; but
-the importance which it formerly derived from its situation on the banks
-of a fine navigable river, within half a mile of its influx into the
-great bay of Carmarthen, has ceased--a reverse occasioned by an
-accumulation of sand, which has formed a dangerous bar across the mouth
-of the river. Its commerce, once flourishing, has consequently declined;
-while the opening of collieries, and the establishment of copper-works
-at Llanelly--to which port that of Kidwelly is a creek--have transferred
-the trade to that place.
-
- “The scale has shifted--freighted barks no more
- Visit, with welcome sail, the lonely shore:
- Unprofitable weeds usurp the strand--
- The once wide port presents a mound of sand.
- But these stout towers, defying time and tide,
- Still o’er the scene in massive strength preside
- Kidwelly’s walls, firm as the native rock,
- Have braved, for centuries, the tempest-shock.”
-
-Many fruitless attempts have been made to improve the navigation of the
-river, by removing the obstructions alluded to. In 1766, some docks and
-a short canal were constructed here. The navigation was afterwards
-transferred to the “Kidwelly Canal Company,” by whom it was extended
-about two miles up the valley of the Gwendraeth; and a branch, three
-miles and a half in length, was constructed to communicate with Pembrey
-harbour. Here were formerly both iron and tin works, the former of which
-have been entirely abandoned, and the latter are continued only in a
-diminished scale.
-
-Kidwelly received its first charter of incorporation from King Henry VI.
-James II., in the sixteenth year of his reign, granted to its
-inhabitants their present charter, by which the government is vested in
-a mayor, a recorder, two bailiffs, and a common council of twelve
-aldermen, and twelve principal burgesses, assisted by a town-clerk,
-chamberlain, two sergeants-at-mace, and other officers.
-
-[Illustration: Ancient dwellings near Manorbeer Castle.--See Note, p.
-327.]
-
-
-
-
-LLANSTEPHAN CASTLE,
-
-<g>Carmarthenshire</g>.
-
- “Let them pass--
- I cried: the world and its mysterious doom
- Is not so much more glorious than it was,
- That I desire to worship those who drew
- New figures on its false and fragile glass,
- As the old faced--phantoms ever new
- Rise on the bubble, paint them as you may;
- _We_ have but thrown--as some before us threw--
- Our shadows on it as it passed away.
- But mark how chained to the triumphal <g>Cross</g>
- Were the great figures of an elder day!”
-
-
-<g>This Castle</g>--one of the oldest in Wales--crowns a bold eminence
-projecting into the bay of Carmarthen, and defends the entrance of the
-river Towy, which falls into the sea at this point. It is a military
-fortress of great strength and antiquity, but by whom founded--whether
-by Roman or Briton--or to what precise era it belongs, are questions
-which have never been satisfactorily answered. Yet the very obscurity
-which hangs upon it imparts to its dilapidated walls, mouldering
-turrets, and grass-covered courts, an interest which is seldom or never
-felt in the survey of those castellated ruins which make a prominent
-figure in the pages of history. All that has yet been advanced by
-archæologists regarding the founder of Llanstephan, is only based on
-plausible conjecture. It is not improbable, however, that the present
-castle occupies the position of a Roman fort; for it is not to be
-supposed that, during their occupation of the Silurian territory, a
-situation presenting so many natural advantages, and commanding the
-embouchure of the Towy, would be neglected by a people so prone to
-conquest, and so circumspect in all the means that could secure and
-fortify them in their new possessions. Nor were the Normans--who were
-equally observant and expert in the distribution of their military
-posts--likely to lose sight of the advantages which a castle on this
-promontory would afford in facilitating their operations, and widening
-their encroachments beyond the Welsh frontier; and in the citadel which
-now covers the steep, we have ample
-
-[Illustration: _Kidwelly Castle._
-
-Inner Courts and Chapel from the Battlements.]
-
-testimony, that whatever hands may have raised the first structure, that
-which now occupies our attention is of Norman architecture.
-
-<g>The historical</g> details of Llanstephan are meagre and unsatisfactory; we
-would desire to learn the circumstances of siege and storm and
-surrender, the acts of fortitude and valour which mutually distinguished
-the besieged and their assailants, their patient endurance of
-privations, their resolute and determined resistance, the nightly
-assault, the treachery of professing allies, the regular investment by
-open enemies, the daily skirmishes, the nightly advance, the scaling of
-the walls, the final struggle, the throwing open of gates, the
-dismantling of towers, with mingled traits of personal prowess,
-magnanimity, and fortitude. But of these, history observes a mysterious
-silence. We learn, however, that
-
-<g>Caddell</g>, Meredydd, and Rhys, sons of Gryffyd-ap-Rhys[405]--the prince so
-often named in these pages--having in 1143 succeeded in their enterprise
-against Carmarthen Castle, were induced to make a similar attempt upon
-Llanstephan, and, directing their march to that point, invested the
-walls, and summoning the Norman garrison to surrender, were answered by
-a message of contempt and defiance. This, however, served merely to
-stimulate the Cambrian leaders into immediate action; for, after a
-spirited resistance, they carried the fortress by storm or stratagem,
-and planted their own countrymen within its walls. This daring exploit
-was instantly reported to the Norman legions beyond the frontier, who
-made all possible haste to vindicate the tarnished honour of the
-garrison; and mustering all their available strength, soon made their
-appearance under the walls of Llanstephan.
-
-The consequence of this movement was a protracted siege, in the progress
-of which everything promised a successful issue to the Normans. At last,
-while the Cambrian garrison within did little more than regard their
-operations with passive indifference, the signal was given to scale the
-ramparts, and at the word every Norman flew to the assault. Meredydd,
-however, was well prepared to give his unbidden guests a Welsh welcome;
-and while the Normans, like swarming bees, were covering fosse and rock
-with their numbers, he ordered a wedge to be struck home, and no sooner
-was the hammer at work than an avalanche of rocks, suddenly let loose
-from the highest point of the ramparts, overwhelmed the invaders, and
-hurled the scaling party and their ladders into the ravine below. A
-shout of derision followed them from the garrison above; operations on
-both sides were suspended; and with their ranks thus suddenly thinned by
-a catastrophe as unseen as it was disastrous, the Normans sullenly
-withdrew. But it was only to return with increased strength and whetted
-vengeance. They had sworn to extirpate the garrison at their next visit,
-and the Norman leader was not a man to break his word whenever
-stimulated by a thirst of revenge or plunder.
-
-We need not dwell upon the skill and vigour of the besiegers, nor the
-spirited resistance of the garrison. But, in the present instance, the
-siege was conducted in a more regular and systematic method than
-heretofore; they had recourse to all the appliances of military art. The
-warlike engines employed against stubborn fortresses were now called
-into perpetual action, and night and day the _butting_ of the
-battering-rams continued to shake the ramparts, until here and there a
-stone dropping from the mason-work, the whole ramparts began to shake
-under the feet of the besieged. At length, a breach being effected, the
-Normans poured in their best troops, and for a time the conflict was
-maintained with desperate fury. Foot to foot the assailants met, fought,
-and fell where they stood. Too proud to ask quarter, the fiery Cambrian
-rushed upon his adversary with a blind impetuosity that often placed him
-at his mercy; while the Norman, adroit in the management of his weapon,
-and bent on revenging his countrymen, was only stimulated to
-indiscriminate slaughter; and long before sunrise the Norman banner
-waved on the Castle of Llanstephan.
-
-<g>In</g> M.CC.XVI the fortune of war was again invoked. The Norman sway, so
-intolerable to native independence, had extended its influence and
-territory; and with these had inspired into the heart of every
-reflecting Cambrian, a deep sense of the wrongs inflicted upon his
-country. With an irrepressible and Wallace-like determination to crush
-or expel the invader, he rushed to the conflict. This, so far as regards
-Llanstephan, was partly effected by Llewelyn-ap-Iorwerth, who, after a
-successful attack, entered the fortress, slew or captured the garrison,
-and then, to prevent its being again turned against the peace of the
-country, dismantled the walls, threw down the gates, filled up the
-ditches, and left its towers for a habitation to the owls.
-
-The position of the Castle, however, was too advantageous to be
-neglected for more than a season: for, as war continued rampant along
-the marches, the demand for garrisons increased; and Llanstephan was
-again converted into a fortress, and crowded with troops. In this state
-it appears to have continued until the year 1254. But in those days of
-mutual hatred and jealousy--when neighbour plotted against neighbour,
-and friendships cemented at morning were often changed, by some sudden
-exasperation, into mortal enmities before night--the garrison of
-Llanstephan could never remain unconcerned spectators of passing events.
-Llewelyn-ap-Grufydd, whose name is so familiar in the Cambrian annals,
-finding himself in a position to resent, to the very death, some
-personal insult from the haughty castellan of Llanstephan, summoned his
-countrymen to arms. “This offensive castle,” said he, “must be
-demolished! Ye have true British hearts; and if your hands will only
-obey those hearts, my countrymen, before two days elapse ye shall drive
-your goats to pasture in the courtyard, of Llanstephan!”
-
-This old Griffin kept his word--the raid was successful--his flag soon
-waved over the battlements of the castle; and there we leave him for the
-present to enjoy the fruits of his new seigneurie.
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>St. Anton’s Well</g>, in the parish of Llanstephan, was long a place of
-popular resort for invalids. Impregnated by some mysterious qualities
-which escaped detection by the _ancient_ process of analysis, the water
-was lauded as a never-failing resource under those forms of corporeal
-malady which had baffled the skill of physicians, and conducted the
-sufferer to the very brink of despair. It may, therefore, be imagined,
-that the concourse of pilgrims was a source of no little emolument to
-the place, more especially to the “hydropathic” friar of the olden day,
-who presided at the well, and propitiated, for a consideration, the kind
-offices of St. Anthony. But all the medicinal virtues of this holy well
-are now left to the gossip of old tradition; and although the fountain
-bubbles up as fresh, and clear, and salubrious as ever, public faith in
-its qualities has been shaken; and no pilgrim, in these days of
-scientific analysis, ever stoops down to taste the water, and, in
-testimony of its virtue, leaves his crutch behind him.[406]
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-LAUGHARNE CASTLE,
-
-<g>Carmarthenshire</g>.
-
- “Now strike ye the harp that has slumbered so long,
- Till yon mountains re-echo the theme of my song!
- Come forth, ye bold warriors, from forest and tarn,
- And up with the banner of <g>Guy of Laugharne</g>!
-
- The sound is gone forth--all the land is awake,
- Swords flash in the valley, and spears in the brake;
- And, gleaming in arms, at their head ye discern
- The fearless in battle--bold <g>Guy of Laugharne</g>!”
-
-
-[Illustration: T]<g>OWARDS</g> the south end of the town, close on the Bay of
-Carmarthen, are the ruins of the Castle, supposed to have been founded
-by Guido de Brian, in the reign of <g>Henry</g> III., or, according to others,
-to have been rebuilt by him; for it is said that the original castle was
-destroyed by Llywelyn-ap-Iorwerth as early as 1215. If so, the said
-Guido de Brian rebuilt it in the following reign. The remains, which
-have been many years enclosed within the walls of a private garden, and
-consist of a large square building--now a mere shell--are still in
-tolerable preservation. In this parish also are the ruins of what is
-called <g>Roche’s</g> Castle, but which tradition reports to be those of a
-monastery; though of what order, or epoch in the Cambrian annals, is not
-ascertained. This monastic or feudal ruin stands about a mile from the
-Castle of
-
-<g>Laugharne</g>, the subject of our present notice. The ancient appellation of
-this town and castle, according to the native writers, appears to have
-been Llacharn, and seems to have taken its present orthography from the
-general of that name--William Laughearne--who distinguished himself in
-the service of the “Parliament;” and in 1644, after a siege of three
-weeks, took the Castle of “Llacharn.” Its still more ancient name is
-Abercoran, or Cowan--the “Castle on the banks of the Coran”--which, at a
-short distance below the Castle, empties itself into the sea. Local
-tradition says that the parish church formerly stood upon a farm, in an
-island called Craseland--that is, <g>Christ’s-land</g>; but of the sacred
-edifice, not a vestige remains to support the tradition--
-
- “Not an arch of nave or aisle--
- Not a relic marks the pile;
- Shrine and monumental stone,
- Floor and fretted vault are gone!”
-
-The Corporation consists of a portreeve, a recorder, an indefinite
-number of aldermen, two common attorneys, four constables, and
-seventy-six burgesses, who have shares in lands and commons which were
-given to the Corporation by “Sir Guido de Brian the younger, lord
-marcher of the said town and lordship of Laugharne,” in the reign of
-King John. “His cloak or mantle,” says Carlisle, “richly embroidered in
-purple and gold, is still preserved in the parish church.” Laugharne, as
-described by a recent tourist, is one of the neatest and cleanest of the
-smaller towns of South Wales. It has many excellent dwelling-houses, a
-good inn for the accommodation of travellers, and possessing various
-local attractions and a cheap market, many private families have made
-choice of it as a residence which unites pleasure and economy. The
-situation is low and sheltered--bounded by the tidal estuary and the
-Taff, which, at low water, presents a wide extent of dry land--an
-amphibious territory, which the inconstant sea alternately invades and
-deserts.
-
-<g>Guy de Brian</g>--The founder of this name, and his successors, were all in
-their day knights of military renown. Their chief seat was in these
-marches, where, in the 29th Henry III., the first Guy received command
-to assist the Earl of Gloucester in suppressing some new insurrection in
-the country. Toward the close of the same reign, he had summons to
-attend the king at Chester--well fitted with horse and arms--to “prevent
-the incursions of that unruly people.” But not long after this, when the
-breach betwixt the king and divers of the great barons happened, he
-adhered unto them; for it appears that, after the battle of <g>Lewes</g>, where
-the king was made prisoner by the barons, he was constituted by them
-governor of the Castles of Cardigan and Kaermerdyn [or Carmarthen],
-which commission was renewed the next ensuing year; he having then also
-the like trust granted unto him by them for the Castle of Kilgaran. But
-shortly after, when the battle of Evesham “had quelled the power of
-those haughty spirits, he became one of the sureties for Robert de <g>Vere</g>,
-then Earl of Oxford, that he should thenceforth demean himself
-peaceably, and stand to the decree called ‘Dictum de Kenilworth,’ for
-the redemption of his lands.”
-
-<g>Guy of Laugharne</g> married Eve, daughter and heir of Henry de <g>Traci</g>, and
-dying in the 31st Edward I. left a son--then in his twenty-fourth
-year--named also Guy, who being a knight, in the 4th of Edward III., was
-made governor of the Castle of Haverford. “But it was found by
-inquisition, that he complained to the King that Roger de Mortimer,
-late Earl of March, had made seizure of his Barony of Walwaynes Castle,
-in the Co. Pemb., as also of the goods and stock thereon, and had
-delivered them to Guyon his son without warranty. Likewise that the king
-then took notice of certain differences betwixt the said Sir Guy and the
-same Guyon, his son and heir, which were pacified in his presence, by
-the assent of Wenthlian his wife, in regard that himself, at the time,
-was not of sane memory. Moreover, that by this agreement the Barony of
-Chastel-Walweyn was to remain to young <g>Guyon</g> and his heirs, on condition
-that he should be obliged to prefer his two sisters out of the revenues
-thereof: As also that two hundred pounds which Ioan de Carru was bound
-to pay to him, the said Guy, for the marriage of his son Guyon, should
-be paid to Guyon towards the marriage of those his sisters. And that
-because the said Sir Guy was not in his perfect senses, the barony
-should remain in the king’s hands, and livery thereof be made to Guyon
-in performance of those covenants.” Sir Guy being thus out of his
-senses--“I come,” says the Chronicle, “to
-
-“<g>Guy</g>, his son, who was in the Scottish wars, and in consideration of his
-special services had an annuity of forty pounds granted to him by the
-king, to be paid out of the Exchequer during his life. In the 15th Edw.
-III. he was made governor of St. <g>Briavell’s</g>, in Co. Gloc., and warden of
-the Forest of Dene; and, in the following year, was again in the wars of
-France. So likewise in the 19th and 20th, but died June 17, in the 23d
-of the same reign, being then seized of <g>Tallughern</g> in the marches of
-Wales, which he held by the service of finding two soldiers with horses
-harnessed; or eight footmen--according to the custom of those parts--for
-three days at his own proper cost, upon notice given by the king’s
-bayliffe of Kaermerdyn [Carmarthen].”
-
-<g>Guy</g>, his son and heir, was at the time of his father’s demise turned
-thirty years of age, and became a person of very great note in his time.
-He was standard-bearer to the King in that notable fight with the French
-at Calais, 23d Edw. III.; and there behaving himself with great courage
-and valour, had, in recompense thereof, a grant of two hundred merks per
-annum out of the Exchequer during his life, He obtained a charter for
-free-warren in all his demesne lands, as well as at <g>Tallughern</g>, &c.; and
-being still governor of St. Briavell’s, and warden of Dene Forest, he
-had a grant of all the profits and emoluments arising out of the market
-and fairs in that town. He was also constituted one of the commissioners
-for arraying men in the counties of Oxon and Berks, for defence of the
-realm against the French, who then threatened an invasion. But as our
-limits will not admit of our giving his public services in detail, we
-shall merely record them as they were successively performed in the same
-brilliant reign:--He was, with Henry, Duke of Lancaster, sent on an
-embassy to the Pope: attending the King in France, he was made a
-banneret: he was again in the same war, and sent a second time to Rome:
-afterwards pensioned anew for his services: made admiral of the King’s
-fleet, then acting against the French, and constituted, the year
-following, admiral of the Royal fleet from Southampton westwards:
-employed in the Scottish wars: associated with the Earl of Warwick and
-others to cause “satisfaction to be done by the King’s subjects to the
-Scots:” was elected into the most noble Order of the <g>Garter</g>: served
-again in the wars of France: was appointed one of the commissioners to
-treat with the Duke of Brittany and Earl of Montfort for a league of
-friendship with King Richard; and lastly, joined Mortimer, Earl of
-March, in the expedition into Ireland. This concludes his military
-services; but while he had proved himself a valiant son of Mars, and a
-faithful servant of the King, he was a pious son and liberal benefactor
-of the Church, in witness whereof he “founded a chauntry for four
-priests, to sing divine service in the chappel of Our Ladye within his
-mannor of Slapton, Co. Dev., and endowed the same with lands,” &c. He
-married Elizabeth, daughter of William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury,
-and widow of Hugh le Despenser the third, and departed this life on
-Wednesday next after the Feast of the Assumption, 14th Rich. II.,
-leaving Philippa,[407] wife of John Devereux, and Elizabeth, wife of
-Robert Lovel, daughters of his son Guy, who died in his father’s
-lifetime, to be his next heirs to the demesne of Laugharne and other
-baronies.--_Dugdale._
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-CAREW CASTLE.
-
-<g>Pembrokeshire.</g>
-
- “Now is the stately column broke--
- The beacon-light is quench’d in smoke;
- The trumpet’s silver note is still;
- The warder silent on the hill.”
-
-
-<g>The</g> lordly towers and quadrangular pile of Carew Castle rise
-conspicuously above the waters of the surrounding creek, and are
-intimately connected in the spectator’s mind with scenes of bygone
-splendour.[408] It was one of the demesnes belonging to the sovereign
-Princes of South Wales, and, with seven others, was given as a dowery to
-Nesta, daughter of Rhys-ap-Tewdwr, or Tudor, on her marriage with Girald
-de Windsor, who, as already mentioned, was appointed by <g>Henry</g> I.
-lieutenant of these counties. His son William took the name of <g>Carew</g>,
-and the castle passed through various branches of that family, until,
-after the lapse of centuries, it was garrisoned for Charles I., and
-reduced at last, like all its neighbours, by the irresistible hand of
-Cromwell. The noble edifice is built upon a neck of land washed by the
-tide of two estuaries, with a gentle fall towards the water, and
-consists of a superb range of apartments, round a quadrangle, with an
-immense bastion at each corner, containing handsome chambers. Most of
-the rooms had each an elegant chimney-piece of wrought freestone. The
-barbican may still be traced; and through the portcullised gateway we
-pass into the great court, or inner ballium. The ground rooms of the
-north front contain magnificent windows, lighting the great state-room,
-which is one hundred and two feet long, by twenty feet wide. On the east
-side, over the chimney-piece, is an escutcheon, bearing the royal arms,
-in compliment, perhaps, to Henry the Seventh--Richmond,--who is
-traditionally reported to have been munificently lodged and entertained
-here, on his way to Bosworth Field, by the princely Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas,
-lord of the mansion. A handsome suite of rooms is included in the
-octagon tower, which covers the right of the entrance; and along the
-whole course of the south-west side are seen the remains of ancient
-towers, of various height, diameter, and form. The whole of the north
-side is very majestic, ending in the return of a bastion to the east.
-The building is of various epochs--combining the stronghold with the
-ornamented and castellated mansion. Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, according to
-Leland, new-modelled the whole, and added the splendid range of state
-apartments which are the admiration of every traveller in these parts.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-In the extensive deer-park attached to the castle, Sir Rhys held a grand
-tilt and tournament on <g>St. Giles’s</g> day, in honour of his receiving the
-royal badge of a Knight of the Garter. This splendid festival, we are
-told, lasted a week, and was attended by six hundred of the aristocracy
-of Wales--such were the splendid pageantries, and such the numerous
-courtly throng, that once animated and emblazoned the kingly halls of
-Carew. “This festivall and time of jollitie continued the space of five
-dayes,” as the historian relates; “and tentes and pavillons were pitched
-in the parke, neere to the castle, for the spectators of these rare
-solemnities, wheare they quartered all the time, every man according to
-his qualities.”
-
-<g>Sir Rhys</g>-ap-Thomas, lord of this and many other castles, was descended
-from Rhys-ap-Twdor, of the royal house of South Wales; and had been
-appointed governor of these counties by Richard III. One of his
-residences was Abermarles, in the county of Carmarthen--a princely
-mansion in its time, and called by Leland, “a faire house of old Sir
-Rees’s.” Newcastle-in-Emlyn, in the same county--once belonging to the
-princes of Dynevwr, and celebrated in Cambro-British history--was also
-his property, and often honoured with his presence.
-
-By Sir Edward Carew the castle was mortgaged to Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, who
-made it his favourite residence, and there spent the latter part of his
-life. The Bishop of St. David’s, then a constant resident at Lamphey,
-induced Sir Rhys to prefer Carew to his other demesnes; for they were
-devoted friends, and spent much time in the society of each other. In
-the following reign his vast possessions and castellated mansions were
-forfeited by the attainder of his grandson, Rice Griffith. <g>Abermarles</g>
-was granted by the crown to Sir Thomas Jones, Knt.; thence by marriage
-it passed to Sir Francis Cornwallis, whose son leaving issue four
-daughters, and the three youngest married, the estate was divided in
-1793 among their descendants. Abermarles came to Lord Viscount Hawarden,
-who disposed of the mansion, demesne, park, and manor, to the gallant
-Admiral <g>Foley</g>, who led the fleet into action at the battle of the Nile;
-commanded the Britannia in Lord St. Vincent’s action, and on board whose
-ship Nelson shifted his flag at the battle of Copenhagen. He built a
-magnificent mansion near the site of the old house. <g>Emlyn</g> and its
-extensive demesnes became the property of the <g>Vaughans</g> of Golden
-Grove--whose ancestors were successively Lords of Mollingar, Earls of
-Carbery, and Lords of Emlyn--and are now the property of Lord Cawdor, as
-devisee of the late “J. Vaughan, of Golden Grove, Esquire.”
-
-<g>Carew</g>, with its castle and barony, was granted by leases, for specified
-terms, to Sir J. Perrot and others, the remainder of which terms was
-purchased by Sir John Carew, kinsman of Sir Edmund above-mentioned, to
-whom Charles the First restored the fee simple and inheritance, from
-whom it descended to the present owner.[409]
-
-
-
-
-MARGAM ABBEY,
-
-<g>Glamorganshire</g>.
-
- “How many hearts have here grown cold,
- That sleep these mouldering stones among!
- How many beads have here been told--
- How many <g>Matins</g> here been sung!”
-
-
-<g>Of</g> this renowned Abbey the existing remains convey but a very inadequate
-idea. The parish church is formed out of part of the original
-abbey-church; of the chapter-house the walls only remain; and of the
-ruins scattered around, the original use, size, and distribution have
-not yet been ascertained. That it was an extensive edifice, and
-exhibited in its style and proportions all the higher characteristics of
-Cistercian monasteries, may be taken on the credit of what remains. The
-foundation is fixed in the year 1147, and the process of erection must
-have been contemporaneous with that of Tinterne--a temple of the same
-Order, whose taste and affluence, during that and the following century,
-have left so many gorgeous monuments in England and Wales.
-
-Dugdale fixes the date of <g>Margam</g> Abbey in the year 1147. It was founded
-by Robert, Earl of Gloucester--so often named in this work--and
-dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In this, also, the annals of
-Margam--written by a monk of the Abbey--agree, and mention the date of
-its foundation as that of the year in which the founder departed this
-life. The chronicle, printed in the second volume of Gale’s Scriptores,
-called “Annales de Margam,” is a history of general scope, extending
-from the year of the Conquest to that of 1232, and throws but little
-light upon the particular affairs of the Monastery in which it was
-written. It is a history of the _times_, not of the Abbey. It gives the
-names, however, of four abbots, mentions three or four incursions of the
-Welsh, and remarks that Margam and Beaulieu in Hampshire were the only
-monasteries among the Cistercians that were released from King John’s
-extortions in 1210, to which reference has been already made in our
-notice of Tinterne. The plea upon which Margam escaped these severe
-taxations was, that, both in his progress to and from Ireland, the King
-and his suite had been liberally entertained by the abbot and monks of
-Margam.
-
-With respect to the inroads noticed in these “Annals,” we are told
-that--“This year, M.C.LXI, in the month of October, the Welsh burnt down
-our granary or barn; an act which was quickly followed by divine
-vengeance.” Again, “In M.CC.XXIII, (he says,) in the course of one week,
-wicked men have destroyed upwards of a thousand of our sheep, with two
-houses. In the following year they wantonly slew two of our servants in
-one day, while engaged in the performance of their duty; and also,
-immediately thereafter, a youth who had charge of the flock.” But the
-fourth irruption was still more serious; for “they burnt to the very
-ground our grange at Penwith, with many cattle, including the steers;
-they next depopulated the grange of Rossaulin, burnt many sheep, drove
-off the cows, and put one of our servants wantonly to death; they then
-took the cattle of the grange of Theodore Twdor, killed many on the
-road, took the rest with them. Lastly, they set fire to the Abbey houses
-in different places, and great were the flocks that perished in the
-flames.”--_Annal. de Marg. Scriptores a T. Gale_, tom. ii. pp. 7, 16,
-17.
-
-Leland ascribes to this Abbey the privilege of sanctuary: “Habet
-privilegium sanctuarii, sed quo rarissime aut nunquam utuntur Cambri--”
-but of which the natives very rarely or never made any use. According to
-the same authority, Margam Abbey had four daughter-houses in Ireland,
-namely--Kyrideyson, S. Crux, Maio, and Chorus Benedictus.
-
-<g>Abbots.</g>--William, the first Abbot, died in M.C.LIII; Andrew, the second,
-two years later; and it was probably in the short time of the latter, or
-that of his successor, that the altar of the Holy Trinity in the abbey
-church was consecrated by William, Bishop of Llandaff. Gilbert, the
-third Abbot, resigned in July, M.CC.XIII, died the following year at
-Kirksted, and was succeeded by Abbot John, of whom nothing is recorded
-by the annalist.
-
-A large collection of original charters belonging to this Abbey is still
-preserved with the Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum. The
-common seal of the Abbey, appendant to a deed, dated 1518, has been
-elegantly lithographed, as we read in the Monasticon, by the care of the
-Rev. W. Traherne. At the Dissolution, the sum total of the revenues of
-Margam Abbey amounted to one hundred and eighty-eight pounds, fourteen
-shillings sterling; the clear income to seven pounds less. The site was
-granted by the King to Sir Rees Maxwell, Knt. The Abbey was afterwards
-the seat of Thomas, Lord Mansell; and passed afterwards into the Talbot
-family. In early times the buildings of this Abbey are described as
-affording specimens of the richest style of conventual architecture. But
-these characteristics are no longer applicable to the, ruins before us;
-for time and the quarry-man, probably, have done much to deface the
-beauty and even form of the original structure.
-
-[Illustration: Crypt--Margam Abbey.]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: APPENDIX.]
-
-
-<g>Osborne</g>, p. 6.--Walter, a Norman knight, and a great favourite of
-William the Conqueror, was one summer evening playing at chess with the
-King, and after a time won all he played for. The King then threw down
-the board, and with his usual oath exclaimed he had nothing more to
-lose. Walter, however, being of a different opinion, replied--“Sir, here
-is land.” “True,” said the King; “and if thou beatest me this time,
-thine be all the land on this side the bourne or river which thou canst
-see where thou now standest.” This said, to it they went once more, and
-knight Walter again won the game, whereupon the King, starting up and
-slapping him on the shoulder, said, “Henceforth thou shalt be called
-Ousebourne.” And hence, it is supposed, came the name afterwards so
-famous.--[Life of Corinni, Pegge’s Curialia Miscellanea, p. 319. Lower,
-156.]
-
-<g>Tinterne</g>, p. 53.--The drinking after Complins of the prioress of Rumsey
-has crept into all our familiar books. Among the injunctions to the
-convent of Appleton, anno. 1489, is the following:--“_Item_, That none
-of your sisters use the _ale-house_, nor the water syde, where course of
-strangers dayly resorte.” In another it was inquired: “Whether any of
-the susters doe cherish theme moste that have any monye, and causeth
-them to spende the same, when they be within, at good ale, or
-otherwise?” _Item._--“Whether any of the susters be commonlye drunke?”
-There were, however, many honourable exceptions. Pensions were granted
-at the Dissolution according to the character of the monastic brothers
-and sisters, which it was the business of the King’s visitors to
-investigate; and recommend when approved. Rahdal Wylmyston, monk of
-Norton, they pronounced to be “a good, religious man, discreet, and
-well-grounded in learning--having many good qualities.” The nunnery of
-Legborne petitioned to be preserved, saying--“We trust in God, ye shall
-here no complaints against us, nether in our living nor
-hospitalitie-keeping.”--[_See Fosb., quoting M.S. Cott., Cleop._ E. iv.,
-370, B.]
-
-TINTERNE, p. 57.--That the learning of those times was rather scanty,
-even among the higher ecclesiastics, we have the testimony of
-Pitscottie:--Forman, who succeeded to the archbishopric of St.
-Andrew’s--on the death of his predecessor at the battle of Flodden--owed
-his sudden rise to the partiality of Pope Leo X. Being then at Rome, the
-new archbishop thought it decorous to give a banquet to his Holiness and
-the dignitaries of his court, before setting out on his journey
-homeward. “When the dinner came up,” says the historian, “the Pope and
-cardinals placed, and sat down according to their estate; then the use
-and custom was, that, at the beginning of the meat, he that aught
-[owned] the house, and made the banquet, should say grace and bless the
-meat. And so they required the holy bishop to say the grace, who was not
-a good scholar, and had not good Latin, but began rudely in the Scottish
-fashion in this manner, saying--‘_Benedicite_,’ believing that they
-should have answered, _Dominus_. But they answered _Dans_, in the
-Italian fashion, which put this noble bishop bye his intendiment, that
-he wist not how to proceed forward; but happened out, in good Scottish,
-in this manner, the which they understood not, saying--‘To the devil I
-give ye all, fause carles, in nomini Patriæ, Filii, and Spiritus
-Sancti!’ Amen, quoth they! Then the bishop and his men leugh. And the
-bishop shewed the Pope the manner that he was not a good clerk, and his
-cardinals had put him bye his intendiment, and therefore he gave them
-all to the devil in good Scottish; and then the Pope leugh among the
-rest.”--[_Pitscottie, Hist. Scotl._ p. 166, 299], quoted by Morton.
-
-TINTERNE, p. 76.--Wyat, who was attached to the Reformers, before their
-tenets were openly proclaimed in this country, is said to have
-accelerated the downfall of monastic institutions by the following
-jest:--During a conversation with the King on the projected suppression
-of monasteries, Henry observed to the poet that he foresaw great alarm
-would be caused throughout the country if the Crown were to resume the
-immense property then accumulated by the church. Wyat, who saw that this
-scruple might produce hesitation, and perhaps obstruction in the
-measures then in progress, replied with a suggestion--“True, your
-highness; but what if the rooks’ nests were buttered?” Henry, it is
-said, took the hint, and, by distributing valuable church lands among
-the nobility, diminished the danger and odium of an enterprise at once
-so daring and unpopular.
-
-<g>Raglan</g>, p. 132.--David Gam, the Fluellin of Shakspeare, and whose name
-has been already noticed in the article on Raglan, was the son of
-Llewelyn ap Howel Vychan, of Brecknock, by Maud, daughter of Lefan ap
-Rhys ap Ivor ap Elvel. The residence of this celebrated warrior was Old
-Court, the site of which is in a field adjoining Llandeilo-Cresseny
-House, midway between Abergavenny and Monmouth. David Gam, being the
-officer sent to reconnoitre the French army before the battle of
-Agincourt, said to the King on his return--“An’t please you, my liege,
-they are enough to be killed, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough
-to ran away.” In this battle, David, with his son-in-law, Roger Vychan
-[Vaughan], and his relative, Walter Lloyd, rescued the King when
-surrounded by his foes--saved his life at the expense of their own--and
-out of the eighteen French cavaliers slew fourteen.
-
-The King, after this signal victory, approached the spot where they lay
-in the agonies of death, and bestowed on them the only reward that could
-then be paid to their valour--to wit, the honour of knighthood.
-Shakspeare, as we have observed, designated this fiery soldier by the
-name of Fluellin. He resided often at Peytyn-Gwyn, near Brecon, and many
-of his descendants at Tregaer; others of the family were buried in
-Christ’s Church, Brecon. There are almshouses in the parish of St.
-David’s, Brecon, with a portion of garden-ground attached to each, given
-by one of the Games or Gams of Newton, for thirteen female
-inmates--decayed housekeepers in the town of Brecon.--[_Owen Glendower,
-by Thomas._]
-
-In our notice of the <g>Founders</g> of Raglan, from other historical sources,
-this David is named Sir Richard Gam, whose daughter, after the loss of
-her husband, Sir Roger Vaughan, at Agincourt, espoused Sir William ap
-Thomas, the knight of Raglan.
-
-RAGLAN, p. 174.--_Inter Carolinum_--the King’s route after Naseby fight.
-
-June 14. Battle of Naseby, 1645.
- 15. Lichfield--at the governor’s in the close.
-Mond. 16. Mrs. (Widow) Barnford’s, Wolverhampton.
- 17. The “Angel” at Bewdley (two nights), 17th and 18th.
- 19. Dined at Bramyard, supped at Hereford (and remained).
-July 1. (Tuesday) To Campson, dinner, Mr. Pritchard’s--to Abergavenny,
- supper, at Mr. Guncer’s (staid second).
- 3. To <g>Raglan</g>, supper, Marquis of Worcester, remained till
-Wed. 16. To Tridegur, to dinner--Cardiff, supper, Sir T. Timel’s--defrayed
- at the country’s charge.
- 18. Back to <g>Raglan</g> to dinner, remained till
- 22. To Mr. Moore’s of the Creek, near Black Rock, and came back to
- supper at Raglan.
-
-“The Scots approach, and our own causeless apprehension of fear made us
-demur and doubt; on the first, what to resolve; and in the latter, how
-to steer our resolutions, which involved us in a most disastrous
-condition.
-
-Thurs. 24. From Raglan to Mr. Moore’s of the Creek, to pass over at the Black
- Rock for Bristol; but his Majesty, sitting in council, and advising
- to the contrary, marched only with his own servants and
- troops that night to Newport-on-Usk; lay at Mrs. Pritty’s.
- 25. To Ruppera, Sir Philip Morgan’s (rested).
-Tues. 29. To Cardiff, dinner at the governor’s, at our own charge.
-Aug. 5. (Tuesday) To Glancayah, Mr. Pritchard’s, dinner.
-Wed. 6. To Gumevit, Sir Henry Williams’, dinner.
- “ To Old Radnor, supper, a yeoman’s house.
- “ The Court dispersed.
-
-Thurs. 7. Ludlow Castle, to dinner, Colonel Woodhouse’s.
-Sept. 7. (Sunday) Raglan Castle, supper. 8th, Abergavenny.
-Sund. 14. ib. supper.
-
-Mond. 15. Marched halfway to Bramyard, but there was _leo in intinere_, and so
- back to Hereford again.”--[Extract from the “_Itinerarium_.”]
-
-RAGLAN LIBRARY, p. 195.--The havoc and devestation of the ancient
-British MSS. is a subject of continual regret to the historian,
-antiquary, and general scholar. Bangor-is-Coed, according to Laugharne
-and Humphrey Llwyd, was furnished with a valuable library, which was
-burnt to ashes by Edelfrid, when he massacred its inmates, and destroyed
-the college--not much less, as Bishop Lloyd asserts, than one of our
-present universities. A chest of records, appertaining to the see of St.
-David’s, was destroyed by a flood; and great part of the MSS. of British
-authors were burnt during the civil wars.
-
-In those calamitous times, when monuments of taste and literature were
-destroyed or defaced by miscreants more ignorant and rapacious than
-Goths and Vandals, the superb library at <g>Raglan Castle</g> met with the same
-fate as other splendid establishments, when objects of military spoil or
-fanatical rage. In an age comparatively learned, the monks termed all
-ancient MSS. _vetusta et inutilia_; and little attention, we have reason
-to believe, was paid by the visitors at the Dissolution--mostly ill
-qualified for the task--to discriminate between true history and Romish
-legends, to select and preserve works of merit, and to reject the trash
-hoarded up by superstition.--[_Fenton’s Pemb.; Mem. Owen Glendower, Rev.
-T. Thomas_, 29.]
-
-RAGLAN, p. 221.--<g>Oldcastle</g> was the dissolute companion of Henry V. when
-Prince of Wales, and afterwards a Wickliffite and reformer. He was
-sacrificed by his youthful companion to an ecclesiastical bribe,
-condemned and executed for heresy and rebellion. Lord Orford observes,
-that Cobham was the first author, as well as the first martyr among our
-nobility: a man whose virtues made him a reformer; whose valour, a
-martyr; whose martyrdom, an enthusiast. He was suspended by a chain
-fastened round his waist, over a slow fire. The bringing him to the
-stake was considered a meritorious affair in those times of gross
-superstition. The lordship of Broniarth was granted to the family of
-Tanad, the fifth of Henry V.; and other gentlemen enjoyed several
-privileges from Edward Charleton, Lord Powys, for the assistance they
-gave in the apprehension of Oldcastle, whose son-in-law, Sir John Gray,
-brought him a prisoner to London; and for this service, Lord Powys
-received the thanks of Parliament. Oldcastle, the residence of Lord
-Cobham, is situated on the slope of the Black Mountains, near the road
-to Longtown, and about four miles from Llanfihangel. The old castle was
-demolished, and a farm-house constructed from the materials.
-
---[_Owen Glendower_, p. 122.]
-
-<g>Pembroke Castle</g>, p. 300.--Welsh bards are thus apostrophized by
-Drayton:--
-
- “Oh, memorable Bards! of unmix’d blood, which still
- Posterity shall praise for your so wondrous skill;
- That in your noble songs the long descents have kept
- Of your great heroes, else in Lethé that had slept
- With theirs, whose ignorant pride your labours have disdained,
- How much from time and them, how bravely you have gained.
- ‘Musician,’ ‘herald,’ ‘bard,’ thrice mayest thou be renowned!
- And with three several wreaths immortally be crowned!
- Who, when to <g>Pembroke</g> called, before the English king,
- And to thy powerful harp commanded there to sing,
- Of famous <g>Arthur</g> told’st, and where he was interred,
- In which those ‘retchless’ times had long and blindly erred.
- And ignorance had brought the world to such a pass,
- As now, which scarce believed that <g>Arthur</g> ever was!
- But when King <g>Henry</g> sent the reported place to view,
- He found that man of men, and what thou said’st was true.
- Here, then, I cannot choose but bitterly exclaim
- Against those fools that all _Antiquity_ defame;
- Because they have found out some credulous ages laid
- Slight fictions with the truth, whilst truth on rumour staid.
- And that our forward times (perceiving the former neglect
- A former of her had), to purchase her respect,
- With toys then trimmed her up, the drowsy world to allure,
- And lent her what it thought might appetite procure.
- To man, whose mind doth still variety pursue,” &c., 217
-.
-
-So did Mars reverence the Muses, that, if a Welsh bard struck his harp
-at the moment of encounter, the hostile spirit pervading both armies was
-suddenly subdued; their swords were returned bloodless to the scabbards;
-and they who had come forth to mutual slaughter, united in the song of
-peace and goodwill to men.
-
-PEMBROKE, p. 301.--“The castel,” says Leland, “standith hard by the
-waull on a hard rocke, and is verie large and strong, being doble
-warded. In the utter warde I saw the chambre where Kinge Henri VII. was
-borne, in knowledge whereof a chyromancy is now made with the armes and
-badges of this kinge. In the botome of the great stronge rownd tower in
-the inner ward, is a marvellus vault called the <g>Hogan</g>. The top of this
-rownd tower is gathered with a rofe of stone, almost in _conum_; the
-topp whereoff is keverid with a flat mille stone.”
-
-The outer ward, here mentioned, was entered from the tower by a grand
-gateway, yet standing, of prodigious strength, and defended by two round
-towers, one on each side.
-
-PEMBROKE, p. 302.--The small remains of the Ely Tower, in Brecknock
-Castle, still exist. The fate of Morton and Buckingham, though their
-views were similar, were very unlike. Morton was meritoriously elevated
-to the dignities of a Cardinal, and Archbishop of Canterbury, for his
-services: while Buckingham was intercepted, and lost his head at
-Salisbury.[410] He discovered, too late, that tyrants pull down those
-scaffolds which elevated them to power. His son Edward was restored by
-Henry VII., but through the machinations of Wolsey fell into disgrace,
-and was beheaded by Henry VIII. for the whimsical alleged crime of
-consulting a _wizard_ about the succession. When the Emperor Charles V.
-heard of his death, he observed--“A butcher’s dog has torn down the
-finest buck in England.”[411]
-
-PEMBROKE, p. 303.--On the 7th of December, 1780, the following letter
-from the Lord Bishop of St. David’s, and the Justices of the County of
-Pembroke, to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, was read at the Society of
-Antiquaries of London, being copied from the “Scrinia Burleighiana,”
-Vol. 79, No. 3, then in the library of James West, Esq., at Alscot.
-
-By this letter is seen the great importance attached to Pembroke, both
-as a fortress, a seaport, a safe bay, and a productive soil, but at that
-time quite unprotected against foreign invasion. It runs thus:--
-
-“Right Honorable our singular good Lorde.--The bounden dutie we owe to
-her Maᵗⁱᵉ, the consience we have for safegarde of the whole Realme, and
-the care that in nature and reason wee carry of this our countrie, have
-emboldened us to offer this Discourse unto yʳ Honʳ. concerninge the
-safetie of them and us all. It becometh us not to feare, neither do we
-doubte of the wise and grave consideracon that yʳ Lp. and the rest of
-the LLˢ. moste honourable privie counsaill, have had, and still have,
-for yᵉ preservacon of her Maᵗⁱᵉ and the realme; but yett, fearing yʳ
-want of due informacon touching the estate of Mylforde Haven, and the
-p’tes adjoining, It may please you to understande that yᵉ Haven itself,
-being neyther barred to hynder entrie, nor to be embayed by anye wyndes
-to lett yssuinge forthe, is a sufficient harborough for an infynite
-number of Ships; wᶜʰ haven beying once gotten by the enemye, maie drawe
-on such fortificacon of Pembrock Towne and Castle, and the Towne and
-Castle of Tynby, with other places nere unto yᵐ, as infynite nombers of
-men, and greate expense of treasure, will hardely in a long tyme remove
-the enemye, during which tyme her Maᵗⁱᵉ shall loose a fertyle countrey,
-wᶜʰ yeldes her Maᵗⁱᵉ xii. lib. by yeere, and more in revenue paide to
-her Maᵗⁱᵉ’ˢ Receaver, besides all other Receipts, both temporal and
-ecclesiasticall, as tenthes, subsidies, &c.
-
-“<g>Also</g>, it is to be remembred that the soyle nere the sayde haven yeldeth
-corn in such aboundance, as wolde suffice to maynteigne a greate armye:
-and the sea coasts nere about it yelde greate plenty of fishe. The
-harbour also standeth very commodiouslye to receave victualls from
-Ffrance, Brytaine, or Spayne, all wᶜʰ things maie be an occasion to move
-the enemye to affect that place beffore others.
-
-“<g>Also</g>, there are in Pembrockshire xviii. castles, of wᶜʰ tho’ there be
-but twoe or three in reparacon, yett are the rest places of greate
-strength, and easylie to be fortyfied by the enemye; some of wᶜʰ are so
-seated naturally for strength, as theye seeme ympregnable.
-
-“<g>Also</g>, there are in that shire dyvers sconces or forts of earth, raysed
-in greate height wᵗʰ greate rampiers and dytches to the number of vi. or
-vii., wᶜʰ in tymes past have been places of strength in tyme of war: All
-wᶜʰ castles and forts wolde yelde greate advantage to the enemyes to
-strengthen themselves in such sorte, that it wolde be an infynite charge
-to remove them from thence. Agayne, the same is situate within vii.
-hours sailing of Waterforde and Wexforde, in Yrelande; so as yf the
-enemye have an intencon to invade Yrelande, his harborough in this haven
-maie serve him to greate purpose.
-
-“<g>Ffurthermore</g>, being lorde, as it weare, of thease seas, by possessing
-this harbour, what spoile he maie make along Seaverne on both sides,
-even to Bristoll, maie be easelie conjectured. And if he--wᶜʰ God
-forbidd--shᵈ enjoye Brytanie withall, our Englishe marchants can have no
-trade, wᶜʰ will decrease her Highness’ customes and decaie the navy.
-
-“<g>If</g> it be thought that he may be kept from landinge, neyther the force
-of men, nor furniture here, will serve the turne; considering here be
-manie places where he may easelie land, and he maie com upon us within
-half a daie’s saylinge, we having no ships at sea to descry hym
-sooner--and how then our small forces may be in a readyness to
-withstande hym, wee referr to yʳ Honʳ’ˢ judgment. <g>And</g> if it be thought
-that her Maᵗⁱᵉ’ˢ Navy Royall be able to conquer them being once in this
-haven, and that by them fortyfied, yt woulde be founde very harde, by
-reason that, uppon every little storme, they shall be in greate danger
-of wrack, and no lande forces are able to expell them: Whereupon we
-humblie praie yʳ Lp. to consider whether it be not expedient for the
-withstanding of the enemye, that he obtayne not this harborough, to have
-a convenient number of ships of warr, and fortyficacons to defende the
-same, wᶜʰ preparacon, if the enemye might perceave, wee beleve verelie
-it woulde alter his mynde from adventuringe his navy uppon this coaste.
-<g>And</g> whereas, of late, Mr. Pawle Ivye was sent hither to survey yᵉ Haven,
-and to consider of fitt places for fortyficacon, what report he hath
-made of his opinyon wee know not: but sure wee are, that his abode about
-that service was verie short, and his survey verie speedilie dispatched;
-so that, because none of us were privye to his entennt or conceyte, wee
-do yet retayne some hope that, if some other man of experience were
-sentt downe hither, to consider of all the said circumstances, some such
-report woulde happlie be made unto yʳ Honʳ. and the reste, as some
-better event might ensue for the safetie of this poore countrey, and the
-whole realme, than as yett, for ought we knowe, hath beene determined
-uppon: especiallie yf the partie shall have instruccons to viewe the
-Towne and Castle of <g>Tynby</g>, being a place wᶜʰ may be easelie made of
-exceedinge strenth, and was not seene by Mr. Ivye nearer than two myles
-distance, for aught that we can learne....”
-
-PEMBROKE CASTLE.--“Of William Earl of Pembroke,” says Clarendon, “a
-short story may be here not unfitly inserted:--It being very frequently
-mentioned by a person of known integrity, whose character is here
-undertaken to be set down, and who, at that time, being on his way to
-London, met, at Maidenhead, some persons of quality, of relation or
-dependence upon the Earl of Pembroke. These were Sir Charles Morgan,
-commonly called ‘General’ Morgan, who had commanded an army in Germany,
-and defended Stoad; Dr. Field, then Bishop of St. David’s; and Dr.
-Chafin, the Earl’s then chaplain in his house, and much in his favour.
-At supper, one of them drank a health to the Lord Steward;[412] upon
-which another of them said, that he believed his lord was at that time
-very merry, for he had now outlived the day which his tutor, Sandford,
-had prognosticated, upon his nativity, he ‘would not outlive.’ But he
-had done it now, for that was his birthday, which completed his age to
-fifty years. The next morning, however, by the time they came to
-Colebrook, they met with the news of his death!” [He died “exceedingly
-lamented by men of all qualities, and left many of his dependents and
-servants owners of good estates, raised out of his employments and
-bounty.”]
-
- * * * * *
-
-<g>Benedictine Rule.</g>--The Abbot is presumed to represent Jesus Christ: he
-is authorised to summon all his monks to council in important affairs,
-and afterwards to adopt and carry into practice what he considers the
-best advice. He is entitled to obedience without delay; commands
-silence; permits no scurrility, idle or angry words, or such as tend to
-provoke unseemly mirth or laughter. The rule enjoins humility, patience,
-and forbearance, under all injuries and provocations; manifestation or
-confession of secret faults to be made to the Abbot; contentment with
-the meanest things in food, dress, and employments; not to speak unless
-when asked; to observe habitual gravity; to keep the head and eyes
-inclined downwards to the earth; to rise to church service two hours
-after midnight; the <g>Psalter</g> to be sung through once a week; to leave the
-church together, at a sign from the Superior; and in large abbeys every
-ten monks to be under the surveillance of a Dean.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-<g>Further</g>: The <g>Rule</g> permits light in the dormitory; to sleep, young and
-old, in their clothes, with their girdles on, as servants ready to
-attend their Lord, come he at what hour he may. Upon cases of
-delinquency, where admonition has failed to produce reformation, public
-reprehension and excommunication are pronounced, and on failure of these
-also to effect a change, recourse is to be had to corporal chastisement.
-
-<g>For faults</g> of a lighter nature, the offender is subjected to the smaller
-and temporary excommunication of eating alone, after the brotherhood
-have finished; but for graver offences, the delinquent is banished from
-the public table, excluded from prayer and society, neither himself nor
-his food to receive the benediction, and those who join or speak to him
-to be placed under the ban of excommunication. In the meantime the
-Abbot, with paternal solicitude for his penitence and restoration,
-deputes certain of the elder brethren to exhort him to humility, and to
-make such reparation and satisfaction as the infringement of the rule
-demands. The whole congregation meanwhile are to pray for him. If all
-these means should fail to attain the object in view, the last step to
-be taken is that of formal expulsion from the convent; and no person so
-expelled can be received back after the third expulsion. Children are to
-be punished by fasting or whipping.
-
-<g>The Cellarer</g> is to do nothing without the Abbot’s order; and in large
-houses he is allowed to have assistants. Habits and goods of the house
-to be under the custody of proper officers, and the Abbot to have an
-account of them. There is to be no [private] property: distribution of
-things needful, to be made according to every one’s necessities. The
-monks are to serve weekly, and by turns, in the kitchen and at table.
-Upon having their weeks, both he that left it, and he that began it, to
-wash the feet of the others; on Saturdays, to clean all the plates, and
-the linen used in the washing of feet; to replace all the dishes clean
-and whole in the hands of the Cellarer, who is to give them to the new
-Hebdomadary. These officers are to have drink and food before the
-others, and above the common allowance, so that they may wait upon them
-with cheerfulness. On solemn days, both on entering and retiring from
-office, the Hebdomadaries are to continue till the <g>masses</g>. After matins
-on the Sunday, they are to kneel and beg the others to pray for them;
-those going out are then to say a certain prayer three times, and
-receive the <g>benediction</g>, whilst the one coming in does the same, and
-after benediction goes into office.
-
-<g>The Infirmary.</g>--This department had its particular officer, who had the
-direction of the baths, and administration of the medicine and diet
-ordered for the sick. The rule was mitigated in favour of children and
-aged men, who had leave to anticipate the usual hours of eating. The
-refection, as already described, was conducted in silence--all listening
-to the Scripture-<g>reader</g>, whose voice alone was heard during the repast.
-Whatever was wanted, was asked for by sign. The reader was appointed
-weekly. The dinner consisted of two dishes only, with fruit; and to each
-monk, daily, one pound of bread was distributed, which was to suffice
-for both dinner and supper. No animal food was allowed, except to the
-sick and aged in the infirmary. The allowance of wine was three-quarters
-of a pint per day. From Holyrood-day to Lent, the dinner hour was at
-<g>nones</g>; in Lent till Easter, at six o’clock; from Easter to Pentecost, at
-<g>sext</g>; and all summer, except on Wednesdays and Fridays, at <g>nones</g>. The
-collation, or spiritual lecture, was given every night before
-<g>complin</g>--that is, after supper; and complin finished, they were enjoined
-strict silence.
-
-Tardiness at church or table was punished with loss of rank, prohibition
-of wine, or their usual allowance, or sitting in the place of disgrace.
-The excommunicated were condemned to make prostration with the face
-toward the ground, and without the church gate, when the monks proceed
-to prayers. For any fault in the <g>chant</g>, he who made it was to ask
-immediate pardon; and in other places, breaking of any utensil, or
-neglect of duty, was to be spontaneously acknowledged before the Abbot
-and congregation. The signal for repairing to church was given by the
-<g>Abbot</g>; and nobody was to sing or read there without his leave.
-
-<g>Daily work</g> was to be done from <g>prime</g> till near ten o’clock, from <g>Easter</g>
-till the kalends of October, and from ten till twelve o’clock was to be
-spent in reading. After refection at noon, the monks were allowed to
-take their <g>meridian</g> or siesta; but those who preferred reading were
-allowed to do so. After nones, labour was recommenced and continued
-until the evening, from the kalends of October until Lent, reading till
-eight A.M., then <g>Tierce</g>, and afterwards labour until nones. After
-refection they had reading or psalmody. In Lent they had reading until
-tierce; doing what was ordered [in the Ritual] until ten--with the
-delivery of the books at their season.[413] It was the duty of the
-<g>Senior</g> to go round the house, and see that the monks were not idle. On
-Sunday, all spent their time in reading--except the officers, and the
-idle and infirm, who had work given them. During Lent, abstinence from
-meat, drink, and sleep, with a grave, pious, and solemn demeanour, are
-more strictly enjoined, and, if need be, enforced. If engaged in a
-journey, the monks are to halt wherever they may happen to be at the
-time, and there say the canonical hours. [An instance of this
-punctuality has been given in our account of Tinterne Abbey.] Monks
-staying out of convent beyond a day, are not to eat in secular society
-without leave of the Abbot. The church was never to be used but for the
-solemnity of prayer: any other use was to be considered desecration in
-its gravest sense.
-
-<g>Strangers</g> are to be received by the monks to join them in prayers--with
-the salutation of peace, and prostration, and washing of feet, as of
-<g>Christ</g>, whom they represent. They are then led to prayers; the
-Scriptures are read to them; after which the Prior, except on very
-solemn occasions, is permitted to break his fast. The <g>Abbot’s</g> kitchen
-and that of the visitors, are to be kept separate; so that the brethren
-may not be disturbed by guests or pilgrims coming in at unseasonable
-hours. No letters or presents can be received without leave from the
-Abbot. When he has no strangers in the convent, the Abbot may invite to
-his table certain of the brotherhood in rotation.
-
-<g>Workmen</g> or artisans in the house are to labour for the common profit.
-Novices are to be tried by austerities, denials, and hard essays, before
-admission: their term of probation to comprise twelve months; in the
-interim, the rule is to be read to them every fourth month. They are
-then to be admitted by a petition laid upon the <g>Altar</g>, and by
-prostration at the feet of all the monks. [See the forms already given
-in our notice of Tinterne Abbey.]
-
-<g>Parents</g> are to dedicate their children to the service of God, by
-wrapping their hands in the pall of the altar; promising to leave
-_nothing_ to them that might serve as a temptation to their leaving the
-house or convent for the world; but if they bring anything with them,
-the use of it is to be reserved during their lives.
-
-<g>Priests</g> requesting admission are to be tried by delays; to sit near the
-Abbot, and conform to the <g>rule</g>, but not to exercise sacerdotal functions
-without special leave. Stranger monks are to be received hospitably,
-and, if shown to be of good character and morals, invited to take up
-their abode. Monks who have been ordained priests, are to be subject to
-the <g>rule</g> and officers of the establishment, or to incur the pain of
-expulsion.
-
-<g>Precedence</g> is to be taken in accordance with the time of profession: the
-elders are to address the juniors as _brothers_; and the latter to
-address the former as _nonnos_, or fathers; the Abbot to be styled
-Dominus, or father-abbot. When two monks meet, the junior is to ask the
-benediction of his senior; and when he passes by, the junior is
-respectfully to rise, offer him his seat, and not to sit down again
-until invited.
-
-<g>The Election</g> of abbots was determined by the whole society, and a
-plurality of votes; the grand recommendation of the candidate for that
-sacred office, being the purity of his life and conduct. The prior was
-elected by the Abbot, who could depose him for disobedience, or any
-flagrant abuse of power or neglect of duty. Among the minor officials--
-
-<g>The Abbey Porter</g> was required to be a shrewd old man--able to give and
-receive an answer; he was to have a cell near the gatehouse, and a
-junior porter for his companion. It was very desirable, in order to
-prevent the habit of straying beyond the abbey walls, to have a mill,
-well, bakehouse, and other domestic offices within the house, with a
-garden and orchard adjoining. Monks going on a journey are to have the
-prayers of the congregation beforehand; and on their return to the
-convent, they are to confess and solicit pardon for any excesses they
-may have committed whilst abroad.
-
-<g>Undertakings</g>, which had subsequently appeared difficult or even
-impossible to carry out, agreeably to the orders of the Superior, were
-to be humbly represented to him; but if he persisted, then the
-assistance of God was to be implored, and relied upon, for their final
-accomplishment. No monk was permitted to defend or excuse the
-delinquency of a brother: no blow was to be inflicted--no
-excommunication carried into effect--without the knowledge and express
-sanction of the Abbot. In the correction of children and pupils, a
-discretionary power was allowed. The duty of mutual obedience was
-straitly enjoined; but no member was permitted, in obedience to orders,
-to give to any private person a preference over his monastic superiors.
-And the apology to be made and demanded in such cases, was prostration
-at the feet of the superiors, until their anger or displeasure was
-appeased, the rule of the institution vindicated, and the offender
-brought to a due sense of his degradation.[414]
-
-<g>Habit.</g>--“As for the habits of the Benedictine monks,” says Stevens,
-“they were left to the discretion of the abbots, according to the nature
-and temperature of the country, as it was hotter or colder.” Nothing
-could be more sensible and considerate; for it cannot be doubted that a
-neglect of this must be attended with pernicious consequences to the
-general health of any society, that numbered amongst its members the
-natives of various climates, which, in point of dress, required a
-special regulation.
-
-In temperate climates, a <g>Cowl</g> and a tunic were sufficient--the cowl of a
-thicker texture for winter, and a thinner for summer--with a scapular to
-work in. The scapular was the upper garment during the time of labour,
-which was thrown off at pleasure, and the cowl worn during the remainder
-of the day. Every monk had two <g>tunics</g> and two cowls, either to change at
-night or to have them washed. The stuff of which they were made, was to
-be the cheapest the country afforded. To the end that no man might have
-any property--that is, anything that he might call his own--the Abbot
-supplied them all with everything necessary in point of clothing.
-Besides the habit, each monk had a handkerchief, a knife, a needle, a
-steel pen, and tablets to write upon. Their beds were mats, with a straw
-paillasse, a piece of serge, a blanket, and a pillow.
-
-<g>St. Benedict</g> did not decide of what colour the habit should be; but it
-appears, from the inspection of ancient pictures, that the garment worn
-by the first Benedictines was white, and the scapular black--that the
-scapular then worn was not of the same shape as that used by the Order
-in the present day. It was more like the jerkins or jackets worn by
-sailors, except that it was not open in front, but only a little in the
-sides. That description of garment had been long in use before the
-common garment, worn by the peasantry and poor people, was introduced.
-This will be understood by referring to the woodcut.
-
-A black woollen robe covers the whole body and feet; the hood is loose,
-obtuse, oval, and broad; the scapulary is plain, of the breadth of the
-abdomen; the girdle is broad, with a black cowl descending to the
-ancles. The inner tunics, in general, are black, and the shirt is narrow
-at the wrist; but in the house, the monk lays aside the hood, girds his
-scapulary, and wears a crested or twofold cap on his head. Owing to the
-sombre hue that prevailed in their habit, they were called <g>Black
-Friars</g>.[415]
-
-<g>The Nuns</g> of this Order wear a black robe, with a scapular of the same
-colour and texture; and under this black robe they wear a tunic of wool
-that has not been dyed; others wear the tunic quite white. In the choir,
-or upon solemn occasions, they wear over all a black cowl, like that of
-the monks; but in the engravings of Benedictine Sisters, a black veil
-and white wimple are introduced.
-
- * * * * *
-
- AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding
- articles:--History of Monmouth--Pembroke--Glamorgan--English
- Baronage--Monasticon--Memoir of Owen Glendower--Welsh Genealogical
- History--King’s Munimenta Antiq.--Carlisle and Lewis’
- Wales--Roscoe’s South Wales--Illustrations of Magna Charta--Life of
- Charles I.--Mem. of Cromwell and the Parliament--Puritanism in
- Wales--the English Historians and Chroniclers--with most of the
- Authorities, local and national, already enumerated in the
- preceding sections of the work.
-
- * * * * *
-
- CHEPSTOW.--The reference to the Appendix, in the note at the bottom
- of page 32, is explained in the account of NEATH ABBEY.
-
- [In the course of this work, it has been our pleasing duty to refer
- to numerous authors, ancient and modern, on whose authority, in the
- various branches of Archæology, our observations have been
- frequently based; and now that we are closing another volume, it
- would be injustice to the memory of departed worth to pass over in
- comparative silence the author of “Tinterne Abbey and its
- Vicinity.” MR. W. HEARDE THOMAS, by whose premature death the
- republic of letters has lost a zealous and valuable contributor,
- was many years a medical practitioner in the retired village of
- Tinterne-Parva; where, in the exercise of his profession among a
- widely-scattered population, he had daily opportunities of visiting
- those classic and time-hallowed remains with which the county of
- Monmouth is so greatly enriched, and thus collected materials for
- the local guide-book which associates his name so favourably with
- Tinterne Abbey and other historical sites, which have recently
- passed under our notice.
-
- The merits of his little work--far above the ordinary hand-books of
- the day--were speedily noticed by the press in terms of approbation
- and encouragement. To the various objects which he undertook to
- illustrate, he brought the united tastes and acquirements of
- historian, antiquary, and poet--the result of much reading, close
- observation, and a delicate perception of those natural beauties
- which are so profusely scattered along the banks of the Wye. To
- these were added an early taste for Natural history,[416] which was
- assiduously and successfully cultivated during his residence at
- Tinterne. To him the embroidery of flowers, the “garniture of
- fields”--mountain, forest, and “minnowy brook,” were objects of
- never-failing interest and contemplation, the results of which he
- had purposed in due time to lay before the public.
-
- For the prosecution of these studies, a visit to Canada, and
- personal examination of its natural history, had given him various
- facilities not to be acquired on this side of the Atlantic. But his
- constitution, naturally delicate, had slowly given way under the
- combined influence of mental and bodily fatigue; and when overtaken
- at last by the heaviest of domestic calamities--the death of his
- wife--such was the prostration of his health and spirits, that, as
- a last resource, he made preparation to emigrate to one of our
- colonies, where the effects of a genial climate were held out as
- the only means of re-establishing his health, and opening a wider
- and safer field for the exercise of professional talent and
- industry.
-
- This cheering prospect, however, was but a glimpse of sunshine,
- that soon disappeared in disappointment and darkness. A rapid
- journey to London, at an inclement season, induced a train of
- symptoms which, assuming a more and more decided character,
- continued their fatal progress until arrested by the hand of death,
- which took place in December, 1848.
-
- He died in the prime of life, having survived his wife one brief
- twelvemonth, and left behind him an infant family, with “a father’s
- blessing for their patrimony,” for whom no better wish can be
- expressed by his friends than that they may inherit their father’s
- virtues, without his sorrows. These orphans were immediately
- transferred to the care of a near relative, under whose
- affectionate guardianship and devoted care they have already shown
- evidence of an intellectual capacity that expands by cultivation,
- and promises to bring forth good fruit in its season.
-
- As far as the loss of parents could be supplied at their tender
- age, it has been supplied by this relative--whose delicacy must not
- be hurt by any commendation from a stranger, whose only object, in
- thus closing the volume, is to record his admiration of Genius that
- so often flourishes and fades in the shade; yet, strong in the
- faith that looks for a better country, feels that the trials of
- this life are all softened, if not disarmed, by the practice of
- virtue, and a humble reliance on the promises of God.
-
- In the little churchyard of Tinterne-Parva--which he had so
- feelingly described--repose the remains of William Hearde Thomas,
- and the short-lived partner of his joys and sorrows.]
-
-
-END OF THE SECOND SERIES.
-
- * * * * *
-
-VALUABLE ILLUSTRATED WORKS
-
-PUBLISHED BY
-
-GEORGE VIRTUE, LONDON;
-
-AND SOLD BY HALL & CO. 25, PATERNOSTER ROW.
-
-
-Dedicated to H. R. H. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.
-
-Royal Gems from the Galleries of Europe. Engraved after Pictures of the
-Great Masters. With Notices, Biographical, Historical, and Descriptive.
-By S. C. Hall, F.S.A. Each Part contains Three highly-finished Plates,
-engraved in the first style of art, by W. Greatbach, C. Rolls, L.
-Stocks, Cousen, and others. Size of the Engravings, 6-1/2 inches by
-9-1/2 inches. In Monthly Parts, price 3_s._ each.
-
- “The object of this publication is to give engravings, at a
- moderate price, of the best pictures in the various European
- Galleries, and to accompany them with biographical and descriptive
- notices of the artists and the subjects, from the pen of Mr. Carter
- Hall, whose contributions to the illustrations of works of art are
- known to, and appreciated by, the public. They (the plates) are
- very well engraved, transmitting the beauty of the painting to the
- engraved resemblance, and conveying a good idea of the brilliancy
- and clearness of the painters. That this work is a help to good
- taste, and will do good for the Arts, nobody will deny.”--_Times_,
- July 11, 1846.
-
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- within the reach of persons in limited circumstances, which we
- expressed on the appearance of the First Part, is now confirmed and
- increased. The beauty of the pictures and the lowness of the price,
- call forth equally our commendation and wonder. Mr. Hall’s portion
- of the undertaking, also, is performed judiciously and
- tastefully.”--_Watchman_, July 22, 1846.
-
- “This series of engravings contains prints from the finest works to
- be found in British and foreign collections, giving specimens of
- all schools and all masters, so as to present a view of the
- masterpieces of ancient and modern Art, and collect in volumes
- copies of the treasures scattered over the civilized world. The
- field is inexhaustible, and can hardly fail to prove successful.
- The size is a handsome royal folio; sufficiently large to give a
- fair idea of the merits of the original. The illustrative notices,
- critical and biographical, are by Mr. S. C. Hall, to whose
- established taste the superintendence of the work is confided. The
- price is so moderate as to place the work within the reach of all
- classes.”--_Britannia_, May 23, 1846.
-
-
-The Christian in Palestine; or, Scenes of Sacred History. Illustrated
-from Sketches taken by Mr. W. H. Bartlett, during his recent Journey in
-the Holy Land. With Explanatory Descriptions, by Henry Stebbing, D.D.,
-F.R.S. In Twenty Monthly Parts, price 2_s._ each, with four
-highly-finished Engravings on Steel, by Cousen, Bentley, Brandard, and
-others.
-
- “Whatever interest may be excited by the history or descriptions of
- other countries, it can rarely be equalled, and certainly never
- surpassed, by that which belongs to those given of Palestine, the
- land of the law and the Gospel.”
-
- “‘The Christian in Palestine,’ and ‘Royal Gems from the Galleries
- of Europe.’ These interesting publications, which we class
- together, as issuing from the same press, continue to merit the
- commendation which their excellence has so unequivocally claimed.
- They evince considerable taste, with great resources, and a most
- laudable spirit of artistic enterprise.”--_Morning Chronicle_, Aug
- 22, 1846.
-
- “This book, in its own department, which we need not say is a
- deeply interesting one, merits similar praise with the work which
- we have just noticed [‘Royal Gems’]. It will prove one of the very
- best of the pictorial illustrations of the Holy Land.”--_Watchman_,
- July 22, 1840.
-
- “‘The Christian in Palestine’ is an illustrated work, the plates of
- which are from the careful drawings of Mr. Bartlett, who has
- recently visited Palestine, and brought home a well-stored
- portfolio of brilliant and characteristic sketches. The work will
- form a pleasing companion to the Bible, as the plates are all
- scriptural in scenery, and chaste in treatment, and give a faithful
- representation of the most celebrated scenes connected with the
- birthplace of the Saviour of mankind, and the land of miracle and
- redemption.”--_Britannia_, May 23, 1846.
-
-
-Walks in and about the City & Environs of Jerusalem. By W. H. Bartlett.
-Illustrated by Nine Engravings on Steel, by Cousen, Bentley, and
-Brandard; a Map, and nearly Forty superior Woodcuts. Medium 8vo, in
-cloth binding, price 10_s._ 6_d._
-
- The object of this work is to give a correct idea of the present
- state of this memorable city, from personal observation. The
- “Walks” embrace the principal objects of interest: many of which
- have neither been drawn or described in any previous publication;
- and the Ancient City is illustrated in a brief essay, together with
- a view of it, as besieged by Titus, drawn up from the most careful
- investigation of the best authorities, and beautifully printed in
- the tinted style by the new patent process.
-
- “Our impression is that Jerusalem was never before so successfully
- delineated.”--_Evangelical Magazine._
-
- “The Views are well chosen, are not made up, and are most feelingly
- executed.”--_Church of England Quarterly Review._
-
- “Mr. Bartlett’s descriptions are distinct and lively, every
- sentence is a picture.”--_Spectator._
-
- * * * * *
-
-_Uniform Series of Illustrated Works._
-
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-The Danube Illustrated; a Series of 80 Plates, tastefully executed in
-the highest style, with Historical Text from the Pen of Dr. Beattie. The
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-illustrated, in this instance, by nearly 80 superior Wood Engravings.
-One Volume, 2_l._ 2_s._
-
-
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-the Traveller through the Swiss and Italian Cantons. In Two Volumes,
-cloth gilt, 3_l._
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-The Waldenses; or, the Protestant Valleys of Piedmont; a highly
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-others. The Text by W. Beattie, M.D. In One Volume, cloth, gilt edges,
-2_l._
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-Caledonia Illustrata.--Scotland; comprising 120 Plates, from Drawings by
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-Beattie. In Two elegant Volumes, cloth, gilt, 3_l._ 3_s._
-
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-The Beauties of the Bosphorus. By Miss Pardoe. With 80 elaborate Plates,
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-Illustrations of Transatlantic Nature; the accompanying Descriptions by
-N. P. Willis, Esq. In Two handsome Volumes, 3_l._ 3_s._
-
-
-Canadian Scenery; being a Companion Work to the former, completing Mr.
-Bartlett’s Series of American Sketches, and forming a fine Series of 120
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-The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland. By J. Stirling Coyne;
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-cloth, gilt, 3_l._ 3_s._
-
-
-Finden’s Views of the Ports, Harbours, and Watering Places of Great
-Britain; forming a complete Series of Views of all the points of
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-number, are executed in the Messrs. Finden’s best style. In Two neat
-Volumes, cloth, 3_l._ 3_s._
-
-
-Allan Cunningham’s Gallery of Pictures, by the First Masters of the
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-Ninety-eight beautiful Illustrations on steel. Complete in Two Vols. cl.
-gilt, 1_l._ 11_s._ 6_d._
-
-
-The Castles and Abbeys of England. A superbly Illustrated Historical
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-5_s._
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-LONDON: GEORGE VIRTUE; Sold by HALL & CO. 25, Paternoster-row.
-
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-VALUABLE STANDARD WORKS.
-
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-The Gems of Beauty; displayed in a Series of Forty-two highly-finished
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-Verse, by the Countess of Blessington. In large folio, splendidly bound
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-
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- surpass the exquisite finish of the plates.”--_Literary Gazette._
-
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- or any other country.”--_Bell’s Messenger._
-
- “Undoubtedly the most exquisite book of the season.”--_Metropolitan
- Conservative Journal._
-
-
-Completion of Ryall’s Portraits of Eminent Conservatives and Statesmen.
-Dedicated by permission to the Carlton Club.
-
- This magnificent work forms Two splendid Volumes, folio, in superb
- morocco bindings, comprising Seventy-two highly-finished
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- Lawrence, P.R.A., Sir G. Hayter, R.A., H. W. Pickersgill, R.A., A.
- F. Chalon, R.A., T. Phillips, R.A., H. P. Briggs, R.A., and other
- eminent Painters. Average size of the Engravings, 9-1/2 inches by
- 7-5/8 inches.
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- been written expressly for this work, by Members of the Senate, the
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- India proofs, elegant, gilt leaves, 12_l._
-
- Subscribers are requested to complete their sets without delay, as
- a very limited number of the Parts remain on hand.
-
-
-Shakspere Illustrated, (a new Edition,) comprising the whole of the
-Dramatic Works of our Immortal Bard; the text of which has been entirely
-and carefully revised from the best authorities, with copious
-Introductory Notes to each Play by eminent writers, and explanatory
-elucidations of all the difficult passages. The work is further enriched
-by a Biography of Shakspere, collected from various sources of the
-highest accuracy, and an inquiry into the authenticity of his Portraits,
-by A. Wivell, Esq. The Embellishments consist of a series of Steel
-Plates, designed by the best masters, of the Principal Scenes in the
-various Plays, Landscape Illustrations of the most remarkable places,
-and Portraits of distinguished Characters. The whole forming one of the
-neatest, cheapest, and best books ever published. Super royal 8vo. Price
-1_l._ 5_s._ cloth.
-
-
-The People’s Edition of the Works of Burns. Embellished by no less than
-Thirty-three fine Plates (after Wright and other artists), illustrative
-of the principal subjects of his Poems. With a New Life of Burns, and
-Explanatory Notes preceding each Poem, by Allan Cunningham. In One
-handsome Volume, super-royal 8vo, cloth extra, 18_s._ An Edition of this
-Work, with 61 Engravings, 1_l._ 4_s._
-
- This will be found the most complete and best edition of the Works
- of Burns yet offered to the public, and the only one edited by and
- published under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Cunningham.
-
- ⁂ Be careful to order the “People’s Edition.”
-
-
-A New Pictorial Edition of the Works of Josephus. With an Introductory
-Essay, by the Rev. Henry Stebbing, D.D., author of the “History of the
-Christian Church,” &c. &c. Illustrated by Eighty fine Woodcuts, from
-Designs by Melville. Also, Eleven Engravings on Steel, and a Portrait of
-the Author. Beautifully printed, in One Volume, super-royal 8vo, cloth,
-1_l._ 5_s._
-
-
-The Pictorial Edition of the Pilgrim’s Progress. A splendidly
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-in the new style on Wood, by the Messrs. Whimper, from Designs made
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-Bunyan’s Will. Complete in One handsome Volume, cloth boards, 18_s._
-
-
-A New Pictorial Edition of the Holy War. A most beautiful work, uniform
-in size and style, forming an appropriate companion to the “Pictorial
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-designed expressly for this work. Bound in neat cloth, 12_s._
-
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-
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-
- Strongly recommended to the Congregational Churches of Great
- Britain. Newly revised and corrected by the Author. In One Volume,
- 4to, neatly bound in cloth, gilt, price 1_l._ 6_s._
-
-
-A Guide to Family Devotion. By the Rev. Alexander Fletcher, D.D.,
-containing 730 Hymns, 730 Prayers, and 730 Passages of Scripture, with
-appropriate Reflections. Also, an Appendix, comprising a great variety
-of Hymns and Prayers, to suit particular Days, Seasons, and Events of
-Providence. The whole is so arranged as to form the most complete and
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-200,000 persons.”--_Times_, Sept. 27, 1843.
-
-This work, as may be seen below, has been strongly recommended by the
-most talented Ministers of all denominations. As it is by no means
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-
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- J. Pye Smith, D.D. Homerton.
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- W. B. Collyer, D.D. Peckham.
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- Adam Thomson, D.D. Coldstream.
- Josiah Pratt, B.D. Vicar of St. Stephen’s, London.
- J. Sherman, Surrey Chapel.
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- J. Young, Albion Chapel.
- Samuel Ransom, Hackney.
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- P. Brotherston, Alloa.
- J. W. Massie, Manchester.
-
-
-Scripture History. Designed for the Improvement of Youth. Embellished
-with 211 Engravings and an elegant Frontispiece. In Two Volumes, 16mo,
-cloth gilt, 18_s._
-
- This is a most excellent book; the engravings are well designed to
- attract, and the letter-press to arrest, the minds of the young,
- and lead them to a study of that holy and blessed Volume whence all
- these pleasing incidents are gathered. To all concerned in the
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-
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-Volumes may be had separately:
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-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1]
-
- “Inde vagos Vaga Cambrenses, hinc respicit Anglos;
-
-Qui cum jam ad ostium fere devenerit _Chepstow_ præterfluit, id est,
-si è Saxonico interpreteris forum vel negotiationis locus Britannis,
-_Castle Went_, oppidum hoc est celebre quondam mœnibus nunc solum
-Castro firmum, cujus domini fuerunt è Clarensium familia nobiles, à
-proximo Castro _Strighull_, quod incoluerunt _Striguliæ_ et Penbrochiæ
-Comites dicti quorum ultimus Richardus.”
-
-[2] Longitudo ecclesiæ _prioratus_ Chepstow, 50 virgæ. latitudo eccl.
-prædictæ, 33 virgæ.--_Will. de Worc._ 133.
-
-[3] Longitudo pontis de Chepstow, 126 virgæ.--_Will. de Worc._ 133.
-
-[4] From the form of the British Channel, says De la Beche, and the
-absence of a free passage for the waters, such as exists at the Straits
-of Dover, in the English Channel, westerly winds force up and sustain
-a great body of water, thereby raising the sea above the mean level
-several feet. During such phenomena, it is said, the body of water in
-the river assumes a convex surface. In the great storm of 1703, the
-tide flowed over the top of Chepstow bridge, inundating all the low
-land, and washing away whole farm-yards and incalculable stock.
-
-[5] Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell, vol. ii. p. 278.--_Note._
-
-[6] See CASTLES AND ABBEYS, vol. i. of this work, Carisbrooke, Isle of
-Wight. Upon the death of the renowned Fitzosborne, Dugdale, quoting the
-Monk of Utica, thus moralizes:--“After this short life of nature, there
-is a long life of Fame, who will blow her trumpet aloud to posterity,
-and plainly lay open to the world as well the bad as good actions of
-the most potent that shall be in their highest pitch of worldly power.
-‘Veré ut gloria mundi flos feni,’ &c. Certainly the glory of this world
-fadeth and withereth as the flowers of the field; yea, it passeth
-away and vanisheth even as smoke. What,” he continues, “is become of
-<g>William Fitzosborne</g>, Earl of Hereford, vicegerent of the king,
-sewer of Normandy, that most warlike general! Was he not, in truth,
-the chief and greatest oppressor of the English, and he who cherished
-an enormous cause by his boldness, whereby many thousands were brought
-to miserable ends! Lo! the just Judge, beholding all things, rewardeth
-even man according to his demerits. Alas, is he not now slain? Hath not
-this hardy champion had his desert? As he slew many with the sword, so
-he suddenly received his death by the sword.”--_Baronage, 67, quoting
-Orderic Vitulis._
-
-[7] _Richardus_ vir infracto animo et projectissimis brachiis
-_Strangbow_ cognominatus, quod arcu intentissimo uteretur, et
-nihil levi brachio ageret. Hiberniam Normannis primus sua virtute
-aperuit.--_Camden._
-
-[8] “A full and particular relation of the manner of the late besieging
-and taking of Chepstow Castle, in Wales, by the forces of his
-Excellency the Lord Fairfax, expressed in a letter from Colonel Ewer
-to the Honourable William Lentall, Speaker of the House of Commons.
-The governor to the said castle within, that betrayed it to the
-King’s forces, was slain in this service; as also all the rest of the
-commanders and soldiers killed and taken. London: printed by Mathew
-Simmons, for Henry Overton, in Paper Head Alley, 1648.”
-
-[9] Historical and Descriptive Account, &c., of Chepstow Castle, 1808;
-Heath; Burke’s Commoners, &c.
-
-[10] The family of Kemeys is one of the most ancient in Monmouthshire.
-The late William Kemeys, Esq. of the Maindee, and the present J.
-Gardiner Kemeys, Esq. of Pertholy, are descended from the same family.
-
-[11] This report is somewhat different from that given by another
-authority, already quoted.
-
-[12] If such be the fact, it would almost lead to the conclusion that
-there was some truth in the story of the Parliament party having
-disposed of his remains in some unusual way; although, otherwise, the
-story seems very improbable, as that was not the form in which their
-cruelty was wont to show itself. They were likely enough to have seized
-his estate, his goods and chattels, and to have turned his family out
-of doors; but they had no respect for dignities or titles, and cared
-little for churches, churchyards, and dead bodies.
-
-[13] This lady showed Mr. Heath a document of Oliver Cromwell, of which
-the following is a copy:--
-
-<g>Oliver P.</g> It is our will and pleasure that you permit and suffer
-Colonel Edward Coke, with his company and hounds, to hunt, kill, and
-dispose of a Brace of Staggs, this season, in our Parke or Woodes neer
-Chepstowe, and that you, and every of you, be aydeing and assisting
-to him herein; and for your soe doing this shall be your sufficient
-warrant.
-
-Given at Whitehall, the 12 July, 1683.
-
-To Major Blethan, or, in his absence, to
-Lieutenant Phillips, or any other of the
-keepers of Chepstow Parke or Wentwood
-Chase.
-
-
-[14] See Burke’s Commoners, vol. iv.
-
-[15] This connection of the two Cromwells, through the Kemeys family,
-is worth notice.
-
-[16] Of the Tynte family, Burke gives the following account:--
-
-“The family of _Tynte_ has maintained for centuries a leading position
-in the west of England; of its surname, tradition has handed down
-the following derivation:--‘In the year 1192, at the celebrated
-battle of Ascalon, a young knight of the noble house of Arundel,
-clad all in white, with his horse’s housings of the same colour, so
-gallantly distinguished himself on that memorable field, that Richard
-Cœur-de-Lion remarked publicly, after the victory, that the maiden
-knight had borne himself as a lion, and done deeds equal to those of
-six crusaders; whereupon he conferred on him for arms, a lion _gules_
-on a field _argent_, between six crosslets of the first, and for motto,
-_Tynctus cruore Saraceno_.’”--_Commoners._
-
-[17] C. J. Kemeys-Tynte, Esq., M.P., F.R.S.--whose father, C.
-Kemeys-Tynte, Esq., succeeded to the estates of his great-uncle, the
-last baronet--is coheir to the barony of Grey-de-Wilton; and in July,
-1845, was declared by a committee for privileges of the House of
-Lords, to be senior coheir of the whole blood to the abeyant barony of
-Wharton.--_Dod’s Parliam. Comp._, 1847.
-
-[18] With regard to the tower called “Longine,” the tradition ran, that
-“it had been erected by one Longinus, a Jew, father of the soldier
-whose spear pierced the side of Christ. He was condemned either for
-some crime of his own, or for having given birth to a criminal, to
-repair to Britain, and there to erect a religious edifice on the
-river Wye. That edifice was the Chapel of our Lady in the castle; and
-although a Jew, the said Longinus appears to have had a fine Gothic
-taste.”
-
-[19] Of the supposed chapel, Mr. Williams says--“This is not in
-the usual style of such a building: the windows, arches, and other
-decorated parts were extremely rich, and in the finest Gothic taste.
-There are, however, several traces of plain Saxon arches filled up in
-the wall [arches of construction], which indicate a higher antiquity
-than the general decorations of the castle.”
-
-[20] By him the vote was proposed, that the King’s statues at the Royal
-Exchange and other places should be taken down, and the following
-inscription substituted:--“_Exit Tyrannus, Regum ultimus, Anno
-Libertatis Angliæ Restitutæ primo_, A.D. 1648.” When
-it was proposed, “that the House of Peers in parliament was useless
-and dangerous, and ought to be abolished,” Marten proposed that the
-word _dangerous_ should be omitted, and that _useless_ alone should be
-retained, and that it should be declared that the Lords _were useless,
-but not dangerous_.--_Parl. Hist._
-
-[21] Sir Henry Marten, his father, was one of the brightest ornaments
-of the age in which he lived. He was principal Judge of the Admiralty,
-twice Dean of the Arches, a Knight, and, in 1684, Judge of the
-Prerogative Court, in all of which offices he was allowed to be one of
-the most eminent civilians that ever filled them. He was in high favour
-with his sovereign, King James, who jocularly used to remark on Sir
-Henry, “that he was judge over the dead and over the living.” He died
-the 26th of September, 1641, aged 80, and was buried at his seat at
-Longworth, near Abingdon, in Berkshire.--_Heath._
-
-[22] On the contrary, it is said by other writers that he was
-affectionately attended by his wife and daughters during his
-incarceration in Chepstow Castle.
-
-[23] This anecdote does credit to Marten’s spirit, and very little to
-Mr. Lewis, “who first violated the rules of good breeding towards a
-man who, at the very time, was expiating what power had made a crime,
-and then revenged himself by a petty inhospitality. It was punishment
-enough, surely, for poor Marten to have been imprisoned for twenty
-years, without having to accept a dinner on such terms.”
-
-[24] Old Antony Wood was not likely to speak well of any regicide, and
-from the hypothetical way in which he speaks of Marten’s penitence, he
-seems to have known of the anecdote with Mr. Lewis, or, at least, as
-much as it indicates.--See his character as given by MR. CARLYLE.
-
-[25] As no such epitaph was at all likely to be permitted to be
-engraven, on the tombstone, if Marten was even allowed a tombstone,
-until after the Revolution, which took place nine years after his
-death, is it not more likely that these lines were composed by some
-quaint “Old Mortality” of the Cromwell school, than by the subject of
-them?--_Correspondent._
-
-[26] How Mr. Seward or Mr. Heath could have applied this quotation to
-Marten, it is difficult to imagine.
-
-[27] Here follows a disquisition on the genuineness of the picture,
-which concludes:--“Such is the account attached to this picture,
-which, after what has been said, does not positively prove it to be
-the portrait of Henry Marten; but I am the more inclined to assent to
-the traditionary evidence, because it has all the character of such a
-man. It further seems to have been taken while he was in the army, from
-his wearing armour, being Cromwell’s major-general over the county of
-Surrey, in which command his conduct was marked by the most flagrant
-rapacity; so that the picture must have been brought to St. Pierre, and
-not painted during his residence in Monmouthshire. If, therefore, the
-picture must be received as the portrait of Harry Marten, I am led to
-believe that, when his family came to share in his confinement, they
-brought it with them to Chepstow, and, after Marten’s decease, gave it
-to Mr. Lewis’s ancestors. It is in the finest preservation.”
-
-[28] The Lords of Striguil were entitled to the prisage and butlerage
-of all wines brought into the ports of Swansea and Chepstow.
-
-[29] Tradition relates that an officer actually made his escape from
-this castle in the manner described, and, crossing the river by
-swimming, joined the Protector’s army on the Gloucester heights, where
-a battery was established.
-
-[30] During the siege, as the tradition runs, a barge lay at anchor
-immediately under this window, by means of which, if driven to
-extremity, the governor at least, and part of the garrison--desperate
-as the attempt must have been--might be enabled to make their escape.
-This becoming an object of suspicion, a soldier of the republican army
-volunteered to deprive the governor of this last resource. Throwing
-himself at midnight into the river, he swam to the barge, and there
-with a knife, which he had carried in his teeth for that purpose,
-severed the cable, sent the boat adrift, and then swam back to his
-comrades in triumph.
-
-[31] In 1696, the castle was garrisoned by the royal troops, the daily
-expense of which may be estimated by the following examples:--The
-governor, in addition to six captains’ pay, had 2s. a day; the
-gunner, 20d.; a mathorse, 10d.; fire and candle for the guard, 8d.;
-a company of foot, consisting of a captain, 8s.; a lieutenant, 4s.;
-two sergeants, at 1s. 6d. each, 3s.; three corporals and a drummer,
-at 1s. each, 4s.; sixty-two soldiers, at 8d. each, 41s. 4d. = £3. 5s.
-6d.--_Hist. of Chepstow._
-
-[32] Fosbroke--Local History and Guide.
-
-[33] His history is short and melancholy. In the course of the
-American war, he was appointed governor of the island of St. Vincent,
-where he expended a large sum from his own private resources in its
-fortification. Upon its fall, the minister of the day disavowed his
-claim for compensation. His creditors became clamorous, and he was
-cast into the King’s Bench prison, where he languished for twelve
-years. When released from his confinement, he was broken in health
-and spirits--suffering most of all from the domestic calamity which
-his fallen fortunes had produced in the insanity of his wife; and
-shortly after he died at the house of a relative in London. He was a
-generous and benevolent man, as the poor of his neighbourhood could
-well testify. On his departure for the West Indies, they came in
-troops to bid him a tearful farewell; and the muffled bells of the
-neighbouring church rang a funeral knell as he left the home of his
-love, and the scenes which he had embellished both by his taste and his
-life.--_Roscoe’s South Wales._
-
-[34] Chepstow Guide.
-
-[35] “It may almost be said,” remarks the same writer, “that the
-last happy moments Gray knew in this world were spent upon the
-Wye; for, a few months after, we find him a prey to ill health and
-despondency--complaining of an incurable cough, of the irksomeness
-of his employment at Cambridge, and of ‘mechanical low spirits.’ He
-died in the course of the following summer, æt. 55.”--P. M. August,
-1835.--See his Life by Mason.
-
-[36] The historian of the abbey here quoted has probably made some
-mistake in the name; as it was to _Neath_ Abbey, not Tinterne, that
-King Edward retreated.--_See Append._
-
-[37] In 1210, when <g>King John</g> summoned all the ecclesiastics
-and religious orders to meet him at London, he levied fines, which
-were computed to amount to £100,000. The White or <g>Cistercian</g>
-Monks alone paid £40,000 of silver additional; and their order, for
-a time, became so much reduced, that it was dispersed throughout all
-the other monasteries of England. From this condition, however, they
-speedily recovered; and of the seventy-five religious houses of this
-order that flourished at the Dissolution, _thirty-six_ were superior
-monasteries.--_Ecclesiast. Hist._
-
-[38] 1287.--Conventus Ecclesiæ Beatæ Mariæ de <g>Tynterna</g> intravit
-dictam ecclesiam ad celebrandum in _nova_ ecclesia. Et quinto nonas
-Octobris in anno sequenti Conventus intravit in choro, et prima missa
-celebrata fuit ad magnum altare. Dedicacio Ecclesiæ Tynterniæ, 28 die
-Jullii. F. littera.--_Will. de Worc._
-
-[39] Citeaux--now Gilly-les-Citeaux--so famous for its abbey. “L’abbaye
-de Citeaux,” says a French tourist, “chef d’ordre d’où dependaient
-3,600 couvents de deux sexes, fut fondée par Saint Robert, Abbé de
-Molesme en 1098. <g>Saint Bernard</g> y prit l’habit en 1113, et y
-jeta la même année, les fondements de l’abbaye de la Ferté sur Gròne;
-de celle de Pontigny en 1114; de celles de Clairvaux et de Morimont en
-1115, appelées _les quatre filles de Citeaux_.” Yet Citeaux, afterwards
-so famous, was a miserable desert at the arrival of St. Robert and
-his disciples:--“Qui locus (_Cistercium_) et pro nemorum, et spinarum
-tunc temporis opacitate accessui hominum insolitus, a solis feris
-inhabitabatur. Ad quem Viri Dei venientes locumq. tantó religione quam
-animo jamque conceperant et propter quam illuc advenerant, habiliorem
-quanto secularibus despicabiliorem et inaccessibilem intelligentes,
-nemorum et spinarum densitate prescissa et remota, Monasterium ibidem
-construere cœperunt.--_Mon. Angl. art. Cister._ v. iv. 695.
-
-[40] Quia etiam beatum Benedictum non in civitatibus, nec in
-Castellis aut in villis, sed _in locis à frequentia hominum et
-populi semotis_, Cœnobia construisse sancti viri illi sciebant,
-idem se æmulari promittebant. Et sicut ille monasteria constructa
-per _duodenos monachos adjuncto patre_ disponebat, sic se acturos
-confirmabant.--_Monast. Angl. ii.; art. Cisterc._
-
-Exuti ergo veterem hominem, novum se induisse gaudent: et quia nec
-in regula nec in vita Sancti _Benedicti_ eundem doctorem tegebant
-possedisse ecclesias, vel altaria seu oblationes aut sepulturas vel
-decimas aliorum hominum seu furnos vel molendinos aut villas aut
-rusticos, nec etiam fæminas monasterium ejus intrâsse, nec mortuos
-ibidem excepta sorore sua sepelisse, ideo _hæc omnia abdicaverunt_,
-dicentes--ubi beatus _Benedictus_ docet ut monachus à secularibus
-actibus se faciat alienum, &c., &c.--_Monast. Angl. iv._ 699.
-
-[41] It is added that, when Cœur-de-Lion was about to start for the
-Holy Land (A.D. 1191), Folgius, a bold confessor of
-the church, exhorted the monarch to dismiss his three daughters
-before joining the Crusade. “Hypocrite!” said the king, “well thou
-knowest that I have no daughters.” “My liege,” rejoined the confessor,
-“you have three--Pride, Avarice, and Luxury.” “Aha!” exclaimed
-Richard, “why, then, the Templars shall have Pride--the Cistercians,
-Avarice--and as for Luxury, let my bishops and clergy share her
-among them, and then they will all be well provided for until my
-return.”--_Thomas’s Tinterne._
-
-[42] They became so powerful at last, that they were said to “govern
-all Christendom;” but, if they did not govern, they had at least an
-influence in every government and kingdom of Europe. Cardinal de Vetri
-says, they neither wore skins nor shirts; never ate flesh, except in
-sickness; and abstained from fish, eggs, milk, and cheese; lay on
-straw-beds in tunics or cowls; rose at midnight to prayer; spent the
-day in labour, reading, and prayer; and in all they did, exercised a
-continual silence.--_See Monast. Angl._
-
-[43] In quo _regula_ sine ulla mitigatione ad apicem
-servaretur.--_Mabillon_, quoted by Fosbroke.
-
-[44] _Brit. Monachism_, p. 69.
-
-[45] Dev. Vie Monastique.--Brit. Monachism, _note_, page 70.
-
-[46] De Orig. et Progr. Monach., p. 313, quoted by Fosbroke, p. 70.
-
-[47] “Critics who censure the west window as too broad for its height,
-do not consider that it was not intended for a particular object, but
-to harmonize 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.”--_Coxe._
-
-[48] The following are the ancient admeasurements of the church and
-cloisters:--
-
-Longitudo ecclesiæ _Sanctæ Maria Tynterniæ_ continet 75 virgas. _Item_,
-in dicta ecclesia sunt ex parte australi 10 archus, et inter quamlibet
-columnam sunt 5 virgæ longitudinis cujuslibet dictorum 10 arcuum:
-item sunt in parte inferiori dictæ ecclesiæ ex parte australi 10
-fenestræ de consimili operatione. Et 10 fenestræ principales ex parte
-boreali ecclesiæ, et quælibet fenestra continet duas magnas panellas
-fenestratas. _Item_, in _le ovyrhistorye_ sunt consimiliter 10 fenestræ
-principales, et quælibet fenestra continet duas panas vitratas secundum
-proportionem, quamvis non secundum quantitatem fenestrarum totius
-ecclesiæ Westmonasterii apud Londoniam.--_Will. de Worc._
-
-[49] Latitudo _orientalis fenestræ_ ante magnum altare, continet 8
-pannas _glasatas_ cum armis ROGERI BYGOT, fundatoris. Et in orientali
-parte duarum elarum orientalium, in earum duabus fenestris, quælibet
-fenestra constat ex tribus panis vitreatis sine armis. Item longitudo
-_Chori_ constat ex iiii. arcubus ultra quantitatem areæ quadratæ
-campanilis principalis in medio Chori qua; continet ... virgas. Sic
-in toto longitudo Chori cum area campanilis continet virgas. _Item_,
-altitudo _voltæ_ totius ecclesiæ ab area ecclesiæ continet xi. Anglicè
-_vetheyms_, et quilibet vetheym constat, &c.... pedibus seu ... virgis.
-Longitudo de le _Crosseyle_, id est brachiorum ecclesiarum, tam ex
-parte meridionali quam boreali continet 50 virgas, id est 150 pedes.
-_Item_, quadrature spacia areæ campanilis in medio _Chori_ ecclesiæ
-scitæ continet in longitudine 12 virgas. _Item_, dicta quadratura
-campanilis continet in latitudine 12 virgas. _Item_, _fenestra_
-principalis _meridionalis_ atque _Septentrionalis_ vitrea continet vi.
-pannas glasatas magnæ altitudinis.--_Will. de Worc. ed. 1778, Cantab._
-[with various blanks.]
-
-<g>Cloisters.</g>--Ecclesiæ de Tynterna: Memorand.--_The Cloyster_
-is 37 virgæ in longit. et in lat. 33 virg. _Item_, tota eccles.
-continet 14 archus in una parte et 14 archus in altera parte. _Item_,
-pars fenestra borealis principalis 14 panellas glasatas. _Item_,
-latitudo dietæ fenestræ tam ex boreali quam oppositæ fenestræ ex parte
-meridionali continet iii. virgas. _Item_ the _fermarge chyrch_ continet
-in longitudine 34 virgas, id est 60 steppys meas--quæ sunt 34 virgæ--et
-in latitudine viii. virgas. _Item_, capitulum in longitudine continet
-18 virgas, in latitudine 9 virgas. _Memorand._, quod 24 steppys, sive
-gressus mei, faciunt 12 virgas. _Item_, 50 virgæ faciunt 85 gradus,
-sive steppys meas.--_Will. de Worc._ 83.
-
-In all its parts, according to Dugdale, this church is a copy of
-Salisbury Cathedral, built only a few years previously.
-
-[50] Paper on the Abbey. Tinterne, which is coeval with
-Westminster Abbey, has a remarkable similarity in its whole plan
-and style of architecture, and was, in fact, a _repetition_ in
-miniature.--_Dallaway’s Arts_, p. 36.
-
-[51] A barge-builder at Tinterne severed the head from the trunk, and
-defaced the features, legs, and shield, leaving it in its present
-mutilated state.--_Tinterne and its Environs._
-
-[52] In the early Church, “a fish was generally used by Christians as
-a symbol of the Great Founder of their faith, the letters of the Greek
-word, ιχθυς (a fish), forming the _initials_ of the most important
-titles of our blessed Lord:”--Ι.Χ.Θ.Υ.Σ.--_Pompeïana._
-
- Ίησους Χριστὸς Θεου Ύιὸς Σωτηρ
-
-
-[53] The naturalist will not leave the area of the Abbey without
-noticing an alder-tree in the northern transept, covered with
-_aphides_, to which a long train of black ants have for some years
-been observed continually coming and departing through the sacristy
-door, and pacing along the pediment of one of the lofty columns to the
-root of the tree. This is the only _procession_ now visible in the
-Abbey, and is formed, not for devotion, but for a lowlier, yet not less
-imperative purpose--the alder-tree is their _refectory_, and the sweet
-_exuviæ_ of the plant-lice form their food.--_Thomas’s Tinterne_, p. 26.
-
-_b_ He enumerates the following as indigenous in the fruitful vale
-of Tinterne:--Delphinium consolida, Aquilegia vulgaris, Saponaria
-officinalis, Eriophorum polystachion, Galanthus nivalis, Narcissus
-pseudo-narcyssus, Allium Carinatum, Ornithogalum Pyrennaicum, Acorus
-calamus, Euphorbia Cyparissias, Anemone pulsatilla, A. Appenina, A.
-nemorosa.
-
-[54]
-
- If thou would’st view fair Melrose aright,
- Go visit it by the pale moonlight;
- For the gay beams of lightsome day
- Gild but to flout the ruins gray....
- Then go--but go alone the while--
- And view <g>St. Mary’s</g> ruin’d pile;
- Then, home returning, soothly swear
- Was never scene so sad and fair!
-
-
-[55] Beauties, Harmonies, and Sublimities of Nature.
-
-[56] Prædictus conquestor dedit manerium de Wolleston et manerium de
-Tudenham in parte; et similiter dedit ei licentiam conquerendi super
-Wallenses postea, &c.--_Monast. Angl._ iv. 725.
-
-[57]
-
- Is bruder Sir <g>Gileberd</g>, that eir was of the londe,
- He bitoke mid gode wille the eritage an hond.
- --_Robert of Gloucester._
-
-
-[58] Baronage, 208.
-
-[59] “He died untimely,” says the historian, “on the nones of April,
-1176, and was buried in the Chapterhouse at Gloucester.”
-
-[60] Bar. Monast.
-
-[61] In the “_New Temple_” or Temple Church, as recorded by Robert of
-Gloucester:--
-
- And Willam <g>Marchal</g> deide tho, that longe worth in mone,
- And atte _nywe temple_ was iburied at Londone.--Vol. ii. p. 518.
-
-
-[62] Mat. Paris, 1245.
-
-[63] Bp. of Fernis, a Cistercian monk, and an Irishman by birth.
-
-[64] William, eldest son of the above-named Earl Marshall, gave a
-charter to the Abbey of Tinterne, dated March 22, A.D.
-1223. Pro salute animæ meæ et pro animabus bonæ memoriæ Walteri filii
-Ricardi, filii Guilberti Strongbow, avi mei, et Willielmi Mariscalli,
-patris mei, et Ysabellæ Matrisque meæ et antecessorum, hæredum et
-successorum nostrorum.
-
-[65] Dugdale’s Baronage.
-
-[66] His deeds, assassination, and burial, are thus recorded by Robert
-of Gloucester:--
-
- “As noble bodi in he smot, he nolde longe abide,
- He slou to ground her and ther, vaste on either side,
- More prowesse ne mizte of bodi be,
- Than me mizte of <g>Richard</g> the <g>marschal</g> there ise.”
-
-Then describing the nature of the wound given him by an assassin--“in
-aboute the fondement as he vnarmed was,” adds--
-
- “At Kildar he was aslawe that in <g>Yrlonde</g> is,
- And at the <g>frere prechors</g> ibured, at Kilkenni, iwis.
- Tho vr <g>Kyng Henry</g> hurde of is deth telle,
- And of the prowesse that he dude, ar me him mizte quelle,
- And he vnderstod of his wit, and of is wisdom,
- Him thozte it was a gret love to al is kinedom,
- Vor is deth he made deol inou, and for is soule he let do
- Almes dede mani on, and mani masse al so.”
-
-
-[67] Baronage. Mat. of Paris. Mat. Westm. “Being suspected of overmuch
-gallantry towards the wife of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales (sister of
-King Henry), he was by him subtilely invited to an Easter feast, but
-after the entertainment was over, he was charged therewith, and cast
-into prison, where he suffered death by a barbarous murder. Some say he
-was hanged, and the princess with him.”--_Dugdale. Bar._ 419.
-
-[68] <g>Rogerus Bygod</g>, Comes Norfolciæ, dedit ecclesiæ de Tynterna
-dominium de Eccle ac ecclesiam S. Edwardi de Halbergate ē omnibus eorum
-pertinenciis.
-
-[69] The hospitaler was allowed to drink with any orderly person, for
-the sake of sociality, at the direction and request of that person,
-without asking leave.--_Licet hostilario, etc._
-
-[70] <g>St. Bernard</g> induced all his brothers, five in number,
-to follow his example of retirement. His only <g>sister</g> still
-remained in the world; but coming to visit the <g>monastery</g> in
-the dress, and _with the attendance of a lady of quality_, she found
-herself treated with so much neglect, that, bursting into tears, she
-said, “True it is, I am a sinner, yet, nevertheless, it was for such
-that JESUS died.” Moved by expressions so truly evangelical, Bernard
-remitted his severity, gave her directions suitable to the taste of
-the age, and probably still better advice; but all that _Gulielmus_,
-the writer here quoted, has thought fit to record, is, that Bernard’s
-sister became a nun, and resembled her brother in piety.--_Life of St.
-Bernard._
-
-[71] BRIT. MONACH.: art. _Guest-Hall_.
-
-[72]
-
- “From due oblation, at the vaulted door,
- The entering <g>monks</g> stood, each one with his mate,
- At the two tables of the lowest floor,
- Their looks directing to the spiry state
- Of chair much sculptured, where the <g>Prior</g> sate;
- To this, where transversely, a board was spread,
- Inferior lordlings of the convent ate;
- As passed the Prior, all depressed the head;
- Loud rang a tinkling bell, and wonted grace was said.”
-
-
-[73]
-
- “The <g>Prior</g> gave the signal word; aloud
- The reader ’gan the love of God reveal;
- At the first stated pause, the holy crowd
- Turned to the board in instantaneous wheel,
- And solemn silence marked their instant meal;
- The Prior to the reader bow’d, again
- They turned; the <g>Sacrist</g> rang a tinkling peal,
- Last grace was said; and, carolling a strain
- Of David, two and two withdrew the hooded train.”
- BRIT. MONACH.--_Monastic Æconomy_, 401.
-
-
-[74]
-
- “At noon-hour--did no fleshless day betide--
- On posied trenchers the plain cates were spread,
- The snow-white egg, the fish’s corned side,
- Domestic fowl, by barn-door plenty fed,
- And, best of nutriment, fermented bread;
- No thirst was theirs but what that juice could pall,
- The sugar’d ears of bearded barley shed;
- An aged monk was marshal of the hall,
- There walking to and fro, the servitours to call.”
- --_Poem quoted._
-
-
-[75]
-
- Pinguia concedens quæ sunt _affinia carni_,
- Sic tamen ut nunquam sit _manifesta_ caro.
- --_Spec. Stultor._ BRIT. MON.
-
-
-[76] “Nullus et monachus habeat colloquium cum maliere cognata aut
-extranea, in temporibus indebitis, sicut, prandii, et coenæ, et horæ
-meridianæ, aut tempore potûs assiguati.”--_MS. Cott. Jul. II. 2. f.
-159._ Quoted by Fosbroke, p. 220.
-
-[77] See _ante op. cit._
-
-[78] Brit. Monach. new Ed. p. 287.
-
-[79] Hutchinson, ii. 67.
-
-[80] Usus Cistercienses.
-
-[81] These rules, however, proved very ineffectual in the end, and
-were only observed until the temptation to break them had become
-sufficiently strong.--See _ante_, pp. 33, 36.
-
-[82] See _ante_ pages 35, 36, 37.
-
-[83] See note in this vol. _ante_ page 35.
-
-[84] Annales Cistercienses.
-
-[85] Morton, 200.
-
-[86] Morton’s Monastic Annals, quoting Bibl. Cotton. Nero A. 121.
-
-[87] Nicolson’s Engh. Hist. lib. quoted by Morton.
-
-[88] West’s Furness, 1774.
-
-[89] Mores Catholici, xi. 77.
-
-[90] Ibid.
-
-[91] Mores Catholici.
-
-[92] Mores Catholici.
-
-[93] See Account of the _Schism_ already given.
-
-[94] Hist. Monast. Villar. apud Mor. Cath.
-
-[95] Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.
-
-[96] Annales Cistertienses, quoted by Morton, 209.
-
-[97] _Annales Cisterc._ 1154, iv. 6. This varies but slightly from the
-original. See also Monast. Annals, p. 210.
-
-[98] In the grounds at Hawkestone, the seat of Lord Hill, and in those
-of Fountains Abbey, some extraordinary hunters’-leaps are pointed out,
-as having been taken in the heat of the chase; but that given in the
-tradition of Lancaut, is one that will never be repeated.
-
-[99] These objections, it is to be hoped, are no longer applicable to
-Tinterne Parva. The “desecration,” so justly yet playfully complained
-of, is a practice which cannot be too strongly reprobated; but to such
-instances of negligence or “economy,” nothing but the progress of
-Archæology can apply a final check.
-
-[100] From the time of Henry the Second, to whom the land of Gwent
-submitted, the royalty of Wentwood Chase was vested in the crown, and
-its privileges were ascertained in the Charta Forestæ of Henry the
-Third; but the rights of lords of manors, and free tenants, in times of
-general confusion, became involved and disputable. In the assumption of
-the Chase of Wentwood by the house of Somerset, after the Restoration,
-the recognition of ancient customs and privileges involved it in
-numerous controversies and processes of law.--_County History._ See
-also Letter from Cromwell, supra.
-
-[101] Striguil, or Strigul Castle, is quite distinct from that of
-Chepstow, with which it has been often confounded, under the common
-name of _Striguil_, or _Estrigoel_.
-
-[102] Thomas, p. 62.
-
-[103] Ibid. 63.
-
-[104] Hard by are seene Wondy and Penhow, the seats in times past of
-the noble family of Saint Maur, now corruptly named Seimor. For G.
-Mareshall, Earle of Pembrock, about the yeere of our Lord, 1240, was
-bound for the winning of Wondy, out of the Welshmen’s hands, to aide
-William Seimor. From him descended Roger de Saint Maur, knight, who
-married one of the heires of L. Beauchamp of Hach, a very noble baron,
-who derived his pedigree from Sibyl, heire unto William Mareshall, that
-puissant Earle of Pembrock, from William Ferrars, Earle of Derby, from
-Hugh de Vivon, and William Mallet, men in times past highly renowned.
-The nobility of all these, and of others besides, as may be evidently
-shewed, hath met together in that right honourable personage, Edward
-Saint Maur, or Seimor, now Earle Hertford, a singular favourer of
-vertue and good learning, worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and
-commended to posterity.--_Camden Silures_, 634.
-
-[105] Rupis Aurea, eò quod aurei coloris saxa sole repercussa miro
-fulgore sunt rutulantia: nec mihi de facili persuasio fieri posset,
-quod frustratum dederit natura nitore saxis, quodque suo fuerit flos
-hic sine fructu, si foret qui venas ibidem, et penitima terræ viscera
-arte prævia transpenetraret.--_Gyraldus Cambrensis._
-
- There is a hill near famed Caerleon,
- Which, if the sun but dart a ray on,
- It shines like gold; hence Goldcliffe hight,
- But if there’s gold, ’tis not in sight.
- --_Wonders of Wales._
-
-
-[106] With regard to this tract Camden relates:--Beneath this lieth
-spred for many miles together a _Mersh_, they call it the _Moore_,
-which, when I lately revised this worke, suffered a lamentable losse;
-for when the Severn sea, at a spring tide in the change of the moone,
-what being driven back for three daies together, with a south-west
-winde, and what with a verie strong pirrie from the sea troubling it,
-swelled and raged so high, that with surging billowes it came rolling
-and inrushing amaine upon this tract lying so low, as also upon the
-like flates in Somersetshire over against it, that it overflowed all
-subverted houses, and drowned a number of beasts and some people
-withal. _Camden_, 635. See also _Note supra_, page 5. Neere to this
-place there remaine the reliques of a _Priorie_, that acknowledge those
-of _Chandos_ for their founder and patron.--_Ibid._
-
-[107] County Hist. vol. ii. p. 57.
-
-[108] Ibid.
-
-[109] Neere Throgos, where we saw the wall of a castle that belonged
-to the high-constables of England, and was holden by the service of
-high-constableship.--_Camden Silures_, 634.
-
-[110] See _ante_, page 32.
-
-[111] _Mathern_ is “derived from Merthern Tuderic--or Martyrdom of
-Theodoric.” When a Christian chief, who, like Theodoric, fell in
-conflict with the Saxons, then pagans, he was admitted to the honours
-of martyrdom.
-
-[112] For the avouching and confirming of the antiquity of this place,
-I think it not impertinent to adjoin here those antique inscriptions
-lately digged forth of the ground, which the Right Reverend Father in
-God, Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaffe, a passing great lover of
-venerable antiquity, and of all good literature, hath of his courtesie
-imparted unto me. In the year 1602, in a meadow adjoining Mathern,
-there was found by ditchers a certain image of a personage, girt and
-short-trussed, bearing a quiver--(but head, hands, and feet were broken
-off)--upon a pavement of square tile in checkerworke; also a fragment
-of an altar, with this inscription engraven in great capital letters
-three inches long, erected by _Haterianus_, the lieutenant-general
-of Augustus, and proprietor of the province of Cilicia--HATERIANUS
-LEG. AUG. PR. PR. PROVINC. CILIC.--The next yeere following hard by,
-was this table also gotten out of the ground, which proveth that the
-foresaid image was the personage of _Diana_, and that her temple was
-repaired by Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus, an old soldier, haply of
-a band of the Second Legion--T. FL. POSTUMIUS VARUS V. C. LEG. TEMPL.
-DIANÆ RESTITUIT. Also, a votive altar, out of which Geta, the name of
-Cæsar, may seeme then to have been rased, what time as he was made away
-by his brother Antonine Bassianus, and proclaimed an enimie; yet so as
-by the tract of the letters it is in some sort apparent. PRO SALUTE
-AUGG. N. N. SEVERI ET ANTONINI [ET GETÆ CÆS.] P. SALTIENUS P. F. MÆCIU
-THALAMUS HADRI. PRÆF. LEG. II. AUG. C. VAMPEIANO ET LUCILIAN.--_Camden.
-Silures. Britan._ pp. 637, 638.
-
-[113] Hist. of Engl. quoting Bishop Godwin.
-
-[114] See Speed’s Chronicle.
-
-[115] Pict. Hist. of England: Ecclesiast. Affairs.
-
-[116] Ibid.
-
-[117] Pict. Hist. Book vi.
-
-[118] Ibid.
-
-[119] Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact.
-vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.
-
-[120] Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact.
-vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.
-
-[121] Headed in the North by Lord Darcy, Robert Aske, &c. See history
-of that year, 1539, in Pict. Hist.
-
-[122] Ellis’s Orig. Letters in Pict. Hist.
-
-[123] On the 11th June, 1539.
-
-[124] Wilkins’ Concilia, quoted in Hist. of Engl. Civil and Milit.
-Transact. vol. ii. 403.
-
-[125] In the taxation of 1291, being the nineteenth year of the reign
-of Edward the First, the entries relating to the possessions of
-Tinterne are thus given:--
-
-
-SPIRITUALIA DIOC. HEREF.
-
- £ _s._ _d._
-Porcio in ecclesia de Tudenham, 3 6 8
-
-
-TEMPORALIA DIOC. LANDAF.
-
-<g>Abbas</g> de Tynterne habet Grang: de Asarto
- ubi sunt tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet, 1 0 0
-De prato ibidem quatuor acr. prec. cujuslibet, 0 0 6
-De silva cedua per annum, 0 5 0
-De redd. assis, 1 2 0
-De plantis et perquisitis, 0 6 8
-De gurgite et piscar. in Weyt, 1 16 0
-De pastura vasti, 0 4 2
-Item idem habet apud Rogenston quatuor
- caruc. terræ prec. cujuslibet, 1 0 0
-De gardino et curilag, 0 1 6
-De Molend. per annum, 0 15 0
-De pastura de vasto, 0 10 0
-Apud Marthog’m duas caruc. terr. et dimid.
- et novemdecim acr. prec. cujuslibet car. 1 0 0
-Et prec. cujuslibet acr. de prædictis novemdecim
- acris, 0 0 3
-De redd. assis ibidem, 0 5 0
-In parochia de Magor de redd, 0 3 0
-In parochia de Wundy, 0 13 4
-Et in eadem parochia novemdecim acr.
- terræ prec. cujuslibet, 0 0 2
-Et ibidem quatuordecim acr. prati prec. cujuslibet, 0 0 6
-Apud motam duas caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet, 1 10 0
-De prato ibidem quatuor acr. prec. cujuslibet, 0 0 6
-In la Bredeme deme in paroch de magir.
- quinquaginta et duas acr. prati. prec. cujuslibet, 0 0 6
-Ibid. in aedil. assis, 0 10 6
-Apud Penthleng. tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet, 0 6 8
-Apud Exellek sex caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet, 0 6 8
-Apud platelande tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet, 0 6 8
-Apud Hardstrete unam caruc. terr. prec., 1 4 0
-Ibidem viginti quatuor acr. ten. prec. omnium, 0 6 0
-In villa de Sturggyl de redd. assis, 0 4 0
-Apud Eriket unum molend foler prec., 0 6 8
-Ibidem ac redd. assis, 0 12 0
-Do molend, 1 10 0
-De una gurgite et dimid. per annum, 2 0 0
-De sub bosco venet, 0 13 4
-De pannag, 0 6 8
-De perquis cur, 0 13 4
-De melle vend, 0 5 0
-De Fanneria, 2 0 0
-Apud Penbo sexdecim acr. terr. prec. cujuslibet, 0 0 6
-De redd. assis apud Uskam, 0 1 4
-De Willielmo de Hereford pro quadem grang.
- de redd. assis, 0 0 6
-De Johanne de Stonsœu’arl pro quadam grang. 0 1 8
-De Landavenio triginta acr. pastur. prec. cujuslibet, 0 0 3
- ---------
- Summa £38 5 0
- ---------
-Abbas de Tynterne habet cens. reacc.
- prec. omium, 7 10 0
-De mult. duo mill. ducent. et sexaginta
- quatuor exitus omnium, 37 14 8
-De ovibus matricibus mill. exitus omnium, 25 0 0
- --------
- Summa £70 4 8
-
-
-[126] Monaster. de Eleemosyna paternalis domus de Tynterna.
-
-Tynterna in Hibernia, } filiales domus de
-Kingeswodde in Gloucestershire, } Tynterna.
-
-
-[127] Archdale has preserved the following names and dates of some of
-the abbots:--
-
-John Torrell was the first; another John occurs in 1308; Roger Codd,
-1346; David Furlong succeeded; Thomas Wyggemore, 1355; William Walsh,
-1356; Thomas Young, 1471; John Power was the last abbot, he surrendered
-it in the 31st Henry VIII.
-
-The abbey itself is stated to have been rebuilt in 1447. It was
-granted, with all its lands and appurtenances, 27th August, 18th
-Elizabeth, in capite, to Anthony Colcleugh, at the annual rent of £26.
-4s., Irish money.
-
-King John’s Charter is dated Hamstede, iii die Decembris--but no year.
-
-[128] King Henry the First’s Charter, authorising Roger de Berkeley’s
-gift of Ackeolt to the monks, will be found in the appendix to the
-Monasticon, with William de Berkeley’s letter to Pope Innocent, praying
-for his ratification of the grant of Kingswood, followed by five other
-charters, confirming the land at Kingswood, from Roger de Berkeley the
-elder, Roger de Berkeley the younger, and King Henry the Second. The
-last instrument given in the former edition of Dugdale, is a cession
-from Nicholas de Kingestone of certain land called Jonesham.
-
-[129] Monasticon and Baronage.
-
-[130] The following is a list of the pensions granted to the monks of
-this house at the dissolution:--
-
-“Here cumeth such stipends as is thought necessary and expedient by
-us, John Tregonwell, Nicholas Peyntz, Knight; John Peyntz, Esquyer;
-John Freeman; and Edward Gosewike, commissioners appointed for the
-dissoluement of the late monastery of Kingswood, in Wiltes, for the
-abbote and monks thereunto, euery of them appoynted what they shall
-have by yere during their lyves, that is to say--
-
-Furst to William Bandlaie, late abbot _li._ _s._ _d._
- there, by yere, i
--- to Thomas Redinge, prior there,
- by yere, vi xiii iiii
-
--- to John Wensbury, monke there,
- by yere, iiii xiii iiii
--- to John Gethin, monke there, and
- curate of the parishe, by yere, iiij xiii iiii
--- to William Wotton, grangitor
- there, by yere, iiij vj viii
--- to William Hughes, monke there,
- by yere, iiij
--- to John Sodbury, monke there,
- by yere, iiij
--- to Nicholas Hampton, subprior
- there, iiij
--- to William Pakker, monke there, iiij
-
--- to Nicholas Acton, cellarer there, iiij xiii iiij
-
--- to Edward Ermingham, sexton
- there, iiij
-
--- to Thomas Orchard, monke there, iiij
-
--- to John Stonley, monke there,
- being no prest, xi”
-
-To this are annexed the signatures as above.
-
-[131] Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.
-
-[132] Floquet, Hist. du Parl. de Norm., quoted in Mor. Cath.
-
-[133] Mor. Cath., quoting St. Ambros. Orat. lib. v.
-
-[134] Macaulay.
-
-[135] Ibid.
-
-[136] Macaulay’s History of England.
-
-[137] Bishop Godwin. See Pict. Hist. Eccl. Affairs.
-
-[138] Blunt’s Sketch of the Reformation in England. See Pict. Histor.
-ii. 404. Hist. and Fate of Sacrilege.
-
-[139] Latimer’s Sermons. Hist. above quoted, vol. ii. 404.
-
-[140] It would be difficult in the present day to find much of the
-church property, thus alienated, in the hands of any descendant of
-those royal favourites on whom it was sacrilegiously bestowed.
-
-[141] Letter from Fitzwilliam to Cromwell, dated at Hampton Court,
-Sept. 12, 1537, and given in Pict. Hist. vol. ii. p. 405.
-
-[142] Latimer’s Sermons, &c., quoting Blunt’s Sketch of the
-Reformation. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 405.
-
-[143] See Letter from Coverdale to Cromwell in 1538.
-
-[144] Hist. Henry VIII.
-
-[145] Madden, Penalties, p. 49.
-
-[146] Page 77.
-
-[147] According to Hall, the following barbarous verses were set up in
-great letters upon the stake or gallows, to which the unhappy victim
-was bound:--
-
- David-Darvel-Gatheren,
- As saith the Welshmen,
- Fetched outlaws out of hell;
- Now is he come with spear and shield,
- In harness to burn in Smithfield,
- For in Wales he may not dwell.
-
- And <g>Forest</g> the friar,
- That obstinate liar,
- That wilfully shall be dead;
- In his contumacy
- Of the Gospel, doth deny
- The King to be Supreme Head.
-
-
-[148] See the facts in Hall, Stow, and Godwin, abridged in the popular
-History quoted above.
-
-[149] Warton, Monastic Influence on Poetry and the Fine Arts.
-
-[150] Brit. Monach., Manners and Customs of Monks and Nuns.
-
-[151] Opus citat. Brit. Monach.
-
-[152] Fosbroke, in quotation of various ancient authors, p. 259.
-
-[153] Gregory had a whip with which he threatened the young clerks
-and singing boys, when they were out, or failed in the notes; they
-also fasted the day before they were to chant, and constantly ate
-beans.--_Hawkins’s Music._ Fosbroke, p. 273.
-
-[154] Knighton, a canon of St. Mary-le-Prè, has, to his own disgrace,
-recorded his bitter condemnation of the translation made by his
-contemporary <g>Wickliffe</g>:--“Christ intrusted his gospel,” says
-that ecclesiastic, “to the clergy and doctors of the <g>church</g>, to
-minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to their exigencies
-and several occasions; but this Master John Wickliffe, by translating
-it, has made it vulgar, and has laid it more open to the laity, and
-even to women who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of
-the clergy, and those of the best understanding; and thus the gospel
-jewel, the evangelical feast, is thrown about and trodden under feet of
-swine.”--Decem Script. Col. 2644.
-
-Such language, as an ingenious and learned divine has justly observed,
-was looked upon as good reasoning by the clergy of that day, who saw
-not with what satire it was edged against themselves.--Nichols’s
-Append. to the Hist. of Leicester, vol. i. p. 108. Fosbroke, p. 253.
-
-[155] Fosbroke, p. 252.
-
-[156] Fosbroke, p. 246.
-
-[157] Ibid. p. 247.
-
-[158] Conviv. Religios.
-
-[159] Cruditis. Fosbroke, p. 253.
-
-[160] Mem. de Petrarque, iii. 606. Fosbroke.
-
-[161] Fosbroke, quoting Parsons’ MSS. in the Bodl. Libr., Oxford.
-
-[162] One of the last important occasions, on which the abbey seal of
-Tinterne was used, was in ratifying an instrument, whereby the abbot
-and convent appointed Charles, Earl of Worcester, and Henry Somerset,
-Lord Herbert, his son and heir apparent, chief stewards of their manor
-of _Acle_, or Oakley, in Norfolk, 6th Hen. VIII.
-
-[163] Taylor’s Index Monasticus Pref. ap. Brit. Monach. p. 229, note.
-
-[164] MS. Harl. 1051. Fosbroke, art. Cloister.
-
-[165] Monachus quidam Sagiensis cænobii de cella quadam in partibus
-Angliæ longinquis ad aliam cellam loci ejusdem remotis in Walliæ
-finibus, super mare Milvordicum et Hibernicum gyrovagando discurrens,
-ne _solus_ esset in via, quia, vae soli!--non socium sibi, sed
-_sociam_, elegit; ejus turpitudo, terque quaterque, turpiter deprehensa
-fuit. Adeo quidem, quod à Castellanis partium illarum demum captus
-et in carcerem missus, sociaque ipsius et confusionis causâ ribaldis
-exposita fuerit et garcionibus prostituta. Tales autem honores, et
-tales honestates ex monachis ad cellulam missis ordine monastico
-pervenire solent.--MSS. Cott. Tiber B. 13. ap. Fosbroke, p. 271.
-
-[166] In the notes to Robert of Gloucester’s <g>Chronicle</g> [vol.
-iii. § 8-9] we read:--“About this tyme the order of <g>Cysteaux</g>
-was fyrst brought into Englande by one Walter, that founded the first
-abbey of that religion at <g>Ryuall</g>.” The question, however, has
-been set at rest by the extracts already given from the Chronicles of
-Tinterne, in which the date of their appearance in Englande is fixed at
-the beginning of the twelfth century, regnante _Henrico primo_.
-
-[167] Quidam monachi dicunt _omnes esse monachos qui in paradiso
-erant_, vel potius nullum ibi esse non monachum.
-
-[168] Mox ut mortuus fuero, cucullam Ordinis Cisterciensis mihi
-induite, et ne fiat me vivente, diligentissime cavete. MS. Roy. Lib. 7.
-A. III. ap. Fosbroke, 173.
-
- So--when the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;
- But when the devil got well, the devil a monk was he.
-
-
-[169] It appears, however, that the books so carefully transcribed in
-the monasteries were seldom understood, or even perused, by the higher
-clergy; for it is told that Lewis Beaumont, bishop of Durham, 1317,
-understood not a word of either Latin or English. In reading the _bull_
-of his appointment to that see--which he had been taught to spell
-for several days before--he stumbled upon the word _metropolitice_,
-which he in vain endeavoured to pronounce; and, having hammered over
-it a considerable time, at last cried out in his mother tongue, “Soit
-pour dite! Par Seynt Lowys, il ne fu pas curteis qui ceste parole ici
-escrit.”--Robert de Greystanes. Anglia Sacra, 1. 761., as quoted by
-Craik, 1. 137.
-
-[170] Sketches of the History of Literature and Learning in England,
-vol. i. p. 69. By Geo. L. Craik.
-
-[171] See Fosbroke. Dallaway’s Heraldic Enquiries.
-
-[172] Henniker, Norman Tiles.
-
-[173] Cowel, Mosaic Work, apud Fosbroke.
-
-[174] The Signor left the banks of the Wye the day after relating
-the preceding anecdote, or the narrator would have shared another
-experiment with him. “While at Derby, however, it is related that
-such was the wonderful power of his imitative faculties, that he far
-outsoared the violins when playing in _alt_, whose masters laid them
-down in the orchestra in astonishment at being so entirely eclipsed by
-a human voice. They next played a hunting song, in which the signor
-appeared to equal advantage. The rich and mellow tones of the French
-horn were as successfully imitated, as the still finer and more
-distinct ones of the violins; and in some shakes he quite enraptured
-his audience. They then played a full piece together, which was such a
-grand display of his talents, that the admiration and delight of his
-auditors could go no further--they seemed electrified by his powers.”
-
-[175] The river’s bank is here the haunt of otters, and the resort of
-herons and halcyon kingfishers. The rocky precipices abound in rabbits,
-foxes, weasels, martins, and polecats; whilst the more umbrageous parts
-afford protection to hedgehogs, dormice, and squirrels.--_Thomas._
-
-[176] Ibid.
-
-[177] See view of the Refectory.
-
-[178] See view of the door leading into cloisters.
-
-[179] “The Beaufort Arms,” where the writer experienced much civility
-with moderate charges, is, unfortunately, too small to accommodate more
-than a party of three or four persons; but it is comfortable.
-
-[180] See page 38-62.
-
-[181] See page 33, passim.
-
-[182] See page 38-39, passim.
-
-[183] See page 65, passim.
-
-[184] Running across the neck of land, it shortens the distance between
-the Abbey and Tinterne Parva.
-
-[185] In this engraving, the modern iron gate which shuts up
-this passage, dividing the church from the cloisters, has been
-_intentionally_ omitted, as not in harmony with the subject.
-
-[186] See page 52, passim.
-
-[187] Published by order of Parliament, 1827.
-
-[188] Acle, or Oakley, eleven miles east from Norwich, and situated
-near the Bure, on grounds which rise suddenly from the marshes below.
-The church, dedicated to St. Edmund, is a rectory, value £20.
-
-[189] Monast. ii. 724, v. 269.
-
-[190] Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 250.
-
-[191] Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 252.
-
-[192] Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. i. p. 327.
-
-[193] Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 251.
-
-[194] By Gertrude, daughter of Manners, Earl of Rutland, his first
-wife, he had issue four sons and three daughters. His second wife was
-Elizabeth, widow of Sir William Cavendish, whose son Henry married the
-Lady Grace, one of the earl’s daughters by his first wife.
-
-[195] Messrs. Brayley and Britton: 1805. King, Whitelocke, Itinerary,
-and other sources.
-
-[196] The cut here inserted represents specimens of [supposed] ancient
-armour in the Gateway Tower.
-
-[197] Raglan, elegans comitis Wigorniæ Castellum, etc. Silur., p. 510.
-
-[198] Son of Thomas ap Gwillim ap Jenkin, by his wife Maud, daughter
-and heiress of Sir John Morley, Knt., Lord of Raglan Castle.
-
-[199] This gallant warrior fell by the side of his master, Henry V., at
-the battle of Agincourt.
-
-[200] Collins, vol. iii. 25, 27.
-
-[201] Robert Hillyard.
-
-[202] Speed, p. 858, 859. Which the reader may compare with Dugdale,
-p. 257; and Collins, vol. iii. p. 28, by whom the circumstances are
-somewhat differently stated. See also Hollinshed, p. 672.
-
-[203] The Herberts in former times were spread all over this county,
-and possessed several of its best estates and mansions; but,
-notwithstanding the immense possessions of this ancient family, yet it
-is very singular that there is not one landowner of £50 a year of the
-name of Herbert to be found in the whole county; although it must be
-allowed that the family of _Jones_ of Lanarth, is of an elder branch of
-the Earls of Pembroke.--_Williams._
-
-[204] Grafton, vol. ii. p. 15, 16.
-
-[205] Whose mother and Henry Duke of Somerset were brother’s children.
-
-[206] At the Festival of the Virgin Mary, 1514.
-
-[207] See notice of Chepstow, ante, page 4.
-
-[208] See vol. i. of this work, art. Arundel Castle.
-
-[209] As stated by Collins--Mr. Thomas says, “at Raglan Castle; adding,
-‘two headless and mutilated parts of alabaster statues of this nobleman
-and his lady, which are, alas, kicked about by every chance visitor
-to the church, alone remain of the magnificent tomb erected to their
-memory!’”--_Raglan_, p. 137.
-
-[When the Editor visited the place in August, 1848, the monument
-presented the same pitiable state of dilapidation--a bitter homily on
-the vanity of wealth, birth, and titles--yet in sad but perfect harmony
-with the desolation of the adjoining Castle.]
-
-[210] Collins, 1768, vol. iii. p. 208.
-
-[211] Illustrations of British History, vol. i. p. 490.
-
-[212] Illustrations of British History, vol. i. p. 490, 491, ed. 1838.
-
-[213] History of England, _Manners and Customs_, book viii. chap. vi.
-p. 629.
-
-[214] Till the year 1627, it was customary in these two counties to
-have but one sheriff.
-
-[215] Charles Sackville was the direct descendant of the great Thomas
-Lord Buckhurst. Of his youth it is disgraceful enough to say, that he
-was the companion of Rochester and Sedley; but his mature life, like
-that of Sedley, was illustrated by public spirit, and his fortune
-enabled him to be a beneficent friend to men of genius. He attended
-the Duke of York as a volunteer in the Dutch war, and finished his
-well-known song, “_To all you ladies now at land_,” on the day before
-the sea-fight in which Opdam, the Dutch admiral, was blown up with all
-his crew:--
-
- “To all you ladies now at land,
- We men at sea indite;
- But first would have you understand,
- How hard it is to write;
- The Muses now, and Neptune too,
- We must implore to write to you.
- With a fa, la, la, la, la.
-
- “Should foggy Opdam chance to know
- Our sad and dismal story;
- The Dutch would scorn so weak a foe,
- And quit their fort at _Goree_;
- For what resistance can they find
- From men who’ve left their hearts behind!
- With a fa, la, la, la, la.”
- --_Campbell’s British Poets_, p. 316.
-
-
-[216] Peck’s Curiosa.
-
-[217] Ibid.
-
-[218] Opus citatum in Pict. Hist. Engl., book vii. chap. vi. p. 629.
-
-[219] It was fortunate that, while the aristocracy were thus becoming
-more vitiated, the common people had become more temperate than
-formerly; but to this assertion Stow adds--“It was not from abstinence
-but necessity; ale and beer being small, and wines in price above their
-reach.” During the period of the Commonwealth, greater temperance in
-eating and drinking naturally prevailed, from the ascendancy of Puritan
-principles, which recommended simplicity and self-denial.--_Manners and
-Customs_, Pict. Hist.
-
-[220] Something like the court-suit of Prince Esterhazy.
-
-[221] Pictor. Hist. Engl., cit. _Winwood_, book vi. chap. vi. p. 630.
-
-[222] Harleian MS., quoted by Miss Aikin, in her ‘Memoirs of the Court
-of James I.’ This Lady Compton, who valued herself upon being “so
-reasonable,” was the daughter and sole heiress of Sir John Spencer,
-who was probably the wealthiest citizen of his time, as he died worth
-nearly a million sterling. He was called “The Rich Spencer.” Lord
-Compton, her husband, was so transported at his inheritance, that
-he went out of his wits, and remained in that condition for several
-years.--_Winwood_, quoted in the Pict. Hist. of England.
-
-[223] Osborne’s Memoirs of King James, in Pict. Hist. of Engl., book
-vii. chap. vi. p. 630.
-
-[224] _Manners and Customs_, Pict. Hist. of England.
-
-[225] Ibid.
-
-[226] History of England, _Manners and Customs_, quoting from “Peck’s
-Curiosa,” “Evelyn’s Diary,” “Strutt,” “Somers’ Tracts,” and “Court of
-King James.”
-
-[227] So much was swearing identified with loyalty, that Cromwell,
-after a skirmish with the Scottish horse at Musselburgh, sent word to
-the Parliament that the enemy had English cavaliers in their ranks,
-_because_ he heard one of their wounded exclaiming with his last
-breath, “_D--n me! I’m going to my King._”--_Howel’s Letters_, quoted
-in the History of England.
-
-[228] The woodcut here introduced represents the <g>boar’s head</g>--a
-favourite dish in the olden time--on its way from the kitchen to the
-banquet-room.
-
-[229] See notice of him in this work, art. “Chepstow Castle.”
-
-[230] Tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire, by J. T. Barber.
-
-[231] Bayly, p. 36-44.
-
-[232] Churchyard. See Wood’s “Rivers of Wales.”
-
-[233] Was it here that Henry Bolingbroke was confined, as traditionally
-believed?
-
-[234] The reader is probably aware that in certain churches, palaces,
-&c., obnoxious pictures and statues were treated in this manner by the
-soldiery; and hence the lamentable destruction of these works of Art,
-which were once the ornaments of the country.
-
-[235] See the Woodcut.
-
-[236] See Thomas’s Tinterne, p. 133.
-
-[237] See paper in the “Archæological Journal.”
-
-[238] See Description and Anecdote in a subsequent page of this Volume.
-
-[239] Archæolog. Journal, art. “Raglan Castle.”
-
-[240] Ibidem.
-
-[241] By removing the ivy from a portion of the great Hall, in the
-course of last autumn, another magnificent window has been brought into
-view; and by a similar course of discovery, other interesting features
-of baronial splendour will no doubt reappear.--[Note by Mr. G. May,
-“Warden” of the Castle, whose efforts to preserve what remains, and
-bring into view what is yet concealed of these noble ruins, is alike
-creditable to his taste and his industry.]
-
-[242] This appears ungenerous. There seems no just ground for
-suspecting the Marquess of any motive incompatible with the most
-devoted loyalty.--See his own declaration in a subsequent page of this
-article.
-
-[243] Lord Clarendon’s Hist., vol. iii. p. 154, ed. 1706.
-
-[244] “Out of a window they (the rabble) killed Colonel Lawley, and two
-officers more, without hurting a common soldier.”--_Clar. Hist._
-
-[245] Lord Clarendon’s Hist., vol. ii. p. 156, ed. 1706.
-
-[246] An allusion possibly to some design on the part of Charles
-to forsake rebellious London, and make York his capital; but more
-probably--as I am reminded by a correspondent--to an old prophetic saw
-in rhyme, viz.--
-
- “Lincoln _was_, London _is_, and York _shall be_
- The greatest city of the three.”
-
-
-[247] Ubi Troja nunc seges.
-
-[248] Literally, having been created Marquess very recently.
-
-[249] This quaint phrase may mean two days or two months.
-
-[250] Thus the King had his money, and the poor Marquess was
-indulged with the royal conversation, which Dr. Bayly worked up into
-the “Certamen Religiosum,” a duodecimo of 232 pages.--_Certamen
-Religiosum_, p. 2-11, Lond. 1649.
-
-[251] In variety of wines, and the copious use of them, the wealthier
-classes of England in this age were not a whit behind their ancestors.
-The arrival of the Danish King and his courtiers in the reign of
-James, had greatly increased the national thirst; insomuch that it
-was observed, “The Danes have again conquered England!” In the reign
-of Charles the First the <g>Cavaliers</g> were as little famed for
-temperance as the Courtiers of King James. The English followed
-also, very scrupulously, the Danish custom of drinking healths; and
-foreigners were astonished to find that when a company amounted to some
-twenty or thirty, it was still expected that every guest should drink
-the health of each in rotation. Such festivals, of course, inflamed
-the love of quarrel. Toasts were given which produced discussion,
-or refusal to drink them; and if the overheated parties did not
-immediately come to blows, still duels and bloodshed were the usual
-consequences. Sometimes, when a lady or an absent patron was toasted,
-the company pledged the toast upon their knees. Among other disgusting
-modes of drinking healths at this period, the toper sometimes mingled
-his own blood with the wine.--“_Manners and Customs of England._”
-
-[252] Apophthegm 25, Bayly, p. 52.
-
-[253] Nothing can be more wondered at than that the King should amuse
-himself about forming a new army in counties which had been already
-vexed and worn by his own troops, and the licence of those governors
-whom he had put over them; and not have immediately repaired into the
-west, where he had an army already formed, and a people generally well
-devoted to his service; whither all his broken troops, and General
-Gerrard, might have transported themselves, before Fairfax could have
-given them any interruption.--_Clarendon._
-
-[254] The branch of the Morgan family here mentioned, like that of
-Worcester, were devoted to the royal cause, and on all occasions
-evinced that unshrinking loyalty which added lustre to their descent.
-In the halls of Tredegar, as in Raglan Castle, Charles found an
-asylum--the only asylum, perhaps, that could then be a sure guarantee
-for his personal safety. The Morgan family was descended from the
-ancient princes of South Wales, and as much distinguished by its
-hospitality as its antiquity.
-
-[255] Sir Henry Ellis’s Orig. Lett., vol. iii. p. 310.
-
-[256] Grandfather of the famous Dean of St. Patrick’s.
-
-[257] Apophthegms.--See the former _note_.
-
-[258] Among what are called “_The King’s Pamphlets_,” in the British
-Museum, the collection of which, begun by a Mr. George Thomason,
-and continued by order of King Charles the First, there is a single
-folio sheet printed at London, containing “VERSES lately written by
-Thomas Earle of Strafford.”--_Sir Henry Ellis’s “Original Letters”
-illustrative of English History_, vol. iii. p. 238.
-
-[259] Of this disastrous event a sympathising French poet writes:--
-
- Tel qu’un lion forcé de repaire en repaire,
- En dépit des chasseurs regagne sa tanière.
- Mais <g>Charles</g>, en cet asile investi sans sécours,
- Ne pouvait s’y flatter que d’un frêle recours--
- Trop déplorable objet de tant de trahisons,
- Indigné, trainé de prisons en prisons,
- L’imfortuné Monarque, abreuvé de misères,
- Finit sur le billot ses destins sanguinaires.
-
-
-[260] See Thomas’s “Tinterne,” p. 78.
-
-[261] Rowland Williams of Llangibby was distinguished by royal favour,
-both in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and that of her successor, and
-in proof thereof received the honour of knighthood. His grandson, the
-Sir Trevor Williams here mentioned, in consideration of his loyal
-attachment to the interests of King Charles, was created a baronet on
-the 14th of May, 1642.
-
-[262] See Letter published by Mr. Thomas in his “Account of Raglan,”
-_note_ 23.
-
-[263] Stated by Rushworth, as only 1,500 men, while the garrison in the
-Castle amounted to 800 men.
-
-[264] Of this document the following is a copy:--
-
-“To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Thos. Glenham, Sir Thos. Tildesley,
-Col. H. Washington, Col. Tho. Blagge, Governors of our Cities and
-Towns of Oxford, Lichfield, Worcester, and Wallingford, and all other
-Commanders of any Towns, Castles, and Forts, in our Kingdome of
-England:--
-
-<g>“Charles R.</g>
-
-“Having resolved to comply with the desires of our Parliament in every
-thing which may be for the good of our subjects, and leave no means
-unessayed for removing all differences amongst us, therefore We have
-thought fit, the more to evidence the reality of our intentions of
-settling an happy and firm peace, to require you to quit those Towns,
-Castles, and Forts intrusted to you by us, and to disband all the
-Forces under your several commands.
-
-“Newcastle, the 10th June, 1646.”
-
-[265] The Marquess, like many other royalists, considered that the King
-was under restraint; and that it was his _duty_ to disobey the royal
-orders for surrender. In fact, Charles himself had written to the Queen
-that he was in durance in the hands of the barbarous and perfidious
-Scots; and that she, his son, and all his faithful counsellors, were
-to regard every order from him, C. R., as forced or surreptitious.
-The Marquess, therefore, regarded the document with well-grounded
-suspicion, and took exception to his Majesty’s warrant, because, while
-it specified others, it did not name him or his Castle.--_Hist. of
-Engl., Civ. and Milit. Transact._ p. 356.
-
-[266] It is worthy of remark, that Sir Thomas Fairfax, on his arrival,
-does not so much continue the siege already commenced by Colonel
-Morgan, as begin a new siege by a new summons. It was thought, perhaps,
-that the Marquess would be more disposed to surrender his Castle to a
-man of General Fairfax’s rank than to Colonel Morgan; and from what
-follows, the opinion was not without foundation.
-
-[267] A prohibition, by-the-by, which the noble owner and his royal
-master do not seem to have applied to themselves.--See _Certamen
-Religiosum_.
-
-[268] “An exact and true Relation of the many several Messages
-that have passed between his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax and the
-Marquess of Worcester, Governor of Raglan Castle, touching the
-Surrender thereof: Together with a Copy of the Propositions sent to
-the General from the Marquess of Worcester out of Raglan Castle,
-and his Excellency’s Refusal to treat on them: Also, the Names your
-Commissioner appointed to treate with the Enemy upon the Propositions
-sent to them from the Generall. Certified in a Letter to a Member of
-the Honourable House of Commons, on Tuesday, August 18th, 1646, and
-commanded to be forthwith printed and published. London. 1646.”
-
-[269] Fairfax was encamped on a rising ground north of the Castle,
-which commanded the whole line of the fortress occupied by the Marquess
-of Worcester.
-
-[270] It is deserving of notice, that the communication above quoted
-was ordered by the House of Commons to be made public the moment it
-was received, although it describes very frankly all the plans and
-difficulties of the besieging army. In other cases it would probably
-have formed the substance of a secret despatch.
-
-[271] An account precisely similar to that quoted is given in the
-“Mercurius Civicus--London’s Intelligencer; or, Truth impartially
-related from thence to the whole Kingdom, to prevent misinformation.
-From Thursday, August 13, to Thursday, August 20, 1646.” This
-singular-looking gazette, determined it would seem on impartiality
-of honours, ornaments its title-page with a likeness of Sir Thomas
-Fairfax, faced by that of King Charles.
-
-[272] Part of this building remains, with the date 1616. In the parish
-church of Llandenny, is a monument of Roger Oates of Kevantilla, who
-died 1706, ætatis 67.
-
-[273] “History of England,” Charles I. p. 607.
-
-[274] Among the gentlemen who took part with him in the defence was
-Sir Harry Killigrew, of whose melancholy fate Clarendon gives some
-interesting particulars.--_Clarendon_, part ii. p. 39, ed. 1706; also,
-vol. v. p. 40.
-
-[275] “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols
-of gold, which they made, each one for himself to worship, to the moles
-and to the bats.”--Isaiah ii. 20.
-
-[276] Dr. Henry Edwards, author of “History of the Siege of
-Jerusalem.”--_Archæol. Journ._, vol. i. p. 112.
-
-[277] “Thomas’s Tinterne,” p. 158.
-
-[278] From lines ascribed to Lord Strafford.--_Sir Henry Ellis’s_
-“_Original Letters_,” vol. iii.
-
-[279] “Tout est perdu, hors _l’honneur_.”
-
-[280] Carlyle’s “Cromwell:” [quoting Hist. of Independ. London, 1683-5.]
-
-[281] See description of this walk, _ante_ p. 158.
-
-[282] London, 1650; a thin folio volume.
-
-[283] Douay, 1654.
-
-[284] Quoting from Sacred Writ.
-
-[285] “Guide to Piety.”
-
-[286] A small volume with this title: “Worcester’s Apophthegms; or,
-Witty Sayings of the Right Honourable Henry (late) Marquess and Earle
-of Worcester, delivered upon several occasions, and now published for
-the benefit of the reader, by T. B., a constant observer and no less
-admirer of his Lordship’s wisdom and loyalty. 1650.”
-
-[287] See _ante_ page 175, the King’s letter to Glamorgan.
-
-[288] This, in some degree, explains the strong motives by which the
-Marquess was actuated in his devotion to the King.
-
-[289] On the coffin was this inscription, engraved on a brass
-plate:--“Depositum illustrissimi principis Edwardi, Marchionis et
-Comitis Wigorniæ, Comitis de Glamorgan, Baronis Herbert de Raglan,
-Chepstow, et Gower, nec non serenissimo nuper Domino Regi Carolo Primo,
-South Walliæ locum tenentis, qui obiit apud Lond., tertio die Apriles,
-An. Dom. MDCLXVII.”
-
-[290] August 18, 1660.
-
-[291] See description of the moat, &c., _ante_ p. 158.
-
-[292] Tinterne and its Vicinity, page 130.
-
-[293] Page 131.
-
-[294] Monmouth, Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Salop, Wilts,
-Somerset, Devon, Brecon, Glamorgan, Caermarthen, Cardigan, and Radnor;
-together with the British Channel to some distance beyond the Holms.
-Near the latter is a Tower called “Kemey’s Folly.” Its founder,
-boasting to his father that the tower could be seen from thirteen
-counties, was answered--“I am sorry, my son, that so great an extent of
-country should be witness to thy consummate folly;” and from that day,
-we are told, the tower assumed the name which it still retains.
-
-[295] Or, according to Mr. Thomas, 1720 feet.
-
-[296] “Thomas’s Raglan,” p. 155.
-
-[297] A MS. plan, which has just been sent to the Editor from Raglan,
-in confirmation of the above, seems to complete the evidence which was
-hitherto wanting.
-
-[298] One solitary attempt to imitate the jousts and tournaments of
-former days, was made a few years ago at the expense of the Earl of
-Eglinton; but “the burlesque was apparently too extravagant, if not too
-costly, for repetition.”
-
-[299] In the bowling-green attached to the residence of a gentleman
-at Muswell Hill, Hornsey, the ancient national game is still kept
-up--_ritu majorum_.
-
-[300] Fosbroke, Nares, Strutt, Gage’s Hengrave Hall.--_Encyclopædia of
-Antiq._, vol. ii. p. 674.
-
-[301] See “Strutt’s Sports,” p. 97.
-
-[302] “Fosbroke’s Gymnastics.” The late Sir S. R. Meyrick gives various
-kinds of jousts, _i. e._ where the combat is limited to two rivals.
-
-[303] Page 175 of this volume.
-
-[304] The contributor of this anecdote is not sufficiently acquainted
-with the habits of birds as to pronounce that no bird builds its nest
-of white-thorn; but if such be really the case, that circumstance might
-surely have led the cavaliers to suspect that the prophecy had received
-some aid in its fulfilment from the worthy townsmen of Caernarvon.
-But the explanation given by the Marquess is, as usual, felicitously
-characteristic, and veiled in a politico-religious guise.
-
-[305] Bayly, Apophthegm xix.
-
-[306] The woodcut represents the old baronial <g>kitchen</g> with its
-appendages, as described page 154.
-
-[307] See note, page 138.
-
-[308] As an author, he is known by a work relating to that curious
-monument of former ages, Stonehenge, which he pronounced to be a Roman
-temple, dedicated to Cœlus; an opinion, however, which antiquaries have
-decried as erroneous and absurd.--_Biog._
-
-[309] See account of the King’s visit to Raglan, p. 163.
-
-[310] He died in 1348.
-
-[311] The lordship of Grosmont was absorbed in the acquisitions of the
-house of Lancaster, and a court-baron is held for the district, called
-“the Hundred of the Three Castles”--Grosmont, Skenfreth, and White
-Castle, or Castle Gwyn.
-
-[312] 1326.--See Hist. of Monmouth.
-
-[313] 1387.--Ibid.
-
-[314] Life of Henry V.
-
-[315] In the “Shakspeare,” edited by the late poet Campbell, it is
-thought that the parts of _Gloucester_ and _Edgar_ are taken from the
-story of the Paphlagonian King in Sir Philip Sydney’s “Arcadia.” There
-was also a play, entitled “The True Chronicle Historie of King Leare
-and his 3 Daughters,” entered at Stationers’ Hall in 1594, which kept
-possession of the stage several years, and must have been familiar to
-Shakspeare himself.
-
-[316] The recent epic poem by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart., entitled
-“King Arthur,” is one of the few poems of our own times that promises
-to descend to posterity. What Milton admired, and Dryden projected,
-as the subject of a national poem, Sir Edward has accomplished with
-that felicitous taste and ability which have impressed his name on the
-popular and classic literature of the day. Pope himself had at one
-period of his life resolved to complete, what Milton and Dryden had
-only planned--a heroic poem on the same subject.
-
-[317] Among the estates thus rejected was the ancient manor of
-Berkeley, in the Vale of Gloucester. “Nam cum eis aliquando tota
-provincia de Bergelay a Rege et Regina, gratis offeretur,” etc. etc.
-
-[318] Regina verò Matildis sanctitatis ignara quanta videlicet mentis
-constantia insaturabilem divitiarum fugeret ingluviem; cum aliquando
-_rogare cœpit ut modis omnibus sineret eam manum suam in sinum ejus
-mittere_, etc.
-
-[319] The precise year of its foundation has never been ascertained;
-but there is no doubt that it was commenced after 1108, and completed
-before 1136, when the greater part of the brotherhood were removed to
-Hereford, and subsequently to New Llanthony, near Gloucester. We have
-the testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis that, in 1186, the Mother-Abbey
-had been long completed. He describes it as covered with lead, and not
-inelegantly constructed with a roof of stone.
-
-[320] Hist. Abbatiæ de <g>Llanthony</g>, in Bibl. Cotton, Sub. Effigie
-Julii DXI. fol. 30. B.; also, Monasticon Angl. vol. iii.
-p. 58. Ed. 1673. It is too long for our purpose; but the article will
-be interspersed with extracts from it.
-
-[321] Translated by the late Sir R. Colt Hoare, Bart., 1806.
-
-[322] The name of the place in Welsh, as he explains it, is Nanthodeni.
-_Nant_ signifies a running stream, from whence this place is still
-called by the inhabitants, Llandevi Nantodeni, or, the Church of St.
-David upon the river Hodeni. By the English, therefore, it is corruptly
-called Llanthoni; whereas it should either be called Nanthodeni, that
-is, the brook of the Hodeni, or Lanthodeni, the church upon the Hodeni.
-
-[323] This was before the _New_ Abbey had been thought of; or, in the
-original words, “Before the Daughter had existence; and I sincerely
-wish,” adds the devout historian, “that she had never been produced.”
-
-[324] Resembling in many respects--though in a less inhospitable
-region--the Augustine monks of “the Great St. Bernard,” and holding
-no intercourse with the world around them, unless by means of those
-pilgrims who resorted to their shrine, and spread abroad the fame of
-their sanctity.
-
-[325] Seneca’s Morals.
-
-[326] This anecdote, somewhat differently told, we have already noticed
-in the sketch of Tinterne Abbey.
-
-[327] This reminds us of a visit to a celebrated monastery in Tuscany,
-where the writer was received by one of the superior monks with great
-politeness and hospitality. In the course of the evening he mentioned
-the principal circumstances of his life--“court intrigue, dissipation,
-extravagance, and moral depravity; at last,” said he, “I became
-utterly disgusted with the life I had led, and flew for refuge to this
-sanctuary, where I have lived many years, and found, to my soul’s
-content, that there is no happiness in this life but in preparing for
-the next--_pensare, pensare, sull’ éternità_.”--Ed.
-
-[328] Sir R. C. Hoare, quoting Giraldus.
-
-[329] Orig. Nova Marchia. Chr. New March?
-
-[330] See the account already given of the Clare family.
-
-[331] In those times the Wye was considered the boundary between
-England and Wales.
-
-[332] See _ante_, founders and benefactors of Tinterne Abbey.
-
-[333] Of the strict legal phraseology of this document, the
-following is a specimen:--Volo et firmiter præcipio quod Canonici
-<g>Lanthoniæ</g> Primæ, omnia tenementa sua in terra de <g>Ewias</g>,
-tam laica quam ecclesiastica quæcumq: in præsenti habent vel in
-posterum, emptione, donatione, vel quocumq: alio titulo habituri sunt,
-bene et in pace, liberè et quietè teneant in omnibus locis et rebus
-ubicumque fuerint in terra de <g>Ewias</g>, quieta de omnibus placitis
-et querelis, et auxiliis, et _sumagiis_, et _cariagiis_, et clausturis;
-et de pontium et castrorum ædificatione, et de conductu thesauri, et
-de omni operatione et lestagio et stallagio et summonitionibus, et
-de assisis, et superassisis; et de omnibus foris functis, quacumque
-occasione emerserint; et de assartis. Nullus verò de Forestariis
-nostris quicquam se intromittat de boscis Prioris et Canonicorum
-<g>Lanthoniæ</g> Primæ; sed omnem potestatem et libertatem, quam
-ego et hæredes mei in boscis nostris habemus, vel habere poterimus,
-habeant prædicti Prior et Canonici in boscis suis, sint verò et
-homines et res ipsorum quieta de telonio, et ex omnibus exactionibus,
-et consuetudinibus in Nundinis, foris, et mercatis; et omnibus locis
-et rebus _per totam terram de_ <g>Ewias</g>. Habeant prædicti Prior
-et Canonici omnem justiciam de _assaultu_ et _murdro_ et sanguinis
-effusione, et pacis infractione et thesauri inventione, et quicquid ad
-nostram pertinet potestatem.... Concedo quod habeant de hominibus suis
-et de tota possessione sua, quam habent vel habituri sunt, in terra de
-<g>Ewias</g>, etc. etc. Concedo quod predicti <g>Prior</g> et Canonici
-omnes libertates prædictas et liberas consuetudines habeant adeo liberè
-et quietè, pacificè et integrè sicut ego et antecessores mei, ipsius
-libertatis unquam melius, plenius, et liberiùs habuimus. Concedo etiam
-quod habeant omnes libertates quas ego et successores mei per Regem
-Angliæ, vel alium, habere poterimus in terra de <g>Ewias</g>, etc.
-etc.--Datum per nostrum manum apud <g>Langley</g>, Anno regni nostri
-decimo octavo.
-
-[334] These Canons were to live in common; to have but one table, one
-purse, one dormitory. But as many of them had begun to abate somewhat
-of the strictness of their first rules, a new set sprang up that
-pretended to reform upon the rest; and these, from their more pointed
-observance of the vow, were styled <g>Regular Canons</g>; whereas those
-who had fallen from the original purity of the Order were called, by
-way of reproach, <g>Secular Canons</g>. In this manner the monks of
-New Llanthony, who affected a more exemplary life, called themselves
-Regulars--which they did not permit those of the parent Abbey, in
-Wales, to assume, but addressed them only as Canons or Seculars. It was
-by this distinction--“I am holier than thou”--that they endeavoured to
-justify their “unfilial conduct,” and promote their own ascendancy, in
-their connection with Old Llanthony. [But in the <g>Charters</g> they
-are often called _Regulars_.]
-
-It seems uncertain at what precise period the title or designation of
-Canons was assumed in the church; but the first Regulars we read of
-were those employed by Pope Alexander II., in his mission to St. John
-Lateran. But so irregular, says a historian, were those Regulars, and
-so addicted to crimes, that even Pope Boniface VIII. was forced to
-drive them away, and placed Secular Canons in their room.
-
-They were introduced into England about the middle of the seventh
-century.
-
-[335] The paper is entitled, “LICENTIA PER REGEM EDWARDUM QUARTUM, pro
-unione Prioratûs de <g>Llanthony</g> _Prima_, in Wallia, Prioratui de
-<g>Lanthony</g> juxta Gloucestriam.”
-
-[336] In the Original, the contrast between the two monasteries,
-in their position and outward circumstances, is thus picturesquely
-and forcibly drawn. Speaking of the introduction of the old Canons
-to their new cells on the Severn, he says--Nam valdè dissimiliter
-sibi respondere experti sunt, <g>urbem</g> Gloucestriæ et montem
-<g>Hatyre</g> [Hatterilhills], et fluvium <g>Sabrinæ</g>, et aquam
-<g>Hodanie</g>; _Anglos_, ditissimos et Wallenses pauperrimos: Illic,
-agros fertiles; hîc saltus steriles, unde illorum copia blandientæ
-illecti; istorum inopia urgente pertæsi locum istum, nec hominum quorum
-libet nec dum religiosorum inhabitatione dignum censuerunt.
-
-The next is quite in keeping:--
-
-Audivi quidem dici et ex parte credo, quosdam linguæ levitate (et
-utinam non odii livore) desiderâsse ut quilibet hujus Ecclesiæ
-lapis _lepus_ foret: alios autem, quod in pace illorum dixerim, ore
-sacrilego impetisse ut Ecclesia cum omnibus officinis abyssi voragine
-absorberetur! Omnes verò <g>Ecclesiæ</g> hujus redditus pro suo
-arbitrio expenderunt; illic excelsa et decentia officinarum ædificia
-fabricantes; hìc verò fabricata situ et vetustate deferentes.
-
-Et quoniam eis indignissimum videbatur ut locus [old Llanthony] tam
-antiqua religione sacer et tam amplis possessionibus ditatus, omninò
-virorum religiosorum residentiâ destitueretur, destinare solebant
-genes debiles, et abjectiores, qui nec sibi nec aliis multum prodesse
-valebant, qui non immeritò cum <g>Apostolo</g> dicere poterant:
-_tanquam purgamenta fratrum facti sumus omnium paripsima usque
-adhuc_.--_Pri. de Lanth. ord. S. Aug._
-
-[337] In old writings it is spelt Hodenay, Hondy, Hodenie, &c.
-
-[338] We have not introduced the original Welsh; but the reader may see
-the whole in the “Historie of <g>Cambria</g>, now called Wales, a part
-of the most famous Yland of Brytane, by <g>David Powel</g>, Doctor in
-Divinitie, [=c] privilegio. 1584.”
-
-[339] State of Europe during the Middle Ages.--_Hallam._
-
-[340] Ibid.
-
-[341] Hallam’s Middle Ages.
-
-[342] Whewel.
-
-[343] Sir Thomas More said to his lady that the consideration of the
-time--for it was Lent--should restrayne her from so scolding her
-servants. “_Tush, tush_, my lord,” said she; “_Lookye! here is one step
-to heavenward_,”--shewing him a frier’s girdle. “Alas! I fear me,”
-said he, “this _step_ will not bring you up one step higher.”--_Camd.
-Remains_, quoted Brit. Monach. p. 173.
-
-[344] Dugdale gives it at £71. 3_s._ 4_d._; Speed at £112. 1_s._ 5_d._
-At the Dissolution, John Ambrose was Prior, and with John Nealand and
-three other Canons subscribed to the Supremacy in 1534.
-
-[345] See the notice of Tinterne Abbey.
-
-[346] The north aisle is occupied by a wash-house and skittle-ground.
-The cloisters, dormitories, and other offices are used for the
-reception of visitors, under the direction of a resident steward.
-Latterly, the ruins appear to have suffered little from time or
-desecration. The western front is very perfect and beautiful, but the
-tracery of the great window is obliterated. The owner of the property
-is Walter Savage Landor, Esq., the poet.--_Archæol. Journ._
-
-[347] _Edition_ 1806; but serious dilapidations have taken place since
-then, and even within three or four years. Great credit is due to
-the house of Beaufort for the pains taken in the conservation of the
-religious houses and castles that have fallen to its possession and
-custody; and it is very gratifying to know that the example is followed
-by the present Proprietor of Llanthony.
-
-[348] London: Pickering.
-
-[349] Now, in Walter de Troucestre’s Chron., we read,
-“A.D. 1301, on the first day of April, being Easter-eve,
-the Church of Llanthony, near Gloucester, was entirely burnt to the
-bare walls, together with its _four_ belfries, nor did any bell remain
-that was not either broken or melted.”--_Roberts._
-
-[350] Supposed by some to have been the Sacristy or Vestiary.--See
-preceding pages.
-
-[351] See Tinterne Abbey: Descrip. of Dole.
-
-[352] Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. iii. Orat. August.
-
-[353] The <g>Rules</g>--of which the above are but a meagre and
-imperfect outline--are expressed with great beauty and simplicity
-in the original, to which the reader is again referred. It is worth
-mentioning that the celebrated Thomas à Kempis was a monk of this
-Order; and, perhaps, no devotional work has appeared in so many
-languages, or run through so many editions, as his “_De Imitatione
-Christi_.”
-
-[354] The tracts written, and supposed to be written, by him, were
-published by Bertrand Tissier in 1662.
-
-[355] Vol. iii. page 66.
-
-[356] Conveyances of smoke by holes in the walls are of very ancient
-date in English castles; but the earliest certain instance of chimneys,
-properly so called, is understood to occur in some castles abroad,
-about the year 1347.
-
-[357] See Raglan Castle, description and woodcut, _ante_.
-
-[358] The Castle of Grosmont, by a grant of King John, belonged to the
-family of Breoses, but afterwards to Hubert de Burgh, who, to “calm
-a court tempest,” resigned it with three others to Edward III. See
-description of the Castle in this work.
-
-[359] Thomas’s Glendower, 132
-
-[360] Memoirs of Owen Glendower, 1822.
-
-[361] See the preceding account of Raglan Castle.
-
-[362] “Secunda urbicula, quam Burrium Antoninus dixit, sedet ubi
-Brithin profluens Iscae commiscetur, Britannis hodie, transpositis
-literis, Brumbegie pro _Burenbegie_, et Caer-Uske--Gyraldo Castrum
-Oscæ--et Anglis Usk, nunc solum Castri ampli ruinas ostendit, quod
-amænissimé intersidet inter Iscam flumen, et Oilwy rivulum ...”
-
-[363] Monuments Antiqua, Kennet’s Rom. Antiq., Tacitus, Vegetius de re
-Militari, Thomas, p. 141.
-
-[364] We do not read of any nuns having been “stolen from the nunnery”
-of Uske; but as the reader may be aware, poor Sir Osbert Giffard paid
-severely for his sacrilegious gallantry in stealing not one but _two_
-nuns out of Wilton Abbey. He was ordered never to enter a nunnery more!
-never to be in the presence of a nun without special leave of his
-Diocesan. Nor was this enough: he was condemned to go thrice “naked in
-his shirt and breeches” to the parish church of W., though not, it is
-said, in presence of the nuns; to be each several time beaten with a
-rod, much to the comfort of his own soul, and the edification of the
-by-standers; and so, also, in Salisbury market, and in Shaftesbury
-church. He was condemned, moreover, to doff the insignia of knighthood,
-and don a coarse garment of russet, trimmed with lamb or sheep’s wool;
-to wear calf-skin on his nether extremities, and not to wear any shirt
-after flagellation. And all this ignominious treatment to be rigorously
-enforced, until he, the said Osbert, should have been three years in
-the Holy Land, or recalled by royal authority.--_Brit. Monachism_, iii.
-161. _County Hist._
-
-[365] The town is incorporated and governed by a portreeve who has
-concurrent jurisdiction with the county magistrates, a recorder,
-two bailiffs, and burgesses. The recorder appoints the burgesses,
-from among whom the portreeve is chosen at a court-leet, on a day
-previous to St. Luke’s day, or the 29th of October. The recorder is
-appointed by the lord of the borough. Four constables are chosen at
-an annual court-leet of the lord of the manor of Uske, who is also
-lord of the borough, although the latter is no part of the manor.
-The quarter-sessions are held alternately here and at Monmouth. The
-town-house, erected by the Duke of Beaufort, is a handsome building.
-There are monthly fairs, and the inhabitants, besides the japan ware
-already mentioned, are occupied in the salmon fishery and agriculture.
-A free grammar-school for boys was founded here in 1621, by Roger
-Edwards, with almshouses for twelve poor persons, and an exhibition
-at Oxford. These almshouses, forming three sides of a quadrangle,
-have been recently rebuilt. In the main street the houses are much
-scattered, and ornamented by intervening gardens, which give an air of
-healthy cheerfulness to the place. The Wesleyans, Independents, and
-Roman Catholics, have all their meeting-houses or chapels.--_Parl. Gaz._
-
-[366] Or in the elegant lines of Ausonius:--
-
- “Nec te puniceo rutilantem viscere salmo
- Transierim, latæ cujus vaga verbera caudæ
- Gurgite de medio summas reseruntur in undas.”
-
-
-[367] See vol i. of this work, art. “Arundel.”
-
-[368] A.D. 1189. Hen. Rex ... dedit Maritagium Isabellæ, filiæ Ricardi
-<g>Strongbow</g>. Willelmo <g>Marescallo</g> primo, et sic factus
-est Comes totius Pembrochiæ, et dominus totius hæreditatis.--_Will.
-Worcest._
-
-[369] See history of Tinterne Abbey, _ante_ p. 44.
-
-[370] See his character as already given in this work.
-
-[371] See the original, as above.--Tinterne, p. 46.
-
-[372] Gilbert Mareschal, a principal and most potent peere of the
-realm, proclaimed here a Disport of running on horseback with launces,
-which they called <g>Tourneaments</g>, under the name of _Fortunie_,
-making a scorne of the King’s authority, whereby these Tourneaments
-were inhibited. To which place, when a great number of the nobility and
-gentry were assembled, it fortuned that Gilbert himselfe, as he ranne
-at tilt, by occasion that his flinging horse brake bridle and cast him,
-was trampled under foote, and so pitifully died.--_Chronicle._
-
-[373] Among his other feats “of spirit and prowess,” the following,
-recorded by the grave monk of St. Albans, is sufficiently
-“characteristic:”--About this time, William de Valence, residing
-at Hertfort Castle, as it is said, rode to the parke of Heathfeld,
-belonging to the Bishop of Ely, and there, hunting without any leave,
-went to the bishop’s manor-house; and there readily finding nothing
-to drink but ordinary beer, and, swearing and cursing the drink and
-those who made it, broke open the butlery doors. After all his company
-had drunk their fills of the best wines in the bishop’s cellars, he
-pulled the spigots out of the vessels, and let out the rest upon
-the floor; and then a servant of the house hearing the noise, and
-running to see what the matter was, they laughed him to scorn, and so
-departed.--_Dugd._ B. 774, Paris, 855.
-
-[374] This Earl of Pembroke fell at the battle of Bayonne, in June,
-1296, being the 23d of Edw. I., and was buried in St. Edmond’s chapel,
-Westminster.
-
-[375] Scotticé, _Peel_, or castle.
-
-[376] Penbrock, Penbrok, Pembrok, or Pembroke: names of the same places
-and persons, all variously spelt in the original deeds.
-
-[377] These jousts and tournaments were used a long time, says the
-chronicle, and with such slaughter of gentlemen in all places, but
-in this England most of all--since that King <g>Stephen</g> brought
-them in--that by divers decrees of the Church they were forbidden,
-upon paine that whosoever therein were slaine should want Christian
-buriall in church or churchyard: and hiere with us King <g>Henrie</g>
-the Third, by advice of his sages, made an Act of Parliament, that
-their heires who transgressed in this kind should be disinherited.
-Howbeit, contrary to the said law, so good and wholesome, this naughty
-and wicked custome was practised a great while, and grew not quite
-out of use before the happie daies of Kinge <g>Edward</g> the Third,
-[Matt. Paris, 1248.] In the present instance, the Earl was a youth of
-but seventeen; but inspired with the manly courage of his forefathers,
-adventured to tilt with Syr John <g>St. John</g>, by an unlucky slip of
-whose lance young Hastings was run through the body, and suddenly died.
-He was a person of so noble disposition that, in bounty and courtesy,
-he exceeded most of his degree. But, adds the chronicle, his untimely
-death was then thought by many to be a judgment upon the family in
-regard that Aymer de Valence, his ancestor, was one of those who gave
-sentence of death upon Thomas, Earl of Lancaster; for it was observed,
-that after that judgment so given, _none of the succeeding_ Earls ever
-saw his father, nor any father of them took delight in seeing his child!
-
-[378] The reader may refer to our account of this transaction in
-the history of Raglan, in which, also, sketches of the Earls of
-<g>Pembroke</g>, of the house of Herbert, are given.
-
-[379] <g>Hywel y Fwyall</g>, a British chieftain, is described by the
-Welsh bards as having commanded a body of his countrymen, as a corps of
-reserve, at the battle of Cressy; and by his seasonable advance, and
-valorous incursion upon the French lines, to have materially added to
-the acceleration of victory.--_Ow. Glendwr_, 33.
-
-[380] The Plantagenets are at the plough; while the descendants of the
-knaves that served them are at the helm of public affairs.
-
-[381] See Speed, p. 465.
-
-[382] See the Drama of Richard III., Act V.
-
-[383] See also the Enumeration as given by Shakspeare.
-
-[384] Thomas’s “Glendwr,” 1822.
-
-[385] It is mentioned as a curious genealogical fact, that Cromwell was
-descended from Cadwgan, second son of Bleddyn-ap-Cynfyn, founder of
-the third royal tribe. The family name was anciently Williams; Morgan
-Williams, of Nantchurch, in Cardiganshire, married the sister of Thomas
-Cromwell, the minister Earl of Essex, and was succeeded by his son,
-Sir Richard Cromwell, of Hinchinbroke, in Huntingdonshire, who first
-assumed the name of Cromwell. He was father to Sir Henry Cromwell, the
-grandfather, by Robert, the second son of Oliver, the “Protector.”
-Yorke--Thomas’ Mem. of Owen Glendwr, 225.
-
-[386] _Caer-Tyf_--Castle or fort on the Taafe.--See Warner, p. 46.
-
-[387] Powel’s Hist. p. 111; also, Warner’s Tour, p. 47
-
-[388] Tanner’s Not. Monast.; Thomas’s Mems. of Glendower; Coxe’s Tour.
-
-[389] Excursions in Wales. 1851.
-
-[390] Its Welsh name is _Dynbych-y-Pyscoed_,--_piscium_ copia admodum
-celebre, ut Britannicé Tenby-Piscoid denominatur.--_Gyrald._
-
-[391] Of this inundation, which swamped part of Holland, and sent a new
-colony to Wales, Drayton sings:--
-
- “When wrathful Heaven the clouds so liberally bestowed,
- The seas--then wanting room to lay their boist’rous load--
- Upon the Belgian coast their pampered stomachs cast,
- That peopled cities sank into the mighty waste.
- The <g>Flemings</g> were enforced to take them to their oars,
- To try the setting main to find out firmer shores.
- When, as this spacious Isle them entrance did allow,
- To plant the Belgian stock upon this goodly brow;
- These nations, that their tongues did naturally affect,
- Both generally forsook the <g>British</g> dialect.”
-
-
-[392] There was also a chapel, dedicated to St. Julian, on the quay;
-the free chapel of St. John’s, founded by the Valences, or Valentias,
-with a lazar-house and almshouse. The modern charities of Tenby are
-liberally supported.
-
-[393] See his Memoirs of Owen Glendwr, p. 61, to which we are indebted
-for much information on this subject.
-
-[394] See vol. i. of this work, Castles and Abbeys, pp. 155, 156.
-
-[395] “The first day he read the _first book_ to a great concourse of
-people, and afterwards entertained all the poor of the town; on the
-second day he read the _second book_, and entertained all the doctors
-and chief scholars; and on the third day he read the _third book_, and
-entertained all the young scholars, soldiers, and burgesses.”
-
-[396] The rivulet here mentioned is that which supplied the ancient
-ponds, and is shown on the right of the engraved picture. On the left
-is seen the church with its tall embattled tower--much resembling an
-Italian campanile--of Norman workmanship, and a style peculiar to
-this county. On the foreground is the dilapidated framework of an
-ancient cottage, with a chimney common to the country. This relic is
-supposed to belong to an era not less remote than that of the castle.
-To the right of the engraving, the promontory of St. Gowan’s Head is
-seen closing the distant horizon; and directly in front, the sea view
-presents an unlimited expanse of waters.
-
-[397] Capellam nostri Castelli de Nethe, cum omni decima procurationis
-nostræ dæmus, in annona, et cateris rebus, et cum omni decima hominum
-mestrorum illius provincia, viz.: Francorum et Anglorum, etc., etc.
-
-[398] Dat. per manum H. de <g>Well</g>, Arch. de Well, apud Burbeche,
-vj Januarii, anno regni nostri ix.
-
-[399] See note regarding this name, _ante_ p. 305.
-
-[400] <g>Edward II.</g> is also said to have found a temporary asylum
-in the parish of Llangynwyd-fawr, in the county of Glamorgan. He
-had interested himself much in the concerns of his Welsh subjects,
-arbitrating the feuds, and determining the disputes among the
-chieftains. In the day of adversity, these condescensions were repaid
-with loyal devotion to his person; and when harassed by his barons,
-and deserted by his English subjects, he found a brief sanctuary in
-Wales, at Neath Abbey, and also, as other writers conjecture, at
-<g>Tinterne</g>.
-
-[401] Or Grenville, Grainvil, Greenfeld--various spellings for the same
-name.
-
-[402] See Tewkesbury, vol. i. of this work, p. 172.
-
-[403] On the authority of Girald. Cambrens.; _query_, Gwentiana, from
-Gwent, fair?
-
-[404] Tourist in Wales, (1851,) p. 130.
-
-[405] This and most others of the native patronymics are all variously
-spelt by different writers.
-
-[406] Nevertheless, the old maxim of ἀριστον μεν ὐδωρ has lost
-nothing of its truth as a medicinal agent in the treatment of human
-maladies. The superstitious belief that once carried the invalid to
-drink, “nothing doubting,” of some distant well, necessitated, in many
-instances, a total change of scenes and habits, which could hardly fail
-to prove beneficial in many cases, in which the comforts of home and
-the established rules of treatment had been found quite ineffectual.
-The cures ascribed to hydropathy in our own time are, in many cases,
-not a whit less wonderful than those ascribed by monkish legends to the
-holy wells of England and Wales. The only difference is, that while
-tradition affirms that new _limbs_ were known to sprout out [as in the
-claw of a lobster] by the plentiful use of certain waters, hydropathics
-restrict themselves to the reproduction of _lungs_ only; so that the
-modern wells have rather an advantage over the ancient in the art of
-miracle-working.
-
-[407] This daughter afterwards married Sir Henry le Scrope, Knt.
-
-[408] Near the entrance to the lawn in front of the castle, on the
-road leading to Carew village and church, stands one of the early
-<g>Crosses</g>, in the centre of which is an elaborate inscription, but
-which cannot now be deciphered.--_Prescot_, 164.
-
-[409] G. H. Warrington, Esq. See “Thomas’ Glendwr,” 1822.
-
-[410] See the particulars as related in the chronicles of Speed and
-others.
-
-[411] Camden.
-
-[412] The Earl being at the time Lord Steward of the King’s
-household.--_Clarend._, vol. i. p. 58.
-
-[413] _Vide_ Dec. Lanfr. Fosb. 67.
-
-[414] Sanctor. Patrum. Reg. Monast. Louv. 12mo. 1571, fol. 9-51. Joh.
-de Turre Cremata, Concordia Regularum, &c., quoted in the Brit. Monach.
-p. 68.
-
-[415] So far we have followed Stevens; but according to other
-authorities, he seems to have forgotten that the ancient Benedictines
-wore a _coif_ upon the head. The “Specimen Monochologiæ” clothes the
-Benedictine monk with breeches.--_V. Brit. Mon._
-
-[416] His work on Osteology--written during the time he acted as
-Demonstrator in one of the metropolitan schools, and before he had
-reached his twentieth year--did him great credit.
-
-
-
-
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-<pre style='margin-bottom:6em;'>The Project Gutenberg EBook of The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 2 of
-2, by William Beattie
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this ebook.
-
-Title: The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 2 of 2
- from the national records, early chronicles, and other standard
- authors
-
-Author: William Beattie
-
-Illustrator: W. Whimper
- C. Cousen
- W.H. (William Henry) Bartlett
- J. C. Bentley
- A. Willmore
- S. Bradshaw
- E. Brandard
- W. Deebles
- S. T. Davis
-
-Release Date: November 21, 2020 [EBook #63832]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
- at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
- available at The Internet Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CASTLES AND ABBEYS OF ENGLAND;
-VOL. 2 OF 2 ***
-</pre><hr class="full" />
-
-<p class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/cover.jpg">
-<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image of
-the book's cover unavailable.]" /></a>
-</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="border: 2px black solid;margin:auto auto;max-width:50%;
-padding:1%;">
-<tr><td>
-<p class="c"><a href="#LIST_OF_THE_ILLUSTRATIONS">List of Illustrations</a><br /> <span class="nonvis">(In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers]
-clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.)</span></p>
-
-<p class="c">(etext transcriber's note)</p></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ii" id="page_ii">{ii}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_iii" id="page_iii">{iii}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<h1>
-<small><small>THE</small></small><br />
-<br />
-<span class="redd">CASTLES &nbsp; AND &nbsp; ABBEYS</span><br />
-<br />
-<small><small>OF</small></small><br />
-<br />
-<span class="redd">ENGLAND</span>,</h1>
-
-<p class="c">FROM THE NATIONAL RECORDS, EARLY CHRONICLES, AND OTHER<br />
-STANDARD AUTHORS.<br />
-<br /><big>
-BY WILLIAM BEATTIE, M.D.,</big><br />
-<br /><small>
-GRAD. OF EDIN.; MEMB. OF THE ROYAL COLL. OF PHYS., LONDON; OF THE HIST. INSTIT. OF FRANCE; AUTHOR OF<br />
-“SWITZERLAND,” “SCOTLAND,” “THE WALDENSES,” “RESIDENCE IN GERMANY,” ETC. ETC.</small><br />
-<br />&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
-<span class="redd">ILLUSTRATED BY UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS.</span><br />
-&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
-<br /><br />
-SECOND SERIES.<br /><br />
-<a href="images/front.jpg">
-<img src="images/front.jpg"
-width="220"
-alt="[Image unavailable]"
-/></a>
-<br />
-GEORGE VIRTUE:<br />
-LONDON AND NEW YORK.<br />
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_iv" id="page_iv">{iv}</a></span><br />
-<br /><small><small>
-<br />
-STERIOTYPED AND PRINTED<br />
-WILLIAM MACKENZIE, 48 LONDON STREET.<br />GLASGOW.</small></small>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_v" id="page_v">{v}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="c"><img src="images/front-1.jpg"
-width="300"
-alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></p>
-
-<h2><a name="LIST_OF_THE_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_THE_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
-style="margin:1em auto;max-width:75%;font-size:85%;">
-
-<tr><th colspan="5"><span class="eng">Chepstow Castle.</span></th></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td colspan="2" class="c">STEEL ENGRAVINGS. </td>
-
-<td class="c"><small>ARTISTS.</small></td>
-
-<td class="c"><small>ENGRAVERS.</small> </td>
-
-<td class="rt"><small>PAGE.</small></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Chepstow Castle</span>, from the Iron Bridge across the Wye.&mdash;This View, looking
-towards the West, shows part of the Town, the Castle Gate, the Citadel,
-the Keep, or Marten’s Tower, the Western Gate, the House and Groves
-Persefield, with the precipitous banks of the River. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">C. Cousen.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_3">3</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Chepstow Castle and Bridge</span>, taken from the right bank of the Wye,
-near the West Gate of the Castle.&mdash;This View, looking Eastward,
-shows the principal features of the Castle on the right; the New Bridge,
-the Harbour, with the Scenery on the left bank of the Wye. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">E.&nbsp;Brandard.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_13">13</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Chepstow Castle and Town</span>, from the Wyndcliff, showing the windings of
-the Wye, its junction with the Severn, and the opposite coasts. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">E.&nbsp;Brandard.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_27">27</a></td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">WOODCUTS.</td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Vignette, Castles and Abbeys. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W. Beattie.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">Mason.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_1">1</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Shield, Sword, and Helmet. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">Sargent.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">Evans.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_12">12</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Plan of Chepstow Castle. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;Whimper.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_13">13</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Marten’s Tower, the ancient Keep of Chepstow Castle. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;Whimper.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_15">15</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Ancient Oratory adjoining the Keep. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;Whimper.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_23">23</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">The Arched Chamber in the Castle Rock. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;Whimper.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_24">24</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Passage leading to the Arched Chamber. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;Whimper.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_25">25</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Military Trophies; Age of Chivalry.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_30">30</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="5"><span class="eng">Tinterne Abbey on the Wye.</span></th></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">STEEL ENGRAVINGS. </td>
-
-<td class="c"><small>ARTISTS.</small></td>
-
-<td class="c"> <small>ENGRAVERS.</small> </td>
-
-<td class="rt"><small>PAGE.</small></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Western Window of Tinterne Abbey.</span>&mdash;This View is taken from a
-point near the Great Altar, showing in the foreground the clustered
-Pillars and Arches which formerly supported the Central Tower; the
-Door on the right leading to the Cloisters; Sepulchral Slabs, the Effigy
-of a Knight, with the much-admired Window to the West, and other
-features. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">A.&nbsp;Willmore.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_39">39</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Refectory of the Abbey.</span></td><td><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">C. Cousen.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_52">52</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Devil’s Pulpit.</span>&mdash;This View is taken from a romantic rock so called, on
-the left bank of the Wye, commanding a view of the Abbey westward;
-the Abbot’s Meadows stretching along the right bank of the Wye; the
-Church of Chapel-hill; the Village of Tinterne Parva lining the rim of
-the River Crescent. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">J.&nbsp;C.&nbsp;Bentley.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_62">62</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Ferry at Tinterne.</span>&mdash;This Plate, taken from the left bank of the Wye,
-presents a North View of the Abbey, with the Western Front, the
-Nave, North Transept, part of the great Eastern Window, Remains of
-the Cloisters, the Abbey Gate communicating with the Ferry, with
-other Conventual Buildings now in ruins, or transformed into Cottages.
-The River at this point is of sufficient depth to float a moderately-sized
-trading craft. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">J.&nbsp;C.&nbsp;Bentley.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_66">66</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Tinterne Abbey, West Front</span>, taken from the Road leading to the “Beaufort
-Arms” and the Ferry, shows the much-admired West Window, in correct
-and beautiful detail; the Door opening into the Nave, the Southern
-Aisle, Buttress, Pinnacle, Clerestory Windows, &amp;c., with their masses
-of luxuriant and interlacing Ivy. </td>
-<td><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">A.&nbsp;Willmore.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_103">103</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Doorway leading into the Cloisters.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">E.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;Roberts.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_105">105</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Doorway leading into the Sacristy.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">E.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;Roberts.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_113">113</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td></td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">WOODCUTS.</td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">South Transept, Tinterne Abbey. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;Whimper.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_31">31</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Cistercian Monk. </td>
-
-<td><span class="smcap">Dugdale.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;Whimper.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_34">34</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">View from Entrance, Tinterne Abbey, taken from the Nave,
-showing the great Eastern Window. </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;Whimper.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_40">40</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Initial Letters, illustrative of Baronial,
-Monastic, and Chivalrous Subjects.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_1">1</a>, <a href="#page_1">1</a>, <a href="#page_3">3</a>, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_31">31</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Mutilated Effigy of Earl Strongbow, or Roger Bigod.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_41">41</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Shields of the Clare and Bigod Families, from the Encaustic-Tile Pavement in the Abbey.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_42">42</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Walter de Clare; Armorial Ensigns of the Family.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_44">44</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Richard de Clare; Ancient Family Shield.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_48">48</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Hospitium, or Guest Hall, with portions of the Refectory, and other Conventual Buildings.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_50">50</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Conventual Alphabet, Letter H; Abbey Gate, Procession.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_51">51</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Inner View; Sketch of an Altar, Tomb, &amp;c.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_54">54</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Conventual Alphabet, Letter P.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_56">56</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Conventual Letter O.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_60">60</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Abbatial Crosier, Cap, and Cushion.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_62">62</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Letter A.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_65">65</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Ground Plan of Tinterne Abbey.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_108">108</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Five smaller Woodcuts, illustrative of the subject.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Goodrich Castle.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_122">122</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="5"><span class="eng">Raglan Castle.</span></th></tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">STEEL ENGRAVINGS. </td>
-
-<td class="c"><small>ARTISTS.</small></td>
-
-<td class="c"> <small>ENGRAVERS.</small> </td>
-
-<td class="rt"><small>PAGE.</small></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Avenue</span>, west of the Castle, from which the remains of the State Apartments
-are seen through the trees
- <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-<td>&nbsp;</td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">J.&nbsp;C.&nbsp;Bentley.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_128">128</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Paved Stone Court</span>
-</td><td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">S.&nbsp;Bradshaw.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_151">151</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Baronial Hall</span>, showing the great Bay Window on the right of the <i>Dais</i>,
-with the Worcester Arms overhead; the ancient Fire-place, with <b>W</b>
-worked in brick over the Arch; the Corbel-heads that supported the
-Roof, &amp;c. &amp;c.
-</td><td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">E.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;Roberts.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_154">154</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Gateway in the Fountain Court</span>, with the Baronial Chapel
-
-</td><td><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">E.&nbsp;Brandard.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_156">156</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Moat.</span>&mdash;This View of the Keep and adjacent Towers is universally admired,
-both for the splendour of architectural detail and the picturesque
-grouping of the features which it displays
-</td><td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">C.&nbsp;Cousen.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_158">158</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Gateway Towers</span>, as described in the text, with the Moat and part of the
-Donjon Tower on the left
-</td><td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">E.&nbsp;Brandard.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_177">177</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Keep or Donjon Tower</span>, from the Moat; on the right are seen the Gateway
-Towers, and in the centre is the Keep. In front, opening upon the
-water, is the old sally-port; and on the right bank, partially concealed
-by trees, is the private walk, formerly ornamented with statues and shell-work,
-as described in the text. The Keep is represented in the same
-state as when it was left by General Fairfax after the siege
-</td><td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">J.&nbsp;C.&nbsp;Bentley.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_200">200</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">View from the Battlements.</span>&mdash;This View is taken from the top of the Keep,
-with the Moat, the Gatehouse, the Paved Court, &amp;c., and Landscape to
-the westward
-</td><td><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">A.&nbsp;Willmore.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_220">220</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td>&nbsp; </td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">WOODCUTS.</td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Goodrich Castle</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_122">122</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Ancient Armour</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_131">131</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Feudal and Military Trophies</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_136">136</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Morning of the Tournament</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_138">138</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">The Boar’s Head</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_146">146</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Old Apartments in the Gateway Tower</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_153">153</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Plan of the Castle</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_160">160</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Baronial Trophies</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_175">175</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">The Armourer</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_178">178</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">The Arquebusier</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_185">185</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">The Tower of Gwent, or Keep</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_194">194</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Window in the State Apartments</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_198">198</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">The Garter</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_213">213</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">State Gallery, with ancient Statues of the Earl and Countess of Worcester</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_217">217</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">View from the Battlements of the Keep, looking to Raglan Church</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_222">222</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">View taken from the old Bowling Green, with the Keep in the centre, and the
- Gate to Fountain Court on the left</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_226">226</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Apartments called King Charles’s, carved Chimney-piece on the left, and
- Windows looking S. and S.W.</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_227">227</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">The old Baronial Kitchen, as described in the text</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_234">234</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Bridge over the Monnow, described in the text</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td><td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_239">239</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="5"><span class="eng">Llanthony Abbey.</span></th></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">STEEL ENGRAVINGS. </td>
-
-<td class="c"><small>ARTISTS.</small></td>
-
-<td class="c"> <small>ENGRAVERS.</small> </td>
-
-<td class="rt"><small>PAGE.</small></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">The Nave of Llanthony Abbey</span>, with the Central Tower, part of the South
-Transept, fragments of the Chancel, and great East Window </td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">W. Deebles.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_244">244</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Llanthony Abbey</span> from the North-west, showing the great West Door&mdash;the
-two Square Towers&mdash;the Nave&mdash;North Aisle&mdash;the great Tower connecting
-the Transepts, with fragments of the great Eastern Window </td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">E.&nbsp;Brandard.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_258">258</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Llanthony Abbey</span> from the rising Ground north of the Ruins, showing the
-whole Abbey, as it now appears, in the distance, with its surrounding
-Scenery, as presented from that point of view </td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-
-<td> <span class="smcap">S. T. Davis.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_272">272</a></td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">WOODCUT.</td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td>The Abbey Church from the East.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="5"><span class="eng">Uske&mdash;Pembroke&mdash;Cardiff&mdash;Tenby.</span></th></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">STEEL ENGRAVINGS.</td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Uske Castle and Town</span>, showing the river Uske and the Bridge in the foreground&mdash;the
-ancient Castle on the right, with the Town under the
-acclivity&mdash;in the back ground, the picturesque Scenery for which the
-banks of the Uske are so remarkable </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">A.&nbsp;Willmore.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_283">283</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Pembroke Castle</span> from the Water, comprising the Principal Gateway&mdash;the
-Postern&mdash;the great Round Tower, or Donjon&mdash;the Outworks. On the
-left, part of the Tower; and westward, in the horizon, the remains of the
-ancient Nunnery
- </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">J.&nbsp;Cousen.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_293">293</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Pembroke Castle.</span>&mdash;Interior of the Great Court&mdash;Gateway, Towers, and
-Fortifications </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span> </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">J.&nbsp;Cousen.</span></td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_308">308</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">WOODCUTS.</td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Round Tower of Uske Castle&mdash;Chamber in the same&mdash;Curthose Tower in Cardiff Castle.</td>
-
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_284">284</a>,&nbsp;<a href="#page_286">286</a>,&nbsp;<a href="#page_311">311</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><th colspan="5"><span class="eng">Manorbeer Castle&mdash;Neath Abbey&mdash;Kidwelly Castle&mdash;Llanstephan Castle&mdash;Carew
-Castle&mdash;Margam Abbey&mdash;Appendix.</span></th></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">STEEL ENGRAVINGS.</td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Manorbeer Castle</span>, near the Church </td>
-<td><span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_321">321</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Kidwelly Castle</span>, from the Gwendraeth </td>
-<td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_332">332</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd"><span class="smcap">Kidwelly Castle</span>, from the Inner Court&mdash;Chapel on the right
-</td><td> <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Bartlett.</span></td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_334">334</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td>&nbsp; </td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td class="c" colspan="2">WOODCUTS.</td></tr>
-
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Neath Abbey, the Crypt</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_331">331</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Ancient Dwellings near Manorbeer Castle</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_335">335</a></td></tr>
-<tr valign="bottom">
-<td valign="top" colspan="2" class="pdd">Margam Abbey, the Crypt</td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td>&nbsp; </td>
-<td class="rt"><a href="#page_348">348</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_001.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_001.jpg" height="350" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<h2><a name="THE_CASTLE_OF_CHEPSTOW" id="THE_CASTLE_OF_CHEPSTOW"></a>THE CASTLE OF CHEPSTOW,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Monmouthshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Around us spread the hills and dales,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where Geoffrey spun his magic tales,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And called them history: the land<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whence Arthur sprung, and all his band<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of gallant knights.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Bloomfield.</span><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_001-a.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_001-a_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="I" /></a></span>T has been justly remarked by statistical writers,
-that, in point of fertility, picturesque scenery, and classic remains,
-the county of Monmouth is one of the most interesting districts in the
-kingdom. Highly favoured by nature, it is literally studded over with
-the labours and embellishments of art. Watered by noble rivers,
-sheltered by magnificent woods and forests, interspersed with
-industrious towns and hamlets, and enriched by the labour and enterprise
-of its inhabitants, it presents all those features of soil and scenery
-which contribute to the beauty and stability of a country. From whatever
-point the traveller may enter this county, historical landmarks meet him
-at every step: feudal and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span> monastic ruins, rich in the history of
-departed dynasties, divide his attention, and fill his mind with their
-heroic deeds and pious traditions. In fields where the husbandman now
-reaps his peaceful harvest, he traces the shock of contending armies;
-whose deadly weapons still rust in furrows which their valour had won,
-and which the blood of the Roman, the Saxon, and Briton had fertilized.
-From these he turns aside to contemplate the fragments of baronial
-grandeur, which attest the glory of chivalry, but now, like sepulchral
-mounds, proclaim the deeds of their founders:&mdash;such is the Castle of
-<span class="eng">Raglan</span>.</p>
-
-<p>In another district, sculptures, pavements, altars, statues, coins, and
-inscriptions, bear testimony to Roman sway:&mdash;such is the Silurian
-settlement of <span class="eng">Caerleon</span>, with its classic vicinity.</p>
-
-<p>On another hand, where the ivy has clasped its hallowed walls, as if to
-prop their decay, the traveller halts at some monastic rain; and, amid
-the crumbling fragments of its lofty arches, its richly-carved windows,
-shafts, and capitals, dwells with a deep and melancholy interest on the
-page of its eventful history. In such places the voice of Tradition is
-never mute: the vacant niche, the dismantled tower, the desecrated
-altar, the deserted choir&mdash;all discourse eloquent and impressive music;
-and in places where the sacred harp was once strung, its chords seem
-still touched by invisible hands:&mdash;such are the Abbeys of <span class="eng">Tinterne</span> and
-<span class="eng">Llanthony</span>.</p>
-
-<p>It is among these remains and monuments of the past&mdash;the early homes of
-saints and heroes of the olden day&mdash;that we propose to conduct the
-reader. In the tour projected, we avail ourselves of such materials as
-personal investigation, with that of distinguished predecessors, poets,
-and historians, has furnished from times of remote antiquity, down to
-the present day.</p>
-
-<p>The scenery of the <span class="eng">Wye</span> is of classic and proverbial beauty: it is the
-theme alike of poet and historian, the annual resort of
-pilgrims&mdash;whether admirers of the picturesque, or valetudinarians; and
-nowhere in the kingdom is nature more lavish of those charms which
-attract all classes of tourists, than in the course and confines of this
-beautiful and romantic river.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> There&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Be thine object health or pleasure,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Historic sites or classic treasure;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The Roman camp, the Norman grave,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or war-tower crumbling o’er the wave;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or fertile vale, or vocal woods,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or hills, and flocks, and crystal floods;<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_001.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_001.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CHEPSTOW CASTLE,</p>
-
-<p>From the Iron Bridge across the Wye.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And haunts and homes that love to claim<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The patriot’s or the poet’s name&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then hither bend thy pilgrim way,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where <span class="eng">Taga’s</span> classic waters play;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And here thy weary heart shall find,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">What soothes and renovates the mind.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_003.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_003_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="C" /></a></span><span class="eng">hepstow</span> is of Roman foundation&mdash;the <i>Strigulia</i> of
-ancient authors&mdash;and was for centuries one of the favourite strongholds
-of the kingdom. By the antiquarian researches, which are now conducted
-with unprecedented success and spirit, numerous vestiges of ancient
-times have been brought to light, and many more, it is believed, are
-reserved for the labours of archæology. The vicinity abounds in military
-encampments, all more or less remarkable for the strength of their
-position, and pointing to those days of border warfare when ‘might was
-right,’ and the sword the acknowledged lawgiver. But in the description
-of Chepstow, our observations must be restricted to the subjects
-selected for illustration; and these are so correctly depicted in the
-scene before us, that the reader will obtain a far more correct idea
-from the delineations of the pencil, than from any description that
-could be conveyed by the pen. Chepstow is supposed, and with much
-probability, to have been the chief seaport of the Silurian colony, as
-both Caerwent and Portscwet have for many centuries been deserted by the
-sea. Where the Roman galleys once flanked the beach, landing their
-freight of mailed cohorts, the modern steamer now unloads her crowded
-deck of peaceful tourists, merchants, mechanics, and students of the
-picturesque.</p>
-
-<p>In its general appearance&mdash;in its street architecture&mdash;Chepstow still
-presents some isolated features of the primitive style. Of these, the
-principal is the Western Gate, of unquestionable antiquity; and, in
-point of date, taking precedence of the castle itself. By a charter
-given in the 16th Henry VIII., the bailiffs were to have their prison
-for the punishment of offences within the Great Gate, “which they have
-builded by our commandment.” This is supposed to be a renewal of the
-ancient liberties of the town, granted by Howel Dhu, <small>A.D.</small> 940.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Church</span>, part of a Benedictine priory of Norman work, has undergone
-many alterations and repairs; but repairs, in some cases, are more fatal
-to the style and symmetry of ecclesiastical monuments, than the wasting
-hand of time, or even the shocks of violence&mdash;for they only disfigure
-what they meant to adorn; and, by deviating widely from the original
-plan, lose or debase all its original beauty. The nave and aisles are
-nearly all that remain of the original edifice.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The church has
-disappeared; but the pillars which supported the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span> central tower are
-still preserved on the eastern extremity, and convey some idea of the
-massive strength of the original edifice. The western porch is justly
-admired for its zigzag tracery; and, in this respect, it presents one of
-the finest specimens that have descended to our day, of the true
-Saxo-Norman character. The church contains several monuments, not
-remarkable for their style or antiquity; the chief of which is that to
-the memory of the second Earl and Countess of Worcester, with their
-effigies at full length, in the attitude of prayer.</p>
-
-<p>The repairs and restorations lately effected in this church, were
-suggested and carried out by the joint taste and liberality of the late
-Bishop of Llandaff and the parishioners. The result is creditable to the
-parties concerned; and here, it is to be hoped, their pious labours will
-not be suffered to terminate. The original priory was an alien branch of
-the Benedictine monastery of Cormeilles.</p>
-
-<p>The acrostic, written upon himself by the regicide Henry Martin&mdash;first
-discarded from the chancel, and latterly from the sacred enclosure, by a
-former vicar&mdash;has somewhat recovered from its disgrace, by gaining
-admittance into the vestry, but only on sufferance. In the town and
-immediate neighbourhood are some remains of religious houses, under
-various denominations; for the situation of Chepstow, presenting many
-advantages for commerce, was not less favourable for monachism.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">In iron times, when laws of battle were,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That weakly folk, of prowess small in fight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The galling gyves of vassalage should bear;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Ere castle seneschals, with pale affright,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Heard the shrill horn wind of the errant knight&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A foeman firm affianced to be<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To all who wrong’d the feeble of their right&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Such folk the <span class="smcap">Church</span> <i>let from their thraldom free</i>,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A deed that had not shamed the Knight of Chivalry.<br /></span>
-<span class="i15"><i>Econ. of Monast. Life.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>We were told of a pleasing custom, transmitted from early times, and
-still observed here, that of repairing every Palm-Sunday to the graves
-of departed friends, and ornamenting them with flowers&mdash;much in the same
-way as the populace of Paris repair every All Saints’ morning to
-Père-la-Chaise, to scatter flowers and evergreens over the graves of
-their relations.</p>
-
-<p>One of the finest points of view is the centre of the new iron bridge,
-comprising the castle, the vessels at anchor under the stupendous wall
-of rock on which it is erected; with the lawns and groves of
-Piercefield&mdash;a favourite and familiar name in the list of picturesque
-tours&mdash;closing the landscape. The former bridge<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> was of prodigious
-height, erected on piles. The present struc<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span>ture was founded in 1815;
-and in the March of that year, the tide rose from low-water mark to the
-remarkable height of <i>fifty-one feet</i> two inches. The new bridge
-consists of five arches, the centre one of which is one hundred and
-twelve feet in span; the two adjoining arches have a span of seventy
-feet, and the two outer ones a span of fifty-four feet each. It is of
-massive cast-metal, resting on stone piers; and its total length is five
-hundred and thirty-two feet.</p>
-
-<p>The depth of the moorings in the river here is so great, that, at low
-water, ships of 700 tons burthen may ride safely at anchor. The rise of
-tide is from thirty to nearly sixty feet, a circumstance scarcely to be
-paralleled&mdash;and caused by the extraordinary swell of water at the rocks
-of Beechley and Aust, which, by protruding far into the Severn, near the
-month of the Wye, obstruct the flow of tide, and thus impel it with
-increased rapidity into the latter.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> In January, 1768, according to
-our local guide, it attained the height of seventy feet: its greatest
-rise of late years has been fifty-six feet.</p>
-
-<p>In 1634, we are informed, Colonel Sandys attempted to make the Wye
-navigable by means of locks; but after much labour and expense, the
-experiment failed, and the locks were removed. Every one curious in the
-phenomena of natural history, has heard of the intermitting well of
-Chepstow, which ebbs and flows inversely with the tide&mdash;that is, when
-the tide ebbs, the well flows; and when the tide flows, the well ebbs:
-when the tide is at its height, the well is nearly dry; a little before
-which it begins to subside, and soon after the ebb it gradually returns.
-It is neither affected by wet nor dry weather, but is entirely regulated
-by the tide. It is thirty-two feet in depth, and frequently contains
-fourteen feet of excellent water.</p>
-
-<p>In melancholy connection with the old bridge of Chepstow, is a family
-calamity which drew from the late poet Campbell an epitaph<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> worthy of
-his pen. The victims by the sudden catastrophe were a lady and her two
-daughters, personal friends of the poet, and for whom he entertained
-sentiments of great esteem and regard. The lady and her daughters were
-on a visit at Chepstow; and, after hearing sermon, went on the river in
-a boat. The tide was running strong at the time; and in his attempt to
-clear the centre arch of the bridge, the boatman missed his aim&mdash;the
-frail bark struck against the wooden pier, and upset; and the lady and
-her two daughters were carried down by the stream<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span> and lost. Their
-lifeless remains were afterwards recovered, and buried in the churchyard
-of Monckton, where a tomb, erected to their memory, bears the following
-inscription:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“In deep submission to the will above,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Yet with no common cause for human tears,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">This stone to the lost Partner of his love,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And for his children lost, a mourner rears.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">One fatal moment, one o’erwhelming doom,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Tore threefold from his heart the ties of earth&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">His Mary, Margaret, in their early bloom,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And Her who gave them life, and taught them worth.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Farewell, ye broken pillars of my fate!<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">My life’s companion, and my two first-born!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Yet while this silent stone I consecrate<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">To conjugal, paternal love forlorn&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Oh, may each passer-by the lesson learn<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Which can alone the bleeding heart sustain&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where friendship weeps at virtue’s funeral urn&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">That, to the pure in heart, <i>to die is gain</i>!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It is somewhat remarkable, that the text of Scripture which they had
-just heard expounded in the parish church the same morning, was&mdash;“For to
-me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Of the principal victim in
-this calamity, Campbell thus speaks in a private letter to a
-friend:&mdash;“We looked to Mrs. Shute as truly elevated in the scale of
-beings for the perfect charity of her heart. The universal feeling of
-lamentation for her, accords with the benign and simple-minded beauty of
-her character.”</p>
-
-<p>As the limits and object of this work do not permit us to enlarge our
-remarks on the particular history of Chepstow, we now proceed to that of
-the castle, whose roofless walls, and moss-clad ramparts, carry us back
-to the Norman Conquest, and fill an ample page in its subsequent
-history. The present structure, on a Roman or Saxon foundation, is
-ascribed to William Fitzosborne, Earl of Hereford,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> upon whom his
-kinsman the Conqueror had bestowed vast<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span> possessions, in this and the
-neighbouring counties, which could only be secured by sword and
-stronghold. On the forfeiture of his son Roger, it passed to the Clares,
-another great Norman family.</p>
-
-<p>The hereditary lords of the town and castle were the old Earls of
-Pembroke, of the house of Clare, the last of whom was the renowned
-Richard<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Strongbow, ‘Earl of Striguil, Chepstow, and Pembroke,’ who
-died in 1176, leaving a daughter, Isabel, by whose marriage the estates
-and title passed into the family of Marshall, and afterwards, by a
-similar union, into that of Herbert. In the reign of Edward the Fourth,
-the castle, manor, and lordship of Chepstow, were held by Herbert, Earl
-of Pembroke, who was beheaded after the battle of Banbury, in 1469. By
-the marriage of Elizabeth, sole daughter and heiress of William
-Herbert&mdash;Earl of Huntingdon, and Lord Herbert of Raglan, Chepstow, and
-Gower&mdash;it descended to Sir Charles Somerset, who was afterwards created
-Earl of Worcester. It is now one of the numerous castles belonging to
-his illustrious descendant, the Duke of Beaufort.</p>
-
-<p>During the wars of the Commonwealth, the castle was garrisoned by the
-king’s troops; but, in 1645, Colonel Morgan, governor of Gloucester, at
-the head of a small body of horse and foot, entered the town without
-much difficulty; and, on the 5th October, sent the following summons to
-Sir Robert Fitzmaurice: “Sir,&mdash;I am commanded by his Excellency, Sir
-Thomas Fairfax, to demand this castle for the use of the King and
-Parliament, which I require of you, and to lay down your arms, and to
-accept of reasonable propositions, which will be granted both to you and
-your soldiers, if you observe this summons: and further, you are to
-consider of what nation and religion you are; for if you refuse the
-summons, you exclude yourself from mercy, and are to expect for yourself
-and soldiers no better than Stinchcombe quarter. I expect your sudden
-answer, and according thereunto shall rest your friend,&mdash;<span class="smcap">Thomas Morgan</span>.”</p>
-
-<p>To this summons the governor answered: “Sir,&mdash;I have the same reason to
-keep this castle for my master the King, as you to demand it for General
-Fairfax; and until my reason be convinced, and my provisions decreased,
-I shall, notwithstanding my religion and menaces of extirpation,
-continue in my resolution, and in my fidelity and loyalty to the king.
-As to <i>Stinchcombe quarter</i>, I know not what you mean by it; nor do
-depend upon your intelligence for relief, which in any indigence I
-assure me of; and in that assurance I rest your servant,&mdash;<span class="smcap">Robert
-Fitzmaurice</span>.</p>
-
-<p>“P.S.&mdash;What quarter you give me and my soldiers, I refer to the
-consideration of all soldiers, when I am constrained to seek for any.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<p><i>Stinchcombe</i>, near Dursley on the Severn, was a place where the
-Parliament accused Prince Rupert of putting their men to the sword.</p>
-
-<p>In consequence of this answer the siege was commenced, and carried on
-with so much vigour, that, in the course of four days, the castle
-surrendered, and the governor and his garrison were made prisoners of
-war. Later in the history of that melancholy period, it was surprised by
-a body of royalists, under Sir Nicholas Kemeys. Cromwell then directed
-his whole strength upon it, and reduced the town; but, for a time, found
-the castle impregnable. At last, however, exhausted with fatigue, and on
-the verge of famine, the garrison were forced into a parley with the
-besiegers; and, in the surrender of the fortress, Sir Nicholas Kemeys
-“was killed in cold blood.” The following is Colonel Ewer’s report<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> on
-the reduction of Chepstow Castle. His letter is addressed to the
-Honourable William Lental, Speaker of the House of Commons:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;Lieutenant-General <span class="eng">Cromwell</span>, being to march towards Pembroke
-Castle, left me with my regiment to take in the Castle of Chepstow,
-which was possessed by Sir Nicholas Kemish [or Kemeys], and with him
-officers and soldiers to the number of 120. We drew close about it, and
-kept strong guards upon them, to prevent them from stealing out, and so
-to make their escape. We sent for two guns from Gloucester, and two off
-a shipboard, and planted them against the castle. We raised [razed] the
-battlements of their towers with our great guns, and made their guns
-unusefull for them. We also plaid with our shorter pieces into the
-castle. One shot fell into the governor’s chamber, which caused him to
-remove his lodgings to the other end of the castle. We then prepared our
-batteries, and this morning finished them. About twelve of the clock, we
-made a hole through the wall, so low that a man might walk into it. The
-soldiers in the castle, perceiving that we were like to make a breach,
-cried out to our soldiers that they would yield the castle, and many of
-them did attempt to come away. I caused my soldiers to fire at them to
-keep them in. Esquire Lewis comes upon the wall, and speaks to some
-gentlemen of the county that he knew, and tells them that he was willing
-to yield to mercy. They came and acquainted me with his desire, to which
-I answered, that it was not my work to treat with particular men, but it
-was Sir Nicholas Kemish, with his officers and all his soldiers, that I
-aimed at; but the governor refused to deliver up the castle upon these
-terms that Esquire Lewis desired, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span> desired to speak with me at the
-drawbridge, while I altogether refused to have any such speech with him,
-because he refused Lieutenant-General Cromwell’s summons; but, being
-overpersuaded by some gentlemen of the country that were there,
-presently I dismounted from my horse, and went unto the drawbridge,
-where he through the port-hole spake with me. That which he desired was,
-that he, with all his officers and soldiers, might march out of the
-castle without anything being taken from them; to which I answered, that
-I would give him no other terms but that he and all that were with him
-should submit unto mercy, which he swore he would not do. I presently
-drew off the soldiers from the castle, and caused them to stand to their
-arms; but he refusing to come out upon those terms, the soldiers
-deserted him, and came running out at the breach we had made. My
-soldiers, seeing them run out, ran in at the same place, and possesst
-themselves of the castle, and killed Sir Nicholas Kemmish, and likewise
-him that betrayed the castle, and wounded divers, and took prisoners as
-followeth:&mdash;Esquire Lewis, Major Lewis, Major Thomas, Captain Morgan,
-Captain Buckeswell, Captain John Harris, Captain Christopher Harris,
-Captain Mancell, Captain Pinner, Captain Doule, Captain Rossitre,
-Lieutenant Kemmish, Lieutenant Leach, Lieutenant Codd, Ensign Watkins,
-Ensign Morgan, with other officers and soldiers, to the number of 120.
-These prisoners we have put into the church, and shall keep them till I
-receive further orders from Lieutenant-General Cromwell.</p>
-
-<p>“This is all at present, but that I am your humble servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Isaac Ewer</span>.”<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Chepstow, May 28, 1648.”<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>The captain who carried the news of this event to London was rewarded
-with fifty pounds; and Colonel Ewer, with the officers and soldiers
-under his command, received the thanks of parliament. This was the
-closing scene of its warlike history; and from that period down to the
-present, the Castle of Chepstow has remained a picturesque and
-dismantled ruin.</p>
-
-<p>Of this brave but unfortunate governor of the castle, we collect the
-following particulars:<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Sir Nicholas Kemeys</span>, Bart.,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> the sixteenth in descent of this
-honourable house, “was colonel of a regiment of horse, raised for the
-king’s service, and governor of Chepstow Castle, which he bravely
-defended against the powerful efforts of Cromwell and Colonel Ewer; nor
-did he surrender that fortress but with his life, fighting in the most
-gallant manner, till death arrested his farther exertions.”<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> There is
-a traditional story, that “the Parliamentary troops, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span> soon as they
-entered the castle, in revenge for Sir Nicholas’ obstinate resistance,
-mangled his body in the most horrid manner, and that the soldiers wore
-his remains in their hats, as trophies of their victory; but a branch of
-the Kemeys family,” says the writer, “told me they considered it as one
-of those acts of the times, which each party adopted to stigmatize the
-memory of its political opponents. Not a stone, it is said, nor other
-tribute of recollection, in any cemetery in Monmouthshire, records the
-spot in which the remains of this brave officer were deposited.”<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
-
-<p>A portrait of Sir Nicholas Kemeys was “in the possession of the late
-Mrs. Sewel<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> of Little Kemeys, near Usk, in this county, now the
-property of John G. Kemeys, Esq. The picture is a three-quarters length.
-He is drawn in armour, and seems about forty years of age. He appears to
-have possessed a good person, if an opinion might be formed from his
-portrait. He has a fine open countenance, round face, dark piercing
-eyes, an aquiline nose, and wore his own hair, which was black and
-rather curly.” According to the fashion of his day, he is represented
-with whiskers, and a small tuft of hair growing under the lower lip&mdash;or,
-in modern phraseology, an <i>imperial</i>. “Although it is what an artist
-would pronounce a dark picture, yet, on the whole, it is in good
-preservation. There are two more portraits of this gentleman&mdash;one in the
-possession of the late Sir Charles Kemeys, Bart. of Halsewell, in
-Somersetshire; the other at Malpas, near Usk, probably all painted at
-the same time and by the same artist, but whose name has not been handed
-down in conjunction with his works.”</p>
-
-<p>The house of Kemeys,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> “originally De Camois, Camoes, and Camys, is of
-Norman extraction, and the name of its patriarch is to be found on the
-roll of Battle Abbey. Large possessions were granted to the family in
-the counties of Sussex and Surrey; and, so early as the year 1258, Ralph
-de Camois was a baron by tenure. He was succeeded by his son, Ralph de
-Camois, who was summoned to parliament in the 49th year of Henry III.;
-and his descendants<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span> sat among the peers of the realm, until the demise,
-issueless, of Hugh de Camois, who left his sisters (Margaret, married to
-Ralph Rademelde, and Aleanor, wife of Roger Lewknor) his coheirs. A
-branch of the family which had settled in Pembrokeshire, there enjoyed
-large possessions, and, as lords of Camaes and St. Dogmaels, exercised
-almost regal sway. In the conquest of Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire,
-the Camays were much distinguished, and were rewarded with grants of
-“Kemeys Commander” and “Kemeys Inferior.” One branch became established
-at Llannarr Castle, in Monmouthshire (now in the possession of Colonel
-Kemeys-Tynte), and another fixing itself at Began, in Glamorganshire,
-erected the mansion of <i>Kevanmably</i>, the residence of the present chief
-of the family.</p>
-
-<p>“Edward Kemeys, son of Edward Kemeys who was at the conquest of Upper
-Gwent, married the daughter and heiress of Andrew de Began, lord of
-Began, a lineal descendant of Blethyn Maynerch, lord of Brecon, and thus
-acquired the lordship of Began, which, for centuries after, was the
-principal abode of his descendants. His great-great-great-grandson,
-Jenkin Kemeys of Began, married Cristley, daughter of Morgan ap
-Llewellyn, by whom he had one son, Jevan; and a daughter, married to
-Jevan ap Morgan of New Church, near Cardiff, in the county of Glamorgan,
-and was grandmother of Morgan Williams&mdash;living <i>temp.</i> Henry VIII.&mdash;who
-espoused the sister of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, and had a son,
-Sir Richard Williams, who assumed, at the desire of Henry VIII., the
-surname of his uncle Cromwell; and through the influence of that
-once-powerful relative, obtained wealth and station. His great-grandson
-was the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> From Jenkin Kemeys was
-lineally descended Sir Nicholas Kemeys of Kevanmably, who represented
-the county of Glamorgan in parliament, and was created a baronet 13th
-May, 1642. This gentleman, remarkable for his gigantic stature and
-strength, was pre-eminently distinguished by his loyalty to Charles I.,
-and on the breaking out of the civil war (as we have already observed),
-having raised a regiment of cavalry, was invested with the command of
-Chepstow Castle.”</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding the alliance with the blood of <span class="eng">Cromwell</span>, loyalty seems
-to have been hereditary in the house of Kemeys. In the family biography
-we have the following anecdote:&mdash;“Sir Charles Kemeys&mdash;knight of the
-shire for Monmouth, in the last parliament of Queen Anne, and for
-Glamorgan in the two succeeding parliaments&mdash;when on his travels, was
-shown great attention by George I. at Hanover, and frequently joined the
-private circle of the Elector. When his majesty ascended the British
-throne, he was pleased to inquire why his old acquaintance Sir Charles
-Kemeys had not paid his respects at court;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span> and commanding him to repair
-to St. James’s, sent him a message, the substance of which was&mdash;that the
-King of England hoped Sir Charles Kemeys still recollected the number of
-pipes he had smoked with the Elector of Hanover in Germany. Sir Charles,
-who had retired from parliament, and was a stanch Jacobite, replied,
-that he should be proud to pay his duty at St. James’s to the Elector of
-Hanover, but that he had never had the honour of smoking a pipe with the
-King of England.”</p>
-
-<p>Sir Charles Kemeys died without issue, when the baronetcy expired, and
-his estates devolved on his nephew, Sir Charles Kemeys-Tynte, Bart. of
-Halsewell, at whose demise, also issueless, his estates vested in his
-niece, Jane Hassell, who married Colonel Johnstone, afterwards
-Kemeys-Tynte,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and was mother of the present (1838) Colonel
-Kemeys-Tynte of Halsewell and Kevanmably. Through the Hassells, the
-family of Kemeys-Tynte claim descent from the Plantagenets.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
-
-<p>We now proceed to a brief description of the castle in its ruinous
-state.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_012.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_012.jpg" width="458" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_002.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_002.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>CHEPSTOW CASTLE AND BRIDGE.</p>
-
-<p>From the right bank of the Wye.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="c"><span class="eng">Plan of Chepstow Castle.</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_013.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_013.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption">
-<p>EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN.</p>
-
-<table style="text-align:left;font-size:75%;"><tr><td>
-1. Entrance Gateway.<br />
-2. Marten’s Tower.<br />
-3. Well.<br />
-4. First Court.<br />
-5. Rooms above the Vaulted Chamber.<br />
-6. Second Court.<br /></td><td>
-7. Hall, or Chapel.<br />
-8. Third Court.<br />
-9. Sunken Way and Drawbridge.<br />
-10. Fourth Court.<br />
-11. Sunken Way and Bridge.<br />
-12. Perpendicular Cliff.<br />
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_013-a.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_013-a_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="B" /></a></span>UILT on a lofty perpendicular rock, that rises sheer
-from the bed of the Wye, the position of the Castle is at once strong
-and commanding; while, on the land side, the great height and massive
-strength of its walls and outworks, present the remains of all that
-ancient art could effect to render it impregnable.</p>
-
-<p>The grand entrance is defended by two circular towers of unequal
-proportions, with double gates, portcullises, and a port-hole, through
-which boiling water or metallic fluids could be discharged on the heads
-of the besiegers. The massive door, covered with iron bolts and clasps,
-is a genuine relic of the feudal stronghold. The knocker now in use is
-an old four-pound shot. This introduces us to the great court, sixty
-yards long by twenty broad, and presenting the appearance of a tranquil
-garden. The walls are covered with a luxuriant mantle of ivy, through
-which the old masonry appears only at intervals; and here the owl finds
-himself in undisturbed possession, unless when roused by the choir of
-numberless birds that flit from tree to tree, or nestle among the
-leaves. The lover of solitude could hardly find a retreat more suited to
-his taste. The area, interspersed with trees, and covered with a fine
-grassy carpet,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span> is annually converted into a flower and fruit show, for
-the encouragement of horticulture, under the patronage of the noble
-owner.</p>
-
-<p>The castle, as one of its historians conjectures, is of the same
-antiquity as the town itself, to which it served the purposes of a
-citadel; but the precise epoch, neither Leland, Camden, nor any
-topographical writer has been able to ascertain. Stow, indeed,
-attributes the building of the castle to Julius Cæsar, but there is no
-evidence to support his supposition. Camden, on the contrary, thinks it
-of no great antiquity; for several affirm, says he, that “it had its
-rise, not many ages past, from the ancient <span class="eng">Venta</span>”&mdash;the Venta Silurum of
-Antoninus. Leland, in his Itinerary, says&mdash;“The waulles begun at the
-edge of the great bridge over the Wye, and so came to the castle, which
-yet standeth fayr and strong, not far from the ruin of the bridge. In
-the castle ys one tower, as I heard say, by the name of Longine.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The
-town,” he adds, “hath nowe but one paroche chirche: the cell of a blake
-monk or two of Bermondsey, near London, was lately there suppressed.”</p>
-
-<p>During the life of Charles-Noel, fourth Duke of Beaufort, the castle was
-let on a lease of three successive lives to a Mr. Williams, a general
-merchant or trader, who adapted some of the great apartments to the
-following purposes, namely&mdash;the great kitchen to a <i>sail</i> manufactory;
-the store-room to a wholesale wine-cellar; the grand hall, or
-banqueting-room, was occupied by a <i>glass</i>-blower; and the circular
-tower by the gate, leading into the second court, was used as a nail
-manufactory. After the death of Mr. Williams, the roofs fell in, one
-after another&mdash;that of the Keep in 1799, the year in which the lease
-expired; and thus the stately castle was reduced to its present
-condition&mdash;a vast and melancholy ruin.</p>
-
-<p>The only apartments now inhabitable are those of its loyal and
-intelligent warden and his family, whose civility and general
-information respecting the castle are very acceptable to its daily
-visitors.</p>
-
-<p>One of the principal towers was converted, during the above-named lease,
-into a glass manufactory, the furnace of which has left its scars deeply
-indented in the solid masonry.</p>
-
-<p>In a small chamber off the banqueting-hall, seventy-five pieces of
-ancient silver coin were recently discovered, and are now at Badminton
-Park; but of what value or of what reign we have not yet ascertained.</p>
-
-<p>An ancient door&mdash;as ancient, we are told, as the castle itself&mdash;opens
-upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span> second court, of very nearly the same dimensions as the first,
-and now also converted into a garden. Beyond this is an apartment,
-supposed by some to have been the garrison chapel;<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> but its pointed
-arches and elaborately-carved windows, all evincing an air of stately
-dignity, leave no doubt of its having been the great baronial hall,
-where the Clares, the Marshalls, and Herberts, drew around them their
-chivalrous retainers.</p>
-
-<p>Connected with this, by a winding path, is a third court, now cultivated
-as an orchard; so that, with trees, flowers, and luxuriant ivy, the
-whole enclosure presents a mass of vegetation, in which the stern
-features of warlike art have almost disappeared.</p>
-
-<p>A walk along the ramparts westward from this point, commands some
-glimpses of beautiful scenery, with the Wye at the base of the rocks
-expanding in the form of a lake, where vessels are seen riding at
-anchor, and boats passing to and fro&mdash;here gay with pleasure parties,
-and there laden with foreign or inland produce.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_015.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_015.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Keep</span> is another object which the tourist will regard with interest,
-as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span> the twenty years’ prison of Henry Marten, whose vote, with those of
-his “fellow-regicides,” at the trial of <span class="eng">Charles</span> the First, consigned
-that unfortunate monarch to the block. To his epitaph written upon
-himself we have already alluded; and the reader is no stranger,
-probably, to Southey’s lines on the room where he was confined, which,
-with a sarcastic parody written by Canning, will be found in these
-pages.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Henry Marten</span>, who attained such unenviable notoriety, was the son of Sir
-Henry Marten, a judge of the Admiralty, and M.P. for Berkshire. He was
-an able and active partisan of Oliver Cromwell, one of the “Executive
-Council;” and in the old prints representing the trial of the
-martyr-king, Marten occupies the chair on Cromwell’s left hand,
-immediately under the arms of the Commonwealth.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> At the Restoration,
-he was brought to trial, and sentenced to death; but his sentence was
-afterwards commuted to imprisonment for life. In the keep of this
-castle, since called “Marten’s Tower,” he spent twenty years; but much
-was done to soften the rigour of his sentence. “His wife was permitted
-to share his imprisonment; he was attended by his own domestic servants,
-who were accommodated in the same tower; and he had permission to visit,
-and receive visits from his friends in the town and neighbourhood. He
-died in 1680, at the mature age of seventy-eight, neither disturbed by
-the qualms of conscience, nor enfeebled by the rigour of confinement;
-and left behind him the character of a liberal and indulgent master.” At
-a comparatively recent period, the principal chamber of the <span class="eng">Keep</span> was
-frequently used by the inhabitants of Chepstow as a ball-room; and there
-is now residing in the town a lady, who remembers having been present at
-more than one of these festive reunions.</p>
-
-<p>For the following notice of this “stern republican,”&mdash;somewhat different
-from the preceding&mdash;we are indebted to Heath’s description of
-Chepstow:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>Henry Marten,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> commonly called Harry Marten, was born in the city of
-Oxford, in the parish of St. John the Baptist, in a house opposite to
-Merton College Church, then lately built by Henry Sherburne, gent., and
-possessed, at the time of Harry’s birth, by Sir Henry, his father. After
-he had been in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span>structed in grammar-learning in Oxford, he became a
-gentleman commoner of University College in the beginning of 1617, aged
-fifteen years, where, and in public, giving a manifestation of his
-pregnant mind, had the degree of Bachelor of Arts conferred upon him in
-the latter end of the year 1619. Afterwards he went to one of the Inns
-of Court, travelled into France, and on his return married a lady of
-considerable worth; but with whom, it is said, “he never afterwards
-lived.”<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
-
-<p>In the beginning of the year 1640, he was elected one of the knights for
-Berks, to serve in the parliament that began at Westminster the 13th of
-April; and again, though not legally, in October, to serve in the
-parliament that began at the same place on the 3d of November following.
-We shall not enter into his political actions on the great theatre of
-public life&mdash;as they are to be found in all the histories of England,
-from the reign of Charles I. to the Restoration&mdash;but content ourselves
-with noticing those parts of it which are more peculiarly interesting to
-the traveller in Monmouthshire, namely, the manner in which he passed
-his time, with occasional anecdotes, during his confinement in the
-castle of Chepstow.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Wood</span>, an ultra-royalist, gives the following character of him:&mdash;“He was
-a man of good natural parts&mdash;was a boon familiar, witty, and quick with
-repartees&mdash;was exceeding happy in apt instances, pertinent and very
-biting; so that his company, being deemed incomparable by many, would
-have been acceptable to the greatest persons, only he would be drunk too
-soon, and so put an end to all their mirth for the present. At length,
-after all his rogueries, acted for near twenty years together, were
-passed; he was at length called to account for that grand villany, of
-having a considerable hand in murdering his prince, of which being
-easily found guilty, he was not to suffer the loss of his life, as
-others did, but the loss of his estate, and perpetual imprisonment, for
-that he came in upon the proclamation of surrender. So that, after two
-or three removes from prison to prison, he was at length sent to
-Chepstow Castle, where he continued another twenty years, not in
-wantonness, riotousness, and villany, but in confinement and repentance,
-if he had so pleased.”</p>
-
-<p>“This person&mdash;who lived very poor, and in a shabbeel condition in his
-confinement, and would be glad to take a pot of ale from any one that
-would give it to him&mdash;died with meat in his mouth, that is, suddenly, in
-Chepstow Castle (as before mentioned), in September, 1680; and was, on
-the 9th day of the same month, buried in the church of Chepstow. Some
-time before he died he made the epitaph, by way of acrostic, on himself,
-which is engraved on the stone which now covers his remains.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<p>Mrs. Williams&mdash;“wife of the person who had the care of the castle, and
-who died in 1798, at a very advanced age&mdash;well knew and was intimately
-acquainted with the women who waited and attended on Harry Marten during
-his confinement in the castle. They were two sisters, and their maiden
-name was Vick.</p>
-
-<p>“From what I could learn, I am of opinion that the early part of
-Marten’s confinement was rather rigorous; for whatever Mrs. Williams
-mentioned had always a reference to the latter part of it; and in this
-conjecture I am supported by her remark, that though he had two
-daughters living, they were not indulged with sharing their father’s
-company in prison till near the close of his life. In the course of
-years, political rigour against him began to wear away, and he was
-permitted not only to walk about Chepstow, but to have the constant
-residence of his family, in order to attend upon him in the castle. This
-indulgence at last extended itself so far, as to permit him to visit any
-family in the neighbourhood, his host being responsible for his safe
-return to the castle at the hour appointed.</p>
-
-<p>“One anecdote of Marten, as mentioned by Mrs. Williams, I shall here
-repeat. Among other families who showed a friendly attention to the
-prisoner, were the ancestors of the present worthy possessor of <span class="eng">St.
-Pierre</span>, near Chepstow. To a large company assembled round the festive
-dinner-board Marten had been invited. Soon after the cloth was removed,
-and the bottle put into gay circulation, Mr. Lewis, in a cheerful
-moment, jocularly said to Marten, ‘Harry, suppose the times were to come
-again in which you passed your life, what part would you act in them?’
-‘<i>The part I have done</i>,’ was his immediate reply. ‘Then, sir,’ says Mr.
-Lewis, ‘I never desire to see you at my table again;’ nor was he ever
-after invited.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
-
-<p>“Great credibility,” says our authority, “deserves to be attached to
-this story, as containing Marten’s political opinion at that day; and,
-to support a belief in it, the late Rev. J. Birt, canon of Hereford,
-thus speaks of him, in his letter to the Rev. J. Gardner, prefixed to
-his ‘Appendix to the History of Monmouthshire:’&mdash;‘Henry Marten, one of
-the incendiary preachers during the great rebellion, was, at the
-Restoration, imprisoned for life at Chepstow, and buried there. As far
-as I can recollect, he died as he lived, with the fierce spirit of a
-republican.’ The Rev. Mr. Birt, who died at the advanced age of
-ninety-two, held distinguished preferment in the neighbourhood of
-Chepstow, and had been in the habits of intimate acquaintance with all
-the first families in the county.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span> His testimony might therefore be said
-to stamp the anecdote with the sanction of truth, without seeking for
-farther evidence.</p>
-
-<p>“Of his personal appearance, a friend of mine&mdash;on the authority of the
-late Mr. Harry Morgan, attorney at Usk, whose father had been in
-Marten’s company, and by whom he had been informed of it&mdash;says that Mr.
-Morgan described him, in general terms, as ‘a smart, active little man,
-and the merriest companion he ever was in company with in his life.’
-Wood praises his social qualities, and talent for conversation; but that
-‘he lived in a shabbeel condition, and would take a pot of ale from any
-one that would give it to him,’ may be doubted; unless he meant that the
-kindness shown to him by the families in and near Chepstow admitted such
-an interpretation.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
-
-<p>“Let us attend him to the grave. It is hardly possible to admit that
-such a mind as that of Marten would have penned&mdash;much less to suppose
-that he would have wished to have engraved on his tomb&mdash;the wretched
-doggerel that goes under the name of his ‘Epitaph,’ and which is said to
-have been written by him during his confinement in the castle. Not the
-smallest circumstance respecting his funeral is left on record; and
-whether his obsequies were marked with public procession, or whether he
-retired to the grave unnoticed and unregarded, tradition has not
-preserved the slightest memorandum.”</p>
-
-<p>His biographer might, without difficulty, have concluded that&mdash;in those
-times, at all events&mdash;an imprisoned rebel would not be permitted to have
-any but the most private funeral. All that we are certain of is, that he
-was buried in the chancel of the church of Chepstow; and that, on a
-large stone from the Forest of Dean, is still to be traced the following
-“Epitaph, written on himself,” by way of acrostic, but now much
-defaced:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p class="c">
-(<small>ARMS.</small>)<br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i2">Here, September the ninth,<br /></span>
-<span class="i10">was buried<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">A true Englishman,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Who, in Berkshire, was well known<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To love his country’s freedom ’bove his own;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But being immured full twenty year,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Had time to write, as doth appear,<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="c">
-<small>HIS EPITAPH.</small><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0"><b>H</b> ere or elsewhere&mdash;all’s one to you, to me&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>E</b> arth, air, or water, gripes my ghostly dust,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>N</b> one knows how soon to be by fire set free:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>R</b> eader, if you an oft-tryed rule will trust,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>Y</b> ou’ll gladly do and suffer what you must.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>M</b> y time was spent in serving you, and you;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>A</b> nd death’s my pay, it seems, and welcome too:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>R</b> evenge destroying but itself, while I<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>T</b> o birds of prey leave my old cage, and fly.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>E</b> xamples preach to the eye.&mdash;Care thou, mine says,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><b>N</b> ot how you end, but how you spend your days.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Having retired to that asylum which is the common lot of humanity, his
-ashes were for some years permitted to rest in peace. But at length a
-clergyman of the name of <span class="eng">Chest</span>, we are told, was appointed to the
-vicarage of Chepstow, who, glowing with admiration for those principles
-of the constitution which he considered had been subverted, openly
-declared that the bones of a regicide should never pollute the chancel
-of that church of which he was vicar, and immediately ordered the corpse
-to be disinterred, and removed to the place where it now reposes, in the
-middle of the north transept, and over it the stone is placed that bears
-the epitaph before mentioned.</p>
-
-<p>About this time, as Heath informs us, “there came to reside at Chepstow
-a person of the name of Downton, who afterwards married a daughter of
-the Rev. Mr. Chest; but, whatever affection he might cherish for the
-lady, the father was one unceasing object of his ridicule and contempt;
-and when the vicar died, he publicly satyrised him in the following
-lines:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">‘Here lies at rest, I do protest,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">One Chest within another;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The chest of <i>wood</i> was very good&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Who says so of the other?’<span class="lftspc">”</span><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Marten’s</span> apartment, as we have said, was in “the first story of the
-eastern tower, or keep; for this part of the building contained only a
-single room on each floor, if we except those near the top. Could he
-have detached from his recollection the idea of Sterne’s starling&mdash;‘I
-can’t get out, I can’t get out’&mdash;the situation might have been chosen
-out of remembrance or tenderness to the rank he had formerly held in
-society; for though it bore the name of a <i>prison</i>, it was widely
-different from the generality of such places. The room measured fifteen
-paces long, by twelve paces wide, and was very lofty. On one side, in
-the centre, was a fire-place, two yards wide; and the windows, which
-were spacious, and lighted both ends of the apartment, gave an air of
-cheerfulness not frequent in such buildings. In addition to this, he
-could enjoy from its windows some of the sweetest prospects in Britain.
-This apartment continues to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span> bear the name of ‘Marten’s Room’ to this
-day, and few travellers enter the castle without making it an object of
-their attention.”</p>
-
-<p>“Marten,” says Mr. Seward, “was a striking instance of the truth of
-Roger Ascham’s observation, who, in his quaint and pithy style,
-says&mdash;‘Commonlie, men, very quick of wit, be very light of conditions.
-In youth, they be readie scoffers, privie mockers, and over light and
-merrie. In age they are testie, very waspish, and always over miserable;
-and yet few of them come to any great age, by reason of their miserable
-life when young; and a great deal fewer of them come to show any great
-countenance, or beare any great authority abroade, in the world; but
-either they live obscurely, men wot not how, or dye obscurely, men mark
-not when.’<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p>
-
-<p>“In the dining-parlour of St. Pierre, near Chepstow, there hung,” in the
-time of the writer, “a painting, said to be of Harry Marten. He is
-represented at three-quarters length, in armour. In his right hand he
-holds a pistol, which he seems about to discharge; while with the left
-he grasps the hilt of his sword. Behind him is a page, in the act of
-tying on a green sash; the whole conveying an idea that the person was
-about to undertake some military enterprise. Judging from the picture,
-the likeness appears to have been taken when Marten was about forty-five
-years of age. He there seems of thin or spare habit, with a high
-forehead, long visage; his hair of a dark colour, and flowing over the
-right shoulder. The cravat round the neck does not correspond with the
-age in which he lived, being tied in the fashion of modern times. There
-is a great deal of animation and spirit in his countenance,
-characteristic of the person it is said to represent.”<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
-
-<p>Having adverted to Mr. Southey’s “Inscription,” and its parody by
-<i>George Canning</i>, we subjoin the following copies from the originals.
-The first, by Southey, is thus headed:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">
-<span class="smcap">Inscription</span><br />
-<i>For the apartment in Chepstow Castle, where Harry Marten the regicide was imprisoned thirty years.</i><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">For thirty years secluded from mankind,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here Marten lingered. Often have these walls<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Echoed his footsteps, as with even tread<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">He paced around his prison. Not to him<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Did nature’s fair varieties exist:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">He never saw the sun’s delightful beams,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Save when through yon high bars he poured a sad<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And broken splendour. Dost thou ask his crime?<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">He had <i>rebelled against the king, and sat</i><br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><i>In judgment on him</i>; for his ardent mind<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Shaped goodliest plans of happiness on earth,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And peace and liberty. Wild dreams! but such<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As Plato loved; such as with holy zeal<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Our Milton worshipp’d. Blessed hopes! awhile<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From man withheld, even to the latter days,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When <span class="smcap">Christ</span> shall come, and all things be fulfilled!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>The next is the parody by Canning, as published in the first number of
-the Anti-Jacobin, 1797:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">
-<span class="smcap">Inscription</span><br />
-<br />
-<i>For the door of the cell in Newgate, where Mrs. Brownrigg the ’prentice-cide was confined<br />
-previous to her execution.</i><br />
-</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">For one long term, or e’er her trial came,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here Brownrigg lingered. Often have these cells<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Echoed her blasphemies, as with shrill voice<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">She screamed for fresh Geneva. Not to her<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Did the blithe fields of Tothill, or thy street,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">St. Giles, its fair varieties expand;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Till at the last, in slow-drawn cart, she went<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To execution. Dost thou ask her crime?<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><i>She whipped two female ’prentices to death,</i><br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><i>And hid them in the coal-hole.</i> For her mind<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Shaped strictest plans of discipline. Sage schemes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Such as Lycurgus taught, when at the shrine<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the Orthyan goddess he bade flog<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The little Spartans: such as erst chastised<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Our Milton when at college. For this act<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Did Brownrigg swing. Harsh laws! but time shall come<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When France shall reign, and laws be all repealed!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Adjoining the Keep, or Marten’s Tower, is a small chamber, or <span class="eng">Oratory</span>,
-remarkable for the elegance of its proportions, and the chaste but
-elaborate style of its ornaments. The lancet-pointed window, encircled
-by rows of delicately-carved rosettes, is in fine preservation.&mdash;<i>See
-the opposite page.</i></p>
-
-<p>The narrow path which, at a height of six feet above the ground,
-connects this portion of the castle with the donjon tower, commands a
-range of beautiful scenery, the prominent features of which are the
-lawns and groves of Persefield, the precipitous but picturesque banks of
-the river, with a noble background for the picture in the commanding
-summit of the Wynd Cliff, which overlooks the scene.</p>
-
-<p>The <span class="eng">West Gate</span>, a Gothic archway, strongly defended by a double
-portcullis, with moat and drawbridge, opens into the fourth or principal
-court already<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> noticed; and as portions of Roman brick are here observed
-in the masonry, some doubts have arisen as to its date: but whether
-furnished from an earlier building on the spot, or transported hither
-from the ruins of Caerleon, is a question which, so far as the writer
-could ascertain, is still undecided. It seems very</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_023.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_023.jpg" width="272" height="321" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind">probable, however, that the commanding site occupied by the present
-castle was originally that of a strong military post, built and
-garrisoned by the Romans, the ruins of which were converted into a
-Norman fortress by William Fitzosborne.</p>
-
-<p>In the view from the right bank of the Wye, the western gate is seen in
-all its elegant and massive proportions. The square tower, with its
-machicolated parapet, angular turrets, and vertical balustrariæ&mdash;through
-which flights of arrows or other missiles met the assailants&mdash;give a
-striking foreground to the picture; while the contiguous towers and
-bastions, lessening as they recede, and assuming new and often fantastic
-shapes, present a vast and highly diversified mass of buildings. Here
-clothed with trees and shrubs, there jutting forward in bare and broken
-fragments, and here again rising sheer and high from the water’s edge,
-their huge blocks of masonry seem as if they were rather the
-spon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span>taneous work of nature than the laborious productions of art. In
-this view are comprised the whole line of embattled walls flanking the
-river, the new bridge, and part of the lower town; the rocky boundaries
-to the southward, with the modern quay, where the daily steamer
-discharges her cargo and passengers. The precipitous cliffs, by which
-the river is there confined, terminate upwards in wooded and pastoral
-scenes&mdash;enlivened here and there by cottages and farms, which command
-some remarkable and striking views of the river, the town and castle,
-with its western landscapes of hill, forest, and park-like scenery. A
-short way beyond the extreme verge of the engraving, the river Wye will
-shortly be spanned by a magnificent bridge, part of the South Wales
-Railway, now in progress.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_024.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_024.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">An arched Chamber</span>, cut in the natural rock overhanging the river at a
-great height, is supposed to have been used as a prison, but more
-probably as a store-room; for, by anchoring the boats close to the rock,
-their cargoes for the service of the garrison, whether provisions<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> or
-ammunition, could be easily hoisted into security by means of a
-windlass; and no doubt, under the cloud of night, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span> with a
-spring-tide, many a goodly bark has been thus relieved of its freight;
-nor is it improbable that adventurous captives may have thus found their
-way to some friendly bark, and regained their freedom.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> In the hands
-of a skilful romance writer, this scene might be turned to excellent
-account&mdash;more particularly if the descending basket contained a damsel
-“flying from tyrants jealous,” and her lover-knight stood in the boat to
-receive her&mdash;all heightened by such dramatic machinery as midnight, with
-the tender hopes and imminent hazards of the enterprise, would easily
-supply. But all this is foreign to the spirit of archæology, which turns
-with disdain from such puerile vanities, and beckons us forward to the
-breach where the iron balls of the Commonwealth were directed with such
-fury in the last assault. Their batteries played from the opposite
-height, which the guide will point out as the commanding position which
-rendered the cause of the defenders so useless and desperate, and added
-another triumph to the Parliamentary cannon.</p>
-
-<div class="figright">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_025.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_025.jpg" height="306" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Passage</span>, or gallery, leading down to the vaulted chamber, is
-accurately shown in the annexed woodcut. It has an air of Gothic
-antiquity that harmonizes well with the place, for its pointed style and
-proportions clearly show that it belongs to the earliest portion of the
-structure. The massive arch, seen through the opening, is that of the
-mysterious chamber already noticed. The window,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> terminating the
-vista, overlooks the river, and seems to project from the precipitous
-rocks that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span> here form an impregnable barrier to the fortress; and even
-when the tide is at its full, the window seems suspended at a dizzy
-height above the water. The uses to which the passage and its chamber
-were originally applied, were probably those of a temporary refuge and
-retreat; and were, no doubt, well understood and appreciated by the
-Norman castellan, to whom the means of successful resistance or safe
-retreat were the grand objects in a feudal residence.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Such</span> are the general features of this ancient stronghold.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> But on the
-minuter points of its history, architecture, and internal arrangements,
-our restricted limits will not permit us to enlarge; but, aided by
-faithful engravings and woodcuts, the descriptions, however brief, may
-serve to convey a detailed and correct notion of the whole.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Persefield.</span>&mdash;In the immediate environs, many objects are found to invite
-the traveller’s attention; but, as a combination of rich English
-scenery, the attractions of Persefield, or Piercefield, stand
-pre-eminent. The house and grounds are thus briefly described: The
-latter extend westward along the precipitous banks of the Wye, as shown
-in the engraving. On the north is the Wind-Cliff, or Wynd Cliff. The
-grounds are divided into the lower and upper lawn by the approach to the
-house, a modern edifice, consisting of a stone centre and wings, from
-which the ground slopes gracefully but rapidly into a valley profusely
-shaded with ornamental trees. To give variety to the views, and disclose
-the native grandeur of the position, walks have been thrown open through
-the woods and along the precipitous margin of the river, which command
-the town, castle, and bridge of Chepstow, with the Severn in the
-distance, backed by a vast expanse of fertile valleys and pastoral
-hills. But to describe the romantic features of this classic residence
-with the minuteness they deserve, would far exceed our limits; it is a
-scene calculated to inspire the poet as well as the painter; and it is
-gratifying to add that, by the taste and liberality of the owner,
-strangers are freely admitted to the grounds and walks of Persefield.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Wynd Cliff.</span>&mdash;This lofty eminence commands one of the finest and most
-varied prospects in the United Kingdom; while the scenery of the Cliff
-has a particular charm for every lover of the picturesque. Poet,
-painter, and historian, have combined their efforts to make it a place
-of pilgrimage; but, to be seen in all its beauty, the rich and various
-tints of autumn and a bright sun are indispensable accessories. It may
-be called the “Righi” of the Wye, commanding a vast circumference of
-fertile plains and wooded hills, all enlivened</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_003.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_003.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Chepstow Castle and Town.</i></p>
-
-<p>From the Windcliff.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">with towns, villages, churches, castles, and cottages; with many a
-classic spot on which the stamp of history is indelibly impressed&mdash;names
-embodied in our poetry, and embalmed by religious associations. From the
-edge of the precipice, nearly a thousand feet in height, the prospect
-extends into eight counties&mdash;Brecon, Glamorgan, Monmouth, Hereford,
-Gloucester, Wilts, Somerset, and Devon.</p>
-
-<p>For the enjoyment of this inspiring scene, every facility has been
-supplied; and even the invalid tourist, with time and caution, may reach
-the summit without fatigue. “The hand of art,” says the local guide,
-“has smoothed the path up the declivity, tastefully throwing the course
-into multiplied windings, which fully accord with its name, and the
-nature of the scenery which it commands. At every turn some pendant rock
-girt with ivy, some shady yew, or some novel glimpse on the vale below,
-caught through the thick beechy mantle of this romantic precipice,
-invite the beholder to the luxury of rest.” Still ascending, the tourist
-penetrates a dark-winding chasm, through which the path conducts him in
-shadowy silence to the last stage of the ascent, which gradually
-discloses one of the most enchanting prospects upon which the human eye
-can repose. From the platform to the extreme verge of the horizon, where
-the Downs of Wiltshire and the Mendip hills form the boundary line, the
-eye ranges over a vast region of cultivated fields, waving forests, and
-populous towns, sufficient of themselves to furnish the resources of a
-principality.</p>
-
-<p>The pens of Reed, Warren, and Gilpin, have been successively employed in
-sketching the features of this magnificent panorama; but nothing can be
-more correct and graphic than the following description by
-Fosbroke:&mdash;“What a cathedral is among churches, the Wynd Cliff is among
-prospects. Like Snowdon, it ought to be visited at sunrise, or seen
-through a sunrise-glass called a <i>Claude</i>, which affords a sunrise view
-at mid-day, without the obscuration of the morning mist. This cliff is
-the last grand scene of the Piercefield drama. It is not only
-magnificent, but so novel, that it excites an involuntary start of
-astonishment; and so sublime, that it elevates the mind into
-instantaneous rapture. The parts consist of a most uncommon combination
-of wood, rock, water, sky, and plain&mdash;of height and abyss&mdash;of rough and
-smooth&mdash;of recess and projection&mdash;of fine landscapes near, and excellent
-prospective afar,&mdash;all melting into each other, and grouping into such
-capricious lines, that, although it may find a counterpart in tropic
-climes, it is, in regard to England, probably unique. The spectator
-stands upon the edge of a precipice, the depth of which is awful to
-contemplate, with the river winding at his feet. The right screen is
-Piercefield ridge, richly wooded; the left is a belt of rocks, over
-which, northward, appears the Severn, with the fine shores between
-Thornbury and Bristol, rising behind each other in admirable swells,
-which unite in most graceful<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span> curves. The first foreground appears to
-the eye like a view from the clouds to the earth, and the rich contrast
-of green meadows to wild forest scenery,&mdash;the farm of Llancaut, clasped
-in the arms of the winding river, backed by hanging wood and rock. The
-further horn of the crescent tapers off into a craggy informal mole,
-over which the eye passes to a second bay; this terminates in Chepstow
-Castle, the town and rocks beyond all mellowed down by distance, into
-that fine hazy indistinctness which makes even deformities combine into
-harmony with the picture.”<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">An observatory</span>, the guide informed us, was intended some years since to
-have crowned this noble eminence, and a subscription was got up for the
-purpose; but some difference having arisen between the projectors of the
-scheme and the proprietor of the land, it was dropped. It was suggested
-by a local writer, that a few Doric columns with architraves, however
-rude, would have had an imposing effect on the summit of the Wynd Cliff,
-and reminded the classic traveller of the ruined temple of Minerva on
-the Sunium promontory. “It might,” he says, “be partially immersed in
-wood; while, in the native rock, niches might be hollowed out; and on a
-tablet, at the finest point of view, the following words should be
-inscribed:&mdash;<span class="smcap">Valentine Morris</span><a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> <i>introduced these sublime scenes to
-public view. To him be honour: to</i> <span class="smcap">God</span> <i>praise</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> This is concise
-and classical; but it is reserved probably for another generation to
-witness the completion of the design.</p>
-
-<p>The whole scene, from this point to the Abbey of Tinterne, presents an
-uninterrupted combination of picturesque and romantic features. Above
-are hanging cliffs, richly clothed in variegated woods, perfumed with
-flowers, irrigated by murmuring rivulets, fountains, and cascades, and
-rendered vocal by the songs of birds. These woody solitudes are the
-annual resort of nightingales, whose note is familiar to every late and
-early tourist, who with slow and lingering step measures his leafy way
-between <span class="eng">Chepstow</span> and <span class="eng">Tinterne</span>&mdash;unable to decide at what point of the
-road there is the richest concentration of scenery. It is, indeed, a
-sylvan avenue of vast and variegated beauty, reminding us of the softer
-features of Helvetian landscape.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Far below, and seen only at intervals through its thick curtain of
-foliage, the classic <span class="eng">Vaga</span> continues its winding course. Here basking in
-sunshine, there sweeping along under shadowy cliffs&mdash;now expanding its
-waters over a broad channel, or rushing through deep ravines, it is
-often enlivened by boats laden with produce, or visitors in
-pleasure-barges, who make the “descent of the Wye,” as, in former days,
-pilgrims made that of the Rhine and Danube; for the boats that perform
-the trip from Ross to Chepstow, make, in general, but one voyage, and
-are otherwise employed or broken up at its conclusion&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i4">Facilis descensus Averni&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sed revocare gradum.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It is but recently, says a periodical authority, that the Wye has become
-at all frequented on account of its scenery. About the middle of last
-century, the Rev. Dr. Egerton, afterwards Bishop of Durham, was collated
-by his father to the rectory of Ross, in which pleasant town, situated
-on the left bank of the river, and just at the point where its beautiful
-scenery begins, the worthy doctor resided nearly thirty years. He was a
-man of taste, and had a lively enjoyment of the pleasures of society
-amidst the beautiful scenery of his neighbourhood. His chief delight was
-to invite his friends and connections, who were persons of high rank, to
-pay him summer visits at Ross, and then to take them down the Wye&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Pleased Vaga echoing through its winding bounds,”&mdash;<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind">which, as well as the town of <span class="eng">Ross</span>, had derived a new interest from the
-lines of Pope. For this purpose, we are told, Dr. Egerton built a
-pleasure-boat; and, year after year, excursions were made, until it
-became fashionable in a certain high class of society to visit the Wye.
-But when the rector of Ross was consecrated to the see of Durham, his
-pleasure-boat, like that of the Doges of Venice and Genoa, was suffered
-to rot at anchor; and with no successor of similar means and taste to
-follow his example, excursions on the Wye became unfrequent, because no
-longer fashionable. Yet the beauties of the scenery once explored,
-became gradually more attractive; and some pilgrim of Nature, deviating
-now and then from the beaten track, spoke and sang of its beauties,
-until, having again caught the public ear, it was admitted that we had a
-“Rhine” within our own borders&mdash;with no vineyards and fewer castles, but
-with a luxuriance of scenery peculiarly its own, and with remains of
-feudal and monastic grandeur which no description could exaggerate. Mr.
-Whately, a writer on landscape gardening, and an exquisite critic, first
-directed attention to the new weir at Tinterne Abbey, and one or two
-other scenes on its banks; and, in 1770, the Wye was visited by William
-Gilpin, who did good service<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span> to taste and the lovers of nature by
-publishing his tour. The same year, a greater name connected itself with
-the Wye&mdash;for it was visited by the immortal author of the “Elegy in a
-Country Churchyard.” “My last summer’s tour,” says Gray, in one of his
-admirable letters to <span class="eng">Dr. Wharton</span>, “was through Worcestershire,
-Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire&mdash;five of
-the most beautiful counties in the kingdom. The very principal sight and
-capital feature of my journey was the river Wye, which I descended in a
-boat for nearly forty miles, from Ross to Chepstow. Its banks are a
-succession of nameless beauties.”<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> The testimony thus bequeathed to
-it by the illustrious <span class="eng">Gray</span>, has been confirmed and repeated by
-<span class="eng">Wordsworth</span>, while other kindred spirits, following each other in the
-same track, have sacrificed to Nature at the same altar, and recorded
-their admiration in immortal song:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i8">... “Once again<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That on a wild secluded scene impress<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thoughts of more deep seclusion, and connect<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The landscape with the quiet of the sky.<br /></span>
-<span class="i10">“How oft,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In darkness, and amid the many shapes<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of joyless daylight, when the fretful stir<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Have hung upon the beatings of my heart&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer through the woods,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">How often has my spirit turned to thee!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i15"><span class="smcap">Wordsworth</span>, <i>July 13, 1798</i>.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Authorities</span> quoted or referred to in the preceding
-article:&mdash;Dugdale’s Monasticon.&mdash;Baronage.&mdash;Camden’s
-Britannia.&mdash;Leland’s Itinerary.&mdash;County History.&mdash;Local Guides:
-Heath.&mdash;Wood.&mdash;De la Beche.&mdash;Williams.&mdash;Thomas.&mdash;Roscoe.&mdash;Burke’s
-Peerage and Commoners.&mdash;Chronicles.&mdash;Giraldus Cambrensis.&mdash;William
-of Worcester.&mdash;History of the Commonwealth.&mdash;Life of
-Cromwell.&mdash;Notes by Correspondents.&mdash;MS. Tour on the Wye, 1848;
-with other sources, which will be found enumerated in the article
-upon <i>Tinterne Abbey</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_030.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_030.jpg" width="456" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a href="images/ill_pg_031.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_031.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<br />
-TINTERNE ABBEY.</h2>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“There are some, I hear, who take it ill that I mention monasteries
-and their founders; I am sorry to hear it. But, not to give them
-any just offence, let them be angry if they will. Perhaps they
-would have it forgotten that our ancestors were, and we are,
-Christians; since there never were more certain indications and
-glorious monuments, of Christian piety than these.”&mdash;<span class="smcap">Camden’s</span>
-<i>Britannia, Pref. Ages of Faith</i>, Book xi.</p></div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_031-a.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_031-a_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="T" /></a></span><span class="eng">he Abbey of Tinterne</span>, though one of the oldest in
-England, makes no conspicuous figure in its history, a proof that its
-abbots were neither bold nor ambitious of distinction, but devoted to
-the peaceful and retiring duties of their office. We do not find that
-the secluded Tinterne was ever the scene of any rebellious outbreak, or
-the refuge of any notorious criminal. From age to age, the bell that
-summoned to daily matins and vespers was cheerfully obeyed; and all they
-knew of the great world beyond the encircling hills, was learned,
-perhaps, from the daily strangers and pilgrims who took their meal and
-night’s lodging in the <i>hospitium</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The name of <span class="eng">Tinterne</span>, as etymologists inform us, is derived from the
-Celtic words <i>din</i>, a fortress, and <i>teyrn</i>, a sovereign or chief; for
-it appears from history, as well as tradition, that a hermitage,
-belonging to Theodoric or Teudric, King of Glamorgan, originally
-occupied the site of the present abbey; and that the royal hermit,
-having resigned the throne to his son Maurice, “led an eremitical life
-among the rocks of Dindyrn or Tynterne.” It is also mentioned, as a
-remarkable coincidence in history, that two kings, who sought Tinterne
-as a temporary place of refuge, only left it to meet violent deaths. The
-first was Theodoric, who was slain in battle by the Saxons, under
-Ceolwilph, King of Wessex, in the year 600, having been dragged from his
-seclusion by his own subjects, in order that he might act once more as
-their leader. The next was “the unfortunate King Edward,<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> who fled
-from the pursuit of his queen,” Isabella. The Welsh monarch is said to
-have routed the Saxons at Mathern, near Chepstow, where his body was
-buried. Bishop Godwin says, that he there saw his remains in a stone
-coffin; and on the skull, after the lapse of nearly a thousand years,
-the wound of which he died was conspicuous&mdash;thus verifying the tradition
-as to the place and manner of his death.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing could be more happily chosen for the seat of a religious
-community, than the beautiful valley of which these ruins are the
-unrivalled ornament. It would be difficult to picture, even with the aid
-of a fertile imagination, scenes more fitted to cherish devout feelings;
-to instruct us, from the tranquil bosom of Nature, to look up to
-Nature’s God; and in the exclusion of the busy world, to feel
-aspirations of gratitude continually ascending towards Him who enriched
-the valley with his bounty, and in homage to whom that temple and its
-altars were first erected. The latter, as the work of man, and a prey to
-neglect and violence, have disappeared or crumbled into ruins; but the
-former, as the work of God, has lost nothing of its original beauty. The
-woods that curtain the scene; the river that sweeps along under pendent
-cliffs of oak; the meadows and orchards that cover and adorn its
-banks,&mdash;all continue as luxuriant, as copious and abundant, as verdant
-and blooming, as on that day when the first pilgrim-father planted his
-cross in the soil, and consecrated the spot to the service of God.</p>
-
-<p>It has been often observed&mdash;and the observation is confirmed by
-fact&mdash;that those venerable ascetics, who acted as pioneers in the army
-of Christian pilgrims, were no mean judges of soil and climate, and
-generally chose some fertile spot upon which nature had bestowed her
-special favour. But many instances<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span> may be pointed out where they chose
-even the inhospitable desert for their habitation; and, by unremitting
-labour, transformed that desert into a garden. To the personal example
-of those ancient Cistercians, the country is indebted for many
-improvements in all branches of cultivation and embellishment. From the
-model-garden and orchard of the monastery, hints were communicated and
-lessons taught, which found their way into every part of the country,
-and carried with them the principal arts of civilization and
-improvement. Thus, what first gave a prosperous agriculture to our own
-shores, is still in operation upon the barbarous islands of the Pacific,
-where Christian missions, religious fraternities, are busily
-propagating, by their own example, those domestic and mechanical arts
-which are the safest and best introduction to religious knowledge. Of
-this happy influence on the minds and habits of the peasantry, none of
-the monastic orders was more fully sensible than the Cistercians, whose
-laborious but abstemious lives, sumptuous temples, and gorgeous ritual,
-threw an air of luxury upon every spot where the Order had once set its
-name.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
-
-<p>From the shadowy woods which shelter and encompass it, Tinterne may be
-justly denominated the <i>Vallis umbrosa</i> of Monmouth; but the fertility
-of the soil, and solemn retirement of the scene, so desirable for a
-great sanctuary in the “<span class="eng">Ages of Faith</span>,” had an immense advantage in the
-noble and navigable river which formed the channel of communication
-between the interior and the sea; and, like an artery supplying
-nutriment to the system, brought its supplies of provision or treasure
-to the very gate of the abbey. And many a goodly cargo of corn from
-Hereford, and wine from Normandy, has been disembarked at that old pier,
-where the abbot’s galley has degenerated into a clumsy ferryboat, with
-old Richard Tamplin, the ferryman, for its commander.</p>
-
-<p>From ancient historical sources, which treat of the origin, progress,
-and dissolution of this abbey, we select the following materials:&mdash;The
-founder was <span class="eng">Walter de Clare</span>, a name famous in the annals of chivalry and
-church-building. The first stone was laid in the thirty-first year of
-the twelfth century; but more than a century and a half elapsed before
-its completion. In those days churches were the work of generations; and
-it was rarely, indeed, that the founder lived to witness the fulfilment
-of his vow. “These all died in faith.” In 1287, we are told the <span class="eng">White
-Friars</span> took possession of the edifice consecrated<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span> to the <span class="eng">Blessed
-Virgin</span>,<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> and commenced those hallowed services which the Eighth
-Henry, by his <i>sic volo</i>, was destined to silence. These services,
-however, had lasted for centuries; and who shall say, during the lapse
-of barbarous times, how much crime was prevented, how much good
-effected, by those holy men. Shut out from the haunts and habits of
-secular life, they exercised their spiritual functions, we may
-charitably believe, in a manner that drew many penitents to their altar;
-and, in the midst of wars and tumults, displayed the sacred banner of
-peace, and published the doctrine of salvation. Their record is on high.
-And, in justice to the Cistercians, it must be confessed, that if less
-learned, they were more exemplary, and not more worldly, than some other
-fraternities of higher pretensions. They exercised and patronised
-agriculture; and planting themselves, as the rule directed, in the
-depths of forests, or on desert heaths, they drew from the earth such
-sustenance as it would yield to the hand of labour; and trusted to those
-who sought their spiritual aid and counsel, for the means of building
-and embellishing their altars.</p>
-
-<div class="figleft">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_034.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_034.jpg" width="303" height="469" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>The order of <span class="eng">Cistercians</span>, as the reader is aware, made its appearance in
-England about the year 1128. In imitation of <span class="smcap">Christ</span> and his twelve
-Apostles, the brotherhood was limited to twelve, with an abbot at their
-head, according to the rule of the Founder:&mdash;“Et sicut ille monasteria
-constructa, per <i>duodecim</i> monachos adjuncto patre disponebat, sic se
-acturos confirmabant.”&mdash;<i>Mon. Ang.</i> iv. 699. Their first establishment
-in England was at Waverley, in Surrey; and in the course of time, their
-numbers had so multiplied, that, shortly before the dissolution of
-religious houses, they had seventy-five monasteries, and twenty-six
-nunneries in this country. Their patriarch was St. Robert, Abbot of
-<span class="eng">Molesme</span>, a Benedictine monastery in the bishopric of Langres. This holy
-man becoming alarmed at the gradual decay of vital religion among the
-brotherhood, and their wilful neglect of the rules instituted by their
-founder, adopted measures for the immediate reformation of the order.
-Having obtained the Pope’s sanction in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span> support of his design, he chose
-twenty-one of the brethren, and retiring from Molesme to the
-neighbourhood of Chalons-sur-Saone, took up his abode in the
-wilderness<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> of Citeaux; where, under the protection of Otho, Duke of
-Burgundy, and the Bishop of Chalons, he laid the foundation of a
-religious house, in which the rules of <span class="eng">St. Benedict</span> were to be strictly
-enforced, and the character of his followers restored. But the wisdom
-and piety of Robert having introduced several improvements into the
-rules of St. Benedict, the brotherhood began to present features so
-distinct from the parent establishment, that, on the return of St.
-Robert to Molesme, his successor, Albericus, obtained a charter from the
-Pope, constituting the monks of Citeaux into an independent order&mdash;that
-of Cistercians, or Whitefriars. Their rules were positive and stringent;
-they involved the surrender of all secular affairs into the hands of lay
-brothers, so that their lives and labours might be exclusively devoted
-to the exercise of charity and the service of the altar. In their choice
-of localities for the establishment of new houses, they were enjoined,
-as already observed, to avoid cities, and go forth into the wilderness.
-This was favourable to pilgrimages; and with the fruits of these, and
-benefactions from all classes, what they had found a desert on their
-arrival, was speedily converted by labour and industry into a garden;
-and what was at first only a cell or chapel, was gradually extended into
-a church and abbey. The revenue of the order was divided into four
-parts&mdash;to the bishop, a fourth; to the priests, a fourth; to the
-exercise of hospitality, a fourth; and another fourth for the support of
-widows and orphans, the relief of the sick, and the repairs of churches
-and cloisters. And inasmuch as they could not find, either in the life
-or rule of <span class="eng">St. Benedict</span>,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> that their founder had pos<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span>sessed any
-churches, or altars, or ovens, or mills, or towns, or serfs; or that any
-woman was ever permitted to enter his monastery, or any dead to be
-buried there, except his sister; they therefore renounced all these
-things: “Ecce hujus seculi divitiis spretis cœperunt novi milites
-Christi cum paupere Christo pauperes inter se tractare, quo ingenio, quo
-artificio, quo se exercitio in hac vita se hospitesque divites et
-pauperes supervenientes quos ut Christum suscipere præcipit regula
-sustentarent.” For a time the Cistercians continued in exemplary
-observance of their rules: poverty and humility walked hand in hand;
-but, in proportion as their revenues increased, their discipline began
-to relax; a taste for luxury<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> succeeded; and whoever has visited
-their splendid abbeys abroad, will readily confess that, while
-professing abstinence and self-denial, they were lodged like princes,
-and like princes shared in the vanities and pleasures of the world.
-Their ruling passion was said to be avarice; but if they amassed riches,
-they spent them with a princely liberality; and their buildings, in this
-and other countries, present some of the finest specimens of taste ever
-raised by the hand of man.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Cistercians</span> were Benedictines, according to the <i>letter</i> of the rule,
-without mitigation.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Their peculiarities are thus described in
-Dugdale’s Warwickshire:<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>&mdash;“First, for their habits, they wear no
-leather or linen, nor indeed any fine woollen cloth; neither, except it
-be on a journey, do they put on any breeches, and then, after their
-return, deliver them fair washed. Having two coats with cowls, in winter
-time they are not to augment, but in summer, if they choose, they may
-lessen them; in which habit they are to sleep, and after matins not to
-return to their beds. For prayers, the hour of <i>Prime</i>, they so
-conclude, that before the <i>Lauda</i> it may be daybreak, strictly observing
-their rule, that not one iota or tittle of their service is omitted.
-Immediately after Lauda, they sing the Prime; and after Prime, they go
-out performing their appointed hours in work. What is to be done in the
-day, they act by daylight; for none of them, except he be sick, is to be
-absent from his diurnal hours or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span> Complinæ. When the Compline is
-finished, the steward of the house and he that hath charge of the guests
-go forth, but with great care of silence serve them.</p>
-
-<p>For <i>diet</i>, “the Abbot assumes no more liberty to himself than any of
-his convent, everywhere being present with them, and taking care of his
-flock, except at meat, in regard his talk is always with the strangers
-and poor people. Nevertheless, when he eats, he is abstemious of talk or
-any dainty fare; nor hath he or any of them ever above two dishes of
-meat; neither do they eat of fat or flesh, except in case of sickness;
-and, from the <i>ides</i> of September till Easter, they eat no more than
-<i>once</i> a day, except on Sunday, and not even on festivals.</p>
-
-<p>“Out of the precincts of their cloyster they go not but to work; neither
-there nor anywhere do they discourse with any but the abbot or prior.
-They unweariedly continue their canonical hours, not piecing any service
-to another, except the <i>vigils</i> for the deceased. Their manual labour
-was as follows: In summer, after Chapter, which followed Prime, they
-worked till Tierce; and, after Nones, till Vespers. In winter, from
-after Mass till Nones, and even to Vespers, during Lent. In harvest,
-when they went to work in the farms, they said Tierce and the conventual
-Mass immediately after Prime, that nothing might hinder their work for
-the rest of the morning; and often they said divine service in their
-places where they were at work, and at the same hours as those at home
-celebrated in the church.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
-
-<p>“They observe the office of <span class="eng">St. Ambrose</span>, so far as they can have perfect
-knowledge thereof from Millain; and, taking care of strangers and sick
-people, do devise extraordinary afflictions for their own bodies, to the
-intent their souls may be advantaged.” Of the same Order&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>Hospinian says&mdash;“They allowed to candidates a year’s probation, but no
-reception to fugitives after the third time. All fasts were observed
-according to the rule: to visitors prostration was enjoined, with
-washing of feet. At the Abbot’s table sat the guests and pilgrims: they
-laboured more than the rule required: delicate habits were exploded:
-obsolete and primitive fervour was diligently revived and practised. But
-of this powerful order, avarice was the besetting vice: they were great
-dealers in wool, generally very ignorant, and, in fact, farmers rather
-than monks.”<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> The best account of this brotherhood, as Fosbroke has
-told us, is to be found in the <i>Usus Cisterciensium</i>; but of their
-habits and ceremonies further notice will be found when we come to treat
-of the more opulent houses. Guyot le Provins, first a minstrel, then a
-monk, has thus satirized them in a poem, which he called a <i>bible</i>, or,
-more properly, libel. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span> Cistercian “abbots and cellarers have ready
-money, eat large fish, drink good wine, and send to the refectory, for
-those who do the work, the very worst. I have seen these monks,” he
-affirms, “put pig-sties in churchyards, and stables for asses in
-chapels. They seize the cottages of the poor, and reduce them to
-beggary.”&mdash;With this brief account of the Order, we return to the
-subjects selected for illustration.</p>
-
-<p>In a historical sketch, by the late Archdeacon Coxe, the ruins of
-Tinterne Abbey are thus described, and his description is at once
-accurate and graphic:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“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 us 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 once supported the tower, fixes
-itself on the splendid relics of the eastern window&mdash;the grand
-termination of the choir.</p>
-
-<p>“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, no less than grandeur,
-is its characteristic, and that the whole is a combination of the
-beautiful and the sublime. The church, constructed in the shape of a
-cathedral, is an excellent specimen of Gothic architecture in its
-purity. The roof has long since fallen in, and the whole ruin is thus
-thrown 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 their 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
-arches and pillars of the transepts are complete: the shapes of all the
-windows may yet be discriminated; 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 gorgeous
-effect. The general form of the east window is also entire, but its
-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, with an appearance of singular
-lightness, which, in particular points of view, seems as if suspended in
-the air. To these decorations of art, nature has added her own
-ornaments. Some of the windows are wholly obscured, others partially
-shaded, with tufts of ivy, or edged with lighter foliage:</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_004.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_004.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption">
-
-<p>
-<i>W.H. Bartlett</i> <i>A. Willmore</i><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>THE WESTERN WINDOW.</p>
-
-<p>Tintern.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">the tendrils creep along the walls, wind round the pillars, wreath the
-capitals, or, hanging down in clusters, obscure the space beneath. But
-instead of dilapidated fragments, overspread with weeds and choked with
-brambles, the floor is covered with a smooth verdant turf, which, by
-keeping the original level of the church, exhibits the beauty of its
-proportions, heightens the effect of the gray stone, gives 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, carved stones and mutilated figures of monks and warriors,
-whose ashes repose within these walls, are scattered on the green sward,
-and contrast present desolation with former splendour.”</p>
-
-<p>Although the exterior appearance of these ruins is not equal to the
-inside view, yet in some positions&mdash;particularly to the east&mdash;they
-present themselves with considerable effect. From a point on its left
-bank, and about half a mile down the river, the ruins assume a new
-character; and seeming to occupy a gentle eminence, impend over the
-river without the intervention of a single cottage to intercept 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,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>
-forms a continuation of the perspective, and appears like an
-interminable forest.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Abbey</span> is a cruciform structure, built, it is said, after the model
-of Salisbury Cathedral,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> consisting of a nave, north and south
-aisles, transepts, and choir. Its length from east to west is two
-hundred and twenty-eight feet, and from north to south, at the
-transepts, one hundred and fifty feet. The nave and choir are
-thirty-seven feet in breadth; the height of the central arch is seventy
-feet, of the smaller arches thirty feet; of the east window sixty-four
-feet, and of the west window forty-two feet. The total area originally
-enclosed by the walls of the abbey is said to have been thirty-four
-acres.</p>
-
-<p>The exterior of the western front is singularly striking; but, on
-entering, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span> already observed, the scene that represents itself is
-indescribably grand and impressive. “When we stood at one end of this
-awful ruin,” says Gilpin, “the elements of earth and air its only
-covering and pavement, and the grand and</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_040.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_040.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>VIEW FROM ENTRANCE.</p><p>VIEW FROM ENTRANCE.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind">venerable remains which terminated both, perfect enough to form the
-perspective, yet broken enough to destroy the regularity, the eye was
-above measure delighted with the beauty, the grandeur, the novelty of
-the scene.”</p>
-
-<p>The inner walls of the church are nearly entire; most of the elegant and
-massive columns, as already noticed, which separated the nave from the
-south aisle are yet standing; and the four lofty and magnificent arches
-which formerly supported the central tower are nearly perfect. The
-columns that divided the nave from the north aisle have fallen; but
-their bases still occupy the ground, showing their number, shape, and
-dimensions.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Windows.</span>&mdash;The magnificent windows are little altered by time: and though
-somewhat obscured by a luxuriant and graceful drapery of ivy, the
-tendrils of which twine in their tracery, creep along the walls,
-encircle the columns, and form natural wreaths around the capitals, the
-forms of the principal objects are still so far preserved as to be
-easily discriminated. The tracery of the western<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span> window, as already
-observed, is exquisite; while the eastern window,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> high and graceful,
-and occupying nearly the whole breadth of the choir, with its slender
-umbilical shaft rising to a height of fifty feet, and diverging at the
-top into rich flowery traces, has quite a magical effect. The other
-windows, though less ornamented, are all in character, and have the same
-elegant design and finish.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p>
-
-<p>The floor, originally covered with encaustic tiles, is now enveloped in
-a thick smooth matting of grass, trimmed like a bowling-green, and here
-and there spotted with little heaps of mutilated sculpture, and striped
-with flat tombstones&mdash;all thrown open to the winds of heaven.</p>
-
-<div class="figright">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_041.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_041.jpg" width="344" height="431" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>The effigy of a knight in chain armour, a <i>pavache</i> shield, and crossed
-legs, is supposed to be that of <span class="eng">Strongbow</span>, first Earl of Pembroke,
-already noticed, but more probably that of Roger Bigod, as Strongbow is
-historically known to have been buried in Dublin. This interesting
-relic, that had escaped the ravages of time and the hostile spirit of
-resolution, was at last, as Mr. Thomas informs us, wilfully mutilated by
-a native of the village.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The next relic is a group of the Madonna and Child, much disfigured, but
-with sufficient evidence of its having been the work of a skilful
-artist. Mr. Bartlett considered it to be of very graceful design and
-execution.</p>
-
-<p>Near the eastern window is the sculptured head of a friar, with the
-tonsure, but otherwise quite disfigured.</p>
-
-<p>In the centre, between the transepts, is another broad stone slab,
-supposed to cover the ashes of the <span class="eng">founder</span>; but the fall of the tower,
-and the continual dropping of loosened fragments&mdash;until the ruin became
-an object of interest and consideration&mdash;have not left one of the
-sepulchral tablets or inscriptions entire. Many fragments may be
-discovered among the rubbish, but to reunite the scattered members were
-a very hopeless task. In the southern aisle is the only sepulchral
-antiquity that bears a legible inscription. It is elaborately carved in
-black or slate marble, with a cross finely sculptured on its surface
-longitudinally, and near its base three trouts,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> so entertwined as to
-form the symbolic triangle, with the figure of a salmon on the right and
-left. The inscription, in black letter, along the top of the cross, is
-simple&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“<span class="eng">Hic jacet humatus Johann: Willino.</span>”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The sepulchral brasses have all disappeared. For a century and more
-after the Dissolution, the Abbey appears to have been abandoned to every
-species of wilful depredators, who defaced the altars, ransacked the
-graves, and carried off without molestation whatever was curious or
-portable.</p>
-
-<div class="figright">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_042.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_042.jpg" width="368" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the same aisle, close to the wall, and now preserved with great care,
-is the lately-discovered pavement of encaustic tiles, with escutcheons
-of the ancient <span class="eng">Clare</span> and <span class="eng">Bigod</span> families intertwined. The figures on
-these coloured tiles represent flowers, animals, and knights in full
-career at a tournament. This pavement was probably that of a private
-altar, belonging to the founder, or benefactor of the Abbey. In the
-process of clearing away the vast accumulation of rubbish, many of the
-ancient memorials were removed in fragments; and of the few that remain,
-not one, probably, now covers the dust over which it was originally
-placed.</p>
-
-<p>Leaving the grassy lawn-like floor of the Abbey, the ascent to the top
-is still practicable by means of a spiral staircase in an angle of the
-northern tran<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span>sept. Those who conclude their survey of the ruins by this
-experiment, will be amply rewarded for any fatigue it may occasion. At
-the time of our visit, however, in the month of August last year, some
-unexpected obstacle prevented the custodier from gratifying our
-curiosity by a view from the summit: for the steps were either so unsafe
-or deficient, as to make the experiment rather hazardous.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Thomas, from whose notes we have already quoted, and whose late
-professional residence near the Abbey rendered him familiar with all its
-minutest features, tells us that the prospect it commands is highly
-picturesque; and in turning from the outward landscape, to look down
-into the cloistered depths below, the view of clustering pillars, lofty
-arches, mullioned windows, and flowing tracery, is indescribably grand
-and impressive.</p>
-
-<p>The broken summit of the walls, throughout its whole outline, is adorned
-with a profusion of shrubs and flowers, that, with interlacing leaves
-and tendrils, cover the mouldering coping like a fragrant mantle. Where
-the labour of man appears to decay, nature has put forth her vigour and
-beauty, and transformed those roofless walls into a wild botanic garden.
-Here, and amidst the débris immediately adjoining, Mr. Thomas<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> found
-a luxuriant crop of shrubs and flowers, all of different families, some
-of them rare, and in number between forty and fifty.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Reed</span>, in his ‘Remains,’ gives the following eloquent and highly poetical
-description of the Abbey by moonlight:&mdash;“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 Tinterne, 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 an ‘unsandalled
-foot,’ 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 interest and give pregnancy 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 wind
-gently<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span> rustling among the ivy of the ruins; the river lulling, by its
-faint murmurings, its guardian genius to repose; and the owl, whose
-funereal shriek would some time die along the walls in mysterious
-echoes. 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; making inquiries respecting the
-customs, and manners, and genius, and fate of antiquity&mdash;desire to have
-a glimpse of the destiny of future ages, and enter upon conversations
-which would be too sacred and even dangerous to communicate.” The lines
-by Sir Walter Scott, on “Melrose Abbey by Moonlight,” are equally
-descriptive of Tinterne.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
-
-<p>It has been well observed, that, as the Abbey of Tinterne is the most
-beautiful and picturesque of all our Gothic monuments, so is the
-situation one of the most sequestered and delightful. One more abounding
-in that peculiar kind of scenery which excites the mingled sensations of
-content, religion, and enthusiasm, it is impossible to behold. There,
-every arch infuses, as it were, a solemn energy into inanimate nature; a
-sublime antiquity breathes mildly in the heart; and the soul, pure and
-passionless, appears susceptible of that state of tranquillity which is
-the perfection of every earthly wish.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> By the late Sir C. Colt Hoare,
-a man of taste and many travelled acquirements, this “seat of devotion,
-solitude, and desolation,” is pronounced as surpassing every other ruin
-he had seen in England or in Wales. Captain Barber, whose “Tour” is now
-very scarce, was so charmed with the scene, that he locked himself up in
-the Abbey, and employed several hours in delineating its picturesque
-features.</p>
-
-<p>From the general aspect of this venerable pile&mdash;a <i>coup d’œil</i> that
-never fails to captivate the stranger&mdash;we proceed to a few detached
-features of the picture, all more or less interesting as relics of men,
-and times, that have long passed away.</p>
-
-<div class="figleft">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_044.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_044.jpg" width="158" height="172" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Walter de Clare</span>, the founder, was grandson of Osbert, Lord of Tudenham
-and Wollaston, by gift of William the Conqueror.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> He departed this
-life on the 10th of March, 1139, and dying without issue, was succeeded
-by his brother, <span class="eng">Gilbert</span><a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> de Clare, who survived him nine years, and
-dying on the 6th<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span> of January, 1148, was buried in the church of
-Tinterne. This Gilbert de Clare left two sons by his wife Elizabeth,
-daughter of Walleran, Earl of Melent&mdash;Richard, surnamed <span class="eng">Strongbow</span>, and
-Baldwin,<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> who, “fighting stoutly on the part of King Stephen, at the
-battle of Lincoln, was there taken prisoner.” <span class="eng">Richard</span> was one of the
-witnesses to that “solemn accorde,” made in 1153, between King Stephen,
-and Henry, Duke of Normandy, whereby the latter was to succeed to the
-crown of England after the king’s demise. In the year 1170 [16 Henry
-II.], the said Richard, Earl of Striguil or Pembroke, being stript of
-his paternal inheritance by King Henry II., invaded Ireland, and
-captured the cities of Dublin and Waterford. Soon after this event, when
-“the king, who was then at Argentine, was consulting with his nobles
-about an expedition into that realm; certain messengers from this earl
-being present, offered, on the part of Richard, the above-named cities,
-with all the castles which he had there captured, at the death of
-Dermot, king of Dublin, whose daughter and heiress he had married.” With
-this conciliatory offer, King Henry was so well pleased, that he
-restored to him all his lands, both in England and Normandy, and freely
-granted that he should enjoy all those in Ireland which he had received
-in dowery with his wife, constituting him at the same time constable or
-governor of that realm, and “thereupon passing thither, subdued it
-wholly without any considerable resistance.”</p>
-
-<p>By the daughter of the said King of Dublin or Leinster, this last earl
-of his family, Richard Strongbow<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> left an only child, Isabel, who
-remained in ward fourteen years to the king, and was then given in
-marriage to <span class="eng">William Marshall</span>, who thereupon became Earl of Pembroke,
-Lord of Striguil, or Chepstow, and took possession of Leinster, with all
-the inheritance of the said Strongbow; and being thus advanced to that
-honour, he bore the royal sceptre of gold, with the cross on the head of
-it, at the solemn coronation of King Richard I.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> The history of this
-family is given at full length in the Monasticon and Baronage of
-England, but it is much too diffuse for our purpose. William Marshall,
-who, by his marriage with Isabel, only child of Richard de Clare, came
-into possession of his estates and titles, was a great benefactor to the
-church; he built and endowed many religious houses both in England and
-Ireland; and having, by his last will and testament, constituted the
-abbot of St. Augustine’s at Bristol, and Henry Fitzgerald, his
-executors, he departed this life at Caversham, in the third of Henry II.
-Being thence carried to Reading, his body was received in solemn
-procession by the monks of the abbey, and placed in their choir, whilst
-mass was celebrated for him. It was then taken to Westminster, where<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span>
-the solemnity was again performed, and on Ascension-day it was consigned
-to the earth<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> with the following epitaph:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Sum qui Saturnum sibi sensit Hibernia: Solem<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Anglia; Mercurium Normannia; Gallia Martem.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>These complimentary lines, meant to record his virtues, are
-characteristic of the times when heathen mythology was so frequently
-called in to assist in the eulogy of some great champion or benefactor
-of the Christian church. He certainly appears to have merited all that
-could be said of him as a great mover and promoter of monastic
-fraternities&mdash;especially the <span class="eng">Cistercians</span>; and in the same strain,
-Matthew of Paris has recorded that this mighty earl was a severe tamer
-of the Irish, a great favourer of the English, achieved much in
-Normandy, and was an invincible soldier in France&mdash;“Miles strenuissimus,
-ac per orbem nominatissimus.”<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> But of the five sons whom he left
-behind, with the fair and flattering prospect that his name and titles
-would descend through many generations, all died prematurely and without
-issue. This deplorable fact was much commented upon at the time:&mdash;“Some
-did attribute it to God’s especial judgment, by reason that, when the
-said William, first earl, was a great commander in Ireland, and,
-according to the practice of soldiers, exercised such cruelties of fire
-and sword as usually accompany that sort of life, he took away by
-violence two fair manors from a reverend bishop there, and possessed
-himself of them as the acquisition of war; and that the bishop, after
-frequent and earnest entreaties for their restitution, without any
-effect, did thereupon pronounce the sentence of excommunication against
-him for the fact, which he the earl contemned.” The bishop,<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> having
-proceeded to London, made his grievous wrong known to the king, showing
-wherefore he had excommunicated the said earl. “Whereupon the king, then
-very pensive, desired the bishop that he should go to his grave and
-absolve him, and <i>then</i> he would satisfy his desire. Whereupon the
-bishop went, and the king with him, and spoke as followeth: ‘O William!
-who liest here buried, and shackled with the fetters of excommunication,
-if these lands which thou most injuriously didst take from my church, be
-restored with full satisfaction, either by the king or any of thy
-kindred or friends, I <i>then</i> absolve thee: otherwise, I ratify that
-sentence to this end, that, being wrapt up with thy sins, thou mayest
-remain condemned in hell.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The king</span>, who was “much displeased at these his expressions, blamed him
-for his ghostly rigour;” but anxious to remove the curse from the
-illustrious defunct, he sent private messages to the heir and his
-brothers, advising them in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span> a friendly manner to come to terms with the
-bishop, and thus “in mercy release their father’s soul.” But the
-brothers were obstinate; they would not restore even an acre of bog, nor
-a stock of timber; observing that, “as the old doting bishop hath
-pronounced the sentence unjustly, the curse will fall upon himself. For
-my part,” quoth the heir, “I will never lessen my patrimony descended to
-me by inheritance.” The king being still under tutelage, and fearing the
-resentment of so powerful a family, “forbore to displease them.” But the
-bishop, hearing thereof, was much grieved, taking more offence at their
-contumacy, than of the injury first done by their father; and going to
-the king, he said, “Sir, what I have spoken, I have spoken; and what I
-have written is not to be reversed: the sentence therefore must stand;
-the punishment of evil-doers is from God; and, therefore, the curse
-which the Psalmist hath written, shall come upon this earl, of whom I do
-thus complain. His name shall be <i>rooted out in one generation</i>, and his
-sons shall be deprived of the blessing&mdash;<i>increase and multiply</i>. Some of
-them shall die a miserable death, and their inheritance shall be
-scattered. And this, O king, thou shalt behold in thine own lifetime,
-yea, in thy flourishing youth.”</p>
-
-<p>Having spoken “thus much in the bitterness of his spirit, the bishop
-departed thence, leaving the defunct earl enthralled with that curse.
-Whereupon it happened that, in a few years after, all his sons died
-without issue.”<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">William</span>, his successor, who, “in his father’s lifetime, had taken part
-with the barons, then in arms against the king, was one of those betwixt
-whom and the <span class="eng">King</span> those covenants were made, whereby the government of
-the realm was placed in xxv. of them, and the city of London thereupon
-put into their hands. Yea, so great a confidant was he of that
-rebellious pack, that they constituted him to be one of those xxv., for
-which respect amongst <i>them</i> he underwent the sentence of
-excommunication by the Pope. But upon the death of King John, which
-happened soon after, his noble father reduced him to obedience; so that
-he became loyal to King <span class="eng">Henry</span> the Third, and thereupon had a grant of
-the lands of <span class="eng">Saier</span> de Quinci, Earl of Winchester, and David, Earl of
-<span class="eng">Huntingdon</span>, two of those great rebels, for his support in the king’s
-service.”</p>
-
-<p>A few years after this, “whilst he, the said <span class="eng">William Marshall</span>, was in
-Ireland, <span class="eng">Leoline</span>, Prince of Wales, took two of his castles; and having
-cut off the heads of those whom he found therein, manned them with his
-own soldiers. But when tidings thereof came to him, he soon returned
-into <span class="eng">Wales</span>; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span> having, with a great power, won them again, took the
-like revenge upon the Welsh: and thinking this not enough, he invaded
-the lands of <span class="eng">Leoline</span>, and wasted them with fire and sword. Whereupon
-Leoline advanced towards him with all his strength, but to little
-purpose; for, encountering him in battle, the Marshall totally routed
-his whole army, of which to the number of nine thousand were slain and
-taken.” This earl married Eleanor, daughter of King <span class="eng">John</span>; and dying at
-Kilkenny, in 1231, was there buried in the choir of the Mendicant
-Friars.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p>
-
-<div class="figleft">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_048.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_048.jpg" height="170" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Richard</span>, his brother and successor, being irritated by the violent
-conduct of the king and his ministry, formed an alliance with <span class="eng">Llewellyn</span>
-ap Jowarth, Prince of Wales, and in 1233 defeated the king’s army at
-<span class="eng">Grosmont</span>; but with dutiful respect for his sovereign, he fell back with
-the Cambrian army before sunrise, to allow his Majesty’s retreat from
-the Castle of Gloucester. Henry, not appreciating the generous conduct
-of his reluctant foe, resisted this attack; and on the return of the
-Lord Marshall to his estates in Ireland, he was treacherously wounded to
-death at Kildare,<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> and there buried by the side of his brother
-William, whom he had survived only three years.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Gilbert</span>, the third son, married a daughter of Alexander, King of
-Scotland, and died in 1242.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Walter</span> Marshall, the fourth son, died at Goodrich Castle, in December,
-1245. And&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Anselm</span>, the fifth and last son of this doomed family, died like his
-brothers, childless, in the same month of the same year, in the Castle
-of Striguil or Chepstow, and was interred with his brother in Tinterne
-Abbey.</p>
-
-<p>Of their five sisters, Eve, the youngest, married “William de Braliuse
-or Braose,<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> of whose family more hereafter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The male line in him having thus failed, Maude, their surviving sister,
-and heiress to the family possessions, was espoused to Hugh Bigod, Earl
-of Norfolk. From this alliance sprang two sons, Hugh and Roger, or
-Rudulfus. The younger of whom, Roger, in right of his mother, was
-installed lord-marshal of the kingdom, and granted a charter<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> to
-Tinterne Abbey, confirming those granted by the Clares and Marshalls,
-and adding large possessions to the brotherhood. Maude, on the death of
-her husband, Hugh Bigod, married John de Warren, Earl of Surrey; and
-departing this life, anno 1248, was buried in the Abbey of Tinterne;
-when her four sons&mdash;two by each marriage&mdash;carried her body into the
-choir. To prosecute the descent farther, would far exceed our limits;
-but readers who may feel curious to trace the genealogy of the founders,
-will find ample details in the Baronage, the Monasticon, and old
-chronicles.</p>
-
-<p>Of Earl Roger it is told, that, being “openly reproached by the king as
-a traitor, he replied with a stern countenance that he lied; and that
-he, Bigod, never was, nor would be a traitor;” adding, “if you do
-nothing but what the law warranteth, you can do me no harm.” “Yes,”
-quoth the king, “I can thrash your corn and sell it, and so humble you.”
-“If you do so,” replied Bigod, “I will send you back the heads of your
-thrashers.”</p>
-
-<p>The <span class="eng">Hospitium</span>, or guest-chamber, was generally a large room with
-columns, like the body of a church, and called <i>palatium</i>&mdash;the original
-meaning of which was a place of short residence. If a visitor came
-before dinner to the refectory, notice was given to the refectioner; if
-he was too late to dine with the convent, he staid in the <i>locutorium</i>,
-or parlour, until the refectory was swept, and then was introduced. The
-<i>hosteler</i> provided all things fit for Mass for the visitors; and if he
-was prevented, any one asked by him sang the mass and hours to them, for
-they had divine service as well as the convent. The visitors had meat
-and drink at solicitation, and the hosteler was to fetch the viands
-according to the rank of the person; all which, however, was accompanied
-with the appendage of a “soiled table cloth, very indifferent wine,
-grease in the salt, and a clownish servant.” The hospitaler<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> could
-not introduce them to the collation before the end of the first verse.
-When this was over, he lighted his lantern with which the visitors
-waited before the Chapter door. He then introduced them into the
-parlour, after which they had refection, and <i>Complin</i> was sung to them.
-When the visitors wished to depart before daybreak, or at that time, the
-hosteler took the keys of the parlour from the Prior’s bed; but on
-Sundays,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span> before <i>procession</i>, no one could receive the benediction, or
-ceremony of dismission.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_050.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_050.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>Persons of rank were received with processions and high honours. One of
-the great bells was struck three times, to give the monks notice of
-assembling in the church to robe themselves. Visitors were allowed to
-make a stay of two days and two nights, and on the third day, after
-dinner, they were to depart. If by accident a guest could not then go,
-the hosteler signified his request to the Abbot, or Prior, for a longer
-stay. If in health, he was to be present at Matins, and follow the
-convent in everything, unless he had leave to the contrary. Women were
-to be received who came with an honourable suite.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> Particular
-attention was paid to the parents of monks, for whom necessaries and
-food were to be provided whenever they came to see their
-children&mdash;especially on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, wheresoever
-they took refection, in the town or house; and they were to be
-honourably received on the Vigil.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Refectory</span>, as described by monastic writers, was a large hall
-wainscoted on the north and south sides, and in the west and nether
-parts was a long bench of stone, in mason-work, from the cellar-door to
-the pantry, or cove-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span>door. It had a dresser in it: above the wainscot
-was a large picture of <span class="smcap">Christ</span>, the Virgin Mary, and St. John; but in
-most places&mdash;and here perhaps&mdash;was the Cross or Crucifixion, to which,
-on entering the Fratry with washed hands, the monks made obeisance with
-their faces to the east. Within the door on the left was an
-<i>Almery</i>&mdash;where stood the grace-cup (the classical αγαθου δαιμονος), out
-of which the monks, after grace every day, drank round the table&mdash;and
-another large one on the right, with smaller within, where stood the
-<i>mazers</i>, of which each monk had his peculiar one, with a ewer and
-basin, which served the Sub-prior to wash his hands in at the table, of
-which he sat as chief.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> At the west end was a loft above the cellar,
-ascended by stairs with an iron railing, where the convent and monks
-dined together, the Sub-prior sitting at the upper end of the table. At
-the south end of the high table, within a glass window-frame, was an
-iron desk, ascended by stone steps, with an iron rail, where lay a
-Bible, out of which one of the novices read a part in Latin during
-dinner. The readers at the table were to give ear to the Prior in case
-of error; and if they did not understand his correction, they were to
-begin the verse again, even repeatedly, until they comprehended the
-Prior’s meaning. When the reader had finished, the master of the novices
-rang a silver bell hanging over his head, to call one of them to come to
-the high table to say grace; a single stroke of this bell (<i>skilla</i>),
-signified the conclusion of the lecture or the meal.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_051.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_051_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="H" /></a></span><span class="eng">ospitality</span>, which the monastic rule enjoined upon all
-its professors, was faithfully practised by the Cistercians. The
-Refectory, as well as the Hospitium, or Guest Hall, of this Abbey,
-appears to have been an elegant and capacious chamber, with a vaulted
-stone roof supported on Gothic pillars, the massive bases of which still
-remain. But as the buildings were long thrown open as a stone quarry,
-for the use of the public, the squared and sculptured materials with
-which they were built and adorned, were employed for ages in
-constructing those shapeless hovels which now cluster, as if<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span> in
-mockery, around the sacred pile, and show to what base uses in this
-changing world, even the masterpieces of art may be applied.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Dole.</span>&mdash;An opening in the wall of the refectory westward, shows the
-place where the monk appointed to that duty, administered to the poor
-their daily portion of bread and beer. To that door the hungry and the
-weary never applied in vain&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Pilgrim, whosoe’er thou art,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Worn with travel, faint with fear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Halt, or blind, or sick of heart,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Bread and welcome wait thee here.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At the east end of the <span class="eng">Refectory</span> was “a neat table, with a screen of
-wainscot over it, for the master of the novices, the elects, and
-novices, to dine and sup at: two windows opened into the refectory from
-the great kitchen, one large for principal days, the other smaller for
-ordinary days; and through these the dishes were served. Over against
-the door in the cloister was a conduit or lavatory, for the monks to
-wash their hands and faces, of a round form, covered with lead, and all
-marble, excepting the outer wall, without which they might walk about
-the Tower. After the monks had waited a while on the <span class="eng">Abbot</span>, they sat
-down at two other tables, placed at the sides of the refectory, and had
-their service brought in by the novices, who, when the monks had dined,
-sat down to their own dinner. Fires in the refectory were ordered from
-All-hallows Day to Good-Friday, and the wood was found by the cellarer.
-Pinafores or super-tunics, to protect the clothes at dinner, are
-mentioned by Lynwood, and occur in foreign consuetudinals. Giraldus
-Cambrensis, on dining with the Prior of Canterbury, “noted sixteen
-dishes, besides intromels,” or <i>entremets</i>; “a superfluous use of signs,
-much sending of dishes from the Prior to the attending monks, and from
-them to the lower tables;” with “much ridiculous gesticulation in
-returning thanks, with much whispering, loose, idle, and licentious
-discourse;” herbs brought in but not tasted; numerous kinds of fish,
-roasted, boiled, stuffed, fried, eggs, dishes exquisitely cooked with
-spices; salted meats to provoke appetite; wines of various kinds;
-<i>pimento</i> made of wine, honey, and spices; with claret, mead, and other
-beverages. Respecting these, it was not unusual, says Barnard, to see
-brought a vessel half full to try the quality and flavour of the wine;
-and that, after proof thereof, the monks decided in favour of the
-strongest. Superior dinners were always given on the feasts of the
-Apostles; but it was not lawful, it seems, to eat the flesh of any
-animal nourished on the earth, because this had been cursed by God; but
-the curse not extending to air and water, birds were permitted, as
-created of the same element as fish. Hence the prohibition of
-quadrupeds; but as it was found</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_005.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_005.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Refectory.</i></p>
-
-<p>Tintern Abbey.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">impossible for inland monasteries to have fish enough, to eat flesh
-became unavoidable.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> However, to the great rule all their articles of
-food bore relation; namely, bread, beer, soup, beans for soup, all Lent;
-oats for gruel, on Thursdays and Saturdays, in that season; flour for
-pottage, every day in the same season; fried dishes, <i>wastels</i>, or fine
-bread for dinner and supper, on certain feasts; <i>formictæ</i>, or fine
-flour cakes, in Advent, Christmas, against Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and
-certain feasts; ‘fat things,’ which appear to have been bacon,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> were
-frequent with the Præmonstratenses; black beans and salt, with the
-Clugniacks; general bad fare with the <span class="eng">Cistercians</span>. In certain
-solemnities, we are told the convent was in the habit of retiring with
-the Abbot, leaving a few in the refectory, in order to eat meat
-elsewhere; and that they frequently dined in ‘extra-cloister’
-apartments, where “they used to invite women (devout nuns, perhaps) to
-talk, eat, and drink with them.”<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Diet</span> was strictly prescribed; variety of viands was forbidden; flesh was
-allowed only to the sick or invalids; fish, eggs, milk, butter, and
-cheese, were not to be used on common days, but only on special
-occasions, as dainties or “pittances.”<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> None but their guests and the
-sick were allowed any other than brown bread; they might use the common
-herbs of the country; but pepper and other spices were forbidden.</p>
-
-<p>These observations, quoted from various authorities, apply to the
-monastic Orders generally, among whom the regulations of the refectory
-appear to have been nearly the same; but that order to which the Abbey
-of <span class="eng">Tinterne</span> belonged, professed the greatest abstinence, mortified diet,
-and abhorrence of all luxuries. To the devout taste of St. <span class="eng">Bernard</span>, the
-most rigid rules were the most agreeable; and hence he became a
-<span class="eng">Cistercian</span>, the strictest of the monastic orders in France. At that time
-they were but few in number, for, owing to their excessive austerities,
-men were discouraged from joining them. Bernard, however, by his
-superior genius, his eminent piety, and his ardent zeal, gave to this
-<span class="eng">Order</span> a permanent lustre and celebrity. At the age of twenty-three, with
-more than thirty companions, he entered into the monastery, and was
-afterwards appointed Abbot of <span class="eng">Clairval</span>. To those noviciates who desired
-admission, he used to say&mdash;“If<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> ye hasten to those which are within,
-dismiss your bodies which ye brought from the world; let the spirit
-alone enter here; the flesh profiteth nothing.” “Yet, amidst all these
-disagreeable austerities,” says his biographer, “the soul of Bernard was
-inwardly taught of God; and as he grew in the divine life, he learned to
-correct the harshness and asperities of his sentiments.”</p>
-
-<p>The <span class="eng">Cistercian</span> habit, as shown in the preceding woodcut, was a white
-robe in the nature of a cassock, with a black scapular and hood. Their
-garment was girt with a black girdle of wool; in the choir, they had
-over it a white cowl, and over that a hood, with a rochet hanging down,
-bound before to the waist, in a point behind to the calf of the leg.
-When they went abroad, they wore a cowl and a great hood, all black,
-which was also the choir habit.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Lay Brothers</span> of this Order were clad in a dark colour; their
-scapular hung down about a foot in length before, and was rounded at the
-bottom. Their hood was like that which the priests wore over their cowl,
-excepting the difference of the colour. In the choir they wore a cloak
-or mantle, reaching to the ground, and of the same colour as the habit.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Novices</span>, who were clerks, wore the same habit in the church, but it
-was all white; their scapular was not of the same length in all places,
-for sometimes it reached only half-way down the thigh, in others to the
-midleg, or even to the heels.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p>
-
-<p>The sumptuary regulations extended even to the ornaments of their
-churches, and the vestments of the ministers. The altar cloth, the
-<i>alb</i>, and the service, were to be of plain linen; the stole and
-maniple, which were at first of cloth, were allowed afterwards to be of
-silk. Palls, capes, dalmatics, and tunics, were forbidden. The crosses
-were to be of wood, painted; and it was forbidden to have them made of
-carved work, or of silver or gold. The cruets for the service of the
-altar, were not to be of gold or silver: the <span class="eng">chalice</span> and fistula might
-be of silver gilt; the <span class="eng">candlesticks</span> were to be iron, and the <span class="eng">censers</span> of
-iron or copper. Pictures or painted glass were not to be allowed in
-their churches; which in all monasteries of this order were dedicated to
-<span class="eng">God</span>, under the invocation of the <span class="eng">Virgin Mary</span>.</p>
-
-<div class="figleft">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_054.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_054.jpg" width="157" height="222" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Cistercians</span>, according to the reformed rule, were obliged to perform
-their devotions together seven times every twenty-four hours. The
-<i>Nocturnal</i>, the first of these services, was performed at two o’clock
-in the morning; two Matins, or <i>Prime</i>, commenced at six o’clock;
-<i>Tierce</i>, at nine o’clock; the <i>Sexte</i>, at twelve o’clock; the <i>None</i>,
-at three in the afternoon; <i>Vespers</i>, at six; and the <i>Compline</i>, at
-seven o’clock in the evening. As<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> the monks retired to bed at eight,
-they had six hours to sleep before the Nocturnal began; and if they
-again betook themselves to rest, after that service, it was not
-considered any fault or infringement of the rule; but after matins, they
-were not permitted to have the same indulgence. At the first stroke of
-the convent-bell for prayers, they were to suspend all matters of
-business in which they might happen to be engaged at the moment; and
-those who copied books, or were employed in any kind of writing&mdash;even if
-they had begun a text letter&mdash;were not allowed to finish it. They were
-to fast every day in <span class="eng">Lent</span>, till six o’clock in the evening. During
-meals, as already mentioned in these pages, the Scriptures were read to
-them by one of the brethren, who performed this and other offices in
-weekly rotation. After the Compline, all conversation was prohibited,
-and they silently retired to rest. The dormitory was a long barrack-like
-room, not divided into separate cells, where each monk had his own bed
-furnished with a mat, blanket, coverlet, and a pillow which was not to
-exceed a foot and a half in length. When any of the fraternity went
-abroad, they always walked in couples, so that each might be a check
-upon the other, and incite him to edifying thoughts.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p>
-
-<p>At a General Chapter of the Cistercian Order, held in the year 1134, it
-was resolved that the rules of St. Benedict regarding diet, clothing,
-morals, and divine service, should continue to be strictly observed; and
-to these were added many new regulations for the suppression of luxury.
-It was directed that their monasteries, as already observed, should be
-founded in the most retired and solitary places; that the members of the
-Order should provide the necessaries of life by the labour of their
-hands. They were allowed, however, to possess lands, rivers, woods,
-vineyards, and meadows; with sheep, oxen, horses, and other domestic
-animals; but no deer nor bears, nor other animals kept merely<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> for
-pleasure. They were forbidden to possess tithes, the advowsons or
-revenues of churches, dues of ovens or mills, bond-servants, or even
-rents of lands.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> The reason for these restrictions was, that they
-might not live by the labour of others; yet, upon the pretext of
-enabling the monks to live in greater retirement and abstraction from
-the world, they were allowed to admit into their community a certain
-number of lay brothers, called converts, whose office consisted in
-managing the secular business of the Convent, including the cultivation
-of their lands, in which they were permitted to employ hired servants.
-These lay brethren did not take the monastic vow; but in every other
-respect they were treated exactly like the professed monks.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>With regard to the extension of their order, no convent was allowed to
-send forth a colony, unless the community consisted of at least sixty
-monks, and held a license, both from the general chapter, and from the
-archbishop, or bishop. Each monastery, as we have said, was to consist
-of at least twelve monks and their superiors;<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> and before they could
-be brought to their new residence, the buildings required for their
-immediate accommodation were to be provided; namely, an oratory, a
-dormitory, a stranger’s cell, and a porter’s lodge. The books required
-for divine service, were also to be got ready. The superior of the new
-establishment was bound to pay a visit to the parent monastery once a
-year; and the Abbots of all the monasteries of the <span class="eng">Cistercian</span> order,
-were obliged to attend the General Chapter held annually at
-Cisteaux,<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> those only excepted, who were excused by sickness or
-distance. Abbots in Scotland, Ireland, and Sicily, were obliged to be
-present only every fourth year. In some cases it was even allowed to
-send delegates.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_056.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_056_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="P" /></a></span><span class="eng">rofessions.</span>&mdash;No person desirous of becoming a monk was
-suffered to enter upon his noviciate under fifteen years of age. The
-candidate having made his petition to be admitted, was, after four days,
-brought before the abbot, and a select number of the monks in the
-Chapter-house, where he threw himself down with his face to the ground.
-Being asked by the Abbot what he desired, he replied,&mdash;“The mercy of God
-and yours.” Upon this the Abbot made him stand up, and explained to him
-the strictness of the rules, and the self-denial required in keeping
-them; after which, he asked him if he was willing to submit to the
-restraint they imposed. Upon his replying in the affirmative, the Abbot
-admonished him, and when he concluded with these words,&mdash;“May <span class="smcap">God</span> finish
-the good work which he hath begun in thee;” all who were present said,
-<i>Amen!</i> and then the candidate bowed, and retired to the guest-chamber.</p>
-
-<p>A similar ceremony was observed when he was again introduced into the
-<span class="eng">Chapter-house</span> next day, after having read the rules of the Order. On the
-third day, he was admitted into the cell of the novices, and began the
-year of his probation; during which he was prepared and instructed for
-taking the vows, by a person called the Master of the Novices, who was
-usually one of the oldest and most learned of the monks. At the
-conclusion of the twelvemonth’s probation, when it was supposed he had
-had a sufficient trial of their discipline and manner of life, he was
-again formally interrogated; and if he persisted in his request, he was
-allowed to make his profession, and become a regular member<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span> of the
-Order.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> The following is a copy of the formulary used in English
-monasteries on such occasions:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“The first petycion in the Collogium: ‘Syr, I besyche yow and alle the
-Convent for the luffe of God, our Ladye Sanct Marye, Sanct John of
-Baptiste, and alle the hoyle cowrte of hevyne, that ye wolde resave me
-to lyve and dye here emongs yow, in the state of a monke, a prebendarye
-and servant unto alle, to the honour of God, solace to the companye,
-prouffet to the place, and helth unto my sawle.’</p>
-
-<p>“The answer unto the examinacyon: ‘Syr, I tryste through the helpe of
-God, and your good prayers, to keep alle these thyngs ye have now heyr
-rehersede.’</p>
-
-<p>“The first petycion before the profession: ‘Syr, I have beyn heyr now
-this twellmonth nere hand, and lovyde be God, me lykes ryght well both
-the ordour and the companye. Whereupon I besyche yow, and all the
-companye, for the luffe of God, our Ladye Sanct Marye, Sanct John of
-Baptiste, and alle the hoyle companye of hevyn, that ye will resave me
-unto my profession, at my twellmonth day, according to my petycion which
-I made when I was first resaved heyr emongs yow.’<span class="lftspc">”</span><a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Cistercians</span>, much to their honour, took considerable pains to
-cultivate and promote learning. The transcribing of books was one of the
-principal occupations in all their monasteries. A certain number of the
-brotherhood were constantly employed in the <span class="eng">Scriptorium</span>, in making
-copies of the most esteemed works, to furnish and augment the common
-library. None, however, were permitted to write new books, without first
-obtaining a license to that effect from the General Chapter. In the
-principal monasteries a chronicle was kept, in which the monks recorded,
-in Latin, the most remarkable events, both of general and local
-interest, that occurred within their knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> The chronicle of
-<span class="eng">Tinterne</span> Abbey, as partly transcribed in the Monasticon, contains copies
-of those deeds and charters, by which former rights and privileges were
-confirmed, and new benefactions added; but it includes no chronicle of
-passing events, public or private.</p>
-
-<p>Many and great were the privileges, franchises, and immunities granted
-to this <span class="eng">Order</span> in general, by sundry kings and pontiffs; and on some
-particular houses were conferred very special favours. The brothers of
-the order were exempted from appearing in any court, or at the trial of
-any cause whatever, if the distance from the monastery exceeded two
-days’ journey. They were exempted from tithes; the ordinary could not
-call upon, nor punish them for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span> any crime; neither could their houses be
-visited by any one, except their own abbot. Their benefactors, those who
-frequented their mills [molendini], as well as their friends and
-servants, were all exempted from the ban of excommunication.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a>
-<span class="eng">Boniface</span> XI. made an effort to relieve them still farther, by exempting
-them from the payment of tithes for their lands, though let out to
-others; but this was rejected by King Henry IV., who would not permit
-the bull for that purpose to be executed. The monks of Tinterne, in
-common with their brethren of that order, enjoyed all the privileges and
-immunities here named. They were great proficients in the science of
-agriculture; and from the skill manifested in the cultivation of the
-abbey lands, and in those occupied by their tenants, produced the
-happiest effects on that important branch of rural economy.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Cloister</span>, which is so often described in poetry as the abode of
-religious harmony, was nevertheless subject, at times, to all those
-unruly passions which in the world engender strife amongst brethren, and
-destroy the quiet of secular life. Every monastery contained within its
-own walls, those elements of malice and dissension, which it required no
-common energy on the part of the abbot to regulate and subdue. Perverse
-men, clothed in the robe of meekness, were a constant source of trial to
-those patterns of monastic discipline, who laboured to correct and
-reform them.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> Persecution within the cloister existed occasionally
-under two forms: men of eminent sanctity suffered it from degenerate
-brethren, sometimes, simply on account of their superior justice; and at
-others, in consequence of their endeavours to reform them. Sometimes
-when the monastery fell under the dominion of an evil superior, the
-monks who persevered in sanctity fled from his persecution.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p>
-
-<p>The character of a good <span class="eng">Cistercian</span> monk, contrasted with one of an
-opposite disposition, is thus drawn:&mdash;It happened that the pious <span class="eng">Gobert</span>,
-a monk of Villars, having to undertake a journey for the arrangement of
-certain affairs, set out accompanied by one of the brothers named Peter.
-Arriving late in the evening at a town where they were to pass the
-night, they were fatigued and exhausted with the labour and heat of the
-day; and Peter, causing a table to be spread, drew from the bag he
-carried, abundant provisions, and then ordered cups to be served, and
-many things made ready for their repast. To the pious Gobert, all this
-seemed to be more than necessary, more than was consistent with perfect
-moderation, and his conscience silently accused him of yielding too
-readily to the force of temptation. But after both had supped, he did
-not venture to give utterance to the compunctious feelings that were
-then passing in his mind. Next morning, however, as they were again
-prosecuting their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span> journey through umbrageous lanes, he began meekly and
-humbly to disclose his thoughts; expressing his fears that the expense
-of the previous day had exceeded their wants; adding, that the patrimony
-of <span class="eng">Christ</span> ought not to be spent in superfluities, but given to the poor;
-that beneficed clerks are only dispensers of the <span class="eng">Church</span>, not lords of
-its substance; that when, in the words of St. Ambrose, we <i>assist the
-poor, we give nothing of our own, but only that which the church
-appoints us to dispense</i>; and, therefore, that ecclesiastical goods
-belong not to clerks, but to the poor.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p>
-
-<p>Saying these and other things that pressed heavily on his mind, Gobert
-lamented that he should have squandered the money which did not belong
-to him. But brother Peter did not receive this reproof with a humble
-mind; on the contrary, he became so angry that he did not answer him a
-word. Thus they rode on for nearly three hours, Peter all the while
-preserving a sullen and painful silence, which the holy Gobert
-observing, he tried to soothe and turn away his displeasure, by
-addressing him in terms of mild and brotherly affection. At last, seeing
-that he could make no impression upon him, he said, “My brother, it is
-time for us to discharge the service of hours to our Creator!”
-Whereupon, according to the custom of the <span class="eng">Cistercians</span>, they dismounted
-and knelt down to begin the office. In this posture of devotion, while
-brother Peter was prostrate on the earth, Gobert, with clasped hands
-turned towards him, and bursting into tears, humbly implored his
-forgiveness for having, by words of admonition and seeming reproof,
-moved his resentment. But as this did not appear to soften the monk’s
-obdurate heart, he continued his entreaties, and declared that he would
-not rise from his knees until he had forgiven him. At last, touched and
-overcome by so much Christian humility, brother Peter relented; and,
-taking Gobert by the hand, with feelings of mingled shame and
-contrition, raised him up; and having freely forgiven him,<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> and
-received his forgiveness, they went on their way rejoicing.</p>
-
-<p>Thus far the chronicle, which the reader will find quoted in the Ages of
-Faith. “But,” says the learned author, “it was chiefly as <i>reformers</i> of
-their respective communities, that the holy men of monastic life
-suffered persecution.” In estimating the fortitude of those who laboured
-in this vineyard, it is to be observed, that specious arguments were
-never wanting to excuse the evil for which they sought a remedy. The
-monks of St. Benedict, according to Orderic Vitalis, who resisted the
-reform introduced by the Abbot Robert,<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> defended themselves on this
-ground, urging that the different circumstances of the times required a
-life different from that of the hermits of Egypt. “God forbid,” said
-they, “that valiant knights, that subtile philosophers, and eloquent
-doctors,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span> merely because they have renounced the world, should be
-obliged as mean slaves to occupy themselves in ignoble works.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> On
-these occasions, however, the real source of hostility was seldom
-avowed. Much was advanced in the time of St. Bernard, in respect to the
-colour of habits; but St. Peter the Venerable disengaged the question
-from its adventitious appendages: “Perhaps,” said he, writing to St.
-Bernard, “there is another and a deeper cause for this dissension
-between the <span class="eng">Clugniacs</span> and the Cistercians&mdash;between the ancient and the
-modern communities. We are <i>restorers of piety that was grown cold</i>; we
-are distinguished from others in <i>manners</i>, as well as in habits and
-customs. This is the secret and urgent cause of the breach of charity
-and of tongues, that are sharpened like swords against us. And oh, how
-much to be deplored, if the abstinence, the purity of a whole life; if
-invincible obedience, if unbroken fasts, if perpetual vigils, if such a
-yoke of discipline, if so many palms of patience, if so many
-labours&mdash;not so much of an earthly, as of a celestial life&mdash;should be
-dissipated by one hiss of the serpent: how much to be deplored, if the
-old dragon should thus, in an instant, with one breath, dissipate all
-your treasures collected by the grace of God, and leave you empty in the
-sight of the Supreme Judge!”<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_060.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_060_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="O" /></a></span><span class="eng">f</span> the miraculous legends connected with these
-institutions, the following, taken from the annals of a sister
-abbey,<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> may serve as a specimen:&mdash;One evening, three strangers
-knocked at the abbey gate, and being admitted to lodge there for the
-night, were immediately conducted into the church, as the rule of St.
-Benedict directs; and having there finished their devotions, they were
-led back to the Guest Chamber, and welcomed in by brother Walter.
-Thence, as soon as the ceremony of washing their feet was over, they
-were summoned to the Refectory; but scarcely had they taken their seats,
-when it was discovered that one of the strangers was missing, and his
-chair empty. “Where,” said the hospitaller, addressing the other two;
-“where is your companion?” “Companion!” said the strangers, greatly
-surprised at the question; “thy servants had no companion.” “Nay,” quoth
-the friar, “say not so, I pray you; for ’tis but this instant that I
-placed three at table, and he who sat betwixt you has left his chair
-empty.” “Nay, we assure thee,” rejoined the strangers, “that no <i>third</i>
-person entered with us, neither have we journeyed hither with any man;
-but, being overtaken by night, we came along to the abbey gate, nor have
-we spoken to any man, save only thyself.” Strong in his own conviction,
-friar Walter was immovable; and calling the porter and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span> another monk to
-his assistance, the fact of a third person having entered was confirmed
-by their united testimony. Hereupon the strangers could only repeat what
-they had already asserted; but to give it more solemnity, they called
-St. Benedict himself to witness the truth of their words. All was
-amazement; diligent search was made, but no foot had repassed the gate,
-nor was any stranger to be found in church or cloisters; so the two
-visitors, being spared all further question, were hospitably entertained
-for the night, and dismissed with the usual benediction. The next night,
-however, the hospitaller had a vision in his sleep: a personage of
-angelic features appeared to him; and with a voice like that of
-celestial music, said, “<span class="eng">Walter</span>, dost thou know me? I am the stranger
-whose sudden disappearance last night so greatly moved the warder. Know
-then, that by the good pleasure of heaven I am appointed to watch over
-this Monastery; to attend the outgoing and the incoming of every holy
-brother; and that my present errand is to certify that the alms and
-oblations of this community, more especially of your <span class="eng">Abbot</span>, have
-ascended in sweet memorial to heaven, and are accepted.” Again&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Waltheof</span>, an abbot of whom we read in the Cistercian Annals, had many
-severe trials to undergo, not only with refractory monks, but with the
-arch-fiend himself, who appeared to have delegated the management of his
-other affairs to inferior powers of darkness, in order that he himself
-might direct his whole force and strategy against the uncompromising
-Waltheof. But the abbot, aware of all these machinations, never lost an
-inch of ground; every fresh rencontre was to him a fresh triumph; for
-knowing the strength and skill of the enemy, he took up the shield of
-faith, and, cased in this armour of proof, met his spiritual foe with a
-look of contempt and defiance. To report their numerous conflicts, would
-be to recapitulate the days of the life of Waltheof&mdash;for it was
-literally a warfare. At length, one evening after Compline&mdash;when all the
-monks had retired to the dormitory&mdash;the abbot continued lingering in the
-church; for, feeling a weight at heart, he wished to unburden his grief
-in solitary prayer and meditation. At such moments, it is well known,
-the powers of darkness are always most active&mdash;most on the alert; and
-Waltheof no sooner looked down the left aisle, than he perceived the
-arch-fiend moving stealthily from behind a pillar. In this instance he
-had assumed the habit of a monk; but as he cast no shadow behind him,
-and caused no sound as he shuffled along the tesselated floor, the abbot
-soon recognised his old customer, and calmly waited for him at the foot
-of the altar. Seeing himself thus baffled, the fiend suddenly threw
-aside his cowl, and assumed the terrific form of a soldier, armed at all
-points, and of such gigantic proportions, that in a moment every pillar
-in the nave seemed to have dwindled into insignificance. His grand
-object, as the abbot foresaw, was to inspire him with sudden terror, and
-thus drive him from his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span> sanctuary; but the attempt was vain. He then
-brandished a huge spear, and belching forth streams of blue fire as he
-approached, made a feint, as if he would have hurled the weapon at his
-head. But the abbot, continuing to make the sign of the cross, kept the
-great adversary of mankind at bay; yet still finding that he did not
-quit the sacred pile, he armed himself with the pix which contained the
-sacred wafer; and then advancing, exclaimed, “Behold, thou wicked
-soldier, thou base hireling! here is thy judge, who shall quickly send
-thee to the bottomless pit! Wait for him if thou darest!” What need of
-words; at this sight the foul fiend suddenly collapsed in all his
-terrific proportions, and vanished in a cloud of smoke.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p>
-
-<p>These two examples may suffice to give the reader some idea of the
-numerous legends with which the monastic annals abound: and, in addition
-to what has been already said of the internal administration of this
-order, we shall, from time to time, introduce other particulars, drawn
-from various sources, but chiefly from their own chronicles.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_062.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_062.jpg" width="444" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Environs.</span>&mdash;It would be difficult to name a locality that, within so
-small a compass, contains so many richly-varied landscapes, as the Vale
-of Tinterne. In whatever direction we move, the eye is arrested by new
-features, new combinations of the graceful and picturesque. A saunter
-along the river, where it forms a crescent between the abbey and the
-village, will gratify every lover of the picturesque, and bring before
-him the beauty and freshness of nature, in striking contrast with the
-sublime but faded monuments of art. The best hour for enjoying this
-scene is about sunset; and, on returning, the tourist may ascend the
-Chapel Hill, and thence, in a more extended panorama, look down upon
-what would have furnished a rich subject for the pencil of Claude. The
-river, with its fantastic windings, here clamorous among shallows&mdash;there
-gliding away with the rapid but inaudible march of time&mdash;masses of brown
-rock overhanging the pass, gleaming in confused blocks through the trees
-that clamber up their</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_006.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_006.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Vale of Tintern.</i></p>
-
-<p>From the Devil’s Pulpit.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">steep sides, or crown their pinnacles with masses of verdure; while here
-and there a cottage, with its whitewashed walls, gives new life and
-interest to the scene.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">How oft the pilgrim, lingering here,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Beneath that yew’s sepulchral shade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Hath dropt the penitential tear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And, sighing to himself, hath said&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There’s solace here for all my woe,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><span class="eng">St. Mary’s</span> altar gleams below;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And blessèd be the hand divine,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That leads the pilgrim to her <span class="eng">shrine</span>.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the point from which the Abbey of Tinterne is seen to most
-advantage, is that chosen by Mr. Bartlett in the illustration opposite.
-The way to the ‘<span class="eng">Devil’s Pulpit</span>,’ as it is called, runs along the left
-bank of the Wye, and, in its winding course, presents many little
-glimpses of the vale and river, that, like small cabinet-pictures, serve
-as a gradual introduction to the splendid panorama of nature&mdash;the
-features of which are here so faithfully illustrated by the pencil, as
-to render description superfluous.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">The river, rolling far below&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here swift as time, there still and slow;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’ershadowed here with arching bowers,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There sweetly fringed with summer flowers;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The Vale&mdash;where, through its orchard trees,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The curling vapour meets the breeze,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And, vast and venerably grand,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The <span class="eng">Abbey’s</span> mouldering arches stand,&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All these a wondrous scene impart,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To charm the eye and melt the heart;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The scroll of ages to unfold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And paint the wondrous men of old.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Of this lofty and romantic scene Mr. Thomas writes:&mdash;“Who shall describe
-the glories of this splendid view? Who cannot but involuntarily think of
-the second scene in the Temptation, when the prince of the power of the
-air took the Prince of peace into an exceeding high mountain, and showed
-him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, in a moment of
-time? But let no satanic thought break in upon the holy influence which
-the soul delights to cherish in this lovely spot! It seems as though
-imagination, that potent enchantress of the mind, had transmitted us to
-some pinnacled mountain to show us the peace, the beauty, and permanence
-of the works of God, in vivid contrast with the feeble, the transitory,
-the desolated works of man&mdash;the ruined abbey encircled by the
-everlasting hills. This comprehensive panorama contains the most
-pleasing combination of nature and art, mountain and meadow, water and
-wood. There flows the glassy Wye, coiled like a serpent, and either
-buried in woods, or gliding peacefully through meadows spangled with
-fleecy<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span> flocks. Its buoyant bosom bears a little bark freighted with the
-gay partizans of pleasure, whose scarlet banner is playing with the
-summer’s breeze. The distant sounds of a solitary flute harmonize with
-the busy hum of bees, and the song of some half-secluded bird. Again, we
-hear the hoarser cry of the mariner, and the metallic voice of an
-industrious anvil. The unpretending church of Tinterne, in its unspotted
-whiteness, contrasts with its aged companion&mdash;a sombre yew, which, like
-an ample pall, is overshadowing the clustered monuments of death.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Lancaut</span> cliffs, which contribute a striking feature to this part of the
-scenery, are rendered still more interesting by the following
-tradition:&mdash;During the calamitous war, so often referred to in these
-pages, Sir John Winter was eminently distinguished by his devotion to
-the royal cause. The personal risks and pecuniary sacrifices to which he
-was daily exposed, only served to give more warmth to his loyalty. When
-the Parliament sent their first troops to the banks of the Wye, Winter
-converted his house at Sidney into a fortress; and so promptly and
-skilfully was this accomplished, that it was rendered not merely
-inaccessible, but so well provisioned and fortified as to be able to
-stand a siege. In this, perhaps, there was some little exaggeration; for
-the garrison, then at Gloucester, and acting under the direction of
-skilful and determined leaders, were not likely to have been foiled, had
-they made any such attempt. Their grand object was Chepstow Castle; and
-if that fortress was ultimately found to be untenable, the defence of a
-private fortalice must have been a rash and hopeless attempt. It proves,
-nevertheless, that his loyalty admitted of no fear, and was prepared for
-every extremity. Acting under the command of Lord Herbert&mdash;whose
-operations will be detailed in our account of Raglan&mdash;Winter, by his
-rapid movements, frequently alarmed the troops under General Massey. But
-after the siege of Gloucester was raised by the Earl of Essex, the
-king’s interest in that part of the country was much impaired; and the
-Parliamentary forces continuing to advance, Sir John Winter was
-compelled by urgent duties to abandon his own residence, and retire
-across the frontier. In his retreat, however, through the forest of
-Tudenham, Cromwell’s dragoons were immediately on his traces; escape was
-seemingly impossible&mdash;he was completely hemmed in by the enemy on one
-hand, and the Wye on the other; and though well mounted, he soon
-perceived that his pursuers were sensibly gaining upon him. Determined
-that they should never boast of having taken him prisoner, he turned his
-horse’s head suddenly towards the rocks, which now bear his name, and by
-means, he knew not how, quickly disappeared and descended the cliffs in
-safety. At the base of these rolled the Wye, then in flood tide; but
-plunging into the river, his gallant steed carried him safely to the
-opposite bank, where he was soon joined by a party of royalists, and
-congratu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span>lated upon his miraculous escape. The point at which he
-descended the rocks is still called <span class="eng">Winter’s leap</span>. Of his escape, by
-scrambling down the cliff, there is no doubt; but to represent it as the
-result of a <i>leap</i><a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> on horseback, would be to assume the peculiar
-privilege of “Geoffrey of Monmouth.”</p>
-
-<p>After this perilous feat, the hardy royalist returned to his house at
-Sidney; but finding it, on closer inspection, to be quite untenable, he
-had it demolished, and then, joining the king’s forces, took part in the
-battle of Naseby, which gave a finishing blow to the king’s affairs.</p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_065.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_065_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="A" /></a></span> walk from the <span class="eng">Abbey</span> to the village of Tinterne Parva,
-will never fail to interest the stranger; in this short distance, many
-new features and new combinations of scenery crowd upon the view, and
-carry the mind back to remote times, when the cloister bell was the only
-sound that broke in upon the stillness of the scene. Sweeping round the
-outer ring of the crescent, within which the river flows in a deep
-smooth channel, the road is overhung by masses of rock, shaded by trees,
-and skirted by cottages, which, from the situations they occupy, rather
-than any taste or merit in their construction, present a picturesque
-appearance. As we advance, the scene is continually changing: the old
-abbey walls, beautiful from whatever point they are contemplated, assume
-a comparatively new aspect from the western approach, particularly about
-sunset, when the whole building appears as if bathed in a flood of
-yellow light. To enjoy the scenery of the place under such
-circumstances, is worth a long day’s pilgrimage. The river, which here
-doubles upon itself, so as to take the form of a horse shoe, is of a
-depth navigable for small craft; and though here and there fretted by
-rocks, the surface, as we passed, was smooth and limpid; through which,
-as in a mirror, the picturesque scenery on its banks appeared in
-distinct and beautiful reflexion.</p>
-
-<p>Near to the Cross, the ancient market-place of the village, the stranger
-is shown a ruined edifice, partly covered with ivy, and bearing the
-evidence of having suffered less from time than violence. This is
-supposed to have been the villa, or extra-cloister residence of the
-abbots of Tinterne, to which at certain seasons they could retire from
-the exercise of their public functions, and enjoy the privileges of
-social life&mdash;the society and conversation of friends and strangers,
-without the forms and austerities of the cloister. Of this building,
-nothing but a few shapeless walls is left; but from the size and
-structure of the windows, square-headed and divided by transoms, it
-seems probable that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span> house is not earlier than the reign of
-Elizabeth. Mr. Thomas thinks, that from its Tudor-Gothic style, it was
-probably built by the abbot and some of the brotherhood, as a retreat
-about the period when the original foundation was dissolved. During the
-war which devastated the frontier in 1645-6, it was taken and ransacked
-by the soldiers of the Commonwealth. Since that period it has often
-changed its owners; and at one time, we are told, though on rather
-uncertain ground, it was the residence of the family of Fielding the
-novelist&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">Whose name<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Still draws the pilgrim to its shattered frame,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And bids him linger ’neath its shadow.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The parish church of Tinterne Parva is a small but very ancient
-building, irregularly divided into porch, nave, and chancel. Its
-erection, according to the historian of the abbey, was anterior to the
-foundation of the monastery itself; and by some writers it is even
-considered to have been the parent church. The evidences of its great
-antiquity may be found in the building itself; and a practised eye will
-detect indications of a British origin, in certain niches or circular
-arched windows in the massive walls of the western side. The porch,
-which is chaste and in good preservation, is a subsequent erection, and
-yet of a remote age. The chancel, which “most uncouthly joins the nave,”
-is the latest portion of the fabric. There are fragments of some antique
-monuments scattered about the floor&mdash;memorials of ecclesiastics&mdash;which,
-the writer sarcastically observes, “have been judiciously cut up, and
-squared, to mend the pavement!” By this sage arrangement, the parochial
-economy has been brought into the sharpest practice; and although it has
-evinced no special veneration for the sainted dead, or the hallowed
-relics of antiquity, yet “the ruinous expense of hauling fresh slabs
-from the quarry, on the opposite side of the way, has been most
-considerately spared.” Moreover, he adds, “the pipe of the stove within,
-is picturesquely thrust through the only Gothic window remaining in the
-nave!”<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">As if its smoke, though dark and somewhat denser,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Were meant to represent the ancient Censer,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That once, with daily sacrifice, perfumed<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The ground where saints and heroes lay inhumed.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>By the churchyard stile, as Mr. Thomas happily describes it, “and
-beneath the dark mantling boughs of the yew-tree, a scene of exquisite
-sweetness steals upon the eye. The beautiful meadows beyond are skirted
-by a ridge of lofty woods, with the gentle Wye flowing like a liquid
-mirror below. Beneath the</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_007.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_007.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Ferry at Tintern.</i></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">renewed limbs of an aged elm-tree, hollowed and blasted by the storms of
-many winters, a flock of unmolested sheep repose in grateful shade;
-these are, indeed, made “to lie down in green pastures,” and are “led
-beside the still waters.”</p>
-
-<p>It would be difficult to picture to the mind’s eye a scene of more
-enchanting repose; in such a place as this, with such objects before
-him, the verdant pastures, the pendent groves, the winding river, the
-tranquil sky,&mdash;where the very clouds, with their fleecy wings stretched
-forth in vain to catch the subtile current, seem like a fleet becalmed
-on the wide ocean, waiting for the breeze;&mdash;with these before him,
-ambition forgets the world; sorrow looks up with more cheerful
-resignation; cares and disappointments lose both their weight and their
-sting: with so little of sordid earth, so much of the sublimity of
-nature to contemplate, his thoughts become chastened, soothed, and
-elevated; and the heart expands under a new sense of happiness, and a
-feeling of brotherly kindness and benevolence towards everything that
-breathes. He feels the poet’s exhortation in all its force&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i10">When thoughts<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the last bitter hour come, like a blight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Over thy spirit, and sad images<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the stern agony, the shroud, and pall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Go forth into the open sky, and list<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To Nature’s teaching!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind">And then turning to Wordsworth:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i8">For I have learnt<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To look on Nature, not as in the hour<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The still, sad music of humanity,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nor harsh, nor grating, though of ample power<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To chasten and subdue. And I have felt<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A presence that disturbs me with the joy<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of elevated thoughts: a sense sublime<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of something far more deeply interfused,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the roused ocean, and the living air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A motion and a spirit that impels<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All thinking things, all objects of all thought,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A lover of the meadows, and the woods,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And mountains, and of all that we behold<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From this green earth; of all the mighty world<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of eye and ear, both what they half create,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And what perceive.<br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Striguil.</span>&mdash;The whole frontier of this interesting country&mdash;the land of
-Gwent&mdash;is sprinkled over with picturesque ruins,&mdash;the crumbling remains
-of those warlike strongholds raised by the Norman barons, as a defence
-to their newly-acquired possessions, which were brought into frequent
-jeopardy by the martial and reluctant subjects of the new dynasty. To
-these we can only advert in passing&mdash;for the plan on which this work is
-conducted, does not admit of their being noticed in detail. In the
-second century after the Conquest, six of these strongholds were erected
-near the British forest of Wentwood<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a>&mdash;a still venerable chase of
-between two and three thousand acres in extent, and associated with many
-events in the history and traditions of the Welsh frontiers. The grand
-object of these castles was to form a chain of garrisoned forts for the
-protection of Norman interests against the incursions of a people who,
-although compelled to pass under a foreign yoke, still gloried in their
-independence, and embraced every occasion to prove that their martial
-spirit, though bowed, was not broken.</p>
-
-<p>One of the strongest of these embattled fastnesses was
-<span class="eng">Castell-glyn-y-Striguil</span>,<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> erected, according to Doomsday-book, by
-the Norman warrior so often named in this work, William Fitzosborne. In
-Hammer’s Irish Chronicle,<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> however, its erection is ascribed to
-Gilbert Strongbow, whose life and family we have already noticed in the
-account of Tinterne Abbey. The remains of this castle, though inadequate
-to convey any just notion of its original strength, are still
-sufficiently marked with regard to its size and proportions. Its
-outworks have mouldered down into shapeless masses, over which nature
-has thrown so dense a matting of underwood, that the traces of art have
-been almost obliterated. The form “was that of an oblong square, the
-angles of which, as usual in such cases, were defended by octagonal
-towers;”<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> at one extremity was the donjon, or keep, the situation of
-which is indicated by the shapeless mound of vegetation, which draws
-nutriment from its débris. The walls were encircled by a deep moat,
-supplied by two mountain rivulets, which unite at this point to form the
-<span class="eng">Troggy</span>, one of the silver tributaries of the river Usk.</p>
-
-<p>The other castles Avhich deserve a cursory notice, are, Llanvair,
-Llanvaches,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span> Pencoed, Dinham, and Penhow.<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> The latter, an ancient
-seat of the <span class="eng">Seymours</span>, occupies a bold and romantic situation. The
-acclivity which forms the direct approach to it, is nearly
-perpendicular. The view which it commands consists of a valley, or
-rather wooded ravines, in the foreground; and in the distance, a range
-of barren hills that bound the horizon&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">Hills that, giving birth<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To circling fountains, glad the parent earth;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And from their bosom, framed for martial toil,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sent forth the guardian heroes of the soil.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>By the marriage of the Lady Jane, daughter of Sir John Seymour, with
-Henry the Eighth, and the birth of their son, afterwards Edward the
-Sixth, the house of Penhow was placed in a situation to compete with
-that of Raglan; and by the fortuitous influence thus acquired, the
-Seymours took a leading authority in the management and direction of
-county affairs.</p>
-
-<p>This castle, or rather fortalice, appears to have derived its strength,
-more from its isolated and once inaccessible position, than from the
-extent of its walls or outworks. A portion of the interior has been
-repaired and rendered habitable, or rather a house has been erected on
-the site of the old <i>berçeau</i>, and thus future patriots and statesmen
-may yet “come forth of Penhow.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Llanvair</span>, about six miles west from Chepstow, was the ancient residence
-of the Kemeys family, from whom sprang Sir Nicholas Kemeys, the last
-governor of Chepstow Castle, whose heroic but tragical fate has been
-already noticed in these pages. The ruins of this ancient homestead are
-too inconsiderable to challenge more than a passing glance from the
-tourist. The same may be said of Dinham, a hamlet in the parish of
-Llanvair-Discoed.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Goldcliffe</span>, “so called,” says Camden, “because the stones there, of a
-golden colour, by reverberation of the sunne shining full upon them,
-glitter with a wonderful brightnesse. Neither can I be easilie perswaded
-that nature hath given this brightnesse in vaine unto the stones, and
-that there should be a flowre here without fruit; were there any man
-that would serch into the veines there, and using the direction of Art,
-enter into the inmost and secretest<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> bowels of the earth.”<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> But what
-was a mystery in the days of Giraldus, and even of Camden, admits of a
-very simple solution. The Gold Cliff, so called, consists of a rock
-nearly perpendicular, which rises abruptly to the height of a hundred
-feet in an extensive moor.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> It consists of limestone strata, nearly
-horizontal and parallel, supported by a base of brown sandstone,
-abounding with yellow mica. The brilliant effect of the sun upon this
-micaceous surface, was a reason for the old belief in the neighbourhood,
-that the rock contained gold, and was therefore considered as a
-situation of peculiar value and sanctity.<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> The <span class="eng">church</span> of Goldcliffe
-belonged to a priory founded and endowed in 1113, by Robert de <span class="eng">Chandos</span>,
-eighteen years earlier than that of Tinterne Abbey, who, by the
-persuasion of Henry the First, annexed it to the Abbey of <span class="eng">Bec</span>, in
-Normandy, whence a prior and twelve Black, or Benedictine, friars were
-conveyed to it. On the suppression of alien priories, Henry Beauchamp,
-Earl of Warwick, obtained of King Henry the Sixth the patronage of the
-priory, with permission to annex it to the Abbey of St. Mary, at
-Tewkesbury, to which it was made a cell in 1442. The Cambro-Britons,
-however, being offended at this measure, obliged the prior and monks of
-Tewkesbury to quit Goldcliffe in 1445; but in the following year they
-were permitted to return. In the twenty-ninth of the reign of Henry the
-Sixth, Goldcliffe Priory was granted to the college at Eton, and to
-Tewkesbury again. At the accession of Edward the Fourth, but seven years
-later, it was restored to Eton college, in whose possession it has since
-remained.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Caldicot.</span>&mdash;The castle of this name is said to have been erected by one
-of the ancient Bohuns, earls of Hereford, hereditary
-lords-high-constables of England,<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> for nearly two hundred years.
-From them the castle descended to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span> Henry, Duke of Lancaster, and upon
-his accession to the throne as Henry the Fourth, it was invested in the
-crown. The ivy-mantled walls enclose a large court, with three
-entrances. The principal gateway is flanked by lofty square towers; and
-on the east side are the remains of the hall, comprising a range of
-windows, of large size and elegant workmanship. The style of masonry, as
-shown in the construction of the walls, is excellent; the courses of
-large and equal sized stones, are accurately squared and jointed; but
-the whole construction has more the appearance of an ancient domestic
-residence, than of a British stronghold&mdash;well suited for the
-accommodation of a feudal baron and his retinue in times of peace, but
-ill prepared to resist an enemy, or sustain a siege.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Yet there Tradition tells her tale<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of warrior-knights in glittering mail&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of martial feat, and festive hall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And banners waving from the wall;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When Cambria’s rival spears were bent<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For martial joust and tournament;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While Beauty, from her lattice high,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Surveyed the scene with radiant eye&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And Cambria’s Chivalry in arms<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Did faithful homage to her charms.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">But <span class="eng">Caldicot</span>, how lonely now!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The wreath has withered from thy brow;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The scene of song and martial deeds<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is now a wilderness of weeds!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Ah, such at last the homes shall be<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of England’s proudest Chivalry!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Mathern</span> is remarkable as the burial-place of Theodoric or Teudrick, the
-hermit king of Glamorgan, already mentioned.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> His hermitage “among
-the rocks of Tinterne,” to which he had retired for repose and
-meditation in the evening of life, is supposed to have stood on the site
-of the present abbey, which had thus, in the traditional records of the
-people, a spot already consecrated by royal example, as a foundation for
-those gorgeous altars by which it was subsequently distinguished.</p>
-
-<p>When dragged from his retreat by the supplications of his family and
-subjects, and armed once more against the Saxons, he solemnly enjoined
-his son that, in the event of his falling in battle, they should erect a
-Christian church over his remains, as a monument of his faith and
-patriotism. The battle that speedily ensued, as tradition reports, was a
-great victory, but a victory purchased with the blood of Teudrick; for
-during the fierce conflict that had covered the Vale of Tinterne with
-the slain, he received a blow from a Saxon battle-axe<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span> which proved
-fatal. From the field he was conveyed homeward as far as Mathern, where
-he died; and there his son, who succeeded him in the chieftainship,
-erected a church to his memory, the name of which has perpetuated his
-martyrdom.<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p>
-
-<p>The foundation of this church in its primitive state, consisted, like
-other British structures, of a nave only&mdash;a side aisle and chancel
-appear to have been added at a very early date; and, subsequently to
-these, a tower was erected which completed the sacred edifice, and
-rendered it more conspicuous as a historical landmark, and place of
-pilgrimage. It is distinguished by handsome Gothic windows, portions of
-which are adorned with stained glass; and the roof is supported by Saxon
-arches, resting on massive octagon piers.</p>
-
-<p>On a plain mural tablet in the <span class="eng">Chancel</span> of this ancient church, is the
-following inscription, supposed to have been written by Bishop Godwin.
-The fact of its being the sepulchre of the British Prince Teudrick, was
-finally ascertained by the discovery of his stone coffin, in which the
-skeleton was found almost entire. On the skull, also, in accordance with
-local tradition, a fracture was observed, which clearly indicated the
-manner of his death, and confirmed the testimony of local history.</p>
-
-<p>The following is the inscription:&mdash;“Here lyeth entombed the body of
-<span class="smcap">Theodoric</span>, King of Morganuch, or Glamorgan, commonly called <span class="eng">St.
-Theodoric</span>, and accounted a martyr, because he was slain in battle
-against the Saxons, being then pagans, and in defence of the Christian
-Religion. The battle was fought at <span class="eng">Tynterne</span>, where he obtained a great
-victory. He died here, being on his way homeward, three days after the
-battle, having taken order with Maurice, his son, who succeeded him in
-the kingdom, that in the same place where he should happen to decease, a
-church should be built, and his body buried in the same, which was
-accordingly performed in the year 600.”</p>
-
-<p>“On ascending the tower of this church,” says Mr. Thomas, “a scene of
-great extent and surpassing beauty is spread before the eye; on one side
-you have a long reach of water, strewn with vessels and rocks; on the
-other a wide undulating tract of land, overspread with villas and
-smiling meadows, crowded with many a gentle herd; while beneath, and not
-the least interesting objects of this scene, are those melancholy wrecks
-of bygone splendour&mdash;Mathern Palace and Moinscourt.” The first of these
-two objects, the old episcopal residence, is now “the ruinous retreat of
-some humble followers of the plough.” The north and north-east portions,
-comprising the porch and tower, were erected by Bishop De la Zouch, who
-was consecrated in the year 1408, and the chapel hall, and some<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span> other
-compartments, were added by Miles Sulley, who came to the see in 1504.
-Moinscourt, now reduced to the humble uses of a farmhouse, was another
-of the palaces, belonging to the see of Llandaff, and supposed to have
-been erected by Bishop Godwin, who made it his favourite residence.
-Passing beneath a Gothic porch, crowned with two lofty turrets, we enter
-a spacious quadrangular court, at the extremity of which stands the
-palace. Over the entrance is an escutcheon, on which are sculptured the
-arms of Godwin, impaled with those of the see, and bearing the date of
-1603. The court was formerly adorned with two monuments of Roman
-antiquity found in the vicinity&mdash;one a votive altar, the other an
-inscription, recording the rebuilding of the Temple of Diana, by T. F.
-Posthumius Varus. It was from the ancient Roman slabs, built into the
-garden walls of this residence, that Bishop Godwin supplied the drawings
-and inscriptions for Camden’s Britannia.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p>
-
-<p>Before adverting to the final suppression of Tinterne <span class="eng">Abbey</span>, and the
-confiscation of its revenues to the king’s treasury, we shall now take a
-brief view of the circumstances which led to this grand revolution in
-our ecclesiastical government&mdash;quoting for our authority those writers
-of unquestionable veracity, who have treated of that momentous epoch.
-First, with regard to the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Dissolution.</span>&mdash;“Never,” says an historian of this epoch,<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> “never was
-there any exploit, seemingly so full of hazard and danger, more easily
-achieved than the subversion of our English monasteries.” The church
-commissioners presented a startling report of the vices<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> and
-deceptions of the monks and nuns; and, what was of equal weight in the
-condemnation, they sent in the title-deeds of their estates, with the
-inventory of their plate, jewels, and ready money. Upon this a bill was
-introduced, giving unto the king and his heirs all monastic
-establishments, the revenues of which did not exceed two hundred pounds<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span>
-sterling a year, with every kind of property attached to them, whether
-real or personal. Three hundred and eighty of the lesser houses fell
-within this category, and were suppressed; whereby the king was enriched
-by thirty-two thousand pounds per annum&mdash;an enormous sum in that day&mdash;in
-addition to a hundred thousand pounds in ready money, plate, and jewels.
-The bill, according to one writer, was not passed through the House of
-Commons without some difficulty; but <span class="eng">Henry</span>, sending for the ministers,
-and telling them that he would have either the bill or their heads, they
-passed it immediately.</p>
-
-<p>The parliament, which, by successive prorogations, had sat for the
-unprecedented term of six years, was now dissolved; and Henry, after all
-their passive obedience, appears to have been disgusted at this their
-last and feeble effort at opposition. He now named other commissioners
-to take possession of the suppressed monasteries, and to prepare
-measures for the seizure of others. If these men, mostly the friends of
-Cromwell or of Cranmer, had a better religion before their eyes, they
-certainly were not blind to the charms of lucre, and the temptations of
-fair houses and fat glebes; as many of them made a harvest for
-themselves, out of the spoils of the monks and nuns.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p>
-
-<p>The superiors of the suppressed houses were promised small pensions for
-life, which were very irregularly paid. All the monks not twenty-four
-years of age were absolved from their vows, and turned loose upon the
-world without any kind of provision; the rest, if they wished to
-continue in the profession, were divided among the greater houses that
-were still left standing. The poor nuns were turned adrift to beg or
-starve; having nothing given to them, save one common gown for
-each.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> “These things,” says Godwin, “were of themselves distasteful
-to the vulgar sort, of whom each one did, as it were, claim a share in
-the goods of the church; for many being neither monks, nor allied to
-monks, did, notwithstanding, conceive that it might hereafter come to
-pass that either their children, friends, or kindred, might obtain their
-share; whereas, when all their property was once confiscated, they could
-never hope for any such advantages. But the popular commiseration for
-the thousands of monks and nuns who were, almost without warning given,
-thrust out of doors, and committed to the mercy of the world, became a
-more forcible cause of discontent. There were not wanting desperate men
-to take advantage of this state of public feeling; and it was diligently
-rumoured in all parts, that this was but the beginning of greater evils
-and more general spoliations&mdash;only a trial of their patience; that, as
-yet, the shrubs and underwood were but touched; but unless a speedy
-remedy were applied, the end would be with the fall of the lofty oaks.”
-At the same time, the crowds of poor, who, by an ancient but defective
-system,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span> had derived their support from the monastic establishments,
-became furious at finding their resources cut off, and at seeing the
-monks who had fed them now begging like themselves by the roadsides.</p>
-
-<p>In the midst of these general discontents, Cranmer and Cromwell issued
-certain doctrinal injunctions to the clergy, which were too novel to
-find immediate favour with the multitude; and certain Protestant
-reformers, who had more courage than they, ventured to print books about
-Iconolatria, image-worship, auricular confession, transubstantiation,
-and other fundamental tenets and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
-The king, who assumed all the authority in matters of dogmas that had
-ever been claimed by the popes, and much more than they had ever put in
-practice in England, pronounced rewards and sentences which irritated
-both parties alike, and all these questions were referred to him&mdash;thus
-occupying a good deal of his time, and keeping in dangerous activity his
-old political bile.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> We find the Lord Chancellor Audley writing in
-great perturbation to Cromwell, telling him that “there is a book come
-forth in print, touching the taking away of images, and begging to know
-whether he was privy to the publishing thereof,” which Cranmer probably
-was,<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> though, had such a fact been known to his master at that
-moment, his neck would have been in jeopardy. The chancellor says, “I
-assure you, in the parts where I have been, some discord there is, and
-diversity of opinion among the people, touching the worshipping of
-saints and images; and for creeping, kneeling at cross, and such like
-ceremonies heretofore used in the church, which discord it were good
-should be put to silence; and this book will make much business in the
-same, if it should go forth. Wherefore,” he continues, “I pray you, I
-may be advised whether you know it or no, for I intend to send for the
-printers and stop them; but there may be many abroad. It were good that
-the preachers and people abstained from opinions of such things, till
-such time as by the report of such as the king’s highness hath appointed
-for the searching and ordering of laws of the church, his grace may put
-a final order on such things, how his people and subjects shall use
-themselves without contention. And if the people were thus commanded by
-proclamation to abstain till that time, such proclamation, drawn in
-honest terms, would do much good to avoid contention.”<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p>
-
-<p>The king was by no means backward in issuing his final orders and
-decrees spiritual; and the reformers herein concealing their ulterior
-views, he was led to reduce the number of sacraments from seven to
-three&mdash;Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Penance; to forbid the direct
-adoration of images; to abrogate a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span> number of saints’ days or holidays,
-especially such as fell in harvest time; to declare the Scriptures, with
-the Apostolic, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds, the sole standards of
-faith; to order every parish priest to expound these to his parishioners
-in plain English; and to direct the printing and distribution of an
-English translation of the Bible, one copy of which was to be kept in
-every parish church. The king, in his wisdom, insisted on the necessity
-of auricular confession, and denounced any questioning of the ‘real
-presence’ in the eucharist as a damnable heresy, to be punished with
-fire and faggot. Purgatory, he confessed, puzzled him; steering a middle
-course, he declared himself to be uncertain on this head; and kindly
-permitted his subjects to pray for the souls of their departed friends,
-provided only that they fell into none of the old abuses of enriching
-religious houses and shrines for this object.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></p>
-
-<p>“Meanwhile,” says the historian, “the king continued much prone to
-reformation, especially if anything might be gotten by it.” Nothing was
-more easy than to prove that all the monastic orders had been engaged in
-the late insurrection;<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> and as many of the richest abbeys and
-priories remained as yet untouched, there was no want of wise
-counsellors, all anxious to share in the spoil, who recommended their
-total suppression. In some cases, out of a dread of martial law, or,
-what was equally bad, a prosecution for high treason, the <span class="eng">Abbots</span>
-surrendered, gave, and granted their abbeys unto the king, his heirs and
-assigns for ever; but still many replied, like the prior of Henton,
-“that they would not be light and hasty in giving up those things which
-were not theirs to give, being dedicated to the <span class="eng">Almighty</span> for service to
-be done to his honour continually, with other many good deeds of charity
-which be daily done in their houses to their Christian neighbours.”<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a>
-“These recusants were treated with great severity; the prisons were
-crowded with priors and monks, who died so rapidly in their places of
-confinement, as to excite a dreadful suspicion.”</p>
-
-<p>Without waiting for a “needless act of parliament, the king suppressed
-many other houses; and soon after, with the full consent of Lords and
-Commons, finished the business, by seizing all the <span class="eng">abbeys</span> without
-exception, with all the other religious houses, except a very few,
-which, at the earnest petition of the people, were spared or given up to
-the representatives of their original founders.” Before proceeding to
-the “final suppression, under the pretence of checking the superstitious
-worshipping of images, he had laid bare their altars, and stripped their
-shrines of everything that was valuable; nor did he spare the rich
-coffins and the crumbling bones of the dead.” At the distance of four
-hundred years<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span>&mdash;exasperated at that extraordinary man’s opposition to
-the royal prerogative&mdash;he determined to execute vengeance on the bones
-and relics of</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Thomas a Becket.</span>&mdash;The Martyr’s tomb was broken open; and by an insane
-process, worthy of a Nero or a Caligula, a criminal information was
-filed against him as “Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of
-Canterbury;” and he was formally cited to appear in court, and answer to
-the charges. Thirty days were allowed the saint; but we need hardly
-inform our readers that his dishonoured relics rested quietly at
-Canterbury, and did not appear to plead in Westminster Hall. With due
-solemnity the court opened its proceedings.<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> The attorney-general
-eloquently exposed the case for the prosecution, and the advocates of
-the saint&mdash;who no doubt spoke less boldly&mdash;were heard in defence; and
-that being over, sentence was pronounced, that “Becket” had been guilty
-of rebellion, treason, and contumacy; that his bones should be burnt as
-a lesson to the living not to oppose the royal will; and that the rich
-offerings with which many generations of men, native and foreign, had
-enriched his shrine, should be forfeited to the crown as the personal
-property of the traitor. “In the month of August,” continues the
-historian, “Cromwell, who must have smiled at the course pursued, sent
-down some of his commissioners to Canterbury, who executed their task so
-well, that they filled two immense coffers with gold and jewels, each of
-them so heavy that it required eight strong men to lift it.” “Among the
-rest,” says Godwin, “was a stone of especial lustre, called the <i>Royal</i>
-of France, offered by King Louis VII., in the year 1179; together with a
-great massive cup of gold, at what time he also bestowed an annuity on
-the monks of that church of an hundred tuns of wine. This stone was
-afterwards highly prized by the king, who did continually wear it on his
-thumb.” A few months after, the king, by proclamation, stated to his
-people, that forasmuch as it now clearly appears Thomas Becket had been
-killed in a riot provoked by his own obstinacy and insolence, and had
-been canonized by the Bishop of Rome merely because he was champion of
-that usurped authority, he now deemed it proper to declare that he was
-no saint whatever, but a rebel and traitor to his prince: and that,
-therefore, he, the king, strictly commanded that he should not be any
-longer esteemed or called a saint; that all images and pictures of him
-should be destroyed; and that his name and remembrance should be erased
-out of all books, under pain of his majesty’s indignation, and
-imprisonment at his grace’s pleasure.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The revenues</span> of Tinterne Abbey, though far inferior to others of the
-same order, particularly those in Yorkshire, were still sufficient for
-the maintenance of the brotherhood, the repairs and decoration of the
-buildings, and the exercise<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">{78}</a></span> of hospitality, which formed so important a
-feature in the monastic code. The estimate recorded by Dugdale is
-probably under the mark; while that of Speed may possibly exceed, by a
-few pounds, the actual rental of the abbey lands. The former has
-computed it at £192. 1s. 3d., the latter at £252. 11s. 6d., sums which,
-taking into account the value of money in those times, give no mean idea
-of its annual resources. This sum, however, is exclusive of the daily
-tribute received from the pious hands of pilgrims, and the donations of
-many distinguished guests, who, from time to time, sat at the <span class="eng">Abbot’s</span>
-table, or found refuge in its sanctuary.</p>
-
-<p>The details of the first endowments<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> of Tinterne Abbey, as well as
-various<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">{79}</a></span> later benefactions, down to the seventh year of Henry the
-Third, are contained in a charter of confirmation from William Marshall,
-grandson of Walter de Clare, the founder.</p>
-
-<p>“Herein,” says Tanner, “were thirteen religious about the time of the
-dissolution, when the estates belonging to this monastery were rated at
-£256. 11s. 6d. in the gross, and £192. 1s. 4-1/2d. per annum, clear
-income.”</p>
-
-<p>The site of Tinterne Abbey, with all the monastic buildings, was granted
-28th Henry VIII. to Henry, Earl of Worcester. It is still the property
-of his descendant, the Duke of Beaufort. Leland, mentioning Tinterne
-Abbey in his Collectanea, says, “There was a sanctuary granted to
-Tinterne, but it hath not been used many a day.”</p>
-
-<p>The common seal of this monastery is appended to an instrument dated in
-the 6th of Henry VIII., whereby the abbot and convent appoint Charles,
-Earl of Worcester, and Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert, his son and heir
-apparent, chief stewards of their manor of Arle in Norfolk. The subject
-of this seal, of which only a mutilated impression in red wax remains,
-was the Virgin Mary and the infant Saviour, seated under an ornamented
-arch&mdash;in a niche underneath, was an abbot, with his crosier, on his
-knees praying. Nearly the whole of the legend is gone, the only part
-remaining being.... <small>RII</small>. <small>BEATE</small>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">William Marshall</span>, the “vetus Marescallus,” as he is called in
-black-letter chronicles&mdash;who married the daughter and heiress of Richard
-Strongbow&mdash;became the founder of a new Cistercian Abbey, near Wexford,
-in Ireland. Finding himself, once upon a time, in great peril during a
-voyage thither, he made a vow to the Virgin Mary, that if by her help he
-escaped shipwreck, and once more set foot on dry land, he would testify
-his gratitude by founding an <span class="eng">abbey</span> to her honour. The ship having got
-safe into port, he lost no time in commencing the pious work, to which,
-in compliment to her elder sister on the Wye, he gave the name of
-<span class="eng">Tynterna</span> <i>de Voto</i>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Daughters of Tinterne.</span>&mdash;In addition to what has been already mentioned
-of the two daughters,<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> or offshoots, of Tinterne on the Wye, we
-collect the following particulars:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Tinterne Abbey</span>, in the County of Wexford.&mdash;“This abbey was situated on
-the shore of Bannow Bay, in the barony of Shelburne, three miles
-north-east of Duncannon Fort. William, Earl of Pembroke, as already
-mentioned, being in great danger and peril at sea, made a vow to found
-an abbey in that place where he should first arrive in safety; and the
-place was the bay in question. He accordingly performed his vow,
-dedicated his abbey to the Virgin Mary,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">{80}</a></span> endowed it, and settled a
-convent of Cistercian monks in it, whom he brought from <span class="eng">Tinterne</span> in
-Monmouthshire. Archdale gives the particulars of the Earl of Pembroke’s
-endowment of this house, from King. The whole, however, was not
-completed in the earl’s lifetime, for Dugdale has given King John’s
-charter confirming the bequest of thirty carucates of land to this abbey
-in the earl’s will.”<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Kingswood Abbey.</span>&mdash;“<span class="smcap">Roger de Berkeley</span> received by gift of William Rufus
-certain lands, upon condition that he should confer them upon some monks
-or canons; but being prevented by death, he bequeathed them to William
-de Berkeley<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> his nephew, upon the same terms. And of which William,
-I find that he bestowed upon the monks of <span class="eng">Tynterne</span>, in Wales, a certain
-<span class="eng">Desart</span> near Berkeley, called <span class="eng">Kingswood</span>, there to found an abbey of the
-<span class="eng">Cistercian Order</span>; and that Maud the Empress, daughter to King Henry the
-First, confirmed that grant. The convent was built, but during the
-troublous reign of Stephen they removed to Haselden; but thence, on the
-return of peace, they were expelled by the proprietor, and again took up
-their abode at <span class="eng">Kingswood</span>. Reginal D. S. <span class="eng">Walerick</span> repenting, invited them
-back to Haselden; but, after a time, the place being found very
-inconvenient for lack of water, they were removed by him to <span class="eng">Tetbury</span>,
-Kingswood all this time being left as a mere <i>grange</i> of the monastery.
-Of this the heir of the founder complained, and required that the
-convent should return thither, according to the conditions upon which it
-was given by his ancestor. A general chapter of the whole <span class="eng">Order</span>,
-however, decided against him, and determined that Kingswood should
-remain as a mere farm belonging to the convent of Tetbury; but that mass
-should always be sung at <span class="eng">Kingswood</span>, privately, by one monk, who was to
-have for his labour twenty-seven <i>marks</i> and a half. But after this, by
-another general chapter of that Order, it was agreed that the Abbot of
-Waverley, in Surrey, should rebuild <i>Kingswood</i> with the consent of the
-founder, and confirmation of the King; which being done without the
-privity of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">{81}</a></span> convent at Tetbury, and Abbot of <span class="eng">Tynterne</span>, who opposed
-the same. Upon a meeting of divers other abbots at <i>Kingswood</i>, it was
-concluded, that the monks placed at Kingswood should be recalled, and
-that place reduced unto the state of a <i>grange</i> to Tettebiry, as it was
-before.” These transmutations, however, were not yet concluded: “for
-Tettebiry being found a narrow place, too little for an abbey, and
-having no fuel but what was brought from Kingswood, which was far
-distant, Bernard de S. Walerick came to accord with Roger de <span class="eng">Berkley</span>,
-the founder of Kingswood, and therefore, obtaining a grant from him of
-forty acres of land adjoining to Kingswood, translated those monks from
-Tettebiry thither, and called it <span class="eng">Kingswood</span>, as a name of most
-note.”<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> Such were the vicissitudes of this abbey.</p>
-
-<p>According to Pope Nicholas’ taxation, the spiritualities of this
-monastery amounted in 1291 to the annual sum of £6. 4s. 4d.; the
-temporalities to £47. 17s. 2d.; making a total of £54. 1s. 6d. There is
-no valuation of Kingswood in the general ecclesiastical survey of the
-26th Henry VIII., though Tanner says it was valued at that time,
-according to Dugdale, at £244. 11s. 2d. per annum; according to Speed,
-at £254. 11s. 2d.; clear, £239. 19s. 7-3/4d. In a MS. record in the
-whole at £254. 5s. 10d. A survey of this house, taken in the 29th Henry
-VIII., is preserved in the appendix to the Monasticon Anglicanum. There
-is also a minister’s ‘accompt’ of it in the Augmentation office, 32nd
-Henry VIII.; but its possessions are there answered for, in gross, at
-the sum of £245. 8s. 8d., the whole of its estates being then on lease
-to Sir Nicholas Peyntz, Knt., under the seal of the Court of
-Augmentations, dated 10th March, 29th Henry VIII., for a term of
-twenty-one years at the above rent. In the second year of Queen
-Elizabeth, the site of this house was granted to Sir John Thynne, Knt.
-The <i>register</i> of Kingswood Abbey was in the possession of John Smith,
-Esq. of Nibley, in the county of Gloucester. The common seal represented
-the Blessed Virgin crowned, holding in her arms the infant Jesus, and
-standing between two elegant pilasters, surmounted by a canopy; the
-field diapered; in base, under an arch, the half figure of a monk
-praying; the legend much flattened, so that no more of it can be read
-than <small>S.COF</small> ... <small>CONVENTUS</small> ... <small>DE KINGEWOD</small>. An impression of this seal on
-red wax is appendant to a conventual lease, temp. Henry VIII., in the
-Augmentation office.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">{82}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_082.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_082_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="F" /></a></span><span class="eng">ROM</span> the above cursory notice of the spiritual daughters
-of “Holy Tinterne,” we return to the Mother-Abbey.</p>
-
-<p>In England, says an eminent Catholic writer, the scheme of plundering
-the ecclesiastical property by men of a certain class, had never been
-wholly abandoned. In Henry the Fourth’s time there was “the laymen’s
-parliament of those who countenanced Wickliffe, and loved the lands far
-better than they did the religion of the Church; but their designs at
-that time were defeated by the stout and religious opposition of Thomas
-Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, and other Prelates.”<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> Against
-these evils the ancient canons of the church in Germany provided, by
-prohibiting the faithful from holding any communication with men who
-disturb priests, and the state of the church.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> “Now,” he continues,
-“if <span class="eng">St. Thomas</span> and the clergy of the middle ages are to be condemned for
-resisting such injustice by prayers, and law, and canonical censures,
-what will be thought of <span class="eng">St. Ambrose</span>, and other pastors of the early
-church, who, by still more uncompromising firmness, believed that they
-were imitating the apostles?” St. Ambrose declares that he will never
-relinquish the churches to the Arians, as the Emperor Valentinian
-commands, unless by force. “If any force remove me from the church, my
-flesh,” he says, “may be disturbed, but not my mind; for I am prepared
-to suffer whatever a priest may suffer, if the emperor should exert his
-regal power. I will never abandon the church voluntarily; but I cannot
-oppose force. I can grieve, I can weep, I can groan; against arms,
-soldiers, and Goths, tears are my arms; for these are the weapons of a
-priest. Otherwise I neither ought to resist, nor can I resist. When it
-was proposed to me to deliver up the vessels of the church, I sent word
-that I would willingly give up what was mine own, whether lands or
-houses, gold or silver; but that I could take nothing from the temple of
-God, nor lightly abandon what I had received to guard&mdash;not to deliver
-up. Fear not, therefore, for me, dearly beloved, since I know that
-whatever I am about to suffer, I shall suffer for <span class="eng">Christ</span>; and the will
-of Christ must be fulfilled, and that will be for the best.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_83" id="page_83">{83}</a></span> Let them
-decree the penalty of death, I fear it not; nor will I on that account
-desert the martyrs; for whither could I go where all things would not be
-full of groans and tears, when Catholic priests are ordered to be driven
-from the churches, or to be struck with the sword if they resisted; and
-this decree to be written by a bishop, who should quote ancient examples
-to prove himself most learned? <span class="eng">Auxentius</span>, thirsting for blood, demanded
-my church; but I say with the prophet&mdash;‘Absit ut ego patrum meorum
-tradam hæreditatem!’ Naboth was prepared to defend his vineyard at the
-expense of his blood. If he could not give up his vineyard, neither will
-we give up the church of <span class="eng">Christ</span>. Do I then return a contumacious answer?
-I have answered as a priest; let the emperor act as an emperor. Last
-year,” he adds, “when I was invited to the palace, and introduced before
-the council, when the emperor wished to take from us the church, I
-should have been subdued by the contemplation of the royal hall, and I
-should not have kept the constancy of a priest, or should have departed
-with loss of right. Do they not remember, then, how the people rushed to
-the palace, and overwhelmed every force, declaring that they would die
-for the faith of <span class="eng">Christ</span>? Then I was desired to appease the people, which
-I did by engaging that the church should not be given up; but now the
-Arians wish to give law to the church, and accuse us of sedition in
-resisting the emperor. Let him take our tribute or our lands, if they
-ask treasure: <i>our treasure is the poor of</i> <span class="eng">Christ</span>; our defence is in
-the prayers of the poor. These blind, and lame, and weak, and aged
-persons, are stronger than robust warriors. I am to give to Cæsar what
-belongs to Cæsar; to God what belongs to God: the tribute is Cæsar’s,
-but the church is God’s. As for the fire, or sword, or banishment, which
-are threatened, we fear them not.”<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p>
-
-<p>Again, writing to his sister Marcella, he says: “Not only the <span class="eng">basilica</span>
-without the walls is now demanded, but also the new and greater one
-within the city. When the prince summoned me to resign them, I replied,
-what was of course, that ‘the temple of God could not be given up by a
-priest.’ The emperor cannot invade the house of a private man, and will
-he dare to take possession of the house of God! The palace belongs to
-the emperor, the church to the priest. If he be a tyrant, I desire to be
-aware of it, that I may know how to prepare against him, for I have the
-power to offer my body. If he thinks himself a tyrant, why does he delay
-to strike? By ancient laws empires were given by priests, not taken from
-them; and it is a common saying, that emperors have rather desired
-priesthood, than priests empire. The tyranny of a priest is his
-infirmity; for ‘when I am weak, then am I strong.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_84" id="page_84">{84}</a></span>’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>With examples like this before them&mdash;and numerous others might here be
-cited&mdash;it is not surprising that many of the monastic priesthood
-preferred to endure fines, imprisonment, and even death, to the
-enjoyment of that life and freedom which could only be purchased by acts
-of apostacy. And on this portion of our subject we avail ourselves of an
-eloquent passage from one of the most popular works of the day:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity was the first of a
-long series of salutary revolutions. It is true that the church had been
-deeply corrupted both by that superstition, and by that philosophy,
-against which she had long contended, and over which she had at last
-triumphed. She had given a too easy admission to doctrines borrowed from
-the ancient schools, and to rites borrowed from the ancient temples.
-Roman policy and Gothic ignorance, Grecian ingenuity and Syrian
-asceticism, had contributed to deprave her; yet she retained enough of
-the sublime theology, and benevolent morality of her earlier days, to
-elevate many intellects, and to purify many hearts. Some things also
-which, at a later period, were justly regarded as among her chief
-blemishes, were in the seventh century, and long afterwards, among her
-chief merits. That the sacerdotal order should encroach on the functions
-of the civil magistrate, would, in our time, be a great evil. But that
-which in an age of good government is an evil, may, in an age of grossly
-bad government, be a blessing. It is better that mankind should be
-governed by wise laws well administered, and by an enlightened public
-opinion, than by priestcraft; but it is better that men should be
-governed by priestcraft than by brute violence,&mdash;by such a prelate as
-Dunstan, than by such a warrior as Penda. A society sunk in ignorance,
-and ruled by mere physical force, has great reason to rejoice when a
-class, of which the influence is intellectual, rises to ascendancy. Such
-a class will doubtless abuse its power; but mental power, even when
-abused, is still a nobler and better power than that which consists
-merely in corporeal strength. We read in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles of
-tyrants who, when at the height of greatness, were smitten with remorse;
-who abhorred the pleasures and dignities which they had purchased by
-guilt; who abdicated their crowns, and who sought to atone for their
-offences by cruel penances and incessant prayers. These stories have
-drawn forth bitter expressions of contempt from some writers who, while
-they boasted of liberality, were in truth as narrow-minded as any monk
-of the dark ages, and whose habit was to apply to all events in the
-history of the world the standard received in the Parisian society of
-the eighteenth century. Yet surely a system which, however deformed by
-superstition, introduced strong moral restraints into communities
-previously governed only by vigour of muscle, and by audacity of spirit;
-a system which taught even the fiercest and mightiest ruler that he was,
-like his meanest<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">{85}</a></span> bondsman, a responsible being, might have seemed to
-deserve a more respectful mention from philosophers and
-philanthropists.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p>
-
-<p>The same observations will apply to the contempt with which, in the last
-century, it was fashionable to speak of the pilgrimages, the
-sanctuaries, the crusades, and the monastic institutions of the middle
-ages. In times when men were scarcely ever induced to travel by liberal
-curiosity, or by the pursuit of gain, it was better that the rude
-inhabitant of the north should visit Italy and the East as a pilgrim,
-than that he should never see anything but the squalid cabins, and
-uncleared woods, amidst which he was born.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p>
-
-<p>In times when life and female honour were exposed to daily risk from
-tyrants and marauders, it was better that the precinct of a shrine
-should be regarded with an irrational awe, than that there should be no
-refuge inaccessible to cruelty and licentiousness. In times when
-statesmen were incapable of forming extensive political combinations, it
-was better that the Christian nations should be roused and united for
-the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, than that they should, one by one,
-be overwhelmed by the Mahometan power. Whatever reproach may, at a later
-period, have been justly thrown on the indolence and luxury of religious
-orders, it was surely good that, in an age of ignorance and violence,
-there should be quiet cloisters and gardens, in which the arts of peace
-could be safely cultivated; in which gentle and contemplative natures
-could find an asylum; in which one brother could employ himself in
-transcribing the Æneid of Virgil, and another in meditating the
-Analytics of Aristotle; in which he who had a genius for art, might
-illuminate a martyrology, or carve a crucifix; and in which he who had a
-turn for natural philosophy, might make experiments on the properties of
-plants and minerals. Had not such retreats been scattered here and
-there, among the huts of a miserable peasantry, and the castles of a
-ferocious aristocracy, European society would have consisted merely of
-beasts of burden, and beasts of prey. The <span class="eng">church</span> has many times been
-compared to the ark of which we read in the Book of Genesis; but never
-was the resemblance more perfect than during the evil time, when she
-rode alone, amidst darkness and tempest, on the deluge beneath which all
-the great works of ancient power and wisdom lay entombed; bearing within
-her that feeble germ, from which a second and more glorious civilization
-was to spring.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">{86}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_086.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_086_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="U" /></a></span><span class="eng">NDER</span> the blasting influence of an arbitrary power, that
-found its zealous instruments in the Commissioners appointed for that
-service, the suppression and confiscation of the English monasteries
-were quickly followed by a long train of national misery and
-degradation, of which lamentable evidence is found in the chronicles of
-that period. From these popular and authentic sources we extract the
-following picture:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>In the final seizure of the abbeys and monasteries of England, the
-richest fell first. In the spring of 1540, all the monastic
-establishments of the kingdom were suppressed, and the mass of their
-landed property was divided among courtiers and parasites. The gold and
-silver, and costly jewels of shrines, had partly gone in that direction,
-and had partly been kept for the king’s use. The troubled fountain of
-the Reformation, it has been said, sent forth two streams&mdash;the one of
-sweet, the other of bitter waters.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> “It is the duty of an impartial
-historian to dwell for a time by the bitter stream. Between the ignorant
-zealots of the new doctrines, and the rudeness of the men employed in
-the suppression, who were all most anxious for spoil, and who probably
-cared little for any form of religion, or any decency of worship,
-innumerable works of art were destroyed; magnificent specimens of
-architecture were defaced and left roofless. Statues and pictures, many
-of them the productions of Italian masters,&mdash;and which had, in the eye
-of taste, a sort of holiness independent of Saints and Madonnas,&mdash;were
-broken to pieces or burnt. The mosaic pavements of the chapels were torn
-up; and the same brutal hands smashed the painted windows, which, almost
-more than anything else, gave beauty and glory to our old abbeys and
-cathedrals. The church-bells were gambled for, and sold into Russia and
-other countries. Horses were tethered to the high altar; cattle were
-kept in stall in the very recesses of the shrines and the chapels; and
-these, according to good authority, were at times the least bestial of
-the occupants.” “The libraries, of which all the great houses contained
-one, numerously if not judiciously stocked,&mdash;but wherein existed, no
-doubt, many a book in manuscript, which we would now willingly
-possess,&mdash;were treated with the greatest contempt. And here we should
-wonder why the enlightened men who promoted the <span class="eng">Reformation</span> did not
-interfere, were we not convinced of the danger of opposing the king’s
-will, and the ruffianly character of the persons to whom the task of
-suppression and destruction was committed.” “Some books,” says Spelman,
-“were reserved to scour their candlesticks, some to rub their boots,
-some sold to the grocers and soapboilers, and some sent over the sea to
-bookbinders&mdash;not in small numbers, but at times<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">{87}</a></span> whole shipfuls, to the
-wondering of foreign nations. A single merchant purchased, at forty
-shillings a-piece, two noble libraries, to be used as grey paper; and
-such as having already sufficed for ten years, were abundant enough for
-many years more.” Such is the testimony of an eye-witness.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p>
-
-<p>All the abbeys were totally dismantled, except in those cases where they
-happened to be the parish churches also, or where they were rescued in
-part by the petitions and pecuniary contributions of the pious
-inhabitants, who were averse to the worshipping of God in a stable.
-Cranmer and Latimer in some cases petitioned the king; but, as it is
-proved by their letters, they were too dependent on the court, and too
-fearful of its wrath to do very much. Latimer was the bolder of the two;
-and even before the final dissolution, he ventured to condemn in public
-the practice, which <span class="eng">Henry</span> had already adopted, of converting some of the
-monasteries into stables, conceiving it a monstrous thing that abbeys,
-which were ordained for the comfort of the poor, should be kept for the
-king’s horses! “What hast thou to do with the king’s horses?” retorted a
-noble courtier of the right stamp&mdash;“Horses be the maintenance and part
-of a king’s honour, and also of his realm; wherefore, in speaking
-against them, ye are speaking against the king’s honour!”<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> The
-following were the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Results.</span>&mdash;The men who had recommended the wholesale spoliation of the
-church, had represented it as a never-failing <span class="eng">fund</span>, which would enable
-the king to carry on the government with none&mdash;or but the slightest
-taxes; and which would furnish him with the means of creating and
-supporting earls, barons, and knights, and of forming excellent
-institutions for the promotion of industry, education, and religion.
-But, in the event, the property was squandered in a manner which is
-scarcely accountable; for the king had the conscience to demand from
-parliament “a compensation for the expenses he had incurred in reforming
-the religion of the state:” and within a year after the completion of
-his measures, “the obsequious parliament voted him a subsidy of
-two-tenths and two-fifteenths for this express purpose. It is a striking
-fact, that none of the objects contemplated and spoken of were promoted
-by the money of the religious houses&mdash;always excepting the making and
-supporting of certain noblemen.”<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> Pauperism increased; as the whole
-body of the poor, which had been supported by the monks, who had funds
-for that purpose, were thrown, clamorous and desperate&mdash;unprepared for,
-and unprovided with, employment&mdash;upon the wondering nation, which had
-not before been aware of the extent of the evil. Education declined most
-rapidly; the schools kept in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">{88}</a></span> monasteries were at an end; while
-other schools, and even the universities, were deserted. Religion was
-not promoted; for nothing but miserable stipends were given to the
-preachers, and none but poor and unlettered men would accept the office.
-To preach at <span class="eng">St. Paul’s Cross</span> had been a great object of clerical
-ambition; but now there was a difficulty of finding a sufficient number
-of preachers for that duty: and about four years after the final
-suppression, Bonner, Bishop of London, wrote to Parker, then Master of
-Corpus College, importuning him to send him some help from Cambridge;
-and not long after&mdash;during the short reign of Edward the Sixth&mdash;Latimer
-said, “I think there be at this day ten thousand students less than were
-within these twenty years.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">In the Country</span>, “the rural parishes were served by priests who had
-scarcely the rudiments of education.” Following an example set them by
-the king&mdash;who required Cromwell to give a benefit to a priest who was
-kept in the royal service, because “he had trained two hawks for his
-majesty’s pastime, which flew and killed their game very well”<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a>&mdash;the
-patrons of livings gave them to their menials as wages or rewards; to
-their gardeners, to the keepers of their hawks and hounds; or otherwise
-they let in fee both glebe and parsonage; so that whoever was presented
-to the benefice would have neither roof to dwell under, nor land to live
-upon, being but too happy if his tithes afforded him a chamber at an
-alehouse, with the worshipful society of the dicers and drinkers who
-frequented it. According to Latimer, the parish priest, under these
-circumstances, frequently kept an alehouse himself&mdash;thus uniting the
-more profitable calling of a tapster with that of a preacher of the
-gospel.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a></p>
-
-<p>So completely were the funds absorbed, and so greedy were the courtiers
-to keep fast hold of what they got, that no proper recompense was
-reserved for Miles Coverdale and his associates, who translated and
-published the first complete English Bible&mdash;the greatest achievement of
-the age, and the measure that most effectually promoted the Reformation.
-Coverdale himself was left in great poverty; and the printers, in order
-to cover their expenses, were obliged to put a high price upon their
-copies&mdash;thus impeding the circulation of the book, and thwarting the
-wishes expressed by the king himself.<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p>
-
-<p>In addition to these lamentable facts, the destruction of the
-monasteries left important gaps in the physical accommodations of the
-people, which not a pound sterling of the spoil was devoted to fill up.
-The monasteries had been hospitals, infirmaries, and dispensaries for
-the poor; caravanseras to the wayfarer; and in the absence of inns, the
-badness of roads, and the thinness of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">{89}</a></span> population, their value in
-this respect had been felt both by rich and poor. In many of the wilder
-districts, the monastery had served as a nucleus of civilization; and
-sociality, personal safety, and hospitality, were nowhere to be found
-but within these walls.</p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_089.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_089_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="C" /></a></span><span class="eng">RANMER</span> deplored “the woeful dissipation of church
-property, which he would have applied to the uses of religion,
-education, and charity; but he had not often the courage to press this
-subject with the king, whose displeasure, more easily excited than ever,
-was equivalent to a death-warrant. The archbishop, however, did what he
-could with safety to himself; and Henry, startled perhaps by a popular
-outcry, resolved to appropriate a part of the spoil to the advancement
-of religion. Parliament passed an act for the establishing of new
-bishoprics, deaneries, and colleges, which were to be endowed with
-revenues raised on the lands of the monasteries. But it was too late;
-the money and lands were gone, or the king and his ministers needed all
-that remained. The number of new bishoprics was reduced from eighteen to
-six&mdash;those of Westminster, Oxford, Peterborough, Chester, Bristol, and
-Gloucester; and these were so scantily endowed, that they hardly
-afforded the new bishops the means of living.” At the same time fourteen
-abbeys and priories were converted into cathedrals and collegiate
-churches, with deans and prebendaries; but the king kept to himself a
-part of the lands which had been attached to them, and charged the
-Chapters with the obligation of contributing annually to the support of
-the poor, and the repairing of the highways.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p>
-
-<p>The preamble of the act for the suppression of the lesser monasteries
-thus concludes: “Whereupon the said Lords and Commons, by a great
-deliberation, finally be resolved that it is, and shall be, much more to
-the pleasure of Almighty God, and for the honour of this his realm, that
-the possessions of such houses now being spent and wasted for the
-increase and maintenance of sin, should be used and committed to <i>better
-uses</i>, and the unthrifty religious persons so spending the same, to be
-compelled to reform their lives.”<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p>
-
-<p>Besides that at Canterbury, already noticed,<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> “other shrines had
-been plundered, and certain miraculous images and relics of saints had
-been broken in pieces at St. Paul’s Cross, and the machinery exposed, by
-which some of the monks had deluded the superstitious people;” but now
-every shrine was laid bare; or, if any escaped, it was owing to the
-poverty of their decorations and offerings.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">{90}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Among the rest of these condemned images, there was “a crucifix in South
-Wales, called by the common people <span class="eng">David-Darvel-Gatheren</span>, which,
-according to an old legend or prophecy, was one day to fire a whole
-<i>forest</i>. It happened at this time that there was one Forest, a friar,
-who, after taking the oath of supremacy, repented of the deed, and
-declared it unlawful; wherefore he was condemned as a relapsed traitor
-and heretic. Hitherto King Henry, ‘Defender of the Faith,’ had burned
-the Reformers, and hanged the Catholics; but on the present occasion, he
-could not resist the temptation to make a point, or to figure as a
-mighty engine of fate, and a fulfiller of prophecy.” “The miraculous
-image was accordingly conveyed from Wales to Smithfield, to serve as
-fuel with faggots and other materials; and there, on the twenty-second
-of May, 1539, the monk was suspended by the armpits; underneath him was
-made a fire of the image, wherewith he was slowly burned&mdash;and thus by
-his death making good the prophecy that the image should fire a whole
-<i>forest</i>. There was a pulpit erected near the stake, from which Hugh
-Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, preached a sermon; and there was also a
-scaffold in the centre for the accommodation of the Dukes of Norfolk and
-Suffolk, the Lord Admiral Howard, the Lord Privy Seal, Cromwell, and
-divers others of the council; together with Sir Richard Gresham, Lord
-Mayor, and many citizens of repute, who stayed to witness the frightful
-execution.”<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> By frequent spectacles like this, the minds of the
-people were brutalized to a degree previously unknown in England.<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">From</span> these revolting details of a fierce and persecuting spirit&mdash;a
-spirit opposed in every sense to that of Christianity&mdash;we turn with
-pleasure to the inspiring influence which monastic times and
-institutions have been supposed to exercise over the dominions of poetry
-and the fine arts; and of this Warton has transmitted us a glowing
-sketch:&mdash;The customs, institutions, traditions, and religion of the
-middle ages were favourable to poetry. Their pageants, processions,
-spectacles, and ceremonies, were friendly to imagery, to
-personification, and allegory. Ignorance and superstition, so opposite
-to the real interests of human society, are the parents of imagination.
-The very devotion of the Gothic times was romantic. The Catholic
-worship, besides that its numerous<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">{91}</a></span> exterior appendages were of a
-picturesque, and even of a poetical nature, disposed the mind to a state
-of deception, and encouraged, or rather authorized, every species of
-credulity. Its visions, legends, and miracles, propagated a general
-propensity to the marvellous, and strengthened the belief of spectres,
-demons, witches, and incantations. These illusions were heightened by
-churches of a wonderful mechanism, and constructed on such principles of
-inexplicable architecture, as had a tendency to impress the soul with
-every false sensation of religious fear. The savage pomp, the capricious
-heroism, of the baronial manners, were replete with incident, adventure,
-and enterprise; and the untractable genius of the feudal policy held
-forth those irregularities of conduct, discordancies of interest, and
-dissimilarities of situation, that framed rich materials for the
-Minstrel-muse.</p>
-
-<p>The tacit compact of fashion, which promotes civility by promoting
-habits of uniformity&mdash;and therefore destroys peculiarities of character
-and situation&mdash;had not yet operated upon life; nor had domestic
-convenience abolished unwieldy magnificence. Literature, and a better
-sense of things, not only banished these barbarities, but superseded the
-mode of composition which was formed upon them. Romantic poetry gave way
-to the force of reason and inquiry: as its own enchanted palaces and
-gardens instantaneously vanished, when the Christian champion displayed
-the shield of truth, and baffled the charms of the necromancer.</p>
-
-<p>The study of the classics, together with a colder magic and a tamer
-mythology, introduced method into composition; and the universal
-ambition of rivalling those new patterns of excellence, the faultless
-models of Greece and Rome, produced that bane of invention&mdash;imitation.
-Erudition was made to act upon genius; fancy was weakened by reflection
-and philosophy. The fashion of treating everything scientifically,
-applied speculation and theory to the arts of writing. Judgment was
-advanced above imagination, and rules of criticism were established. The
-brave eccentricities of original genius, and the daring hardiness of
-native thought, were intimidated by metaphysical sentiments of
-perfection and refinement. Setting aside the consideration of the more
-solid advantages, which are obvious, and are not the distinct subject of
-our contemplation at present, the lovers of true poetry will ask, What
-have we gained by this revolution? It may be answered, Much good sense,
-good taste, and good criticism: but in the meantime we have lost a set
-of manners, and a system of machinery, more suitable to the purposes of
-poetry, than those which have been adopted in their place. We have
-parted with extravagances that are above propriety; with incredibilities
-that are more acceptable than truth; and with fictions that are more
-valuable than reality.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">{92}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_092.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_092_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="I" /></a></span><span class="eng">N</span> addition to what has been already noticed in these
-pages, respecting the employment of the monks within the walls of their
-monasteries, and by which they daily contributed to the public good, we
-present to the reader the following epitome of their industrial habits,
-as recorded by monastic writers. In every conventual establishment there
-was a chamber called the <span class="eng">Scriptorium</span>, or writing-room; but it was
-sometimes applied to a more remote place, where there was room for other
-employments. The only persons who had free access to this apartment were
-the abbot, prior, sub-prior, and precentor. There was an especial
-benediction of the Scriptorium. Writing of books, as a monastic
-employment, is to be found in the earliest eras. Among British monks,
-St. David, the tutelary saint of Wales, had a study, or writing-room,
-and began the Gospel of <span class="eng">St. John</span> in golden letters with his own hands.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Antiquarii</span> in monasteries, were industrious men continually employed
-in making copies of old books, either for the use of the monastery, or
-for their own emolument. Du Cange says, that <i>Antiquarii</i> were those
-scribes who repaired, composed, and re-wrote books, old and obsolete
-with age, in opposition to the Librarii, who wrote both new and old
-books. Those of the religious community, who were found dull at the
-study of letters, were employed in writing and making lines. The
-monastic scribes were certain persons selected by the <span class="eng">Abbot</span>. The senior
-monks were employed on the church books; the junior monks in
-letter-writing, and matters which required expedition. Du Cange mentions
-a singular kind of scribes, called <span class="eng">Brodiatores</span>, who wrote books and
-letters in the manner of embroiderers, so lightly representing the
-object that it almost escaped the sight. It is to such writers, perhaps,
-that Petrarch thus alludes: “His writing was not wandering, nor loaded
-like that of writers of our age, who flatter the eye from afar, and
-fatigue it when near.”<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p>
-
-<p>To the credit of the monastic scribes, “very few instances of bad
-writing,” says the late Mr. Fosbroke, “have occurred during my
-researches.” In one manuscript, indeed, there was a shocking scrawl,
-which he took to be the writing of a nun, the lines being irregular, the
-letters of various size, and of rude make. Writing, after the Norman
-invasion, was neglected by the Anglo-Saxons. A neat running epistolary
-hand is quite modern, except among papers written by lawyers. Hamlet
-says&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“I once did hold it, as our statists do,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A baseness to write fair.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Gilbertine</span> rule prohibited the employment of hired writers&mdash;more
-probably, as Mr. Fosbroke thinks, limners. “At St. Alban’s, however,
-such<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">{93}</a></span> limners, or writers, had commons from the alms of the monks and
-cellarer, that they might not be interrupted in their work by going out
-to buy food.” These had the too frequent drunken habits of artisans, who
-(‘because every man,’ says Johnson, ‘is discontented with his avocation,
-from the obligation to pursue it at all times, whatever be the state of
-his mind’) too often abuse relaxation. Barclay, without knowing that
-stimulants&mdash;however injurious, in a prudential and medical view, and
-never a good means&mdash;prevent, by the providential extraction of good from
-evil, much hypochondriacal influence and tedium, which might end in
-madness or suicide, says&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“But if thou begin for drinke to call and crave,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Thou for thy calling such good rewarde shalt have,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That men shall call thee malapert or dronke,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Or an abbey loune, or <i>limner of a monke</i>.”&mdash;<span class="smcap">Eclogue 2.</span><a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Printing.</span>&mdash;This invention occasioned the following results: The scribes
-having less employment, there were few good artists of this kind, and
-writing lost much of its former beauty. About the year 1546, when all
-the religious houses had been dissolved, limners and scribes were
-reduced to great distress for want of employment; for, besides printing,
-engraving, “invented about 1460, superseded the illumination of initials
-and margins. The last specimen was the sectionary of Cardinal Wolsey at
-Oxford. Besides the rule, it was inquired whether the monks had made,
-taken, and received the king’s age and succession, according to act of
-parliament; for they were obliged to record these, and the births of the
-royal family, as well as other public events.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Bookbinding</span> was generally very gorgeous; gold, relics, silver plate,
-ivory, velvet, and other expensive adornments, were bestowed upon the
-books relating to the church service&mdash;hence the vast amount of plunder
-derived from this source alone at the <span class="eng">Dissolution</span>, when the Vandal
-emissaries, hired for the work of destruction, stripped the sacred books
-of their gold, silver, and jewels, and sold them to the highest bidder.
-These ornaments, however, were not confined to the books of the Altar;
-for we hear of a book of <i>Poems</i>, finely ornamented, bound in velvet,
-and decorated with silver-gilt clasps and studs, intended for a present
-to the king.</p>
-
-<p>Books were written on purple vellum, in order to exhibit gold or silver
-letters, and adorned with ivory tablets. The most common binding was a
-rough white sheepskin, lapping over the leaves sometimes, with or
-without immense bosses of brass, pasted upon a wooden board; and
-sometimes the covers were of plain wood, carved in scroll and similar
-work. There were formerly leaden books with leaden covers, and books
-with wooden leaves.<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">{94}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Music-schools</span>, says Davies, were built within the church. Great pains
-were taken with the pupils, who were instructed in the musical service
-of the altar.<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> Music, says Giraldus, was so prevalent in the middle
-age, that even <i>whistling</i> became a fashion and amusement, from being
-asked for by an archbishop. In his own time, as Erasmus informs us,
-“they introduced into the church a certain elaborate theatrical species
-of music, accompanied with a tumultuous diversity of voices. All,” says
-he, “is full of trumpets, cornets, pipes, fiddles, and singing. We now
-come to church as to a playhouse; and for this purpose ample salaries
-are expended on organists, and societies of boys, whose whole time is
-wasted in learning to sing,&mdash;not to mention the great revenues which the
-church squanders away on the stipends of singing men, who are commonly
-great drunkards, buffoons, and chosen from the lowest of the people.
-These fooleries,” he adds, “are so agreeable to the monks, especially in
-England, that youths, boys, &amp;c., every morning, sing to the organ, the
-Mass of the Virgin Mary, with the most harmonious modulations of voice;
-and the bishops are obliged to keep choirs of this sort in their
-families.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Libraries.</span>&mdash;Mr. Nichols has made the following excellent remarks upon
-the library of Leicester Abbey:&mdash;From the catalogue it seems rather
-doubtful whether, in the library of this religious house, there might be
-any one complete collection of all the Holy Scriptures. Supposing
-<i>Biblie</i>, in the first article, to have included both the Old and the
-New Testaments, it was a tome defective and worn. The second consisted
-of each book of the Old Testament only; and the third contained the
-Gospels, without any mention of the Acts of the Apostles, of the
-Epistles, or of the Apocalypse. There is, however, a second mention of
-“<i>Actus Aplor’ gloss’</i>, <i>Apocalyps’ gloss’</i>, <i>Eple Pauli</i> [but of no
-other apostle] <i>gloss’</i>, <i>Eple Canonice</i>;” and among the last occurs the
-“<i>Canticus Canticorum</i>.” Perhaps, he adds, there might be some of those
-Augustine monks, to whom the divine oracles in the learned languages
-would have been of little use; and yet to these was not indulged a
-translation in English, there being in the Consistorial Acts at
-Rochester, the minutes of a rigid process against the <span class="eng">Precentor</span> of the
-priory of that cathedral, for retaining an English Testament,<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a>
-<a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">{95}</a></span> in
-disobedience to the general injunction of Cardinal Wolsey, to deliver up
-these prohibited books to the bishops of the respective dioceses.<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p>
-
-<p>It is worthy of remark, that Petrarch, as we learn from his “Memoires,”
-whenever he made a long journey, carried his books along with him upon
-extra horses, as carefully as others, passing through the Desert, carry
-their provisions of daily food.</p>
-
-<p>Leland’s story of the library of the Franciscans at Oxford has been
-often told: it was only accessible to the warden and bachelors of
-divinity; was full of cobwebs, moths, and filth; and contained no books
-of value, the best having been surreptitiously carried away.<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> In the
-monastic libraries the books were contained in painted presses or
-almeries. In the <i>Abbatial</i> libraries, according to the catalogues given
-by Leland, there were only the following classics&mdash;Cicero and Aristotle,
-which were common; Terence, Euclid, Quintus Curtius, Sidonius
-Apollinaris, Julius Frontinus, Apuleius, and Seneca. From this disregard
-of the classics&mdash;not to the shameful destruction only of the monastic
-libraries at the Dissolution&mdash;probably ensued that loss of the Decades
-of Livy, &amp;c., which has been so justly lamented.<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Museum.</span>&mdash;Adjoining the abbey library, says Erasmus, “was a certain small
-but elegant museum, which, upon the removal of a board, exhibited a
-fire-place if the weather proved cold, otherwise it appeared a solid
-wall.<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> Coryatt saw a stuffed crocodile in an abbey”&mdash;the one
-solitary specimen, perhaps, of Natural History.<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p>
-
-<p>Upon the utility of profane learning in ecclesiastical studies, Petrarch
-has thus emphatically expressed himself:&mdash;“I know by experience,” he
-says, “how much human learning may contribute to give just notions, to
-make a man eloquent, to perfect his morals, and, what is more, to
-<i>defend</i> his religion. If it be not permitted to read the poets and
-heathen authors, because they do not speak of <span class="smcap">Christ</span>, whom they did not
-know, with how much more reason ought we to prohibit heretical works?
-Yet the defenders of the <span class="eng">Faith</span> studiously peruse them. Profane
-literature, like certain solid aliment, does not hurt a good stomach,
-only a weak one. Reading, though wholesome to a sound mind, is poison to
-a feeble intellect. I know that letters are no obstacles to holiness, as
-some pretend. There are many roads to heaven. Ignorance is that which
-the idle take. The sciences may produce as many saints as ignorance. And
-surely we ought not to compare an ignorant devotion to an enlightened
-piety.”<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Monastic Wit.</span>&mdash;Speaking of the wit and humour that often enliven the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">{96}</a></span>
-otherwise dull uniformity of monastic writings&mdash;“I met with the
-following epigram,” says Mr. Fosbroke, “in a MS. of the Ashmole library,
-of which I have never seen a copy; but as it was in a collection of
-poems made in the sixteenth century, I cannot tell its age:”&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0"><span class="eng">Marriage</span>, saith one, hath oft compared bin<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Unto a fest, where meet a public rout;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where those that are without would fain get <i>in</i>,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And those that are within would fain get <i>out</i>.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Acrostics were known to the Greeks; but the monks used those of a
-hieroglyphical kind, which could seldom be divined unless by aid of the
-inventor himself. In the hollow stonework over the kitchen chimney of
-Kingswood Abbey in Wilts&mdash;already noticed in this work&mdash;are a <i>T</i>iger,
-<i>h</i>art, <i>o</i>strich, <i>m</i>ermaid, <i>a</i>ss, and <i>s</i>wan; the initial letters of
-which make the name of the founder, T h o m a s.<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Abbey Seals.</span>&mdash;That of Tinterne Abbey, as already noticed in this volume,
-page 75, is imperfect.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> Of ecclesiastical and monastic seals, those
-of a <i>round</i> form generally denoted, according to Lewis and Blomfield,
-something of royalty in the possessor, or a more than ordinary extent of
-jurisdiction. Monasteries of royal foundation had commonly round seals;
-bishops and superiors of houses had usually oval seals; the former held
-the pastoral staff in their left hands, abbots in their right. The
-earliest conventual seals commonly bore mere rude representations of
-their patron saints; the more recent were highly finished, the most
-common device being the superior of the house praying to the patron
-saint, who was represented as looking down upon him. Previously to the
-reign of Edward the Third, the conventual seals represented their patron
-saints and abbots seated upon thrones; but after this period, they as
-constantly exhibited these figures sitting or standing beneath canopies
-and arches. The <span class="eng">Patron saint</span> subduing and treading upon the dragon, was
-symbolical of his overcoming sin. A star, the symbol of the Epiphany,
-and a crescent of the increase of the Gospel, are frequently introduced
-into the seals.<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> In the Cistercian and Premonstratensian orders, the
-custody of the seal, though in general ill observed, was committed to
-the prior, and four others of the establishment elected for that trust.</p>
-
-<p>Abbeys had not only different seals for different purposes, but these
-were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">{97}</a></span> often altered and changed; though, from the seal of Hyde Abbey
-being worth fifteen marks, the expense of having them engraved must have
-been extremely high. But so careless were the monks in the custody of
-it, that Matthew Paris mentions that it was thrown aside among a chest
-of papers. The abbot’s <i>Bajulus</i>, or domestic monk, was also the bearer
-of this seal. A silver seal and chain&mdash;‘sigillum argenti cum
-cathena’&mdash;is mentioned as that of a plain monk.<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Luxury.</span>&mdash;With respect to luxuries&mdash;which in some monasteries, it was
-alleged, were earned to a degree quite inconsistent with their professed
-abstinence&mdash;Thomas Pennant, Abbot of Basingwerk, is said to have given
-twice the treasure of a king in wine, and was profuse of more humble
-liquors. The apartments for the reception of persons of quality,
-according to Davies, were furnished in a most expensive and gorgeous
-manner. But their profuse expenditure in wine, it must be remembered,
-was in consequence of a too liberal hospitality; for, while the monks
-themselves were restricted to a meagre diet, their guests, when men of
-rank and influence, were plentifully regaled with whatever was best in
-cellar and larder; and the whole country furnished no better cooks or
-butlers than were to be found in conventual houses.</p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_097.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_097_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="C" /></a></span><span class="eng">ISTERCIAN</span> abbeys, according to Giraldus Cambrensis,
-avoided all the bad consequences of <i>cells</i>, in the irregularities of
-their inhabitants, by <i>having none</i>; and by remedying all defects by
-visitors and chapters. Yet the Abbey of Kingswood, already noticed, was
-a cell of Tinterne, and the scene of as many irregularities and abuses,
-perhaps, as the cells of any other monastic order. The brethren who
-stayed at cells were to be three in every place, or two at least. “In
-food, in clothing, and the tonsure, they did not vary from the common
-institution. They kept silence at table, and did not speak in the
-church. They sung compline at an early seasonable hour, in summer and
-winter; and did not run about the village or elsewhere.” It was thought
-a great grievance to be sent to remote cells, or from cell to cell; and
-scandalous tales were occasionally told of the licentious lives of some
-of the monks, whom the abbots had sent thither for penance and
-reformation.<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">In</span> reference to the introduction of Cistercian monks into England, we
-annex<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">{98}</a></span> the following from an old Chronicler:&mdash;“About this time,” says
-he, “by means of one <span class="eng">Stephen Hardyng</span>, a munke of Sherburne, an Englyshe
-man of the order of Sisteaux, or whyte munkes, had his beginning in the
-wildernesse of <i>Cystery</i>, within the Provynce of Burgoyne, as witnesseth
-Ranulph, munke of Chester: but other wryters, as Jacobus Philippus, and
-the auctor of Cronyca Cronycorū, Matheolus, with other sayen, yᵗ this
-Stephen was the second abbot of yᵗ place, and that it was founded by the
-means of one Robert, abbot of Molynēse, in the yere of Grace,
-<small>M</small>.lxxx.xviij, which, to follow their sayinge, shulde be in the ix yere
-of yᵉ reyne of this Kynge” [Rufus.] “This <span class="eng">order</span> was after brought into
-Englande by one called <span class="eng">Walter Espeke</span>, that founded the firste abbey of
-yᵗ religion at <span class="eng">Ryuall</span> [Rivaux], about the yere of Grace xi.c.xxxi., the
-which shulde be about the xxxi. yere of the firste <span class="eng">Henry</span>, than Kynge of
-Englande.” This last is the correct date of the introduction of white
-friars into this country, and he adds:&mdash;“Somewhat of their religion is
-towched in the x chapitre of the vii boke of <i>Polychronicon</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Abbey Windows.</span>&mdash;Warton says the stem of Jesse was a favourite subject,
-and Sugerius thus proves it: “I have caused to be painted a beautiful
-variety of new windows from the first, which begins with the stem of
-Jesse in the <i>caput ecclesiæ</i>, or part where the altar was erected. Any
-miraculous events happening to persons were represented in their chapels
-and churches in stained glass, or such as happened within the knowledge
-of the erector. Common subjects were a genealogical series of
-benefactors; arms and figures of donors of lights; the seven sacraments
-of the Romish Church; many crowned heads, with curled hair and forked
-beards, represent the Edwards, Richard the Second, and Henry the Fourth;
-whole length figures with crowns and sceptres, Jewish kings, connected
-with some Scriptural history, universally so when in profile.” The
-principal subjects in the great window of Tinterne Abbey appear to have
-been arms and figures of the founder, and of a series of benefactors.
-The last fragment, after many years of desolation, was a shield of the
-Bigod family.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Cowls.</span>&mdash;With respect to the habit, it is recorded that many noblemen,
-and others of high rank, gave directions that, after their decease, they
-should be dressed in monk’s gear, and be thus consigned to the grave.
-This was a very common practice in Wales; for as it was written, that
-“all were monks who shall gain heaven, or rather that there were none
-there but monks,”<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> it became<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">{99}</a></span> necessary to assume the garb at least,
-as a safe though surreptitious passport to those happy seats. It was
-usual in some cases to wear the garb during sickness only, and lay it
-aside on the return of health; in others, to keep it in reserve for
-their death. Lewis, Landgrave of Hesse, said to his attendants&mdash;“As soon
-as I am dead, put on me the hood of the Cistercian order; but take very
-diligent care not to do so while I am living.”<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">MSS., Books.</span>&mdash;In addition to what has been already quoted on this
-subject, it was long a proverbial saying, that a convent without a
-library, was like a castle without an armoury. When the monastery of
-Croydon was burnt in 1091, its library, according to Ingulphus,
-consisted of nine hundred volumes, of which three hundred were very
-large. “In every great abbey,” says Warton, “many writers were
-constantly busied in transcribing, not only the service-books for the
-choir, but books for the library.”<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> The <span class="eng">Scriptorium</span> of St. Alban’s
-Abbey was built by Abbot Paulin, a Norman, who ordered many volumes to
-be written there about the year 1080. Archbishop Lanfranc furnished the
-copies. Estates were often granted for the support of the Scriptorium.
-We find some of the classics written in the English monasteries very
-early. Henry, a Benedictine monk of Hyde Abbey, near Winchester,
-transcribed, in the year 1178, Terence, Boethius, Suetonius, and
-Claudian. Of these he formed one book, illuminating the initials, and
-forming the brazen bosses of the covers with his own hands. Other
-instances of the same kind are added. The monks were much accustomed
-both to illuminate and to bind books, as well as to transcribe them.
-“The scarcity of parchment,” it is afterwards observed, “undoubtedly
-prevented the transcription of many other books in these societies.
-About the year 1120, one Master Heugh, being appointed by the monastery
-of St. Edmondsbury, in Suffolk, to write and illuminate a grand copy of
-the Bible for their library, could procure no parchment for this purpose
-in England.” Paper made of cotton, however, was certainly in common use
-in the twelfth century; though no evidence exists that the improved
-kind, manufactured from linen rags, was known till about the middle of
-the thirteenth.<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The pavement</span> lately discovered in the Abbey Church of <span class="eng">Tinterne</span>, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">{100}</a></span>
-described at page 42 of this volume, forms an interesting relic of its
-internal decorations. There is abundant proof, in the Norman centuries,
-that mosaic work was adopted as an embellishment of the high altar, and,
-as in the present instance, in the front of shrines. At first, these
-pavements exhibited scripture stories, painted upon glazed bricks and
-tiles of an irregular shape, fitted together as the colour suited, and
-upon the same plan as the glass in windows. By an improvement in the
-succeeding ages, the bricks, as in the specimen before us, were made
-equilateral, and about four inches square; which, when arranged and
-connected, produced an effect closely resembling the Roman designs, yet
-wanting their simplicity and taste. The wreaths, circles, and single
-compartments, retain marks of Gothic incorrectness, and of as gross
-deviation from the original as the Saxon mouldings.</p>
-
-<p>At what period heraldic devices were introduced cannot be ascertained
-with precision; but it is probable that, when they were first carved or
-painted upon escutcheons, or stained in glass, the floors received them
-likewise as a new ornament. The arms of founders and benefactors were
-usually inserted during the middle centuries after the Conquest, when
-many of the greater abbeys employed kilns for preparing them, from which
-the conventual, and their independent parish, churches were supplied.
-Some writers have conjectured that the painted tiles were made by
-Italian artists settled in this country; and it has been thought that
-monks, having acquired the art of painting and preparing them for the
-kiln in the manner of porcelain, amused their leisure hours by designing
-and finishing them.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The altar-pavement</span> here under notice is of an early period; but in those
-of a later age, when the branch of encaustic painting had reached
-perfection, the exquisite delicacy and variety of the colours&mdash;though
-seldom of more than two&mdash;are particularly discernible. The use of these
-painted bricks, or tiles, was confined to consecrated places, almost
-without exception; and those discovered since the Reformation have been
-all found upon the sites of convents, preserved either in churches or in
-houses, to which tradition confirms their removal.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a></p>
-
-<p>Amongst the encaustic relics of a later date, family arms, impaled and
-quartered, as well as scrolls, rebuses, and ciphers, are very frequent.
-In the present instance, the tile exhibits a quartering of the <span class="eng">Clare</span> and
-<span class="eng">Bigod</span> shields. In others, the arms are interspersed with various
-devices, or single figures, such as griffons, spread eagles, roses,
-fleurs-de-lis, &amp;c., of common heraldic usage, but not individually
-applied. It appears that in some instances they formed a kind of
-tesselated pavement, the middle representing a maze, or labyrinth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">{101}</a></span>
-about two feet in diameter, so artfully contrived that a man, following
-all the intricate meanders of its volutes, could not travel less than a
-mile before he got from one end to the other. The tiles are baked almost
-to vitrifaction, and wonderfully resist damp and wear.<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> Actual
-tesselated pavements once existed. A manuscript Anglo-Saxon Glossary,
-cited by Junius, says&mdash;“Of this kind of work, mosaic in small dies,
-little is used in England. Howbeit, I have seen of it a specimen upon
-church floors, before altars&mdash;as before the high altar at
-Westminster&mdash;though it be but gross.”<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Abbey Wire-works.</span>&mdash;Among the objects of local industry in Tinterne, to
-which the stranger’s attention is usually directed, the Abbey Wire-works
-are the most interesting. “These,” to quote the words of the late Mr.
-Thomas, “as well as the stately pile in their vicinity, amongst whose
-silent recesses the tourist has so often and fondly trodden, are also
-the dominions of Art. But how widely different is the scene! Here she is
-met with in her busy laboratory, controlling and directing the energies
-of mankind, and seizing upon the very subjects of nature&mdash;the gurgling
-water and the lambent flame&mdash;to make them tributaries to her ambitious
-designs; whilst there, in the precincts of that ruined fane, she is
-beheld indolently reclining in the flowery lap of her indulgent
-rival&mdash;just as we have seen the wasted form of a lovely maiden pillowed
-on the bosom of her elder sister, and gently languishing through the
-departing hours of her insidious disease.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">It</span> was in the seventeenth century, during the times of the Stuart
-dynasty, that certain Swedish and German artisans, flying from
-continental tyranny, were induced to seek an asylum within the pale of
-the British constitution, and introduce into their adopted country the
-art of forging wire. They were received with open arms; locations were
-assigned them, denominated <i>Seats</i>; and a privilege of a vote in
-parliamentary elections, with an exemption from taxes, were constituted
-as part of the favours which our discerning government thought proper to
-confer. Of these seats <span class="eng">Tinterne</span> was one from the very first immigration;
-and here many of the descendants of the original settlers are still
-employed in the handicraft of their forefathers. Of the methods used in
-the manufacture of iron-wire before the introduction of improved
-machinery, tradition has preserved the following outline:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“A large beam was erected across the factory, to which were affixed as
-many seats&mdash;in the form of large wooden scales&mdash;as there were men
-employed, who were fastened in them by means of a girdle round their
-bodies. The artificers were employed near each other, while between them
-stood a piece of iron pierced with holes of different dimensions, for
-reducing the wire to an appro<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">{102}</a></span>priate size. The worked iron was heated;
-the beam was put in motion by a water-wheel; and as the workmen swung
-backwards and forwards, they passed and repassed the iron through the
-holes described with forceps, until it was reduced by force to the
-required diameter. The motion was regulated; and if any workman chanced
-to miss seizing the iron with his forceps, he suffered a considerable
-shock on the return of the beam.”</p>
-
-<p>On the introduction of the improved system of wire factories, the nature
-of the contracts between the principals and their workmen underwent a
-necessary change. The struggle, however, was continued for some time,
-but ultimately subsided in the adoption of the present plan, and the
-alterations which it introduced. Under the management of the late Mr.
-Thompson&mdash;whose mausoleum forms a conspicuous object in the adjoining
-cemetery&mdash;the Tinterne Wire Works acquired a new impetus, which has been
-successfully kept up by his able and intelligent successor.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Natural History.</span>&mdash;On this interesting subject, we take advantage of the
-following notes from the journal of the late Mr. Thomas of
-Tinterne:&mdash;April 2d, half-past seven <small>A.M.</small> Notwithstanding a cold
-north-easterly wind, with fugitive showers, I saw a nightingale, for the
-first time this year, on the road to Chapel Hill, perched upon the
-topmost branch of a budding thorn. He uttered one or two of those rich,
-cheerful, metallic notes, so characteristic of his song; and quickly
-returned to his busy search for food amongst the low bushes adjoining.
-One of my friends informed me that he had listened to its music the
-evening before; and another averred that he had heard the nightingale as
-early as the second week of March. If these accounts be true, which I
-have not the slightest reason to doubt, they seem to favour the idea
-that some of these lovely songsters hibernate amongst us. Naturalists,
-by common consent, name the last week of April as the period of their
-ordinary arrival in this island. It seems probable, however, that those
-which winter amongst us undergo some variation of plumage, which may
-lead a cursory observer&mdash;if he did not pass them by unnoticed&mdash;to
-confound them with the female redbreast, the hedge-sparrow, or some
-other unpretending bird.</p>
-
-<p>In point of song from Nature’s choristers, says an enthusiastic admirer
-of the Wye, these woods might challenge all England. It is impossible to
-enjoy a higher treat of the kind than the harmony of these little
-warblers on a fine summer’s evening, when, on each side of the Wye, they
-seem to vie with each other in the richness and fullness of their notes.
-Mr. Heath had the following anecdote from Signor Rossignol, so
-celebrated for his imitations of the feathered tribes:&mdash;“While at
-Monmouth,” said he, “I often walked towards Hadnock at a late hour of
-the night, for the purpose of comparing my own <i>notes</i> with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">{103}</a></span> those which
-I attempted to imitate. First, I began with those of the blackbird, when
-every bird of that species within hearing would instantly awake as it
-were with the rapture of day. Then came the thrush, next the
-nightingale, and so on, until I had called forth the song of every bird
-in the woods; and thus I continued to amuse myself for an hour together.
-If, in the meantime, a traveller happened to be passing the road, he was
-immediately forced to conclude that he had quite mistaken the time of
-day!”<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Walnut-trees.</span>&mdash;The Abbey appears to have been sheltered and enriched in
-its prosperous days by extensive orchards; but of the lofty
-walnut-trees, that formerly spread their luxuriant branches in its
-vicinity, one only remains. These trees were of great age: under their
-shadow many generations of monks and pilgrims had found shelter and
-repose; but having long survived their patrons, and attained that fatal
-majesty which insured their destruction, the axe was applied with
-ruthless force to their stems; they were hewn down, burnt, or sold; and
-the rich soil, from which they had derived their strength and fertility
-for centuries, was converted into patches of cabbage and potato ground,
-profusely bordered with weeds, and enlivened with pigsties that, to
-imaginative tourists, perhaps, may recall the memory of Friar Bacon.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Abbot’s Meadow.</span>&mdash;“I have often felt incommunicable delight,” writes
-Mr. Thomas, “in a walk southward along the meadows skirting the Wye.
-During the bright summer evenings, the glorious sun tinges the summits
-of the encircling hills with his oblique golden rays, while a gentle
-breeze makes the ripening grass wave in elegant undulations. How sweet
-at that pensive hour to sit upon the sedgy bank, and hear the artless
-music of the feathery tribes! The reedwren chants his vesper-song; full
-many a robin swells it by his perennial response; whilst the inimitable
-thrush and tender cushat revive the thrilling echo on the distant
-cliff.”</p>
-
-<p>During this concert, “you turn round to behold the <span class="eng">abbey</span> embosomed
-amidst apple-trees, and so singularly foreshortened that the beautiful
-western window appears through the eastern. The entrance of the western
-valley is at the same time so happily disposed, that the effulgent light
-of the setting sun is seen<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">{104}</a></span> through the roseate windows, gilding the
-interior of the abbey with an unearthly brightness; whilst, to complete
-the scene, multitudes of noisy daws are seen careering in fanciful
-circles, high in the balmy air, before they retire to roost within the
-mantling ivy of the ‘roofless house of God.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>At such an hour how appropriate the lines:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“When day, with farewell beam, delays<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Among the opening clouds of even,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And we could almost think we gaze<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Through golden vistas into heaven;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Those hues which mark the sun’s decline,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine!”&mdash;<i>Moore.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At length a poetic sound breaks upon the ear&mdash;the whetting of a scythe;
-and how picturesque are the fields beyond! After passing through a
-succession of luxurious meadows, you arrive at the humble and ivied
-ruins of a <span class="eng">Piscatory</span>. This building is apparently of ancient date, and
-was intended to supply the monastery during those numerous fasts in
-which the good <span class="eng">abbots</span> were wont to exchange “the very best meat for the
-very best fish.”<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> Soon after passing this ruin, the hitherto placid
-Wye falls noisily over a broad and shallow weir, and the steep wood
-encroaches upon its rocky bank. Our footsteps, therefore, pursue a
-sinuous path through its deep and pensive shade, until we somewhat
-suddenly emerge upon a tabular meadow, encompassed by an amphitheatre of
-ivied rocks, a stupendous rampart, at whose base the Wye is winding,
-and, at the same time, reflecting in its peaceful bosom the majestic
-scene.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Climate of Tinterne.</span>&mdash;On this subject, a late intelligent medical
-practitioner at Tinterne says:&mdash;“I may here remark, that I am
-unacquainted with any warmer spot than this in England. Protected on the
-north and west by a steep hill, it is open alone to the east and south:
-it has therefore the sun upon it during the greater part of the day. On
-the third of February, 1839, at half-past 2 in the afternoon,” he adds,
-“while my thermometer on the mantel-shelf over the fire ranged at 60°,
-it rose to 99° outside the door. At nightfall, which ushered in a severe
-frost, the mercury fell to 44°. On the twenty-third of the same month,
-at 3 o’clock <small>P.M.</small>, the thermometer ranged at 109° Fahrenheit, or nearly
-34° Reaumur; at half-past 11 at night, the mercury fell to 45° Fahr. On
-the fifteenth of May, at 12.16 <small>P.M.</small>, the thermometer on the mantel-shelf
-indicated 50° Fahr. At 3 <small>P.M.</small> a violent snow-storm came on, succeeded at
-nightfall by a nipping frost.” These facts sufficiently indicate</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_008.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_008.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Door into the Cloister.</i></p>
-
-<p>Tinterne Abbey.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">{105}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">the capricious nature of the climate of Tinterne, where the transitions
-from a winter to a high summer temperature, and <i>vice versa</i>, are so
-frequent and remarkable.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Incidental Remarks.</span>&mdash;During the plunder of this abbey church, which was
-long carried on with impunity, many interesting relics of antiquity
-appear to have been either mutilated, or carried off and sold. Among
-other fragments of ancient art, was a brass hand grasping a spear, taken
-from a tomb in the church in which was found a body entire, with
-leathern buskins, and buttons on the coat; but which, on exposure to the
-air, crumbled into dust. Human skeletons, we are told, were found in an
-orchard to the eastward, formerly the abbey cemetery. From the size of
-these&mdash;monks or soldiers&mdash;it was ascertained that their living owners
-must have been considerably beyond the common stature. On the legs of
-one of them were found cloth buskins in apparent preservation; while the
-metal studs, or buttons, it is added, were almost bright. No coffins
-were found; the bodies were simply deposited under large flat stones;
-and were probably of an order inferior to those interred within the
-church. Adjoining the north door, a portion of wall, long supposed to be
-the side of a cloister, was at last stripped of the ivy that covered it,
-and disclosed a range of fine Gothic windows.<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> And when the rubbish
-that encumbered the entrance leading into the cross aisle was removed,
-two stones were found inscribed with the following memorials:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0"><span class="eng">Hic jacet Johannes de Lynas.</span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><span class="eng">Hic jacet Henricus de Lancaut.</span><a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>At the entrance by the west doorway a flight of steps was also
-discovered, which at the time was supposed to communicate with a vault,
-or crypt, under the church. But the passage was not explored; and the
-stone with which the opening was originally covered, was restored to its
-place. It is the opinion of antiquaries, however, that there is no
-crypt, or vault, under the church. Of</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Tinterne village</span>, which still seems to derive its support from casual
-visitors to the abbey, much cannot be said in commendation. Little, if
-any improvement seems to have been made for many years, owing, we were
-told, to the restrictions laid upon building. With encouragement in this
-respect alone&mdash;or even with the ordinary accommodations of a spacious
-inn<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a>&mdash;the place might speedily change its complexion, and become a
-cheerful and thriving hamlet. But, as in the days of Gilpin, it presents
-nothing inviting. The penury of the inhabi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">{106}</a></span>tants may be less remarkable;
-“but they still occupy little huts raised among the ruins of the
-monastery, and seem as if a place, once devoted to indolence, could
-never again become the seat of industry.” “As we left the abbey,” says
-he, “we found the whole hamlet at the gate, either openly soliciting
-alms, or covertly, under pretence of carrying us to some part of the
-ruins which each could show, and which was far superior to anything
-which could be shown by any one else. The most lucrative occasion could
-hardly have excited more jealousy and contention.” In the present day,
-the duties of the abbey <i>cicerone</i> are performed by a sensible and
-well-informed guide, named Christian Payne.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Of</span> the accommodations to be had at Tinterne Abbey in his day, Captain
-Barber has left the following reminiscence:&mdash;“Having despatched an
-attendant for a barber on my arrival at the inn, a blacksmith was
-forthwith introduced, who proved to be the only shaver in the place. The
-appearance of this man, exhibiting, with all the grim sootiness of his
-employment, his brawny arms bare to the shoulders, did not flatter me
-with hopes of a very mild operation; nor were they increased when he
-produced a razor that, for massiveness, might have served a Polyphemus.
-I sat down, however, and was plentifully besmeared with soap-suds. After
-this he attempted to supply the deficiency of an edge, by exerting his
-ponderous strength in three or four such vigorous scrapes as, without
-exciting my finer feelings, drew more tears into my eyes than might have
-sufficed for a modern tragedy. I waited no longer; but releasing myself
-from his iron gripe, determined to pass for a Jew Rabbi, rather than
-undergo the penance of another ‘shaving at <i>Tinterne</i>.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_106.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_106.jpg" width="440" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Plan of the Abbey.</span>&mdash;The following simplified description may probably
-assist the reader to form a correct notion of the sacred and conventual
-buildings, of which the abbey was originally composed; and of the
-various compartments into which, in their former and perfect condition,
-these were so admirably arranged and subdivided:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>Entering the church by the west doorway, the visitor passes along the
-nave, with the “pillared aisles” on his right and left, and the
-newly-discovered pavement. In the distance, and directly opposite, under
-the great east window, is the high altar, as distinctly shown in the
-engraved illustration. Moving along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">{107}</a></span> nave, he observes five distinct
-clustered pillars, surmounted by the magnificent arches, described in
-these pages. At the commencement of the north and south transepts, he
-will examine the bases of the four massive columns which formerly
-supported the great central tower; the doors and windows of the
-transepts; the sepulchral fragments scattered along the smooth grassy
-parterre of the choir; then, at the north-west corner of the north
-transept, he will ascend a few steps of a spiral staircase leading to
-the top of the church; and, from the gallery which runs round within the
-wall, look down on the scene before and beneath him. Descending to the
-transept floor, he will enter a door near the angle where the nave and
-north transept unite; and entering a passage northward, through a richly
-ornamented doorway, he will observe the following apartments, viz.:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Cloister</span> on the left, forming a considerable quadrangle, the sides
-of which are of the same length as the nave of the church, on which it
-closely abuts, running parallel with it to the west doorway, and
-bordering the public road. Here, also, are some mutilated sepulchral
-effigies of ancient abbots, crosses, &amp;c., from which the inlaid brasses
-have been sacrilegiously purloined. On the right hand of the visitor, as
-he enters, is the ancient</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Vestry</span>, or sacristy, an oblong chamber, divided into two compartments,
-the second of which opens by a doorway into the North <span class="eng">Transept</span>. Closely
-adjoining this on the north, is</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Chapter-house</span>, of the same form and dimensions as the vestry, but
-not subdivided. Farther again on the right is a large hall, with the
-remains of five central pillars that supported the arched stone roof,
-supposed to be the ancient</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Hospitium</span>, or guest-chamber, already described in these pages. On the
-east of this, and running parallel with it, are the remains of offices
-or apartments&mdash;probably dormitories&mdash;the precise use of which has not
-been ascertained. Beyond, eastward, lay the Cemetery. Adjoining the
-Hospitium on the west, and connecting it with the Refectory, are several
-small buildings, with the remains of other dormitories on the upper
-floor. Immediately adjoining this, on the west, is the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Refectory</span>, a spacious hall, in which the brethren, as already described,
-sat at table. The <i>Lectern</i>, or pulpit-desk, at which a reader presided
-during meals, is still visible about the middle of the west side. From
-the refectory, a tourniquet-door, for the passage of viands only,
-communicated with the <span class="eng">kitchen</span>; and close to this is the <i>dole</i>, where
-the indigent and wayfaring poor were daily supplied with victuals and
-refreshments. The kitchen runs parallel with the cloisters, and the west
-entrance of the church, along the public road leading to the ferry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">{108}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Scale annexed to the Plan of the Abbey&mdash;as shown by the
-woodcut&mdash;will enable the reader to ascertain, with tolerable accuracy,
-the dimensions of all the compartments named.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_108.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_108.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption">
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0"
-style="text-align:left;">
-<tr><td class="rt">1</td><td> Doorway leading into the <span class="eng">Cloisters</span>.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">2</td><td> <span class="eng">Effigies</span> of Abbots&mdash;the brasses removed.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">3 </td><td> Door leading into the Vestiary and Sacristy.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">4 </td><td> The <span class="eng">Chapter-house</span>&mdash;bases of pillars.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">5 </td><td> Supposed <span class="eng">Hospitium</span>, or Guest-Hall&mdash;bases of central pillars.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">6 </td><td> Buildings, with dormitories in the upper floor.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">7 </td><td> The <span class="eng">Lectern</span>, or Reading-Desk, during meals.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">8 </td><td> Tesselated <span class="eng">pavement</span>, lately discovered.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">9 </td><td> <span class="eng">Staircase</span> leading to the Triforia, and top of the abbey.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">10 </td><td>Aperture for serving the dishes from the kitchen.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">11 </td><td><span class="eng">Dole</span>, for the distribution of food to the poor.</td></tr>
-</table>
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
-style="text-align:left;">
-<tr><td rowspan="4" valign="top">Proportions.&mdash;</td><td>Length of Chancel and Nave, </td><td class="c"> 228</td><td class="c"> feet.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Length of Transepts across,</td><td class="rt"> 150 </td><td class="c"> “</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Height of the Tower Arches, </td><td class="rt"> 70</td><td class="c"> “</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Height of the lesser Arches, </td><td class="rt"> 30</td><td class="c"> “</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>As a specimen of the marvellous connected with these ruins, we cannot
-resist introducing another characteristic</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Legend.</span>&mdash;A party of gentlemen&mdash;<i>horresco referens</i>&mdash;who had inspected
-the abbey, employed several labourers to dig in the orchard adjoining,
-in hopes of discovering some antiquities. Part of one day and the
-following night were spent in this employment, when at last they were
-successful, and two human skeletons were discovered. Next day the same
-party resolved to celebrate their discovery by a dinner in the abbey.
-But scarcely had they commenced their sacrilegious repast, when a thick
-darkness overspread the horizon; deep thunder raised its tremendous
-voice, and shook the surrounding hills; lightnings flashed</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_009.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_009.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Tintern Abbey.</i></p>
-
-<p>West Front.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">{109}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">throughout the ruin in sheets of livid flame; hail, succeeded by
-torrents of rain, deluged the plain, and</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i8">“Peal on peal<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Crashed horrible, convulsing earth and heaven!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>During this sudden and tremendous visitation, the indignant spirit of
-<span class="eng">Strongbow</span>&mdash;accompanied by the spectral forms of many whose death-sleep
-had been thus wantonly disturbed&mdash;arose from the grave, and fixed his
-eyes upon the petrified strangers. Then raising his gauntleted hand, he
-pointed to the abbey door&mdash;which at the sight had mysteriously
-opened&mdash;and sternly beckoned the impious visitors to depart! The awful
-signal was instantly obeyed; and some crawling, others trembling&mdash;all
-pale and speechless, the daring adventurers rushed from his presence,
-they knew not how, and fled they knew not whither; while the savoury
-viands left behind them were instantly swept over the abbey walls in a
-whirlwind.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Engraved Views of Tinterne Abbey.</span></p>
-
-<p>I.&mdash;<span class="eng">The West Entrance</span>,<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> a beautiful specimen of Decorated Gothic;
-the principal feature of which is the great west window, of which all
-visitors and writers on this subject have expressed their unqualified
-admiration. The stonework of this magnificent feature is nearly entire;
-the five mullions, tall, slender, and elaborately moulded, retain their
-original forms; and, terminating in the rich flowing tracery that fills
-and completes the arch, appear as if they wanted nothing but the ancient
-painted glass to restore the window to its primitive splendour. The ivy
-inserting itself into every joint, and hanging in graceful festoons,
-seems more like artificial garlands woven in honour of a fête day, than
-as the sure emblem and evidence of dilapidation and decay. Beneath this
-window is the richly-carved double doorway leading into the nave. On the
-right hand is another window communicating with the southern aisle,
-surmounted by a window of three compartments, and two buttresses
-terminating in pinnacles, of which only one remains. On the left hand is
-the north aisle, in form and dimensions exactly corresponding with the
-former, but much less perfect. Closely adjoining this were the abbey
-cloisters, the remains of which have been noticed in a former page.</p>
-
-<p>II.&mdash;<span class="eng">The Vale of Tinterne</span>,<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> as it is seen from a point&mdash;in the woods
-covering the left bank of the Wye&mdash;called the Devil’s Pulpit. This
-engraving<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">{110}</a></span> conveys a most correct, beautiful, and comprehensive view of
-the abbey, and its circumjacent scenery. In the backgrounds is seen the
-hill country stretching westward towards Monmouth. On the left, crowning
-an eminence that overlooks the village and abbey, stands the church of
-Chapel-hill, with the characteristic feature of an immense yew-tree
-expanding its gloomy branches over the cemetery. Beneath is seen the
-public road from Chepstow running westward, and branching off in the
-village to right and left; the latter branch running along the hills
-towards Raglan, and the former following the course of the Wye to
-Monmouth. To the right, under the wooded rocks which appear to overhang
-its channel, the Wye is seen making a curve like a horseshoe, so as to
-form a peninsula, the outer rim of which, as described in the text, is
-lined with houses that rise one above the other, and planted here and
-there with tall poplars, and refreshed with numerous springs and
-rivulets, that, after murmuring down the rocks, throw their crystal
-tribute into the Wye. Here the river is seen enlivened with
-passage-boats, by means of which a daily communication between the
-villages above and below the abbey is kept open for the conveyance of
-market produce, or the convenience of passengers.</p>
-
-<p>In the foreground lies the glory of the scene&mdash;the <span class="eng">abbey</span> and its
-appendages&mdash;the latter much curtailed; but once, as history informs us,
-enclosing the goodly space of thirty-four acres. The view looks down
-upon the conventual church, showing the nave and transepts in their
-cruciform proportions, with the magnificent east window opening upon
-some rich productive orchards, the ground of which was consecrated in
-former times as the abbey cemetery. Stretching along the river eastward
-is a luxuriant tract of pasture land, called the Abbots’ Meadows,
-already described. Nothing can be more soothing and tranquil than this
-scene, embosomed, as it is, among sylvan landscapes, and bordered by a
-river whose smooth yet swift-flowing waters are heard in the calm summer
-evening like distant music.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“And ever, as the summer sun goes down,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">From bank to bank, amidst yon leafy bower,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The woodland songsters trill harmonious notes;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Till every tree that crowns the verdant steep,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Or shades the stream, that flows in amber light,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Sends forth its melody.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>III.&mdash;<span class="eng">From the Chancel</span>, westward.<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> This is justly considered to be
-the most imposing view in the whole abbey; and is that to which every
-stranger visiting the ruins is conducted at the close of his survey. The
-point from which it is taken, is under the area of the great tower, near
-the further angle of the north transept and chancel. Looking through the
-lofty arches that supported<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">{111}</a></span> the central tower, it takes in the west
-window, the window of the north aisle, the nave, and on the right, the
-<span class="eng">doorway</span> leading into the cloisters&mdash;of which an engraving is here
-given&mdash;with the massive clustered pillars, lofty and delicately moulded
-arches, in which an airy lightness, combined with strength and solidity,
-strike the spectator with feelings of awe and admiration, to which it is
-hardly possible to give expression&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Silence sublime, and stillness how profound;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Yet every arch, with clustered ivy hung,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And every column, as thou gazest round,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Seems to address thee in thy native tongue;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Telling how first these mighty structures rose,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And how they fell beneath their Vandal foes.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the centre are the two sepulchral slabs, already described in another
-portion of the text; and on the left, leaning against the base of one of
-the pillars, is a mutilated statue, supposed to be that of Roger Bigod,
-or Gilbert de Clare, as shown in the woodcut, page 41. In various parts
-of the chancel, choir, and transepts, as well as in the nave and aisles,
-many dilapidated fragments are collected in heaps; among which the
-visitor will distinguish pieces of elaborate carving, particularly some
-ingenious and fancifully sculptured <span class="eng">bosses</span>, the connecting ornaments of
-the richly-groined roof that once overhung this gorgeous temple, and
-echoed back the anthems of its assembled choir.</p>
-
-<p>IV.&mdash;<span class="eng">From the Ferry</span>,<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> on the opposite or left bank of the Wye. On
-the foreground is the landing-place, from which a road,<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> or
-bridle-path, winding along the wooded heights, already noticed in our
-description of the ‘Devil’s Pulpit,’ presents many picturesque, and some
-romantic points of view. The river is here the boundary line between the
-counties of Monmouth and Gloucester, or, anciently, between England and
-South Wales. Directly opposite, and terminating the causeway leading up
-from the ferry, is an archway, the ancient <span class="eng">watergate</span> of the abbey.
-Through this gate the monastery received its supplies from the barges
-that daily ascended and descended the river, or lay at anchor under the
-protection of the abbey; for here, we were told, there is depth of
-water&mdash;which is increased at every tide&mdash;sufficient to float vessels of
-seventy tons burthen. The grove, which occupies the space between the
-water and the abbey walls, consists chiefly of apple and pear-trees,
-which form a continuous girdle of orchards round the abbey church, and
-are particularly luxuriant and productive, on the site of the ancient
-burial-ground. The ring of offices with which the abbey was originally
-enclosed on nearly three sides, has almost disappeared, leaving only the
-foundations, upon which, from time to time, mean<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">{112}</a></span> hovels have been
-hastily thrown together&mdash;ill adapted for the health, comfort, or even
-convenience of human beings.</p>
-
-<p>The prominent features of the abbey as seen from this point, and taken
-in detail are&mdash;the <span class="eng">nave</span>, terminating in the great west window, with its
-own five lancet-pointed windows rising above the trees; the north
-<span class="eng">transept</span>, part of the south, and two windows of the <span class="eng">chancel</span>.</p>
-
-<p>Following the course of the river eastward, richly-wooded rocks are
-seen, closing the landscape, and commanding the minute and beautiful
-view of the “Vale of Tinterne,” already given as an illustration. All
-beyond the white sail on the stream is a scene of richly-wooded rocks on
-the left bank, and on the right a wide expanse of smooth and verdant
-meadows. The hills, immediately overlooking the abbey on the south,
-possess the same picturesque character as those opposite, but are
-enlivened by more frequent habitations, and with more traces of industry
-and cultivation. The ferry-house, close to the watergate, presents some
-features of antiquity; and stands, probably, on the old foundation of
-what was occupied by the abbot’s <span class="eng">Charon</span> of the olden time. A glance at
-the debris, under which some of the monastic buildings here lie half
-buried, suggests an idea that, with due permission and encouragement,
-antiquaries could hardly fail to discover excellent “diggings” in these
-purlieus. But thus far the prying archæologist has been regarded with
-suspicion and distrust, and condemned to look upon the antiquities of
-Tinterne as treasures laid up for the benefit of future generations.</p>
-
-<p>V.&mdash;<span class="eng">Doorway leading into the Cloisters.</span>&mdash;This beautiful specimen of art
-is one of the very finest in the abbey. The elegance of the design is
-only surpassed by the elaborate taste and skill displayed in its
-execution. The clustered mouldings of the doorway; the wavy multifoil
-outline of the inner arch; the beautifully carved ornament that
-surrounds the whole like a riband of delicate lacework; the whole
-crowned with the symbolic trefoil resting on the apex of the arch,
-present a combination of features&mdash;all harmonizing, and all elaborately
-adjusted to one another&mdash;rarely to be met with even among the
-masterpieces of Decorated Gothic.<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a></p>
-
-<p>Looking through this doorway, the window in the distance is that of the
-southern aisle, through which are seen the woods on the opposite hill;
-and inside the walls the ivy is seen climbing in verdant masses along
-the arches and pillars of the nave. Under the broken steps, where the
-group of figures is represented, are the remains of sepulchral
-stone-slabs, covering the resting-place of the old abbots, and formerly
-inlaid with the symbols of their holy office, as</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_010.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_010.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Door from Cloister into Sacristy.</i></p>
-
-<p>Tintern Abbey.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">{113}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">represented in the engraving. But the <i>brasses</i> have long since
-disappeared, and left only the empty grooves to which they had been so
-elaborately adjusted by the skilful artists of that day. Brasses, or
-<span class="eng">Latten</span>, are considered to be good illustrations of the architecture of
-their period, owing to the designs of canopies, crosiers, &amp;c. delineated
-upon them. They are seldom to be met with in any reign prior to that of
-Edward the Second; nor did they become general till towards the close of
-the fourteenth century, when the effigies are commonly surmounted by
-arched canopies, ogee-shaped and crocketed, of the same kind of inlaid
-work elaborately engraven. These subsequently vary, according to the
-style of the age, and in general rather preceding than following it. Of
-the brasses, which&mdash;owing to the rank and character of its founder and
-benefactors, as well as its abbots and others&mdash;must have formed no
-inconsiderable feature in the decorations of Tinterne Abbey, not a
-fragment remains.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Where <span class="eng">Latten</span> marked the abbots’ grave,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And sculpture spread her trophies round it;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rank weeds in wild luxuriance wave,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And mock the gaudy shrine that crowned it.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here, they who for the <span class="eng">Cross</span> had died,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And they who led the way to glory&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here mitred pomp, and martial pride,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Have not a stone to tell their story.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>VI.&mdash;<span class="eng">Doorway leading into the Sacristy.</span>&mdash;This is a double doorway&mdash;a
-specimen of the Early English&mdash;divided by a moulded shaft, with a
-circular opening, or quatrefoil, over it. The outer arch is deeply
-‘recessed,’ consisting of five or six successive shafts, or mouldings,
-on either side, without capitals, and meeting above at the centre of the
-arch. The inner arches are foliated, and the cusps richly fluted.
-Clasping this elegant and massive structure, the ivy has so incorporated
-itself with the masonry, that&mdash;massive as it is&mdash;art must gradually
-yield to that natural process which seems to make every root of ivy, if
-once insinuated between the jointed stones, act like a fulcrum for their
-dislodgment&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Ha, ha!” laughs the Ivy, “let men uprear<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Their ‘<span class="eng">Castles and Abbeys</span>,’ far and near;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Pile upon pile, let their fabrics rise,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Darkening the earth, and mocking the skies;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Lifting their turrets so haughtily&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Boasting their grandeur&mdash;but what care I?<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Buttress and bastion, cloister and hall&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1"><i>I conquer them all&mdash;I conquer them all!</i>”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>VII.&mdash;<span class="eng">The Refectory.</span><a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a>&mdash;Of this building enough remains to show,
-that, in their palmy days, the Abbots of Tinterne had a truly noble hall
-for their pri<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">{114}</a></span>vate and state entertainments. Of refectories in general,
-some account has been already given at page 51 of this volume. Of the
-style of architecture employed in this dining-hall, the numerous
-windows, with their mullioned partitions, tall shafts, and foliated
-arches, face-shafts, and corbel heads along the walls, from which sprang
-the lofty groined vault that covered and connected the whole, present a
-tolerably distinct picture.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Along the roof a maze of mouldings slim,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Like veins that o’er the hand of lady wind,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Embraced in closing arms the key-stone trim,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With hieroglyphs and cyphers quaint combined,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The riddling art that charmed the Gothic mind.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>With regard to the minor details, we may notice the <span class="eng">dole</span>, a small double
-aperture, near the archway on the left; and on the opposite side, is
-another door through which the dishes were handed in from the kitchen.
-Near the dole is a low-arched doorway in the eastern wall, showing the
-passage by which communication was kept up with the adjoining offices,
-the hospitium, the locutorium, and the dormitories. The situation of the
-reading-desk, or lectern, will be seen by referring to the new <span class="eng">plan</span> of
-the abbey here introduced; and this closes our notice of the engraved
-illustrations.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>“On the whole,” says Grose, summing up his observations on Tinterne,
-“though this monastery is undoubtedly light and elegant, it wants that
-gloomy solemnity so essential to religious ruins; it wants those yawning
-vaults and dreary recesses, which strike the beholder with religious
-awe&mdash;make him almost shudder at entering them, and call into his mind
-all the tales of the nursery. Here, at one cast of the eye, the whole is
-comprehended, nothing is left for the spectator to guess or explore; and
-this defect is increased by the ill-placed neatness of the poor people
-who show the building, and by whose absurd labour the ground is covered
-over by a turf, as even and trim as that of a bowling-green, which gives
-the building more the air of an artificial ruin in a garden, than that
-of an ancient decayed <span class="eng">abbey</span>.”</p>
-
-<p>“How unlike,” he adds, “the beautiful description of the poet!&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">‘Half-buried there lies many a broken bust,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And obelisk and urn, o’erthrown by time,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And many a cherub here descends in dust,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">From the rent roof and portico sublime;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where reverend shrines in Gothic grandeur stood,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">The nettle or the noxious nightshade spreads;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And ashlings, wafted from the neighbouring wood,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Through the worn turrets wave their trembling heads.’<span class="lftspc">”</span><br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">{115}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>These objections have been repeated by other writers of unquestionable
-taste; but we may venture to predict, that among the numerous strangers
-who annually resort to these deserted shrines, few will return home
-without expressions of unqualified admiration of “Tinterne, as it is.”
-The care employed by its noble owner in arresting the progress of decay,
-is creditable to his taste and reverence for antiquity. Had these ruins
-been consigned, as some would have had them, to the wasting hand of
-time, their vaulted wonders would long ere now have fallen piecemeal
-into the area beneath; but wherever a stone is observed to be losing its
-hold, the hand of art is immediately applied to restore it to its
-original place: and thus, what might have passed away in a few inclement
-seasons, has been propped up and secured for the delight of many
-generations to come.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And lo, these mouldering fragments to sustain,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Her graceful network nature’s hand hath hung;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Bound every arch with a supporting chain,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And round each wall her living verdure flung;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And o’er the floor that sepulchres the dead&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The saints and heroes of departed years;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The flower of memory lifts its modest head,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And morning sheds her tributary tears.&mdash;<i>W.B.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">Poetical Votaries.</span>&mdash;Having quoted so largely from chroniclers and other
-prose writers in the preceding pages, we must not quit the subject of
-Tinterne Abbey, without selecting a few stanzas from those minstrels who
-have sought and found inspiration on the spot. Wordsworth, from whose
-poem on the Wye we have already quoted, addresses the following</p>
-
-<p class="c"><span class="eng">Lines to a Cistercian Monastery.</span></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">‘Here man more purely lives, less oft doth fall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">More promptly rises, walks with nicer heed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">More safely rests, dies happier; is freed<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A brighter crown.’ On yon <span class="eng">Cistercian</span> wall<br /></span>
-<span class="i1"><i>That</i> confident assurance may be read;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And, to like shelter, from the world have fled<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Increasing multitudes. The potent call<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Doubtless shall cheat full oft the heart’s desire;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Yet, while the rugged age on pliant knee<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Vows to rapt Fancy humble fealty,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A gentler life spreads round the holy spires;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where’er they rise the sylvan waste retires,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And aëry harvests crown the fertile lea.<br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">{116}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="c"><span class="eng">Tinterne Abbey on the Wye.</span></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Sudden the change; at once to tread<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The grass-grown mansions of the dead.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Awful to feeling, where, immense,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rose ruin’d grey magnificence;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The fair wrought shaft all ivy-bound,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The tow’ring arch with foliage crowned,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That trembles on its brow sublime,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Triumphant o’er the spoils of time.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There, grasping all the eye beheld,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thought into mingling anguish swell’d,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And checked the wild excursive wing,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’er dust or bones of priest or king;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or rais’d some <span class="eng">Strongbow</span> warrior’s ghost,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To shout before his banner’d host.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But all was still. The chequered floor<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Shall echo to the step no more;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No airy roof the strain prolong,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of vesper chant or choral song&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><span class="eng">Tinterne</span>! thy name shall hence sustain<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A thousand raptures in my brain;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Joys, full of soul, all strength, all eye,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That cannot fade, that cannot die.&mdash;<i>Bloomfield.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="c"><span class="eng">Evening at Tinterne Abbey.</span></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0"><span class="eng">A pilgrim</span>, at the vesper hour,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I stood by Tinterne’s hallowed tower;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While o’er the walls, in golden hue,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The setting sun its farewell threw;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then, paling slowly, flushed and fled,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Like a smile from the cheek of the recent dead.<br /></span>
-<span class="iast">* * * *<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><span class="eng">’Tis night</span>&mdash;on the ivy-mantled walls<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The shadows deepen, and darkness falls;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And forth from his roost, in the fretted aisle,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The solemn owl wheels round the pile;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But no lighted shrine, no vesper-song,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is seen, or heard, these aisles among;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For hymnless now the day returns,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And voiceless sets on their nameless urns;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nor laud, nor chant, nor matin chime,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Retard the fleeting steps of time.<br /></span>
-<span class="iast">* * * *<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><span class="eng">The Shrine</span>, from which the anthem rushed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When evening glowed, or morning blushed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">{117}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Like them, who reared the pile on high&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A landmark pointing to the sky;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Like them, by slow and sure decay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That shrine is crumbling o’er their clay.&mdash;<i>W.B.</i>, 1848.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="c"><span class="eng">The Abbey by Moonlight.</span></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i2">I tread the moonlit <span class="eng">abbey</span>! Oh, my soul,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">How nobly art thou struggling to be free,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Spurning the temple’s, and the world’s control,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And feeling most inadequate to thee<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The loftiest dome, the grandest scenery;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">O’er views that would oppress thee or appal,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Rising, like light bark o’er the mounting sea;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And where, if weak or mortal thou wouldst fall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Expanding to survey and compass more than all!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i2"><span class="eng">Palace of Piety</span>! Devotion here<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Should wear a crownèd angel’s robe of white,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And antedate the ardours of a sphere,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Where all is tranquil as this noon of night!<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The moon&mdash;the regal moon&mdash;intensely bright,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Shines through the roseate window of the west;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Each shaft, an artificial stalactite<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Of pendent stone, with slumber seems oppressed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or with a charmèd dream of peaceful rapture blessed.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i2">And through thy lofty arch, a single star<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Is gazing from a depth of spotless blue,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">As if to learn how soft thy splendours are,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And feel them deeply, as I fain would do!<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">While now supine upon thy pave of dew<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">I let thy loveliness my soul pervade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And pass with unimpeded influence through<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Its quiet depths, like moonlight through thy shade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To haunt with beauty still that shrine of hopes decayed.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i2">Forgive me, <span class="eng">abbey</span> of the watered vale&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Forgive that, when I feel my spirit swell<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">With an unwonted energy, I fail<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">To hymn thy desolated glories well!<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Not yet the chrysalis has burst its shell&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Not yet expanded its immortal wings;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The restless rudiments of vast powers tell<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The soul a deathless thing; from earth she springs,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But fast and feebly falls, the while of thee she sings.<br /></span>
-<span class="i15"><i>J. C. Earle, St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford.</i><br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">{118}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="c"><span class="eng">Tinterne Vesper-Hymn.</span></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Like crimson on the dimpled Wye<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sleeps the glowing summer sky;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’er the landscape, widely thrown,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Belted rock, and mountain cone;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Hamlet, tower, and haunted stream,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Are basking in the vesper-beam;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And holy <span class="eng">friars</span>, robed in white,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Cross them in the waning light&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ave Maria!</span><br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Now, along the abbey walls,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Soft the purple <i>gloaming</i> falls;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Aloft, on every turret’s height,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In the dim and doubtful light,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here retiring, there advancing,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Weeds are waving, wings are glancing,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And yon effigies of stone<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Seem to hail the vesper-tone&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ave Maria!</span><br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Deeper yet, and deeper still,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From winding stream, and wooded hill,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Shadowy cliff and rippling <i>weir</i>,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nature’s music fills the ear;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Notes of mingling praise and prayer<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Float along the solemn air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where, from cloistered arches dim,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Swells the everlasting hymn&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ave Maria!</span><br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Hark, ’tis midnight! but, unsleeping,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here their faithful vigil keeping;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Pale <span class="eng">white friars</span> raise again,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In lengthened chant, the solemn strain!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Hark! throughout the sacred dwelling,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">High the mingled notes are swelling;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Angels, stooping from the sky,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Bear the sacrifice on high&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ave Maria!</span>&mdash;<i>W. B.</i> 1849.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_118.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_118.jpg" height="301" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">{119}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="Appendix" id="Appendix"></a><span class="eng">Appendix.</span></h2>
-
-<p>Of the Abbots of Tinterne the historical notices are very scanty. The
-following occur in the “Parliamentary Writs,” by Sir Francis
-Palgrave:&mdash;<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p>
-
-<div class="blockquott"><p><span class="eng">A.D.</span> 1294.&mdash;<span class="eng">Abbas de Tynterne</span> is summoned to a council of the
-clergy, to be held before the <span class="eng">King</span> in person, at Westminster, on
-the Feast of <span class="eng">St. Matthias</span> the Apostle, on the twenty-first day of
-September, and twenty-second of <span class="eng">Edward</span> I. Again&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>1295.&mdash;The <span class="eng">Abbas de Tynterne</span> is summoned to Parliament at
-Westminster, on Sunday next after the feast of <span class="eng">St. Martin</span>,
-thirteenth day of October, and twenty-third year of the reign of
-<span class="eng">Edward</span> I., prorogued to Sunday next, before the Feast of <span class="eng">St. Andrew</span>
-the Apostle, the twenty-seventh of November. Thirdly&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>1296.&mdash;Summoned to Parliament at <span class="eng">Bury St. Edmund’s</span>, on the morrow
-of <span class="eng">All-Souls</span>, November the third day, and twenty-fourth year of the
-reign of <span class="eng">Edward</span> I.</p>
-
-<p>1300.&mdash;<span class="eng">Abbas de Tynterne</span>&mdash;Letter of Credence addressed to him
-concerning the expedition against the <span class="eng">Scots</span>&mdash;at Blith, the
-seventeenth day of January, and twenty-eighth year of the reign of
-<span class="eng">Edward</span> I. Again, the same year, the <span class="eng">abbot</span> was summoned to
-Parliament in London, on the second Sunday in <span class="eng">Lent</span>, being the sixth
-day of March.</p>
-
-<p>1301.&mdash;<span class="eng">Abbas de Tynterne</span> is summoned to Parliament at <span class="eng">Lincoln</span>&mdash;in
-eight days of <span class="eng">St. Hilary</span>&mdash;the twentieth day of January, and
-twenty-eighth year of the reign aforesaid.</p>
-
-<p>1305.&mdash;Summoned to Parliament at Westminster, on Tuesday, in
-fifteen days of the <span class="eng">Purification</span>, the sixteenth of February;
-afterwards prorogued to Sunday next, after the Feast of <span class="eng">St.
-Matthias</span> the Apostle, the twenty-eighth day of February&mdash;but to
-which he was not resummoned&mdash;and thirty-third year of the reign of
-<span class="eng">Edward</span> I.</p>
-
-<p>1316.&mdash;<span class="eng">Abbas de Tynterne</span>, certified pursuant to writ, tested at
-Clipston, March the fifth, as one of the lords of the township of
-<span class="eng">Acle</span>,<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> in the county of Norfolk, in the ninth year of the reign
-of <span class="eng">Edward</span> II.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">{120}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>1316.&mdash;<span class="eng">Johannes de Tynterne</span>, certified in like manner, as holding
-part of the burgh of <span class="eng">Lyme-Regis</span>, in the county of Dorset, in the
-ninth year of the reign of <span class="eng">Edward</span> II.</p></div>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>The following is the original document referred to in various passages
-of the foregoing articles on Chepstow and Tinterne:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="eng">Genealogia</span> Fundatoris (Ex MS. Codice in Bibl. Cottoniana [sub
-Effigie Vitellii, F. 4], fol. 7).</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Gunnora</span> Comitissa Normanniæ duas habuit sorores, una Turulpho de
-Ponte-Adamaro conjuncta erat in matrimonio, et procreavit <span class="eng">Humfridum</span>
-de Vetulis qui fuit pater <span class="eng">Rogeri</span> de Bellomonte, ex quo comites de
-Warwike et Leicestriæ processerunt.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Turketillus</span> fuit frater istius Turulphi, cujus filius Hasculfus de
-Harecurt aliam sororem predictæ Comitissæ Gunnoræ con ... erat duos
-procreavit filios; scilicet <span class="eng">Walterum</span> de Giffard, primogenitum, qui
-alium Walterum procreavit, et dictus fuit Walterius Giffard
-secundus. Rohesia, una sororum Walteri (duas plures enim habuit)
-conjuncta in matrimonio <span class="eng">Ricardo</span> filio comitis <span class="eng">Gisleberti</span>, qui in re
-militari, tempore Conquestoris omnes sui temporis magnates
-præcessit. Prædicta Rohesia supervixit et renupta <span class="eng">Eudoni</span>, dapifero
-Regis Normanniæ qui construxit castrum Colecestriæ, cum cœnobio, in
-honore Sancti Johannis, ubi sepultus fuit, cum conjuge sua, tempore
-<span class="eng">Henrici</span> primi. Margareta filia eorum nupta fuit <span class="eng">Willielmo</span> de
-Mandevill, et fuit mater <span class="eng">Gaufredi</span> filii comitis Essexiæ et jure
-matris, Normanniæ dapifer. Prædictus <span class="eng">Ricardus</span> apud sanctum <span class="eng">Neotum</span>
-jacet sepultus. Huic rex Willielmus concessit baroniam <span class="eng">De Clare</span>,
-villam verò cum castello de Tunbridge, de Archiepiscopo
-Cantuariensi, pro aliis terris in Normannia, perquisivit in
-excambium. <span class="eng">Baldwinus</span>, frater istius Ricardi, Willielmum, Robertum,
-et Ricardum, cum tribus sororibus genuit. Ex prædicta <span class="eng">Rohesia</span> hanc
-sobolem procreavit Ricardus, <span class="eng">Rogerus</span> natu secundus terras patris
-sui in Normannia adeptus est; <span class="eng">Walterus dominium Wenciæ inferioris,
-in Wallia, qui construxit Abbatiam de Tinterna, anno Domini</span> <small>MCXXXI</small>;
-<span class="eng">obiit sine prole</span>.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a></p></div>
-
-<p>The <span class="eng">Deed</span>, by which the privileges originally granted by the founders
-were confirmed and completed by Roger Bigod, after the lapse of a
-hundred and seven years, is expressed in the following terms:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Rogerus le Bygod Comes Norfolciæ</span>, et Mareschallus Angliæ, Salutem in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">{121}</a></span>
-Domino. Noverit universitas vestra me intuitu Dei et pro salute animæ
-nostræ, et animarum antecessorum nostrorum, et hæredum nostrorum,
-concessisse et confirmasse Deo et ecclesiæ beatæ <span class="eng">Mariæ de Tinterna</span>,
-Abbati et monachis et eorum successoribus ibidem Deo servientibus, in
-liberam puram et perpetuam elemosynam, omnes terras et possessiones,
-libertates, et liberas consuetudines subscriptas quas habent ex donis
-antecessorum nostrorum et aliorum fundatorum seu donatorum, sive ex dono
-nostro&mdash;videlicet: Totam hayam de <span class="eng">Porcassek</span>, et ex altera parte co
-opertorium nemoris c&#771; omnibus pertinentiis suis in bosco et plano, et
-quicquid habet in Pentirk de tenementis terris redditibus boscis et
-planis c&#771; aliis libertatibus suis et totam terram de <span class="eng">Modisgat</span> c&#771;
-omnibus suis pertinentiis&mdash;videlicet: cum pastura ovium et aliorum
-animalium suorum ubique in <i>chacia</i> nostra de <span class="eng">Tudenham</span>, et de Subbosco
-in dictu chacia quicquid eis necessarium fuerit ad ardendum et ad
-<i>hayas</i> claudendas, etc. His testibus domino Joanne le Bÿgod fratre meo:
-Dom. Joanne le Bÿgod <span class="eng">Stocton</span>: Nicholao de <span class="eng">Kingeston</span>, militibus: Elya de
-Aylbreton, tunc Seneschallo meo de <span class="eng">Strugull</span>: Philippe de <span class="eng">Mora</span>: Rogero de
-<span class="eng">Sancto Mauro</span>: Willielmo de <span class="eng">Dynam</span>: Andreæ de <span class="eng">Bellocampo</span>, et aliis.</p>
-
-<p>Datum apud <span class="eng">Modesgat</span>, quarto die Augusti, <span class="eng">anno Domini</span> <small>M.CCCI.</small></p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Authorities</span> quoted or referred to in the preceding article on
-Tinterne Abbey and its vicinity:&mdash;Dugdale’s Monasticon and
-Baronage&mdash;Thomas’s Tinterne&mdash;Camden&mdash;Giraldus Cambrensis&mdash;Robert of
-Gloucester&mdash;Matthew Paris&mdash;William of Worcester&mdash;Fosbroke’s British
-Monachism&mdash;Dallaway’s Arts&mdash;Reed&mdash;Barber&mdash;Mores Catholici&mdash;Life of
-St. Bernard&mdash;French Monastic Writers&mdash;Annales et Usus
-Cistercienses&mdash;Morton’s Monastic Annals&mdash;Nicolson’s History&mdash;West’s
-Furness&mdash;Wonders and Traditions of Wales&mdash;Bp.
-Godwin&mdash;Burnet&mdash;Pictorial Hist. of Engl.&mdash;Sir H. Ellis’s Original
-Letters&mdash;Wilkins’s Concilia&mdash;Macaulay’s History&mdash;Blunt’s Sketch of
-the Reformation&mdash;Latimer’s Sermons&mdash;Madden’s
-Penalties&mdash;Warton&mdash;Taylor’s Index Monast.&mdash;Heraldic
-Enquiries&mdash;Henniker&mdash;Cowel&mdash;Chronicles of England&mdash;Local historians
-and poets&mdash;Gilpin&mdash;Heath&mdash;Barber&mdash;Thomas, whose work on “Tinterne
-and its Environs” is the best hand-book that has yet appeared on
-this locality&mdash;Notes taken by the Editor during a Tour on the
-Wye&mdash;Hints and Suggestions from Correspondents, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_121.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_121.jpg" width="448" height="264" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">{122}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>On taking leave of Tinterne, we shall here introduce a short notice of&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Goodrich Castle</span>, once a stronghold of the Marshalls, whose names have
-been so often recorded in connection with the abbey. It stands on a
-finely wooded promontory, round which the river Wye flows in a
-semicircular direction. By whom it was originally founded is unknown,
-though the near affinity of its name to that of ‘<span class="eng">Godricus Dux</span>,’ who
-occurs as a witness to two charters granted by King <span class="eng">Canute</span> to the abbey
-of <span class="eng">Hulm</span>, has given birth to a not improbable conjecture that he was the
-founder. The <span class="eng">Keep</span> is evidently of a date antecedent to the Conquest; but
-the surrounding works are principally Norman, though various additions
-and alterations may be distinguished as the workmanship of different
-periods, even down to the time of Henry VI.</p>
-
-<p>In its general outline, this castle forms a parallelogram, with a round
-tower at each angle, and a square ‘keep’ standing in the south-west part
-of the enclosed area. The common thickness of the exterior walls is
-somewhat more than seven feet; the length of the longest sides&mdash;that is,
-those towards the south-east and north-west, including the projections
-of the towers&mdash;is about 176 feet; and that of the south-west and
-north-east sides about 152 feet.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_122.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_122.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The keep</span> stands somewhat in the same manner as those of Porchester,
-Pevensey, and Castleton, close to the outward wall of the castle; and,
-like them, it has no window on the outside next the country. It had
-evidently three rooms or floors, one above the other; all of them,
-however, were very small,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">{123}</a></span> being only fourteen feet and a half square;
-and the room on the first floor had no sort of internal communication
-with the dungeon beneath&mdash;which had not even a single loophole for light
-and air, but was connected by a very narrow passage to a still smaller
-dungeon, strongly secured under the platform belonging to the steps of
-the entrance, and having a very small air-hole on the same side. “The
-original windows are Saxon; that in the middle of the upper story seems
-to have remained just as it was from the very first, without any
-alteration; and the manner in which the two large side columns stand,
-somewhat <i>within</i> the arch, is consistent with the fashion adopted by
-the Saxons, and continued even to the time of Edward the Confessor. The
-large zigzag ornament on each side, between the columns, is in the rude
-form in which it was generally used by the early Saxons; and so also is
-that of the zigzag moulding, or band, that is carried by way of ornament
-quite across the tower, just under the window; and it is very
-remarkable, that the middle projecting buttress is carried no higher
-than this ornament.”<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a>&mdash;See the preceding wood-cut.</p>
-
-<p>The window in the apartment beneath is similar in its general
-construction; but the columns which support the arch are somewhat
-higher, and a semicircular moulding of zigzag is carried beneath the
-arch; the middle part of the window, however, has been altered&mdash;a stone
-frame for glass having been inserted, of the style and age of Henry the
-Sixth, and probably in the time of the celebrated Earl Talbot, whom
-tradition represents as having his <span class="eng">own chamber</span> in this tower. In the
-second apartment is a fire-hearth, and, in an angle of the wall, a
-circular staircase leads to the upper story. “To this staircase is a
-most remarkable doorway; it has one large transom stone, as if to aid
-the arch to support the wall above, and in this respect it resembles
-several other Saxon structures, in which this singular fashion seems to
-have been uniformly adopted, until it became gradually altered by the
-introduction of a flattish <i>under-arch</i>, substituted in the room of the
-transom stone.”<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The principal entrance</span> was by a flight of steps on one side, distinct
-from the main building, and ascending to a platform before the doorway
-leading to the second chamber. The entrance to the dungeon, or lower
-apartment, was under “a very remarkable sort of pointed arch, formed of
-flat sides, which seems, from the appearance of the wall around it, and
-from its peculiar style, to have been inserted many ages after the tower
-was built, and in the time of <span class="eng">Edward</span> III.; a suspicion that appears to
-be most strongly confirmed, by the circumstance, that about the
-twenty-second year of Edward the Third, Richard Talbot, its then lord,
-obtained the royal license<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> for having in his castle a prison for
-male-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">{124}</a></span>factors, having also the cognizance of pleas of the crown, &amp;c.,
-within his lordship of Irchinfield. The bottom of the keep-tower would
-undoubtedly, as usual, be the place where such a prison would be
-established; and on that occasion it should seem that this new and
-strong door-frame was first constructed, whilst the very annexation of
-the lordship of Irchinfield, or Urchenfield, to the possession of this
-keep-tower, both of which his lordship appears to have been possessed of
-before this license was granted, shows the exceedingly high antiquity of
-this castle, since Urchenfield was, indeed, the very place where St.
-Dubricius founded his college of Religious, about <small>A.D.</small> 512, to live,
-like the original Eastern recluses, by the work of their own
-hands.”<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> The body of the keep is an exact square of twenty-nine
-feet.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">In</span> describing the additions made to this fortress in the Norman times,
-and during the successive reigns to the time of Henry the Sixth, we
-shall follow Mr. King, and begin with the strongly-fortified <span class="eng">entrance</span>,
-which, commencing between two semicircular towers of equal dimensions,
-near the east angle, was continued under a dark vaulted passage, to an
-extent of fifty feet. “Immediately before the entrance, and within the
-space enclosed by the fosse, was a very deep pit, hewn out of the solid
-rock, formerly crossed by a drawbridge, which is now gone, but which
-evidently appears to have exactly fitted, and to have closed, when drawn
-up, the whole front of the gateway between the towers. About eleven feet
-within the passage was a massive gate, the strong iron hinges of which
-still remain: this gate and the drawbridge were defended on each side by
-loopholes, and overhead by rows of machicolations in the vaulting. Six
-feet and a half beyond this was a portcullis, and about seven feet
-further a second portcullis; the space between these was again protected
-by loopholes and machicolations. About two feet more inward was another
-strong gate, and five feet and a half beyond this, on the right, a small
-door leading to a long narrow gallery, only three feet wide, formed in
-the thickness of the wall, and which was the means of access to the
-loopholes in the eastern tower, as well as to some others that commanded
-the brow of the steep precipice towards the north-east.” These works
-appear to have been thought sufficient for general defence; but a
-resource was ingeniously contrived for greater security, in case they
-had all been forced: “for a little further on are many stone projections
-in the wall on each side, like pilasters, manifestly designed for
-inserting great beams of timber within them, like bars, from one side of
-the passage, which was about nine feet ten inches wide, to the other, so
-as to form a strong barricade, with earth or stones between the rows of
-timber, which would in a short time, and with rapidity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">{125}</a></span> form a strong
-massy wall.” Beyond these the passage opened into the great inner court
-of the Castle.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Chapel.</span>&mdash;The ruins of the chapel run parallel with the entrance on the
-left; the style of the broken ornaments, and particularly of those about
-its great window, show this to have been repaired and adorned even so
-late as the reign of Henry the Seventh. In one part is a very remarkable
-niche, and near it a smaller one, for holy water. On the opposite side
-is also another niche for the same purpose. Beneath the chapel was a
-deep vault, and over it a chamber, with a fireplace, which still appears
-projecting from the wall. Adjoining the chapel, and near the entrance,
-is a small octagonal watch-tower, which rises above the other buildings,
-and commands a fine view over the surrounding country.</p>
-
-<p>The buildings between the chapel and the south or garrison tower, to the
-upper part of which a passage, or covered-way, led along the top of the
-outer wall, are mostly in ruins. Here appear to have been the stables.
-The garrison tower adjoins the entrance to the keep; its foundation is a
-square of about thirty-six feet; but the three outward angles diminish
-as they ascend, and form triangular buttresses, so that the upper part
-of the tower is circular. The walls are at least eight feet in
-thickness. The entrances to this tower were so continued, that there was
-access to it from every part of the walls. It contained three floors,
-and in each of them a fire-hearth. The interior forms an irregular
-octagon, about twenty feet in diameter from the angles, and about
-seventeen from side to side.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Great Tower.</span>&mdash;The wall that extended between the keep and the west tower
-is in ruins. This tower, which is also greatly dilapidated, appears of
-more modern construction than the former, and is probably of the time of
-the Edwards. Its outward form is circular; but the interior is somewhat
-of an octangular figure, but very irregular, its general dimensions
-being thirty-three feet long, and twenty-five feet broad. In this
-appears to have been the great <span class="eng">kitchen</span>; the fireplace is still
-distinguishable, with a recess and loophole on each side. Here was a
-small doorway, or sally-port, communicating with a sort of outer
-<i>ballium</i>, which runs on the north-west side, and was enclosed by an
-outer wall. On this side also, and ranging between the west tower and
-the north or Ladies’ tower, were the state apartments.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Hall</span> was a magnificent room of the time of Edward the First, as
-clearly appears from the style and architecture of its remains, and
-particularly from its long, slender, and narrow windows. This apartment
-was sixty-five feet long, and twenty-eight feet broad. Some years ago it
-contained a single beam of oak, “without knot or knarle,” sixty-six feet
-long, and nearly two feet square throughout its whole length. On the
-north-west side is the great<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">{126}</a></span> fireplace; and behind it, projecting into
-the outer <span class="eng">ballium</span>, a vast mass of solid stonework, or buttress, which,
-in its upper part, appears to have had some little apartment, or
-guard-chamber. The hall communicated towards the north with a kind of
-withdrawing or retiring room, about twenty-nine feet by seventeen and a
-half, in which appears to have been a window looking into the hall. From
-this second apartment, a passage led into what seems to have been the
-great</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">State-room</span>, which was fifty-five feet and a half long by twenty broad.
-At the upper end, or towards the north, are two beautiful pointed
-arches, springing from a well-wrought octagon pillar in the middle of
-the apartment, and resting on corbels at the sides. Here seem to have
-been two large windows; but the walls are so much broken, or closely
-mantled with ivy, that this cannot with certainty be affirmed. The
-architecture of this part of the building is of the time of <span class="eng">Henry</span> the
-Fifth or Sixth. At the north angle of this room is an opening leading
-into the north or <span class="eng">Ladies’ tower</span>, which is so situated on the brow of a
-high and steep precipice, as to be the most defensible part of the
-castle. From the apartment within, which is a neat octagon, about
-fifteen feet in diameter, is a most beautiful view over the adjacent
-country. From the common appellation of this tower, there can be little
-doubt of its having been appropriated as a “Ladies’ bower.” Beyond the
-state-room, in the north-east wall, is a square recess and loophole,
-supposed to have been formed for the lodging and seat of the warden.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Such</span> was the original construction of Goodrich Castle; but almost every
-part has yielded to the iron tooth of age, and to the more speedy
-demolition of war. The ruins, however, are extremely grand; the massive
-towers are finely mantled with ivy; and even the great moat is
-embellished with the luxuriant foliage of tall forest-trees. From the
-adjoining woods the crumbling turrets have a very striking and
-interesting effect; and seen from the water, the view has been truly
-characterized as “one of the grandest upon the Wye.”</p>
-
-<p>Whoever was the original founder of this Castle, “whether Godricus Dux,
-who witnessed King <span class="eng">Canute’s</span> charters, or any chieftain prior to him,” it
-is certain that the earliest authenticated record yet discovered, is of
-<small>A.D.</small> 1204, when it was given by “King John to William Strigul, Earl
-<span class="eng">Marshall</span>, to hold by the service of two knights’ fees.” His son Walter,
-Earl of Pembroke&mdash;as noticed in a former page of this volume&mdash;died here
-in December, 1245. It was afterwards conveyed by a female to William de
-<span class="eng">Valentia</span>, Earl of Pembroke, whose third son, Aymer de Valence, became
-his heir, and was murdered in France in 1323. From him it passed to the
-Talbots, by the marriage of Elizabeth Comyn, daughter of Joan, his
-second sister, with Sir Richard, afterwards Lord Talbot, who procured
-the license from Edward the Third to have a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">{127}</a></span> prison here. This Richard
-was a renowned soldier and statesman; and is thought to have expended a
-considerable part of the ransoms, obtained from his prisoners taken in
-the French wars, on the reparation and improvement of Goodrich Castle.
-His descendant, John Talbot, the great Earl of Shrewsbury, who was
-killed at the battle of Castillon, in the year 1453, was first buried at
-Rouen; and in enumeration of his titles on the monument raised to his
-memory, he is styled “Lord of Goderich and Orchenfield.” His successors
-were equally distinguished for bravery, and were frequently employed in
-offices of great trust. George,<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> the sixth earl, had the custody of
-Mary, Queen of Scots, committed to his charge. That these places were
-really alienated is improbable, as Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury,
-was in possession of this castle and manor at the period of his death in
-the 14th of James the First. Elizabeth, his second daughter and
-co-heiress, conveyed them in marriage to Henry de Grey, Earl of Kent, in
-whose family they continued till the year 1740, when, on the death of
-Henry, Duke of Kent, they were sold to Admiral Griffin.</p>
-
-<p>In the civil wars between Charles I. and his Parliament, Goodrich Castle
-was alternately possessed by both parties. It was first seized by the
-Parliamentary army; but afterwards fell into the hands of the Royalists,
-who sustained a siege of nearly six weeks against Colonel Birch. The
-colonel began the siege on the 22nd of June, 1646. On the third of
-August, as appears from Whitelocke, “Colonel Birch entered some of the
-works of Gotherich Castle, whereupon the garrison hung out a white flag
-for parley, which Birch refused, and went on storming, until they all
-submitted to mercy. In the castle, besides the governor, were 50
-gentlemen and 120 soldiers, with arms, ammunition, and provisions.” On
-the twenty-fifth the Parliament gave orders that the Countess of Kent
-should be informed that there was a <i>necessity</i> for demolishing the
-castle; and that “on the demolishing thereof, satisfaction should be
-made to her. On the first of March following, they finally resolved that
-the castle should be totally disgarrisoned, and <i>slighted</i>. The breaches
-of the Ladies’ tower, which is the most effectually ruined, were said to
-have been chiefly occasioned by the battering of the cannon during the
-siege.”<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">{128}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="RAGLAN_CASTLE" id="RAGLAN_CASTLE"></a>RAGLAN CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Monmouthshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“<span class="eng">Stranger</span>! ponder here awhile;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Pause in <span class="eng">Raglan’s</span> ruined pile;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">All that wealth and power, combined,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With skill to plan, and taste refined,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To rear a structure fit to be<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The home of England’s <span class="eng">Chivalry</span>,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Was lavished here!&mdash;where, met in hall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Mailed <span class="eng">Barons</span> kept their festival;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The night in lordly wassail spent&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The day in tilt and tournament:<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Yet still, when England’s woes began,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Were first to arm and lead the van;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To shield the <span class="eng">Monarch</span> in his need,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">In Freedom’s glorious cause to bleed;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To Loyalty surrendering all&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Then, with their falling <span class="eng">King</span> to fall!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Castle of Raglan</span> is one of the most picturesque ruins in the
-kingdom, and closely associated with a momentous period of our national
-annals. Though roofless, tenantless, and dismantled, it still presents a
-majestic and venerable aspect. No visitor of taste or sensibility will
-ever traverse its spacious but long-deserted halls, without feeling a
-deep interest in its eventful history.</p>
-
-<p>It was on a bright autumnal evening that we quitted the comfortable
-little inn, the “Beaufort Arms,” at Raglan, to make our first survey of
-this baronial stronghold; and at that hour, and season of the year, it
-was seen through its embowering trees in all its glory. Ascending the
-gentle eminence on which it stands, we came to the outer gate, or
-barbican, portions of which still remain, and crossing the <i>ballium</i>,
-now covered with rich verdant pasture, we were received by the
-intelligent Warden, who conducted us to the majestic gateway, and
-pointed out to us, as we proceeded, the more imposing features of the
-Castle, as they alternately met and receded from the eye.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_011.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_011.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Avenue.</i></p>
-
-<p>Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">{129}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The vista through the Gateway, taking in the Great Court&mdash;once adorned
-with statues and fountains, but now, like everything around it,
-abandoned to the weather, is very striking; while the absolute silence
-which pervades the scene, contrasts forcibly with its ancient stir and
-splendour, and compels us, while fancy is peopling it with troops of
-chivalry and their retainers, to exclaim, “Where are they?” A long
-wooden table with benches, the last symbols of that hospitality for
-which its noble owners were once conspicuous, stood on the grassy floor.
-But these were no relics of the ancient banquet-hall, but of a modern
-festive meeting, when the tenants upon the estates had met to express
-their attachment to the noble Marquess and his family. The manner in
-which the kitchen had been refitted for their entertainment, showed that
-it must have been ‘got up’ in a style not unworthy of its feudal renown;
-and, “as for the venison,”&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i8">“Finer or fatter<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Ne’er ranged in a forest, or smoked on a platter.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">We</span> arrived, however, too late for the feast, though another, a much
-simpler, and palatable treat awaited us&mdash;that which Nature, luxuriating
-amidst the ruins of Art, had lavishly spread before us. Such piles of
-masonry, such masses of ivy, were never before brought together! Here
-and there, indeed, the sturdy ramparts looked through their leafy screen
-with a sort of ghastly whiteness, like Hobbes’ spectre from behind the
-yew-tree, or the bones of some enormous skeleton, upon which the kindly
-hand of Nature had suspended her own green mantle. Nothing could be more
-strikingly novel and picturesque. Along the vast framework of the
-castle, on which the wealth and taste of centuries had been employed,
-until its strength and beauty could receive no farther additions from
-the hand of man, a straggling forest of vegetation expanded its mingling
-branches. Under the same leafy covert, from the timid wren to the
-ill-omened raven, birds of every feather had found a congenial roost.
-From the sepulchral yew the moping owl looked out upon everything around
-her as her own domain and cherished inheritance. Over our heads bats
-performed their swift circles in the still twilight sky; while daws
-chattered from the ancient keep, as if they had never heard a
-musket-shot, nor felt the slightest apprehension of being disturbed in
-their possession. On a lofty spray that overtopped every other tree, a
-loving thrush serenaded his mate in the fragrant thicket below. Numerous
-smaller birds, that seemed puzzled from the very abundance of the
-accommodation where to fix their roost, kept up a constant fluttering
-amongst the branches; while here and there was heard a bickering of
-wings and twittering of bills, as if contending for possession of some
-favourite branch for the night. Surely, we thought, there is room enough
-here for all; and yet even there&mdash;among those spacious green arbours,
-place and position were as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">{130}</a></span> eagerly sought and coveted by the feathered
-tribes, as by the equally volatile and jealous retainers of a court.</p>
-
-<p>At length all was seemingly adjusted; the stillness of night pervaded
-the scene; the last shadows of twilight had faded into one common pall;
-and night, attended by a host of sparkling satellites, took quiet
-possession of the long line of courts that once swarmed with life and
-enjoyment.</p>
-
-<p>And now, between the western sky&mdash;that still retained some warm
-lingering traces of sunset&mdash;and the donjon tower, mousing owls were seen
-enjoying their solemn pastime, here swimming lazily through the arched
-court, then along the battlements, or the margin of the clear glassy
-moat; then soaring aloft, and settling for a minute or two among the
-dark ivy; but still returning to make another circle and finding no
-wings abroad but their own.</p>
-
-<p>The contemplation of this Castle, at any period of the day, is
-calculated to make a lasting impression; but when the rising moon shot
-her mellow light through its old shattered casements, and the breeze
-seemed to waken at the same instant and set all the ivy in motion, the
-scene became still more impressive. Among the deep shadows that invested
-the spacious courts, every prominent object was now brought suddenly
-into view; and, with a little aid from fancy, the waving of plumes, and
-the flashing of steel armour, seemed distinctly visible on the
-battlements; while the fragments of crumbling masonry that lay scattered
-below, as if struck by an enchanter’s wand, presented the semblance of
-animated groups, that waited only the word of command to start into life
-and motion. The stillness, too, which but half an hour before had
-pervaded every court and tower, was succeeded by a soft rustling among
-the leaves, that now flickered like quicksilver as the moonlight fell
-upon them, and then lost itself in their massive branches; whilst the
-shrubs and flowers that grew wild and vigorous in every court, or
-clambered up the walls and archways, seemed to give forth their mingled
-odours to the night wind, as it passed wooingly through their leaves,
-and filled the air with incense.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“We seemed to tread on faëry land;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">For, in every thing around us,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">We felt the touch of a viewless hand,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And we heard the notes of a seraph band,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Whose magic spell had bound us;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">While bright yclad, as in days of yore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1"><span class="eng">The Knight of Raglan</span> strode before.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Pitched-court; the hall of state, with its magnificent bay-window;
-the chapel; the fountain-court, with the grand staircase on the south
-side opening upon it; then the elegant portal leading to the grand
-terrace that overlooks <span class="eng">Raglan church</span>, were all traversed in succession,
-with nothing to distract attention, or disturb the solitude, but the
-whistle of a night-hawk, or the sound<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">{131}</a></span> of our own footsteps on the
-grassy carpet, that now forms the universal ‘pavement’ of these once
-sumptuous apartments. For over the once tesselated floor, and the
-tapestried walls, weeds have thrown an oblivious mantle, while&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Ha, ha!” laughs the Ivy, “old Time to me<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Hath given the glory and mastery!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">So poets may sing, if it like them well,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">From early matins till vesper bell;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And others may list to their minstrelsie&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">I’ve a song of my own&mdash;so what care I?<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Your <span class="eng">castles</span>, though stately, and strong, and tall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1"><i>I</i> conquer them all&mdash;<i>I conquer them all</i>!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But as the faint outline here sketched will be filled up when we take
-the architectural features of the <span class="eng">Castle</span> in detail, we pass on to a few
-preliminary remarks.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_131.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_131.jpg" width="538" height="446" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>Ancient armour.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a>
-<a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Grose</span>, in his ‘Antiquities,’ observes that this castle is of no great
-antiquity, having been founded, as he conjectures, about the close of
-the fifteenth century, although many important additions were
-subsequently added. In the time of Henry VIII., as Leland informs us,
-Raglan, “yn Middle Venceland [Wentland], was a fair and pleasant castel,
-with to goodlye parkes adjacent;” and “the laste Lord Herbertes,” as
-Morgan told him, “builded all the best coffes of the Castle of Raglan.”
-Camden, in his account of the Silures, or Monmouthshire, notices it very
-briefly, as “a fair house of the Earl of Worcester’s, built
-castel-like.”<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">{132}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>It is not stated by Grose on what authority he places Raglan Castle
-among the strongholds erected in the time of Henry VII. His observations
-can apply only to those portions of it which are comparatively modern.
-The Citadel, or Yellow Tower of Gwent, is of unquestionable antiquity.
-In the family history we are told that Sir John Morley, a military
-knight, who lived in the time of Richard II., resided here as ‘lord of
-Raglan Castle.’ But postponing this question at present, as one that
-will be considered more fully when we come to examine the Castle in
-detail, we shall merely observe that although, as it now appears, the
-Castle does not indicate any more distant origin than the reign of Henry
-V., yet traces may be discovered in various portions of towers built, or
-reconstructed, during every subsequent reign, down to that of <span class="eng">Charles</span>
-I.&mdash;with whose fate it is so painfully associated. Owing to the
-circumstance named, the learned antiquary may discover ‘a disunion of
-styles;’ but taken as a whole, the Castle of Raglan presents a
-remarkable harmony of proportions that hides every minute discrepancy,
-heightens the general effect, and leaves the spectator under a pleasing
-conviction that, in design and execution, it is the work, not of many,
-but of one master mind. But to this subject we shall return; and, in the
-meantime, we proceed to give a brief sketch of</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Founders of Raglan.</span>&mdash;By Mr. Jones the name of the founder is traced
-to that of Sir William ap Thomas.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> This date, however, is too
-modern, and only a repetition of the conjecture thrown out by Grose.
-There is every reason to believe that the Clares, as early as the
-thirteenth century, had a castle at Raglan, the site, of which is now
-occupied by the Citadel, or Tower of Gwent, erected probably in the
-reign of Henry V. The above-named Sir William ap Thomas resided at
-Raglan Castle during the reign of Henry V., who knighted him for his
-valour in the wars of France. He married Gladys, daughter of Sir Richard
-Gam, and widow of Sir Roger Vaughan,<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> by whom he had three sons and
-a daughter. Of his eldest son, William, first Earl of Pembroke, we shall
-speak hereafter. But of the old military Lords of Raglan, little of
-historical interest has descended to modern times. From Richard
-<span class="eng">Strongbow</span>, of whom a notice has been given in the preceding sketches of
-Chepstow and Tinterne, Raglan descended to Walter Bloet, “in
-consideration of soldiers, money, and arms,” furnished by him for the
-expedition to Ireland, of which Strongbow was the leader. By the
-marriage of the daughter and heiress of Bloet with Sir James Berkeley,
-it passed into and remained in that ancient family until the reign of
-Henry V., when it became vested in Sir William ap<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">{133}</a></span> Thomas, already
-mentioned; whose eldest son was created by Edward IV. Lord of Raglan,
-Chepstow, and Gower, and commanded to assume the surname of Herbert, in
-honour of his ancestor Hubert Fitz-Henry, chamberlain to King Henry I.
-To this nobleman was entrusted the care of the Earl of Richmond,
-afterwards Henry VII., who was for some time a prisoner in Raglan
-Castle. Sir Hubert was created, in 1469, Earl of Pembroke, in
-acknowledgment of his zeal to the house of York; but his career was
-brief and disastrous, for having the same year raised a corps of
-Welshmen, he marched against the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick,
-and being taken prisoner at Dane’s Moor, was beheaded at Banbury on the
-27th of July.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> Of these calamitous events, the following account,
-abridged from the old <span class="eng">Chronicle</span>, may not be unacceptable to the
-reader:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">King Edward</span> hearing of these Northerne proceedings, and that his
-brother and Warwicke were preparing against him, sent for the Lord
-Herbert, whom he had created Earl of Pembroke, to be his general in the
-North; and therefore accompanied with Sir Richard Herbert his brother,
-and eighteen thousand well-furnished Welshmen, marched towards the
-enemy; and after him was sent Humfrey Lord Stafford, with sixe thousand
-archers, to second him in his warres. These lords meeting together had
-notice by espials that the Northerne made towards Northampton; to
-intercept whom, the Lord Stafford, lately made Earl of Devonshire, was
-employed; and Sir Richard Herbert, who with two thousand horse layd
-themselves covertly by the side of a wood, and suddenly set upon the
-rereward, the rest having passed; but the Northerne very nimbly turned
-about and bad the Welshmen such welcome, as few of them returned to tell
-of their entertainment. The king understanding of this hard beginning,
-mustered his subjects on every side, intending to cope with the
-Northerne himself. And Earle <span class="eng">Warwicke</span>, as forward to advance his
-fortunes, gathered his friends, with purpose to encounter with <span class="eng">Pembroke</span>
-and his Welsh. But before any supplies came to either of them, it
-chanced the armies to meete unawares upon a fair plaine called <i>Dane’s
-Moor</i>, neere to the towne of Hedgecot, three miles from Banbury, and
-presently fell to a bickering, wherein Sir Henry <span class="eng">Nevill</span>, knight, son of
-the Lord Latimer, upon a lusty courage venturing somewhat too farre, was
-taken prisoner; and notwithstanding he yielded himselfe to his takers,
-was cruelly slaine; which unmartiall act rested not long unrepaied, with
-the loss of most of the Welsh next day. For the field withdrawne, the
-Lord <span class="eng">Stafford</span> repaired to Banbury, and there took his lodging, where his
-affections were much enamoured vpon a faire damsell in the inne. But the
-Earl of Pembroke coming<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">{134}</a></span> to the same towne, tooke into the same inne,
-and commanded the Lord Stafford to provide himself elsewhere, contrary
-to their agreements made before. Whereat Stafford was displeased, and
-departing thence with his whole band, left the <span class="eng">Earl</span> naked of men in the
-towne, and disabled the field of the archers, whereby the day was lost
-upon the king’s part, for which he shortly lost his owne head. The
-Northerne, inflamed for the death of young <span class="eng">Nevill</span>, the next morning most
-valiantly set upon the Welshmen, and by the force of archers drave them
-from their ground of advantage, which Pembroke wanting supplied with his
-own prowess; and <span class="eng">Sir Richard</span>, his brother, with his poll-axe twice made
-way through the battell of the Northerne without any mortal or deadly
-wound; so that by their valours it was verily supposed the field had
-been wonne, had not John Clapham, an esquire and servant to Warwicke,
-displayed his lorde’s colours with his white beare, and from an eminent
-place cried, ‘<i>A Warwicke! A Warwicke!</i>’ Whereat the Welsh were so
-terrified as they turned and fled, leaving their general and his brother
-alone in the field, who, valiantly fighting, were encompassed and taken,
-with the death of five thousand of their men. The Earl with his brother,
-Sir Richard <span class="eng">Herbert</span>, were brought to Banbury, where, with ten other
-gentlemen, they lost their heads, Conyers and Clapham being their
-judges.</p>
-
-<p>“This second victory thus got, and the Northerne men now fleshed under
-the leadinge of Robbin of Riddesdale,<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> hasted to the king’s manor of
-Grafton, where the Earle <span class="eng">Rivers</span>, father to the queen, then lay, whom,
-with his sonne John, they suddenly surprised, and in Northampton strucke
-off their heads without any judgment. The death of these lords the king
-greatly lamented, and sought to revenge: first, therefore, writing his
-commissions for the apprehension of <span class="eng">Humfrey</span>, Lord Stafford of
-Southwicke, who, by diligent search, was found at Brentmarsh, and
-beheaded at Bridgewater, as he worthily deserved. Next hee prepared a
-mighty army, and with the same marched towards Warwicke, his company
-encreasing ever as he went.”<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> In another Chronicle the same
-disastrous events are thus related:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">The Welshmen</span> got first the West hill, hoping to have recovered the East
-hill; which if they had obteyned the victorye had been theirs, as their
-unwise prophesyers promised them before. The Northern men encamped
-themselves on the South hill. The Erle of Pembroke and the Lord
-Stafforde of Southwike were lodged at Banbery yᵉ day before yᵉ field,
-which was <span class="eng">St. James’s Day</span>; and there the Erie of Pembroke put the Lord
-Stafforde out of an inne<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">{135}</a></span> wherein he delighted much to be, for the love
-of a damosel that dwelled in the house, contrarie to their mutuall
-agreement by them taken; which was, that whosoever obtained first a
-lodging, should not be deceyved nor removed. After many great wordes and
-crakes had betweyne these two captaynes, the Lord <span class="eng">Stafforde</span> in great
-despite departed with his whole companye and band of archers, leaving
-the Erle of <span class="eng">Pembroke</span> almost desolate in the towne, which with all
-diligence returned to his hoste lying in the field unpurvoyed of
-archers, abiding such fortune as God would sende and provyde.” In the
-mean time, “Sir Henry Nevil, son to the Lord Latimer, tooke with him
-certaine light horsemen, and skirmished with the Welshmen in the
-evening, even before their campe, where he did divers valyaunt feates of
-armes; but, a little too hardy, he went so farre forward that he was
-taken and yeelded, and cruell slaine; which unmerciful acte the Welshmen
-sore rued the next day or night. For the Northern men being inflamed,
-and not a little discontented with the death of thys nobleman, in the
-mornyng valyauntly set on the Welshmen, and by force of archers caused
-them quickly to descende the hill into the valey, where both the hostes
-fought.”</p>
-
-<p>In this hot encounter, “the Erle of <span class="eng">Pembroke</span> behaved himselfe like a
-hardy knight, and an expert capitaine; but hys brother, Syr Richard
-Herbert, so valyauntly acquited himselfe, that with his poll-axe in his
-hand, as his enemies did afterwards report, he twice by fair force
-passed thorough the battaile of his adversaries, and without any mortal
-wound returned. If everye one of his felowes and companions in arms had
-done but halfe the actes which he that daye by his noble prowess
-achieved, the Northerne men had obteyned neither safetie nor victorie.”</p>
-
-<p>The chronicler then relates the circumstance which threw the Welshmen
-into a panic, by which they lost five thousand men, and then records the
-result with touching simplicity:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“The Erle of Pembroke, <span class="eng">Sir Richard Herbert</span>,<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> his brother, and divers
-were taken, and brought to Banbery to be behedded. Much lamentacion and
-no lesse entreatie was made to save the lyfe of Syr Richard, both for
-hys goodlye personage, which excelled all men there, and also for the
-noble chivalrie that he had shewed in the fielde the day of the
-battaile; insomuch that his brother, the Erle, when he should lay downe
-his head on the blocke to suffer, says to Sir John Conyers and
-Clapham&mdash;‘<i>Maisters, let me die! for I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">{136}</a></span> old; but save my brother,
-which is yung, lustie, and hardie, mete and fit to serve the greatest
-prince of Christendome.</i>’</p>
-
-<p>“But Coniers and Clapham remembering the death of the yung knight, Syr
-Henry <span class="eng">Nevill</span>, cosyn to the Erle of Warwicke, could not hear on that
-syde; but caused the Erle and his brother, with divers other gentlemen
-to the number often, to be there behedded.”<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_136.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_136.jpg" width="585" height="161" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">William</span>, eldest son of this unfortunate nobleman, succeeded to the
-earldom of Pembroke, and was retained by the king to serve him in his
-wars of France and Normandy for one whole year, with forty men-at-arms
-and two hundred archers. But the king, being desirous to dignify his son
-Prince Edward with the title of Earl of Pembroke, procured a resignation
-of the same from this William, and in lieu thereof created him Earl of
-<span class="eng">Huntingdon</span>, on the fourth of July, 1479. Four years later he was
-constituted, by Richard III., Justice of South Wales, and entered into
-covenants with the king to take Dame Catharine Plantagenet, his
-daughter, to wife, before the feast of <span class="eng">St. Michael</span> following; as also to
-make her a jointure in lands to the value of two hundred pounds per
-annum: the king undertaking to settle upon them and their heirs male,
-lands and lordships of a thousand marks per annum. But this lady dying
-in her tender years, it is likely that this marriage did not take
-effect. He afterwards wedded Mary, the fifth sister of <span class="eng">Woodville</span>, Earl
-Rivers, by whom he had an only daughter, at whose marriage with Sir
-Charles Somerset, the Castle of <span class="eng">Raglan</span>, and its dependencies, passed
-into the family of Worcester.</p>
-
-<p>From the genealogical history of that house we collect the following
-particulars:&mdash;The Sir Charles here named was a natural son of Henry,
-third Duke of Beaumont, famous in his day for his desperate assault of
-the Castle of <span class="eng">St. Anjou</span>, in which he put three hundred Scots to the
-sword, and hanged all the Frenchmen therein. He was afterwards Governor
-of the Isle of Wight, and of Calais; was finally taken prisoner at the
-battle of Hexham, and there beheaded by <span class="eng">Nevil</span> for his adherence to the
-house of Lancaster. At his death his son <span class="eng">Charles</span> assumed the name of
-Somerset, and being a person of abilities attained<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">{137}</a></span> to great wealth and
-honours under Henry VII.,<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> who entered him of his Privy Council,
-made him Constable of Helmsley Castle, Admiral of the Fleet, sent him as
-ambassador with the Order of the Garter to the Emperor Maximilian, made
-him a Banneret, Knight of the Garter, and Captain of the Royal Guard. On
-a second embassy to Maximilian, he concluded two treaties&mdash;gave a bond
-for the payment of £10,000 in aid of the Emperor against the Turks, and
-in support of the Christian religion. Living in high favour with his
-sovereign, his good fortune was established by his marriage with
-<span class="eng">Elizabeth</span>, heiress of William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, in whose
-right, in 1506, he bore the title of Lord <span class="eng">Herbert of Raglan</span>.</p>
-
-<p>On the accession of Henry VIII. he continued in the same high offices;
-and having, with six thousand men, attended the king into France, in
-1513, he was present at the taking of Therrouenne and Tournay. For his
-heroic conduct in this campaign, he received the office of Lord
-Chamberlain for life; and finally, on account of his descent from <span class="eng">John
-of Gaunt</span>, and alliance to the king by blood, he was advanced the
-following year<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> to the dignity of Earl of Worcester.</p>
-
-<p>By his will, dated March 24, 1524, he ordered his body to be buried
-beside that of his first wife in the chapel of <span class="eng">Our Lady</span>, now called
-Beaufort Chapel, in the Castle of Windsor. He directed that, in case he
-departed this life at <span class="eng">Raibo</span>, in London, or near the river Thames, his
-body should be conveyed by water to the said church at Windsor, as
-privately as might be, without pomp or great charge of torches, or
-clothing, hearse, wax, or great dinner; but only that twenty men of his
-own servants should each have mourning and bear a torch; and that the
-bier, or herse, should be covered with black cloth, and have a white
-<span class="eng">cross</span> upon it.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Henry</span>, the second Earl of Worcester, who, during his father’s lifetime,
-had distinguished himself in the king’s service, and been knighted by
-Charles <span class="eng">Brandon</span>, Duke of Suffolk, was appointed one of the commissioners
-for concluding a peace with the French. Departing this life in 1549, he
-was buried in the church of Chepstow, where a costly monument&mdash;already
-noticed&mdash;was erected to his memory.<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">William</span>, his eldest son, and third Earl of Worcester, accompanied the
-Marquis of Northampton into France, to present King Henry II. with the
-royal insignia of the Garter. And again, in 1573, he was sent by Queen
-Elizabeth as her representative at the christening of a daughter of
-Charles IX., on which occasion, in the name of his royal mistress, he
-presented a font in pure gold. He married Christian, daughter of Lord
-North of Earthlodge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">{138}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Edward</span>, his only son and heir, was sent ambassador to the Court of
-Scotland, to offer the Queen’s congratulations to King <span class="eng">James</span> on his
-return from Denmark; and ten years later he was appointed Master of the
-Horse. At the accession of King James, he continued in the same office,
-and was also named one of the commissioners for executing the office of
-<span class="eng">Earl-Marshall</span>, the Duke of Norfolk being then under sentence in the
-Tower.<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> He was afterwards Lord Privy Seal; and dying on the third of
-March, 1628, ætatis 79, was buried in the family vault in Windsor
-Castle.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a></p>
-
-<p>In his youth, as recorded by his colleague Sir Robert Naunton, “this
-earl was a very fine gentleman, and the best horseman and tilter of his
-times, which were then the manlike and noble recreations of the Court,
-which took up the applause of men, as well as the praise and
-commendation of ladies. And when years had abated these exercises of
-honour, he grew then to be a faithful and profound counsellor. He was
-the last liver of all the servants of her favour, and had the honour to
-see his renowned Mistress, and all of them, laid in the places of their
-rest; and for himself, after a life of very noble and remarkable
-reputation, he died rich, and in a peaceful old age&mdash;a fate that befel
-not many of the rest; for they expired like lights blown out&mdash;not
-commendably extinguished&mdash;but with the snuff very offensive to the
-standers by.”<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> Sandford describes him as “a great favourer of
-learning and good literature.”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_138.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_138.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>Procession.&mdash;Morning of the Tournament.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Henry</span>, his son, the fourth earl, married Anne, daughter of John Lord
-<span class="eng">Russell</span>, heir apparent to the Earl of Bedford; and, in 1642, was
-created<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">{139}</a></span> Marquess of Worcester. And this brings us down to the period,
-when the family fortunes&mdash;like the fortress they inhabited&mdash;were
-destined to undergo a lamentable change.</p>
-
-<p>As the civil commotions increased, the Marquess fortified his castle of
-<span class="eng">Raglan</span>, and there entertained his Sovereign with unbounded magnificence.
-Such were his unlimited sacrifices to the royal cause, that the king,
-fearing lest the garrison stores should become exhausted by his numerous
-suite, offered to invest him with powers to exact supplies from the
-neighbouring country. But with great magnanimity Worcester replied&mdash;“I
-humbly thank your Majesty; but my castle would not long stand, if it
-leant upon the country. I had rather myself be brought to a morsel of
-bread, than see one morsel wrung from the poor to entertain your
-Majesty.” But of this more fully when we describe the royal visit and
-the <span class="eng">Siege</span>.</p>
-
-<p>From these brief introductory notices of the lives and services of the
-primitive lords of Raglan, we proceed to give a few sketches of life, as
-it generally passed in the retirement of their own domains, in the midst
-of their friends and retainers at Raglan Castle.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Baronial Life.</span>&mdash;Of the expenses of a nobleman’s family and household in
-the olden time, some idea may be formed by adverting to the facts
-adduced by writers of the day. In a letter from the Earl of Shrewsbury,
-who had the custody of Mary of Scotland, to the Marquis of Winchester,
-and Sir Walter Mildmay, it is said&mdash;“May it please you to understand,
-that whereas I have had a certain ordinary allowance of <span class="eng">wine</span>, amongst
-other noblemen, for expenses in my household, without impost: the
-charges daily that I do now sustain, and have done all this year past,
-well known by reason of the Queen of Scots, are so great therein, as I
-am compelled to be now a suitor unto you, that you will please to have a
-friendly consideration, unto the necessity of my large expenses. Truly
-<i>two tuns in a month</i> have not hitherto sufficed ordinarily; besides
-that which is sacrificed at times for her bathings, and such like use;
-which seeing I cannot by any means conveniently diminish, my earnest
-trust and desire is, that you will now consider me with such <i>larger</i>
-proportion in this case, as shall seem good unto your friendly wisdoms,
-even as I shall think myself much beholden for the same. And so I commit
-you unto God. From Tetbury Castle, this 15 of January, 1569. Your
-assured friend to my power.&mdash;<span class="smcap">G. Shrewsbury.</span>”<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a></p>
-
-<p>“This passage,” Mr. Lodge observes, “will serve to correct a vulgar
-error, relating to the consumption of wine in those days, which, instead
-of being less, appears to have been&mdash;at least in the houses of the
-great&mdash;even more <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">{140}</a></span>considerable than that of the present time. The good
-people who tell us that Queen Elizabeth’s maids of honour breakfasted on
-roast beef, generally add, that wine was then used in England as a
-medicine, for it was sold only by apothecaries. The latter assertion,
-though founded on a fact, seems to have led to a mistake in the former;
-for the word apothecary [from the Greek αποθήχη, <i>a repositorium</i>] is
-applicable to any shopkeeper, or warehouseman, and was probably once
-used in that general sense.”<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> In the retinues and domestic
-attendance<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> of the nobles of this period, everything proclaimed that
-the era of feudal authority and magnificence had departed. Accordingly,
-when the civil wars had commenced, no peer, however wealthy or high in
-rank, could drag after him a regiment, or even a company, of unwilling
-vassals to the field. On the contrary, the meanest hind was free to
-choose between king and parliament. Something, however, of the mere pomp
-of feudalism was still maintained in the domestic establishments of the
-nobility and wealthier gentry. “The father of John Evelyn, when he was
-sheriff of the counties of Surrey and Sussex,<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> had <i>a hundred and
-sixteen servants, in liveries of green satin doublets</i>, besides several
-gentlemen and persons of quality, who waited upon him, dressed in the
-same garb.”</p>
-
-<p>One of the largest, if not the very largest, of English establishments
-ever maintained by a subject, was that of the Lord Treasurer, the Earl
-of Dorset,<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> heir of the Lord Buckhurst, and well-known poet of the
-court. It consisted of <i>two hundred and twenty servants</i>, besides
-workmen attached to the house, and others that were hired occasionally.</p>
-
-<p>The chief servants of the nobility&mdash;so they were called, but they were
-rather followers or clients&mdash;were still the younger sons of respectable,
-or even noble families, who attached themselves to the fortunes of a
-powerful patron,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">{141}</a></span> and served him either in court or military affairs,
-for which they were allowed separate retinues in men and horses, with
-gratuities in money, and promises of promotion.<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> The progress of
-improvement that had banished minstrels, jugglers, and tumblers, from
-princely establishments, had naturally introduced the drama in their
-room; and, accordingly, we sometimes find a company of actors classed
-among the servants of the chief noblemen, as well as a family physician,
-or even a whole band. <span class="eng">A steward</span>, distinguished by a velvet jacket, and a
-gold chain about his neck, presided as marshal of the household, and
-next to him was the clerk of the kitchen. But these cumbrous appendages
-were daily lessening, as domestic comfort came to be better understood.
-This improvement, however, had commenced still earlier among those of
-less rank and pretension. All who had their fortune still to seek in the
-court, or in the army, and all who repaired to the metropolis in quest
-of pleasure, found, so early as the time of Elizabeth, that the bustle
-and the scramble of new and stirring times, made a numerous train of
-attendants an uncomfortable appendage. The gallant, and the courtier,
-therefore, like Sir John Falstaff, studied “French thrift,” and
-contented himself with a single “skirted page,” who walked behind him
-carrying his cloak and rapier.<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p>
-
-<p>In consequence of the extravagant living introduced during this period,
-the spendthrift gentleman often sank into the serving-man, as we may see
-from the frequent recurrence of such a transformation in the old plays.
-When servants were out of place&mdash;as we learn from the same authentic
-pictures of the real life of the times&mdash;they sometimes repaired to St.
-Paul’s Churchyard, the great place of public lounge, and there stood
-against the pillars, holding before them a written placard, stating
-their peculiar qualifications, and their desire of employment.<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a></p>
-
-<p>“But whatever retrenchment,” observes the same author, “might be making
-in the household expenditure by a diminished attendance, it was more
-than counterbalanced by an extravagance in dress, and personal ornament,
-that had now become an absolute frenzy.” It is said that King <span class="eng">James</span>
-almost daily figured in a new suit, a humour that soon became prevalent
-among his courtiers. Still more generally influential than his own
-example was that of his several handsome favourites, all of whom having
-been indebted for the royal favour merely to their personal attractions,
-spared no pains nor cost to give those natural advantages their full
-effect.<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">{142}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>When Buckingham was sent ambassador to France, to bring the Princess
-Henrietta to England, he provided for this important mission a suit of
-white uncut velvet and a cloak, both set all over with diamonds, valued
-at eighty thousand pounds, besides a feather made of great diamonds. His
-sword, girdle, hatband, and spurs, were also set thick with diamonds.
-Another suit which he prepared for the same occasion, was of purple
-satin, embroidered all over with pearls,<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> and valued at twenty
-thousand pounds. In addition to these, he had twenty other dresses of
-great richness. As a throng of nobles and gentlemen attended him, we may
-conceive how their estates must have been impoverished by the purchase
-of chains of gold, ropes of pearl, and splendid dresses, befitting the
-retinue of such an ambassador. Even a court festival, of the time of
-James the First, must have made a perilous inroad upon a year’s amount
-of the largest income. Thus, at the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth
-to the Palatine, Lady Wotton wore a gown profusely ornamented with
-embroidery, that cost <i>fifty</i> pounds a yard; and Lord Montague spent
-<i>fifteen</i> hundred pounds on the dresses of his two daughters, that they
-might be fit to appear at court on the same occasion.<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a></p>
-
-<p>The following letter&mdash;which we quote from a work of great merit and
-research&mdash;unfolds much of the domestic ‘economy’ and habits of a family
-of distinction during this reign. It is addressed to William, second
-Lord <span class="eng">Compton</span>, by his wife, soon after their marriage:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">My Sweet Life</span>&mdash;Now I have declared to you my mind for the settling of
-your state, I suppose that it were best for me to think and consider
-within myself what allowance were meetest for me. I pray and beseech you
-to grant to me, your most kind and loving wife, the sum of £2,600,
-quarterly to be paid. Also, I would, besides that allowance, have £600,
-quarterly to be paid, for the performance of charitable works; and these
-things I would not, neither will be, accountable for. Also, I will have
-three horses for my own saddle, that none shall dare to lend or borrow:
-none lend but I; none borrow but you. Also, I would have two
-gentlewomen, lest one should be sick, or have some other let. Also,
-believe it, it is an undecent thing for a gentlewoman to stand mumping
-alone, when God hath blessed their lord and lady with a large estate.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Also</span>, when I ride a hunting or a hawking, or travel from one house to
-another, I will have them attending; so for either of these said women,
-I must and will have for either of them a horse. Also, I will have six
-or eight gentlemen; and I will have my two coaches, one lined with
-velvet to myself, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">{143}</a></span> four very fair horses; and a coach for my women,
-lined with cloth and laced with gold; otherwise with scarlet, and laced
-with silver; with four good horses. Also, I will have two coachmen, one
-for my own coach, the other for my women.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Also</span>, at any time when I travel, I will be allowed not only <i>caroches</i>
-and spare horses for me and my women; but I will have such carriages as
-shall be fitting for all; orderly, not pestering my things with my
-women’s; nor theirs with either chambermaids; nor theirs with washing
-maids.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Also</span>, for laundresses, when I travel, I will have them sent away before
-with the carriage, to see all safe. And the chambermaids I will have go
-before, that the chamber may be ready, sweet, and clean. Also, for that
-it is indecent to crowd up myself with my gentleman-usher in my coach, I
-will have him to have a convenient horse, to attend me either in city or
-country. And I must have two footmen. And my desire is that you defray
-all the charges for me.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">And</span> for myself, besides my yearly allowance, 1 would have twenty gowns
-of apparel, six of them excellent good ones, eight of them for the
-country, and six other of them <i>very</i> excellent good ones. Also, I would
-have, to put in my purse, £2,000 and £200, and so you to pay my debts.
-Also, I would have £6,000 to buy me jewels, and £4,000 to buy me a pearl
-chain. Now, seeing I have been, and am, so reasonable unto you, I pray
-you do find my children apparel and their schooling; and all my
-servants, men and women, their wages.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Also</span>, I will have all my houses furnished, and my lodging-chambers to
-be suited with all such furniture as is fit; as beds, stools, chairs,
-suitable cushions, carpets, silver warming-pans, cupboards of plate,
-fair hangings, and such like. So, for my drawing-chambers, in all
-houses, I will have them delicately furnished, both with hangings,
-couch, canopy, glass, carpet, chairs, cushions, and all things thereto
-belonging.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Also</span>, my desire is that you would pay your debts, build up Ashley
-House, and purchase lands: and lend no money, as you love God, to my
-Lord Chamberlain, who would have all&mdash;perhaps your life&mdash;from you.... So
-now that I have declared unto you what I <i>would</i> have, and what it is
-that I <i>would not</i> have, I pray you, when you be an earl, to allow me
-£2,000 more than I now desire, and double attendance.”<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">{144}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Prodigality in feasting and riotous living soon became as conspicuous as
-extravagance with regard to dress. In proof whereof, we may mention the
-ante-suppers of the epicurean Earl of Carlisle. Weldon informs us, that
-he gave a banquet to the French ambassador at Essex House, where fish of
-such huge size were served up, and which had been brought all the way
-from Russia, that no dishes in England could hold them, until several
-were made for the express purpose. The household expenditure of James
-the First was twice as much as that of his predecessor, amounting to a
-hundred thousand pounds annually.<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Country Life.</span>&mdash;While such were the habits of the courtiers, the country
-aristocracy still followed that kind of life so much familiarized to our
-minds by the descriptions in the old songs and plays of “the golden days
-of good Queen Bess.” The rural knight, or squire, inhabited a huge
-building&mdash;half house, half castle&mdash;crowded with servants in homespun
-blue coats, many of whom were only serviceable in filling up the blank
-spaces of the mansion; but as these had been born in his <span class="eng">Worship’s</span>
-service, it was held as a matter of course that they should live and die
-in it.</p>
-
-<p>“The family rose at daybreak, and first of all assembled at prayers,
-which were read by the family chaplain. Then came breakfast; after which
-the master of the household and his sons got into their saddles, and
-went off to hunt the deer, followed by some score of mounted attendants;
-while the lady and her daughters superintended the dairy, or the
-buttery, prescribed the day’s task for the spinning-wheels, dealt out
-bread and meat at the gate to the poor, and concocted all manner of
-simples for the sick and infirm of the village. If leisure still
-remained, the making of confections and preserves was a never-failing
-resource; independently of spinning and sewing, or perhaps embroidering
-some battle or hunting piece, which had been commenced by the housewives
-of a preceding generation.”</p>
-
-<p>At noon dinner was served up in the <span class="eng">Great Hall</span>, the walls of which were
-plentifully adorned with stags’ horns, casques, antique brands, and
-calivers. The noisy dinner-bell, that sent the note of warning over the
-country, gave also a universal invitation and welcome to the hospitable
-board; and after dinner sack, or home-brewed ‘October,’ occupied the
-time until sunset, when the hour of retiring to rest was at hand.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the ordinary history of a day in the country mansion. When the
-weather prevented out-door recreation or employment, the family library,
-containing some six or eight tomes, that had perhaps issued from the
-press of Caxton, or Wynkyn de Worde, was in requisition; and, if the
-members of the family could read, they might while away the hours in
-perusing these volumes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">{145}</a></span> for the twentieth time. In this fashion, they
-derived their knowledge of religion from the Bible, and the “Practice of
-Piety;” their Protestantism and horror of Popery from “Fox’s Acts and
-Monuments;” their chivalrous lore from “Froissart’s Chronicles,” or,
-perchance, the “Merry Gests of Robin Hood;” their historical erudition
-from “Hall” or “Hollingshed;” and their morality and sentiments from
-“the Seven Wise Masters,” or the “Seven Champions of Christendom.”<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Holidays.</span>&mdash;In such a state of life the set holidays were glorious eras;
-the anticipation, the enjoyment, the remembrance of a single Christmas
-or birthday, furnished matter for a whole month of happiness. On such an
-occasion the lord of the manor was more than a king, as he proceeded
-with his family through the crowds of assembled peasants, to witness
-their games of merriment, and feats of agility or strength; for his
-smile inspired the competitors with double strength or swiftness; while
-the prize acquired a tenfold value because it was he who bestowed it. At
-evening, his bounty was expressed by oxen roasted whole, and puncheons
-of mighty ale, with which he feasted the crowd; while his house was
-thrown open to the throng of his more immediate acquaintances and
-dependents. After the feast, his hall was cleared for dancing; three
-fiddlers and a piper struck up; and as the “mirth and fun grew fast and
-furious,” the strong oaken floor was battered and ploughed in all
-directions by the hobnailed shoes of those who danced with all their
-might, and with all their hearts.<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Such</span> was the life of an old country gentleman when <span class="eng">James</span> succeeded to
-the crown of England. But these habits, the last relics of the
-simplicity of the olden times, did not long survive that event. Tidings
-of the gay doings at court, and the wonderful good fortune of the royal
-favourites, reached the ears of the aristocratic rustics; and from that
-moment rural occupations and village maypoles lost their charm. The
-young were impatient to repair to the metropolis; and the old were
-obliged to yield to the prevailing fashion. With all the fierce
-impetuosity of novices, rural esquires, and well-dowried country widows,
-rushed into the pleasures and excesses of a town life; and thus, with a
-rapidity hitherto unknown in England, and at which moralists became
-giddy, ancient manners were soon abandoned; fortunes, that had
-accumulated for generations, vanished; the hereditary estates of
-centuries became the property of men of yesterday; and the time-honoured
-names of some of the most ancient families disappeared from the scroll
-of English heraldry, and soon ceased to be remembered.<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">{146}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>When <span class="eng">Charles</span> came to the throne, “the coldness of his character and his
-decorous habits discountenanced those coarse and profligate excesses;
-and the courtiers endeavoured to conform to something like the rules of
-external decency. A general sobriety of demeanour succeeded.” “But, as
-the stern ascetic Puritans grew into power, and advanced to the
-destruction of the monarchy with prayer and fasting, the court party
-soon became eager to distinguish themselves by an entirely opposite
-behaviour. All the excesses of the former reign were resumed; and
-Charles found himself unable to restrain, or even to rebuke, his
-adherents, who swore, drank, brawled, and intrigued, to show their
-hatred of the enemy, and their devotedness to the royal cause.”<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p>
-
-<div class="figleft">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_146.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_146.jpg" height="364" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Life at Raglan.</span><a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a>&mdash;Down to this eventful period, the castellated
-mansion of Raglan had continued to bask in the sunshine of prosperity.
-Its halls were frequented by the elite of rank and station, and by many
-of that intellectual aristocracy whose genius threw so much lustre upon
-that and the preceding reign. The Earl, whose revenues were princely,
-lived in a style becoming the representative of an illustrious race; and
-while he observed great state, and gave sumptuous banquets to the
-magnates of the land, he did not neglect the humble votaries of the
-Muse.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Household.</span>&mdash;The following record is taken from a “List of the Household
-and method of living at Raglan Castle,” previous to the visit of <span class="eng">Charles</span>
-the First:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“At eleven o’clock in the forenoon the castle gates were shut, and the
-tables laid&mdash;two in the dining-room; three in the hall; one in Mrs.
-Watson’s apartment, where the chaplains eat (Sir Toby Matthews being the
-first); and two in the housekeeper’s room for the ladies’ women.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">First.&mdash;The Earl</span> entered the dining-room, attended by his gentlemen. As
-soon as he was seated, Sir Ralph Blackstone, steward of the house,
-retired. The comptroller, Mr. Holland, attended with his staff, as did
-the sewer, Mr. Blackburne; the daily waiters, Mr. Clough, Mr. Selby, Mr.
-Scudamore; and many gentlemen’s sons, with estates from two hundred to
-seven hundred pounds<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" id="page_147">{147}</a></span> a year, who were bred up in the castle; my lady’s
-gentlemen of the chamber, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Fox. At the first table sat
-the noble family, and such of the nobility as came there.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Second.</span>&mdash;At the second table in the dining-room sat knights and
-honourable gentlemen attended by footmen.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Hall.</span>&mdash;In the hall, at the first table, sat Sir Ralph Blackstone,
-steward; the comptroller, Mr. Holland; the secretary; the master of the
-horse, Mr. Dolowar; the master of the fish-ponds, Mr. Andrews; my Lord
-Herbert’s preceptor, Mr. Adams; with such gentlemen as came there under
-the degree of a knight, attended by footmen, and plentifully served with
-wine.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Second Hall.</span>&mdash;At the second table in the hall&mdash;served from my lord’s
-table, and with other hot meats&mdash;sat the sewer, with the gentlemen
-waiters and pages, to the number of twenty-four.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Third.</span>&mdash;At the third table, in the hall, sat the clerk of the kitchen,
-with the yeomen officers of the house, two grooms of the chamber and
-others.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Other Officers</span> of the household were&mdash;chief auditor, Mr. Smith; clerk
-of the accounts, George Whithorn; purveyor of the castle, Mr. Salisbury;
-ushers of the hall, Mr. Moyle and Mr. Cooke; the closet-keeper;
-gentleman of the chapel, Mr. Davies; keeper of the records; master of
-the wardrobe; master of the armoury; master-grooms of the stable for the
-war horses, twelve; master of the hounds; master falconer; porter, and
-his man; two butchers; two keepers of the home park; two keepers of the
-red deer park; footmen, grooms, and other menial servants to the number
-of one hundred and fifty. Some of the footmen were brewers and bakers.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Out-officers</span> were&mdash;the steward of Raglan, William Jones, Esq.; the
-governor of Chepstow Castle, Sir Nicholas Kemys, Bart.;<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> housekeeper
-of Worcester House, in London; James Redman, Esq.; thirteen bailiffs;
-two counsel for the bailiffs to have recourse to; solicitor, Mr. John
-Smith.”<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a></p>
-
-<p>Among other distinguished individuals, who at this time filled offices
-in the household of Raglan, was the Earl’s&mdash;and soon afterwards the
-Marquess’s&mdash;chaplain, Dr. Thomas Bayly; to whom we owe those amusing
-“Apophthegms of the Marquess of Worcester,” published at the
-Restoration, and from which we take the following farce, in the
-chaplain’s own words, as presenting a characteristic picture of the
-times, when the Castle had become the scene of extraordinary
-festivity:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“I cannot tell whether it was upon the marriage of my Lord Edward
-Herbert with the Earl Caernarvon’s sister, or the Lord Montague with the
-Marquis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148">{148}</a></span> of Worcester’s daughter, that there happened this merrie
-passage, or mock wedding, as an echo to the voices that were heard in
-Hymeneus’ chappel, between those lovely couple&mdash;think which you
-please&mdash;who had newly left being wholly themselves, by being half of
-each other; viz., one of those two pair of lovers had no sooner united
-two hearts into one, and had seated themselves by one of the too many
-proprieties belonging unto the honourable state of matrimony, viz. the
-boord; but this Tom Deputy, an old bachelour, chanced to cast his eye
-upon a pretty piece of waiting-woman, one of the appurtenances to this
-honourable bride. Her, this jovial Tom, having whetted his wit by the
-side of the marriage-bowle, fixes upon, being enabled sufficiently
-thereby to follow any humour, as a fit subject to make their ladiships
-some sport; which happened to be so suitable to the occasion, and so
-well performed, that it soon captivated the cares also of all the
-masculine nobility.</p>
-
-<p>“Thus encountering the faire bride&mdash;‘Madam, you have the prettiest piece
-of necessity yonder, at the side-table, that I know not how any man can
-be without a wife that may have her for asking. Madam, will you give her
-me? I protest I will marry her, and fancy myself to be a lord, and
-herself a lady. “My mind to me a kingdom is;” which shall make her a
-sufficient joynture.’</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Tom, Tom,’ said the Marquess, ‘such men as you and I, whose joynts are
-enfeebled with the strokes of many years, must not think to winne young
-maides, by promising to make them joyntures of the mind. But will you
-make her deputy of Deputy Hall? and landlady of all the land that is
-belonging to it? and Mrs. of all the stock that is upon the land, and
-goods that is within the house? Answer me this, and then you shall heare
-what my daughter and her woman will say unto you.’</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>With all my heart,’ said Tom; ‘and all the hoggs and poultry that is
-about the house to boote; and she shall sleep upon six feather beds.’</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Why, then, it shall be a match,’ said the lady, ‘with all my heart.’</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Give me your hand, madam,’ sayes Deputy; ‘I will have her, if there be
-no more evills in the world.’ And presently he makes his addresses to
-the pritty little gentlewoman of the said table; who had heard all the
-discourse, and was persuaded, then, upon his approach, to answer his
-humour with a condescention at the first word, and informed that he was
-an old rich bachelor; he accosting her after this manner&mdash;‘This pritty
-moppit, now thy lady hath given her consent that I shall have thee, if
-thou saist so too, we’ll be married as soon as they.’</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>With all my heart, and thank you too,’ said the young gentlewoman.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>By my troth, a match,’ said he; ‘give me thy hand&mdash;‘tis done. I’ll
-break such a jest this day as I never broke in my life.’</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Aye; but do not break your promise,’ said the gentlewoman.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">{149}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>What! before all this company?’ said Deputy; ‘that were a shame.’</p>
-
-<p>“Up he goes again to the lady, and tells her that they were agreed. My
-lady drank to him upon the same condition. He pledged her, and wished
-the wine might be his poison if he did not marry her after dinner. The
-lady, willing to prefer her woman to such a fortune, held him to his
-word, and required performance of his promise, giving her many and high
-commendations.</p>
-
-<p>“Tom went not from any part of his promise, onely the time excepted; and
-that in regard he meant to buy himself some wedding clothes. The
-Marquess, willing to remove that obstacle, told him that he thought
-<i>his</i> clothes would fit him; and bid him goe unto his wardrope, and take
-what he had a mind to. ‘Give me your key,’ said Tom. It was delivered
-unto him. Up went he, and then came down with his bever hat, sattin
-cloke, laid with plush, dawb’d with a gold and silver lace, suite of the
-same, silk stockings, with roses and garters suitable, inside and
-outside, capope, all as brave as if he carried a lordship on his back.</p>
-
-<p>“The lady-bride then takes her woman aside, and dresses her in one of
-her richest and newest gownes&mdash;that should have made every day of that
-week sensible of an exchange&mdash;with all things answerable thereunto; not
-without some store of slight jewels; and brings her down, as glorious as
-the morne, that breaks from the eastern hill, and chases night away.</p>
-
-<p>“They look upon one another, and all upon them both. Tom cries out, ‘I
-had best be in good earnest, my lady.’ Said my lady, ‘I thought you had
-been in sober sadness.’ ‘Neither, madam,’ said the new bridegroome.
-‘But, old Tom, I hope,’ said the lady, ‘you will not make me take all
-this paines for nothing?’ No, by no means,’ saith he; ‘if ever we
-repent, we will sell our fine cloathes and buy cattle! It is better
-being a lord for a week, than a slave for ever. Come thy wayes,’ quoth
-he&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">‘How happy is the wooing<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That is not long a doing!’<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>“Well&mdash;married they were, in the greatest pomp and ceremony; and the
-Queen of Beauty took delight in leading the eyes of the vulgar, which by
-this time were altogether fixed on the ladye of the May. Tom acted his
-scene of mirth in the hall&mdash;which proved to be a thing of that
-convenience, as if it had been an act of some set policie, to keep the
-crowd out of the parlour that the masquers might have roome enough to
-dance in.</p>
-
-<p>“At last, when the masque was ended, and time had brought in supper, the
-‘Cushine’ led the dance, out of the parlour into the hall, and saluted
-the old-new-made bridegroome and his lady, leading them into the
-parlour, to a table which was furnished with the same allowance that was
-allotted for all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">{150}</a></span> nobles, where they were soon forced to sit down
-first&mdash;Tom taking upon him as much good cheer as they could give him.</p>
-
-<p>“In fine, supper being ended, the Marquess of Worcester asked the
-Lady-bride, ‘If she had a hundred pounds about her?’ She answered, ‘No,
-my lord, but I can send for as much.’ ‘I pray do,’ said the Marquess;
-‘but it must be all in gold.’ She sent for it, and presented it to her
-father; who pulled out another purse of an hundred pieces, and put the
-two hundred pieces in the bason, saying, ‘Madam, if you do not give
-earnest, Deputy will tell you in the morning, that he married your woman
-but in jest.’ Whereupon some gave fifty, others forty; some gave twenty,
-others ten; the least gave five gold pieces, who sat at the table&mdash;in
-all, £700. The apparel and other gifts, amounting to no lesse a value
-than one thousand pounds; which so transported the old man, that he
-protested, ‘that now he was in the humour, he would marry all the
-waiting gentlewomen they had; one every day in the week, as long as the
-wedding lasted.’ My Lord Marquess replied, ‘Ay, but Tom, you should have
-added, “at this rate.”<span class="lftspc">’</span>...</p>
-
-<p>“Not to be too tedious, the man&mdash;what with bounty, and what with that
-which was as free to every man, as was their purses unto him, which was
-good wine&mdash;the man was not himself when he should have gone to bed.
-Which being related to my lord, his lordship took occasion to tell the
-company the story of the beggar, who was made believe he did but dreame
-of the happiness which really happened; and, thereupon, the marquess was
-desirous to make experiment whether it could be related in the person of
-old Thomas. In order whereto, he gave command that my friend Thomas
-should be disrobed of his neat wedding garment, the rest of his fine
-clothes taken from him, and himself carried unto his old lodging in the
-porter’s lodge; and his wife to respite the solemnisation of the
-marriage, until his comportment should deserve so faire an
-admission&mdash;the which was done accordingly.</p>
-
-<p>“The next morning made the experiment to answer the height of all their
-expectations; for news was brought unto the Marquess&mdash;all the rest of
-the lords and ladies standing by&mdash;that Tom took all yesterday’s work but
-for a dream; or, at least, seemed to do so to humour the fancy.... But I
-should be endlesse,” says Bayly, “if I should relate unto you the sport
-that this fellow made.</p>
-
-<p>“To conclude: The Marquess called them both before him, and delivered
-unto them the money, with many good exhortations to them both, thus
-moralizing upon the premises”&mdash;in a strain very characteristic of that
-day:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>That which was first in intention, is oftentimes, both with God and
-man, the last in execution. As, for example, God had, before all worlds,
-determined to show his love for mankind, by wedding his onely Sonne to
-his Church; so</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_012.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_012.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Paved Stone Court.</i></p>
-
-<p>Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">{151}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">that thus much we have gained already, viz., that the marriage that was
-made in paradise between Adam and Eve, though it was the first in time,
-yet it was but secondary to the first intention; and he that said,
-“Before Abraham was, I am,” was also before Adam was; and though the
-first marriage was but a type of the second, yet the second, according
-to the aforesaid intention, was an antecedent to the first. God, who
-having an intention to wed his Sonne to his beloved spouse, the Church,
-gave way to this type, or figure, or&mdash;to bring the similitude a little
-homer&mdash;mock-wedding, which was between Adam and Eve, whom to make appear
-more worthy and glorious in the eyes of his beloved, and all other
-creatures, he arrayed with full majesty, and the robe of righteousness.
-His mercy&mdash;the lady and empress of all the glorious attributes of
-God&mdash;arrais this type and figure of his Church with the robe of
-innocence, and gives them both a large proportion of his grace. These
-blessings, Adam, by tasting the forbidden fruit, lost with his paradise,
-and slept in death. Gentlemen,’ concluded the Marquess, ‘I will not make
-any application hereof, lest I may seeme to mistrust your wisdomes; but
-I have nothing to say to the woman.’<span class="lftspc">”</span><a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a></p>
-
-<p>The preceding is certainly a very curious passage in the history of</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>A potent, grave, and reverend signior.</p></div>
-
-<p>It reminds one of some parts of Don Quixote and of Rabelais&mdash;all but the
-sermon at the close&mdash;which may have been imitated from one of the old
-“Mysteries” then in vogue. But to these “Apophthegms” and Dr. Bayly, the
-“martial chaplain” of the household, we may return in a subsequent
-portion of the work. In the meantime, we shall take a survey of Raglan
-Castle, as it now appears, and then proceed to a narrative of the Royal
-Visits.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Architectural Details.</span>&mdash;Of the strength, beauty, and attractions of this
-stronghold&mdash;which we are now to examine with some degree of
-minuteness&mdash;a quaint old poet<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> has thus recorded his admiration:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">A famous Castle fine<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That <span class="eng">Raglan</span> hight, stands moated almost round;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Made of free-stone, upreight, as straight as line,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whose workmanship in beauty doth abound,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With curious knots, wrought all with edged tool:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The stately Tower that looks o’er pond and poole;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The fountaine trim, that runs both day and night,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Doth yeald in shew a rare and noble sight.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>This description, of course, applies to times long before the guns of
-Fairfax had made a breach in the Yellow Tower; and while the Castle,
-with all its regal appendages, was the cherished abode of its
-illustrious owner&mdash;a reper<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">{152}</a></span>torium of the fine arts, and the seat of
-unbounded hospitality. At no period of its history, however&mdash;not even
-while it was inhabited by worth and beauty, enriched with the precious
-works of art, and seemed to enclose within its walls an earthly
-paradise&mdash;at no period did it ever present so many features to fascinate
-the mind and eye of Taste as at this moment.</p>
-
-<p>And “Why is it”&mdash;inquires one of the ablest writers of the day&mdash;“Why is
-it that we feel so poetical a sympathy with the great men of ages long
-past? Why do <span class="eng">castles</span> please most when they are dismantled, and palaces
-when they are in ruins? Why is an old battle-field rather improved than
-otherwise by a crop of standing corn? Because we can <i>imagine</i> nobler
-things than we can <i>see</i>. Because the heroic deed, not vile flesh and
-blood, is the impersonation of the hero. We should be rather displeased
-at meeting the Iron Duke walking to a pedometer on the field of
-Waterloo. We would doubt whether on the plain of Marathon we could be
-reconciled even to the ghost of Miltiades. Greatness shines more
-brightly when it is abstracted from the man.”</p>
-
-<p>We will now, as proposed, take the building in detail, beginning with
-the grand entrance, and proceeding onward, until we have completed the
-circuit of the walls, the inner apartments, battlements, terraces, and
-outworks. On these prominent features we shall dilate with more or less
-minuteness according to the interest of the subject&mdash;but always
-directing the reader’s attention more especially to those portions which
-have been chosen as subjects of illustration.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Grand Entrance.</span>&mdash;Here a magnificent and imposing spectacle bursts upon
-the eye&mdash;three pentagonal towers, crowned with battlements, and bearing
-on their mutilated outline marks of the cannon-shot directed against it
-by the besiegers. These, however, are less defaced than any other
-portions of the ruin, and are now invested with a luxuriant mantle of
-ivy, lichen, and parasitical plants, as if Nature interposed to protect
-the venerable edifice from further outrage and decay. In the gateway are
-grooves for two portcullises. The two pentagonal towers on the right and
-left were appropriated to the inferior offices of the castle.
-Immediately behind these were rooms occupied by the garrison, or
-household troops. Adjoining these on the right, was the third pentagonal
-tower, called the Closet Tower; and on the left again were the officers’
-apartments, which were demolished during the operations of the siege.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Gateway.</span>&mdash;Between the two foremost of the pentagonal towers,
-above-named, the great portal&mdash;a work of imposing strength and fine
-gothic proportions&mdash;opens into the second court. Halting under the
-archway, the curious visitor will examine, with mingled pleasure and
-surprise, the fine architectural details; the groined ceiling; its lofty
-span; its fine proportions, in which grace, strength, and beauty are
-eminently combined: while the deep grooves, worn smooth by the working
-of the double portcullis, show how readily this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">{153}</a></span> hospitable gateway
-could be transformed, when occasion required, into an impenetrable
-barrier, and employed as a destructive engine of war. The old <span class="eng">apartments</span>
-in the gateway tower are correctly represented in the following
-woodcut&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_153.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_153.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>In a vaulted room in the east tower there is a remarkable echo; and
-thither musical parties frequently resort during the fine season to
-spread their pic-nic, and exercise their vocal powers. This apartment is
-considered to have been the prison to which captives, or hostages of
-distinction, were formerly consigned;<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> and certainly no place in the
-Castle presents an air of more “hopeless security.” In the court
-below&mdash;as represented in a former woodcut&mdash;several pieces of ancient
-armour, and some heavy cannon shot, are shown to the visitor, as
-illustrative of the times to which they belong. The next compartment is</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Paved Court.</span>&mdash;All the buildings on the right of this court,
-particularly the Closet Tower&mdash;the third pentagonal tower at the
-entrance&mdash;suffered greatly from the enemy’s cannon during the siege; and
-here, on the north-east side of the wall, the breach was effected that
-hastened the capitulation. The Pitched, or Paved Court, the area of
-which was once the parade ground, thronged with armed men, as they
-joined in some military fête, or entered on some warlike preparation for
-the siege, is now surrounded by only crumbling<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">{154}</a></span> walls, and as verdant as
-a bowling-green. The towering battlements are all richly festooned with
-ivy. Every crevice sends forth its trees and shrubs, that seem to
-luxuriate in the old mortar; and under the same canopy of leaves, as
-already noticed, birds of song and birds of ill omen congregate
-together. At the extremity of the Paved Court, on the right, as we
-proceed westward, and from the point marked by a seat under a shady
-ash-tree, the visitor obtains an imposing view of the architecture on
-the south side, which, with all its dilapidations, is eminently
-picturesque. “Its boundary is there hung with the richest tapestry that
-Nature can weave&mdash;a mantling vestment of evergreen&mdash;through which
-appears, in grand proportions, the majestic window of the Hall of
-State.” This is a prominent feature in the steel engraving.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Kitchen.</span>&mdash;At the extremity of the court, and opposite to the portal,
-is an archway leading to the kitchen, which occupies the area of a
-pentagonal tower, projecting beyond the walls northward, and of narrow
-compass, but great solidity and strength. In an office adjoining is an
-extensive fireplace, the arch of which, thirteen feet in the span, is
-formed by two massive stones. The wide capacious chimney is worthy of
-notice. Beneath the kitchen is a room in perfect preservation, called
-the Wet Larder, which may be easily reached by a subterranean passage.
-From the kitchen a passage leads southward across the lower end of the
-Pitched Court to the Buttery, and this again to the common</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Dining-Hall</span>, or Parlour.&mdash;This apartment measures forty-nine feet in
-length by twenty-one in breadth, with an opening at the east end into a
-narrow cross passage, which also communicates, by three openings or
-doors, with the great Hall, which lies between the Pitched Court and the
-Chapel, and occupies nearly the whole space between this dining-hall and
-the Officers’ Tower, at the great entrance. Adjoining these is the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Baronial Hall.</span>&mdash;This stately apartment, running parallel with the
-ancient chapel, occupies the interval between the two inner courts, and
-measures sixty-six feet in length by twenty-eight in breadth. The chief
-indications of its original grandeur consist in the majestic
-proportions&mdash;all of elegant design and masterly execution. The great
-bay-window is a feature that cannot fail to excite admiration; and were
-no other left entire, it would serve to convey a very distinct picture
-of that feudal magnificence which was in character with the splendour of
-its architecture. The fireplace, ten feet wide by eight feet high, is
-well adapted to the size of the apartment, and to those times when,
-instead of pit-coal, the branches or bole of a tree blazed on the winter
-hearth.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Arms.</span>&mdash;The arms of the Marquisate of Worcester, cut in stone, but much
-obliterated, adorn the eastern wall; for the noble badge was an
-offensive object to the republicans; and, on their taking possession of
-the castle, it was probably</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_013.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_013.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Baronial Hall.</i></p>
-
-<p>Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">{155}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">used as a target,<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> and thus wantonly defaced. Over the fire-place,
-as shown in the engraving, is the letter W. worked in brick.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Roof.</span>&mdash;The geometrical roof, which once covered this noble hall, is
-allowed by all writers on the subject to have been of admirable
-construction. It was of Irish oak of the best quality, nicely adjusted,
-elaborately carved, and so ingeniously framed and fastened together,
-that the whole appeared as firm as if it had been chiselled out of a
-solid block; yet withal so lofty, so light and airy in appearance, that
-it seemed rather to be suspended from the sky above, than to rest upon
-the corbel heads and walls which it covered and adorned. In the centre
-was a gothic louvre adorned with painted glass, through which the
-descending light streamed upon the assembled guests&mdash;their arms,
-dresses, and accoutrements, in all the colours of the rainbow.</p>
-
-<p>At the lower end of the hall is the Buttery, an apartment, thirty-two
-feet long by eighteen broad; and attached to this is another of equal
-dimensions, called the Pantry.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Officers’ Barracks.</span>&mdash;Opposite the door of the great Hall, on the south,
-was a range of apartments, used as lodgings for the superior officers of
-the garrison. During the siege these were razed to the ground by the
-enemy’s artillery; so that the area on which they stood is now
-confounded with that of the Fountain Court. The latter apartments are
-distinct from those already described.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Chapel.</span>&mdash;The Baronial Chapel stands in the rear of the apartments
-named. It is a long narrow structure, running parallel with the great
-Hall, and forming the north side of the Fountain Court; but the vestiges
-that remain convey no distinct notion of its architectural style and
-decorations; which were, no doubt, in harmony with other sacred
-buildings of that age and its character of a baronial chapel. If,
-however, we may form any opinion from two rudely carved stone
-effigies<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> projecting from the wall on the north side, and nearly
-covered with ivy, we should form but a very unfavourable estimate of its
-ornamental sculpture: unless, indeed, the deformity they exhibit be the
-result of wilful violence; and as they are at a good height, and not
-approachable in the ordinary way, we had no means of ascertaining the
-fact by close inspection. But the corbel heads, from which the arches
-sprung, do not appear to justify a more favourable opinion; for the
-workmanship exhibits neither skill in the design, nor spirit in the
-execution. The Chapel, therefore, was of a date perhaps much anterior to
-the surrounding buildings, and coeval with that of the Keep, or “Tower
-of Gwent,” a work of the eleventh century.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">{156}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Fountain Court.</span>&mdash;This court was formerly adorned with an equestrian
-statue, mounted on a lofty pedestal, and embellished with a
-fountain&mdash;the water for which was brought at great expense from the
-neighbouring hills&mdash;and, after being thrown up in jets-d’eau, was
-conveyed into the fish-ponds adjoining, so as to combine in its progress
-the useful with the ornamental. But the pedestal, the marble basin, and
-the statue, with every other fragment of the structure, have
-disappeared. The pipes that conveyed the water have been ploughed up in
-the fields adjoining the castle; but the classic beauty of the fountain
-lives in the history and traditions of the place: and from a laughable
-incident related in the “Apophthegms,” and which will be found in
-another portion of this work, we may infer that the Marquess of
-Worcester took great pleasure in this kind of embellishments.<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">South-west Tower.</span>&mdash;Ascending the flight of steps commencing at the grand
-entrance, on the south side of the court, we were conducted through the
-desolate apartments, known traditionally as those occupied by Charles
-the First, after his flight from Naseby. This tower, and the whole range
-of apartments connected with it, are in a state of complete
-dilapidation; and were it not for the wooden scaffolding that secures
-and facilitates the visitor’s progress, a tour of the ramparts would be
-impracticable. A lady, we were told, who happened to be near this spot
-during a rather high wind, was blown over the wall; but an umbrella,
-which she had fortunately open in her hand, acted like a parachute, and
-broke her fall; and thus she alighted among the shrubs beneath without
-sustaining any material injury.</p>
-
-<p>In these royal apartments, we were shown a tunnel, like a chimney, in
-the wall of the king’s chamber, communicating with the outer rampart, by
-means of which, in case of surprise or danger, the royal fugitive could
-have been lowered in a basket, and enabled to make his escape beyond the
-walls. Had a similar contrivance existed at Carisbrook, it would have
-served his purpose better. But there he was indeed a prisoner. Here he
-had the lives and services of a whole garrison at his command; with
-Worcester himself, the most devoted friend the king ever possessed, to
-provide against every danger, and supply every want.</p>
-
-<p>A light and elegant stone window is here pointed out as that to which
-the king often resorted, on account of the richly variegated and
-extensive view which it commands of hill and dale, wood and water;
-trees, hamlets, and farmhouses, covering a rich and well-cultivated
-tract of land. These natural beauties are as fresh as ever; while the
-splendid building, from which he then</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_014.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_014.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Gateway in the Fountain Court.</i></p>
-
-<p>Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">{157}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">contemplated the scene, is reduced to a lonely ruin&mdash;thus apostrophized
-by the muse of Bloomfield:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Majestic Raglan! harvests wave<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where thundering hosts their watchword gave;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">When cavaliers, with downcast eye,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Struck the last flag of loyalty!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Cellars.</span>&mdash;These subterranean receptacles are of vast extent; and, in
-massive strength and proportions&mdash;like a crypt under a cathedral&mdash;are
-worthy of the noble edifice that covers them. In times of danger, and
-particularly during the siege, they appear to have served the manifold
-purposes of cellars, storehouses, larders, magazines, and muniments of
-war, with provisions for a numerous garrison and household.</p>
-
-<p>At the north-eastern part of the court, the buildings were nearly all
-mutilated, or thrown down by the enemy’s batteries, which, from a rising
-ground in the line of his approach, played with destructive force upon
-this portion of the walls. Fragments, however, still remain to show the
-predominant features of the Castle&mdash;its strength and beauty. From this
-point, we are told, communication with the citadel was secured by means
-of a sumptuous arched bridge, with a gate to correspond. But of these no
-distinct vestiges are left. The “sumptuous bridge” is replaced by a
-rustic structure of wood; the moat it spans is half filled with decayed
-vegetables and debris; and the water, that formerly enclosed the Keep
-like a wall of crystal, is now covered with a sluggish green surface,
-that exhibits a very different kind of life.</p>
-
-<p>In other parts of the moat, however, it is deep and transparent, mostly
-so at the south corner, where masses of verdure&mdash;with a particularly old
-and very picturesque tree, as shown in the illustration&mdash;are reflected
-as if in a mirror. This is probably the most interesting point of view
-in the whole Castle. Of a still summer evening, about sunset, the
-outline of the gray towers and battlements, with all their contrasted
-features of light and shade, beauty and decay&mdash;here fringed with wood,
-and there displaying honourable scars&mdash;sleeps on the face of the water
-like an inverted picture. The scene, with all its singular
-accompaniments, has then a dreaminess of romance about it, similar to
-that which the Fata Morgana conjures up on the Straits of Messina&mdash;but
-with this important difference, that the scenery here, however romantic,
-is real and substantial; that all we behold is the work of Art, over
-which Nature has only thrown her splendid illusion of cloud, sunshine,
-and exuberant vegetation.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Tower of Gwent.</span>&mdash;This tall and massive structure, built as if to defy
-the united force of time and violence, forms the Citadel or Donjon-Tower
-of the fortress; and points very expressively to those remote times,
-when the peace of a great man’s household depended on the strength of
-his walls, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">{158}</a></span> number and courage of his retainers. In a direct
-line with this Castle were three gates; the first of brick, from which,
-at the distance of one hundred and eighty feet, and with an ascent of
-many steps, was the White Gate, built of square stone. At some distance
-on the left stands the <span class="eng">Melin y Gwent</span>, or Yellow Tower of Gwent, which
-for strength, height, and workmanship, surpassed most other towers, if
-not every other, in England or Wales. It had six sides, each thirty-two
-feet wide, and ten feet thick, built of square stone, and in height five
-stories. Its battlements, never meant to resist cannon shot, are only
-eight inches thick; but so symmetrical and compactly set, that they
-appear as if cut out of a solid block. During the siege&mdash;hereafter to be
-described&mdash;this portion was soon demolished by the batteries directed
-against it by Fairfax; but his heaviest guns, eighteen and twenty
-pounders, took no more effect on the body of the tower, than if they had
-opened upon a solid rock.<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> Our ancestors appear to have been
-particularly well skilled in the composition of their cement, which in
-Raglan is now nearly as hard as the stones it holds together. When the
-Goths and Vandals of the country&mdash;the blind instruments of Fairfax&mdash;were
-summoned to demolish with their pickaxes what the besiegers’ cannon had
-spared, their republican zeal was attended with little success; for
-“after battering of the top,” they were obliged, as we shall see, to
-desist from that method as fruitless, and adopt other means for its
-destruction.<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a></p>
-
-<p>This Tower communicated with the Castle by means of an elegant arched
-bridge encircled by an outer wall, with six arched and embattled
-turrets, all of square stone. Adjoining this was a deep moat, thirty
-feet broad, and supplied by a clear running stream, from which the
-water-works, so much the fashion in those days, threw up columns of
-water as high as the Castle battlements. Along the edge of the moat, was
-a commodious sunken walk, embellished with grotto-work, statues of the
-Twelve Cæsars, and otherwise ornamented with the choicest productions of
-Nature and Art. This was the walk to which the family could resort at
-all seasons, whether for exercise or meditation. Within the walls and
-the green adjoining&mdash;then the bowling-green, and twelve feet higher than
-the walk&mdash;was a garden plat, the size of which was proportioned to the
-tower. Next to this plat&mdash;as shown in the accompanying
-ground-plan&mdash;stood the Barn.</p>
-
-<p>In casting the eye over the whole circuit of these buildings, the mind
-is astonished at the immense labour which must have been exerted to
-collect together such a quantity of materials of various descriptions.
-And here it may</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_015.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_015.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Moat.</i></p>
-
-<p>Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">{159}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">be observed that the majority of these baronial mansions are situated
-on, or near, the bank of some navigable river, for the purpose of
-defending some important pass or fortress, by means of which the
-carriage of stone is attended with comparatively little expense or
-trouble; but in the present instance, there is no navigable river nearer
-than the Wye, from which the Castle is distant at Monmouth ten, and at
-Chepstow twelve miles.<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> And what is very remarkable, there is no
-quarry in the neighbourhood from which the stone employed in building
-the Castle could have been procured. It is of a light grey colour, and
-very hard; but the name of the quarter from which it was taken is still
-a matter of vague conjecture. No such stone as that used for the
-chimney-pieces of Raglan is now to be found in Monmouthshire. Such is
-the neatness and exactness with which the facing stones are laid, that
-they exhibit the same perfect appearance as if the artist had but just
-left the scaffold. “The bricks which compose the south wall are
-extremely well baked, and of a quality not less durable than that of the
-stone.”</p>
-
-<p>In the present day, we can form but a very imperfect notion of the
-extent to which the original outworks were carried. When the demesnes of
-ancient families are let out as farms, the tenant soon brings about a
-revolution of ancient purposes. He adapts the whole to modern uses&mdash;to
-whatever will best enable him to pay his rent. He calculates how many
-bushels of potatoes will grow on the slope; how much the lawn will yield
-to the plough, how much to pasturage; and how much grass may be annually
-shorn from the old Bowling-green.</p>
-
-<p>So has it fared with the renowned fortress of Raglan.<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> With little
-interest in its history, little reverence for its ancient lords, every
-successive tenant, during a long series of years, has only studied how
-to turn it to the best advantage. Its ancient gardens have been
-obliterated; its lawns converted into pasture; its fountains, streams,
-and fish-ponds have been dried up; its materials carted away to erect
-some farmer’s homestead; its walls, that so stoutly resisted the enemy’s
-shot, and returned it with interest, seem to feel their degradation, and
-strive to hide it under a mantle of ivy.<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> Now, however, the grounds
-are kept in good order; while every feature and fragment of the
-venerable ruin are preserved with exemplary care by the resident warden,
-who happily possesses a taste for archæology.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">{160}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The accompanying <span class="eng">ground-plan</span> will enable the reader to trace the various
-apartments of the <span class="eng">Castle</span> in the same order in which they are described,
-and to follow with more interest the details of the <span class="eng">Siege</span>, upon which we
-are now to enter.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_160.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_160.jpg" height="550" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-<tr><td class="rt">1</td><td align="left">Keep, or Yellow Tower.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">2</td><td align="left">Chambers destroyed in the Siege.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">3</td><td align="left">Great Hall.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">4</td><td align="left">Parlour, or small Dining-Room.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">5</td><td align="left">Kitchen.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">6</td><td align="left">Gateway and Staircase.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">7</td><td align="left">Galleries and State-Rooms.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">8</td><td align="left">Chapel.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">9</td><td align="left">Gateway leading to the Bowling-Green.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">10</td><td align="left">Spot formerly crossed by a bridge.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">11</td><td align="left">Breach made during the Siege.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">12</td><td align="left">On the upper story is King Charles’ window.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="rt">13</td><td align="left">Moat surrounding the Keep.</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Our Donjon-tower is stout and tall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Each rampart mann’d and steady;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And loyal hearts, from every wall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Shout&mdash;‘<i>Roundheads!</i> we are ready!’<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i1">Then here’s a health to <span class="eng">Charles</span> our King;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And eke to noble <span class="eng">Worcester</span>!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To each, to-morrow’s fight shall bring<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">New loyalty and lustre!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i1">Then hoist the Royal Standard high!<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And crown our <span class="eng">Chief</span> with laurels!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And where’s the man that would not die<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">In combating for <span class="eng">Charles</span>?” &amp;c. &amp;c.<br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">{161}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>We have next to take a brief survey of that portion of the Revolutionary
-movements, with which the history of <span class="eng">Raglan</span> and its loyal garrison are
-so closely associated.</p>
-
-<p>“The Parliament had now,” says Lord Clarendon, “such footing in
-Pembrokeshire, that many of the principal gentlemen had declared for
-them; and the harbour of Milford Haven gave their fleet opportunity to
-give them all supplies and relief.” This being the state of those parts,</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Lord Herbert</span>, eldest son of the Marquess of Worcester, not only
-offered but desired to receive that command, and engaged himself “not
-only to secure it from the opposition and malignity of the other party;
-but before the spring to raise such a strength of horse and foot, and to
-provide such an equipage to march with, that might reduce Gloucester,
-and then be added to the King’s army when he should be ready to take the
-field. And all this so much at his own charge, for his father, the
-Marquess, who was well able, would furnish the money&mdash;as was pretended
-upon the King’s promise to repay him when he should be restored to his
-own&mdash;that he would receive no part of the King’s revenue, or of such
-money as his Majesty could be able to draw for the supply of his own
-more immediate occasions.”</p>
-
-<p>This was a very great offer, and such as no man else could so reasonably
-make: for “the Marquess of Worcester was generally reputed the greatest
-mony’d man in the kingdom; and probably might not think it an unthrifty
-thing rather to disburse it for the King&mdash;who might be able to repay
-it&mdash;than to have it taken from him by the other party; which would be
-hardly questioned if they prevailed.”<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a></p>
-
-<p>The Lord Herbert himself “was a man of more than ordinary affection for
-the King; and one who, he was sure, would not betray him. For his
-religion, it might work upon himself, but would not disquiet other men.
-For though he were a Papist, he was never like to make others so; and
-his reputation and interest were very great with many gentlemen of those
-counties, who were not at all friends to his religion. It was to be
-hoped that the old grudges and prejudices, which had been rather against
-the house of Worcester and the Popish religion professed there, than
-against the person of their lord, would have been composed, and declined
-by his fair and gentle carriage towards all men&mdash;as of truth he was of a
-civil and obliging nature&mdash;and by the public-heartedness of those who,
-for the Cause and conscience’ sake would, it was hoped, sacrifice all
-trivial and private contentions to a union that must vindicate the
-religion, honour, and justice of the kingdom. Upon these reasons and
-these presump<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">{162}</a></span>tions, the King granted such a commission as is
-before-mentioned to the Lord Herbert; who, with more expedition than was
-expected by many, or by others believed possible, raised a body of above
-fifteen hundred foot, and near five hundred horse, very well and
-sufficiently armed, which increased the merit of the service.”<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a></p>
-
-<p>Of the royalist army, raised and paid by the Marquess of Worcester, the
-command of the infantry was given to Major-General Lawley; that of the
-cavalry to Lord John Somerset, his second son; while Lord Herbert took
-the field as Commander-in-chief. Immediately on its being ascertained
-that Monmouth had declared for the Parliament, Lord Herbert placed
-himself at the head of a body of troops, and, joined by a party of
-volunteers from Goodrich, placed them behind a rising ground near the
-town. Here, with about forty intrepid followers, he proceeded to
-reconnoitre the enemy’s position, and surmounting an earthen mound which
-they had thrown up, he passed the ditch, and put the guard to the sword.
-They next succeeded in breaking the port chain and forced an entrance
-for the cavalry; then, joining their comrades, they entered the town at
-full gallop, and, surrounding the main guard, made them prisoners. “The
-result of this expedition was the capture of Col. Broughton, four
-captains, four lieutenants and ensigns, the republican committee, and
-all the private soldiers, with a considerable quantity of arms and
-ammunition.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Raglan Castle</span> by this time had been put into a state of thorough
-defence, with a garrison of eight hundred men, many distinguished
-officers, and all the necessaries for maintaining a long and vigorous
-resistance. The Marquess himself&mdash;then on the verge of
-fourscore&mdash;infused by his presence and conversation an invincible spirit
-of loyalty into the garrison; and provisioned as it was, the place might
-well be viewed as almost impregnable.</p>
-
-<p>The clashing exploit of Lord Herbert, however, was speedily followed by
-a mortifying reverse; for as the <span class="eng">King’s</span> army was on its march to
-Gloucester, it was met near Coleford by a rabble force of disaffected
-peasantry, whose object was to obstruct the Royalists in their passage
-through the Forest of Dean; and a scuffle ensuing, Colonel Lawley, the
-captain-in-chief, was mortally wounded by a stone.<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> But order being
-restored, and Colonel Brett taking the command, the Royalists continued
-their march until arriving on the right bank of the Severn, they threw
-up defences at the “Vineyard”&mdash;the Bishop’s palace&mdash;and there fixed
-their quarters. But in the meantime, Sir William Waller, who was then
-with a regiment of horse on the borders of Worcestershire, put himself
-in motion, and by forced marches took up his position in front of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">{163}</a></span>
-Royalists. This sudden apparition threw them into a panic; for,
-considering themselves in their newly-fortified position quite secure
-from all danger of surprise, Lord Herbert had gone to wait upon the <span class="eng">King</span>
-at Oxford; while his brother, Lord John, who commanded the horse, had
-set out with two or three troops on a reconnoitering party; so that no
-officer of skill or authority was left to direct or head the forces.
-All, therefore, was instant confusion in the camp; for, although their
-position was strong, well supplied with cannon, and certainly not to be
-stormed by any amount of cavalry that could be brought against them, yet
-they abandoned all thoughts of defence, and without striking a blow,
-surrendered to the first summons from Waller, on the simple grant of
-quarter.</p>
-
-<p>This unexpected disaster was a death-blow to the army of Worcester; “the
-raising of which was considered such an effort on the part of the
-<span class="eng">Marquess</span>, that it could hardly have been accomplished by any other
-nobleman in the realm.” That “mushroom army grew up and perished so
-soon, that the loss of it was scarce apprehended at Oxford, because the
-strength, or rather the numerical force, was not understood. But had the
-money,” as Lord Clarendon observes, “that was laid out in raising and
-paying a body of men, who never in the least degree advanced the royal
-interest, been brought into the King’s receipt at Oxford, and employed
-to the most advantage, the war might have been ended the next summer;
-for I have heard the Lord Herbert say, that those preparations, and
-others which by that defeat were rendered useless, cost above three
-score thousand pounds; the greatest part of which”&mdash;an enormous sum in
-those times&mdash;“was advanced by his father, the Marquess of
-Worcester.”<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> We now proceed to notice the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Royal Visit to Raglan</span>, which in its loyal devotion remained unshaken by
-these reverses; and the following anecdote gives us a favourable idea of
-the good humour, combined with courtly magnificence, with which Lord
-Worcester entertained the King on his first visit to the Castle. We
-relate the anecdote on the authority of the family Chaplain:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“Sir Thomas Somerset, brother to the Marquess, had a house which they
-called Troy&mdash;the principal residence of the Duke of Beaufort&mdash;within
-five miles of Raglan Castle. Sir Thomas Somerset being a neate man, both
-within and without his house, as he was a complete gentleman of himself
-every way, delighted very much in fine gardens and orchards, and in
-replenishing and ordering them with all the varieties of choicest fruits
-that could be got, and in defending his new plantations from the
-coldness of the climate by the benefit of art. The earth, that was so
-much made of, proved so grateful to him, that,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">{164}</a></span> at the same time that
-the King happened to be at his brother’s house at Raglan, it yielded him
-wherewithal to send his brother Worcester such a present, as at that
-time of the year and place, was able to make the King and all his lords
-believe that the Sovereign of the Planets, with all his prime electors,
-had new changed the Poles; and that <span class="eng">Wales</span>, the refuse and outcast of the
-fair garden of England, had fairer and riper fruit growing upon her
-stone rubbish, than England’s levels had in all her beds. This,
-presented to the Marquess, he could not suffer to be presented to the
-King by any other hands except his own. In comes the Marquess, at the
-latter end of supper, led by the arm, having such a goodly presence with
-him, that his being led became him, rather like some ceremony of state,
-than shew of impotence; and his slow pace, occasioned by his infirmity,
-expressed a Spanish gravity, rather than feebleness. Thus, with a silver
-dish in each hand filled with rarities, and a little basket upon his
-arm, as a supply, in case his Majesty should be over bountiful of his
-favours to the ladies that were standers by, he makes his third
-obeysance and thus speaks:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>May it please your Majesty, if the four elements could have been rob’d
-to have entertained your Majesty, I think I had done my duty; but I must
-do as I may. If I had sent to Bristol for some good things to entertain
-your Majesty, there had been no wonder at all. If I had procured from
-London some goodnesse that might have been acceptable to your Majesty,
-that had been no wonder indeed. But here I present your
-Majesty’&mdash;placing his dishes upon the table&mdash;‘with what neither came
-from Lincoln that was, nor London that is, nor York that is to be;<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a>
-but I assure your Majesty that this present came from <span class="eng">Troy</span>.’ Whereupon
-the King smiled, and answered the Marquess&mdash;‘Truly, my lord, I have
-heard that corne<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> now growes where Troy town once stood; but I never
-thought there had grown any apricocks there before.’ Whereupon the
-Marquess replied&mdash;‘Anything to please your Majesty.’</p>
-
-<p>“The fruit was very much admired by every one, and it was acknowledged
-by all that were in the presence at that time, that they never saw the
-King served in greater state in all their lives. There were some about
-the King who followed my Lord Marquess when he departed the presence,
-and told his lordship that he would make a very good courtier. ‘Aye,’
-said the Marquess, ‘I remember I said one thing that may give you some
-hopes of me&mdash;Anything to please your Majesty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">{165}</a></span>’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>Of the Marquess’s farther proficiency in the art and mystery of a
-courtier, during the royal visit, we find this specimen:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“The Marquess had a mind to tell the King, as handsomely as he could, of
-some of his, as he thought, <i>faults</i>; and thus he continues his plot:
-Against the time that his Majesty was wont to give his lordship a visit,
-as commonly he used to do after dinner, his lordship had the book of
-John Gower lying before him on the table. The King casting his eye upon
-the book, told the Marquess he had never seen it before. ‘Oh!’ said the
-Marquis, ‘it is the book of books, which if your Majesty had been well
-versed in, it would have made you a king of kings.’ ‘Why so, my Lord?’
-said the King. ‘Why,’ said the Marquess, ‘here is set down how Aristotle
-brought up and instructed Alexander the Great in all the rudiments and
-principles belonging to a prince.’ And under the persons of Alexander
-and Aristotle, he read the King such a lesson, that all the standers by
-were amazed at his boldness; and the King supposing that he had gone
-farther than his text would have given him leave, asked the Marquess,
-‘If he said his lesson by <i>heart</i>, or whether he spoke out of the book?’
-The Marquess replied, ‘Sir, if you could read my heart, it may be you
-might find it there; or, if your Majesty please to get it by heart, I
-will lend you my book.’ Which latter proffer the King accepted of, and
-did borrow it. ‘Nay,’ said the Marquess, ‘I will lend it you upon these
-conditions: First, That you read it; secondly, That you make use of it.’
-But perceiving how that some of the new-made lords fretted, and bit
-their thumbs at certain passages in the Marquess’s discourse, he thought
-a little to please his Majesty, though he pleased not them, the men who
-were so much displeased already protesting unto his Majesty, that no man
-was so much for the absolute power of a king as Aristotle. Desiring the
-book out of the King’s hand, he told the King that he would show him one
-remarkable passage to that purpose, turning to that place that had this
-verse:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“A king can kill, a king can save,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A king can make a lord a knave,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And of a knave a lord also,” &amp;c.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>“Whereupon there were divers new-made lords who slunk out of the roome,
-which the King observing, told the Marquess&mdash;‘My lord, at this rate, you
-will drive away all my Nobility!’</p>
-
-<p>“The Marquess replied&mdash;‘I protest unto your Majesty, I am as new a made
-lord as any of them all;<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> but I was never called knave and rogue so
-much in all my life, as I have been since I received this last honour,
-and why should not they bear their shares?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">{166}</a></span>’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>But the Marquess, like many of the King’s party, seems to have wanted
-that undoubting confidence of success, which not unfrequently secures
-it. How different from the determined tone of a Cromwell is this:&mdash;“When
-the King first entered the gates of Raglan, the Marquess delivered his
-Majesty the keys, according to the ordinary custom; the King restoring
-of them to the Marquis, the Marquis said, ‘I beseech your Majesty to
-keep them, and you please, for they are in a good hand; but I am afraid
-that ere it be long, I shall be forced to deliver them into the hands of
-those who will spoil the compliment.’<span class="lftspc">”</span> And so it happened.</p>
-
-<p>The plans taken by the King, while residing in Raglan Castle, to
-persuade the Marquess of Worcester to farther advances of money, afford
-a subject for a humiliating chapter in the royal history. The aged
-Marquess had three ruling principles&mdash;loyalty to the King, attachment to
-the Roman Catholic religion, and fondness for money. His loyalty had
-been already extensively drawn upon, and there remained now to be tried
-an attempt upon his proselytizing zeal. He had now to be flattered with
-the idea that he might possibly persuade the King to profess the tenets
-of his ancestors. Charles, indeed, had not made great progress in
-Protestant doctrines; and the Marquess, confident in his theological
-powers, imagined he would find an easy convert. Here is Dr. Bayly’s
-account of the matter:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“Thus affected was that noble and, indeed, in his way, heavenly
-disposed, Henry, late Marquess of Worcester, to play the greatest prize
-that ever was played between any two that ever entered within those
-lists. Three diadems were to encounter with the tripple crowne, and the
-tripple crowne with three sceptres. Opportunity, that lucky gamester,
-that hardly loses a game in twenty, was on the Marquess’ side; time and
-place directed him how to take points in his own tables; the King at
-that time being in the Marquess’s own house at Raglan, and necessitated
-to borrow money to buy bread, after so great a loss in battle. The King
-being thus put to play the aftergame with the old Marquess, was a little
-mistrustful that he had not played the foregame with him so well, as
-that he had not thereby prejudiced the latter: for, though the Marquess
-and his son were the two ablest and most forward’st shoulderers up of
-the declining throne, especially the chip of the old block, whose
-disposition expressed itself most noble in not caring who had loved the
-King, so that he might be but permitted to love Alexander; whom he
-affected not only with the loyal respects of a subject towards his
-soveraigne, but also with such passionate ways of expressions and
-laboriousnesse in all good offices, as are wont to be predominant in
-those in whom simpathy is the only ground of their affections; yet there
-were not wanting some kind of men who made the averseness of this
-nobleman’s religion an occasion of improving their own<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">{167}</a></span> envies. Which,
-though it could never lose him the least ground in his master’s good
-opinion of him&mdash;who never would judge no more a saint by his face than a
-devil by his feet, but both according to their several ingagements&mdash;yet
-there were some things which happened, as having relation to this
-family, which were not altogether pleasing. However, though his Majesty
-came thither ushered by necessity, yet he came neither unwelcomed nor
-uninvited; and entertained as if he had been more than a king, by reason
-of some late atchievements, rather than otherwise: and though money came
-from him like drops of blood, yet he was contented that every drop
-within his body should be let out at his command, so that he might
-performe so meritorious a piece of worke as, he thought, the being an
-instrument of bringing the father of his country to be the son of his
-church, would be unto his soul’s health. The Marquess having these
-resolutions within himselfe, thought to give them breath at the same
-time that his Majesty should make his motion for a further supply of
-money, which he daily and hourly expected; but was deceived in his
-expectations; for the relation having already reach’d the King’s ear,
-how an accident had made me no less fortunate to his lordship, than in
-being the means of preserving his lordship’s person, and no
-inconsiderable fortune then in the same venture with him; and how that I
-preserved both the one and the other, in concealing both, for the space
-that the moon useth to be twice in riding of her circuit,<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> (the
-particulars hereof, here to insert, would tend rather to much arrogance
-than any purpose, wherefore I further forbear,) until such time as the
-trust which Providence had reposed in me was crowned by the same hand
-with such successe as brought the Marquess safe to his own house in
-peace; which I had no sooner brought to passe, but the Marquess drew
-from me a solemn engagement never to leave him so long as we both should
-live; which I was so careful for to observe, that I neither left him in
-life nor death, faire weather nor foule, until such time as he left me,
-and I laid him under the ground in Windsor Castle, in the sepulchre of
-his fathers.”</p>
-
-<p>The author of the notice of the Marquess of Worcester in “Lodge’s
-Portraits,” says, that “the adventure here alluded to by Dr. Bayly is
-and must remain unknown.” It is, however, made sufficiently clear in the
-“First Apophthegm,” where Bayly tells us that he met the Marquess in the
-Welsh mountains, “flying a danger with a softer pace than it made after
-him.” Bayly, whose knowledge of the country must necessarily have been
-great, had it in his power to conceal the Marquess. This was their first
-meeting, and they ever after were inseparable. In nearly the words
-already used, Bayly in this passage also says, “From which time
-forward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">{168}</a></span> until the time that I laid him in his grave in Windsor Castle,
-I never parted from him.”</p>
-
-<p>He continues&mdash;“And it was a strange thing, that during the time that I
-was thus a bond-servant to his lordship, which was for the space of
-twelve monethes thrice told, the difference in religion never wrought
-the least difference in his disposals of trusts of the highest nature
-upon me; but his speeches often shewed his heart, and his often lending
-me his ear, that they were both as much mine as any man’s. Of which, it
-seems, his Majesty being informed, I must be the beetle-head that must
-drive this wedge into the royall stock; and was also told, that no man
-could make a divorce between the Babilonish garment and the wedge of
-gold sooner than myself. To be brief&mdash;I was ingaged in the business; I
-could neither deny the employment, nor well tell how to go about it, I,
-not knowing the Marquess’ drift all this while, thought the Marquess had
-feared nothing more than what I myself was most afraid of, viz., that I
-should be made an instrument to let the same horse bleed, whom the King
-himself had found so free, that he was unwilling to give him the least
-touch with his spur. Howsoever, I went about it, and thus began to tell
-his lordship:&mdash;‘My Lord, the thing that I feared is now fallen upon me;
-I am made the unwelcome messenger of bad news&mdash;the King wants money!’ At
-which word the Marquess interrupted me, saying, ‘Hold, sir, that’s no
-news; go on with your business.’ ‘My Lord,’ said I, ‘there is one
-comfort yet, that as the King is brought low, so are his demands; and,
-like his army, are come down from thousands to hundreds: and from paying
-the souldiers of his army to buying bread for himself and his followers.
-My Lord, it is the King’s own expression, and his desire is but three
-hundred pound.’ Whereupon my Lord made a long pause before he gave me
-one word of answer. I knew by experience that in such cases it was best
-leaving him to himself, and to let that nature, which was so good, worke
-itselfe into an act of the highest charity&mdash;like the diamond, which is
-only pollished with its own dust. At last he called me nearer to him,
-and asked me, ‘If the King himself had spoken to me concerning any such
-business?’ To which I answered, ‘That the King himself had not; but
-others did in the King’s hearing.’ Whereupon he said, ‘Might I but speak
-unto him&mdash;but I was never thought worthy to be consulted with, though in
-matters meerly concerning the affaires of my own country&mdash;I would supply
-his wants, were they never so great, or whatsoever they were.’ Whereupon
-I told his lordship that, ‘If the King knew as much, he might quickly
-speak with him.’ Then said the Marquess, ‘The way to have him know so
-much is to have somebody to tell him of it.’ I asked his lordship, ‘If
-he would give me leave to be the informer.’ He told me, ‘He spake it to
-the same purpose.’ I hastened from him, with as much feare of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">{169}</a></span> being
-called back again, as I did towards the King, with a longing desire of
-giving his Majesty so good an account of my so much doubted embassie.</p>
-
-<p>“Half going and half running through the gallerie, I was stopt in my way
-by one Lieutenant-Collonel Lyllard, who told me, that if ever I had a
-mind to do my Lord Marquess and the garrison any good, now was the time:
-for even now one of the King’s ships had run herself on ground under the
-town of Chepstow. Calling unto me the captain of her (one Captain Hill),
-who related unto me that upon the surrender of Bristol he was forced to
-fly into the sanctuary of the King’s quarters, having formerly revolted
-from the Parliament, or rather returned to her due obedience. Telling
-me, moreover, that she was fraught with store of goods and rich
-commodities, as sugar, tobacco, linnen of all sorts, &amp;c., and that the
-law in such a case appropriated the King to such a part of her lading;
-which I better understood then than I can relate unto you now; and that
-she had many fair brass and iron guns in her, with proportionable
-ammunition, usefull for the garrison; and that, for a word of speaking,
-I might have all this of the King for the use of the garrison. I
-(considering that it would be nevertheless the King’s for being
-converted to such an use, as also the business I was about) made no
-doubt but that I could easily beg all this for the Marquess, in
-consideration of the great charges his lordship had been at in
-entertaining his Majesty so long. Neither was I deceived, for the King
-granted it willingly.</p>
-
-<p>“But as to the matter in hand, I told his Majesty apart, that I had
-moved his lordship in matter of money; but found him a little
-discouraged, in regard that his Majestie having been twice at Raglan a
-moneth at a time, and that at neither of those times he ever vouchsafed
-his lordship so much honour as once to call him to councel, though it
-was in his own house, and must needs be acknowledged to be one who knew
-the countrey, and the constitution of the inhabitants, better than any
-other man that was about his Majestie had reason to understand.
-Wherefore I told the King, I thought his lordship leant my motion a
-deffer ear than he would have done, if his lordship had not been thought
-so uselesse a creature; and that I perceived his lordship had a desire
-to have some conference with his Majestie; which being obtained, I
-believed his Majestie’s request would be easilie granted, and his
-expectations answered in a higher measure than it may be his Majestie
-did believe. The King said, ‘<i>With all my hart</i>: and as to the other
-business which so much troubles my lord, in troth I have thought it a
-neglect in us heretofore; but the true reason why I did forbear to do so
-was, because I thought my Lord of Worcester did not desire it, by reason
-of his retiredness, unwieldiness of body, and unwillingness of mind to
-stir abroad; and therefore I thought it a contentment to him to be let
-alone.’ I told his Majestie, that I did verilie believe that his
-Majestie<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">{170}</a></span> was in the rights in both respects, both of his Majestie’s and
-his lordship’s; and that if his Majestie had called him to councel, I do
-verilie believe his lordship would have been desired to be excused; but
-yet he did expect he should have been called. Whereupon the King said,
-‘I pray tell my Lord of Worcester, that I did not forbear that respect
-unto him out of any disestimation I had either of his wisedome or
-loyaltie; but out of some reasons I had to myself, which indeed
-reflected as much upon my lord as they did on me. For had he used to
-have come to the councel board, it would have been said that I took no
-other councel but what was conveighed to me by Jesuites, by his
-lordship’s meanes: and I pray tell him that that was the true cause.’ I
-told his Majestie that I would, and that I thought it an easie matter to
-cause him to believe no less; but withal I intimated to his Majestie
-that I knew the Marquess had an earnest desire to have some private
-conference with his Majestie this night; which, if granted, it might
-conduce very much to his Majestie’s behoof. The King said, ‘How can that
-be?’ I told his Majestie that my lord had contrived it before his coming
-to the castle, and told his Majestie of the privacie of the
-conveighance. Thereat his Majestie smiled and said, ‘I know my lord’s
-drift well enough: either he means to chide me, or else to convert me to
-his religion.’ Whereupon I told his Majestie, I doubted not but that his
-Majestie was temptation-proof as well as he was correction-free; and
-that he might returne the same man he went, having made a profitable
-exchange of gold and silver for words and sleep.”<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p>
-
-<p>It seems to have been thought necessary to make a great state secret of
-this conference; and, in order that the company might not observe any
-communication going on between the King and the Marquess, who,
-doubtless, knew his guests, he hastily made answer&mdash;“I will tell you
-what you shall do, so that you shall not need to fear any such thing. Go
-unto the yeoman of the wine cellar, and bid him leave the keys of the
-wine cellar with you, and all that you find in your way, invite them
-down unto the cellar, and shew them the keys, and I warrant you, you
-shall sweep the room of them if there were a hundred; and when you have
-done leave them there.”<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> This ruse appears to have been so<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">{171}</a></span>
-successful, that after Bayly published his book, some of those who had
-been in Raglan denied that ever there had been private conversations
-between the King and the Marquess. But Bayly’s good faith seems to have
-been unjustly suspected; and he replies to the objectors with humour and
-severity in his Preface to the “Apophthegms.”</p>
-
-<p>The Marquis having “lain down, the Chaplain found him asleep when he
-went to let him know the time to meet the King was come. He expressed
-much annoyance and fear on account of what had been arranged; but after
-taking a pipe of tobacco and a little glassful of <i>aqua mirabilis</i>, he
-recovered his spirits.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Shortly</span> after the King’s departure from Raglan, an adventure occurred
-which placed the venerable Marquess in a novel and rather ludicrous
-position. It was this:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“There was a certain great man in the King’s army,<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> between whom and
-the house of Raglan,” says Bayly, “there was at that time animosity. The
-Marquess of Worcester had heard that this party should cast a dubious
-saying, as the case then stood, viz., ‘That he intended to <i>take</i> Raglan
-in his way;’ and was so far as good as his word, as that he marched into
-the parke, and there drew up his men, and fac’d the Castle. Whereupon
-the line was manned, and command was given that none should be suffered
-to come near the line, nor within such a distance; which command was so
-observed, that some of the officers of the army approaching within the
-place prohibited, the centry bid stand. They did not. The centry called
-upon them again to stand. They refused. The Lieutenant called upon the
-centry to give fire. The centry, preferring the knowledge of his friends
-to his duty to his officer, did not give fire; but swore he would give
-fire if they did not stand. Whereupon one of them told him that it was
-such a Generall, and wonder’d that the officer would bid the souldier
-give fire upon him. The Generall forthwith coming to the drawbridge,
-desired to speak with the Lord Charles; whom he no sooner saluted, but
-required satisfaction for the affront. He was desired to come into the
-Castle, and told that the matter should be examined before him, and if
-any affront were given, he should receive satisfaction. Whereupon, being
-come within the Castle, the Lieutenant was sent for; who told the
-Generall, that though he knew him to be the Generall, yet, as a
-souldier, he was not to take any notice of him, until such times as he
-had declared himself, which when he did, he respected him accordingly.
-Furthermore telling him, that he had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">{172}</a></span> an old souldier, and that he
-had in other parts seen rewards given unto souldiers who stood centry,
-for firing upon their generall, having the like occasions; but never
-knew it a fault before. All this would not serve turn. The Generall said
-he was affronted, and must have satisfaction, requiring my lord to call
-a councell of warre, and to do him justice; and so took his leave and
-went his way. The <span class="eng">Marquess</span> of Worcester, sleeping upon his bed all this
-while, and not dreaming of any of all this that had happened in the
-interim, hearing the whole relation, he asked all his officers, ‘Whether
-or no the Lieutenant had offended?’ They all answered, ‘No;’ and
-commended him for what he had done. Then said the Marquess, ‘This is but
-a pretence&mdash;they have a mind to quarrel with us. If ye should call a
-councell of warre, and acquit him, that is what they desire, and thence
-they would ground their quarrel; and if ye should inflict any punishment
-upon him to give them satisfaction, that were basenesse and injustice;
-therefore I will have it thus: Send a guard with him to the Generall of
-such souldiers as are able to witness the truth; and let him try him at
-his councell of warre, and see what law he hath for it, and so we shall
-break the neck of the quarrell.’</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>And so,’ said the Lieutenant, ‘I shall hang by the neck for my
-labour!’ Whereat the Marquis replyed, ‘What friends hast thou in the
-garrison?’ The Lieutenant made answer, ‘I have a wife and a daughter.’
-Then said the Marquis with some vehemence, ‘I protest unto thee, if they
-hang thee, I’ll marry thy wife and provide for thy daughter.’ The
-Lieutenant replied, ‘I had rather you would marry my daughter, and
-provide for me.’ ‘I protest,’ said the Marquess, ‘so I will; I will
-marry thy daughter, and I will provide for thee an honourable grave; but
-thou shalt be hanged first.’ ‘My Lord,’ said the Lieutenant, ‘shall I
-bespeak my grave?’ ‘Thou shalt,’ said the Marquess. ‘Then,’ said the
-Lieutenant, ‘I will be laid in the vault in Raglan Church between your
-father and your grandfather; and I pray God I may be hanged before I see
-you again.’ And so saying he flung out of the roome, leaving my Lord in
-the merriest veine that ever I saw him in; who, remembering himself,
-sent him five pieces to beare his charges.</p>
-
-<p>“The Lieutenant being brought to the Generall at Monmouth, the Generall
-dismissed him of his guard, and sent him to Hereford with an oath at his
-heeles, that he would hang him if there were no more men in England.</p>
-
-<p>“Then the Lieutenant cried out, ‘This makes for us, sure enough. I do
-but think how finely I shall lie between the two old earles.’... The
-particulars hereof being brought to the Marquess, his lordship was not a
-little perplext between feare of having his new mistresse and loosing
-his old friend; which he had run himself into between jest and earnest.
-The time was come that the Marquess was not so much merrier than we
-heretofore; but we were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">{173}</a></span> as much merrie as he upon the return of this
-news. But the greatest sport of all was concerning the hopefull Lady
-Marchioness, who was ever and anon enquiring and asking many questions
-concerning the Marquess, whom she never saw. What manner of man he was?
-How old? Whether he went with a staff, or no? What was the reason he
-kept his chamber so much, and did not come abroad sometimes? What
-ailments he had? And how long it was since his lady died? With many
-other necessary questions to be asked by a young woman in her condition.</p>
-
-<p>“Sport enough there was for both the garrisons of Raglan and Hereford.
-Nevertheless, it stood the Marquess upon to be sollicitous in the
-business, being sore prest between two strong passions, love and pitty.
-Me he sends to solicit the businesse, with instructions; whose telling
-me never so often, ‘that it was no laughing matter,’ could not make me
-forbear laughing.</p>
-
-<p>“But having taken my leave, his Lordship called me back again, and with
-a loud and angry voice said to me, ‘Tell the Generall, that if he hang
-my Lieutenant, I’ll hang the centry for not giving fire upon him when he
-was bid.’ Whereupon I said unto his Lordship, ‘What doth he care how
-many you hang?’ ‘God bless us all,’ said the Marquess; ‘if he neither
-cares who he hangs of the King’s party, nor who other folkes hang; for
-aught I know he cares not an’ we were all hanged.’</p>
-
-<p>“So taking my second leave of the Marquess, and then my humble leave of
-the Lady Elizabeth, who fearing nothing more but that I would prove too
-good a sollicitor for her good, I went to Hereford, and made some sport
-there; and so brought home the Lieutenant to his wife and daughter, who
-ever after was called ‘My Lady Marquess.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>We now proceed to that part of our subject, in which the desperate
-fortunes of the Monarch are connected with his last visit to Raglan.</p>
-
-<p>After the battle of Naseby, nothing prospered with the King. His army,
-it was suspected, had not displayed on that day their former valour.
-Though not disaffected, they were dispirited; the mass of the infantry
-threw down their arms and cried for quarter; and with Cromwell’s horse
-thundering in his rear, the King escaped to Leicester, and thence
-through Bewdley, in Worcestershire, to Hereford. Only five days before
-this ruinous defeat he had written in a letter to the Queen, that since
-the rebellion began, “his affairs were never in so fair and hopeful a
-way.” On the sixth he was a fugitive. But he had still hopes&mdash;strange as
-it must appear&mdash;of getting together an army in South Wales.<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> At
-Hereford, Prince Rupert took leave of the King, and hastened to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">{174}</a></span>
-Bristol, that he might put it into a condition to resist the victorious
-army that was speedily to make its appearance before it; and thence,
-says Lord Clarendon, “his Majesty went to Abergavenny to meet the
-Commissioners. As they were for the most part persons of the best
-quality and the largest fortunes of these counties, so they had
-manifested great loyalty and affection from the beginning of the war, by
-sending many good regiments to the army; and with their sons and
-brothers and nearest kindred&mdash;many of whom had lost their lives bravely
-in the field. They now made as large professions as ever, and seemed to
-believe that they should be able in a very short time to raise a good
-army of foot, with which the King might again look upon the enemy, and
-accordingly agreed what numbers should be levied upon each of the
-counties.” From hence, says the historian, “his Majesty went for the
-last time to <span class="eng">Raglan Castle</span>, the noble house of the Marquess of
-Worcester, which was well fortified and garrisoned by him who remained
-then in it.” There the King “resolved to stay till he saw the effect of
-the Commissioners’ mighty promises. But in a short time he found that,
-either by the continued successes of the Parliament armies, the
-particular information whereof was every day brought to them by
-intelligence from their friends, or the triumphs of their enemies in
-Monmouth or Gloucester, there was little probability of their raising an
-army in those parts, where all men grew less affected, or more frighted:
-which produced one and the same effect.”</p>
-
-<p>In his progress&mdash;for it was more like a “progress” than a
-retreat&mdash;through Monmouthshire to Raglan, the King was greeted with
-every expression of loyal sympathy by his Welsh subjects. In the “<i>Iter
-Carolinum</i>,” printed amongst the “Somers’ Tracts,” it is recorded, “that
-King Charles slept at Tredegar, the seat of Sir William Morgan, in this
-county, on the seventeenth of July, 1645; and that he arrived at Sir
-Philip Morgan’s,<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> Ruperra, in Glamorganshire, on the twenty-fifth,
-and there remained till the twenty-ninth of the same month.” This must
-have been immediately before his return to Raglan Castle, in August.
-Entering upon a melancholy progress from house to house, among the
-staunch royalists of South Wales, he had thus sought<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">{175}</a></span> relief from the
-gloomy reflections by which his mind was oppressed after the total
-defeat at Naseby.</p>
-
-<p>At Raglan, however, says the historian, “the King, as on his former
-visit, passed days and weeks in sports and ceremonies, in hunting and
-audience-giving;” for every effort was employed by those around him to
-obliterate all recollections of the past by promises and predictions of
-a brilliant future. When his Majesty re-entered the gates of
-Raglan&mdash;which was indeed a harbour of refuge in his distress&mdash;the loyal
-Marquess, kneeling down, kissed his <span class="eng">Liege’s</span> hand; and then rising up
-saluted him with this compliment&mdash;“<i>Domine! non sum dignus</i>.” To which
-the King replied&mdash;“My Lord, I may very well answer you again: <i>I have
-not found so great faith, no not in Israel</i>. No man would trust me with
-so much money as you have done.” To which the Marquess replied&mdash;“I hope
-your Majesty will prove <i>a defender of the Faith</i>.”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_175.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_175.jpg" width="470" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>By this time Lord Herbert (Earl of Glamorgan) had sailed for Ireland to
-raise, if possible, new forces for the King’s service, and the renewal
-of the war. Pleased with his zeal and loyalty, his Majesty had thus
-written to him from Hereford:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“Glamorgan&mdash;I am glad to hear that you are gone to Irland, and
-asseure you that as myselfe is nowais disheartned by our late
-misfortune, so nether this country; for I could not have expected
-more from them then they have now freely undertaken, though I had
-come hither absolute victorious; which makes me hope well of the
-neighbouring sheers; so that, by the grace of God, I hope shortly
-to recover my late losse, with advantage, if such succours come to
-me from that Kingdome which I have reason to expect; but the
-circumstance of tyme is that of the greatest consequence, being
-that wᶜ now is cheefliest and earnestliest recomended to you by
-your most asseured, reall, constant frend,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="eng">Charles R.</span>”<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a><br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p>Among the numerous and more humble examples of loyal affection, by which
-the fallen Monarch was soothed during his retirement in Raglan Castle,
-the following is well deserving of notice:&mdash;The reverend individual,
-whom his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">{176}</a></span> own act has immortalized, was Thomas Swift,<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> incumbent of
-the neighbouring parish of Goodrich. Fully aware of the King’s pecuniary
-distress, he mortgaged his estate; and with the money thus raised he
-proceeded to Raglan Castle. The Governor, with whom he was personally
-acquainted, asked the object of his visit, and whether he could serve
-him; for he was equally esteemed as a zealous pastor, and a staunch
-royalist. “I am only come,” said he, “to give his Majesty my coat;” and,
-in taking it off, the Marquess pleasantly observed: “Thy coat, I fear
-me, is of little worth.” “Why then,” said Swift, “take my waistcoat
-also.” And here was the hidden treasure, for, on being ripped up, it was
-found to contain three hundred broad gold pieces. “And the King,” says
-Lord Clarendon, “received no relief that was more seasonable and
-acceptable than this during the war.” Mr. Swift’s zeal and activity in
-the royal cause exposed him to much danger and many sufferings. “He was
-plundered,” says Heath, “more than <i>thirty times</i> by the Parliament’s
-army, and ejected from his church living. His estate was sequestered,
-and he himself thrown into prison.”</p>
-
-<p>At Raglan the King “stayed until news came that Fairfax, after taking
-Leicester, had marched into the west, and defeated Goring’s troops at
-Lamport; at the same time that the Scottish army, on its march, had
-taken a small garrison between Hereford and Worcester by storm, and put
-all within it to the sword;” while Prince Rupert sent for all those
-foot, which were levied towards a new army to supply the garrison. But
-the expectations, which had been industriously fostered in the King’s
-mind of a more propitious fortune, became every day more faint. Of all
-the schemes that had been set afoot for retrieving his past errors, and
-regaining the hearts of his alienated subjects, not one was permitted to
-prosper. And as a fatal climax to his unhappy fortunes, “it was at
-Raglan Castle,” says Lord Clarendon, “that the King received the
-terrible information of the surrender of Bristol (September 11, 1645),
-which he so little apprehended, that if the evidence thereof had not
-been unquestionable, it could not have been believed. With what
-indignation and dejection of mind the King received this advertisement,
-needs no other description and enlargement than the setting down in the
-very words of it the letter which the King writ thereupon to Prince
-<span class="eng">Rupert</span>; which, considering the unspeakable indulgence his Majesty had
-ever shewed towards that Prince, is sufficient evidence how highly he
-was incensed by that act, which yet he took some time sadly to think of
-and consider, before he would allow himself to abate so much of his
-natural candour towards him. As soon as he received that surprising
-intelligence, the King removed from <span class="eng">Raglan Castle</span>.”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_016.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_016.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Gateway Towers.</i></p>
-
-<p>Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">{177}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The King</span> took leave of Raglan Castle on the 15th of September,
-mournfully observing to the Marquess, that by so doing he hoped “to ease
-his lordship of a heavy burden.” His Majesty then thanked his noble and
-devoted host for the large sums of money which had been advanced to him
-in the course of his troubles. Whereupon the Marquess replied: “Sire, I
-had your word for the money; but I never thought to have been so soon
-repaid; for now that you have given me thanks, I have all I looked
-for.”<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> Well might the royal guest have expressed his feelings on
-quitting Raglan in the following lines, taken from his own
-‘Collection:’&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I fall! I fall!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whom shall I call?<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Alas! can he be heard,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Who now is neither loved nor feared?<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">You, who were wont to kisse the ground,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where’er my honour’d steps were found,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Come, catch me at my last rebound!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">How each admires<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Heaven’s twinkling fires,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">When from their glorious seat<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Their influence gives life and heat!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But, oh! how few there are&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Tho’ danger from that act be far&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Will stoop and catch a falling star.<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>“Distracted with a thousand griefs, and accompanied by a few trusty and
-disconsolate servants, the royal victim wandered about the country,
-thankful to accept protection from any one who had fortune or
-inclination to minister to his distress. And many ‘cruel days’ to use
-his own words, were spent in weary marchings without food, narrow
-escapes, and precipitate retreats, before he took his last farewell of
-the land of Gwent.”<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a></p>
-
-<p>On one occasion he was hotly pursued in his retreat through Shire
-Newton, by a party of sixty Roundheads; but reaching a place called
-Charleston Rock, near the New Passage, a fishing-boat was found, in
-which he was safely ferried over the Severn into Gloucestershire. His
-pursuers coming up in the mean<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">{178}</a></span>while, but only to find their object
-defeated, seized upon the remaining boats, and with drawn swords
-compelled the fishermen to ferry them across. They hurried into the
-boats, and, with the royal fugitive still in view, made all haste to be
-once more on his traces. The poor fishermen, however, being royalists at
-heart, had no sympathy with these king-hunters; but rowing lustily
-towards a reef of rocks called the “English Stones,” within a gunshot of
-the Gloucester shore, there hauled in their oars; and landing their
-freight on the rocks, told them the water was so shallow that the boats
-could go no further, and they might easily wade to the opposite bank.
-And such, in fact, was quite practicable at low water; but, in the
-present instance, the tide flowed so rapidly, that in making the attempt
-to reach the opposite bank the whole party were drowned.</p>
-
-<p>Informed of the catastrophe, Cromwell abolished the ferry, which was not
-renewed until 1718, after a protracted lawsuit between the proprietor of
-St. Pierre and the Duke of Beaufort’s guardians,<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> when it was named
-the “<i>New Passage</i>.”</p>
-
-<div class="figleft">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_178.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_178.jpg" width="315" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>Armourer.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Siege.</span>&mdash;Early the following spring a resolution was passed that the
-Castle of Raglan, which had so often thrown open its gates to the King,
-and still supported a garrison in his service, should be reduced without
-loss of time. It was the last fortress that held out, and until its
-walls were dismantled, and the garrison made prisoners, the spirit of
-loyalty in Monmouth would never be thoroughly subdued. The Castle was
-accordingly invested by Major-General Glenham and Sir Trevor
-Williams;<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> but the latter, it has been asserted, was not very hearty
-in his opposition to the King; for he had many misgivings respecting the
-ultimate designs of Cromwell, who also, as it appears from existing
-documents,<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> was equally suspicious of Sir Trevor. The first summons
-to surrender the Castle to Parliament was received by the garrison with
-indignation and defiance.</p>
-
-<p>Early in June they were joined by Colonel Morgan, who, with a strong
-body of men<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> from Worcester, took the command. The troops of the
-garrison<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">{179}</a></span> made divers gallant sallies, and in one of these killed a
-cornet of Morgan’s, and carried off the colours. But after the surrender
-of Oxford to the Parliament, Colonel Morgan had a reinforcement of two
-hundred men, and being now in a position, both as regarded the works and
-the efficiency of the troops, to act with vigour, he sent the following
-summons:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>I.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Colonel Morgan to the Marquess of Worcester.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;By his Excellency’s command, this is my second summons,
-whereby you are required forthwith to deliver to me, for the uses
-of both Houses of Parliament, the Castle of Raglan, with all
-ordnance, arms, ammunition, and provisions, and all other
-necessaries that belong to war, that are now in it; which if you
-will be pleased to do, you may haply find mercy, as other garrisons
-have had; and if you do refuse, expect but the ruin of yourself,
-your family, and this poor distressed country. For I must acquaint
-your lordship that his Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax, having now
-finished his work over the kingdom except this Castle, hath been
-pleased to spare his forces for this work, which are now upon their
-march this way with all materials fit for it; though I made no
-doubt but I had of mine own strength sufficient to effect it. If
-your lordship will deny to submit to this summons, and that more
-blood must be spilt, your lordship may be confident that you shall
-receive no favour from both Houses of Parliament. So, expecting
-your answer this night by nine of the clock, I rest your lordship’s
-servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Tho. Morgan</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="hang">
-“<span class="smcap">From the Leaguer before Raglan</span>,<br />
-“June 28, 1646.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>“Upon the faith and honour of a soldier, this is a true copy of his
-Majesty’s letter<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> to the Governors of Oxford, Lichfield,
-Wallingford, and Worcester, and all other garrisons in England and
-Wales; which I thought fit to present to your lordship, that you
-may clearly see what possibility of relief you are like to have.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>II.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Marquess of Worcester to Colonel Morgan.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I have received this day two advertisements from you; the
-first I<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">{180}</a></span> read, containing, as you would have me believe, a true
-copy of his Majesty’s warrant to several garrisons upon honourable
-terms to quit. But truly, Sir, it is not in the power of man to
-make me think so unworthily of his Majesty, that to one, in the
-opinion of the world, that hath given, himself and family, soe
-great a demonstrance and testimony of his and their faith and
-fidelitie towards him, that he would not please so much as name his
-name, or Raglan. I entreat you, give me leave to suspend my
-belief.<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a></p>
-
-<p>“And for your second summons, it makes it too evident that it is
-desired that I would die under a hedge like a beggar, having no
-house left to put my head into, nor means left to find me bread.
-Wherefore to give you <i>answer</i>, I make choice (if it soe please
-God) rather to dye nobly, than to live with infamy. Which answer,
-if it be not pleasing to you, I shall not think you worthy to be
-styled by me your loving friend,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">H. Worcester</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="hang">
-“<span class="smcap">From my House of Raglan</span>,<br />
-“June 28, 1646.”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p>This was followed by a third letter from Colonel Morgan:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;Since it is not in my power to make you nor your son
-believe anything concerning the surrender of those garrisons, by
-his Majesty’s order, that comes from me or any of our party: once
-more, and the last before I send your answer to his Excellency Sir
-Tho. Fairfax, I shall give your lordship way to send an officer,
-with another of mine, to those lords in Oxford to whom his
-Majesty’s letters were directed, for your better satisfaction. This
-I do, my Lord, to prevent your utter ruin, and that of this poor
-country, so much occasioned by your lordship’s obstinacy. I expect
-your present answer, and rest your servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Tho. Morgan</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="hang">
-“June 28th.”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>IV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Marquess of Worcester to Colonel Morgan.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;In respect of your mentioning of any respect or kindness
-towards me, lest to be divulged to the world should do you any
-prejudice, I have thought fit in your own letter to return you
-thanks for the same. And for Sir<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">{181}</a></span> Tho. Fairfax, if he were here
-with all his army, he should receive no other from me than what you
-have had. I hope I serve (though not so well as I should) a Master
-that is of more might than all the armies in the world; and to his
-holy will and pleasure I submit myself, and yourself to do what you
-think fitting.&mdash;Your friend and servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">H. Worcester</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="hang">
-“<span class="smcap">From my Dwelling at Raglan</span>,<br />
-“June 28.”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p>In the first week of August ensuing, General Fairfax arrived from Bath
-to hasten the siege&mdash;which was in great forwardness both for works and
-approaches&mdash;and then sent in another summons<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> to the Marquess:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>V.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sir Thomas Fairfax to the Marquess of Worcester.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;Being come into these parts with such a strength as I
-may not doubt but, with the same good hand of Providence that hath
-hitherto blessed us, in short time to reduce the garrison of Raglan
-to the obedience of the Parliament, I have, in order thereto,
-thought good to send your lordship this summons, hereby requiring
-you to deliver up to me, for the Parliament’s use, the said
-garrison and Castle of Raglan; which, as it only obstructs the
-kingdom’s universal peace, the rendition may beget such terms, as
-by delay or vain hopes cannot hereafter be expected.&mdash;I remain, my
-Lord, your lordship’s most humble servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Tho. Fairfax</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="hang">
-“<span class="smcap">Leaguer before Raglan</span>,<br />
-“August 7, 1646.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>“Your lordship’s speedy answer to this summons is desired.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>VI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Marquess of Worcester to Sir Thomas Fairfax.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;Although my infirmities might justly claim privilege in so
-sudden an answer; yet, because you desire it, and I am not willing
-to delay your time, to your letter of summons to deliver up my
-house, and the only house now in my possession to cover my head in,
-these are to let you know, that if you did understand the condition
-I am in, I daresay out of your judgment you will not think it a
-reasonable demand. I am loth to be the author of mine own ruin on
-both sides; and therefore desire leave to send to his Majesty to
-know his plea<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">{182}</a></span>sure what he will have done with his garrison. As for
-my house, I presume he will command nothing; neither am I knowing
-how, either by law or conscience, I should be forced out of it. To
-these I desire your return, and rest your Excellency’s humble
-servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">H. Worcester</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="hang">
-“<span class="smcap">From my poor Cottage at Raglan</span>,<br />
-“Aug. 7, 1646.”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>VII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sir Thomas Fairfax to the Marquess of Worcester.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;Touching your sending to his Majesty, it is that which
-hath been denied to the most considerable garrisons of England,
-further than an account to his Majesty of the thing done upon the
-surrender; which I do else freely grant to your lordship. And for
-that distinction which your lordship is pleased to make, that <i>it
-is your house</i>, if it had not been formed into a <i>garrison</i>, I
-should not have troubled your lordship with a summons; and were it
-disgarrisoned, neither you nor your house should receive any
-disquiet from me, or any that belong unto me.</p>
-
-<p>“This I thought good to return to yours, and thereby to discharge
-myself, before God and the world, of all extremities and sad
-consequences that will ensue upon the refusal of the rendition of
-your garrison upon my summons.&mdash;I remain yours,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Tho. Fairfax</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><small>“August 8.”</small></p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>VIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Marquess of Worcester to Sir Thomas Fairfax.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I do much confide in your honour, as that being at stake,
-concerning leave to send to his Majesty, and will at this time
-forbear to make further motion in it; only one thing which is
-extraordinary, I offer to your consideration, for the just cause,
-besides my allegiance, of my reasonable request; which is, That
-upon his Majesty’s promise of satisfaction, I am above 20,000
-pounds out of purse; and if I should do anything displeasing unto
-him, I am sure all that is lost, and no benefit to the Parliament.
-If you knew how well known I was, in Henry Earl of Huntington’s
-time, unto your noble grandfather at York, I am assured I should
-receive that favour at your hands that safely you might afford. God
-knows, if I might quietly receive my means of subsistence, and be
-in security, with the Parliament’s approbation, and freed from the
-malice of those gentlemen that are of the Committee within this
-county, I should quietly quit myself of the garrison; for I have no
-great cause to take delight in it. I have that high esteem of your
-worth, nobleness, and true judgement, that knowing you will offer
-nothing ignoble or unworthy for me to do, as the case stands with
-me, I desire to know what conditions I may have,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">{183}</a></span> and I will return
-you present answer. And, in the meantime, I rest your humble
-servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">H. Worcester</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><small>“August 8, 1646.”</small></p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>IX.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sir Thomas Fairfax to the Marquess of Worcester.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;According to your lordship’s desire, I have returned you
-conditions, such as may be fit and satisfactory to the soldiery. To
-your lordship and family I have granted quiet and security from all
-violence of any that belongs to me. I would persuade your lordship
-not to fear any ill or disrespect from the Committee of this
-county; I shall easily reconcile that party; or that they will not
-do anything but as they shall receive order from the Parliament. By
-this means you are at liberty to send to the Parliament; and upon a
-present surrender and submission to their mercy and favour, your
-lordship cannot but think to receive better terms for yourself than
-if you stand it out to the last extremity; when, besides the hazard
-of your person, and of those in your family, (which I do presume
-are dear to you,) and the spoil of the Castle, which cannot be
-avoided in extreme undertakings against it; your lordship hath no
-reason to expect better than the Marquess of Winchester received,
-who, in making good Basing House to the last, narrowly escaped in
-his own person, lost his friends, subjected those that escaped to
-great frights and hazard, his house and estate to utter ruin, and
-himself to extremity of justice.</p>
-
-<p>“Touching your lordship’s 20,000 pounds, your lordship hath liberty
-to solicit about that by the same hands your lordship shall give an
-account of the surrender to his Majesty. I desire your lordship
-upon receipt of these to dismiss my trumpeter, and to return an
-answer by one of your own.</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Tho. Fairfax.</span>”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>X.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Marquess of Worcester to Sir Thomas Fairfax.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;The difficulty of resolution by the soldiers and officers
-(other than I thought) causeth my request for your patience in not
-giving you full answer to the conditions you sent me yesterday; but
-as soon as I shall obtain it, you shall not be long without it. But
-one thing, and that of moment, I desire to be satisfied in,
-Whether, if any conclusion should be made, that afterwards I shall
-be left to the mercy of the Parliament, for alteration at their
-will and pleasures; and if it be so, I shall endeavour in vain to
-study more about it. For example, in my Lord of Shrewsbury’s case,
-and divers others, how conditions have been broken doth a little
-affright me. I know, by your will and consent, it should never be;
-but soldiers are unruly, and the Parliament unques<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">{184}</a></span>tionable; and,
-therefore, I beseech you pardon my just cause of fear, and I will
-rest your humble servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">H. Worcester</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><small>“August 11.”</small></p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>XI.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sir Thomas Fairfax to the Marquess of Worcester.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;I have perused your letter of this 11th of August. As to
-your scruple, wherein you desire to be satisfied, (so far as I
-understand it,) I can only give you this resolution, that what I
-grant I will undertake shall be made good. As to the instance you
-give in my Lord of Shrewsbury’s case, the actors in that breach
-(who were none of my army) have received their censure, and by this
-time I believe the execution. But here, if any conclusion be made
-while I stay, I dare undertake there shall be no such thing; or, if
-any, there shall be reparation.</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Tho. Fairfax.</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p><small>“August 11, 1646.”</small></p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>XII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Marquess of Worcester to Sir Thomas Fairfax.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;For the better accommodation of these unhappy differences,
-if you please there may be a cessation of arms and working, and to
-engage your honour for the return of my commissioners to-morrow by
-ten of the clock, they shall wait upon you in your Leaguer; where
-they shall vindicate me from being the only obstruction of the
-general peace. So, in expectation of your sudden answer, I rest
-your humble servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">H. Worcester.</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p><small>“August 13, 1646.”</small></p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>XIII.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sir Thomas Fairfax to the Marquess of Worcester.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;Having not yet received by any of your letters a direct
-answer to the conditions I sent you, I have no grounds or
-consideration for such a cessation of arms and working, as in your
-letter you desire; but if it be your purpose to return your answer
-by commissioners, I shall, by the hour you mention, appoint
-commissioners of mine own to receive the same in the Leaguer as you
-desire, and engage myself for the safe return of yours, not
-exceeding six commissioners and as many servants; and, in order to
-this, I shall be content there be a cessation of arms and working
-from nine of the clock to-morrow morning till two in the
-afternoon.&mdash;Yours,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Tho. Fairfax</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><small>“Uske, August 14.”</small></p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185">{185}</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>XIV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Marquess of Worcester to Sir Thomas Fairfax.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;Had I not thought you had been in the Leaguer, to the end
-that the propositions from the place, in answer to yours, might
-have been first presented unto you; and to avoid delays, which I
-thought your side would best like of, it was resolved to send
-commissioners together with our propositions; but considering it
-was otherwise, I have sent you such as I am advised unto, to take
-into your consideration. And because there is some addition to
-yours, I would have been glad you had heard the just reasons
-thereof, to the end you might not have been persuaded to slight
-them without just cause. Your pleasure for the ordering of
-business, I, at your leisure, expect; and, if you please, the
-dismission of this messenger; and so rest your humble servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">H. Worcester</span>.”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>XV.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sir Thomas Fairfax to the Marquess of Worcester.</span></p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,&mdash;I have perused the propositions sent out by your
-commissioners, which I find such as deserve no answer. I have
-offered your lordship and the rest conditions which you may yet
-have, if you accept in time. If there be any thing in them obscure,
-needing explanation, or wanting circumstantials, for the better
-performing of the things intended therein I shall be willing to
-appoint commissioners on my part to treat with yours to that
-purpose upon these propositions of mine; provided you send
-commissioners instructed with power to treat and conclude, and
-return your resolution herein by six of the clock in the
-evening.&mdash;Yours, &amp;c.,</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="smcap">Tho. Fairfax</span>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><small>“August 14, 1646.”</small></p></div>
-
-<div class="figleft">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_185.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_185.jpg" height="318" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the meantime the besiegers went on with their approaches toward the
-Castle&mdash;their main works being not above some sixty yards distant&mdash;and
-had planted four mortar pieces in one place, and two mortar pieces at
-another, each mortar piece carrying a grenade shell twelve inches
-diameter.</p>
-
-<p>Towards the end of the siege, whilst the cannon of Fairfax was playing
-upon the Castle from the neighbouring height, and when casualties within
-the walls were of hourly occurrence, an incident occurred, which shows
-that in these perilous times even ladies deemed it necessary to
-apologise for being afraid of leaden bullets. “One evening, during the
-hottest period of the cannonade,” says Dr. Bayly, “there came a musket
-bullet in at the window of the withdrawing room,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186">{186}</a></span> where my lord used to
-entertain his friends with his pleasant discourses after dinners and
-suppers, which, glancing upon a little marble pillar of the window, and
-from thence hit the Marquess upon the side of his head, and fell down
-flattened upon the table, which breaking the pillar in pieces, it made
-such a noise in the room, that his daughter-in-law, the Countess of
-Glamorgan, who stood in the same window, ran away as if the house had
-been falling down upon her head, crying out&mdash;‘O Lord! O Lord!’ But at
-length finding herself more afraid than hurt, she returned back again,
-no less excusing her&mdash;as she was pleased to call it&mdash;rudeness to her
-father, than acknowledging her fears to all the company. To whom the
-Marquess said: ‘Daughter, you had reason to run away when your father
-was knocked on the head.’ Then pausing some little while, and turning
-the flattened bullet round with his finger, he further said: ‘Gentlemen,
-those who had a mind to flatter me, were wont to tell me that I had a
-<i>good head</i> in my younger days; but if I don’t flatter myself, I think I
-have a good head-piece in my old age, or else it would not have been
-<i>musket proof</i>.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>Of the exemplary good order observed by the household, before the
-establishment of a garrison within the Castle, an eye-witness has
-transmitted the following testimony:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“I have lived in Raglan Castle,” said he, “three years, and in all that
-time I never saw man drunk, nor heard an oath, amongst any of all his
-(the Marquess’s) servants; neither did I ever see a better ordered
-family; and that which was most wonderful unto me was, that the servants
-of his house, being half Papists and half Protestants, were never at
-variance in point of religion&mdash;which was brought about by prohibiting
-disputations.<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> Neither was any man the less accepted for his
-religion, if his <i>service</i> were acceptable. But when the Castle was
-filled with officers and soldiers, he used to be more grieved to hear
-and witness the drunkenness that was then and there too much practised:
-insomuch, that when some of his chief officers had told him, how that
-they had fortified such and such a place so and so; and that the enemy
-could not come; and that there it was impossible. ‘Ay, ay,’ said my
-Lord; ‘but you have left the main place open and unprotected. You have
-no fortifications against Heaven. For there is so much swearing and
-drunkenness amongst you, that from thence I fear me will come our
-greatest enemy, and you have made no provision against <i>him</i>.’ And,
-indeed, he said justly; for, in truth, the royalists were grievously
-addicted to many vices, to which, on the contrary, the companions and
-followers of Cromwell were comparatively strangers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">{187}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<p>The importance attached by the Parliament to the reduction of Raglan
-Castle is shown by the following report from their commissioner:<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a>&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“Your assured friend and servant, W. C.,” (as the letter is signed,)
-writes to the Parliament man from “Usk, August 15, 1646.&mdash;I shall now
-give you an account how near our approaches are made unto the Castle.
-That which is our maine work is about sixty yardes from theirs, and
-that’s the most. We have planted four mortar pieces, each of them
-carrying a grenado shel twelve inches diameter; and two mortar peeces
-planted at another place carrying shels about the like compas; soe that
-in case the treatye doe breake off, we are then ready to show by what
-extremitye they must expect to be reduced. This we are very confident,
-that the grenadoes will make them quit their workes and outhouses, and
-solely betake themselves into the Castle, which indeed will be a worke
-of time before we are able to undermine it, in regard we must mine down
-a hill<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> under a moate, and then the workes, before we can come to
-the Castle; yet we conceive it feasible to be done with some losse. Our
-engineer, Captain Hooper, a painful and honest man, proceeding, as he
-hath begun, with exact running trenches, which we made so secure as if
-they were workes against a storme, will, with God’s blessing, come
-within ten yards in a few dayes; and then, I believe, we shall make
-galleries, mines, and many batteries. The General is every day in the
-trenches, and yesterdaye appointed a new approache, which the engineer
-of this army, who is now returned from Worcester, is to carry on with
-all expedition. He has already broken the ground, throwne up approaches
-of about an hundred yardes in length and circuit, and is within sixty
-yards of the under part of their workes.”</p>
-
-<p>The writer then proposes that the Parliament should agree to moderate
-terms, and accept of an honourable answer. That the plan might succeed
-he deems quite certain, though not without farther loss; and he adds, in
-terms less courteous than characteristic of the times, that “it would
-not be worth while to gaine this old man’s carkasse at so dear a
-rate.”<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Aug. 14.</span>&mdash;Fairfax appointed a new approach, which the engineer, Captain<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">{188}</a></span>
-Hooper, had so far proceeded in as to throw up approaches of an hundred
-yards in circuit, making exact running trenches (as secure as if they
-were works against a storm), coming within sixty yards of their works.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Aug. 15.</span>&mdash;The Marquess sent forth his desire to treat upon the General’s
-propositions; whereupon the treaty was appointed at Mr. Oates’s house,
-(about a mile and a half from Raglan,) to begin at two of the clock that
-afternoon. Fairfax’s commissioners were Colonel Birch, Mr. Herbert,
-Quartermaster-General Grosvenor, Lieutenant-Colonel Ashfield, and Major
-Tulida.</p>
-
-<p>By Monday the 17th of August, two days after the date of this report,
-the preliminaries for capitulation were finally arranged.<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Surrender.</span>&mdash;During the blockade of Raglan, the Parliamentary General
-fixed his head-quarters at Kevantilla House,<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> the residence of Mr.
-Oates, about a mile and a half from Raglan; and there the treaty for the
-surrender of the Castle was finally adjusted and prepared for signature.
-The commission deputed for the occasion by Fairfax, were Colonel Birch,
-Quarter-Master Herbert, General Grosvenor, Lieutenant-Colonel Ashfield,
-and Major Tuliday. The meeting, as previously arranged, took place at
-two o’clock in the afternoon of Saturday, August the fifteenth; and, on
-the Monday following, the document was ratified, by appending to it the
-signatures of the authorized commissioners. The capitulation was agreed
-to on the following conditions:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Article</span> the First. The garrison, ammunition, and artillery of Raglan, to
-be surrendered to General Fairfax on the third day after the
-ratification of the said treaty; namely, at ten o’clock on the morning
-of the Wednesday following, being the nineteenth day of August.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Article</span> the Second, stipulated that all the officers, soldiers, and
-gentlemen of the garrison, should march out with horses and arms;
-colours flying; drums beating; trumpets sounding; matches lighted at
-both ends; bullets in their mouths; and every soldier with twelve
-charges of powder and ball; with permission to select any place, within
-ten miles of the Castle, for the purpose of delivering up their arms to
-the general in command; after which the soldiers were to be disbanded
-and set at liberty.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Article</span> the Third, engaged the General’s safe conduct and protection to
-all the gentlemen and others who had sought refuge within the walls of
-Raglan Castle to their respective homes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">{189}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Article</span> the Fourth, was an enlargement of the preceding article, by
-which three months’ protection was guaranteed to certain other
-gentlemen, until they should either have made their peace with
-Parliament, or departed the realm.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Article</span> the Fifth, guaranteed the protection and care of the sick and
-wounded left in the Castle.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Article</span> the Sixth, was an indemnity for all words and acts of the
-garrison during the siege of the Castle.</p>
-
-<p>On Wednesday the nineteenth of August, in pursuance of these
-arrangements, the Castle and Garrison of Raglan were duly surrendered to
-Sir Thomas Fairfax, for the use of both Houses of Parliament. The
-garrison, which at first had mustered eight hundred men, was now reduced
-to less than half that number; and as certain of the warlike muniments
-were becoming so diminished as to expose them at last to the chances of
-seeing the Castle entered by storm, a prolonged resistance must have
-been attended with disastrous consequences.</p>
-
-<p>“The garrison had no sooner marched out,” says an eye-witness, “than
-Fairfax entered the Castle, took a view of it, had some conversation
-with the Marquess, and then, quitting the scene of his last operation in
-the way of siege, proceeded to Chepstow, where he was received in
-triumph by the committee; and, after a brief halt in the Castle,
-returned to his head-quarters at Bath,”</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“A conqueror; and blushing on his sword<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The stains of blood, by loyal Raglan pour’d.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Yet Fairfax, as far as lay in his power, was very exact in observing
-every condition to which he was a party. It is recorded to his honour,
-that, “far from allowing violence, he would not even permit insults, or
-expressions of triumph over the unfortunate Royalists.” Something of
-this generous bearing towards his opponents may be observed in his
-correspondence with the Marquess of Worcester. He is painted by
-historians as equally eminent for personal courage and for humanity; and
-though strongly infected with prejudices, or principles derived from
-religious and party zeal, he never seems, in the course of his public
-conduct, to have been diverted, by private interest or ambition, from
-adhering strictly to these principles. Sincere in his professions,
-disinterested in his views, open in his conduct, “he had formed,” says
-Hume,<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> “one of the most shining characters of his age, had not the
-extreme narrowness of his genius in everything but in <i>war</i>, and his
-embarrassed and confused elocution on every occasion but when he gave
-orders, diminished the lustre of his merit, and rendered the part which
-he acted, even when vested with the supreme command, but secondary and
-subordinate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">{190}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<p>With this just tribute to his merits as a man and a soldier, we take
-leave of the Conqueror of <span class="eng">Raglan</span>, annexing the following</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Anecdotes.</span>&mdash;When Fairfax, as we learn from the same authority, laid
-siege to Raglan Castle, and fair terms were offered to all the garrison,
-the Marquess only excepted, the generous old Nestor entreated his
-friends to accept the proposal, and allow <i>him</i> to be the ‘Jonas.’ But
-this proposition, it may be readily believed, had the opposite effect,
-of strengthening their determination to stand by him to the last man. In
-thanking his officers for their devotedness, he added, in his own
-peculiar way, “I do not much like that way of embalming neither&mdash;to be
-served up to my audit as a thing newly taken out of the cost of many
-friends’ blood.”</p>
-
-<p>In the conversation above alluded to, when Fairfax took possession of
-the Castle, the Marquess is said to have made a jocular request,
-bespeaking the General’s indulgence in favour of some pigeons that still
-kept possession of their ancient haunt. To which he gravely replied,
-that he was glad to perceive his Lordship in so ‘merrie’ a frame of
-mind. Whereupon the Marquess told him the following story:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“There were two rogues once going up Holborn in a cart to be hanged; but
-the one being very jocund on so serious an occasion, gave offence to his
-companion, who, being very downcast, reproved him. ‘Tush, man,’ said the
-other, ‘thou art a fool; thou wentest a thieving, and never once
-thoughtest of what would become of thee; wherefore, being on a sudden
-surprised and taken, thou fallest into such a shaking fit, that I am
-ashamed to see thee in such a pitiful condition. Whereas I was resolved
-to be hanged before I fell to stealing, which is the reason I go so
-composedly unto my death.’ So, in my own case,” continued the Marquess,
-“I resolved to undergo whatsoever&mdash;even the worst&mdash;evils that you were
-able to lay upon me, before I took up arms for my sovereign; and,
-therefore, wonder not that I am so <i>merrie</i>.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The fall of Raglan</span> Garrison was a source of much triumph and
-congratulation to the Parliamentary forces. “There were delivered up
-with it,” says Rushworth, “twenty pieces of ordnance, but only three
-barrels of gunpowder; for within the walls they had a mill with which
-they could make a barrel a day. There was found, however, ‘great store
-of corn and malt, wine of all sorts, and beer in abundance;’ but hay and
-forage for their horses had been so completely exhausted, that these
-noble animals were almost starved to death, and ‘had like to have eaten
-one another for want of meat, had they not been tied with chains.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>The captors found also great store of goods and rich furniture in the
-Castle, which Fairfax committed to the care and custody of Mr. Herbert,
-commissioner of the army, Mr. Roger Williams, and Major Tuliday, or
-Tulida, to be inventoried. And in case any inhabitants of the country
-could make a just claim to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">{191}</a></span> them&mdash;as having been violently taken from
-them, or they compelled to bring them thither&mdash;that they should have
-them restored.</p>
-
-<p>Agreeably to the terms of surrender, as recorded in the history of the
-siege, there marched out of the Castle&mdash;“The Marquess of Worcester, then
-in the eighty-fourth year of his age; the Lord Charles, the Marquess’s
-sixth son, Lieutenant-Governor of the Castle under his father: [he
-subsequently retired to Flanders, and died a canon of Cambray;] the
-Countess of Glamorgan; the Lady Jones; Sir Philip Jones; Dr. Bayly, so
-often quoted in the preceding narrative; Commissary Gwilliam; four
-Colonels; eighty-two Captains; sixteen Lieutenants; six Cornets; four
-Ensigns; four Quartermasters; fifty-two Esquires and Gentlemen.”</p>
-
-<p>It is worthy of record in this place, that, of all the forts and
-garrisons in the King’s interest, those of Raglan and Pendennis endured
-the longest sieges, and held out the last of any forts or castles in
-England&mdash;being bravely defended by two persons of very great age&mdash;and
-were at length delivered up within a day or two of each other. “<span class="eng">Raglan</span>,”
-says Lord Clarendon, “was maintained with extraordinary resolution and
-courage by the old <span class="eng">Marquess of Worcester</span> (then 85) against Fairfax
-himself, until it was reduced to the greatest necessity. Pendennis
-refused all summons; admitting no treaty till all their provisions were
-so far consumed that they had not victuals left for four-and-twenty
-hours; and then they treated, and carried themselves in the treaty with
-such resolution and unconcernedness, that the enemy concluded they were
-in no straits, and so gave them the conditions they proposed, which were
-as good as any garrison in England had accepted. The governor of
-Pendennis was <span class="eng">John Arundel</span> of Trerice, in Cornwall, an old gentleman of
-near fourscore years of age, who, with the assistance of his son
-Richard, afterwards made a baron in memory of his father’s service, and
-his own eminent behaviour throughout the war, maintained and defended
-the same to the last extremity.”<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a></p>
-
-<p>Returning to the subject of Raglan, we must not overlook the following
-predictions, as calculated to excite no little attention in times when
-witchcraft, sorcery, and apparitions, were admitted as articles of
-popular belief.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Prophecies.</span>&mdash;Of the prophetic warnings which, from time to time, and
-particularly during the siege, had taken possession of the vulgar mind
-regarding the fall of Raglan and its hereditary lords, the following
-passage is sufficiently characteristic:&mdash;One evening, during the
-progress of the siege, one of his officers was relating to the Marquess
-how strangely the narrator, Dr. Bayly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192">{192}</a></span> had escaped a shot by means of
-the iron bar of a window that looked out upon the leaguer. Standing, for
-example, in a window of the castle, there came a musket bullet and hit
-full against the edge of an iron bar of a chamber window, so that it
-parted the bullet in halves, the bar expatiating itself by degrees
-towards the middle; “one half of the bullet,” said he, “flew by me on
-the one side, and the other half on the other side; so that, by God’s
-providence, I had no hurt.”</p>
-
-<p>“The Marquess hearing this, asked me in what chamber it was. I told him.
-His Lordship then said, as I remember, ‘The window was cross-barred; and
-you will never believe me,’ said he emphatically, ‘how safe it is to
-stand before the <span class="eng">Cross</span>, when you face your enemy!’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>But returning to the subject of predictions:&mdash;“Never,” says the family
-historian, “never was there a noble house so pulled down by
-<i>prophecies</i>&mdash;ushered into its ruin by predictions, and so laid hold
-upon by signes and tokens! I shall tell you no more,” he continues, “but
-what I have both read and seen long before the fall of that proud
-fabric, which had the honour to fall the last of any that stood upon the
-tearmes of honour. Now there was one old book of prophecies that was
-presented to the Marquess, because it so much concerned <span class="eng">Raglan</span> Castle,
-wherein there were these predictions: namely, That there should come an
-Earl that should first build a <i>white</i> gate before the castle-house, and
-after that should begin to build a <i>red</i> one; and before that red one
-should be finished, there should be wars over all the land.”</p>
-
-<p>Now all this was fulfilled in the Marquess’s own day, who, having built
-the one gate and begun the other, yet by reason of the distractions of
-the time, was forced to discontinue the latter, which at the time of the
-siege remained unfinished. Some one standing by while this prophecy was
-mentioned, exhorted the Marquess&mdash;half in jest, half in earnest&mdash;to make
-haste and finish his red-gate house, because we should have no quiet
-until that were up.</p>
-
-<p>“Hark’ye,” said the Marquess, “nobody shall ever prophesy so much money
-out of my purse in such times as these! Besides, the prophet does not
-say <i>until</i>, but <i>before</i>&mdash;‘before the red gate is up;’ and, for aught I
-know, if I should make haste with that building, I should hasten the war
-to my own sorrow; for the prophet says, ‘before the red-gate house shall
-be finished, there shall be wars all over the land.’ But what if I had
-built neither the one nor the other, how could this prophecie have
-concerned me?”</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, my Lord,” said one of the company, “it is done; and you could not
-otherwise choose but to do what you did.”</p>
-
-<p>“Ay; but I can choose,” said the Marquess, “whether I will <i>believe</i> the
-prophet or not.”</p>
-
-<p>“Another prophecie there was,” continues our authority, “that the king
-of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193">{193}</a></span> the country should lose a great battle, [Naseby,] and afterwards fly
-to Raglan Castle for safety; that the enemy should pursue him; and that
-after a short time he should leave the Castle, and that the enemy should
-besiege and set fire to the Castle wall. All of which was literally
-fulfilled.”</p>
-
-<p>Moreover it was said, that “an eagle should come into the park and be
-there slain, which should be a forerunner to the destruction of that
-house; which I saw literally performed; but yet executed by one that
-<i>never</i> heard of the prophecie. It was furthermore foretold, that a
-cloud of bats should hang over the Castle before its final demolishment;
-this, three days before, all the Castle beheld to their no small
-astonishment, and it continued a quarter of an hour, about twilight, so
-thick that you could not, towards the middle of them, see the sky,
-though clear. Being shot at with hail-shot, some of them fell down, and
-the rest flew away.</p>
-
-<p>“The Marquess being told of this, asked what those kind of creatures
-might signify. Some about him answered, that they were scripture emblems
-of ruin and desolation.<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> He then asked if they were all gone. It was
-told him that they were. Whereupon the Marquess asked us whether or no
-the enemy had begirt us round. It was answered that they had. ‘Then,’
-said his Lordship, ‘I am glad of it; for then those emblems of ruin
-cannot fly away from us, but they must also fly over the heads of the
-enemy.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>The Chaplain then proceeds, according to the superstitious belief of the
-times, to relate the following prediction regarding the King
-himself:&mdash;“The strangest prophecie of all,” he affirms, “both for
-signification and accomplishment, is this, which I read before I saw it
-in this book, and fourteen years before the war.” He then gives it in
-the Welsh language, and explains that <i>fab-anne</i>, as it is one word,
-signifies a baby, and joined to another Welsh word, should imply a
-crowned infant, that, on growing up to man’s estate, and ruling these
-realms for a season, should at last “fall by the stroke of an <i>axe</i>,”
-or, “he shall be slain with an axe.” We shall not detain our readers by
-following the Chaplain through the various arguments by which he appears
-to establish the truth of this singular prediction; but, referring them
-to the “Apophthegms,” in which it is recorded, we proceed to another
-portion of our history.</p>
-
-<p>As soon as the Castle was fairly occupied by the new garrison, the work
-of demolition began. The peasantry were summoned to their aid; but on
-the great tower their united labours made but slight impression. So,
-“after battering the top with pickaxes,” they resolved to effect their
-purpose more expeditiously, and, transferring their implements to the
-foundation, succeeded in undermining<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">{194}</a></span> it. As they proceeded, the gaps
-were propped up with timber, and when the personal risk became too
-imminent to continue the work, they set fire to the timber, and the
-instant the charred props gave way, down came a solid mass of the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Tower of Gwent</span>, half filling the moat, where it now lies; a specimen of
-as firmly compacted a structure as ever was framed by the hand of man.
-The mortar, indeed, seems harder and more durable than the materials
-which it cements together. Of its massive construction the annexed
-woodcut, showing the staircase in the centre of the wall, and the
-engravings opposite, give a very clear and distinct notion.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_194.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_194.jpg" width="464" height="645" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>Much treasure, it was conjectured, had been thrown into the moat during
-the siege, while under the apprehension of being given up to plunder; so
-the people were set to work with axes, shovels, and pickaxes, to drain
-off the water, and collect the treasure. But nothing valuable being
-discovered in the moat, they were next set to cut the stanks of the
-fish-ponds, where they had store of very large carp and other fish. From
-these reservoirs, during many generations, the family had drawn an
-abundant supply for the table; and in times when the fasts of the Church
-were rigorously observed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">{195}</a></span> fish-ponds were indispensable to every large
-establishment. The artificial oak roof of the great hall, already
-noticed in the introductory sketch, could not be removed with advantage;
-it was therefore allowed to remain full twenty years after the siege.
-But the sheet-lead with which it was covered was found to be a very
-“convertible material,” and was therefore rolled up, sent to market, and
-the product paid over to the Parliamentary Exchequer.</p>
-
-<p>Above thirty <span class="eng">vaults</span> of all sorts of rooms and cellars, and three arched
-bridges, are yet standing; but the most curious arch of the chapel, and
-rooms above, with many others, are totally destroyed. Many coins of
-Queen Elizabeth have been found, but none deserving of preservation from
-the crucible of the silversmith, to whom they were speedily consigned by
-the finders.</p>
-
-<p>These dreary “souterrains,” in the present day, are, of course, haunted
-by goblins, or other beings with lungs not likely to be affected by the
-damp and mephitic gases, which they are said to exhale. Never was place
-better adapted for unearthly visitants; and wherever blood has been
-spilt or treasure concealed, the spirits of vengeance or avarice seize
-upon the spot as their own exclusive territory. As it appeared to us,
-however, the <i>genii loci</i> were spirits of a very different stamp&mdash;beings
-with whom the painter, the philosopher, and the poet, would choose to
-make their abode. Not so the cicerone who showed these mysterious
-caverns to Bloomfield. “Look down there,” said she, pointing to the
-great cellar; “something very awful; candles wont burn there! Some
-people says it’s because the damp chokes ’em. For my part, I think it’s
-the devil himself; and not much fancying to be seen at his work, he
-blows ’em out. Well, sir, you may smile as you please; but one puff of
-brimstone’s enough for me. Let’s step into the Fountain Court. All the
-wine’s gone; so a cellar with only bad spirits in it, is hardly worth
-notice.”</p>
-
-<p>Passing from the cellar to the dairy, we may observe that during the
-siege, and for many generations previously, the fine meadows on the
-banks of the Olwy, in the adjoining parish of Llandenny, were
-appropriated as the dairy-farm of the Castle.</p>
-
-<p>The Marquess’s <span class="eng">Library</span> was considered one of the best selected, and most
-extensive in Europe; and we cannot doubt that the <span class="eng">Gallery</span> of Paintings
-bore equal and corresponding testimony to the liberality and taste of
-the noble owner.<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a></p>
-
-<p>The loss sustained by the family in the immediate destruction of the
-castle and woods, according to the printed statement, was computed at
-one hundred thousand pounds; besides enormous sums furnished to his
-Majesty for the raising and equipment of two armies, and the maintenance
-of a numerous gar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">{196}</a></span>rison, of which the daily expenses alone must have
-required a princely revenue. With this evidence of the Marquess’s
-resources, it is not surprising that he should be described by Clarendon
-as “the most moneyed man of the kingdom.” The siege was followed by the
-sequestration and sale of the whole estate, which, by the parliamentary
-audit of 1646, amounted to twenty thousand pounds per annum, and
-remained in the hands of Cromwell till the Restoration, a period of
-fourteen years. All the old timber in the parks adjacent was cut down
-and sold; the lead was stript from the roof of the great hall, and sold
-for six thousand pounds; and a quantity of the timber was carried to
-Bristol, and there used in rebuilding the wooden houses upon the old
-bridge, which had recently been destroyed by fire. But the loss of the
-library was in every sense a national loss, for in this, among many rare
-invaluable manuscripts, were the archives of Gwent, with the earliest
-records of Welsh literature. “One of these manuscripts,” says the late
-Mr. Thomas,<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> “was an interesting work by Geraint Bardd Glass y
-Cadair, an illustrious Welshman, who flourished about the ninth century.
-He was the first who composed a Welsh grammar, a work that was revised
-by Einion and Edeyrn, which form and arrangement are now extant; but the
-original MS. was in the Raglan library at its capitulation.”</p>
-
-<p>In his palmy days, long before he was created Marquess, the good Earl
-lived in princely state in this Castle. Surrounded by faithful friends,
-numerous retainers, and a household that, by its daily expenditure,
-bespoke almost unlimited resources, he enjoyed in age all the happiness
-to which men look forward as the reward and solace of a virtuous youth;
-for, though long practised in the offices of Court, he could still
-relish the sweets of domestic retirement, the humanizing influence of
-science, and the conversation of pious and learned men. He was a friend
-of literature, a pattern of religious consistency, an example of loyalty
-which no reverses could shake; and when at last plunged into the deepest
-adversity, stript of his property, bent down with years, and suffering
-from bodily pain, he maintained a degree of mental serenity that
-softened the remembrance of his wrongs, showed the true foundation of
-his faith, and enabled him to view every dispensation of good or evil as
-coming from God, and intended, by weaning his thoughts from this world,
-to give him nearer and clearer views of heaven. Reduced in four short
-years from the height of prosperity into the very abyss of
-adversity&mdash;his home desolate, the prospects of his family blasted, his
-friends hopeless or in prison, himself an inmate of the Tower&mdash;it is
-impossible to withhold our sympathy from a man who, in no circumstances,
-forgot the true nobility of his nature, and the obligations of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197">{197}</a></span>
-creed; but in every trial could exclaim, in the words of his own
-motto&mdash;<i>Mutare vel timere sperno</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Go, empty joyes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With all your noyse,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And leave me here alone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">In sweet sad silence to bemoane<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Your vaine and fleet delight;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Whose danger none can see aright,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Whilst your false splendour dims his sight.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i1">Go, and insnare,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With your false ware,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Some other easie wight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And cheat him with your flattering light;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Rain on his head a shower<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Of honours, favour, wealth, and power&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Then <i>snatch it from him in an hour</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On his melancholy departure from these ancestral halls, which he was
-never more to behold, the venerable Marquess&mdash;accompanied by certain
-members of his family and a few tried friends, among whom was the
-devoted Bayly&mdash;was conducted to London, and placed under the custody of
-the Black Rod. Expecting to be treated as a declared enemy of
-Parliament, notwithstanding the terms of capitulation, his lordship was
-agreeably surprised to find the severity, with which such cases were
-usually visited, was relaxed in his favour. “Lord bless us,” said he to
-Dr. Bayly, who never left him, “what a fearful thing was this Black Rod
-when I heard of it first! It did so run in my mind, that it made an
-infliction out of mine own imagination. But when I spoke with the man
-himself, I found him a very civil gentleman; and I saw no black rod! So,
-methinks, if we would not let these troubles and apprehensions of ours
-be made worse by our own fears, no rods would be black.” And although&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“The pride of life has vanished,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And here I stand alone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Degraded, stript, and banished<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">From all that was mine own;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Yet in dreams, when friends surround me<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">With the loyal and the true,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The youthful links that bound me,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Seem all riveted anew.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i1">When I hear their loyal voices,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">I half forget my wrongs,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And again my heart rejoices<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">In our good old loyal songs.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Pent up in these dark regions,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">The only gems I boast,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Are my <i>honour and allegiance</i>&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">All else of earth is lost.”<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a><br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_198" id="page_198">{198}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But we shall leave the worthy Marquess for a time, to observe what is
-passing in that dearly beloved, but now desolate mansion, the gates of
-which were now closed upon him for ever.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_198.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_198.jpg" height="465" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>The woodcut here introduced represents one of the richly ornamented, but
-now dilapidated, windows of the front range of the Castle.</p>
-
-<p>Of the settling of some portion of the Marquess of Worcester’s estates
-upon Cromwell, we take the following particulars from a popular writer
-of our own times:&mdash;“The Commons,” he observes, “now dealing with
-delinquents, do not forget to reward good servants&mdash;to ‘conciliate the
-grandees,’ as splenetic Walker calls it. For about two years (writing
-after the conclusion of the war) there has been talk and debate about
-settling £2,500 a year on Lieutenant-General Cromwell; but difficulties
-have arisen. First, they tried Basinghouse lands, the Marquis of
-Winchester’s, whom Cromwell had demolished; but the Marquis’s affairs
-were in disorder. It was generally found that the Marquis had only a
-life-rent there&mdash;only Abbotson and Itchin in that quarter could be
-realized. Order thereupon to settle lands of papists and delinquents to
-the requisite amount wheresoever convenient. To settle especially what
-lands the Marquis of Worcester had in that county of Southampton; which
-was done, though still with insufficient result. Then came the army
-quarrels, and an end of such business. But now, in the Commons’
-Journals, March 7th, this is what we read:&mdash;‘An ordinance for passing
-unto Oliver Cromwell, Esquire, Lieutenant-General, certain lands and
-manors in the counties of Gloucester, Monmouth, and Glamorgan, late the
-Earl of <span class="eng">Worcester’s</span>, was this day read third time; and, upon the
-question, passed and ordered to be sent unto the Lords for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_199" id="page_199">{199}</a></span>
-concurrence.’<span class="lftspc">”</span> <span class="eng">Oliver</span> himself, we shall find, has been dangerously sick;
-and the following is what Clement Walker reports upon the matter of the
-grant:&mdash;“The sixth of March brought an ordinance to settle two thousand
-five hundred pounds a year of land out of the Marquis of Worcester’s
-estate&mdash;the old Marquis of Worcester at Raglan&mdash;father of the Lord
-Glamorgan, who, in his turn, became Marquis of Worcester, and wrote the
-‘Century of Inventions.’ But £2,500 a year out of the old Marquis’s
-estate upon Lieutenant-General Cromwell! I have heard some gentlemen,
-that knew the manor of Chepstow and the other lands, affirm that in
-reality they are worth £5,000, or even £6,000 a year. You see,”
-continues he, “though they have not made King Charles a ‘glorious king,’
-they have settled a crown revenue upon Oliver, and have made <i>him</i> as
-glorious a king as ever John of Leyden was.”<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a></p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">In</span> addition to the personal anecdotes, or ‘pithy sayings,’ already
-introduced, the following are too original and piquant to be
-overlooked:&mdash;“We were talking one day,” says the family chronicler, “of
-an old drunken fellow, who having used his body to sad disorder in
-drinking all his lifetime, and at last giving it over, he presently
-died. The fact being thus brought before him, the Marquis observed,
-‘there was nothing to be wondered at in such a termination of the man’s
-life; for if you take a brand,’ said he, ‘out of the fire that is
-thoroughly burnt, it will fall to pieces; but if you let it lie there
-still, it may remain a pretty while before it is turned to ashes.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>This clearly shows that his Lordship was not a novice in the science of
-pathology; for, had he made the ‘anatomy of drunkenness’ his particular
-study, he could not have expressed himself by a figure that more
-completely illustrates the case. The burnt log may not only last longer,
-but also preserve its shape, and diffuse light and heat through the
-whole apartment, while it remains in the fire; but if suddenly removed,
-and the fire extinguished, it is soon transformed into a heap of black
-ashes. The comparison applies very forcibly to those in whom the
-pernicious habit of spirit-drinking has been long a rooted evil. If they
-suddenly reform, the constitution&mdash;to use the same figure&mdash;has been so
-thoroughly carbonized, that, on the artificial temperature being
-withdrawn, it breaks down like the charred firebrand and is
-extinguished; but if cautiously and gradually withdrawn, before the
-charring process has reached the core, it may live to furnish a better
-light than any that could be expected from it while in the furnace of
-dissipation. In the Marquess’s time, as already noticed, the habit of
-drinking was carried to a most fatal excess; and we may<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" id="page_200">{200}</a></span> readily believe
-that the ‘apophthegm’ here recorded, was the result of personal
-observation among the troops of his own garrison, who&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">“Red-hot with drinking;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So full of valour that they smote the air<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For breathing in their faces.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>As the preceding anecdote shows the venerable Marquess as a pathologist,
-so the following exhibits him in the more congenial character of a
-quaint theologian:&mdash;“I was walking one day with his lordship,” says the
-narrator, “in the private walk about the Great Tower,<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> and there we
-spied where a bird had made her nest, whom we disturbed from hatching
-her young ones, and sitting upon her eggs; which act of nature my lord
-compared to the manner of the creation: ‘For,’ said he, ‘God having made
-his nest in the world, and brought forth his young at first imperfected,
-did by his Spirit <i>incubate</i>, and by his wings of prudence spread over
-them, he gave them life and power; and by his word he brake the
-shell&mdash;<i>et sic pullulavit mundum</i>.’<span class="lftspc">”</span> This method of giving a quaint and
-solemn turn to the most familiar incidents of life was characteristic of
-the times, and often introduced into their homilies by the clergy, who
-made use of the most homely figures to illustrate some of the highest
-questions in theology. But from the Marquess of Worcester, then at a
-very advanced age, the effort to extract a moral, or to expound a
-scriptural text, came very gracefully; and he omits no opportunity, as
-we perceive, of improving others, by directing their thoughts to those
-passages of scripture with which his own mind was familiar. It is almost
-impossible, however, to resist the ludicrous ideas which religious
-sentiment is made to conjure up when employed by the Parliamentary
-leaders, and those irreverent applications of scripture which are to be
-found, not only in their daily conversations, but in their speeches, and
-even dispatches. <i>Cant</i> was the fashion of the day; and where a letter
-was not profusely interlarded with the language and figures of Holy
-Writ, the author was liable to be suspected of indifference or
-disaffection to the cause.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“An evil soul, producing holy witness,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Is like a villain with a smiling cheek&mdash;&mdash;”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“And thus he clothes his naked villany<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With old odd ends stol’n forth of Holy Writ.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Marquess’s contempt of hypocrisy and deception is exemplified in
-another apophthegm:&mdash;“A Roman Catholic being sorely pressed to take the
-oath of supremacy, and being acquainted with another gentleman, who was
-a Protestant, and so like unto him that you could hardly distinguish
-them whilst they were together, much less asunder,&mdash;this <i>imago
-sui</i>&mdash;this lifelike</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_017.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_017.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Keep Tower, from the Moat.</i></p>
-
-<p>Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201" id="page_201">{201}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">resemblance&mdash;as if Nature herself had chosen him to be his
-representative&mdash;the right stone being pulled out, and a counterfeit set
-in the right ring&mdash;and what with the likeness of his countenance, and
-the identity of apparel, he passed for current; which jest my Roman
-thought so good, that he must needs brag of it to the Marquess. But my
-lord no way liked it; asking him&mdash;‘Would you put another upon doing that
-which you would not do yourself? What if the devil&mdash;you two being so
-like one another&mdash;should mistake you for him? I assure you he would go
-neare to mar the conceit.’ For, he might have added, though honesty be
-no Puritan, yet it will do no hurt.”</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Mine honour is my <i>life</i>; both grow in one;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Take honour from me, and my life’s undone.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the next passage, the Marquess undertakes the duty of admonishing a
-party who had come to visit him; and his method of doing so is somewhat
-amusing. We shall give the lecture, as nearly as we can, in his
-chaplain’s own words:&mdash;“There was a new-married couple,” says he,
-“presented before the Marquess. The bride was a goodly proper woman, her
-face well-featured, an excellent eye she had, but she was pitifully
-disfigured with the smallpox. The Marquess, looking much upon her, and
-saying nothing to her for a long while, we all knew that silence was in
-labour for some notable production. At last he advances toward the young
-bride, and asked her: ‘Gentlewoman, do you know why it is said that God
-Almighty created man and builded woman?’ The lady, somewhat out of
-countenance, answered, ‘No, indeed, my lord.’ The Marquess asked her
-again: ‘Do you know why you women are called housewives?’ ‘I think, my
-lord,’ said the bride, ‘because good wives should keep at home, and not
-gad abroad.’ ‘It is a good answer,’ said the Marquess, ‘but not the
-right one; for women may be bad wives at home, as well as abroad;
-otherwise they would never scold their husbands out of doors. The answer
-to my first question is: Woman is not said to be <i>made</i> as Adam was,
-which only signifies plain work; but to be <i>built</i>, which signifies
-curiosity and contrivance; and, therefore, as to my second question, a
-woman is called a housewife, because she is a house out of which all the
-royal families of kings and emperors derive their extract. Neither are
-you only compared to houses; but unto cities, kingdoms, churches, and
-commonwealths. But do you know what house you are like?’ ‘No, indeed, my
-lord,’ answered the bride. ‘Why, then, I’ll tell you,’ resumed the
-Marquess; ‘when God builded the first woman, he made her his storehouse,
-wherein he had laid up all the race of mankind, wherewith he replenished
-the whole earth. But I must tell you, my lady, God Almighty did not make
-you coaches nor waggons, that you should be always gadding about.’
-Whereat the bridegroom made answer: ‘My lord, I thank you for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_202" id="page_202">{202}</a></span> this; I
-hope my wife will remember it.’ ‘My lord,’ said the young bride, ‘you
-will read such a lecture to my husband, that he will never let me go
-abroad.’ ‘Oh no, my lady,’ said the Marquess, ‘he must not debar you of
-that liberty, provided you never go abroad but when you go out like the
-snaile; who seldom stirs abroad but whilst that blessing, the dew of
-heaven, is upon the earth, that she may gather benefit; and by her
-greatest care, and equal management, still carries her house upon her
-back.’ ‘Oh, my lord,’ said she, ‘if I should goe abroad like the snaile,
-I should carry not only a house upon my back, but horns upon my
-forehead!’ ‘No, lady,’ said the Marquess; ‘though she pockes at you, yet
-they are not horns; the snaile can soon draw them in if you touch them,
-which no horned creature can perform; but she carries them in her head
-to teach you what you should provide, and bear in mind against you go to
-hay-making.’</p>
-
-<p>“But the Marquess fearing he had a little displeased the young couple,
-he thought to make amends by the following, though somewhat equivocal,
-discourse:&mdash;‘Sir,’ said he to the bridegroom, ‘you know I have compared
-your wife unto a building, and I much commend your choice, for a goodly
-house should not be chosen for the smoothness or whiteness of the
-wall&mdash;for such a one may be but a dairy-house or a milk-house; nor
-according to the colours or paintings of the outside&mdash;for such a one may
-be but a tavern or an alehouse; but if I see a house that is lofty and
-stately built, and hath fair windows, though the outside be but
-rough-cast, yet I am sure there are goodly rooms therein.’</p>
-
-<p>“And so,” adds Bayly, “both parties were well pleased.” For what the
-Marquess meant to express by this string of similes was, that although
-the lady was much disfigured by the smallpox, yet her fine expressive
-eyes, intellectual forehead, noble carriage, and cultivated mind, amply
-atoned for accidental disfigurement; and left a balance in her favour
-which no outward appearance could disparage or conceal.</p>
-
-<p>These <span class="eng">anecdotes</span> of an octogenarian, however unsuited to modern ideas,
-and of rather doubtful merit on the score of compliment, are
-characteristic of times when the court-jester was still thought a
-necessary appendage to a great household; and when riddle and allegory
-were the daily vehicles of political wit and private satire, as well as
-the legitimate promoters of loyalty, mirth, and good-fellowship. That
-they were considered by Dr. Bayly himself&mdash;a grave and learned man&mdash;as
-reflecting honour upon the Marquess who uttered them, and creditable to
-his own taste and industry in transmitting them to posterity, is a proof
-that, agreeably to the taste of the age, they were fully entitled to the
-distinction of ‘apophthegms.’</p>
-
-<p>Here follows another, in a more serious and figurative sense, to which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_203" id="page_203">{203}</a></span>
-Juxon himself would not have objected, even from the pulpit:&mdash;“We were
-talking upon one occasion of Christ’s miracles, more particularly of his
-turning water into wine, and of the five loaves and two fishes. ‘Truly,’
-said the Marquess, ‘these miracles He works amongst us every day; but
-they are so ordinary, or familiar, that we take no notice of them. God
-sends rain upon the earth; this water gets up into the vine, and the
-sappe of the vine-tree God turneth into wine. And as few graines of
-corne as will make <i>five loaves</i> being covered in the earth, will
-multiply and encrease to such advantage as will feed five thousand with
-bread; and <i>two fishes</i> will bring forth so many fishes as will suffice
-so many mouths.’<span class="lftspc">”</span> It was by these serious and intelligible, as well as
-original, remarks upon subjects accidentally brought out in
-conversation, that the Marquess sought to impress upon all around him
-those religious sentiments and convictions which he had himself imbibed
-by diligent study of the Scriptures; the benefit of which he daily
-acknowledged, when overtaken by the accumulated evils of age and almost
-unparalleled adversity.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">“Such a house broke&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So noble a master fallen! All gone&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And not one friend to take his fortune by the arm!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>We now turn to the faithful friend who has recorded these anecdotes of
-his illustrious patron; who attended him during the whole progress of
-the siege, and, after the closing scene at Raglan, accompanied him to
-London, soothed him under the new series of afflictions to which he was
-there exposed, and never left him until he saw the Master whom he loved
-and honoured consigned to his final resting-place in the Beaufort Chapel
-at Windsor. This companion, friend, and counsellor, was Dr. Bayly; and,
-although our notice must be brief, it is a grateful task to commemorate
-the virtues of a man, whose name has almost passed into oblivion; but
-whose loyal devotion, genius, talent, and misfortune, justly entitle him
-to a place in the same page that records the merits and sufferings of
-Henry, first Marquess of Worcester.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Dr. Thomas Bayly</span> was the fourth and youngest son of Dr. Lewis Bayly,
-Bishop of Bangor. After finishing his curriculum at the University of
-Cambridge, and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1638, he was
-presented by King <span class="eng">Charles</span> to the subdeanery of Wells. In the troubles
-that continued to distract the nation, he took an active and unremitting
-interest; and having retired with other loyalists to Oxford in 1644, he
-was there created Doctor of Divinity. Previously to the battle of
-Naseby, he had accepted Lord Worcester’s appointment as chaplain to the
-household; and, as we have seen in the preceding account, acted in
-several instances as confidential adviser<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204">{204}</a></span> between the King and the
-Marquess. He was present during the whole course of the siege of Raglan,
-more as a soldier than a chaplain, and took his full share of the perils
-and responsibilities in which the officers of the garrison were then
-involved.</p>
-
-<p>When terms of capitulation were finally tendered by General Fairfax, and
-accepted by the Marquess, Dr. Bayly was employed to draw up the articles
-upon which the garrison was to be disbanded: and when the castle was
-delivered up to the besiegers, he accompanied the Marquess to London,
-attended him during his imprisonment as a friend and servant, consoled
-him as a minister of religion, vindicated his character, advocated his
-rights, and, when the final hour arrived, he performed over his grave
-the last sad offices of religion and humanity.</p>
-
-<p>After this event, Dr. Bayly repaired to the Continent, where he
-continued to reside, chiefly in France, until the “martyrdom of King
-Charles,” when he returned to England, and published the work already
-mentioned, entitled, “Certamen Religiosum; or, a Conference between King
-Charles I. and Henry, late Marquess of Worcester, concerning Religion,
-in Raglan Castle, anno 1646.” This conference, however, was believed by
-many to whom he stood opposed, to have no real foundation in truth; and
-to be merely sent forth as a prelude to his declaring himself a convert
-to the Roman Catholic faith; or, in the original words, to his “becoming
-a Papist.”</p>
-
-<p>In the course of the same year he published another work, entitled, “The
-Royal Charter granted unto Kings by God himself,” &amp;c.; to which is
-added, “A Treatise,” wherein is proved that Episcopacy is <i>jure divino</i>.
-By these writings he incurred the heavy displeasure of the
-Government&mdash;to which all such topics were obnoxious&mdash;and the author was
-committed to Newgate, where he languished for some time. But at length,
-a favourable opportunity having been presented, he made his escape into
-Holland, where he carried his religious views into immediate practice,
-and became a zealous Roman Catholic.</p>
-
-<p>Previous to this date, and during his confinement in Newgate, he wrote a
-piece, entitled, “Herba Parietis; or, the <span class="eng">Wallflower</span>, as it grows out of
-the stone chamber belonging to the metropolitan prison; being an
-historie which is partly true, partly romantic, morally divine; whereby
-a marriage between Reality and Fancy is solemnized by Divinity.”<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a></p>
-
-<p>Shortly after this publication, he quitted Holland, and took up his
-residence at Douay in France, where he sent forth another book, with the
-title of “The End to Controversy between the Roman Catholic and
-Protestant Religions, justified by all the several manner of ways
-whereby all kinds of controversies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_205" id="page_205">{205}</a></span> of what nature soever, are usually
-or can possibly be determined.”<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> This was followed by “Dr. Bayly’s
-<span class="eng">Challenge</span>,” the last of his published works; after which he proceeded to
-Italy, where he spent the residue of his days, and died, as his
-biographers conclude, in poverty and distress. It is more likely,
-however, that, after having, by his controversial talents, rendered some
-service to the church of his adoption, he retired into a monastery, and
-there ended his chequered pilgrimage in exercises of devotion. This,
-however, is matter of conjecture, for he is said by Dodd to have died in
-the family of Cardinal Ottoboni; while Dr. Trevor, Fellow of Merton
-College, who travelled in Italy in 1659, reports that he died in a
-public hospital, and that he had seen his grave. His fate, however, like
-that of many others&mdash;driven into involuntary exile by similar causes&mdash;is
-involved in a mystery which no recent attempt has been made to
-elucidate. <i>Requiescat in pace.</i></p>
-
-<p>To the books or pamphlets above named, Dr. Bayly received various
-replies, which showed that, by their spirit and execution, they had
-excited no little attention among the able and fierce controversialists
-of that day. Among those who took the field against him were Christopher
-Cartwright, L’Estrange, Robert Sanderson, Peter Heylin, and others.</p>
-
-<p>A “Life of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester,” is also ascribed to the pen of
-Dr. Bayly; but his title to that work is not fully substantiated. His
-Dedication of “Worcester’s <span class="eng">Apophthegms</span>,” to the second Marquess, author
-of “A Century of Inventions,” is manly and elegant. The conclusion is in
-these words:&mdash;“I layd your noble father in his grave with mine own
-hands; and I could not let a memorial of him lye buried under my own
-manuscript, but thought it a duty belonging to his fame, and your own
-merit, to dedicate this book unto your lordship, heir to all, but
-apparently to nothing but his virtues and this memorial of them.”</p>
-
-<p>In his Epistle to the Reader, he enters upon a lively vindication of the
-genuineness of his “Certamen; or, Discourse Concerning Religion;” the
-veracity of which had been bitterly impugned by his enemies; and states
-that he published it in vindication of the King’s constant affection to
-the <i>Protestant</i> religion. There is considerable spirit in the
-preface:&mdash;“Some,” he says, “will not admit of that controversie
-otherwise than as a parable: First, because they were there&mdash;that is, at
-Raglan Castle&mdash;and heard no such thing; Secondly, because they believed
-not the <span class="eng">Marquess</span> of Worcester to be so able a man; as I hear it hath
-been said by some of his Majesty’s field chaplains, who envying that a
-loyal pen should wagge, where they can be contented to sew pillowes
-under the elbowes, to bead cushions over the heads of the people,<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a>
-and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" id="page_206">{206}</a></span> preach such wholesome and sound doctrine of mortification,
-sanctification, justification, and good life, that they thought they
-might safely get up into any pulpit, not caring what bottom it had, nor
-what canopie was over head. Not much unlike the man who went to preach
-after [upon] the sureness of his foundation, when his house was all on
-fire. These men will tell you that this was no real thing; because they
-were there&mdash;at <span class="eng">Raglan</span>&mdash;all the while; whilst, in fact, they were not
-there at all except at <i>meales</i>; and when I tell you that they were the
-doctours, that were better at smelling a good dinner than a disputation,
-I have as good as told you their names. I expected truly better reason
-from those doctours, than from the knight that said, ‘He was sure there
-should be no such thing at Raglan, for his boy Tom was there all the
-time!’</p>
-
-<p>“But you will say,” he continues, “you do not believe there was any such
-private discourse. Chuse then; who cares? Let him believe that will; it
-was writ for the satisfaction of Christians&mdash;not of Infidels. But it may
-be that ‘mendax Fama’ means to requite me for the wrong she did my
-father, who writ a good book;<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> and some would not believe it to be
-his; and now that I have set out a book none of mine own, she will have
-it to be <i>mine</i>. I thank her kindly; but I had rather be without her
-praises, than to be thought such an ingenious lyar.”</p>
-
-<p>The suspicion that Bayly was the inventor, and not reporter, of the
-“Certamen Religiosum,” is not supported by any testimony to which we can
-attach implicit reliance; for those who charged him with the deception,
-were of the party to whom he was politically as well as religiously
-opposed. That conversations of the kind actually occurred between the
-King and the Marquess, can hardly be doubted; but as Bayly, in the midst
-of a garrison, could not be so cool and accurate as a modern reporter
-for the press, we may fancy that he clothed the arguments, sent forth in
-the “Certamen,” in his own language; and perhaps insensibly coloured
-them with his own sentiments.</p>
-
-<p>It has been farther said of him, that, besides taking part in the
-defence of <span class="eng">Raglan</span>, he fought, on some occasion of his subsequent and
-chequered career, as a common soldier. This is by no means unlikely; for
-he was of an active and adventurous spirit; never reluctant to take up
-arms in a good cause; and like some other ecclesiastics of his day, as
-well known in the “tented field” as in the pulpit.</p>
-
-<p>In his “Book of Apophthegms,”<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> he mentions the fact of his having
-saved<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207">{207}</a></span> Lord Worcester from the enemy, by giving him timely notice of
-their approach, when he found him wandering on the Welsh mountains; and,
-recording this incident as the occasion and origin of his acquaintance
-with the Marquess, he says: “From that time forward, until I laid him in
-his grave in Windsor Castle, I never parted from him.” Such enthusiastic
-attachment&mdash;disinterested as, under all the peculiar circumstances of
-the case, it must have been&mdash;does infinite credit to the memory of
-Bayly; for it generally happens that fallen greatness, like court
-favourites, has no real friends.&mdash;We now return to the closing scene of
-the master whom he had served with so much constancy, and whom it was
-literally his misfortune to survive; for after his obsequies at Windsor,
-Bayly was left a friendless wanderer, denounced at home, received with
-suspicion abroad, and indebted to charity for bread and&mdash;a grave.</p>
-
-<p>Reduced, as we have seen, to the humiliating condition of a prisoner,
-the Marquess of Worcester did not long require the vigilance of the
-Black Rod. From the day that Raglan was delivered up to General Fairfax,
-his health, which during the siege had suffered from great mental
-anxiety, rapidly declined under the absence of all that reconciles
-worldly men to the evils of life. But, armed with that Christian
-philosophy which is the only panacea for the outrages of fortune, he
-preserved the inward calm of a resigned and tranquil spirit; and,
-looking forward to another and a happier existence, he regarded passing
-events, like his own bodily infirmities, as visitations from an unseen
-Power, who, through a rugged and stormy path, was conducting his servant
-into a new region of sunshine and peace. At his death, which took place
-in December, all that descended to his family, as unconvertible to
-Parliamentary uses, were the example he had set before them of unshaken
-loyalty, well-grounded faith, and a patient endurance of evils which the
-practice of such hereditary virtues might incur. By his wife, whom he
-long survived, he had issue nine sons and four daughters: namely, Lord
-Herbert, Earl of Glamorgan, who succeeded to the honours; Lord John, who
-married a daughter of Thomas, Lord Arundel of Wardour; and Lord Charles,
-who, during the siege of Raglan, acted as second in command under his
-father, and after signalizing himself in the royal service, devoted
-himself to the church, and died, as already observed, in exile at
-Cambray. These are the only members of the family that require to be
-noticed in this place.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Edward</span>, the second Marquess, maintained the same spirit of loyalty which
-had actuated his father through life. The services which he had
-hitherto, as Lord Herbert, rendered to the royal cause, were followed by
-others which won for him the entire confidence of his Sovereign, by whom
-he was constituted Lord Lieutenant of North Wales, and invested with the
-highest authority ever delegated by a king to his subject. To this
-remarkable fact allusion has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208">{208}</a></span> already made;<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> but in this place,
-where it may be more properly introduced, we shall quote the original at
-full length. In the preceding history, as we have seen, the King
-addressed him in letters patent from Oxford, by the title of Earl of
-Glamorgan, Baron Beaufort of Caldecot; and to complete the honours
-showered upon him, his Majesty invested him, in 1644, with the following
-commission:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="eng">Charles</span>, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France,
-and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &amp;c., to our right trusty and
-right well-beloved cousin Edward Somerset <i>alias</i> Plantagenet, Lord
-Herbert, Baron Beaufort of Caldicote, Grosmond, Chepstow, Raglan,
-and Gower, Earl of Glamorgan, son and heir apparent of our entirely
-beloved cousin, Henry, Earl and Marquess of Worcester, greeting.</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“Having had good and long experience of your prowess, prudence, and
-fidelity, do make choice, and by these nominate and appoint you
-our, &amp;c., to be our generalissimo of three armies, English, Irish,
-and Foreign, and admiral of a fleet at sea, with power to recommend
-your Lieut.-General for our approbation; leaving all other officers
-to your own election and denomination, and accordingly to receive
-their commission from you, willing and commanding them, and every
-of them, you to obey as their general, and you to receive immediate
-orders from ourself only. And lest, through distance of place, we
-may be misinformed, we will and commend you to reply unto us, if
-any of our orders should thwart or hinder any of your designs for
-our service. And there being necessary great sums of money to the
-carrying on so chargeable an employment, which we have not to
-furnish you withal, we do by these empower you to contract with any
-of our loving subjects of England, Ireland, and dominion of Wales,
-for wardships, customs, woods, or any our rights and prerogatives;
-we by these obliging ourselves, our heirs, and successors, to
-confirm and make good the same accordingly. And for persons of
-generosity, for whom titles of honour are most desirable, we have
-entrusted you with several patents under our <span class="eng">Great Seal</span> of England,
-from a Marquis to a Baronet, which we give you full power and
-authority to date and dispose of, without knowing our further
-pleasure. So great is our trust and confidence in you, as that,
-whatsoever you do contract for or promise, <span class="eng">We</span> will make good the
-same accordingly, from the date of this our commission forwards;
-which, for the better satisfaction, We give you leave to give them,
-or any of them, copies thereof, attested under your hand and seal
-of arms. And for your own encouragement, and in token of our
-gratitude, we give and allow you henceforward such fees, titles,
-pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209">{209}</a></span>heminences, and privileges, as do and may belong to your place
-and command above-mentioned; with promise of our dear daughter
-<span class="eng">Elizabeth</span> to your son Plantagenet in marriage, with three hundred
-thousand pounds in dower or portion; most part whereof we
-acknowledge spent or disburst by your Father<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> and you in our
-service; and the title of <span class="eng">Duke</span> of Somerset to you and your heirs
-male for ever; and from henceforward to give the <span class="eng">Garter</span> to your
-arms, and at your pleasure to put on the <span class="eng">George</span> and blue ribbon.
-And for your greater honour, and in testimony of our reality, we
-have with our own hand affixed our great seal of England unto these
-our commission and letters, making them patents.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Witness</span> ourself at Oxford, the first day of April, in the
-twentieth year of our reign, and the year of our <span class="eng">Lord</span> one thousand
-six hundred and forty-four.</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“<span class="eng">Charles.</span>”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p>The result of this commission, full of promises, offers a striking
-instance of the uncertainty of “the best laid schemes” of men. Lord
-Glamorgan’s eldest son married; but no matrimonial alliance took place
-between the Royal family and his. Nor is it mentioned that any use was
-made of his unprecedented power to make peers; and what is singular
-enough, the title of Glamorgan, granted to Lord Herbert himself, was
-disputed, on account of some informality, at the Restoration of Charles
-II., and surrendered by him when Marquess of Worcester. He seems,
-indeed, to have regarded neither his private interest nor his public
-reputation in comparison with those of his Royal master. He was sent to
-Ireland, as already noticed, with a secret commission to negotiate with
-the Roman Catholics; and upon its discovery, and being disowned by
-Charles, he took all the fault on himself, to the imminent hazard of his
-own life. At the Restoration he met with no adequate reward for his
-devoted loyalty. Charles the Second, probably, had not all the power
-that was supposed, as he certainly had not all the inclination that was
-expected, to reward the adherents of his family.</p>
-
-<p>Horace Walpole, in his “Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,” gives a
-lively, but a very careless and unfair, account of this Marquess of
-Worcester. He ridicules his “Century of Inventions;” but, in truth, Lord
-Orford’s opinion will not go far on scientific subjects. An opinion,
-very different from that of the critic-peer, will be formed on
-consulting the new edition of the “Century of Inventions,” with
-historical and explanatory notes, published in 1835, by Mr. Charles F.
-Partington.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_210" id="page_210">{210}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The title the Marquess gives the original work is, “A Century of the
-Names and Scantlings of such Inventions, as at present I can call to
-mind to have tried and perfected, which (my former notes being lost) I
-have, at the instance of a powerful friend, endeavoured now, in the year
-1655, to set these down in such a way, as may sufficiently instruct me
-to put any of them in practice.”</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“Artis et naturæ proles.”</p></div>
-
-<p>He dedicates it to the King in language of unabated loyalty; and in a
-second address impressively recommends his discoveries to the attention
-of both Houses of Parliament. In the sixth of these “Inventions,” Mr.
-Partington recognises an improved construction of the telegraph, as it
-was used before the electric telegraph came into use.</p>
-
-<p>In VIII. IX. and X. various engines of war are hinted, which have since
-been perfected by Congreve and others. The reader who is curious in such
-subjects, will be well repaid by a perusal of Mr. Partington’s book. We
-can only find room for those inventions which foreshadow the
-steam-engine.</p>
-
-<p>“XC. An engine so contrived that, working the <i>primum mobile</i> forward or
-backward, upward or downward, circularly or cornerwise, to and fro,
-straight, upright or downright, yet the pretended operation continueth
-and advanceth; none of the motions above-mentioned hindering, much less
-stopping the other; but unanimously and with harmony agreeing, they all
-augment and contribute strength unto the intended work and operation;
-and, therefore, I call this a <i>semi-omnipotent engine</i>, and do intend
-that a model thereof be buried with me.</p>
-
-<p>“XCIX. How to make one pound weight raise an hundred as high as one
-pound falleth; and yet the hundred pounds weight descending doth what
-nothing less than one hundred pounds can effect.</p>
-
-<p>“LXVIII. An admirable and most forcible way to drive up water by fire,
-not by drawing and sucking it upwards, for that must be, as the
-philosopher calleth it, <i>infra spheram activitatis</i>, which is had at
-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, stopping and screwing up the
-broken end, as also the touchhole; and making a constant fire under it,
-within twenty-fours it burst, and made a great crack. So that having
-found a way to make my vessels, so that they are strengthened by the
-force within them, the one to fill after the other, have seen the water
-run like a constant fountain stream forty feet high; one vessel of
-water, rarefied by fire, driveth up forty of cold water; and a man that
-tends the work is but to turn two cocks, that one vessel of water being
-consumed, another begins to force and refill with cold water, and so
-successively, the fire being tended and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211">{211}</a></span> kept constant, which the
-selfsame person may likewise abundantly perform in the interim between
-the necessity of turning the said cocks.</p>
-
-<p>“C. Upon so potent a help as these two last-mentioned inventions, a
-waterwork is, by many years’ experience and labour, so advantageously by
-me contrived, that a child’s force bringeth up, an hundred feet high, an
-incredible quantity of water, even two feet diameter. And I may boldly
-call it the most stupendous work in the whole world! Not only, with
-little charge, to drain all sorts of mines, and furnish cities with
-water, though never so high seated, as well to keep them sweet, running
-through several streets, and so performing the work of scavengers, as
-well as furnishing the inhabitants with sufficient water for their
-private occasions; but likewise supplying the rivers with sufficient to
-maintain and make navigable from town to town, and for the bettering of
-lands all the way it runs; with many more advantageous and yet greater
-effects of profit, admiration, and consequence. So that, deservedly, I
-deem this invention to crown my labours, to reward my expenses, and make
-my thoughts acquiesce in the way of farther inventions. This making up
-the whole century, and preventing any farther trouble to the reader for
-the present, meaning to leave to posterity a book, wherein, under each
-of these heads, the means to put in execution and visible trial all and
-every of these inventions, with the shape and form of all things
-belonging to them, shall be printed by brass plates.” And he devoutly
-concludes:&mdash;“<i>In bonum publicum, et ad majorem</i> <span class="smcap">Dei</span> <i>gloriam</i>.”</p>
-
-<p>On these Mr. Partington has the following note:&mdash;“The three last
-inventions may justly be considered as the most important of the whole
-‘Century;’ and when united with the 68th article, they appear to suggest
-nearly all the data essential for the construction of a modern
-steam-engine. The noble author has furnished us with what he calls a
-definition of this engine; and although it is written in the same vague
-and empirical style which characterises a large portion of his
-‘Inventions,’ it may yet be considered as affording additional proofs of
-the above important fact.”</p>
-
-<p>The Marquess’s “Definition” is exceedingly rare, as the only copy known
-to be extant is preserved in the British Museum. It is printed on a
-single sheet, without date, and appears to have been written for the
-purpose of procuring subscriptions in aid of a water company, then about
-to be established:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“A stupendous, or a water-commanding engine, boundless for height or
-quantity, requiring no external nor even additional help or force, to be
-set or continued in motion, but what intrinsically is afforded from its
-own operation, nor yet the twentieth part thereof. And the engine
-consisteth of the following particulars:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“A perfect counterpoise, for what quantity soever of water.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212">{212}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>“A perfect countervail, for what height soever it is to be brought unto.</p>
-
-<p>“A <i>primum mobile</i>, commanding both height and quantity, regulator-wise.</p>
-
-<p>“A vicegerent, or countervail, supplying the place, and performing the
-full force of man, wind, beast, or mill.</p>
-
-<p>“A helm, or stern, with bit and reins, wherewith any child may guide,
-order, and control the whole operation.</p>
-
-<p>“A particular magazine for water, according to the intended quantity or
-height of water.</p>
-
-<p>“An aqueduct, capable of any intended quantity or height of water.</p>
-
-<p>“A place for the original fountain, or river, to run into, and
-naturally, of its own accord, incorporate itself with the rising water,
-and at the very bottom of the aqueduct, though never so big or high.</p>
-
-<p>“By <span class="eng">Divine Providence</span> and heavenly inspiration, this is my stupendous
-water-commanding engine, boundless for height and quantity.</p>
-
-<p>“Whosoever is master of weight, is master of force; whosoever is master
-of water, is master of both; and, consequently, to him all forcible
-actions and achievements are easy.”</p>
-
-<p>“It is said,” continues our authority in another place, “that the
-Marquess, while confined in the Tower of London, was preparing some food
-in his apartment, (a singularly good result from a marquess having been
-obliged to be his own cook,) and the cover of the vessel having been
-closely fitted, was, by the expansion of the steam, suddenly forced off
-and driven up the chimney. This circumstance attracting his attention,
-led him to a train of thought, which terminated in the completion of his
-‘water-commanding <span class="eng">engine</span>.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>Thus, we think, posterity has something more to thank the noble owner of
-Raglan for, than deeds of arms, or the defence of castles. His great
-castle, however, was ere this time in ruins, and furnishing another
-instance of the folly with which the conquerors at that period destroyed
-the noble buildings which had belonged to their enemies the Royalists;
-as if it had not been enough, and more wise and provident, to have kept
-them in their own possession, and converted them to republican uses.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Marquess</span> survived the publication of his “Century” only about two
-years. He died in retirement, near London, on the 3d of April, 1667, and
-was buried in the vault of Raglan Church, on the 19th of the same month,
-near his grandfather, Edward, Earl of Worcester.<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" id="page_213">{213}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>After the <span class="eng">Restoration</span>, as already noticed, a committee was appointed by
-the House of Lords,<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> to take the patent above quoted into serious
-consideration. The consequence was, that in a very few days thereafter
-it reported that the Marquess was willing, without further question, to
-deliver it up to his Majesty; and accordingly, on the third of September
-following, the said patent, “granted,” as it was alleged, “in prejudice
-to the Peers,” was formally surrendered to the Sovereign, as the only
-fountain of national honours.</p>
-
-<div class="figleft">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_213.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_213.jpg" width="187" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Henry</span>, only son of the second Marquess, succeeded him in all those high
-titles and appointments, by which the King endeavoured to make him
-amends for the vast sacrifices which his family had incurred by a long
-course of unflinching and untarnished loyalty. And to crown the whole,
-he was installed K.G., and finally advanced to the highest rank of the
-peerage. Having been “eminently serviceable to the King”&mdash;as expressed
-in the patent&mdash;“since his most happy restoration to the throne of these
-realms; in consideration thereof, and of his most noble descent from
-King <span class="eng">Edward</span> the Third, by John de Beaufort, eldest son of <span class="eng">John of Gaunt</span>,
-Duke of Lancaster, by Catherine Swinford, his third wife,” the Marquess
-of Worcester was created, in December, 1682, Duke of Beaufort, with
-remainder to the heirs male of his body.</p>
-
-<p>At the funeral of <span class="eng">Charles</span> the Second, his Grace was one of the
-supporters to <span class="eng">George</span>, Prince of Denmark, chief mourner. By <span class="eng">James</span> the
-Second he was made Lord President of <span class="eng">Wales</span>, and Lord Lieutenant of
-twelve different counties in the Principality; and at the Coronation, in
-April following, he had the distinguished honour of carrying the Queen’s
-crown. He was afterwards made Colonel of the 11th Regiment of foot, then
-first raised. He next exerted himself against the Duke of Monmouth; and
-endeavoured, though ineffectually, to secure Bristol against the
-adherents of the Prince of Orange. Upon that Prince’s elevation to the
-British throne, his Grace refused to take the oaths, and abjuring public
-life, lived in retirement until his death, which took place in 1699, in
-the seventieth year of his age.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Charles</span>, the second but eldest surviving son of the first Duke, is
-mentioned in the family history as a nobleman of great parts and
-learning. He died in the lifetime of his <span class="eng">father</span>, in consequence of an
-accident, in the thirty-eighth year of his age. His horses, we are told,
-taking fright, and running down a steep hill, the danger became
-imminent; when, to avoid the casualty which threatened him, he unhappily
-leaped out, broke his thigh-bone, and only survived the accident three
-days.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214">{214}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Henry</span>, his eldest son, succeeded his grandfather as second Duke of
-Beaufort. On <span class="eng">Queen Anne’s</span> visiting the University of Oxford in 1702, and
-going thence in her progress to Bath, the Duke met her Majesty near
-Cirencester, on the twenty-ninth of August; and, attended by great
-numbers of the gentlemen, clergy, and freeholders of the county,
-conducted her with great pomp to his seat at <span class="eng">Badminton</span>, where she was
-received with regal splendour. This act of loyal hospitality&mdash;so
-becoming in a descendant of Henry the first <span class="eng">Marquess</span> of Worcester&mdash;was
-most graciously acknowledged by the Queen and her royal consort Prince
-George of Denmark.</p>
-
-<p>Three years after this event, the Duke took his seat in the House of
-Lords; but did not appear at court until after the change of ministers
-in 1710, when he frankly told her Majesty that he could “then, and only
-then, call her Queen of England.”</p>
-
-<p>After being installed in various high offices, and while promising a
-long and distinguished career in the service of his country, he was
-prematurely cut off in the thirty-first year of his age, and buried at
-Badminton, where a monument records his titles, character, and public
-services.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Badminton</span>, which we have just named, is the principal seat of the
-Beaufort family, and comprises one of the finest parks in England.
-Badminton Church, which contains the monuments above-named, was rebuilt
-at the expense of the late Duke of Beaufort in 1785, after a plan by
-Evans. It stands within the Ducal Park; and, besides various other
-specimens of art, represents the arms of Somerset&mdash;“foy pour
-devoir”&mdash;faith for duty&mdash;worked in mosaic in the pavement of the
-chancel. On the destruction of</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Raglan Castle</span>, as already described in these pages, was laid the
-foundation of Badminton Park, where the household gods of the family
-were formally enshrined, and insured the possession of a more peaceful
-and propitious home.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Here, in forgetfulness of many woes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The loyal <span class="eng">Founder</span> sought and found repose;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Here, in sweet landscapes to the Muse endeared,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Soothed by Religion, and by Science cheered;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Tasted the sweets that rarely can be known,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Save when we make the public weal our own.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>This beautiful seat&mdash;long prior to the time in question&mdash;had been the
-hereditary demesne of the <span class="eng">Botelers</span>, whose names appear in the earliest
-period of British history. The house is built in the Palladian style of
-architecture&mdash;a style for which the first Duke of <span class="eng">Beaufort</span> had acquired
-a taste at Vicenza; and when the time had arrived that a house, worthy
-of his illustrious ancestors, should be erected in this county, a
-decided preference was given to the Italian model. The principal front
-is of great length, having in its centre division a composite colonnade,
-surmounted by an attic, on which is sculptured the family<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_215" id="page_215">{215}</a></span> arms. The
-wings of the mansion, extending considerably on each side, are
-terminated by Tuscan arches, leading to the offices and stables. Over
-each extremity of the centre is a cupola. The interior decorations of
-this palace are splendid, but still in good keeping, and evincing due
-regard to the classical taste in which the building itself originated.</p>
-
-<p>The great dining or banquet hall is tastefully ornamented by wood
-carvings, from the designs of the celebrated Gibbons&mdash;all of elaborate
-execution, and presenting some of the finest specimens ever produced by
-that artist. The picture gallery&mdash;which the stranger will admire for its
-fine proportions and classical simplicity&mdash;presents a series of family
-portraits, with which, individually, are associated many pleasing, and
-some painful events and circumstances of the national history&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Of lofty stem! the beautiful, the bold&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Names that still blazon the historic page!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Faintly, yet brightly, hath the painter told<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Their worth and virtues to a latter age&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">‘In faith inflexible;’ in beauty’s charms<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Triumphant; and invincible in arms.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The park</span>, by which the mansion is encircled, is of great extent&mdash;more
-than nine miles in circumference; and although the natural scenery is
-comparatively tame, the walks and drives are exceedingly picturesque;
-and, to the practised eye of strangers, present many points of view
-which will linger on the memory long after other and more romantic
-scenes are forgotten.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Here waving woods&mdash;a mass of living green&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With varied shade diversify the scene;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Flowers of all hues perfume the haunted dell,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where streams descend, and bubbling fountains dwell;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where busts of heroes glimmer through the trees,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And Nature’s music floats upon the breeze&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Such, as in olden time, was heard to wake<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The slumbering echoes of the Larian lake;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Or soothed, with dulcet tones, the opal sea,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That clasps thy beauteous shore&mdash;Parthenopè!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Yet brighter rises&mdash;fairer sets the sun<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Upon <i>thy</i> classic shades&mdash;fair <span class="eng">Badminton</span>.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>With these particulars, which bring down the family history to
-comparatively modern times, we close this portion of the subject, and
-return to the scene of our illustrations&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Raglan Castle.</span>&mdash;By those unacquainted with the subject, it has been
-often regretted that, when prosperity had again visited the family of
-Worcester, no effort was ever made to restore this castle to something
-of its original splendour. But the obstacles that opposed such a
-patriotic design were innumerable; and although the apartments at vast
-expense might have been rendered habit<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" id="page_216">{216}</a></span>able, yet the parks, and the
-timber&mdash;the growth of centuries&mdash;having all been cut down and swept away
-in the Revolution, and nothing left but a comparatively bleak and
-uncultivated waste, the grand ornament of the manor was not to be
-replaced by the hand of art. Turrets might again multiply along the
-battlements, and splendid courts be rescued from the cumbrous ruins that
-had long hid and disfigured them; but trees must be raised by a slower
-process, and he who should replant the wasted demesne must do so, not
-for himself, but for the benefit of future generations.</p>
-
-<p>But, in addition to other obstacles that need not here be noticed, the
-habits and manner of society had become so thoroughly changed after the
-Restoration, that a feudal stronghold was no longer indispensable for
-the security and comfort of great families. The military chief had now
-thrown aside his cumbrous mail, and entered into the every-day duties of
-civil life; and by improved intercourse with his fellow-men&mdash;confidence
-in the stability of government&mdash;a taste for agriculture, and love of
-national sports and pastimes, he felt his own happiness advanced by the
-new facilities of promoting that of the people around him. He found that
-to sleep soundly, required the aid of neither drawbridge nor portcullis.
-Public order and confidence once restored, domestic feuds, which had so
-long kept men strangers to one another&mdash;except in some field of
-conflict&mdash;were succeeded by family alliances, which united them by new
-ties of friendship and affection; and instead of mutual distrust and
-mutual defiance, the nobles of the land were gradually weaned back from
-an immoderate love of war to the arts of peace, and the practical
-illustration of loyalty and patriotism. The feudal castle, built chiefly
-for defence, was now of course a structure of which every one could
-perceive the comfortless inconvenience. A host of retainers was no
-longer required either for the safety or the baronial state of the
-mansion; a new form of society required new and more simple forms of
-accommodation; and the rural mansion, with its waving woods, gardens,
-orchards, farm-like offices, well-stocked preserves, and richly
-variegated lawns, succeeded those stern fortifications within which
-former generations had maintained their haughty independence&mdash;but which,
-in reality, was little better than “the freedom of a state prisoner”&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“For still the ramparts, tall and grim,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Were <i>barriers</i> ’twixt the world and him!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Raglan</span> Castle, however&mdash;even while occupied as a feudal
-residence&mdash;possessed many advantages over its contemporaries. Its
-spacious courts, lofty halls, numerous suites of chambers, extensive
-battlements, ancient gardens, shady walks, and variegated prospects,
-were luxuries to which few, if any, of our domestic fortalices could lay
-claim. Within the walls of the castle, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217">{217}</a></span> riches of art, pictorial and
-sculptured, were scattered with taste and liberality on every object
-that could please the eye or amuse the fancy; while the skill and
-science illustrated in their arrangement improved the mind, and imparted
-a classic grace and colouring to the whole structure. Of its luxuries in
-this respect&mdash;in its library, its <span class="eng">Gallery</span> of paintings and
-sculpture&mdash;the description of an old poet may be quoted as not
-inapplicable to the scene presented by Raglan, at the commencement of
-the seventeenth century:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_217.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_217.jpg" width="593" height="541" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>State Gallery&mdash;looking south.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i2">“For the rich spoil of all the continents,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">The boast of art and nature, there was brought;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Corinthian brass, Egyptian monuments,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">With hieroglyphic sculptures all inwrought;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And Parian marbles, by Greek artists taught<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">To counterfeit the forms of heroes old,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And set before the eye of sober thought<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Lycurgus, Homer, and Alcides bold&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All these and many more that may not here be told.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But of all the artificial embellishments for which Raglan Castle was
-famed, its <span class="eng">Water-works</span>&mdash;on a most ingenious and expensive scale&mdash;are
-allowed to have formed a principal feature; and these Lord Herbert and
-the first Marquess appear to have brought to a degree of perfection
-previously unknown in this country. In their day&mdash;long before the name
-of Cromwell had inspired sentiments of either respect or alarm&mdash;Raglan
-Castle was probably as much<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_218" id="page_218">{218}</a></span> distinguished in this respect amongst
-baronial mansions, as the “Palace of the Peak” among the aristocratic
-mansions of our own times. During the numerous fêtes celebrated within
-its gates in honour of the King’s visit, these water-works came in for a
-large share of royal admiration; and who can doubt that the rushing
-fountains of Raglan had, perhaps, as soothing an influence upon the
-distracted mind of the first <span class="eng">Charles</span>, as those of Tivoli are said to
-have had on that of Mecænas, whom the distracting cares of state, as
-tradition reports, had rendered sad and sleepless? Fresh from the field
-of Naseby, the sound of welcome that met King Charles at the gate of
-Raglan, must have been peculiarly grateful to <i>his</i> ear, on which the
-shouts of loyalty were destined never to fall again with so much truth
-and fervour. As the equestrian group in the <span class="eng">Fountain Court</span> threw up its
-snowy column during the night, the spray may have reached the very
-casement of the King’s chamber, and invited that repose which
-unparalleled reverses had scared from his pillow. If, under the ordinary
-circumstances of royalty, “uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” his
-must indeed have been “unrest,” from whose head the crown was so surely
-but insensibly falling.&mdash;These, however, are sentimental conjectures,
-with which the topographer has little or nothing to do; we turn,
-therefore, to the subject in question, the water-works of Raglan, and
-the hero of the scene, the first Marquess, of whom local history reports
-the following</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Anecdote.</span>&mdash;At the beginning of the Long Parliament, we are told, certain
-rustics of the neighbourhood, availing themselves of the prejudices
-excited against Lord Worcester on account of his creed, presented
-themselves one morning at the gate of Raglan, and in the name of
-Parliament demanded possession of the household arms. Apprised of their
-design, the noble owner met them at the White Gate; and after hearing
-them repeat the demand for arms, put the question, “Whether, seeing that
-they had come to disarm him and his servants, they intended also to
-follow up that act of violence by robbing him of his money and goods?”
-“No,” said the intruders; “we want your arms, and that only because you
-are publicly denounced as a recusant!” “Nay,” said his lordship; “I am
-indeed a peer of the realm, but I am no convicted recusant; and
-therefore the law cannot in reason take notice of any such thing, much
-less sanction this violent proceeding.”</p>
-
-<p>Thus checked in their first attempt, the Marquess proceeded to warn them
-of the danger they had incurred by pressing an unlawful demand; and
-threatening them with serious consequences, they were well pleased to
-forego the prime object of their visit, and turning round prepared to
-retire without further parley. The Marquess, however, seeing their
-contrition, invited them to enter the gate of the castle, and amuse
-themselves, in a peaceable way, with a sight of whatever it contained.
-His design, however, was to punish them, in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" id="page_219">{219}</a></span> manner they little
-expected, for the unnecessary alarm they had occasioned to the
-household.</p>
-
-<p>Condescending to be his own cicerone in the case, he conducted the
-rustic band from one place to another, until&mdash;greatly wondering at
-everything they saw&mdash;they had traversed nearly the whole premises. At
-last, just when they had come to that part of the Castle Moat, over
-which a lofty bridge communicated with the Keep,<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> he invited them to
-pause, and examine the scene at leisure.</p>
-
-<p>“Now, at this point,” says Bayly, “Lord Herbert had lately contrived
-certain water-works, which, when the several engines and wheels were set
-agoing, vast quantities of water through the hollow conveyances were to
-be let down from the top of the high tower.” All being ready for action,
-a signal from the Marquess brought down through these a deluge of
-cataracts, which, by their roaring, hissing, and foaming through the
-hollow tubes, produced such a hideous and deafening noise, that every
-echo from the buildings around was roused into imitation; while the
-visitors themselves, suddenly enveloped in a magic circle of roaring
-cataracts, knew not what to think, nor which way to turn. Describing the
-effect in his own graphic style, the Chaplain writes:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“Such was the roaring, as if the mouth of hell had been thrown wide
-open, and all the devils had been conjured up, that the poor silly men
-stood so amazed, as if they had been half dead; and yet they saw
-nothing!”</p>
-
-<p>At last, as the plot was contrived, up comes a man in great haste and
-affected trepidation; and staring wildly at the half-petrified rustics,
-cried out as he passed them&mdash;“Look to yourselves, my masters; look to
-yourselves; for, by’r Lady, the lions are all broke loose!” Hereupon the
-rustic “arms-searchers” fell into such a dancing fit of ague, that, in
-their attempts to escape the lions’ jaws, they tumbled so over one
-another as they scampered down stairs, that it was feared one half of
-them had broken their necks. Nor did they once look behind them, until
-they found themselves a full mile beyond the gates of the castle.</p>
-
-<p>By this <i>ruse</i>, the Marquess completely succeeded in warding off any
-second party disposed to make a similar experiment. The demand for arms
-was not repeated; the roar of Worcester’s “lions” kept all intruders at
-bay; and the recent adventure, which had lost nothing by telling, did
-more for a time to insure the tranquillity of Raglan Castle, than could
-have been accomplished by a regiment of cavalry.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">View from the Keep.</span>&mdash;The Donjon Tower, where the above adventure
-occurred&mdash;and which has been already described in these pages&mdash;commands
-a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220">{220}</a></span> magnificent view over the surrounding country, particularly to the
-south-west, where the landscape&mdash;broken into verdant masses of
-vegetation&mdash;gradually swells into a mountain range, which limits the
-view, and depicts its own bold outline on the distant horizon. In
-describing this view, we shall be as particular as our limits will
-permit; for it is one of the finest in the county. The ascent, as usual
-in such buildings, is by a tourniquet staircase, which opens at each of
-the five different stories into the ancient, and, in the present case,
-lofty apartments; to which, in cases of imminent danger, the family
-could retreat as to an inviolable sanctuary. But this was an extremity
-to which&mdash;so far as we are informed&mdash;none of the Worcester family were
-ever compelled to resort. So that there are no dramatic incidents
-associated with the tower, upon which a romantic story of siege and
-storm might be founded.</p>
-
-<p>Of this view, however, all visitors of taste in landscape-painting speak
-in terms of admiration; and, having made the experiment on a beautiful
-evening in September, we are bound, from the enjoyment it afforded us,
-to recommend to all visitors a tour of the battlements, closing with a
-view from the top of the Keep. In this view, as shown in the
-accompanying engraving, is comprehended a wide panorama, enriched and
-embellished with all the characteristic features of English landscape,
-from the green valley and fertile wheat-field to the bleak pastoral
-uplands that partly enclose the scene. All the foreground is occupied by
-smiling cottages and cultivated farms, half buried, as Mr. Thomas<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a>
-has described them, in the umbrageous and many-coloured foliage that
-enriches the scene, and in which the melancholy yew-tree is conspicuous.
-The appearance of the ruins in this bird’s-eye view is particularly
-striking. Every tower, arch, and battlement&mdash;here diverging into
-distinct form and outline, and there grouped in picturesque
-confusion&mdash;strike the spectator with mixed feelings of surprise and
-amazement; for it is only from this elevation that he is enabled to form
-any correct estimate of the beauty, variety, and extent of a building,
-that seems every way fitted to have been the residence of a regal court.</p>
-
-<p>The following table, as recommended by Mr. Thomas,<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> will assist the
-curious visitor in discovering the various hills and landmarks which are
-generally visible from the Tower of Gwent. Ranging from east to south,
-the prominent features of the landscape appear in the following order:
-namely&mdash;the Kymin, a conical hill overlooking the town of Monmouth, and
-crowned with its pavilion. The next is Troy Park, the favourite seat of
-the Ducal family; Craig-y-Dorth, the scene of a famous battle between
-Henry IV. and Owen Glendower; then the Trellig range of hills,
-particularly Beacon Hill&mdash;so called</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_018.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_018.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>View from the Battlements.</i></p>
-
-<p>Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221">{221}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">from being used as such in the late war during the threatened invasion.
-The next is</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Llanishen</span> Hill, with the church of St. Dionysius; and continuous with it
-rise the Devaudon and “New Church Hills,” opposite the Elms; the royal
-forest of Wentwood and Pen-y-Cae Mawr; Kemeys Firs, near to Caerleon, an
-elevation which commands a view of thirteen counties.<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a></p>
-
-<p>In the south-west are seen the heights of Caerleon and Pen Twyn Barlwm;
-Gaer Vawr, on which is an ancient encampment&mdash;the largest in the
-county&mdash;with the site of a British town; Dial Carig; and Craig-y-Garcyd,
-two miles north-west of Usk, the site of a Roman camp. In the immediate
-foreground are the village and church of Raglan.</p>
-
-<p>Westward appear Abersycan and the hills near Pontypool; the Blorenge
-hill, nearly two thousand feet high.<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> The opening which occurs in
-the range at this point, allows of a glimpse of the Breconshire hills at
-Crick Howell to Bwlch, within eight miles of the county town. The next
-in succession are&mdash;the Sugar Loaf, or Pen-y-Foel&mdash;so called from its
-conical shape&mdash;near Abergavenny, which crowns the summits of four
-converging hills, and rises eighteen hundred and fifty-two feet above
-the channel of the river Gavenny, which flows near its base.</p>
-
-<p>The same view takes in the Hatteril Hills, or Black Mountains, crowned
-with Roman encampments; and near which is Oldcastle, once the residence
-of Lord Cobham, whose unhappy fate forms a painful page in the national
-history. From these hills the Monnow takes its source. Beneath lies the
-dark Vale of Ewias; and in its bosom are the ruins of Lanthony, a
-Cistercian Abbey of the twelfth century, which forms one of the
-illustrated subjects of this work. In the same direction is seen the
-Skyrrid Vawr, a lofty hill, seen in a volcanic fissure, which is
-supposed to have been thrown open during one of those remote convulsions
-of nature, of which in these districts the traces are so distinct and
-frequent.</p>
-
-<p>Looking northward, the prominent objects are Campstone Hill, and the
-Craig, at the foot of which lie the picturesque remains of Grosmont
-Castle, which gives the title of Viscount to the Beaufort family. To
-these, but more northward, succeed Garway, Broad Oak, the Skinch-Cwm,
-and White Hills, which close the panorama from Raglan Keep.&mdash;We have
-been thus particular<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222">{222}</a></span> in designating the objects seen from the different
-points of view, in order that the tourists who annually visit this
-scene, may be in some degree prepared for the enjoyment which it is so
-well calculated to afford.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_222.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_222.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>From the top of the Keep.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Descending from this lofty tower, where on festive occasions the family
-ensign still floats, the contrast between the Natural scenery, which has
-just faded from the spectator’s eye, and the iron-bound work of Art,
-forces itself upon the mind, and elicits a spontaneous burst of
-gratitude that, under the protecting banner of the English Constitution,
-the peasant is now as safe in his cottage as ever Baron of Raglan was in
-his Keep; that at last “right” is a match against “might,” and that the
-strong arm of Justice falls with impartial force on the culprit&mdash;whether
-he be robed in ermine, or clad in hodden grey.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Yet <span class="eng">Barons</span> of the land! to you<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">A grateful people still retains<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Proud memory of the swords ye drew&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">The swords that broke a tyrant’s chains,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And planted Freedom on our plains!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">For Freedom’s cradle was the <span class="eng">Keep</span>,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Her guardians were the Barons bold;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Who placed her temple on the steep,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And on her head a crown of gold;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And cried&mdash;‘The deed is done! Behold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i5">Henceforth our British land shall be<br /></span>
-<span class="i5">The glorious land of Liberty!’<span class="lftspc">”</span><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The visitor, as he crosses the rustic bridge that now spans the moat,
-will recall the interesting fact, that this very spot, so to speak, was
-the “birthplace<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223">{223}</a></span>” of the <span class="eng">Steam-engine</span>; a circumstance which, had Raglan
-no other claim to their notice, must entitle it to a more than cursory
-observation from all who have an hour to spend within its walls. The
-spot where it is believed to have been first placed by the
-inventor&mdash;then Lord Herbert&mdash;was in a building erected close under the
-wall of the Keep, where the drawbridge rose; but which has left few or
-no traces, in shape or dimensions, that are now visible above the moat.
-It is satisfactory, however, to know that the ground is stamped by
-tradition as the spot where the noble inventor, during his father’s
-lifetime, made his first experiments on the uses and powers of steam;
-and where he probably constructed that “model of his invention,” which
-he desired might be placed with him in his coffin.</p>
-
-<p>If ancient warriors considered it an honourable distinction to be
-consigned to the tomb in a full suit of armour, it was excusable in one
-who had carried with him through life the remembrance of many wrongs,
-many sacrifices, to desire that, at least, the evidence of one bloodless
-triumph, one proof of scientific discovery, might accompany him at his
-final departure from this scene. It was the favourite child of his
-matured judgment, the result of those scientific researches, after which
-he had been straining for many years&mdash;the mighty consequences of which
-were dimly foreshadowed in his imagination. It was the reward and
-consolation of a life of suffering, as well as of science; and there is
-something both natural and touching in the wish that this model&mdash;the
-only mechanical evidence that told him “he had not lived in
-vain”&mdash;should be deposited with him in the grave.</p>
-
-<p>Some of his commentators have affected to smile at this wish, as
-evincing a feeling of weakness and vanity on the part of Lord Worcester,
-incompatible with a philosophic mind. But in this they only allege what
-cannot be proved; and the charge falls harmless when applied to a man
-who was&mdash;what can never be disputed&mdash;one of the most ingenious and
-scientific men of his day. When Columbus&mdash;a schoolboy at Genoa&mdash;first
-rigged his tiny skiff, and sent it dancing over the blue waters, on
-which it moved like the shadow of coming events; no one foresaw that
-this mere toy would one day be succeeded by vessels, directed by the
-same master-pilot, that should throw open another continent to the old
-world. Nor, while Lord Worcester was squandering much time and treasure,
-as it was thought, in useless experiments in the Keep at Raglan, did any
-one imagine that these very experiments were preparing the way for that
-stupendous power, that should one day give incredible impulse to the
-arts of civilized life, cross the Atlantic, and traverse the Pacific,
-with a celerity that promises to unite in one bond of fellowship all the
-nations of the earth.</p>
-
-<p>It can hardly be doubted that results similar to these haunted the
-imagination of Worcester, and kept up within him that spirit of
-discovery which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_224" id="page_224">{224}</a></span> animated him in all his labours, soothed him with the
-hope of being numbered among the benefactors of his country, and a
-prospect of that immortality which attends the favoured votaries of
-science. He may often have indulged the thought, though never embodied
-in words&mdash;and it was a remarkable prediction on the part of him who
-uttered it long afterwards&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Soon shall thine arm, triumphant Steam, afar,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Drag the slow barge, and drive the flying car!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It has been alleged by Desaguliers,<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> that Savary, the reputed
-inventor of the steam-engine, obtained his notions from the work already
-named, “The Century of Inventions;” and that, in order to conceal the
-original, he purchased all the Marquess’s books that could be had for
-money, and committed them to the flames. Of this, however, we have no
-direct proof, and Captain Savary must be acquitted; but it is quite
-certain that, as already mentioned, the original work is so rare, that
-not a copy is to be found except in the British Museum, and perhaps in
-the Beaufort Libraries at Troy House or Badminton Park. It is to be
-observed, however, that no contemporary record exists to illustrate or
-verify the Marquess’s description of the contrivance, which we presume
-to call a Steam-Engine; or to inform us where, and in what manner, it
-was carried into effect. Yet it is very evident from his account, that
-he had actually constructed and worked a machine that raised water by
-steam; an operation which was sufficient to produce on the minds of
-rustics, the effect ascribed to the “roaring of lions,” as mentioned in
-the preceding anecdote. The Marquess’s description, though short and
-obscure, would appear to favour the belief, that the force of his engine
-was derived solely from the <i>elasticity</i> of steam; and that the
-condensation of steam by cold was no part of his contrivance, but the
-invention of Captain Savary, who, in 1696&mdash;nearly thirty years after the
-Marquess’s death&mdash;published an account of his machine in a small tract,
-entitled, “The Miners’ Friend.” In these engines&mdash;several of which he
-had erected previously&mdash;the alternate condensation and pressure of the
-steam took place in the same vessel into which the water was first
-raised from a lower reservoir, by the pressure of the atmosphere, and
-then expelled into a higher one by the elastic force of strong steam.
-Steam was thus employed merely to produce a vacuum, and to supply the
-strength that was applied, for a like effect, to the sucker or piston of
-an ordinary pump; and it was a great and important step to have
-discovered a method of bringing the air to act in this manner, by the
-application of heat to water, without the assistance of mechanical
-force.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_225" id="page_225">{225}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>To the simple incident which, during his confinement in the Tower of
-London, first set the warm and fertile imagination of the Marquess to
-work on this subject, we have already adverted; and must now turn from
-the curiosities of science, to such portions or features of Raglan
-Castle as still remain to be noticed.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Tilt-yard.</span>&mdash;The exact situation of this important adjunct to the
-Castle is still a question among the learned. By some, what is now
-called the Bowling-green is described as the ancient Tilting-ground.
-This conjecture, however, being rendered improbable by a careful
-examination of the ground, another has been thrown out, namely&mdash;the
-Grand Terrace on the north-west side of the Castle. But this locale is
-also disputed, particularly by one who is resident near the spot, and
-fully conversant with whatever has descended to our own times respecting
-the original plan of the Castle. His opinion is, that the ancient
-Tourney-field must have been on the outside of the present walls. An
-experienced officer of the Royal Engineers, who lately inspected the
-grounds, with the view of ascertaining the exact spot, confirms this
-opinion; and observes that the Tilt-yard occupied the space immediately
-outside of the present gate, and enclosed between the two moats which
-surrounded the gateway. This opinion will probably set the question at
-rest&mdash;particularly as it comes from a quarter well qualified to decide
-in such doubtful cases&mdash;and allow the Bowling-green to retain its
-hereditary fame and honours.<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a></p>
-
-<p>In this enclosure it was usual for the lords of Raglan to exhibit those
-chivalrous fêtes which gave a character to the age. They brought into
-martial competition those aspirants of knightly fame, whose dexterity in
-the use of the lance was perfected by daily practice in the tourney. In
-these gorgeous pastimes, all that could fascinate the eye, and kindle
-admiration in the spectators, was brought into brilliant operation.
-Beauty, presiding at the lists, bestowed the palm on him who had
-disarmed his rival in the charge, and thus established his claim to
-knightly honours. Here, no doubt, many a lance has been couched, many a
-spear broken in rival combat; for one of the old lords, as already
-mentioned, was renowned as the best horseman of his day; and to support
-this character, joust and tournament may have been no unfrequent
-spectacles under the walls of Raglan.</p>
-
-<p>It cannot be doubted that these martial exercises&mdash;conducted with
-admirable tact and courtesy&mdash;contributed, in a very special degree, to
-foster a spirit for military enterprise; to inculcate a high and
-chivalrous sense of honour; to form the young soldier to habits of
-fortitude and endurance which procured<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226">{226}</a></span> him the respect of his comrades,
-and future distinction in the field. A knight, thoroughly trained
-according to the system of feudal times, was a being whom we are
-accustomed to regard as the beau-ideal of a soldier; whose high bearing,
-indomitable courage, inflexible faith, unsullied honour, and loyal
-devotion to his “ladye love,” are themes on which poets and historians
-of the middle ages have lavished many glowing panegyrics.</p>
-
-<p>For the education and discipline of those military aspirants, the grand
-palæstra was the tilt-yard. For the feudal tournament&mdash;descriptions of
-which are handed down to us by contemporaneous authors&mdash;no substitute is
-left in these times. Nothing could have been more animated and dazzling,
-when celebrated with all those details of martial pomp and
-ceremony&mdash;indispensable to such exhibitions&mdash;than a pageant, in which
-all who aspired to distinction were required to evince, in action, the
-pure and elevating principles of love, loyalty, and religion. For these,
-and many other reasons, impartial taste, as Gibbon observes, must prefer
-a Gothic tournament to the Olympic games of classic antiquity. Instead
-of the naked spectacles which corrupted the manners of the Greeks, the
-pompous decoration of the lists was crowned with the presence of chaste
-and highborn beauty, from whose fair hands the conqueror received the
-prize of his dexterity and courage.<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a>&mdash;And with this flattering</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_226.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_226.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind">contrast between the demoralizing festivals of Greece, and the high tone
-of refinement which characterised those of our Gothic forefathers, we
-pass on to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227">{227}</a></span> such other points in the history of Raglan Castle as have
-been selected for illustration. In the woodcut introduced in the
-preceding page, the view is taken from the old</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Bowling-green</span>&mdash;erroneously supposed to have been the Tilt-yard. Directly
-opposite, in the centre, is the Donjon, or Tower of Gwent, so often
-described or otherwise referred to in these pages. On the left, where a
-massive gateway is seen, is the entrance to the <span class="eng">Fountain Court</span>, from
-which, as formerly noticed, a noble staircase conducts to the State
-apartments occupying the south side of the Castle. These are now in a
-state of utter dilapidation; but the framework itself affords abundant
-evidence&mdash;so far as architectural design and elaborate ornament can
-assist us in such a conclusion&mdash;of their original splendour.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_227.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_227.jpg" width="579" height="529" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>The royal apartments.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“But now th’ unsightly brier grows,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Where once, in gilded bower,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The Queen of Beauty trained the rose&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Herself a fairer flower.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And damp the hearth, and cold the bed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Where he who wore the crown,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With anxious heart, and aching head,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">In slumber laid him down!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">But brief the slumber, long the night&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">For <span class="eng">Naseby’s</span> fatal day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And sorrow’s still increasing weight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Had scared his sleep away!”<br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228">{228}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>There is a tradition, that the Bowling-green was King Charles’s
-favourite walk during his visit. It commands a varied and extensive
-prospect; the vegetation is vigorous; and the grassy carpet, though not
-in courtly trim, is still uninjured by plough or spade; and to
-sentimental tourists it seems the very spot&mdash;aided by the adjoining
-ruins&mdash;where, in the mirror of fancy, pictures of the olden day, the
-hues of domestic life as it passed in the fifteenth century, may be seen
-faithfully reflected.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“There is a spirit brooding o’er these walls,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">That tells the records of a bygone day;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">When, midst the splendour of thy courtly halls,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">A pageant shone, whose gorgeous array,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Like Pleasure’s golden dream, has passed away;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where Beauty’s smiles, and winning graces, lent<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">The witching radiance of their love-lit ray;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And from the scene a mingled strain was sent<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Of music, laughter, festive song, and merriment.”&mdash;<i>Raglan.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The game of bowls was unknown to the ancients, and bowling-greens are
-said to have originated in England; where, in the course of time, every
-castle, and most houses of the nobility, had each a bowling-green
-attached to them. The “greens” were in some places narrow strips turfed
-over; but if covered with gravel, they were called “Bares.”
-Bowling-alleys were so called from being roofed over for play when the
-weather was unfavourable; and these appear to have been the usual
-appendages to taverns, and other places of public resort, particularly
-in towns. In an old inventory we have&mdash;“To Sparke of Bury, Roper, for
-vi. li. etc., of herryng line for the <span class="eng">Bowling-alley</span>, iij<i>s.</i> iv<i>d.</i>” At
-the same place [Hengrave Hall] a bowling-alley occupied the space
-between the north side of the moat, having the convenience of an open
-corridor communicating with the Hall. Flat bowls were best for a close
-alley; “round biassed bowls” for open ground, of advantage; bowls, round
-as a ball, for green swarths which were plain and level; and of the
-latter description is the Bowling-green of <span class="eng">Raglan</span>, now under notice.</p>
-
-<p>In a plate of “Strutt’s Sports,” two small cones are placed upright, at
-a distance from each other, and the players bowl at each
-alternately&mdash;the winner was he who could lay his bowl nearest to the
-mark. A small bowl or jack was also used as a mark; and only one bowl
-for each person&mdash;not two or three, as in the present day.<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> There
-were also ground-bowls, driven by a baton or mace through an arch.
-Half-bowl&mdash;so called because it was played with one half of a
-sphere&mdash;was prohibited by Edward the Fourth; and is the rolly-polly
-still practised in Herts.<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229">{229}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Tennis-Court.</span>&mdash;The site of this is still a question in the topography of
-Raglan, although “the practice” cannot be doubted. Henry the
-Seventh&mdash;who was a prisoner in Raglan Castle&mdash;his son Henry, and Charles
-the Second, were all tennis players. In the sixteenth century,
-tennis-courts were quite common in England. They were divided by a line
-stretched in the middle; and the players, standing on either side with
-their rackets, had to receive and return the ball, which the rules of
-the game required to be struck over the line.<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a></p>
-
-<p>Having already spoken of the <span class="eng">Tilt-field</span>, it is proper to remark that the
-jousts and tournaments, for which it was set apart, differed from one
-another in the following respects:&mdash;The latter consisted of parties of
-knights, engaged at the same time; the former of two persons only. The
-Joust was at first called the “Cane Game,” because hollow canes were
-used instead of lances. On some occasions the combatants with swords and
-lances were on foot, with a barrier of wood breast-high between them.
-Toys, made to imitate the joust, consisted of knights on horseback, who
-could be thrown off and unhorsed by the shock of their adversaries’
-spears. Some had wheels, others not.</p>
-
-<p>There were also boat-jousts, as represented in old paintings. The
-conqueror was he who could best turn aside the blow of his antagonist by
-one blow of his shield; and, at the same time, strike him with a lance
-in such a manner as to throw him over into the water, himself remaining
-unremoved from his station.<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a></p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">Tradition.</span>&mdash;On taking a final survey of these extensive ruins, and
-speculating on the style and date of several of their component parts,
-the difficulties that attend antiquarian decision&mdash;as great in the
-present day as in that of the first Marquess&mdash;remind us of the following
-anecdote:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>During an excursion in the vicinity, “We were told,” says his Chaplain,
-who relates the story, “that we should come to a place that was famous
-for a miracle, which, according to popular tradition, was wrought by the
-preaching of St. David to three thousand people.” To accommodate the
-saint, the ground on which he stood at the time, being too low to admit
-of his being advantageously seen and heard by the multitude, most
-obligingly rose up into a green knoll, carrying the saint with it, and
-there settled at a proper elevation. Whereupon <span class="eng">St. David</span>, pitching the
-cross on which he leant into the miraculous soil, and continuing his
-discourse, was distinctly heard and seen, much to their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_230" id="page_230">{230}</a></span> comfort and
-edification, by the whole assembly. This cross, at the time in question,
-“was yet standing, with some words, or letters, which time and Welsh
-weather had so defaced that they were no longer intelligible to vulgar
-eyes.” In memory, or rather in <i>proof</i>, of the miracle, the guardian
-saint had caused a church to be erected on the spot, and many were the
-pilgrims, during the long lapse of centuries, who had resorted to the
-<span class="eng">Cross</span>, and borne testimony to the celestial influence which still
-hovered round the spot; and in those who were already gifted with that
-“faith which can remove mountains,” produced the most wonderful changes.</p>
-
-<p>This relation, working upon the Marquess’s mind, made him desirous to
-turn aside for a little, and inspect the hallowed ground in person.
-Having reached the churchyard, the cross was instantly visible; but in
-shape and ornament bearing all the marks of venerable antiquity. The
-inscription was almost obliterated; and among the gentlemen who attended
-the Marquess, it became an object of competition who should best
-decypher the original; though all that could be traced with any
-resemblance to an alphabet, were&mdash;<span class="eng">Crx</span> ... <span class="eng">Xti</span> ... <span class="eng">Dd</span>, and part of an <span class="eng">s</span>.
-The enigma that had puzzled so many others, however, appeared to his
-lordship of very easy solution. “Why,” said he to the gentlemen around
-him, “these letters are neither more nor less than fragments of three
-simple but sacred words; to wit&mdash;<span class="eng">Crux Christi Davidis</span>.” “Which we all
-wondered at,” says the Chaplain, “that no man could find out, though it
-afterwards appeared so plain. ‘Look ye now,’ said the Marquess; ‘I,
-without my spectacles, and ill eyes, could read it sooner than all you
-that needed none, and had good eyes. And mark me,’ he added, ‘it is not
-a good eye but a good <span class="eng">faith</span> that attains to a knowledge of such things;
-whilst you pore so much upon the letters you lose the meaning. Now, I
-will tell you how I came to find it out: I considered what had been told
-me, with the help whereof I came to understand what the words might
-signify; so that in this, I am sure, <span class="eng">tradition</span> was a means to help me to
-the understanding of the scripture.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>The quaint simplicity of the last sentence&mdash;so full of meaning&mdash;and the
-lesson it inculcates regarding the authority of Traditions, illustrate
-in a quiet way the Marquess’s opinions as to those of the Church; and to
-antiquaries, the aid of tradition is thus very ingeniously recommended.
-Where authentic history falls short of the mark in researches, the
-traditions of a castle are entitled to consideration; and in the
-preceding account of Raglan, it has been our study to combine the
-two&mdash;though not in the sense recommended by the Marquess.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Of Lord Herbert</span>, the following anecdote is recorded:&mdash;Some time after he
-was created Earl of Glamorgan, he received the King’s commission, as we<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" id="page_231">{231}</a></span>
-have seen,<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> to proceed to Ireland, and there ascertain what could be
-done to strengthen the royal cause. Setting out on this expedition, and
-accompanied, as we are told, by a distinguished retinue of officers,
-knights, and gentlemen&mdash;“all of the red letter”&mdash;who had staked life and
-fortune on the enterprise, his lordship arrived at Caernarvon, where he
-was to embark for Ireland. Here they were detained a short time; and
-Glamorgan continuing to receive at his table the loyalist gentlemen of
-the place, the conversation turned upon some old prophecies, which it
-was thought were fast reaching their fulfilment. “And particularly one,”
-said a gentleman of the company. “It is an old Welsh prediction, and
-says&mdash;‘That in these latter times there should come to this very town a
-<i>magpie</i>, and build her nest in the royal crown; that next a <i>jackdaw</i>
-should arrive, and beat off the magpie; then a <i>buzzard</i> should appear
-on the same roost, and drive away the jackdaw; and then there should be
-seen no crown, but that of <i>thorns</i>, upon the King’s head! Farther, that
-there should come a band of men from a far country, and take away the
-thorns, and then the crown should appear again.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>And thus far, as the townsmen averred, the prophecy had been
-accomplished; to wit&mdash;“Over the gate of Caernarvon Castle, there was a
-statue of King Edward the First, in full proportion, with a crown upon
-his head. Well, there did come a magpie, as every one could tell, which
-built, her nest in the said crown; then came a jackdaw that beat away
-the magpie, as foretold; and, in like manner, came at last a buzzard,
-and drove away the jackdaw.” “And all this,” said the worthy townsmen,
-“we assure your honour to be as true as Holy Writ.”</p>
-
-<p>Hereupon the Earl of Glamorgan, having listened with deep interest to
-the recital, replied with much animation&mdash;“And why may not we, my
-gallant friends and comrades&mdash;why may not <i>we</i> be that band of men from
-a far country, that shall take away these thorns from the King’s
-head&mdash;first, in type, and then in substance?” And thereupon all
-concluded themselves to be the men destined for that glorious service.
-They resolved that, on rising from table, they would satisfy their eyes
-with the sight, as their ears had already been with the relation, and
-lend willing and helping hands to disencumber the figure. Nothing else
-could be thought of; and dinner being ended, the Earl and his company
-sallied forth to the castle gate, resolved to signalize the day by an
-act of loyalty that would endear their names to posterity. Looking up,
-accordingly, with great eagerness to the royal badge, that seemed to
-implore their assistance, its appearance, sure enough, was in literal
-accordance with the disordered condition in which crowns are generally
-left by rival combatants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" id="page_232">{232}</a></span> It was, in fact, quite a heart-breaking sight
-to see the diadem of England so covered and entangled with thorns, as if
-artificially platted round the King’s temples.</p>
-
-<p>“Verily,” said one of the nobles present, “never hath mine eye beheld a
-sadder spectacle!” “The Earl himself, almost frantic with grief and
-indignation, straightway commanded the nest to be torn down; which was
-done with every mark of ignominy; and then the company began to breathe
-again. The materials composing the nest being examined with severe
-scrutiny, were found to be of white-thorn&mdash;a substance whereof never was
-bird known before to build her nest!”</p>
-
-<p>A thing so unprecedented, both as regards the nest and the material<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a>
-thereof, caused in the beholders a degree of amazement not to be
-expressed: in memorial whereof, every one present thrust a sprig of
-thorn in his hatband, and so wore it as a talisman. So far, “in type,”
-the thorns were removed from the King’s crown&mdash;but not “in substance.”</p>
-
-<p>This adventure in Caernarvon being duly narrated to the Marquess at
-Raglan, he paused for a minute, and then inquired of those about him,
-“What was the nickname which the Roundheads were wont to give the
-Bishops?” But there were none about him who could even guess at his
-meaning; which he perceiving, said, “As I take it, they used to call the
-Bishops <i>Magpies</i>, whom they reproach for building their nests in the
-crown; then came the Presbyterian <i>Jackdaws</i>, and beat them out; and the
-next thing that you shall see will be the Independent <i>Buzzard</i>, which
-shall drive them away. And who shall come next, God only knows!”</p>
-
-<p>To this solution, one with a Roman nose made answer: “I hope, my lord,
-that after these men have played their pranks sufficiently, no man
-hereafter will presume to build his nest in the crown; but I hope there
-will be a knot of good fellows that may case the King’s head from the
-pricking of those thorns, and clear the crown from those incumbrances.”
-Whereupon the Marquess, replying, asked the party who related the story,
-“What manner of crown it was&mdash;of what form&mdash;that was upon the King’s
-head?” The gentleman replied, “A <i>royal</i> crown.” “Ay; but I mean,”
-rejoined my lord, “was it an open or an imperial crown?” “An <i>open</i>
-one.” “Oh, then, that was the reason; the King’s crown was too open: had
-it been close at top, with the <span class="eng">Cross</span> overhead [a sly word for the Roman
-Catholic faith], such unlucky birds could never<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_233" id="page_233">{233}</a></span> have come there to have
-built their nests; but one thing there is,” said he, in conclusion,
-“that I mislike in the story, namely, that after they had taken the
-thorns from the King’s head, they should afterwards wear them in their
-own hatbands.”<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> This was what no one present could explain to the
-Marquess’s satisfaction. And Lord Glamorgan’s negotiations in Ireland
-proved a failure to remove any “thorns from the royal crown.”&mdash;So much
-for a prophecy which shows the superstition and credulity of the
-times&mdash;a credulity which tainted even those who were charged with the
-highest offices of the state. Yet such&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“The superstitious, idle-headed eld<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Received, and did deliver to our age.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind">In those days, no fortress surrendered, no castle fell, no band of
-heroes was discomfited, but in fulfilment of some irresistible
-“prophecy.”&mdash;But here we must close the subject with a few words on the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Outworks of Raglan.</span>&mdash;On this head little remains to be added. The
-details, given in the first volume of this work, respecting castles of
-the middle ages, preclude the necessity of our doing more than simply
-referring the reader to those passages in the description of Rochester
-and Arundel, which equally apply to Raglan. With respect to the outworks
-of the latter, a very brief notice may here suffice. By a practical eye
-the line of fortification may still be traced; and what remains of the
-original defences thrown up during the siege, shows very clearly that
-the military engineers employed were men whose skill and science did
-credit to the age. The vestiges of this lamentable war are mostly
-observable on the west side of the castle, where a strong bastion,
-projecting from the exterior wall of the fortification, forms a striking
-feature of the outworks, and a no less striking contrast with the
-luxuriant vegetation which now crowns, and almost conceals, these
-monuments of a barbarous and unnatural war. The point to which we
-allude, is that represented in the engraving, and entitled the “Avenue,”
-where the state apartments, unlatticed, roofless, and dilapidated, look
-down upon the green belt of trees and underwood that surround them with
-a melancholy aspect&mdash;but a melancholy that imparts feelings of
-thankfulness to the lovers of peace; for it tells very plainly that the
-devastating storm has long subsided, and that the sunshine of national
-prosperity and contentment has again visited the scene. The engines of
-war have disappeared; the ramparts, raised by men for the destruction of
-their fellow-men, are now razed to the ground. Nature&mdash;striving to throw
-her green mantle of oblivion over a scene from which she was so rudely
-banished by the violence of war&mdash;smiles at her own bloodless triumph,
-and peoples the over-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234">{234}</a></span>arching groves with feathered tribes that sing no
-songs but those of peace and joy&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Where once the steel-clad warrior trod,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Spring renews her verdant wreath;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And o’er the once ensanguined sod,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Flowers their mingled incense breathe.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where the clang of clarion rose,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">All is silence and repose;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Save where, in yonder <span class="eng">halls</span> of state,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The blackbird serenades his mate.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_234.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_234.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>We now proceed to a brief notice of the environs:<a name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a>&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Raglan</span> Church has little to interest the archæological inquirer beyond
-its antiquity&mdash;and its claim to this distinction is fully vindicated by
-its appearance. It consists of a nave, side aisles, a chancel, and a
-square embattled tower, which, with a few trees throwing their shadows
-over the burial-ground, forms a pleasing landmark in the distance. We
-had the pleasure of uniting in the Morning Service before leaving the
-village, and were much gratified by the religious demeanour which
-pervaded the congregation, and edified by the simple but impressive
-discourse with which the service was terminated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_235" id="page_235">{235}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Every feature seems stamped with the seal of antiquity; at first sight
-nothing seems to have been renewed, or removed in the sacred edifice,
-for at least two centuries. The great-great-grandfathers of the present
-race may have occupied the same pews, knelt at the same altar, and been
-addressed from the same pulpit; for the materials of which these are
-composed seem as if framed to survive kingdoms and empires.</p>
-
-<p>Over the Raglan <span class="eng">Vault</span> in the chancel, already noticed, some rusty
-trophies of chivalry are suspended; and beneath repose several of the
-ancient lords by whom they were worn, or wielded. To the state of the
-monument itself, we have already alluded;<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> and judging from that of
-its prostrate or dislocated compartments, the sculpture must have been
-among the best specimens of its day, and employed on materials worthy to
-transmit the family names to posterity; for it is of rare and variegated
-marble, and appears to have been, according to monkish&mdash;but in contempt
-of all classical&mdash;taste, elaborately gilded.</p>
-
-<p>It has been regretted by visitors, that a tomb, in which are deposited
-the remains of a nobleman&mdash;to whom the credit of a renowned invention
-unquestionably belongs&mdash;should not be restored, or at least repaired. By
-others, who regard it merely as an example of the Arts at that early
-period, it is only a broken link in the chain of sepulchral
-associations, which the skill and pencil of the artist can readily
-supply. There might, indeed, be an appearance of inconsistency&mdash;a want
-of harmony&mdash;in restoring the old family sepulchre, while the Castle
-itself is left to destruction. In certain conditions and situations, a
-fragment is more interesting than the original monument; and such,
-perhaps, is the only interest which that in question ought to excite.
-But with regard to the noble dust, we need only say&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">But not remembered in thy epitaph.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The family residence, more immediately connected with that of Raglan,
-and to which, in the course of this article, special attention was
-directed in our notice of the royal visit to the Marquess of Worcester,
-is&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Troy House.</span>&mdash;This name&mdash;which the King was so much pleased to use as a
-classical synonyme, in his acknowledgment of the fruits which it had
-furnished for the royal table while at Raglan&mdash;is so called from its
-situation on the river Trothy. The village of Mitchell Troy, about a
-mile and a half from Monmouth, contains a church dedicated to St.
-Michael; but the chief object to which the tourist’s eye is directed is
-the baronial mansion above-named. The house, which was already in high
-repute at the time of the King’s visit to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236">{236}</a></span> Raglan, was built by Inigo
-Jones, who, in the suite of Christian IV. of Denmark, came back to
-England in 1606. In consequence of the patronage of James the First&mdash;and
-more particularly of his Queen&mdash;he was induced to settle in the
-metropolis; and hence originated the sacred, regal, and aristocratic
-edifices which bear his name. He was consequently appointed one of the
-commissioners for repairing St. Paul’s Cathedral; but this was not
-commenced until the spring of 1623. In the following reign he was much
-employed in preparing <span class="eng">Masques</span> for the entertainment of the court, and in
-building the Banqueting-house at Whitehall; but while thus engaged, he
-fell under the displeasure of Ben Jonson, who ridiculed him on the
-stage, and made him the subject of his epigrammatic muse. Jones realized
-a handsome fortune; but being a Roman Catholic, and a partisan of
-royalty, he suffered severely in the Civil War. At length, worn out with
-sorrow and physical sufferings, he died in July, 1652, leaving behind
-him many monuments of his genius, of which the subject under notice was
-not the least considerable.<a name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a></p>
-
-<p>The fame of Troy House, however, depends less on the fact of its being
-the work of Inigo Jones, than upon the celebrity of its gardens&mdash;the
-fruits of which are still said to vie with those of tropical
-growth.<a name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> The excellence of these fruits, as already noticed, caused
-the King to remark, “That the Sovereign of the Planets had now changed
-the poles; and that Wales, the outcast of England’s fine gardens, had
-fairer and riper fruits than England’s valleys had in all her beds.” Sir
-Charles Somerset, sixth son of the fourth Earl of Worcester, married
-Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir William Powel of Troy and
-<span class="eng">Llanpylt</span>, and added the influence of a considerable estate to that of
-the house of Worcester. It was from his gardens that the dessert for the
-royal table at Raglan was supplied.</p>
-
-<p>In the picture gallery of Troy House is a large and beautiful portrait
-of the first Marquess of Worcester, by Sir Peter Lely. He is represented
-in an open field, seated before a tent, with the Marchioness and an
-infant daughter by her side, and wears a fancy dress, with a scarf over
-his right shoulder&mdash;the ribbon and badge of the Garter. The other
-portraits are those of the Ducal house of Beaufort, since its creation
-in 1682.</p>
-
-<p>The situation of this hereditary mansion is too low to produce a
-striking feature in the landscape; but it commands very agreeable views
-of the town of Monmouth and its environs&mdash;with the rivers Monnow and
-Wye, whose waters unite and form one channel a short distance below Troy
-House.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_237" id="page_237">{237}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Grosmont</span>, from which the lords of Raglan take the rank of Viscount, is
-entitled to a brief notice in this place. In old writings it is spelt
-Grysmond, and contains a population of about eight hundred. The parish
-church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, is in the patronage of the Prince of
-Wales. In the churchyard, in the east wall of the chancel, is a
-monumental slab, said to cover the remains of Kent, or Gwent, a
-Franciscan monk, whose wonderful achievements in the early part of the
-fourteenth century<a name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> afford materials for many local traditions.
-According to one of these, the inhabitants are indebted to this good
-neighbourly monk for the bridge over the Monnow, on the road to
-Kentchurch in Herefordshire. It is called <span class="eng">John of Kent’s Bridge</span>, and is
-said to have been built in one night.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Castle</span> of Grosmont is a picturesque ruin.<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> It stands on a height
-commanding the view of a beautiful valley watered by the river Monnow,
-and bounded by Craig Savenny and the Garway Hill. The remains of this
-ancient castle occupy the summit of this hill, or rather eminence; its
-ivied walls, partly impending over the precipitous banks of the river,
-and towering at intervals through a grove of wide-spreading oaks, render
-the view extremely picturesque.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“By Grysmond’s ruins, scarred with years,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">On yonder roofless turret standing,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">How rich&mdash;how beautiful appears<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">The scene beneath my eye expanding!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The oak’s green banner clothes the steep,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">There&mdash;herds and harvests bless the Giver;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And there, in many a crystal sweep,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Descends the Monnow’s classic river!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And here&mdash;if e’er romance be found<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">To love the vale or haunt the mountain&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Here is her home, with ivy bound,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And here her grot, and crystal fountain.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And here&mdash;to him who seeks repose,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">By sorrow worn, or passion driven&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Here is a refuge from his woes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And here sweet intercourse with Heaven!” &amp;c.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Monmouth.</span>&mdash;Of this ancient town and its <span class="eng">Castle</span>, the limits prescribed to
-the present work will not permit us to indulge in any minute
-description. But before entering upon the Abbey of <span class="eng">Llanthony</span>&mdash;the next
-subject for illustration&mdash;the birthplace of Henry the Fifth is entitled
-to a general notice. The bridge over the Monnow, with its ancient
-gate-house at the west end, is, perhaps, the most striking feature of
-the place. Two other bridges, one over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" id="page_238">{238}</a></span> Trothy, and a third over the
-Wye, contribute in no small degree to heighten the picturesque effect,
-as the stranger perambulates the scene and recalls the many interesting
-facts, connected with Monmouth and its vicinity, which to history and
-romance have given an early and permanent lustre.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Castle</span>&mdash;of which so little remains that its original appearance can
-only be described by reference to the historical fragments that still
-mark the spot&mdash;is of unquestionable antiquity. It is supposed to have
-been built&mdash;or rather perhaps rebuilt&mdash;by <span class="eng">John of Monmouth</span>, whose
-adherence to the Barons cost him his estate, but contributed to the
-success of the cause in which he had embarked. The King having created
-his son Earl of Lancaster, this estate was annexed to the earldom. The
-Castle became a favourite residence of John of Gaunt, to whom it
-descended by his marriage with Blanche, daughter of Henry of Monmouth,
-Duke of Lancaster. It was in this Castle that the unfortunate Edward the
-Second was confined when taken prisoner by his Queen Isabella.<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a></p>
-
-<p>But the glory of the place is its association with <span class="eng">Henry V.</span>, son of
-Henry of Bolingbroke, who was born here,<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> and whose name and renown
-are so familiar to every reader of our national history and the drama.
-His dissipated habits while Prince of Wales, and his glorious
-achievements in the conquest of France, have been so inimitably
-portrayed by Shakspeare, that he still seems to live in our own age&mdash;in
-the country which his worth and valour adorned&mdash;and to be as agreeably
-associated with our familiar recollections as the most illustrious
-characters of our own day. His good-humoured dissipation and pleasantry
-in youth, became the foil to his subsequent greatness; and was probably
-as much the origin of that strong admiration with which he is still
-regarded, as his general talents, or the splendour of those victories,
-to which his personal courage and address so mainly contributed. At the
-time, as the reader may recollect, when the French realm was torn
-asunder by the opposing factions of the Dukes of Orleans and Burgundy,
-Henry took the favourable moment for reviving the claims of his
-predecessors upon France. Placing himself at the head of his army, he
-landed at Harfleur, and with only fifteen thousand men, opposed to
-upwards of fifty thousand, won the battle of Agincourt, and returned to
-England covered with renown. Apart from the splendour, however, which
-attended the campaign, it has been justly remarked that his reign was
-more brilliant than beneficial; for whilst his triumph entailed great
-misery on France, it “did more harm than good” to the true interests of
-England.<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> But his life was short&mdash;too short for maturing the plans
-he had in view for consolidating the fruits of a brief but eventful
-career; and while his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" id="page_239">{239}</a></span> greatest projects seemed to be advancing to a
-successful issue, <span class="eng">Henry</span> of Monmouth was suddenly cut off at the age of
-thirty-four.</p>
-
-<p>The connection of this gallant prince and sovereign with Monmouth,
-invests it with a lasting claim to veneration on the part of those
-tourists who judge of the soil by the character of its products. In the
-words of Fluellen, “All the water in <span class="eng">Wye</span> cannot wash your Majesty’s
-Welsh plood out of your pody;” nor, we may add, weaken a single link of
-that chain which connects the hero of Agincourt with the history of
-Monmouth.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Bridge</span>, of which a cut is here introduced, was erected by Edward the
-First in 1272. Surmounting the Saxon gateway is a room, used as a
-guard-room or a magazine; and immediately above the arch are three
-loopholes, made by the authorities of the place, when, at a very recent
-period, they apprehended a sudden irruption of Chartists from Newport.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_239.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_239.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>During the civil war, Monmouth was justly considered as a position of
-vast importance. After the defeat of the King’s army at Marston Moor,
-Prince Rupert directed his attention to the marches of Wales. He
-resolved to fortify Beachley, and with troops of horse to secure the
-isthmus between the rivers Severn and Wye; but in this attempt he was
-out-manœuvred by Colonel Massey. Lieut.-Colonel Kyrle afterwards
-negotiated with Massey to deliver up the town of Monmouth, then held for
-the King. Having revolted from the Parliamentary army on the loss of
-Bristol, he was willing to purchase reconciliation at the price of
-Monmouth. He proposed to Colonel Massey to feign a sudden return with
-his forces from Beachley to Gloucester, when he agreed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240">{240}</a></span> make a sortie
-from Monmouth, as if to fall on his rear, which might then drive him
-back, and in the pursuit enter the town with him. Massey, accordingly,
-gave out the necessity of a retreat; and having marched three miles,
-lodged his troops in the Forest of Dean. This was no sooner reported at
-Monmouth, than Kyrle drew out his men to follow in the rear of Massey.
-Accordingly, about a mile from Colford, he was surprised by Massey, and
-all his horsemen were led towards Monmouth. But the town having been
-alarmed by an officer who had escaped, the garrison were on the alert;
-yet, as Kyrle himself advanced to the drawbridge with a hundred horse,
-and pretended to be returning with many prisoners, the officers and
-soldiers were thrown off their guard; and with the consent of the
-governor, Colonel Holtby, the drawbridge was lowered, and the town was
-entered. “The governor and most of the garrison escaped, some prisoners
-were made, and the rest were put to the sword.”</p>
-
-<p>The loss of Monmouth, so justly considered the key of South Wales,
-alarmed the garrison of Raglan Castle. The old <span class="eng">Marquess</span> called in the
-assistance of Prince Rupert’s cavalry, which obtained some advantages
-over the flying parties of Massey, but could not disturb his possession
-of Monmouth, in which he was strongly fortified.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Geoffrey</span> of Monmouth, whose name gives additional lustre to the place,
-was also a native of this town. He is supposed to have been educated in
-the ancient Benedictine Priory, founded by Wihenoc de Monmouth, in the
-reign of <span class="eng">Henry</span> the First. A small chamber of the ancient monastery has
-long been shown to inquisitive tourists, as the library of Geoffrey. The
-apartment bears in the ceiling and windows certain traces of former
-magnificence; but the art is of a later period than the first Henry’s
-reign, and probably contemporary with that of Tinterne. Geoffrey, whose
-fame as the historian of Britain takes precedence of all his
-contemporaries, was archdeacon of his native town, and subsequently,
-through the patronage of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and Alexander,
-Bishop of Lincoln&mdash;both renowned as the friends of learning&mdash;promoted to
-the bishopric of St. Asaph. His history is considered to be a vitiated
-translation of the “Annals of the British Kings,” written by St.
-Thalian, Bishop of St. Asaph, who flourished in the seventh century. It
-is very entertaining, and forms an epoch in the literature of this
-country, being almost the first production which introduced that species
-of composition called <i>Romance</i>. “Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History,” says
-Campbell in his elaborate Essay on English Poetry, “was not a forgery,
-but derived from an Armorican original, and with the pseudo-Turpin’s
-Life of Charlemagne, was the grand historical magazine of the romancers.
-Popular songs,” he adds, “about Arthur and Charlemagne&mdash;or, as some will
-have it, Charles Martel&mdash;were probably the main sources of Turpin’s
-forgeries, and of Geoffrey’s Armorican book.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241">{241}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<p>In Geoffrey will be found the affecting history of Lear,<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> King of
-Britain, who divided his kingdom between Gonerilla and Regan, his two
-elder daughters, and disinherited his youngest daughter Cordelia. Hence
-Shakspeare drew his incomparable tragedy of “King Lear,” but improved
-the pathos of the story by making the death of Cordelia precede that of
-Lear; while in the original, the aged father is restored to his kingdom,
-and Cordelia survives him. Milton also was indebted to Geoffrey of
-Monmouth for his beautiful fiction of Sabrina in the “Mask of Comus.”
-But to return to the scene under notice:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Priory</span>, of which little remains, was a cell belonging to the
-Benedictine Monastery of Saumur in Anjou; and in this, as we have said,
-the renowned Geoffrey is believed to have prosecuted his studies. By
-some writers he is called a monk of the Dominican order; but, according
-to Leland, the fact has never been established; nor have we any sure
-grounds for believing that, as others report, he attained the dignity of
-Cardinal under the Holy See. He has higher claims to the reverential
-remembrance of posterity, than either a monk’s cowl or a cardinal’s hat.
-But notwithstanding his reputed Treatise on the Holy Sacrament, and
-poetical Commentaries on Merlin, his fame must ever rest on the
-original, or translated, History<a name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> of Britain, to which we have
-already alluded.</p>
-
-<p>Queen Elizabeth, we are told, was fond of tracing her descent from the
-British line; and Spenser, in his “Faërie Queen,” introduces his
-Chronicle of Briton Kings, from Brut to Arthur, with the following
-address:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Thy name, oh Soveraine <span class="eng">Queene</span>, thy realme and race,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">From this renowned Prince derived arre,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Who mightily upheld that royal mace,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Which now thou bear’st, to thee descended farre,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">From mighty Kings and Conquerors in warre.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Thy fathers and thy grandfathers of old,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Whose noble deeds above the northern starre,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Immortal Fame for ever hath enrolled,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">As in that <span class="eng">Old Man’s</span> book they were in order told.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Near the bridge of the Monnow stands the ancient&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Church of St. Thomas.</span> The simplicity of its form&mdash;to quote the
-historian<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_242" id="page_242">{242}</a></span> of the place&mdash;the circular shape of the door, the arch
-separating the nave from the chancel, the ornaments of which bear a
-Saxon character, seem to indicate that it was constructed before the
-Conquest. The western window and some of the other apertures&mdash;which are
-ornamented Gothic&mdash;have been evidently formed since the original
-foundation.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Monmouth</span>, the Blestium of Antoninus, is supposed to have been the site
-of a Roman station. We know, from historical records, that it was a
-fortress in early times, and one of the strongholds occupied by the
-Saxons to maintain their conquests between the Severn and the Wye, and
-check the incursions of the Welsh. The town appears to have been
-fortified with a wall and a moat, except where it was secured by the
-river. At the Leland’s Survey, parts of the dilapidated walls were still
-remaining, the moat entire, the four gates standing, which he calls the
-Monk’s Gate, to the north; the Eastern Gate; the Wyegate; and the Monnow
-or Western Gate. At present there are few or no distinct vestiges of the
-walls; and the only part of the moat which can be traced, was pointed
-out as that stretching from the back of Whitecross Street to the remains
-of an ancient gateway, and thence to the Wye. Of the four gates
-mentioned by Leland, that called the Monk’s Gate, which stood near the
-Hereford road, is now demolished. Parts of two round towers which
-flanked the eastern gate are visible. Of the latter no traces are left.
-But that over the Monnow, as shown in the preceding cut, is nearly
-entire, and bears the marks of very great antiquity. It was the opinion
-of a celebrated historian of the place, that the circular arches, the
-massive solidity of the structure, and some minuter features, were
-sufficient to remove all doubts as to its Saxon origin; and that the
-alterations it underwent in the time of the first Edward, were only
-repairs executed in conformity with the original plan. But as this is
-not a field for antiquarian disquisitions&mdash;but only a record of opinions
-generally received&mdash;we are content to follow the popular belief, and
-assign to it a date somewhat anterior to that of the Conquest.</p>
-
-<p>Of Monmouth, Churchyard sings:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“The Kinge here borne did prove a peerless Prince;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">He conquered France and reigned nine yeares in hap;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">There was not here so great a victor since,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">That had such chaunce and fortune in his lap.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">For he by fate and force did covet all,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And, as turn came, stroke hard at Fortune’s ball,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With manly mind, and ran a reddie waye<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To lose a feint, or winne the gole by playe.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">If Monmouth bring such princes forth as this,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">A soyle of grace it shall be call’d of right;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Speake what you can, a happie seat it is,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">A trim shiere town for noble Baron or Knight;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243">{243}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A cittie sure, as free as is the best,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where ’Size is kept, and learned lawyers rest;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Such auncient wise, in meete and wholesome ayre,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where the best sort of people do repayre.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Kymin Hill</span>, on the south-east side of Monmouth, commands one of the
-finest views in the kingdom. To this enchanting prospect, the celebrated
-lines by Dyer may be applied with little alteration:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Now I gain the mountain’s brow&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">What a landscape lies below!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">No clouds, no vapours intervene;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">But the gay, the open scene,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Does the face of Nature show<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">In all the hues of heaven’s bow;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And, swelling to embrace the light,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Spreads around beneath the sight.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Old castles on the cliffs arise,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Proudly towering in the skies;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Rushing from the woods, the spires<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Seem from hence ascending fires.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Half his beams Apollo sheds<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">On the yellow mountain heads,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Gilds the fleeces of the flocks,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And glitters on the broken rocks.”<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“And see the rivers, how they run<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Through woods and meads, in shade and sun!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Ever charming, ever new,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When will the landscape tire the view?”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Authorities</span> quoted or referred to in the preceding article on
-Raglan Castle and its vicinity:&mdash;Dugdale&mdash;Camden&mdash;Collins’
-Peerage&mdash;Speed&mdash;Hollinshed&mdash;Williams’ Monmouth&mdash;Grafton&mdash;Robert of
-Gloucester&mdash;Illustrations of British History&mdash;Peck’s
-Curiosa&mdash;Stow&mdash;Winwood&mdash;Manners and Customs of England&mdash;Pictorial
-History&mdash;Memoirs of the Court of James I.&mdash;Osborne’s
-Memoirs&mdash;Evelyn’s Diary&mdash;Strutt&mdash;Somers’ Tracts&mdash;Howel’s
-Letters&mdash;Barber’s Tour&mdash;Bayly’s Apophthegms of the Marquess of
-Worcester&mdash;Churchyard&mdash;Wood’s Rivers of Wales&mdash;Thomas’
-Raglan&mdash;Carne&mdash;Archæological Journal&mdash;Clarendon’s History&mdash;Certamen
-Religiosum&mdash;Ellis’s Original Letters&mdash;Memoirs of
-Swift&mdash;Carlyle&mdash;Parliamentary Papers&mdash;Mercurius
-Civicus&mdash;Edwards&mdash;The Family History&mdash;History of the Civil
-War&mdash;Chronicles&mdash;Rushworth’s Papers&mdash;Lodge’s Illustrations&mdash;County
-History and Local Descriptions&mdash;Sir R. Colt Hoare&mdash;Coxe&mdash;Notes of a
-Personal Visit to Raglan&mdash;Communications from Correspondents,
-etc.&mdash;<i>See</i> <span class="smcap">Appendix</span>.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_244" id="page_244">{244}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="LLANTHONY_ABBEY" id="LLANTHONY_ABBEY"></a>LLANTHONY ABBEY,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Monmouthshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“<span class="lftspc">’</span>Mongst Hatteril’s lofty hills, that with the clouds are crowned,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The valley <span class="eng">Ewias</span> lies immured so steep and round,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">As they believe that see the mountains rise so high,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Might think the straggling herds were grazing in the sky;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Which in it such a shape of solitude doth bear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">As Nature at the first appointed it for <span class="eng">prayer</span>;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where in an aged cell, with moss and ivy grown,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">In which not to this day the sun hath ever shone;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That reverend British <span class="eng">Saint</span>, in zealous ages past,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">In contemplation lived, and did so truly fast,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">As he did only drink what crystal <span class="eng">Hodney</span> yields,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And fed upon the <span class="eng">leeks</span> he gathered in the fields.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">In memory of whom, in the revolving year,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The <span class="eng">Welshmen</span> on his <span class="eng">day</span> that sacred <span class="eng">herb</span> do wear!”&mdash;<i>Drayton.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_244.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_244_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="S" /></a></span><span class="eng">AINT DAVID</span>, uncle of the renowned King Arthur, and
-titular Saint of Wales, was the first who introduced the rites of
-Christian worship into these mountain solitudes. Selecting for his
-hermitage a spot which had all the characteristics of a rude and
-unfrequented wilderness, he built a chapel on the banks of the
-Honddy&mdash;the stream by which it was watered&mdash;and there spent many years
-of his life in the exercise of an austere devotion. The reputation of
-his sanctity having spread over the surrounding country brought many
-pilgrims to his cell; and when at length he was added to the list of
-canonized saints, it was still resorted to as a place long consecrated
-by the practice of a holy life.</p>
-
-<p>In the reign of William Rufus&mdash;as attested by the Abbey records&mdash;the
-hallowed retreat was thus discovered. Hugh de Laci, a great Norman
-baron, having on a hunting excursion followed the deer into this
-secluded valley, sat down at the conclusion of the chase to refresh
-himself and his attendants. The wildness and beauty of the scenery
-around them appeared to have affected their minds with unwonted
-impressions; and the accidental visit was thus prolonged for the sake of
-the rude but romantic valley which the morning’s adventure had so
-unexpectedly thrown open.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_019.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_019.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>The Nave.</i></p>
-
-<p>Llanthony Abbey.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245">{245}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">William</span>, one of the Baron’s retainers, feeling oppressed by the heat of
-the weather, and fatigued by the roughness of the mountain tract through
-which they had passed, gladly threw himself down on the soft grass to
-seek a few minutes’ repose. But the novelty and grandeur of the scene
-awakening his curiosity, he was tempted to make a hasty survey of the
-spot; and turning towards the river, that here and there filled the
-solitude with its murmurs, he caught a glimpse of the little <span class="eng">chapel</span> with
-which St. David had hallowed the scene. Suddenly inspired with religious
-enthusiasm, he felt an irresistible inclination to linger near the spot;
-and at last, dismissing his attendants, he took up his new abode in the
-desert; and, like his devout predecessor, consecrated his life to the
-service of God, or rather to the contemplation of divine things. He laid
-aside his belt&mdash;says the recording monk of Llanthony&mdash;and girded himself
-with a rope. Instead of fine linen, he made unto himself a vestment of
-haircloth; and instead of a soldier’s cloak, he loaded himself with
-heavy iron. The suit of armour which, in his warrior life, had defended
-him from the weapons of the enemy, he now wore as a garment highly
-suitable for hardening him against the temptations of his old enemy,
-Satan. So that the outer man being thus mortified by austerity, the
-inner man might become day by day better disposed and purified for the
-service of God. And in order that his zeal might not cool, adds the
-pious historian, he thus sacrificed himself, and continued to wear his
-hard armour, until the iron and steel were absolutely worn out with rust
-and age.</p>
-
-<p>In this manner the devout ascetic spent his years, which otherwise might
-have been devoted, like those of his kinsmen, to acts of plunder and
-bloodshed; and it only leaves room for regret that his example was not
-more generally followed by his companions, whose armour, unfortunately
-for mankind, was never suffered to “rust;” and who often, at that
-period, transformed the beautiful Welsh frontier into a wide
-battle-field. The austerity of his life, witnessed by the rust on his
-armour, established his reputation for sanctity; and the cell that
-harboured a pious philosopher, was soon regarded as a shrine where he
-maintained constant intercourse with those angels and blessed spirits,
-whose office was to watch over the saints of that early day.</p>
-
-<p>His fame becoming general among the religious fraternities, Father
-<span class="eng">Ernesi</span>, confessor to Queen Maude, was induced to make a pilgrimage to
-the Honddy; and there, entering into a holy alliance with the steel-clad
-hermit, he set immediately to work, and with most laudable industry
-erected a chapel on the spot, which was consecrated by Urban, Bishop of
-the Diocese, and Rammeline, Bishop of Hereford, and dedicated to the
-honour of St. John the Baptist, whose solitary life in the wilderness
-they affected to imitate.</p>
-
-<p>Soon after this event, in the early history of Llanthony, Hugh de Laci,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246">{246}</a></span>
-Earl of Hereford, listening to the ghostly exhortation of Ernesi, to
-evince his faith by good works, founded a Priory of Canons-Regular of
-the Order of <span class="eng">St. Augustine</span>, and placed it with all solemnity, as in the
-former instance, under the patronage of the blessed St. John. Of this
-new establishment, Father Ernesi, as he had a good right to expect, was
-elected Prior. This was the commencement of a new and important era for
-the fame of Llanthony, which, under the united management of the twain
-brothers&mdash;both in the odour of sanctity&mdash;acquired daily reputation, and
-drew to its sacred precincts some of the greatest men of the realm. The
-temporal affairs of the rising Abbey attained unwonted prosperity by the
-personal countenance and support of King Henry and his Queen, who were
-but too happy to exchange a portion of their superfluous wealth for an
-interest in the prayers of that holy brotherhood, who had elevated the
-banks of the Honddy to a near relationship with Heaven, and held in
-their hands&mdash;as it was currently believed&mdash;the “title-deeds of rich and
-extensive settlements in Paradise. And as the latter were assigned,
-without partiality, to the highest bidder,” the proceeds for masses
-alone&mdash;we speak not ironically but historically&mdash;increased the annual
-revenues to an amount that, in those times, was justly considered a fair
-proof of monastic prosperity. On the other hand, it is piously averred,
-that such was the disinterestedness and unworldly-mindedness of the
-brotherhood, that they despised everything that bore not the stamp of
-spiritual riches&mdash;that they declined all offers of lands, goods, and
-chattels, that were liberally tendered to their house.<a name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> In that case
-it seems probable that the Abbey of Llanthony was not erected in the
-ordinary way; that is, by dint of money, but by the force of miracles;
-and, like a certain city of old, was conjured into its fair and lofty
-proportions by the powers of Harmony. But after duly weighing the
-question, the evidence in favour of money seems conclusive; and indeed
-certain <i>scripta</i> are now extant to show that the brotherhood of
-Llanthony were not less sensible of the value of money&mdash;as a spiritual
-means&mdash;than any of their illustrious fraternity. But it may be said,
-with much truth, that the uses to which their money was applied,
-produced those “miracles” of Art, which it is the object of this work to
-illustrate.</p>
-
-<p>[It is always to be kept in view, that these holy men, in professing
-poverty, were, literally, personally poor. The riches, of which they
-were merely the guardians&mdash;but which are so often charged against them
-as proofs of their avarice&mdash;were expended on the house of God; in other
-words, in fostering the arts, in relieving the poor, in practical
-hospitality, and in cultivating a niggardly soil. Personally, they were
-poor trustees upon a vast property, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" id="page_247">{247}</a></span> they were bound to employ for
-the glory of God and the good of mankind; and if, in some cases that may
-be named, the funds thus contributed by the pious were perverted to less
-laudable purposes, the fact that, in general, they were applied to the
-excellent uses contemplated by the testators, is not to be controverted.
-The churches, hospitals, almshouses, cells, and priories, which were
-thus founded, built, and endowed from these sources, are proofs of the
-fidelity, good sense, and Christian philanthropy, with which the church
-property was then administered.]</p>
-
-<p>Once upon a time, as the Monkish historian has told us, the Queen of
-King Henry, who desired to bestow a boon on William, of whose entire
-disinterestedness she was not apprised, desired permission to put her
-hand into his bosom;<a name="FNanchor_318_318" id="FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> and when, with great modesty, the holy man
-submitted to her importunity, she conveyed a large purse of gold between
-his coarse chemise and iron boddice; and thus, by a pleasant and
-innocent subtilty, administered, as she imagined, the means of comfort.
-But, oh, his wonderful contempt of the world! He displayed a rare
-example that the truest happiness is found to consist in possessing
-little or nothing of the good things of this life. He accepted, indeed,
-the Queen’s gift; but it was only that it might be expended, not in any
-worldly or selfish gratification, but in beautifying the house of God.</p>
-
-<p>But having by this act overcome the scrupulous delicacy with which he
-had hitherto resisted the temptation of riches, they now flowed in from
-every quarter, until that noble edifice was completed, the mouldering
-<span class="eng">Nave</span> of which is represented in the engraving opposite.<a name="FNanchor_319_319" id="FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a></p>
-
-<p>Of the situation of the <span class="eng">Abbey</span>, a very picturesque and glowing
-description, in good Latin, is given by the old historian, who paints
-the wild scenery, in which the first hermits took up their abode, with
-the pencil of a Salvator.<a name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> The following translation, though from a
-modern pen, is also a picturesque and not inaccurate sketch of the
-scene, which retains all the natural features ascribed to it by the
-first writer; but with one engrossing feature superadded&mdash;that of a
-stately abbey in the last stage of desolation&mdash;its towers and arches
-bearing witness to the arts employed in its construction, and the sacred
-objects of its<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248">{248}</a></span> foundation. In the following passage, Giraldus alludes
-to the Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin<a name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> in 1188.</p>
-
-<p>“In the deep Vale of <span class="eng">Ewyas</span>,” he writes, “which is about an arrow-shot in
-breadth, encircled on all sides by lofty mountains, stands the church of
-St. John the Baptist, covered with lead, and an arched roof of stone;
-and considering the nature of the place, not unhandsomely constructed on
-the very spot where the humble chapel of <span class="eng">St. David</span> had formerly stood,
-decorated only with moss and clay, a situation truly calculated for
-religious retirement, and better adapted for canonical discipline than
-all the monasteries of the British isle. It was founded, as already
-observed, by two hermits, in honour of religious seclusion, far removed
-from the bustle of life, and planted in a solitary vale watered by the
-river Hodeni&mdash;from which it was called Lanhodeni; for <i>lan</i> signifies an
-ecclesiastical place.<a name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a></p>
-
-<p>“Owing to its mountainous situation, the rains are frequent, the winds
-boisterous, and the clouds in winter almost continual. The air of the
-place, though heavy, is found to be salubrious; and diseases are so
-rare, that the brotherhood, when worn out with long toil and affliction
-with the daughter&mdash;that is, New Llanthony on the Severn&mdash;no sooner
-return to this asylum, and their mother’s lap in the Vale of Ewyas, than
-they regain their wonted strength and vigour. For, as my topographical
-history of Ireland testifies, in proportion as we proceed to the
-eastward, the face of the sky is more pure and subtile, and the air more
-piercing and inclement; and as we draw nearer to the westward, the air
-becomes more cloudy, but, at the same time, is more temperate and
-healthy.</p>
-
-<p>“Here, while sitting in their cloister, and enjoying the fresh air, the
-monks, when they happen to look up towards the horizon, behold the tops
-of the mountains, as it were, touching the heavens, and herds of wild
-deer feeding on their summits. The body of the sun does not become
-visible above the heights of the mountains, even in serene weather,
-until about the first hour, or a little more. Truly this is a spot well
-adapted for contemplation&mdash;a happy and delightful spot&mdash;fully competent,
-from its first establishment, to supply all its own wants, had not the
-extravagance of English luxury, the pride of a sumptuous table, the
-increasing growth of intemperance and ingratitude, added to the
-negligence of its patrons and prelates, reduced it from freedom to
-sterility; and if the step-daughter [Lanthonia Secunda], no less
-enviously than odiously, had not supplanted her mother.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_249" id="page_249">{249}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>It seems worthy of remark, that all the priors who were hostile to the
-old monastery died ‘by Divine visitation.’ William, who first despoiled
-the place of its herds and storehouses, being deposed by the fraternity,
-forfeited his right of sepulture among the priors. Clement seemed to
-like this place of study and prayer; yet, after the example of Heli
-[Eli], the priest, as he neither reproved nor restrained his brethren
-from plunder, and other offences, he died by a paralytic stroke. And
-Roger, who was more an enemy to this place than either of his
-predecessors, and openly carried away everything which they had left
-behind&mdash;robbing the church of its books, ornaments, and privileges&mdash;was
-also struck with a paralytic affection long before his death, resigned
-his honours, and lingered out the remainder of his days in sickness and
-solitude.</p>
-
-<p>In the reign of <span class="eng">King Henry</span> the First, when the Mother-Church was as much
-celebrated for her affluence as for her sanctity<a name="FNanchor_323_323" id="FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a>&mdash;two qualities
-which are seldom found thus united&mdash;the fame of so much religion
-attracted hither Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, who was at that time Prime
-Minister; for it is virtue to love virtue, even in another man; and a
-great proof of innate goodness it is to show a detestation of those
-vices which hitherto have not been avoided.</p>
-
-<p>When he had reflected with admiration on the nature of the place, the
-solitary life<a name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> of the fraternity, living in canonical obedience, and
-serving God without a murmur or complaint, he returned to the King, and
-related to him what he thought most worthy of remark; and after spending
-the greater part of the day in the praises of this place, he finished
-his panegyric with these words&mdash;“Why should I say more? The whole
-treasure of the King and his kingdom would not be sufficient to build
-such a cloister.”</p>
-
-<p>Having held the minds of the King and the Court for a long time in
-suspense by this assertion, he at length explained the enigma, by
-saying, that he alluded to the “cloister of mountains,” by which this
-church is on every side environed. But</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">William</span>&mdash;the warrior who first discovered this place&mdash;and his companion
-Ernisius, a priest, having heard, perhaps&mdash;as it is written in the
-Fathers, according to the opinion of Jerome&mdash;“that the church of Christ
-decreased in virtues as it increased in riches”&mdash;were often used
-devoutly to solicit the Lord, that this place might never obtain great
-possessions. They were exceedingly concerned when this religious
-foundation began to be enriched by its first lord and patron, <span class="eng">Hugh de
-Lacy</span>, and by the lands and ecclesiastical benefices con<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250">{250}</a></span>ferred upon it
-by the bounty of others of the faithful. From their predilection to
-poverty, they rejected a great many offers of manors and churches; and
-being situated in a wild spot, they would not suffer the thick and
-wooded parts of the valley to be cultivated and levelled, lest they
-should be tempted to recede from their eremitical mode of life.</p>
-
-<p>But whilst the Mother-Church increased daily in riches and endowments, a
-rival <span class="eng">Daughter</span>&mdash;as we shall see&mdash;availing herself of the hostile state
-of the country, sprang up at Gloucester, under the protection of Milo,
-Earl of Hereford; as if, by Divine Providence, and through the merits of
-the saints, and prayers of those holy men (of whom two lie buried before
-the high altar), it were destined that the Daughter-Church should be
-founded in superfluities, whilst the Mother continued in that laudable
-state of mediocrity, which she had always affected and coveted.</p>
-
-<p>“Wherefore let the active reside there, the contemplative here; there
-the pursuit of terrestrial wishes, and here the love of celestial
-delights; there let them enjoy the concourse of men, here the presence
-of angels; there let the powerful of this world be entertained, here let
-the poor of Christ be relieved; there, I say, let human actions and
-pompous declamations be heard, but here let reading and prayers be heard
-only in whispers; there let opulence, the parent and nurse of vice,
-increase with cares; here let the virtuous and golden mean be
-all-sufficient.</p>
-
-<p>“In both places, the canonical discipline instituted by <span class="eng">St. Augustine</span>,
-which is now distinguished above all other orders, is observed; for the
-Benedictines, when their wealth was increased by the fervour of charity,
-and multiplied by the bounty of the faithful, under the pretext of a bad
-dispensation, corrupted, by gluttony and indulgence, our <span class="eng">Order</span>&mdash;that is,
-the Augustinian&mdash;which, in its original state of poverty, was held in
-high estimation. The Cistercian order, derived from the former, at first
-deserved praise and commendation, from its adhering voluntarily to the
-original vows of poverty and sanctity, until ambition, the blind mother
-of mischief, unable to fix bounds to prosperity, was introduced; for as
-Seneca<a name="FNanchor_325_325" id="FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> says, ‘Too great happiness makes men greedy, nor are their
-desires ever so temperate as to terminate in what is acquired.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p>
-
-<p>Here the author, as if to contrast them with those of <span class="eng">Llanthony</span> Prima,
-indulges in a learned and eloquent apostrophe against the luxury and
-pride of several orders of monks. He concludes it with this anecdote: “I
-have judged it proper to insert in this place an instance of an answer
-which King Richard&mdash;Cœur de Lion&mdash;made to Fulke, a good and holy man, by
-whom God, in these our days, has wrought many signs in the kingdom of
-France. This man had,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_251" id="page_251">{251}</a></span> among other things, said to the king, “You have
-three daughters, namely, Pride, Luxury, and Avarice, and as long as they
-shall remain with you, you can never expect to be in favour with God.”
-To which the king, after a short pause, replied, “I have already given
-away those daughters in marriage&mdash;Pride to the Templars, Luxury to the
-Black Monks, and Avarice to the White.”<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a></p>
-
-<p>“It is a remarkable circumstance,” he continues, “or rather a miracle,
-concerning Llanthony, that although it is on every side surrounded by
-lofty mountains, not stony or rocky, but of a soft nature, and covered
-with grass, yet Parian stones are frequently found there, and are called
-Freestones, from the facility with which they admit of being cut and
-polished; and with these the church is beautifully built. It is also
-wonderful, that when, after a diligent search, all the stones have been
-removed from the mountains, and no more can be found; yet, upon another
-search, a few days afterwards, they reappear in greater quantities to
-those who seek them.”</p>
-
-<p>After some farther remarks on the manners of the monastic orders, the
-venerable author thus beautifully concludes:&mdash;“In these temperate
-regions I have obtained, according to the usual expression, a place of
-dignity, but no great omen of future pomp or riches; and possessing a
-small residence near the castle of Brecheinoc [Brecknock?], well adapted
-to literary pursuits, and to the contemplation of <i>eternity</i>,<a name="FNanchor_327_327" id="FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> I
-envy not the riches of Crœsus; happy and contented with that mediocrity,
-which I prize far beyond all the perishable and transitory things of
-this world.”</p>
-
-<p>So far the monk of Llanthony&mdash;whose partiality is very excusable; but,
-unfortunately, the <span class="eng">act</span> or charter of Edward IV., uniting the two abbeys,
-gives a different colouring to the transactions between the two
-abbeys&mdash;mother and daughter. It recites that, owing to the depredations
-committed on the convent by the neighbouring inhabitants, and the
-frequent removal of the priors and other members of the convent, the
-religious functions were negligently performed, and acts of charity and
-hospitality to strangers no longer exercised: Also, that as John Adams,
-the prior, had profusely squandered away the revenues of the church,
-maintaining only four canons besides himself, who paid no attention to
-the holy duties of the establishment: And whereas all due regard and
-reverence were paid to the sacred offices of the church by the mem<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252">{252}</a></span>bers
-of the monastery of new Llanthony near Gloucester, the king hereby
-grants all the lands&mdash;both in England, Wales, and Ireland&mdash;now
-appertaining to the convent of Llanthony in Wales, to the prior of the
-convent of Llanthony near Gloucester, to have and to hold for ever, on
-the payment of the fine of three hundred marks, and on condition that he
-maintains an establishment&mdash;dative and removable at will&mdash;of a prior and
-four canons, as the mother-church, for the purpose of performing
-religious service and mass for the souls of its founders. “Thus,”
-continues our author,<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> “in the short period of thirty years, we see
-the simple chapel of St. David transmuted into a spacious and elegant
-abbey; that same building nearly deserted, and another, still more
-magnificent, erected and translated from the solitary banks of the
-little river Hodni, to the rich and luxurious shores of the Severn.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Milo, Founder</span> of Llanthony Secunda.&mdash;Under this head, it is recorded in
-the Abbey Chronicle, that in the reign of King <span class="eng">Henry</span>, son of the
-Conqueror, there flourished a certain warrior of noble family named
-Gwalterus, or <span class="eng">Walter</span>, who was Constable, under the King, of the Castles
-of Gloucester and Hereford. The said Walter caused to be erected on his
-own demesne the Castle of Gloucester, and dying some time thereafter,
-his remains were conveyed to <span class="eng">Llanthony Abbey</span>, in Wales, and there
-buried. The aforesaid Walter left an only son, <span class="eng">Milo</span> by name, whom King
-Henry created Earl of <span class="eng">Hereford</span>; and moreover, by way of augmentation to
-the said earldom, made over to him and his heirs for ever a grant of the
-whole Forest of <span class="eng">Dean</span>.</p>
-
-<p>This <span class="eng">Milo</span>, first earl of the name, took to wife Sibylla, heiress of
-<span class="eng">Brecknock</span>, and daughter of <span class="eng">Bernard</span> and <span class="eng">Agnes</span> of New March.<a name="FNanchor_329_329" id="FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a>&mdash;The
-offspring of this marriage were five sons and three daughters, namely,
-Roger, Henry, Walter, Matthew, and William, Margery, Bertha, and Lucy.
-He founded the Abbey or Priory of New Llanthony, near Gloucester, on the
-25th of May, 1136, being the first of King Stephen’s reign; and dying on
-Christmas-eve, 1143, was buried in the chancel of the <span class="eng">Abbey</span> which he had
-founded seven years before. After his demise, he was succeeded in his
-titles and estates by each of his five sons, one after the other; but
-all of whom died without legitimate issue. Hereupon his possessions were
-shared in equal proportions by his three surviving daughters.<a name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> <span class="eng">Lucy</span>,
-his third daughter, was married to Herbert <span class="eng">Fitz-Herbert</span>, and had for her
-share and dowry the Forest of Dean, and other estates in England.<a name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a>
-The offspring of this marriage was a son named <span class="eng">Peter</span>, who became the
-father of a long line of descendants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253">{253}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Bertha, second daughter of Count Milo, married William <span class="eng">de Brewes</span>, and
-took for dowry the lordship of Brecknock. The offspring from this
-marriage were three sons, <span class="eng">William</span>, <span class="eng">Egidius</span>, and <span class="eng">Reginald</span>. William, their
-eldest son and heir, in the time of King John, having made war upon his
-enemy Guenhunewyn, subdued him, and slew no less than three thousand
-Welsh in one day at <span class="eng">Elvel</span>. This battle took place on the morrow of <span class="eng">St.
-Lawrence</span> the Martyr, in the year of our Lord 1498. But for this
-rebellious act he was disinherited by <span class="eng">King John</span>; and, without trial,
-condemned to quit the realm of England. He died in exile; while his
-unhappy wife and their only son, being thrown into prison by the same
-heartless and arbitrary power, died shortly after in captivity.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Egidius</span>, the second son, became Bishop of Hereford; and <span class="eng">Reginald</span> de
-Brewes, the third son, after the death of King <span class="eng">John</span>, and that of his two
-brothers the afore-named William and Egidius, was pronounced heir to all
-the possessions which had been forfeited by his brother William, and
-took possession of the same accordingly. He married a daughter of
-William <span class="eng">de la Bruere</span>, and had by his wife a son whom he named William de
-Brewes, <i>quartus</i>. The latter espoused the lady Eve, daughter of the
-renowned William, Earl Marshall, so frequently mentioned in these
-pages.<a name="FNanchor_332_332" id="FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> By this union he had issue four daughters&mdash;Isabella,
-Matilda, Eve, and Alionora. Of these, <span class="eng">Isabella</span> was married to David, son
-of <span class="eng">Llewellyn</span>, Prince of Wales.</p>
-
-<p>But at a great festival where he presided, immediately after the Paschal
-Feast, in 1229, Llewellyn conceiving a bitter jealousy between his wife
-and the said William de Brewes, most treacherously caused the latter to
-be ignominiously hanged&mdash;an atrocity which threw the whole Welsh
-frontier into the greatest confusion and alarm; for at that time <span class="eng">King
-Henry</span> was still in France with a large army; and in his absence the
-country was but ill provided with the means of enforcing the law.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Matilda</span>, the second daughter, married Roger <span class="eng">Mortimer</span>, Lord Wigmore, from
-whom sprang a numerous progeny. <span class="eng">Eve</span>, the third daughter, married William
-<span class="eng">de Cartello</span>. <span class="eng">Alionora</span>, the fourth and youngest, married Humphrey <span class="eng">de
-Bohun</span>, with the lordship of Brecknock, which for some time had belonged
-to the Counts or Earls of Hereford. Among the names here mentioned,
-those of Bertha and Lucy, daughters of <span class="eng">Milo</span>, are to be held in special
-reverence as eminent patrons and benefactors of <span class="eng">New Llanthony</span>.</p>
-
-<p>And here, for the present, we take leave of the genealogical table,
-which exhibits in many striking examples the instability of fortune, the
-frailty of human nature, the vanity of riches, and the uncertain tenure
-of life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254">{254}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_254.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_254_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="C" /></a></span><span class="eng">HARTERS.</span>&mdash;The following is an extract from the charter
-of King John, in the first year of his reign, wherein all grants
-previously made in favour of <span class="eng">Llanthony</span> are recited and confirmed:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Know</span> all men by these presents, that I, <span class="eng">John</span>, King of England, have,
-out of love to God, confirmed in perpetual offering to God, to the
-Blessed Virgin, St. John the Baptist, and the Canons-Regular of
-<span class="eng">Lantonay</span>, the donations or grants hereunder described, which have been
-reasonably and lawfully conceded to them, viz.: By deed of gift from our
-father the late King Henry, the chapel near the Castle of Gloucester,
-the school in the same town, a moiety of the fishery of <span class="eng">Horsepol</span>, which
-is in our domain, with iiij lib. of land in the manor of <span class="eng">Bernington</span>, as
-alms in perpetuity.”&mdash;So much for the new Abbey near Gloucester.</p>
-
-<p>He then recites and confirms the benefactions of Hugh and Walter <span class="eng">de
-Laci</span>, consisting of lands, woods, fisheries, villages, houses, and
-whatever property in those times was essential to the prosperity of a
-great religious establishment. It is a long deed; and, besides those
-already noticed, introduces a full list of benefactors, whose names and
-families&mdash;though of great note and influence at that day&mdash;have long
-vanished from the political horizon, and are seldom found but in ancient
-title-deeds, or charters like the present, in which their good works are
-faithfully and minutely registered.</p>
-
-<p>It is to be observed, however, that after the establishment of <span class="eng">New
-Llanthony</span> on the Severn, the benefactions to the Mother-Abbey are few
-and insignificant. The former, under the patronage of the <span class="eng">Milo</span> family,
-became suddenly rich, and able to introduce those embellishments of art,
-and that luxurious mode of life, which opened a wide channel for the
-diffusion of its revenues; but while it increased its splendour, insured
-its ultimate poverty.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>By a <span class="eng">Deed</span> given by <span class="eng">Edward</span> the Second, in the eighteenth year of his
-reign, the property conveyed to Llanthony by Walter <span class="eng">de Laci</span> and others,
-is again revised and confirmed. He grants also permission to elect from
-their own body, or from any other, as they may see meet, a fit person to
-preside over the Church and Priory of Llanthony, whenever a vacancy
-occurs, concluding&mdash;“Et ut hæc libertas eligendi eis in perpetuum
-perseveret illibata, huic scripto <span class="eng">Sigillum</span> meum est appositum.”</p>
-
-<p>The Deed given by <span class="eng">Walter</span> and <span class="eng">Hugh</span> de Laci to the Canons of Llanthony is
-then recited; and by this document a vast amount of property,
-privileges, arable lands, pastures, fisheries, hunting-grounds, and
-various other benefactions, are described as finally made over to the
-Prior and Brotherhood,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_255" id="page_255">{255}</a></span> out of pure love for the glory of God, the
-welfare of their own souls, the souls of their predecessors, successors,
-and kinsfolk.</p>
-
-<p>In this munificent grant is comprised the whole valley&mdash;‘totam
-vallem’&mdash;of the <span class="eng">Ewyas</span>, with all its appurtenances, in which the church
-is situated; describing, at the same time, its boundaries:&mdash;“Et concedo
-quod habeant omnimodam venationem et dominationem infra metus terræ
-suæ.” All this is followed by other unquestionable privileges, such as
-united with the spiritual an amount of despotic power, which invested
-the Prior and Canons of Llanthony with an authority in things temporal,
-no way inferior to that exercised by a feudal Baron in his own castle,
-and over his own vassals.<a name="FNanchor_333_333" id="FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a></p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>But in spite of its revenues, and the ‘personal example and influence of
-a few&mdash;but only a few&mdash;distinguished members and benefactors of this
-monastery, it fell gradually into disrepute and decay.’ The principal
-cause has been generally ascribed to the rival Abbey at Gloucester, by
-which benefactors were alienated, and good works averted from that on
-the Honddy. But there were other causes at work&mdash;the evil lives of the
-Priors themselves; their indolence, luxury, and licentiousness; their
-dissipating the funds, and perverting their use to unsanctified
-purposes; which did more to degrade monastic habits, and pull down the
-sacred edifice, than could have been accomplished by their most
-inveterate enemies. And enemies they certainly had&mdash;both formidable and
-frequent; for they were exposed, by their insulated position and
-supposed wealth, to irruptions from those bands of marauders, to whom
-plunder and forced contribution from holy men were more like a pastime
-than military enterprise. But of this hereafter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256">{256}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_256.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_256_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="W" /></a></span><span class="eng">E</span> are now to give some account of the decline and final
-dissolution of Llanthony, brought about by causes which are thus
-recorded by the Latin historian:&mdash;Whereas certain priories and religious
-houses, but more especially the aforesaid Priory of St. John the Baptist
-of <span class="eng">Lanthony</span> <i>Prima</i> in Wales, as well by frequent removals and
-expulsions of the Priors and occupiers of the places aforesaid, as by
-divers secular persons and others, tenants of these possessions, were so
-profligately squandered, dilapidated, and mismanaged, both in regard to
-their houses, substance, and affairs, that divine service and the
-regular observance of religious duties have become less frequent than
-ever; that the means of hospitality, almsgiving, and, above all, the
-works of piety and charity, which had been there established of old, and
-customarily done and observed in the place, are now withdrawn and
-perverted from the original design: And whereas John <span class="eng">Adams</span>, Prior of
-<span class="eng">Lanthony</span>, as we are plainly informed, hath wasted and destroyed, and
-continues to waste and destroy, the fruits, revenues, products, and
-emoluments of the said <span class="eng">Priory</span>; and hath found and supported no Canons,
-except himself and four others, little given to a religious life; that
-he hath withdrawn, and does withdraw, the forms of divine worship, works
-of hospitality, piety, and charity, which were there wont to be done and
-maintained, according to the original foundation of the same; whereby
-the vows and intentions of the Founders have been and are so
-fraudulently perverted, to the manifest offence and great displeasure of
-Almighty God, and contrary to the design of the Founder: And whereas our
-will is, that the pious vows of the <span class="eng">Founders</span> of the said Priory be not
-thus shamefully frustrated and forgotten; but in reverence of the
-salutary order observed by those godly men, the Prior and Canons-Regular
-of the Monastery of <span class="eng">Lanthony</span>, near Gloucester; and observing in what an
-exemplary manner divine service and punctual observances are every day
-celebrated therein, with honour and strict obedience, according to the
-full extent of its revenues: And whereas it is our earnest desire to
-make suitable provision for the honour of <span class="eng">God</span> and his Church, by a
-restoration of the forms of divine worship, and by application of the
-revenues left by the Founder to their original and legitimate object:
-We, therefore, have here, by an act of special grace, granted and
-conceded to our beloved in <span class="smcap">Christ</span>, <span class="eng">Henry Deen</span>, Prior, etc., of Lanthony,
-near Gloucester, to that Convent and his successors for ever, the right
-of patronage, and the advocation of the Priory and Conventual Church of
-<span class="eng">Lanthony</span>, etc., in Wales. <span class="eng">Also</span> the Priory, etc., with all members,
-cells, churches, chapels, domains, lands, and tenements, whatsoever and
-wheresoever&mdash;in England, Wales, and Ireland<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_257" id="page_257">{257}</a></span>&mdash;as parcels of the said
-Priory, or in whatever manner belonging thereto; <span class="eng">With</span> all rents, etc.,
-to have and to hold by the said Prior and Convent of <span class="eng">St. Mary</span> of
-Lanthony, and their successors&mdash;for the sum of three hundred marks, paid
-to us beforehand&mdash;in pure and perpetual alms for ever. And</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Moreover</span>, we grant to the said Prior and Convent, the Conventual Church
-or Monastery of <span class="eng">Lanthony</span> in Wales; with the priorate, and all rights,
-privileges, and appurtenances, to the Prior and Convent of Lanthony,
-near Gloucester&mdash;their Conventual Church and successors&mdash;to be
-consolidated, united, appropriated&mdash;to transfer, or to be transferred to
-their management; and that they possess these in full and proper use for
-themselves and their successors for ever; together with, etc.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">And</span> these things, all and singular, as promised and permitted,
-consolidated, etc., and transferred to them and their successors
-aforesaid, to have and to hold for ever, for their proper use, and for
-masses and prayers to be performed for our prosperity, and that of
-<span class="eng">Elizabeth</span>, our well-beloved consort, so long as we remain in the body;
-and for the health of our souls when we shall depart this life. <span class="eng">Also</span> for
-the souls of our progenitors; and for the souls of all who have departed
-this life in the <span class="eng">Faith</span>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">And</span> it is hereby ordered, that the Prior of New <span class="eng">Lanthony</span> and his
-Convent, they and their successors, shall exhibit and defray their own
-and all expenses incurred in the maintenance of Old <span class="eng">Lanthony</span>, and the
-Prior and Canons there resident. That the latter office shall be in the
-gift of the former, removable at the will and pleasure of the Prior and
-Convent for the time being. That four Canons<a name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> shall there reside,
-for the celebration of masses and other divine offices; and for the
-administration of the sacraments, and sacramental duties, to the
-parishioners and rural population, so long as they are not impeded or
-interrupted therein by the rebellious disturbers of our peace. And to
-pray for the souls of the Founders of <span class="eng">Lanthony</span> <i>Prima</i>, and for the
-souls above-named;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_258" id="page_258">{258}</a></span> and to be removable at the word or sign of the
-Prior, for the time being, of New <span class="eng">Lanthony</span> aforesaid, etc. etc.&mdash;By the
-<span class="eng">King</span> at <span class="eng">Westminster</span>, the x day of May.<a name="FNanchor_335_335" id="FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a></p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">From</span> this date the Abbey of Old Llanthony, which had been grievously
-interrupted in its religious duties, and damaged by its own internal
-misgovernment, the reckless lives of its inmates, and the frequent
-imposts and exactions to which it was subjected by the rebels and
-marauders above alluded to, was suffered to fall into decay and
-disrepute. Its resources, in obedience to the above decree, were drawn
-off from their legitimate channel, and employed to augment the revenues
-and foster the pride of its undutiful and “rival Daughter” on the banks
-of the Severn. Thus&mdash;as the old historian has pathetically
-observed&mdash;“Filii Matris meæ pugnaverunt contra me; nam leviùs communia
-tangunt, sed quodammodo specialiori et tanto atrociori flere, clamando,
-Filii uteri mei pugnaverunt contra me, quia&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Non sua sunt summa leviter perstricta sagitta<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Pectora, descendit vulnus ad ossa suum.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Yet, after the lapse of centuries, the Abbey of Old Llanthony presents
-an imposing aspect. In that solitude, over which it was erected for the
-diffusion of spiritual life and light, it is still an object of
-venerable grandeur; while of the luxurious temple of “her Daughter,”
-built on one of the most fertile spots in the kingdom, elaborately
-ornamented and munificently endowed, the remains are few and
-insignificant. Thus, if the old monastic fathers could burst their
-cerements and look around them, they would perceive that Time, the
-avenger, has drawn a line of as marked distinction between the two
-monasteries, as between a greater and a lesser criminal; and, by a just
-and discriminating sentence, consigned one to the plough, and the other
-to pilgrims and archæologists.<a name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_020.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_020.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Llanthony Abbey.</i></p>
-
-<p>N.W. View.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_259" id="page_259">{259}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The wrongs, of which the older monks of Llanthony so justly complained,
-are thus told by their own pious chronicler:&mdash;When the storm subsided,
-and peace was restored, then did the sons of Llanthony tear up the
-bounds of their Mother-Church, and refuse to serve God, as their duty
-required, in the old Sanctuary. For great is the difference, said they,
-between the rich city of Gloucester, and the wild rocks of the
-Hatterill&mdash;between the fertile vale of Severn, and the craggy banks of
-the Honddy; between the wealth and civilization of England, and the
-barren hills and beggarly natives of Wales; between a land of smiling
-meadows and fertile orchards, and a region of trackless mountains and
-roaring cataracts; in fine&mdash;to justify their desertion&mdash;between a home
-amongst smiling gardens, and a grave in the howling wilderness!</p>
-
-<p>Some of the renegade brethren declared that they wished every stone of
-the old foundation were a fleet hare and the hounds after it, that not a
-vestige might be left. Alas, says the ‘Jeremiad,’ they of Gloucester
-have usurped and lavished all the revenues of the Mother-Church: for
-their new abode, they have built stately offices; and the old they have
-left to moulder into ruins. But to avoid the open scandal of deserting
-their Mother, they send hither, as to a dependent cell, their old and
-decrepit members to be cherished in that very bosom&mdash;fostered in those
-very arms&mdash;which they have insulted by ingratitude, and weakened by
-wrong and robbery. So great was the poverty to which the few inmates
-were reduced, that they were actually without surplices, and at times so
-destitute of raiment that they could not with proper decency appear at
-divine service. Sometimes the allowance of bread for one day had to
-serve for two; whilst in the offshoot at Gloucester there was not only
-enough, but abundance and superfluity. When entreated to return to their
-Mother, these heartless brethren, who had tasted the sweets of a new
-residence, and been corrupted by unwonted luxury, only derided their
-appeal. “What!” they replied, “would you have us return to sing
-<i>Miserere</i> to the wolves? Do the whelps of wolves delight in choral
-harmony?” And when any one was sent to Old Llanthony, whether for health
-or discipline, they would exclaim&mdash;“Why, what has he done? what fault
-has he committed? what law has he broken, that he should be sent into
-banishment, shut up in such a prison?”&mdash;for it was thus that they spoke
-of the Mother-abbey&mdash;calling it a dungeon, a prison-house, fit only for
-the punishment of great criminals.</p>
-
-<p>In like manner, says the monk, the library was despoiled of its books
-and MSS.; the record-room of its deeds and charters; the silk vestments
-and relics,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260">{260}</a></span> embroidered with gold and silver, were carried away from
-the vestiary; the treasury was stripped of everything valuable. Whatever
-was precious or ornamental&mdash;even the bells, notwithstanding their great
-weight, were carried off to the rival abbey without the slightest
-resistance or redress. It was under these distressing circumstances that
-King Edward set about effecting the union to which we have adverted.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>But there were other causes at work. It is very apparent that the
-religious peace and contemplation to which it was consecrated, were but
-rare guests in the old Abbey of Llanthony. Situated on the very border
-of countries that were mutually engaged in making or repelling
-aggressions, the sanctity of the place was often invaded by those who
-returned across the marches from some lawless foray, or by others who
-entered the Welsh frontiers to make reprisals. The calm serenity which,
-for a brief season, reigned within and around the sanctuary, was
-disturbed by continual apprehensions of violence or extortion. The
-ministering priest was often interrupted in his sacred office by the
-shouts of armed men. The stranger who had come in pilgrim weeds,
-confessed, and done penance, was too often found on departure to be a
-traitor, ready to conduct the next troop of marauders to the gate, and
-extort fresh contributions from the already impoverished brotherhood.</p>
-
-<p>It is also alleged, with plausibility, that from the Cambrian
-people&mdash;who hated the place because its founders, benefactors, priors,
-and brotherhood, were aliens by birth, nation, and language&mdash;the abbey
-had no very cordial protection or support. During the long border
-struggles that preceded and followed its “foundation in the wilderness,”
-it was the mark of every invading or retreating foe. Instead of Matins
-and Vespers, and the meditations of holy men, the Vale of Ewias was
-often the retreat or the rallying point of adventurers, whose
-Parthian-like movements rendered them equally dangerous in the charge
-and the retreat. The sanctity and seclusion of the place once disturbed,
-the spell was broken; outrages were repeated and multiplied with
-impunity by those who, having no law, were a law unto themselves; and to
-such extremes were these carried, that the Prior and Canons&mdash;habituated
-as they were, by the rule of their Order, to fasting, and at best to a
-coarse and scanty fare&mdash;were often reduced to the verge of famine.</p>
-
-<p>In one of the numerous expeditions by which the spirit of retaliation
-was kept up, and by which the religious houses were harassed and
-plundered, a soldier of the English army writes&mdash;“We lie here watching,
-praying, fasting, and freezing! We <i>watch</i> in dread of the Welsh, who
-beat up our quarters every night; we <i>pray</i> for a safe passage homeward;
-we <i>fast</i>, for hardly have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261">{261}</a></span> we any food, the halfpenny loaf being raised
-to fivepence; and we <i>freeze</i> for want of clothing, having only a linen
-tent to keep out the cold!”</p>
-
-<p>If such was the penance done by an officer of the “victorious army,”
-great must have been the sufferings endured by those who had to supply
-the “loaf,” as the monks of Llanthony had to do, either in substance or
-in coin.</p>
-
-<p>While the Abbey was yet faintly struggling to recover a healthy activity
-in its affairs, its temporal revenues, and spiritual offices, so great a
-dearth occurred all over Wales, that the Bishop of St. David’s is said
-to have died of grief; the Bishop of Llandaff to have been stricken
-blind; while the Bishops of Bangor and St. Asaph, on their sees being
-rendered utterly destitute, were reduced to the necessity of
-supplicating alms. The bondage and destitution of the Welsh at this
-period&mdash;the evils of want and war&mdash;are thus expressed by an old
-writer:&mdash;“The harp of the churchman is changed into sorrow and
-lamentation; the glory of our proud and ancient nobility is faded away.”</p>
-
-<p>It was about this time that the Bishop of Hereford, then Prior of
-Llanthony, the better to rescue them from a gross insult and trespass by
-a powerful neighbour, and accommodate their numbers to the scanty means
-of subsistence within the Welsh border, drew off the major part of the
-canons from Llanthony, and gave them an asylum in his own palace.</p>
-
-<p>[After describing, in graphic language, the distractions of the country,
-the robbery, violence, murder, and rapine, that were daily perpetrated
-in their immediate vicinity, and which threatened the very existence of
-the brotherhood, the flagrant desecration that immediately led to their
-removal to Hereford is thus recorded:&mdash;Est præterea et aliud quod animos
-innocentium plus omnibus hiis in fixorio angustiarum acerbiùs terrebat.
-Unus namque ex vicinis Wallensibus inimicorum minis et jaculis undignè
-impeditus, cùm nullus ei tutus ad latendum vel evadendum locus
-superesset, c&#772; omni domo sua, ad <span class="eng">Lanthoniam</span> convolavit; hanc sibi
-constituens domum Refugii ut salvus fieret, quem inimici odio
-inexorabili persequentes non longè ab atrio in insidiis sedentes
-vigilantiùs opportunitatem observabant, quando in eum casu aliquo tandem
-oblatum irarum virus evomere prævalerent. Ipse verò in interiores
-officinas, quò securior redderetur, cum suis et ancillis, se ingessit;
-ità ut ubi <span class="eng">Fratres</span> reficere consueverant, ibi <i>mulieres</i> choros ducere,
-et cætera muliebria, ignominiosè tractare non erubescerent!</p>
-
-<p>Quid facient milites <span class="eng">Christi</span> tot hostium cuneis tarn atrociter vallati!
-Ecce foris pugnæ, et intus timores! Non enim possunt ab intus fratres
-divinis officiis, præ ingratorum hostium insolentia, consueta
-veneratione interesse: Luget <span class="eng">Martha</span> quia pascere non permittitur: dolet
-<span class="eng">Maria</span> quia sanctæ refectionis epulis privatur; et præterea nimis timet
-ne in infirmioribus membris suis alicujus culpæ dehonestetur.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" id="page_262">{262}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The result of this, after two years’ residence at Hereford, was the
-foundation of the new monastery at Gloucester; but which it was at first
-intended should be only a <span class="eng">cell</span>, dependent on the Mother-Church on the
-Honddy. But inured to this species of daily warfare&mdash;familiar with the
-dangers of their position, and strong in the belief that they were
-objects of regard in the eyes of Him who would assuredly carry them, as
-he did the faithful of old, through all their troubles&mdash;they are said to
-have left the scene of their trials and privations with reluctance; and
-to have declared that the gardens of Hereford, and the vineyards of
-Gloucester, had no attractions for them like the barren rocks of “Ewias
-and the Honddy:”&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And when at last these holy men,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">With lingering step and slow,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Had wound their way along the glen<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Where <span class="eng">Honddy’s</span><a name="FNanchor_337_337" id="FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> waters flow,<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">They halted&mdash;gazed&mdash;and heaved a sigh,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And dropt a parting tear&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Oh, never till this hour,” they cry,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“Was <span class="eng">Ewias’</span> vale so dear!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Through richer lands our feet may roam&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">But long our hearts will pine,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And feel they have no earthly home<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">But Honddy’s hallowed shrine!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Oh, Blessed <span class="eng">Mary</span>, shield us well!<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And, when the storm is past,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Grant we beside that hallowed <span class="eng">cell</span><br /></span>
-<span class="i2">May lay our bones at last.”<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">The prayer was heard&mdash;their labours o’er,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Behold their nameless bier,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Beneath the <span class="eng">Chancel’s</span> grassy floor,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Where pilgrims drop the tear!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">The simple daisy loves the spot,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And there, the leafy June<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Strews many a sweet <i>Forget-me-not</i><br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Beneath the dewy moon.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And hallowed&mdash;hallowed be the ground<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Where sleep the good and brave,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Decked by the firstlings of the Spring,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And soothed by Honddy’s wave! &amp;c.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It has been already observed, that monastic establishments were not
-generally popular among the Cambrians. They reminded them too sensibly
-of the haughty domination of those Norman lords, who had parcelled out
-the country amongst them, and hoped to extenuate their crimes by the
-building and endowment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263">{263}</a></span> religious houses. But the memory of what was
-gained by force or fraud, was not to be effaced by multiplying shrines
-and priories&mdash;great crimes were not to be buried under abbey walls. To
-every free-born Cambrian, the sight of an abbey appeared like a monument
-of his country’s degradation and bondage, for it was difficult to
-separate in his mind the blessings of religion from the galling yoke of
-oppression; he saw that what was at first gained by force of arms, was
-to be retained by the yet stronger hand of spiritual despotism. The
-ecclesiastical power was at times more efficient in subjugating a chief,
-than all that a feudal baron could carry with him into the field; and
-when both united for the purpose of conquest, their strength was
-irresistible, the result certain; and the hatred of the oppressed was
-naturally roused against the grinding sense of a twofold oppression.</p>
-
-<p>Superstition was a mighty engine. An austere old writer gives us the
-following instance of its working in this golden age of the
-Church:&mdash;“The yeare after this, Gruffyth, son to Conan ap Owen Gwyneth,
-a nobleman, died, and was buried in a monke’s cowle at the Abbey of
-Conway; and so were all the nobles, for the most part, of that time
-buried. For they were made to believe by the old monkes and friers, that
-that strange weed was a sure defence betwixt their soulis and hell,
-howsoever they died. And all this baggage and superstition received they
-with monkes and friers, a few yeares before that, <i>out of England</i>. For
-the <i>first</i> abbey or frier-house that we read of in Wales, sith the
-destruction of the noble house of <span class="eng">Bangor</span>, which savered not of Romish
-dregges, was the Twy Gwyn, built the yeare 1146; and after that they
-swarmed like bees through all the countrie; for then the Cleargie had
-forgotten the lesson that they had receaved from the noble clerk,
-Ambrosius Telesinus, who, writing in the yeare 540, when the right
-Christian faith, which <span class="eng">Joseph of Arimathea</span> taught at the isle of Avalon,
-reigned in this land, before the proud and bloodthirsty monke <span class="eng">Augustine</span>
-infested it with the Romish doctrine, in a certaine ode hath these
-verses in <span class="eng">Welsh</span>, which may be thus Englished, almost word for word:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Wo be to that priest yborne,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That will not cleanlie weed his corne,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">And preach his charge among!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Wo be to that <span class="eng">Sheepherd</span>, I saie,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That will not watch his flocke alwaie,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">As to his office doth belong!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Wo be to him, that doth not keepe<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">From Romish Wolves his simple sheepe,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">With Staffe and weapon stronge!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>“And because that no man should doubt of them, I have set them down here
-as they were written by him that made them; whereby it may be produced
-that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" id="page_264">{264}</a></span> the Britaynes, the first inhabitants of this realme, did abhorre
-the Romish doctrine taught at that time.”<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Architecture.</span>&mdash;The Abbey of Llanthony was built, like those already
-described, in the cathedral form&mdash;with a nave, lateral aisles,
-transepts, and chancel. It measures in length, from the western door to
-the great eastern window, two hundred and twelve feet; and the breadth
-of the nave, including the side aisles, is fifty feet. The style is a
-compound of Norman and Early English, or Gothic, of which the
-lancet-pointed windows in the nave are illustrations; while the Norman
-character is preserved in the arch between the choir and south transept,
-and again in the outer wall of the same transept by a double window. Of
-the roof, which was was of stone, nothing remains except a fragment in
-the north aisle; the transepts have also crumbled down; but the central
-tower, which connected the whole fabric, still presents a massive,
-though mutilated, feature of the ancient pile.</p>
-
-<p>The <span class="eng">Nave</span>, with its six noble arches, which separates the body of the
-church from the north aisle, is the grand and imposing feature of the
-scene. To the spectator, who takes his stand at the west door, the
-objects present a picture of wild and melancholy grandeur. Before him
-rise the monuments of a religious Order, who exercised no small
-influence over the destinies of mankind; and, when their own were
-fulfilled, left behind them, in the ruins that still adorn the land, the
-strongest evidence&mdash;with the highest homage that art and science can
-offer to religion.</p>
-
-<p>We do not pretend to say that the remains of Llanthony are equal in
-architectural beauty to those of many other religious houses in the
-kingdom; but as every object of this description depends&mdash;for the
-<i>effect</i> it may exert over the spectator’s mind&mdash;upon the character of
-the scenery, and the circumstances under which it is viewed, we may
-safely claim for these ruins an effect much beyond what others, though
-more lofty, elaborate, and extensive, could ever inspire. The monastic
-ruins that, in more favoured districts, attract and command attention,
-do not, and cannot, take such hold of the imagination as the
-contemplation of this temple of the Desert, where everything seems in
-harmony with the thoughts suggested; and where the combined features of
-Nature and Art invest the scene with peculiar solemnity.</p>
-
-<p>The nave was separated from the two aisles, north and south, by eight
-noble arches, supported by massive pillars on each side. But of these
-several have disappeared on the south, and left only their grass-covered
-bases to indi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265">{265}</a></span>cate their size and position. Of the great tower, only two
-sides remain; and on that facing the nave, may be seen the angular lines
-where it was joined by the stone roof to the nave. On a line with the
-tower on the right are seen part of the south transept, with its double
-Norman window opening into the interior; and at the base, externally, a
-lancet-shaped doorway, opening into a side chapel. On the centre of each
-pillar, and on a line with the upper tier of windows, or <i>clerestory</i>,
-are seen the remains of the springing columns, which supported the
-groined roof&mdash;showing, by the triple-moulded shaft, the base or impost
-from which the ribbed arch threw its delicate ramifications along the
-stone vault, and connected the walls under a magnificent canopy, adorned
-at every intersection of the ribs with carved bosses and rosettes; but
-of which scarcely a fragment is left.</p>
-
-<p>The ornamented arch in the eastern window, so long the admiration of
-travellers, has mouldered away. But the Norman arch, already noticed,
-between the choir and the south aisle, is a bold and characteristic
-feature that points very distinctly to the twelfth century. The walls of
-the north aisle are wholly dilapidated; but the outside wall of the
-south aisle, as observed, is the most entire. Of this the windows are
-Norman, lofty and finely proportioned. “The western side is considered
-by all connoisseurs to be the most elegant; the northern, the most
-entire; the southern, the most picturesque; and the eastern, the most
-magnificent.” Taken altogether, the remains of this Abbey present a
-<i>coup d’œil</i> that will bear comparison with many of far higher name. It
-unites the sublime and the picturesque in a more than ordinary measure,
-while the general effect is greatly enhanced by the natural solitude of
-the place.</p>
-
-<p>On the south of the remaining transept is a neat Gothic chapel, with an
-engroined roof, in tolerable preservation. It measures twenty-two feet
-in length, by ten and a half in breadth; and on the south of this chapel
-are the remains of an oblong room, supposed to have been the
-Chapter-house, or more probably the Vestiary. The other offices&mdash;the
-Refectory, Hospitium, Dormitory, and Cloisters&mdash;may be easily traced by
-an experienced antiquary; but, to a common observer, their respective
-boundaries are indistinct. In a barn, westward of the ruins, is a fine
-arch, supposed to have formed the grand entrance to the Abbey. But now&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Stone after stone the hallowed temple falls,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Fierce lightnings scathe, and torrents sap the walls;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No mantling ivy round the ruin weaves<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Its verdant panoply of glittering leaves;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No pious hand, with patriotic care,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Props in its fall the ancient house of <span class="eng">Prayer</span>;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But still yon Arch, that braves the winter blast,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Stands the proud chronicler of ages past.<br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266">{266}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">On the</span> architecture of this period, we may here introduce a few
-desultory remarks, without entering into any disquisition on the
-subject.</p>
-
-<p>The most remarkable works of architecture,<a name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> as opposed to that of
-the feudal strongholds, are the religious edifices erected about this
-period, and improved during the three following centuries. These
-structures uniting, as in the present instance, sublimity in general
-composition with the beauties of variety and form&mdash;intricacy of
-parts&mdash;skilful, or at least fortunate, effects of light and shade&mdash;and,
-in some instances, with extraordinary mechanical science, are naturally
-apt to lead those antiquaries, who are most conversant with them, into
-too partial estimates of the times wherein they were founded. They
-certainly are accustomed to behold the fairest side of the picture. It
-was the favourite and most honourable employment of ecclesiastical
-wealth, to erect, to enlarge, to repair cathedral and conventual
-churches; and upon these buildings in England, between the Norman
-Conquest and the Reformation, an immense capital must have been
-expended. And it is pleasing to observe how the seeds of genius, hidden,
-as it were, under the frost of that dreary winter, began to bud to the
-first sunshine of encouragement.</p>
-
-<p>In the darkest period of the middle ages, especially after the
-Scandinavian incursions into France and England, ecclesiastical
-architecture, though always far more advanced than any other art,
-bespoke the rudeness and poverty of the times. It began towards the
-latter end of the eleventh century, when tranquillity, at least as to
-former enemies, was restored, and some degree of learning reappeared to
-assume a more noble appearance.</p>
-
-<p>The Anglo-Norman cathedrals were, perhaps, as much distinguished above
-other works of man in their own age, as the more splendid edifices of a
-later period. The science manifested in them, according to the authority
-here quoted, is not very great; and their style, though by no means
-destitute of lesser beauties, is, upon the whole, an awkward imitation
-of Roman architecture, or, perhaps, more immediately of the Saracenic
-buildings of Spain, and those of the lower Greek Empire.<a name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> But about
-the middle of the twelfth century, when Llanthony, Tinterne, and so many
-remarkable edifices sprang up, this manner began to give place to what
-is improperly denominated the Gothic architecture. We are not concerned
-at present to inquire whether this style originated in France or
-Germany, Italy or England, since it was almost simultaneous in all these
-countries; nor from what source it was derived&mdash;a question of no small
-difficulty. I would only venture to remark, that whatever may be thought
-of the pointed arch, for which there is more than one mode of
-accounting, we must perceive a very oriental character in the vast
-profusion of orna<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267" id="page_267">{267}</a></span>ment, especially on the exterior surface, which is as
-distinguishing a mark of Gothic buildings as their arches; and
-contributes, in an eminent degree, both to their beauties and their
-defects. This, indeed, is rather applicable to the later than the
-earlier stage of architecture; and rather to Continental than English
-churches. The Cathedral at Amiens is in a far more florid style than its
-contemporary at Salisbury. The Gothic species of architecture is thought
-by some to have reached its perfection&mdash;considered as an object of
-taste&mdash;by the middle of the fourteenth century; or at least to have lost
-something of its excellence by the corresponding part of the next
-age&mdash;an effect of its early and rapid cultivation; since arts appear to
-have, like individuals, their natural progress and decay. Yet this
-seems, if true at all, only applicable to England; since the Cathedrals
-of Cologne and Milan&mdash;perhaps the most distinguished monuments of this
-architecture&mdash;are both of the fifteenth century. The mechanical
-execution, at least, continued to improve; and is so far beyond the
-apparent intellectual powers of those times, that some have ascribed the
-principal ecclesiastical structures to the fraternity of
-Freemasons&mdash;depositaries of a concealed and traditionary science. There
-is probably some ground for this opinion; and the earlier archives of
-that mysterious association, if they existed, might illustrate the
-progress of Gothic architecture, and perhaps reveal its origin. The
-remarkable change in this new style, that was almost contemporaneous in
-every part of Europe, cannot be explained by any local circumstances, or
-the capricious taste of a single nation.<a name="FNanchor_341_341" id="FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a></p>
-
-<p>“The Normans,” says “William of Malmesbury, “live in large edifices with
-economy. They <i>revived</i> by their arrival the observances of religion,
-which were everywhere grown lifeless in England. You might now see
-churches rise up in every village, and monasteries in the towns and
-cities&mdash;all built after a style previously <i>unknown</i> in this country.”
-It was soon after the renovation and introduction here mentioned, that
-the Abbey of <span class="eng">Llanthony</span>&mdash;though one of the smallest and least known of
-its class&mdash;sprang up in the desert, as a signal to many others, on a
-more extended and noble scale that quickly followed, and stamped their
-architectural character upon the age. It was most probably finished
-before the middle of the twelfth century&mdash;so prolific in ecclesiastical
-edifices. The style is of that period&mdash;designated as the transition from
-late Norman to early English, where the predominant features are
-Gothic&mdash;characterized by the pointed arch; by pillars which are so
-extended as to lose all trace of classical proportions; by shafts which
-are placed side by side, often with different thicknesses, and are
-variously clustered and combined.<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a></p>
-
-<p>This style is divided into three distinct periods&mdash;besides that of
-transition<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268">{268}</a></span> between the circular and pointed styles&mdash;which lasted
-through the greater part of the twelfth century, when the circular and
-pointed arches are frequently&mdash;as in the nave and south transept before
-us&mdash;used indiscriminately in the same building. The ornaments, although
-generally partaking of the earlier style, begin to be better executed,
-and more elaborate; and the general appearance of the building assumes a
-lighter character. The first style of Gothic in this country, <span class="eng">The Early
-English</span>, prevailed through the greater part of the twelfth century; and
-of this style the subject in question is one of the numerous examples
-that followed its introduction in every part of the kingdom. Among these
-the variations, in all save dimensions, are so slight and unimportant,
-that the description of almost any one monastic structure of that
-century applies to every other of the same style and period. We possess
-in the ruins of Llanthony a pure example of this style, unchanged by any
-subsequent additions or alterations; for as the Abbey became reduced
-both in numbers and revenues, immediately after the establishment of the
-Abbey at Gloucester, it shared in none of the changes introduced by the
-decorated style; but has continued to the present day what it was in the
-middle of the twelfth century. To account for the splendour of
-conventual churches in general, we have only to remember that personal
-expense or secular indulgence were highly culpable in a monk; and that
-whatever was expended in ornamenting the Church was glorifying <span class="smcap">God</span>.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">William</span> of Llanthony&mdash;the warrior monk already noticed&mdash;appears to have
-had followers in his penance; for Peter Damian mentions a man who wore
-an <i>iron</i> corslet next his skin, had iron rings around his limbs, so
-that he performed with pain and difficulty his <i>Metaneas</i>, or
-penitential inclinations, and very often dashed his hands upon the
-pavement. In “Strutt’s Dresses” is a female pilgrim lying on the ground,
-apparently to perform this penance of slapping the ground. The lady of
-Sir Thomas More, in reply to her husband, who counselled her to desist
-from scolding her servants during Lent, replied that she wore a “Monk’s
-girdle,” and therefore had nothing to fear.<a name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> The virtues of the
-monk’s girdle, it appears, were equivalent to those of the <i>cowl</i>,
-already alluded to in our notice of Tinterne.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The revenues</span> possessed by Llanthony appear to have been very
-considerable at the outset; but through negligence or mismanagement&mdash;or
-rather by the prejudicial influence of a rival abbey&mdash;they fell off
-gradually, and at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" id="page_269">{269}</a></span> dissolution were valued at a sum<a name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a>
-considerably less than those of Tinterne Abbey.</p>
-
-<p>When we read, in the Monastic Annals, of entire districts, towns, and
-villages being conveyed to monasteries, we are surprised at the
-boundless liberality of the founders. But when we reflect that, at the
-time of these princely endowments, the land, in many instances, was
-neither cultivated nor peopled, the question of prodigal generosity is
-materially altered. At the period of transition, as it may be termed,
-when it passed from the hands of the feudal Baron to the Abbot or Prior,
-the products of the consecrated territory were often nothing more than
-wood and pasture; nor, until it had been long subjected to the system of
-agriculture, so generally practised and taught by the monks, was it
-brought into a state fit for the sustenance of man. If we compare&mdash;so
-far as written documents enable us&mdash;the state of agriculture and its
-population, when these lands were transferred to the Abbot, with the
-condition they were in when taken from him, we shall see very clearly to
-what a vast amount they had improved under monastic management; and how
-much cause there was to applaud the stewardship of the venerable monks,
-in whose hands the physical aspect of the country underwent an entire
-change. Theirs were truly the arts of peace. Obliged, by the rule of
-their order, to plant their convents in sterile and uncultivated wilds,
-where intercourse with more favoured districts was neither easy nor
-expedient, circumstances required that they should, like the apostles
-and fathers of old, depend for daily bread on the labour of their hands.
-While some went to prayer, others went to work; and thus the blessing of
-heaven and the bounty of earth were believed to descend upon them, and
-abide with them, in those sacred habitations which had sprung up under
-their hands, and exercised on everything around them a mild and
-harmonizing influence.</p>
-
-<p>This spirit of improvement, however, varied according to the different
-<span class="eng">Orders</span> of which the great monastic brotherhood was composed. To those
-who&mdash;in imitation of the <span class="eng">Baptist</span>&mdash;desired to limit their physical wants
-to a diet of “locusts and wild honey,” or to whatever the unaided hand
-of Nature might place within their reach, were content to consume their
-days in fasting and prayer. And observing&mdash;as he probably did&mdash;that
-whenever wealth and luxury had increased in religious houses, strict
-discipline had as certainly relaxed, the Monk of <span class="eng">Llanthony</span> appears to
-have preferred the desert to any of those “seductive landscapes” into
-which it might have been, in some degree, converted by means of industry
-and manual labour. He had also before his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270">{270}</a></span> eyes the baneful effects
-produced by the luxurious indulgences of New Llanthony upon the minds of
-the absent brothers, whose piety, that had preserved its fervour amongst
-rocks and glens, became vapid and lukewarm when transplanted to the rich
-landscapes of the Severn. Where riches abounded, “pride and license did
-much more abound.” It was better to continue a poor but pious friar on
-the banks of the Honddy, than become a luxurious wine-bibbing canon in
-the Vale of Gloucester.</p>
-
-<p>The space, therefore, in which the most distant resemblance to ancient
-cultivation can be traced is comparatively small. It was, perhaps, under
-a strong conviction of great piety and great property being in their
-very nature antagonistic, that the “Province of Berkeley,” which the
-King had offered to the Canons of Llanthony, was so firmly declined. The
-vineyards, which it is understood were then common on the banks of the
-Severn, were not likely to fortify the mind against temptation, or
-reconcile the brotherhood to the abstinence and austerities of
-conventual life. But when he speaks of the tract as a “province,” we can
-easily imagine that, fertile as the native soil undoubtedly was, only a
-small portion of it was under cultivation; so that the annual revenue
-bore an exceedingly small proportion to its extent in acres. And so it
-was with the almost innumerable tracts of Church lands in every part of
-the kingdom; for until they were brought into cultivation and crop,
-their value was merely nominal. And how much is due to the skill and
-perseverance of the monks in the encouragement of agriculture? There is
-scarcely a hill or valley in the kingdom, from which their judicious
-exercise of plough, and spade, and mattock, did not produce its annual
-return in the necessaries of life. And hence the revenues, that in the
-course of years and centuries flowed in upon them, were the legitimate
-result of a liberal and vigilant economy. We are too apt to forget,
-whilst reckoning up the vast territories bequeathed from age to age to
-the church by penitent benefactors, that these same tracts were, in many
-instances, of little or no current value to their original owners; and
-that it was only by passing them into more skilful and industrious
-hands, that they became actually appreciable, as corn lands, orchards,
-and vineyards.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Canons</span> of Llanthony, in their local position, had neither the
-advantages of a fertile soil, nor the acquired habits, nor obligations
-of Rule, which rendered its cultivation imperative. Their revenues were
-drawn from a distance&mdash;some from remote parts in Ireland. But in their
-immediate neighbourhood, the monks had a brook and enclosed ponds that
-produced fish; forests that bred herds of deer, hares, and wild fowl;
-while patches of garden, orchard, and rye-field, supplied their table
-with that allowance of fruits and vegetables, herbs and roots, and
-coarse bread, which formed the daily items of their scanty fare. But
-when a stranger of note or a noble pilgrim arrived at the gate, the
-Prio<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_271" id="page_271">{271}</a></span>r’s table assumed the appearance of more than frugal hospitality;
-and all that forest or river could furnish for the entertainment of the
-honoured guest was liberally supplied.<a name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> As an established</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Sanctuary</span>&mdash;from which even the greatest offenders were not excluded&mdash;we
-have already noticed the shame and desecration inflicted upon Llanthony
-by a powerful native, who in the hour of despair had fled to its gate
-for shelter. To this disastrous visit no opposition could be offered.
-The sanctuary of <span class="eng">St. John</span> was alike available to all&mdash;to the guilty as
-well as to the innocent. And if it was too frequently a refuge for those
-who had set all laws at defiance, it was happily still more so to the
-sick and the friendless; to the helpless victim of oppression, who from
-the horns of the altar appealed to heaven for redress; and to the
-penitent, who could find no escape from the snares of evil associates,
-but in the confessional and the cloister. It had been a difficult task,
-in such circumstances, to discriminate between the claims of those who,
-in their distress, flew to the sanctuary&mdash;between great criminals and
-true penitents; and therefore it was better the gate should be open
-alike to all, than that one sincere penitent should be driven back into
-a world which, in the bitter hours of remorse, he had resolved to
-abandon. In such institutions there was a gentle union of wisdom and
-mercy, which the refinement of later times has done much to loosen, and
-little to perpetuate.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_271.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_271.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>The Abbey Church from the East.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Of Llanthony</span>, as it <i>now</i> appears, the following sketch is from the pen
-of a recent visitor; and the contrast is picturesque and striking:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“At the western end of the Nave rise two towers&mdash;one of them, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272">{272}</a></span>
-modernized doors and windows, is inhabited. An open arcade extends in
-front of part of the adjoining cloister, and advancing through the open
-door it shaded, we found ourselves in a long vaulted half-parlour
-half-kitchen, with old arms suspended above the fire-place; sides of
-bacon nobly flanking the whitewashed walls; old chairs and cabinets, and
-various minor articles of furniture, all arranged with a neatness which
-betokened that the presiding genius of the place was feminine. Just as
-we had come to this conclusion, forth stepped from an inner recess the
-gentle tenant of the abode of the ancient monks, with a quiet simplicity
-of manner which went to the heart of a weary pilgrim, and made him feel
-instantly as if at home, and welcome. A little repose, and a cup of tea
-beside a blazing hearth&mdash;for even in summer the air is shrewd among
-these hills at evening&mdash;entirely refreshed us; and just as the sun was
-going down in the west, we sallied forth to see the ruins. Albeit the
-hospitality in early times was here dispensed by shaven monks, and now
-by maidens fair, there is a singular charm felt by all who visit
-Llanthony, in this quiet living within the precincts of the Abbey, which
-interests the imagination, and helps to blend agreeably the past and
-present.</p>
-
-<p>“With this half-dreamy feeling I went forth, and ascended a slight
-eminence to the westward, whence the whole pile extended at length its
-ruined towers and arches, half-buried in trees, and overhung with the
-lofty hills which shut in the vale, and opened no view to the distant
-world beyond. These hills were cultivated half-way up their sides; a few
-farms, each sending up its column of smoke, appeared at intervals, with
-paths leading up into the wild heath that clothed the summits. The
-evening sun cast a broad red light upon the west front and towers of the
-pile, and half gilded the remaining portion. I thought I had never
-beheld, even among the secluded abbeys of the Yorkshire dales, anything
-more romantically serene. It was getting dusk ere I could tear myself
-from the spot. The moon was that evening at the full; and it gave me the
-opportunity of rambling among the ruins, before I repaired to my
-dormitory in the abbey tower, which I ascended by a narrow flight of
-stone steps. One might, in idea, have gone back to the olden time, and
-fancied oneself a pilgrim in very earnest, receiving hospitality from
-the ancient tenants of the place, had it not been for the dainty
-whiteness of the bed, which occupied a story of the old tower&mdash;far
-different, I trow, from the rude pallets of these romantic but
-uncomfortable ages.”<a name="FNanchor_346_346" id="FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_021.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_021.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Llanthony Abbey.</i></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273">{273}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Sir R. Colt Hoare says, that when his friend Mr. Wyndham made the tour
-of Wales, in the year 1777, the Eastern front of the abbey was standing,
-but has since fallen; and its design is now only preserved by the view
-engraven of it in his book. When he accompanied Mr. Coxe, in the year
-1800, to make drawings for his historical tour through Monmouthshire,
-the western front still retained its superior elegance: in the year
-1801, one of the fine windows gave way; and two years later he was a
-mournful eye-witness, not only to the total downfall of the three
-windows which composed the principal ornament of the front, but of some
-modern architectural innovations, highly injurious to the picturesque
-appearance of this venerable structure. It is a melancholy reflection to
-the traveller, who repeats, at certain intervals, his visits to the many
-interesting spots selected by our ancestors, either for military or
-religious establishments, that at each visit he will, most probably,
-find them progressively verging to decay. But Llanthony, even amidst its
-ruins, still supplies the artist with many fine subjects for his pencil,
-and furnishes ample matter of inquiry and investigation to the architect
-and antiquarian. From certain data we have of its first construction,
-about the year 1108, and subsequent desertion in 1136, we are enabled to
-ascertain the style of architecture then adopted in monastic buildings,
-as there can be little doubt but that the ruins we now see are those of
-the original abbey.<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a></p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">Summary</span>&mdash;[For the following details&mdash;slightly altered and abridged&mdash;we
-are indebted to a recent and popular Description of Llanthony
-Priory,<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> by the Rev. George Roberts, M.A., in which the ruins are
-traced with archæological taste and accuracy:]&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>The west end is flanked by two low square massive <span class="eng">Towers</span>. The one on the
-south was fitted up by Colonel Wood, a former proprietor, with
-apartments for the grousing season, and is covered in with a sloping
-roof. The Abbot’s lodging, which joins on to the south side, is also
-turned into a dwelling-house for the steward of the estate, where
-visitors are obligingly accommodated. The stone staircase is perfect in
-the south tower, but broken in the north. The staircases were lighted by
-five chinks. Each tower on the outward face is divided into five stages
-by bold string-courses; the base is beveled off, and the ground story is
-broad and plain. The second and third stages are ornamented,
-arcade-fashion, on the side next to the west window, and the arches<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" id="page_274">{274}</a></span> are
-pointed. The central compartment in each successive stage recedes. In
-the lowest story, two pointed windows have been disfigured by modern
-innovation. In the centre of the second story, a beautiful example of
-the round-headed Norman window remains perfect to the depth of the wall;
-the dripstone over it is plain in the north tower, but in the south is
-terminated by two corbel-heads. The third story is ornamented with a
-double long lancet-shaped blank window, of great elegance in design; the
-pointed heads spring from triple shafts with plain Norman capitals.
-Between these towers, thus ornamented so as to correspond, stood the
-great</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">West Window</span> over the principal entrance, already noticed. Joining on to
-the south tower, there is a round-headed deep window, with a broad
-trefoiled head, belonging to a plain vaulted chamber called the <span class="eng">Prior’s
-Lodging</span>. This chamber abuts upon the church, and commences the
-conventual buildings. Entering by the west you see the interior of the
-whole church. The <span class="eng">Nave</span> was separated from the two <span class="eng">Aisles</span> on each side by
-eight obtusely-pointed arches, supported on massive pillars square
-without capitals; the bases ornamented with <i>ogee</i> mouldings. A round
-moulding, deeply let in, runs from the base entirely round the arch, to
-the base on the opposite side.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Arches</span> on the north side still stand perfect. On the south four only
-remain, and these imperfect&mdash;two at each end of the Nave. The central
-arches fell in thirteen years ago (1837), on Ash-Wednesday, without any
-external notice, and whilst the family were at dinner. Had they fallen a
-few minutes sooner, some person must have been killed. The pressure of
-the clerestory windows, which on this side were destroyed, as upon the
-other, <i>overweighted</i> the arches beneath, and forced them in. The four
-others remaining are in a very tottering condition&mdash;and would have
-fallen, if Mr. Webb, the steward, to whom the building is much indebted
-for its preservation, had not built up some rude but well-intentioned
-buttresses; which, however much they may disfigure, are essential to the
-strengthening of the remains. He also ingeniously hooped with iron two
-of the pillars, and by the application of the screw, has managed to
-bring them back into their former position.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Side Aisles</span> are completely down; but the termination of the North
-Aisle, with the only specimen of the roof remaining, is to be seen in
-the North Tower of the west front. Here there is also a long, deep,
-round-headed Norman window, looking to the north. The arch at the end of
-the Nave, next to the Tower, springs from a corbel, consisting of three
-truncated pillars with capitals. The bit of the <span class="eng">roof</span> of the Aisle which
-remains is heavily groined, and formed by the intersection of round
-arches. The flat wall buttress, on either side of the Tower, has at the
-top a square moulding, fluted, from which springs an arch spanning the
-Aisle&mdash;the only one of the series in existence. This is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275">{275}</a></span> most
-acutely pointed in the whole building, and gives an idea of the
-character of the rest belonging to the <span class="eng">Aisles</span>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Arches</span> are divided from what seems to have been a triforium [Coxe,
-who saw it when perfect, calls it an upper tier of Norman arches], by a
-straight plain band. Between each arch is a corbel, formed of <i>three</i>
-clustered pillars, as before, with plain Norman capitals, and worked off
-to a point, where the base should have been, six in number, and from
-these, evidently, sprung the vaulted and groined roof.</p>
-
-<p>In the interior, above, nothing remains but a double window, pointed and
-elegant, which seems to have formed the lower portion of the deep Norman
-recessed arch, through which the passage ran along to the Bell-tower.
-This may be clearly traced from the exterior of the building. A low
-round-headed plain door connected each aisle with its contiguous
-transept. The square</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Bell-tower</span> was supported upon four large and noble pointed arches, of
-which the west and the south, together with the sides above them, are
-standing; although there is reason to fear for the latter, from the
-pressure of the superincumbent building, which has shattered and bowed
-it out. Only sixty years ago the Bell-tower was thirty-seven feet higher
-than at present, viz., sixty-three feet, as taken by an
-instrument&mdash;whence the entire height was at first exactly a hundred
-feet. The ruin now reaches but a short way above the dripstone of the
-roof. The west arch springs from a corbel of three stunted pillars,
-clustered, and terminating in a flower&mdash;the corbel on the opposite
-terminating in a square moulding of the ogee description. The gable in
-the western arch is pierced by two small plain Norman windows, and has a
-third narrow-pointed window in the apex.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Staircase</span> communicating with the belfry is lighted by a round-headed
-window. We may conjecture there were several <i>bells</i> in the
-tower&mdash;carried off to Gloucester by Prior Roger.<a name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Transepts.</span>&mdash;Nothing remains of the North Transept but one side of the
-window.&mdash;[See the woodcut.]&mdash;The South Transept is lighted upon the
-south by a double Norman window, the moulding and shaft plain, the
-window eighteen feet by three; and above them, in the gable, is a plain
-<span class="eng">Rose</span> window, of which nothing but the circular rim remains. The effect
-of this composition, from its simplicity, is exceedingly imposing. A
-bold Norman arch, supported by a plain Norman corbel pillar, with a
-cushion capital, communicates on the east, from the transept, with the
-Lady Chapel; and one step from the Tower leads into the Choir.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_276" id="page_276">{276}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Roof</span> was supported upon pillars&mdash;lofty with Norman capitals. One on
-the south is perfect, and the base of the corresponding pillar is to be
-seen. The string-course runs over this pillar, and along the wall to the
-extremity of the Choir. At the distance of eighteen feet are traces of
-steps to the High <span class="eng">Altar</span>, flanked on either side by triple pillars,
-clustered; the distance from these steps to the east window is also
-eighteen feet. A long and exquisitely-proportioned round-headed window
-lighted the choir on the north side, and is quite perfect, except that
-the masonry above it is gone, leaving the naked rim of the head standing
-alone, with an effect at once graceful and melancholy. The space on the
-south side points out where the corresponding window stood. A gap shows
-the space occupied by the great east window, which was standing in
-Wyndham’s time. From his drawing, it appears to have been a fine pointed
-window, with tracery in the head, and having two small Norman lights in
-the gable above. A few mouldings are still extant, with slender shafts
-and Norman capitals in the wall where it was inserted.</p>
-
-<p>As you return from the east, continues the historian of the Abbey, you
-are struck with two windows in the Bell-tower on the south side, in the
-second story. They consist of a round-headed arch, divided into two
-lights by a sturdy <i>balustre</i>, standing in the middle of the wall, and
-extending from its plinth to its capital, right through the centre to
-the top of the arch. Beyond this, in the thickness of the wall, vestiges
-of a passage are discovered, which seems to have formed a gallery round
-the tower. A round-headed plain Norman door, the jambs being low pillars
-with cushion capitals, at the west end of the choir, on the south side,
-leads into</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Lady Chapel.</span> The slight remains of the corbels, from which the roof
-sprung, are here more elaborate in their work than in any other part of
-the building. We had some difficulty in tracing out the foundation.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Chapter-house</span><a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> was built in contiguity to the south side of the
-south transept. On the north side of it a stable is inserted, which
-prevents accurate observation. In a calf-pen or shed, however, we
-discovered the corresponding base of the columns to the other
-unencumbered side. It seems to have been a spacious and elegant room, of
-an oblong form, lighted at the east and at the south, where there is a
-deep recess, and traces sufficient to warrant the surmise that there
-were three Norman windows on that side. The south wall is ornamented and
-divided into four compartments by clusters of triple pillars, upon which
-the roof rested. The east end narrows in, and the entrance is from the
-west. On the south of the church, between the transept and the
-Chapter-house, is an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277">{277}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Oratory</span>&mdash;the chapel already named&mdash;with an engroined roof in complete
-preservation. The central arch springs from a Norman corbel on each
-side, and two other arches form the angles of the building in the same
-manner. By their intersection the roof is formed. A deep Norman window
-is fixed in the east wall. The sides of the door consist of two pillars,
-capitals with flowers, and bases, ogee-shaped. South again of the
-chapter, a large space for a doorway&mdash;the side pillars of which are
-partly standing&mdash;opens into</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Refectory</span>, of which the slight traces still in existence, defy
-anything like accuracy of detail. A rude window, chimney, and vaults,
-broken in and filled with rubbish, show where the offices and kitchen
-lay. Beyond these is a splendid <span class="eng">Sewer</span>, which has been mistaken by the
-common people to be the commencement of a subterraneous passage leading
-to “Oldham Castle,” under the mountains.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Vivarium</span>, or Fish-pond, is east of the church, and a mountain rill
-still runs through it. The whole of the conventual buildings, together
-with a close, amounting to seven acres, were surrounded by a wall. At
-some little distance south-west from the church, and divided from it by
-what is now a long meadow, stand</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Hospitium</span> and Porter’s Lodge&mdash;the first of which is a barn, and has
-been enlarged for that purpose. A fine pointed arch, already alluded to,
-under which was the entrance gateway, still remains. The pillars upon
-which it rests are immensely strong&mdash;the capitals Norman and rudely
-carved. Above this were apartments lighted by two round-headed windows
-in the north gable; and in the south gable, by two windows with trefoil
-cusps, and one round-headed. An old fireplace above is also visible. The
-arches on the other side are blocked up with solid masonry. The Porter’s
-window is pointed, and looks to the west. In the “bay” of the barn, and
-on a level with the ground, on the west side, is a window deeply set in
-the wall, pointed; and in a line with it, a square open space, like the
-top of a buttery-hatch, with a large flat stone below, whence probably
-the <span class="eng">dole</span><a name="FNanchor_351_351" id="FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> was distributed.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_277.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_277_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="R" /></a></span><span class="eng">ULES of St. Augustin.</span>&mdash;Of these, the rules of Llanthony&mdash;which the
-reader will find printed at full in the history of the <span class="eng">Order</span><a name="FNanchor_352_352" id="FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a>&mdash;a few
-extracts may here suffice.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">A.</span> By the first rule, or condition, every candidate for admission into
-the Order was called upon to relinquish all property. He was to enter on
-a term of probation by the <span class="eng">Prior</span>. No Canon, on taking leave of the Order
-from necessity, was permitted to take any pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" id="page_278">{278}</a></span>perty away with him. If
-anything were offered him as a present, he was not at liberty to accept
-it, until he had obtained leave from the Prior. This rule was to apply
-equally to all, from the Superior downwards. Punishment was to be
-denounced for contumacy, and offences to be declared to the <span class="eng">Præpositus</span>,
-before whom all disagreements were to be laid for consideration and
-adjustment. All property detained as above-mentioned, through necessity,
-was to be handed over to the <span class="eng">Superior</span>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">B.</span> They were carefully to remember what psalms were appointed to be sung
-at the stated hours, and nightly readings after <span class="eng">Vespers</span>. Manual labour
-was to continue from morning until <span class="eng">Sext</span>; and from Sext till <span class="eng">Nones</span> was to
-be employed in reading. After refection, work was to be resumed till
-Vespers. In all matters of business connected with the convent, two
-monks were to act in concert; but none were permitted to eat or drink
-out of the house. Brothers sent to dispose of goods in public, for the
-benefit of the convent, were to be cautious of doing anything against
-the Rule. Idle talk, or gossiping, was strictly forbidden; and they were
-enjoined to proceed with their work in silence.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">C.</span> The union, or brotherhood, was to subsist in one house. Food and
-raiment were to be distributed by the Superior, and everything was to be
-held and enjoyed in common. Due consideration was to be observed towards
-infirmity; but no allowance to be made for pride on account of
-difference of birth. Concord was indispensable; and in attending divine
-service at the appointed hours, they were to observe the strictest
-punctuality. They were not to make use of the church for any other
-service than that to which it was consecrated, unless when, out of the
-proper hours, they found leisure and inclination for private prayer.
-While chanting the psalmody, they were to revolve and write the
-sentiment in their hearts. Nothing was to be sung but what was duly
-appointed. They were bound to mortify the flesh by frequent abstinence
-and fasting; and those who did not fast, were to take nothing after the
-usual time of dining, unless when sick. The scriptures were to be read
-during meals in the <span class="eng">Refectory</span>. To the sick a better kind of food was
-allowed; but not to make the others discontented. Brothers of delicate
-habit, or infirm health, were to have diet and clothes suitable to their
-condition; and such indulgence was not to excite envy or disgust in
-others. The sick were to be treated with all the care which their cases
-required; and as soon as they recovered their wonted health, they were
-to return to the fixed rule and habit of the house.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">D.</span> The <span class="eng">Habit</span> of the Order was to be sober, not conspicuous. When they
-went abroad, they were to walk two together, and so remain at the
-journey’s end. In gait, look, habit, or gesture, everything that could
-be termed indecent or offensive, was to be regarded as criminal. They
-were not to fix their eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279">{279}</a></span> upon women; and when two were in church in
-the presence of women, they were mutually to support each other, in
-observing a serious and modest decorum&mdash;“invicem vestram pudicitiam
-custodite. Deus enim qui habitat in vobis, etiam isto modo custodiet vos
-a vobis....” All such offences or misdemeanours were to be punished by
-the Superior. The clandestine receipt of letters or presents was a
-punishable offence. Their clothes were to be taken from one common
-<span class="eng">Vestiary</span>, and their food from one Larder. All vestments presented by
-relatives were to be stored in the common Vestiary. All labour was to be
-considered as done for the common good. He who stole, and he who
-concealed his knowledge of a theft, were to be punished with equal
-severity.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">E.</span> Their clothes, and the linen of the house, according to the order of
-the Superior, were to be washed either by themselves or by fullers. In
-cases of illness, ablutions were to be used according to the physician’s
-advice; or, on refusal, by order of the Superior. They were to go to the
-baths only by two or three, and were then to be accompanied by a person
-duly appointed by the Superior. The sick were to have an <span class="eng">Infirmarer</span>; and
-cellarers, chamberlains, or librarians, were to serve the brethren with
-cheerfulness and good-will. <span class="eng">Books</span> could not be obtained for perusal but
-at the stated hours. Clothes and shoes were to be given out when needed.
-No litigations or quarrels were permitted. If a difference arose, it was
-to be instantly adjusted or put to silence by the authorities. For all
-offences, satisfaction&mdash;for all wrongs, retribution&mdash;was to be given;
-and the offended were commanded to practise, in all cases, the sacred
-duty of forgiveness towards the offender.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">F.</span> Harsh or uncharitable expressions were to be carefully avoided; and
-if hastily uttered, they were to be followed by an immediate apology.
-Obedience to the Superior was strictly enjoined; but if, in the exercise
-of his duty, he spoke harshly to any one, he was not to be called upon
-for any apology. They were to yield cheerful obedience to the head over
-them; but chiefly to the <span class="eng">Priest</span>, or Presbyter, on whom devolved the care
-of the whole house. If, in any emergency, the Superior found his
-authority unequal to the occasion, he was to have recourse to that of
-the Priest, or <span class="eng">Elder</span>. The Superior was bound to exercise his authority
-in the spirit of Christian charity and meekness, yet with firmness and
-impartiality. To be practically strict in discipline; but so to demean
-himself towards the brethren, as rather to win their love by kindness
-than excite their fear by severity; to set before their eyes an example
-of godly life; to excite imitation, and conciliate affection.<a name="FNanchor_353_353" id="FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" id="page_280">{280}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The Rule of <span class="eng">St. Augustin</span>, it has been observed, is more courteous than
-that of <span class="eng">St. Benedict</span>; for among the Canons-Regular, every brother is
-well shod, well clothed, and well fed; they go out when they like, mix
-with the world, and converse at table. The Rule of St. Augustin was
-followed by the Dominicans; but with severe additions in food, fasts,
-bedding, garments, and utter dereliction of property.&mdash;See and compare
-the Cistercian <span class="eng">Rule</span>, as given in the foregoing article on Tinterne
-Abbey.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_280.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_280_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="F" /></a></span><span class="eng">OUNDER.</span>&mdash;Hugh de Laci was an adventurer in the suite of
-William the Conqueror; and, like most of his Norman followers and
-compatriots, received in compensation of services, or in testimony of
-the royal favour, certain grants of land from which the ancient Saxon
-nobility had been expelled. All that we learn of his subsequent career
-is, that he founded the Priory of <span class="eng">Llanthony</span> in the manner already
-described, spent his days in strict religious seclusion, and departed
-this life in the odour of sanctity&mdash;but without issue. His possessions,
-therefore, were divided between his two surviving sisters, Ermeline and
-Emma&mdash;the former of whom died without heirs; and the latter, married to
-a gentleman, whose name has not descended to posterity, had by her
-husband a son named <span class="eng">Gilbert</span> de Laci. The latter, by his marriage with a
-lady unknown to the chronicler, had two sons, <span class="eng">Hugh</span> and <span class="eng">Walter</span> de Laci.
-Hugh died without issue, and Walter espoused Margery, daughter of
-Matilda de <span class="eng">S. Walerick</span>, wife of William <span class="eng">de Brewes</span>. To this family were
-born several sons and daughters; all of whom died without heirs, except
-<span class="eng">Gilbert</span> de Laci, who took to wife the Lady Isabella, one of the five
-daughters of the great warrior William, Earl <span class="eng">Marshall</span>, of whose family
-history and exploits some account has been given in our notice of
-Tinterne Abbey.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Margery</span>, daughter of the above-named Gilbert and Isabella de Laci, was
-married to John <span class="eng">de Verdon</span>; and at the death of her father, who left no
-male issue, she became joint heiress with her sister Matilda, the wife
-of Galfrid <span class="eng">de Genevile</span>.</p>
-
-<p>From <span class="eng">Walter</span> de Laci, the right of all his inheritance descended to a
-certain <span class="eng">Gilbert</span> de Laci, as his son and heir; and from the said Gilbert,
-in default of male issue, it descended to his two sisters Margery and
-Matilda aforesaid, co-heiresses; between whom the family property left
-by their father was equally divided. The above-named Margery, as we have
-said, married John <i>de Verdon</i>; and to <span class="eng">Nicholas</span>, her son by this
-marriage, descended all the property she inherited from her father. From
-Nicholas, who died without legitimate issue, the family estates passed
-to his adopted brother <span class="eng">Theobald</span>, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" id="page_281">{281}</a></span> his brother and heir. From
-Theobald, in like manner, they descended to <span class="eng">John</span>; from whom, having no
-heirs, they descended to <span class="eng">William</span>, who also dying childless, they
-descended to Johanna, Elizabeth, Margery, Isabella, and Catherine,
-daughters and coheiresses of the above-named Theobald de Verdon. Of
-these, Catherine dying unmarried, her share of the property fell in
-equal proportions to her sisters; the eldest of whom wedded Thomas <span class="eng">de
-Furnivall</span>: Elizabeth, the second daughter, married Bartholomew <span class="eng">de
-Burghersh</span>; Margery, the third daughter, William <span class="eng">Blount</span>; and Isabella
-took to husband Henry <span class="eng">de Ferrers</span>&mdash;names well known in history.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">Baldwin</span>, the Bishop above named, was a native of Exeter, where he
-received, what was considered in those days, a liberal education; and in
-the early part of his life discharged the functions of a grammar-school
-in that city. After taking holy orders he was made Archdeacon of Exeter;
-but soon quitting the duties of that office, he took the habit of the
-Cistercian Order in the Monastery of Ford, in Devonshire, of which, in a
-few years afterwards, he was elected Abbot. He was next promoted to the
-episcopal dignity, and on the 10th of August, 1180, consecrated Bishop
-of Worcester. On the death of Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, four
-years later, he was translated to that see&mdash;though not without
-difficulty, from his being the first of the Cistercian Order in England
-who had ever been promoted to the archiepiscopal dignity. He was
-enthroned at Canterbury, May the 19th, 1185, and the same day received
-the bull from Pope Lucius III., whose successor, Urban III., appointed
-him to the office of Legate for the diocese of Canterbury. Soon after
-his installation, he began to build a church and monastery at
-Hackington, near Canterbury, in honour of “St. Thomas à Becket,” for the
-reception of secular priests; but, being violently opposed by the monks
-of Canterbury supported by the Pope’s authority, he was compelled to
-abandon his undertaking.</p>
-
-<p>On the third of September, 1190, he solemnly performed the ceremony of
-crowning <span class="eng">King Richard</span> the First&mdash;Cœur-de-Lion&mdash;in the palace of
-Westminster. The same year, the King having given the see of York to his
-natural brother, Geoffrey, Bishop of Lincoln, <span class="eng">Baldwin</span> took occasion to
-assert the pre-eminence of the see of Canterbury, forbidding the Bishops
-to receive consecration from any other than the Archbishop himself.</p>
-
-<p>The next year, designing to follow King Richard into the Holy Land, he
-made the “Itinerarium” into Wales already alluded to; visited the Abbey
-of <span class="eng">Llanthony</span>, which he described in the words already quoted; said mass
-pontifically in all the cathedral churches, and persuaded many of the
-Welsh to quit their homes and take part in the crusade. After completing
-this progress, he returned to Canterbury; and then, embarking at Dover
-with the Bishop of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282">{282}</a></span> Salisbury, sailed for the Holy Land, where he joined
-the King’s army in Syria. Shortly after his arrival, however, he was
-seized with a mortal distemper, and died at the siege of Acre, or
-Ptolemais, where he was buried with all the solemnity due to a great
-luminary of the church.<a name="FNanchor_354_354" id="FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Descent.</span>&mdash;At the period of the dissolution of monasteries, Llanthony
-Abbey was given to Richard, or Nicholas Arnold; then sold to Auditor
-Harley, and remained in the Oxford family, until sold again to Colonel
-(afterwards Sir Mark) Wood, of Persefield, near Chepstow; from whom it
-passed to the present owner, <span class="smcap">Walter Savage Landor</span>, Esq.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Arms</span> of Llanthony Abbey: “Party per pale azure and purpure on chevron
-argent, between three oak-branches argent, three marigolds
-proper.”&mdash;<i>Dugdale.</i></p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>We now close the subject of Llanthony with the late Mr. Southey’s</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<p class="c">INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT IN THE VALE OF EWIAS.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Here was it, Stranger, that the <span class="eng">Patron Saint</span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of Cambria passed his age of penitence,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A solitary man; and here he made<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">His <span class="eng">Hermitage</span>; the roots his food, his drink<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of Honddy’s mountain stream.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i15">Perchance thy youth<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Has read with eager wonder, how the <span class="eng">Knight</span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of Wales, in Ormandine’s enchanted bower,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Slept the long sleep; and if that in thy veins<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Flows the pure blood of Britain, sure that blood<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Has flowed with quicker impulse at the tale<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of <span class="eng">Dafydd’s</span> deeds, when through the press of war<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">His gallant comrades followed his green crest<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To conquests!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">Stranger! Hatterill’s mountain heights,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And this fair vale of <span class="eng">Ewias</span>, and the stream<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of Honddy, to thine after-thoughts will rise<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">More grateful&mdash;thus associate with the name<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of <span class="eng">Dafydd</span>, and the deeds of other days.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Authorities</span> quoted or referred to in the preceding article on
-Llanthony Abbey:&mdash;Dugdale’s Monasticon and Baronage, and their
-Commentaries&mdash;Tanner’s Notitia Monastica&mdash;Spelman’s Glossar.
-Archæologicum&mdash;Hist. of the Reformation&mdash;Histories of Monmouth, by
-Hoare, Coxe, and others&mdash;Giraldus Cambrensis&mdash;Howel’s
-Hystorie&mdash;Hallam’s Middle Ages&mdash;Camden’s
-Britannia&mdash;Speed&mdash;Hollinshed&mdash;Robert of Glo’ster&mdash;Roberts’ History
-of Llanthony Abbey&mdash;Thomas’ History of Owen
-Glendower&mdash;Collins&mdash;Notes by Correspondents, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_022.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_022.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Usk Castle &amp; Town.</i></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" id="page_283">{283}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="USKE_CASTLE" id="USKE_CASTLE"></a>USKE CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Monmouthshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Here</span> still the feudal bulwark frowns,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">With many a tale of siege and sally;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And there the mouldering Abbey crowns<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The silent and secluded valley.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And still, when Twilight spreads her wings,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">By Abbey wall or Castle hoary,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The pilgrim hears harmonious strings<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Struck to the theme of <span class="eng">Cambria’s</span> glory.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Again&mdash;from yonder halls of state,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Where now the hermit-owl is dwelling&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In song, assembled Bards relate<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The daring deeds of bold <span class="eng">Llewellyn</span>.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Again from yonder Abbey choir&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Its dim religious lights revealing&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The lofty strains of <span class="eng">David’s</span> lyre<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">From arch and pillared aisles are pealing.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">But no! the morning’s ruddy beam&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The breath of day&mdash;is on the river;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And all that peopled Fancy’s dream<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Is scattered in its light for ever.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_283.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_283_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="T" /></a></span><span class="eng">HE CASTLE</span> of Uske occupies a commanding position&mdash;an
-abrupt rocky eminence which overlooks the town, river, and valley, which
-were once the property of its feudal lords. It is a domestic fortress of
-great antiquity, and with the advantages of its natural site,
-strengthened and improved by all the appliances of military art&mdash;art as
-it was practised in the days of chivalry&mdash;these mouldering walls, though
-now stripped of all their massive proportions, must have presented a
-bold and almost impregnable aspect. The lapse of centuries, however, has
-materially changed its appearance; and the Castle that once entertained
-the redoubtable <span class="eng">Strongbow</span> and his companions, is now little more than a
-mass of ruins&mdash;the chief recommendation of which is its picturesque
-character as a prominent feature in the landscape.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284">{284}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>The ruins consist merely of a shell, enclosing an area or court, and
-some outworks on the west, formed by two straight walls converging one
-to the other, and strengthened at their union by a round tower, as
-represented in the accompanying woodcut. At the extremity of the south
-wall is a grand pointed gateway, with grooves for a portcullis, which
-was the principal entrance. The upper part has been converted into a
-farm-house with considerable additions.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_284.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_284.jpg" width="498" height="637" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>Tower in Uske Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Like other castles of its style and period, it consists of straight
-walls, fortified with round and square towers, and no apertures
-externally but loopholes or œillets, except where these have been
-enlarged for modern use and convenience. Several of the apartments have
-chimneys&mdash;a comparatively modern refinement. The baronial hall measures
-forty-eight by twenty-four feet; far inferior in dimensions to some of
-the halls already described, but still a noble apartment, and dignified
-from its association with Strongbow and his knights, whose occasional
-rendezvous was within these walls.</p>
-
-<p>At the time of the Roman occupation, this county formed part of the
-Silurian territory, which included also the counties of Glamorgan,
-Brecknock, Radnor, and Hereford; and in order to secure the conquest of
-this part of the country, the new masters were compelled to form a range
-of strongly fortified posts. No less than five stations were erected in
-that part of Siluria included in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285">{285}</a></span> Gwentland, as at Caerwent, Caerleon,
-Abergavenny, Monmouth, and Uske. In the attempts of the Saxon monarchs
-to subjugate Wales, the Gwentians, or inhabitants of Monmouthshire,
-opposed the most formidable resistance; nor does it appear that they
-were ever vanquished during the Saxon period. The Conqueror, however,
-adopted a new and more effective mode of curbing their resistance. He
-directed his barons to make incursions at their own expense, and gave
-them leave to hold the lands they conquered <i>in capite</i> of the crown.
-These feudal tenures became petty royalties; the barons became despots,
-and, intrenched in their fortified castles, assumed independent
-sovereignty, until these baronial governments were abolished by Henry
-VIII., who divided Wales into counties.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The river</span> Uske takes its rise from a lake on the northern side of the
-Bannau-Sir-Gaer, in Carmarthenshire, and after running first north and
-then east as far as Brecknock, is joined by the Honddi, which, as
-already described, waters the monastic vale of Ewias. It then flows
-south-east as far as Abergavenny, and in this part of its course is
-joined by the Grwyneu-fawr, and about three miles below this it enters
-Monmouth. The extent of its course is about sixty miles, every portion
-of which is distinguished more or less by scenes of pastoral and
-picturesque beauty&mdash;enhanced by vestiges of ancient encampments,
-religious edifices, and feudal strongholds. The river is spanned at Uske
-by a stately bridge of five arches.</p>
-
-<p>The annexed woodcut, with which we close this brief notice, represents a
-chamber in the Castle, with an arched window and a fireplace,
-comparatively modern. Chimneys do not seem to have been introduced much
-before the time of Henry the Eighth, as appears from the following
-extract from Leland’s Itinerary:&mdash;“One thynge I much notyed in the haule
-of Bolton,” built temp. Rich. II., “how chimneys were conveyed by
-tunnels made in the syds of the wauls, betwyxt the lights in the haule;
-and by this means, and by no others, is the smoke of the harthe in the
-haule wonder strangely carrayed.”<a name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> Previously to this period, the
-smoke was suffered to escape from the louvre, or lantern-turret in the
-roof, in large halls and kitchens, the fire being made of logs of wood
-laid on iron or brass dogs, in the centre of the room. But in the
-smaller rooms, like that in the woodcut, fireplaces were built, the
-arches or chimney-pieces of which often remain; but the chimney itself
-was carried up only a few feet, where an aperture was left in the wall
-for the smoke to escape,<a name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> and there was frequently a window over the
-fireplace, as in the hall at Raglan.<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286">{286}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Uske</span> is supposed to occupy the site of the Roman <i>Burrium</i>&mdash;the
-<i>Bullæum</i> of Ptolemy; it stands on a point of land formed by the
-confluence of the two rivers, Uske and Olway, and the situation is
-considered to be one of the most beautiful in South Wales. The
-successive ranges of woods and hills on each side of the river are
-richly varied and picturesque; while every year adds something to the
-natural embellishment of the scene, by the distribution of fruit and
-forest trees&mdash;for which the soil is naturally adapted&mdash;and that growing
-taste for agriculture and rural improvement which is everywhere
-conspicuous in the county of Monmouth. The boundaries and outlines of
-the valley&mdash;which is everywhere pleasing&mdash;perpetually vary as the points
-of view are changed; so that every change in his position opens to the
-spectator a new combination of features which pass before him like a
-moving panorama&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“Ever changing, ever new.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_286.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_286.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>A Chamber in the Castle.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Uske</span> has a melancholy pre-eminence among the strongholds of this county,
-as a point at which the fury of intestine war was often lighted into
-flames. During the long and disastrous warfare with Owen Glendower, it
-was subjected to every species of hardship and oppression. From the
-battle of Uske, when the Cambrian chief was defeated and driven into the
-mountains, it remained in possession of the royal troops; but while it
-suffered the fate of a vanquished post, it derived little support from
-the victors; for whatever standard floated from its walls, it was only
-the signal of systematic oppression. From the military chronicle of
-those unhappy times, we take the following particulars of the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Battle of Uske.</span> This was the last effort on the part of Owen Glendower
-to drive the English from the frontier. Having assembled an army of
-eight<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287">{287}</a></span> thousand men enthusiastically attached to him, he prosecuted his
-march through scenes of fire and bloodshed&mdash;desolating the country,
-ravaging the Marches, and practising every cruelty which the spirit of
-revenge could suggest. Grosmont<a name="FNanchor_358_358" id="FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a>&mdash;or more probably Uske&mdash;was given
-to the flames. This marauding division was opposed by a handful of men
-commanded by Sir Gilbert Talbot&mdash;joined by Sir William Newport and Sir
-John Geindre&mdash;on the 11th of March, and cut to pieces, no quarter being
-given except to one person, whom young Henry, in his despatch to his
-father, styles ‘un grand chieftyn entre eulx;’ and humanely adds, that
-“he would have sent him this prisoner, but that he could not ride with
-ease.” Prince Henry at the time of this action was at Hereford&mdash;at the
-head of the army, with which he was to open the campaign&mdash;when the news
-of the victory reached him. The ancient Britons, who lost a thousand men
-in this battle, appear to have fought with less than their accustomed
-valour. They were probably raw recruits, without good officers or strict
-discipline; and without Glendower’s presence to direct and animate them
-in the charge, they appear to have fallen an easy prey to the enemy. The
-interception of young March, and this defeat, hastened the fall of
-Glendower; but, resolved to make a strong effort to retrieve his lost
-credit in the field, he sent one of his sons with another army, which,
-on being joined by many fugitives from the late disaster, was found
-sufficiently strong to risk another engagement. This took place on the
-15th of the same month; but the results were still more disastrous than
-on the previous battle; for of the Welsh army fifteen hundred were slain
-or taken prisoners. Tudor, the brother of Owen, was left dead on the
-field; while his son, who had the chief command, was made prisoner, and
-retained as a hostage in the English camp. The historian relates that so
-great was the personal resemblance between Owen and his brother Tudor,
-that when the dead body of the latter was discovered in the field, it
-was immediately reported that Glendower himself had fallen, and that,
-with the death of their leader, the Welsh must necessarily abandon the
-contest. On closer examination, however, it was found that the
-exultation thus spread through the English camp was premature; for
-although the resemblance was very striking, it was observed that a wart
-over the eye&mdash;a mark which distinguished the “great Owen”&mdash;was not to be
-traced in the present individual, and it was at once admitted that
-Tudor, and not Owen, had fallen in the conflict.</p>
-
-<p>Prince Henry, according to Carte,<a name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> commanded at this battle,
-supposed to have taken place near Uske. Wynne also mentions an action
-fought on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_288" id="page_288">{288}</a></span> same day on which the son of Owen was made prisoner; and
-the number of those slain and made prisoners, coincides with the above
-account of Mr. Pennant, but the scene of action is removed to Uske,
-where he says “the Welsh received a sad blow from the Prince of Wales’
-men.” In the history of this period there is a confusion which Mr.
-Pennant thus clears up:&mdash;Hollinshed mentions another defeat sustained by
-the Welsh in the month of May, in which Griffith Yonge, Owen’s
-chancellor, was made prisoner. But in this, according to Pennant, the
-chronicler confounds this battle with the action near Grosmont. If Yonge
-was the “grand chieftyn” there made prisoner, which is questionable, he
-must have soon escaped from the power of the English, or have been
-released, as he is a witness the following year to a pardon granted by
-Owen to one Ieuan Goch. Here Mr. Thomas<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> suggests that the two
-accounts by Hollinshed and Wynne might be reconciled, by allowing that a
-battle was actually fought at Uske, subsequent to that on the 15th of
-March. Dates among earlier writers are often uncertain, always
-perplexing. But Uske in many parts bears evident marks of Owen’s
-desolating system of warfare; a ruinous aspect bespeaks its having been
-stormed by an enemy at no remote date; and all these circumstances
-deriving weight from local tradition&mdash;which corroborates the surmise,
-and attributes the havoc to Glendower&mdash;Uske may be fairly set down as
-the scene of devastation referred to in the text.<a name="FNanchor_361_361" id="FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Craig-y-Gaeryd</span>, near Uske, is supposed to have been a Roman camp. It
-covers the brow of a precipice overhanging the eastern bank of the
-river, and is now overgrown with copsewood; but in many places the
-intrenchments are thirty feet deep. Within the area are several tumuli
-from fifteen to twenty feet high. From the small torrent of <span class="eng">Berden</span>, near
-this point, some authors have derived the name of Burrium, as being
-placed at its confluence with the river Uske.<a name="FNanchor_362_362" id="FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a></p>
-
-<p>With regard to these camps and intrenchments, Mr. King, in his
-“Monumenta Antiqua,” supposes that most of the strong intrenchments on
-the summits of natural hills must be attributed to Britons, although
-subsequent conquerors might have occupied them. They are designated,
-indiscriminately, Roman camps, Danish forts, or Saxon intrenchments, but
-often erroneously. The <i>Roman</i> camps were quadrangular, divided into a
-pavilion for the general and chief officers, and another portion for the
-tents of the common soldiers. It was fortified with a ditch and parapet,
-termed <i>fossa</i> and <i>vallum</i>. The Danes did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289">{289}</a></span> undergo the labour of
-erecting them on the high hills where they are often found, nor run the
-risk of being cooped up and starved in them during their invasions; nor
-can we suppose them to be their work after they settled here as
-conquerors. The great castle of Norwich, built by Canute, and the great
-tower at Bury, prove their civilization and skill in architecture.
-Neither could these hill-camps be Saxon. During the Heptarchy, they
-erected fortresses of stones. Besides, their earth-works were
-encampments on plain ground with double ditches, and with either the
-whole or part of the area raised above the level of the adjacent
-country, and sometimes with a very small mount for a watchguard. The
-magnificence of the Norman castles, still splendid in their ruins, will
-not allow them to have had any share in throwing up these rude
-intrenchments. They must, therefore, have been the strongholds of the
-ancient Britons, where their families were lodged, and their cattle
-housed, on any emergency or invasion.<a name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Church</span>, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure of
-Anglo-Norman origin, but apparently curtailed in its dimensions to suit
-the diminished population of modern Uske. The square embattled tower
-which now stands at the east, formerly occupied the centre, and
-communicated with a transept and choir. Four pointed arches now separate
-the nave from the north aisle. The windows are ornamented Gothic, or
-rather Norman; and the porches, though not elegant, are in the same
-style. This was the Priory Church; and of the conventual building, the
-remains are seen on the south-east side of the tower. From the
-churchyard, a circular arched portal leads through the court to the
-ancient edifice now converted into a farm-house. It was founded by one
-of the Clare family as a priory for five Benedictine nuns, about the
-middle of the thirteenth century. In an apartment on the first floor,
-the frieze of the ceiling is ornamented with thirty devices, and
-emblazoned coats of arms. At the Dissolution, this priory was valued at
-£69. 9s. 8d. per annum; and the site granted to Roger Williams of
-Langibby. Rowland Williams of Langibby was distinguished by Queen
-Elizabeth and James the First, and received the honour of knighthood.
-His grandson, Sir Trevor Williams, was created a baronet in
-consideration of his services and loyal attachment to <span class="eng">Charles</span> the First.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Founder.</span>&mdash;Tanner, quoting from a MS. in the office of First Fruits, says
-they accounted Sir Richard de Clare and Sir Gilbert his son, Earls of
-the Marches, for their Founders, and prayed for them as such; for which,
-at the time of the Dissolution, an allowance appears to have been made
-amongst the reprises.</p>
-
-<p>The temporalities of this priory are thus valued in Pope Nicholas’s
-Taxation, <small>A.D.</small> 1291:&mdash;Priorissa de Uska habet viginti quatuor acras
-terræ quæ valent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290">{290}</a></span> per annum viii.s.: De annuo redditu, vi.s. viii.d., de
-Molendino. ibidem x.s., de perquisitis cur. v.s. <i>Item</i>, habet apud
-Shirencnewt [Shire Newton?] de reddit, assis. iii.s. = Summa £1. 12s.
-8d.</p>
-
-<p>Among the spiritualities of the diocese of Llandaff, we find the
-following churches, of which the priory and convent of Uske appear to
-have been patrons, namely, Raglan, Mykenny, Uske, Langrerion, Lampadock,
-and Lamyhangel.</p>
-
-<p>In another place, it is said:&mdash;Capitulam Landav. percipit de tenentibus
-de Landconyan unam marcam, et illam reddunt luminar. prioratus de Uske.
-In the diocese of Worcester, we find, “Porcio priorissæ in capell. de
-Hatherlo j.l. The gross value of this priory [26th Hen. VIII.] was rated
-at £69. 9s. 8d., the clear income at £55. 4s. 5d. The site and other
-lands were granted 28th Hen. VIII. to Roger Williams, grandfather of Sir
-Trevor Williams [of whom Cromwell speaks in his letter from Pembroke.]
-At the Dissolution, Elen Williams was the lady prioress. In the Lord
-Treasurer’s Remembrancer’s office is the following:&mdash;“Uske: De Elizea
-John ap Jevan vidua, occasionat. ad ostendendum quo titulo tenet domum
-et situm Prioratus de Uske, et alias terras in comitatu Monmouth. That
-the said widow be called upon to show by what title she holds the house
-and site of the Priory of Uske, and other lands in the county of
-Monmouth.” Leland describes it briefly as “a priory of Nunnes at Cair
-Uske, a flite shot from the castel.”</p>
-
-<p>An impression from the conventual seal of this priory is extant in the
-Chapter-house at Westminster, attached to the acknowledgment of
-Supremacy. [25 Hen. VIII.] It represents the Virgin Mary seated on an
-ornamented chair between two pilasters, the infant Jesus in her lap.
-Above are a crescent and star, the legend&mdash;<span class="smcap">S. sĉe Marie et Conventus de
-Uske</span>.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>The emblematical devices and emblazoned arms already mentioned, as
-covering the frieze of the ceiling in the chief apartment, are supposed
-to represent the armorial bearings of the various benefactors of the
-priory.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Prioresses.</span>&mdash;The last Prioress, or Superieure, was the above-named “Elen
-Williams.” Among the Gilbertine Nuns there were three prioresses, one of
-whom presided in turn, and had then the first stall&mdash;one of her
-coadjutors standing on the right hand, the other on the left. The
-presiding Prioress held the Chapter, enjoined the penances, granted all
-the licences or allowances, visited the sick, or caused them to be
-visited by one of her companions. She had obedience and respect paid to
-her by all. The food was delivered by the Cellaress, but the vestments
-of the Nuns were cut, sewed, and divided by the Prioress. She could not
-sit near any <i>man</i> in their house, unless some discreet sister sat
-between them. The Prioress was to endeavour to visit the Nuns, unless
-when<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" id="page_291">{291}</a></span> she was in the kitchen, or confined to her dortoire by sickness.
-If any sister wished to confess, she signified her desire to the
-Prioress, if she was in the cloister or church; or she confessed to her,
-or to any person authorised to act for her. On holidays she sent some
-“learned nun” with a book to her sisters, to teach them somewhat that
-might operate to the profit of their souls, or confirm the rigour of the
-Order. She presided over the Chapter of the Sisters, and one of her
-coadjutors often took their <i>veniæ</i> in the evening Chapter. On festival
-days she visited them “if she had time,” and diligently inquired of
-their strict observance of the rules of the Order. If she left the
-dormitory after dinner, or after complin, she did not go out unless with
-attendant nuns. She was obliged to indicate the cause of her departure
-to the Prior of all. If she left the church through sickness, she
-confessed in the Chapter, and no one stood in her stall except at Mass,
-and when necessity required it.&mdash;[Brit. Monach.]</p>
-
-<p>She was bound to shun conferring with the <i>Scrutatrices</i>, or
-sister-visitors, from other houses, that were deputed to her; or to make
-search for anything except in the common Chapter. If she was in the
-Infirmary, she was required to conduct herself more reservedly; and not
-to speak with more than two together, and that only in a “bounded
-place,” unless, perhaps, necessity compelled her to talk with more for
-the sake of consultation; or when she happened to hold the Chapter of
-the Sick. She had authority, upon emergencies, to hold the Chapter of
-the Convent, and receive confessions, and if she was confined by severe
-illness, she could, like the rest, talk and give her directions in
-bed.<a name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Uske</span> enjoys the hereditary distinction of having been the “residence of
-Richard, Duke of York, and the birth-place of his two sons, Edward the
-Fourth, and Richard the Third;” names which have furnished many stirring
-incidents, many sparkling and many disastrous achievements to the
-British annals. The town of Uske is disposed in the form of an oblong
-square, the principal street forming the public road to Abergavenny. The
-corporation consists of a mayor or bailiff, a community, and
-burgesses;<a name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a> and in the town-house are held the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_292" id="page_292">{292}</a></span> petty sessions for
-the upper division of the hundred of Uske. The only native manufacture
-is that of japan ware.</p>
-
-<p>The river is famous for trout, particularly salmon trout&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-“So fresh, so sweete, so red, so crimpe withal,”<a name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind">which, in conventual times, afforded an ample supply to the numerous
-religious communities on its banks, to whom a carneous diet was only
-permitted as an occasional indulgence. Epicures confirm the ancient
-reputation of the river in this respect; and during the season, the
-disciples of Isaak Walton, and the readers of Sir Humphrey Davy’s
-“Salmonia,” are constant visitors to the banks of the Uske, which, by
-way of climax, is said to produce better sport for the angler than any
-other river in Wales&mdash;or even the Severn&mdash;a quality which has become
-proverbial.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Though bright the waters of the Towy,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">The Wye, the Severn, and the Tivy;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Yet, well I wot, they cannot shew ye<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Such <i>salmon</i> as the Uske can give ye!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i1">It was&mdash;(we choose not to go farther)&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The favoured dish of bold King <span class="eng">Arthur</span>;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Who, when he chose like king to dine,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Went down to Uske with rod and line,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And there drew slily to the bank<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Such trout as best became his rank;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Sometimes by twains, at others singly,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">But always with a twitch so kingly,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The salmon seemed as much delighted,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">As if they really had been ‘knighted!’<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">No wonder, for they quickly found<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">An <i>entrée</i> at the <span class="eng">Table Round</span>,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where, seated with his gallant knights,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Those heroes of a hundred fights;&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">‘Leave,’ quoth he, ‘acorns in the husk,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Here’s glorious salmon from the Uske!’<span class="lftspc">”</span> &amp;c.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_023.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_023.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Pembroke Castle</i></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_293" id="page_293">{293}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="PEMBROKE_CASTLE" id="PEMBROKE_CASTLE"></a>PEMBROKE CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Pembrokeshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Hic exarmatum terris cingentibus æquor,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Clauditur, et placidam descit servare quietem.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“In agro totius Walliæ amœnissimo, principale provinciæ municipium
-Demetiæq. caput, in Saxosa quadam et oblonga rupis in capite
-bifurco complectitur. Unde Britannis <span class="eng">Pembro</span> dicitur, quod caput
-marinum sonat, et nobis Penbroke.”&mdash;<i>Gyrald.</i></p></div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Earldom.</span>&mdash;“There have been divers Earls of Pembroke,” says Camden, “out
-of sundry houses. As for <span class="eng">Arnulph</span> of Montgomery, who first wonne it, and
-was afterwards outlawed, and his castellan <span class="eng">Girald</span>, whom King Henry the
-First made afterwards president over the whole country, I dare scarcely
-affirm that they were <span class="eng">Earles</span>. The first that was styled Earle of
-Pembroke was Gilbert, surnamed ‘Strongbow,’<a name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> son of Gilbert de
-Clare, in the time of King <span class="eng">Stephen</span>. This Gilbert, or Gislebert, de
-Clare, let it unto his sonne, the said Richard Strongbow, the renowned
-conqueror of Ireland, and descended, as Gyraldus informs us, “ex clara
-Clarenium familia”&mdash;the noble family of Clare, or Clarence. His only
-daughter, <span class="eng">Isabel</span>,<a name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> brought the same honour to her husband, William,
-surnamed the <span class="eng">Mareschal</span>, for that his ancestours had beene by inheritance
-mareschals of the King’s palace, a man most glorious in war and
-peace,<a name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> and protector of the kingdome in the minority of <span class="eng">K. Henry</span>
-the Third,<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> concerning whom this pithie epitaph is extant in
-Rodburne’s Annales: ‘Sum quem Saturnus,’<a name="FNanchor_371_371" id="FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a> &amp;c., which is thus done
-into English&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">‘Whom Ireland once a Saturn found, England a sunne to be;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Whom Normandie, a Mercury, and France, Mars,&mdash;I am he.’<span class="lftspc">”</span><br /></span>
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_294" id="page_294">{294}</a></span></div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>“After him,” continues our authority, “his five sons were successively,
-one after another, Earles of Pembroke; namely, William, called the
-younger; Richard, who, after he had rebelled against King Henry the
-Third, went into Ireland, where he was slain in battle; Gilbert, who, in
-a tournament at <span class="eng">Ware</span>,<a name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> was unhorsed, and so killed; Walter and
-Anselm, who severally enjoyed the honor but a few daies; and all dying
-without issue, the King invested in the honor of this earldome William
-de <span class="eng">Valentia</span>, his brother by the mother’s side, who had to wife Joan,
-daughter of Gwarin de <span class="eng">Montchensi</span>, by the daughter of the foresaid
-William the Mareschal.”</p>
-
-<p>Of this Earl Valence we read, shortly after this, that the King,
-solemnizing the festival of St. <span class="eng">Edward’s</span> translation, in the church at
-Westminster, with great state, sitting on his royal throne in “a rich
-robe of Baudekyn,” and the crown on his head, caused this William de
-Valence, with divers other young noblemen, to be brought before him, and
-so girt him with the sword of knighthood.</p>
-
-<p>In a tournament held at Bruckley, it is said that he much abused Sir
-William <span class="eng">Adingsells</span>, a valiant knight, through the countenance of
-Richard, Earl of Gloucester. The following year he was signed with the
-<span class="eng">cross</span>, together with the King himself, and divers other noble persons,
-in order to an expedition to the Holy Land; and at the same time he
-obtained the King’s precept to Robert Walrane, to distrain all such
-persons as did possess any of the property belonging to Joan his wife,
-one of the cousins and heirs to Walter Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, to
-perform their suit to the county of Pembroke, as they had wont to do in
-the time of that earl.<a name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a></p>
-
-<p>This Earl <span class="eng">Valence</span> was present at the battle of Lewes, some particulars
-of which have been detailed in the first volume of this work. “When he
-had lost the day, and with the Prince was made prisoner, William de
-Valence, then called Earl of Pembroke, though not before, as it is
-thought, being a principal commander in the van of the King’s army,
-seeing the day lost, with the Earl of Warren and some others, escaped by
-flight, first to the castle of Pevensey,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_295" id="page_295">{295}</a></span> and thence to France. After
-which, all being in the power of the Barons, his lands were seized, and
-those in Surrey and Sussex committed to the custody of John de Aburnum
-and John de Wanton. And whereas <span class="eng">Joan</span> his lady was then great with child,
-and with her family and children in Windsor Castle, she was commanded to
-depart thence, and betake herself to some religious house or other place
-near at hand, until after her delivery. In which distress, the King,
-still their prisoner, being forced to comply with them in whatsoever
-they required, submitted to their ordinances of Oxford; the chief of his
-friends also giving oath for the due observance of them; amongst whom
-this William de Valence, then come back into England, was one.”</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">But</span> long it was not ere the two principal ringleaders in this tragic
-action, namely, <span class="eng">Montfort</span>, Earl of Leicester, and <span class="eng">Clare</span>, Earl of
-Gloucester, fell at odds&mdash;Clare stomaching Leicester for assuming to
-himself the whole sway in the government; betaking him, therefore, to
-those true-hearted Royalists who had stood firm to the King in his
-greatest miseries, a means was contrived for the Prince to escape from
-Hereford Castle, where, with the King his father, he was kept prisoner.”
-“Whereupon this</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">William</span>, Earl of Pembroke, with John, Earl <span class="eng">Warren</span>, who had been banished
-the realm by a public edict of Montfort, landing at <span class="eng">Pembroke</span>, about the
-beginning of May, with about a hundred and twenty men, horse and foot,
-joined with them; and within a short time after, giving battle to
-Montfort and his party at <span class="eng">Evesham</span>, totally vanquished all their whole
-army; whereby the King, being set at liberty, was again restored to the
-exercise of his regal power.”<a name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a></p>
-
-<p>This Earl William had issue three sons: to wit, John, who died young;
-William, and Aymer. “William was lord of Montygnac and Belluc; and in
-the 7th Edw. I. did oblige himself, on the behalf of John, Lord <span class="eng">Visci</span>,
-who had married Mary, the sister of Hugh de Lezinian (Lusignan), Earl of
-<span class="eng">March</span>, for the repayment of two thousand five hundred pounds <i>Tournois</i>,
-in case she should die without issue. After which, being with Gilbert,
-Earl of Gloucester, in a skirmish which he had with the <span class="eng">Welsh</span>, near
-Llantipowhir, was there slain in his father’s lifetime.” So that</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Aymer</span> de Valence, the third son&mdash;a name of great celebrity&mdash;succeeded to
-the earldom of Pembroke. He attended the King in the expedition made
-into Flanders; and the same year was assigned one of the commissioners
-to ratify the agreement betwixt the King and Florence, Earl of Holland,
-touching those auxiliaries which he was to have from that Earl in his
-present wars; as also one of the ambassadors sent to treat of truce
-betwixt King Edward and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_296" id="page_296">{296}</a></span> King of <span class="eng">France</span>. He next attended the King
-two years in his wars in Scotland; and was then sent ambassador to treat
-with those from the King of France, touching a peace with the Scots. Two
-years after this he was again in Scotland; and the same year (33d Edw.
-I.) he had license to go beyond sea on his own occasions.</p>
-
-<p>On his return he obtained a grant from the King, of the castles of
-Selkirk and Troquair in Scotland; also of the borough of Peebles, to
-hold by the service of one knight’s fees; likewise of the whole forest
-of Selkirk in fee-farm, paying a hundred and thirty pounds per annum;
-and to be sheriff there [as Sir Walter Scott was in our own times,
-though with very different powers]; with authority to build towns,
-churches, castles, and other fortifications; as also for free warren,
-and power to <i>deafforest</i> and make parks therein at his own pleasure.
-Shortly after which he made a “pile”<a name="FNanchor_375_375" id="FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a> at Selkirk, and placed a
-garrison therein. <span class="eng">Next</span> year he was sent, as Warden of the Marches of
-Scotland, toward Berwick-upon-Tweed; and being thereupon made the King’s
-Lieutenant, and Captain-General of the soldiery&mdash;horse and foot&mdash;for the
-defence of those parts against Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and his
-complices, he had an assignation of two hundred pounds in part of his
-wages, to be paid to him by John de Sandale, Chamberlain of
-Scotland.&mdash;[Chronicle.]</p>
-
-<p>Shortly after this, Bruce, compassing that realm, and receiving the
-homage of many, came near to St. Johnstone [or Perth], to the defence
-whereof this Earl being arrived but a little before, Bruce sent to him,
-by way of challenge to battle, whereunto returning answer that he would
-meet him the next day, Bruce retired; which being discovered by this
-Earl, he sallied out and slew divers of the Scots, unarmed, as it is
-said. Bruce therefore being advertised hereof, fled to the Isle of
-Kintyre, whereupon he followed him, supposing to find him in the castle
-there. But upon his taking possession thereof, and discovering none but
-his wife, and Nigel de Bruce, his brother, he hanged up Nigel and all
-the rest who were with him, excepting only her. Bruce, therefore,
-growing exceedingly exasperated at this his great cruelty, raised all
-the power he could, and giving battle to him, forced him to flee to the
-castle of Ayr. Soon after this, being with King Edward, on his
-death-bed, at Burgh-upon-the-Sands, not far from Carlisle, he was one of
-those whom the King desired to be good to his son, and not to suffer
-Piers de Gaveston to come into England again, to set him in riot; for
-which he was much hated by Piers, as divers others of the nobility were,
-being called by him <span class="eng">Joseph the Jew</span>, in regard that he was tall, and pale
-of countenance.&mdash;[Chronicle.]</p>
-
-<p>But as it would far exceed our present limits to notice all that the
-chronicles<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_297" id="page_297">{297}</a></span> have recorded of him, we conclude with a few brief
-particulars:&mdash;In the second of Edward II. he was sent with Otto de
-Grandison and others to the Pope upon special business; he next joined
-the Earl of Lancaster and others in the design of putting down
-Gaveston&mdash;agreeably to the promise he had made to the dying King; so
-likewise with John de Warren, Earl of Surrey, in the siege of
-Scarborough Castle, in which Gaveston had taken refuge; and having there
-seized upon him, intended to have carried him to Wallingford, but
-lodging him at Deddington in Oxfordshire, he was taken thence in the
-night by the Earl of Warwick, and by him beheaded on Blacklow Hill, near
-Warwick, where a monument has been erected to perpetuate the deed.</p>
-
-<p>Three years after this, the Earl was sent again to Rome, and obtained a
-grant in general tail from the King, of the house and place called the
-“New Temple” in London, as also of certain lands called <i>Fleet-crofts</i>,
-with all other the lands in the city and suburbs of London, which
-belonged to the <span class="eng">Knights-Templars</span>, with remainder to the King and his
-heirs.</p>
-
-<p>In the tenth of Edward II. he was engaged in the Scottish wars; but
-before the end of that year, being taken prisoner by Sieur Moilly, a
-Burgundian, and being sent to the Emperor, he was constrained to give
-twenty thousand pounds of silver for his ransom, by reason, as Moilly
-alleged, that himself having served the King of England, had not been
-paid his wages. Upon this occasion King Edward wrote letters to divers
-foreign princes, soliciting his deliverance, which was effected; for we
-find him immediately thereafter appointed governor of Rockingham Castle,
-and heading the King’s army in Scotland. But at last, after many
-important and honourable services to the State, performed with great
-ability, he was constituted Warden of all the Forests south of Trent;
-and being still Warden of Scotland, had license to travel beyond sea.</p>
-
-<p>Upon the taking of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, at Boro’bridge, he was one
-of those who passed sentence of death upon him at Pontefract. “After
-which it was not long that he lived; for, attending Queen Isabella into
-France in 1323, he was there murdered in the month of June, by reason,”
-as the chronicle supposes, “of his having had a hand in the death of the
-Earl of Lancaster.” He left vast demesnes in England, in nine or ten
-counties, but no issue by any of his three wives.&mdash;[Chronicles.]</p>
-
-<p>His eldest sister, Elizabeth, one of his heirs, “wedded unto John, Lord
-<span class="eng">Hastings</span>, brought this dignity into a new family; for Laurence Hastings,
-his grandson, Lord of Weishford and Abergavenny, was made Earle of
-‘<span class="eng">Penbrock</span>,’<a name="FNanchor_376_376" id="FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a> by virtue of King Edward the Third, his <span class="eng">brieffe</span>, the
-copy whereof I thinke good<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_298" id="page_298">{298}</a></span> to set doune here, that we may see what was
-the right by heires generall in these honorary titles. It runs
-thus:&mdash;<span class="eng">Rex</span> omnibus ad quos ... Salutem, etc. The which being
-interpreted, is&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Know ye</span> that the good praesage of circumspection and vertue which we
-have conceived by the towardly youth and happy beginnings of our most
-welbeloved cousin <span class="eng">Laurence Hastings</span>, induce us worthily to countenance
-him with our especiall grace and favour, in those things which concerne
-the due preservation and maintenance of his honor: <span class="eng">Whereas</span>, therefore,
-the inheritance of Aimar de Valence, some time Earle of Penbrok (as he
-was stiled), deceased long since, without heire begotten of his body,
-hath beene devolved unto his sisters, proportionably to be divided among
-them and their heires: because we know for certain that the foresaid
-<span class="eng">Laurence</span>, who succeeded the said <span class="eng">Aimar</span> in part of the inheritance, is
-descended from the elder sister of <span class="eng">Aimar</span> aforesaid; and so, by the
-avouching of the learned with whom we consulted about this matter, the
-prerogative both of name and honor is due unto him: <span class="eng">Wee</span> deem it just and
-due that the same Laurence, claiming his title from the elder sister,
-assume and have the name of <span class="eng">Earl of Penbroke</span>, which the said Aimar had
-whiles he lived: which verily <span class="eng">Wee</span>, as much as lieth in Us, confirme,
-ratifie, and also approve unto him: willing and granting that the said
-<span class="eng">Laurence</span> have and hold the prerogative of Earle Palatine in those lands
-which he holdeth of the said Aimar’s inheritance, so fully and after the
-same manner as the said Aimar had and held them at the time of his
-death. In <span class="eng">witnesse</span>, the King at Mont-Martin, the thirteenth day of
-October, and in the thirteenth of oure reign.”</p>
-
-<p>And now to continue:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">After</span> Laurence, succeeded his sonne <span class="eng">John</span>, who, being taken prisoner by
-the Spaniards in a battle at sea, and in the end ransomed, died in
-France in the yeere 1375. The circumstances are these: “Having undergone
-four years’ imprisonment in Spaine, with most inhumane usage, he sent to
-Bertrand Clekyn, Constable of France, desiring that he would use some
-means for his enlargement; who thereupon interceding for him to the
-<span class="eng">Bastard</span> of Spaine, then calling himself King, obtained his liberty, in
-consideration of part of that money due to himself: which being agreed
-upon, he was brought to Paris. But after his coming thither, it was not
-long ere he fell mortally sick of poysin, as some thought, given him by
-the Spaniards, who were reputed to have such a special faculty in that
-<span class="eng">art</span>, as that the potion should kill at what distance of time they
-pleased. The French, therefore, seeing his death approaching, being
-eager to get his ransom before he died, made haste to remove him to
-<span class="eng">Calais</span>; but on his journey thitherward he departed this life, upon the
-xvi. day of April, leaving his sonne and heire only two and a half years
-old.”</p>
-
-<p>Agreeably to the superstition of the time, all his misfortunes and death
-were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_299" id="page_299">{299}</a></span> looked upon as judgments, for various alleged offences committed
-against the Church revenues: recommending that the clergy should be
-taxed more than the laity&mdash;for living an ungodly life&mdash;for “everything
-that could render him hateful in the eyes of monks, whom he insulted and
-exposed.”</p>
-
-<p>After him followed his sonne <span class="eng">John</span>, second Earle of his line, who, in
-running a tilt<a name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> at Woodstock, was slaine by Syr John <span class="eng">Saint John</span>,
-casually, in the yeare 1397. And hereupon, for default of his issue,
-there fell very many possessions and fair revenewes into the King’s
-hands, as our lawiers use to speake: and the <span class="eng">Castle</span> of Penbrock was
-granted unto Francis <span class="eng">At-Court</span>, a courtier in especiell great favour, who
-commonly thereupon was called Lord Penbrock. Not long after, Humfrey,
-sonne to King Henry the Fourth, before he was Duke of Gloucester,
-received this title of his brother, King Henry the Fifth: and before his
-death Henry the Sixth granted the same in reversion&mdash;a thing not before
-heard of&mdash;to William <span class="eng">De la Pole</span>, Earle of Suffolk, after whose downfall
-the said King, when he had enabled Edmund of <span class="eng">Wadham</span>, and Jasper of
-<span class="eng">Hatfield</span>, the sonnes of Queen Katherine, his mother, to be his lawfull
-half brethren, created <span class="eng">Jasper</span> Earle of Penbroke, and <span class="eng">Edmund</span> Earl of
-Richmond, with pre-eminence to take place above all Earles&mdash;for Kings
-have absolute authority in dispensing honours. But King Edward the
-Fourth, depriving Jasper of all his honours by attainder and forfeiture,
-gave the title of <span class="eng">Penbrok</span> to Syr William <span class="eng">Herbert</span>, for his good service
-against Jasper in Wales;<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> but he shortly afterwards lost his life at
-the battle of Banbury. Then succeeded his son, bearing the same name,
-whome King Edward the Fourth, when he had recovered the kingdom,
-invested in the Earldom of Huntingdon, and bestowed the title of
-<span class="eng">Penbrok</span>, being surrendered, upon his eldest sonne and heire, <span class="eng">Edward</span>
-Prince of Wales.&mdash;[Chronicle.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_300" id="page_300">{300}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Long after this period, “<span class="eng">Henry</span> the Eighth invested <span class="eng">Anne</span> Bollen, to whom
-he was affianced, Marchioness of Penbroke, with a mantle and coronet, in
-regard both of her nobility and also her virtues&mdash;for so runne the
-wordes of the patent. At length King <span class="eng">Edward</span> the Sixth adorned Sir
-William Herbert, lord of <span class="eng">Caerdiff</span>, with the title of Earl of Penbroke,
-after whom succeeded his sonne Henry, who was Lord President of <span class="eng">Wales</span>
-under Queen Elizabeth. And now”&mdash;says our old <span class="eng">King-at-arms</span>, speaking
-courteously of his contemporaries&mdash;“his sonne, richly accomplished with
-all laudable endowments of body and minde, enjoyeth the same title. And
-this family of Herberts, he concludes, is honourable, and of great
-antiquity in these parts of Wales, as lineally propagated from Henry
-Fitz-Herbert, Chamberlayne to King Henry the First, who married the said
-King’s <span class="eng">Paramour</span>, the mother of Reginald, Earle of Cornwall, as I was
-first informed by Robert <span class="eng">Glover</span>, a man passing skilfull in the study of
-genealogies, by whose untimely death that knowledge hath sustained a
-great losse.”</p>
-
-<p>So much for the Genealogy of the old lords of Pembroke. In this
-department of history&mdash;the tracing of genealogies&mdash;in which the Cambrian
-families are proverbially expert, but which others affect to ridicule,
-we must not omit the defence of a learned Welshman: “That there have
-been,” says he, “parasites in the art, must be acknowledged; and family
-pride may sometimes have been flattered. However, upon the whole, much
-credit is due to our ancient genealogists, who were appointed and
-patronized by Royalty, and professed that art prior to their initiation
-into the higher mysteries of <span class="eng">Bardism</span>. Their records are still extant,
-and bear every mark of authenticity. A bard and a <i>genealogist</i> were
-synonymous; and though a bard can plead <i>licentia poetica</i>, yet fiction
-was not allowed in recording the actions of their heroes,<a name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> nor in
-registering the descent of families. The Welsh bards continued their
-genealogical pursuits down to the reign of Elizabeth; therefore, as
-Humphrey Lwyd, a learned antiquary and historian, observes: “Let such
-disdainful heads as cant know their own grandfathers, leave their
-scoffing and taunting of Welshmen for that thing that all other nations
-in the world do glory in.” Yet, in justice to the ancient Saxons on this
-point, it must be allowed that they themselves were not altogether
-indifferent to the study of genealogy, since their deducing of their
-King Ethelwulph from <span class="eng">Adam</span> is an instance of their <i>accuracy</i> in the
-art&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Can Bourbon or Nassau go higher?”<a name="FNanchor_380_380" id="FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>On the “Herbert genealogy,” Mr. Willatt relates the following
-characteristic<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_301" id="page_301">{301}</a></span> <span class="eng">Anecdote.</span>&mdash;About two miles from Abergavenny, says he, is
-Handel&mdash;once a mansion of no less magnificence than antiquity; but in
-the present day it is only interesting from its having been the cradle
-of the ancient and numerous family of <span class="eng">Herbert</span>. Of the vast possessions
-of this family, the inheritance of the last lineal descendant, who died
-twenty years ago, had dwindled down to less than two hundred a year. But
-however reduced in fortune, his pride of ancestry had lost nothing of
-its strength or spirit by the change. Meeting a stranger one day near
-his mansion, who took an interest in the local history and natural
-beauties of the scenery, they entered into conversation.</p>
-
-<p>“And pray, Sir,” inquired the stranger, “whose is that antique-looking
-mansion before us?”</p>
-
-<p>“That, Sir,” replied the last of the Herberts, “is Handel&mdash;a very
-ancient house, for <i>out</i> of it came the Earls of <span class="eng">Pembroke</span> of the first
-line; and the Earls of Pembroke of the second line; the Lords Herbert of
-Cherburg; the Herberts of Coldbrook, Rumney, Cardiff, and York; the
-<span class="eng">Morgans</span> of Acton came <i>out</i> of it; so also did the Earl of <span class="eng">Hunsdon</span>; the
-<span class="eng">Joneses</span> of Treowen and Llanarth, and all the <span class="eng">Powells</span>. Out of this house
-also, by the female line, came the Dukes of <span class="eng">Beaufort</span>!”</p>
-
-<p>“And pray, Sir,” inquired the stranger, “who lives in it now?”</p>
-
-<p>“I, Sir&mdash;I live in it,” was the answer.</p>
-
-<p>“Then pardon me, Sir, if I presume to give you a little advice. Do not
-lose sight of so many prudent examples, but come <i>out</i> of it yourself,
-or it will assuredly fall <i>in</i> upon you, and crush you in its ruins!”</p>
-
-<p>With this digression, suggested by the subject, we return to Pembroke.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Castle.</span>&mdash;In the words of Giraldus, already quoted in our motto, the
-situation of the Castle of Pembroke is thus correctly described:&mdash;A
-tongue of the sea, shooting forth of Milford-Haven, encloseth in the
-forked end thereof the principal town of the whole country, and chief
-place of Dimetia, seated on the ridge of a certain craggy and
-long-shaped rock, from which circumstance the Britons gave it the name
-of <span class="eng">Penbro</span>, which signifies a head of the sea. Arnulph Montgomery, so
-often mentioned in the early portion of this work, was the first who
-built a temporary fortress on this promontory&mdash;a very weak and slender
-thing, God wot, says Giraldus&mdash;consisting of merely walls, held together
-by stake and turf; and which, after returning into England, he delivered
-unto Girald of <span class="eng">Windesor</span>, his constable and captain, to be kept with a
-garrison of a few soldiers. The absence of Arnulph, however, was the
-signal for immediate revolt; and the warlike inhabitants of South Wales
-hastening to the spot, laid siege to the brittle fortress. But here they
-met with such a hot reception and stubborn resistance from Girald and
-his small garrison, that they were speedily disheartened and raised the
-siege. This attack served as a warning for Girald<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_302" id="page_302">{302}</a></span> to strengthen his
-position; and he lost no time in fortifying the town and castle with
-walls and towers, sufficient to maintain him in quiet possession of the
-new territory. When this was accomplished, he began to retaliate; and
-acting upon the aggressive, invaded the surrounding country far and
-near. At length, finding himself at the head of a powerful garrison, yet
-willing to conciliate the natives&mdash;and thereby preserve his own estates
-and those of his followers free from the vexation of hostile
-irruptions&mdash;he ingratiated himself with <span class="eng">Gruffin</span>, the prince of the
-country, who gave him his sister, the beautiful <span class="eng">Nesta</span>,<a name="FNanchor_381_381" id="FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> in marriage;
-and thus cemented a friendly alliance between the native Welsh and the
-Anglo-Normans. Great prosperity followed this event, and the
-Anglo-Normans&mdash;as Giraldus Cambrensis, who was a scion of the family,
-informs us&mdash;not only maintained peace along the sea-coasts of South
-Wales, but won also the “waulls of Ireland.”</p>
-
-<p>The Giraldus de Windesor above mentioned was the first of that name; and
-is considered as the great progenitor of the Fitzgeralds of the present
-day&mdash;of whom the chief families are of Irish extraction, and familiar in
-the pages of modern history.</p>
-
-<p>It is also written in the same documents, in regard to the tenure of
-this castle and town, likewise of the “castle and town of Tenbigh, of
-the Grange of Kingswood, of the Convent of Croytargath, and of the
-manors of Castle-Martin and Tregoire, that Reginald Grey, at the
-coronation of King Henry the Fourth, made suit to carry the second
-sword, but in vain; for answer was made him, that those castles and
-possessions were in the King’s hands, in the same manner as the town and
-castle of Pembroke now are”&mdash;[that is, at the date of the present
-extract.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Siege.</span>&mdash;We now proceed to give a few details of Pembroke Castle, as
-it figures in the chronicles of <span class="eng">Richard</span> the Third and <span class="eng">Charles</span> the First.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>The more rational and less bigoted part of the nation regarded Henry,
-Earl of Richmond, as the future deliverer of the kingdom, from the
-thraldom it endured from the tyranny of the sanguinary King Richard; for
-in Henry were to be united the pretensions of both the “Houses” of York
-and Lancaster. The Earl was, meanwhile, resident in Brittany, and living
-on good terms with the duke of that Province, who appeared to favour his
-claims, and treated him with marked respect and hospitality. But the
-circumstance that more immediately favoured his accession to the throne
-of England was the following:&mdash;Morton, Bishop of Ely, was confined in
-the Castle of Brecon, in custody of Henry, Duke of Buckingham, who had
-been a minion of Richard, and a power<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_303" id="page_303">{303}</a></span>ful instrument of his advancement
-to the throne; but finding that his services in a bad cause were
-forgotten, and that Richard refused to ratify his claims to the Bohun
-estates and titles&mdash;to which he was heir&mdash;Buckingham entered warmly into
-the plans concerted by Morton and others for the recall of Richmond, and
-by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward the Fourth, to
-establish a double right to the throne. Dugdale assigns another reason
-for Buckingham’s secession from the usurper: after asserting that he was
-reinstated in those possessions which he claimed as a descendant of
-Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and giving him an abstract of the
-instrument that put him in possession, he adds his opinion on the
-alteration which took place in his political sentiments, and ascribes it
-either to a remorse of conscience for raising Richard to the throne,
-after the murder of his nephews, or finding himself neglected by him:
-but with this question we have nothing to do.<a name="FNanchor_382_382" id="FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> Having concerted the
-plan of elevating Richmond to the throne, the secret was intrusted to
-Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, and Richard Kyffin, Dean of Bangor&mdash;both strenuous
-friends of the House of Lancaster&mdash;who transmitted, by means of
-fishing-boats, the necessary intelligence to the Earl of Richmond, with
-assurance of all possible aid on his arrival in Wales. This was an
-occasion too alluring for the Welsh Bards to continue silent; one of
-whom, Dafydd ap Llwyd ap Llywelyn ap Dryffyd, lord of Mathafarn, an
-illustrious poet and herald, rendered himself very serviceable in the
-cause. His dark, mysterious, Pythonic prophecies, that a chieftain of
-Wales would liberate the nation from Saxon bondage, so wrought upon the
-valour of his countrymen, that many thousands enlisted under the banner
-of Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, who afterwards joined Richmond on his arrival at
-Milford.</p>
-
-<p>Apprized of the state and feeling of the country, and of the facilities
-which were now presented to him of recovering his position and station,
-Henry embraced the invitation as a message from Heaven; and, in the
-month of August, 1485, set sail for England. For this enterprise the
-Duke of Brétagne furnished him with a military force of two thousand
-men; and, with these distributed in a small fleet, he landed at
-Milford-Haven, where he was received with joy and acclamation by a vast
-concourse of friends, who now openly espoused his cause and predicted
-his triumph.</p>
-
-<p>From Milford, Richmond proceeded to Dale and Haverfordwest, where he was
-joined by the above-named Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, Arnold Butler, Richard
-Gryffydd, John Morgan, Sir George Talbot, with the young Earl of
-Shrewsbury, his ward, Sir William Stanley, lord of Bromfield Yale and
-Chirkland, Sir Thomas Burchier, and Sir Walter Hungerford.<a name="FNanchor_383_383" id="FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a></p>
-
-<p>After a most hospitable reception at Carew Castle, it was agreed, in
-order to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_304" id="page_304">{304}</a></span> prevent disputes between the armies, that in the march to
-Shrewsbury, the Earl should shape his course to Cardigan, and Sir
-Rhys-ap-Thomas by Carmarthen. In this march, Dafydd-ap-Ievan had the
-honour of entertaining the illustrious Prince and his army at
-Llwyn-Dafydd, Cardiganshire, for one night; and the following night he
-was received with loyal enthusiasm at Wern-Newyd, by Einon-ap-Dafyd
-Llwyd. To Dafydd-ap-Ievan the Earl presented a superb hirlas, or
-drinking-horn, richly mounted on a silver stand, which was afterwards
-presented to Richard, Earl of Carbery, and may still be seen<a name="FNanchor_384_384" id="FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a> at
-Golden Grove, the seat of Lord Cawdor, Carmarthen.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Pride of feasts, profound and blue,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Of the ninth wave’s azure hue;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The drink of heroes formed to hold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With art enriched and lid of gold.”&mdash;<i>Hoare’s Gir.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>From his hospitable quarters in Cardiganshire, Richmond sallied forth to
-meet the usurper; and marching through Shrewsbury, Newport, Stafford,
-and Lichfield, encountered him at Bosworth&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“What, ho! young Richmond, ho! ’tis Richard calls thee!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">I hate thee, Harry, for thy blood of Lancaster!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Now, if thou dost not hide thee from my sword,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Now, while the angry trumpet sounds alarms<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And dying groans transpierce the wounded air;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Richmond, I say, come forth and singly face me!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Richard is hoarse with daring thee to arms!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The fate of that day is so familiar in the page of Shakspeare, that we
-close this part of our subject, and proceed to other particulars:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Anecdote.</span>&mdash;Of one of Richmond’s adherents, the following is told by
-Turner in his “History of Remarkable Providences:”&mdash;Mr. Henry Wyatt, a
-gentleman of Kent, was a confederate in the plan, and intrusted with the
-correspondence between the friends of the Earl, which he conducted with
-great personal risk, but the greatest fidelity, being the bearer of
-several dispatches to and from the parties at home and abroad. But at
-last his conduct being suspected, he was arrested, examined, and
-discharged for want of conclusive evidence. But on a second charge being
-brought against him, he was committed to the Tower, and there put to the
-torture; but such were his fortitude and resolution, that nothing could
-be drawn from him either to prove his own participation in the designs
-laid to his charge, or to incriminate others. Finding threats, tortures,
-and fair promises alike unavailing, he was cast into a dungeon, fed upon
-bread and water, and thus continued until the question of supremacy was
-decided by the battle of Bosworth Field. The pittance, it is said, to
-which he was condemned, would have been quite inadequate to support
-nature, <i>had not a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_305" id="page_305">{305}</a></span> cat brought him food daily</i>. He lived to be made a
-baronet, in compliment to his unflinching loyalty, and served in the
-Privy Council of Henry VII.-VIII.</p>
-
-<p>A picture is said to be still preserved in the family, in which a cat is
-represented creeping in at a grate&mdash;having a pigeon in its mouth&mdash;with
-these lines:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Hunc. macrum. rigidum. mæstum. fame. frigore. cura<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Pavi. fovi. acui. carne. calore. joco.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Cromwell</span>, before marching against the Scottish army, thought it
-advisable to suppress the returning loyalty of South Wales, which had
-recently defeated the Parliamentary forces. The town and castle of
-Pembroke had been consigned by Parliament to the government and defence
-of Colonel Poyer; but on his declaring for the King, the “gallant
-conduct of himself and the garrison afforded a brilliant example of
-devotion to the Royal cause.” The defence was continued with so much
-obstinacy and resolution, that the presence of Cromwell himself was
-necessary for the reduction of the castle: while the garrison, having
-suffered for some time from great deficiency of provisions, was at
-last&mdash;owing, as we shall see, to Lord Jermyn’s total neglect of his
-engagements&mdash;reduced to the verge of absolute famine.</p>
-
-<p>Cromwell, in the meantime, was quite unaware of the real position of
-affairs within the walls; and thinking, from the resistance already
-offered, that the place might hold out much longer than would be
-consistent with his other plans, was on the point of raising the siege.
-But while this question was agitating his mind, a deserter from the
-Royalist camp brought him intelligence that, owing to the pressure of
-famine, it was impossible that Poyer and his companions could maintain
-their post beyond twenty-four hours. This unexpected news determined him
-to continue the siege; but however much he prized his timely
-information, he determined to express his abhorrence of the “informer;”
-and&mdash;as a salutary warning to all traitors&mdash;he ordered him to be hanged.</p>
-
-<p>It has been doubted, however, whether, in his “military capacity,”
-Cromwell was ever in this part of Wales&mdash;though Mr. Yorke allows that he
-might have made a friendly visit there; for in an old house at Kinmael,
-that once belonged to the Llwyds, of the tribe of Maredudd&mdash;but at that
-period to Colonel Carter, an officer in his favour&mdash;there is a room
-called <span class="eng">Cromwell’s parlour</span>; and, with other circumstances taken into
-consideration, little doubt, he thinks, can be entertained of Cromwell’s
-having in person conducted the siege of Pembroke.<a name="FNanchor_385_385" id="FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_306" id="page_306">{306}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>But the following documents, written by Oliver Cromwell himself, are
-conclusive:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“To Major Thomas Saunders, at Brecknock, these:</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“Before <span class="smcap">Pembroke</span>, 17th June, 1648.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I send you this enclosed by itself, because it’s of greater
-moment. The other you may communicate to Mr. Ramsey, as far as you
-think fit, and I have written. I would not have him and other
-honest men be discouraged that I think it not fit, at present, to
-enter into contests. It will be good to yield a little for public
-advantage; and truly that is my end: wherein I desire you to
-satisfy them. I have sent, as my letter mentions, to have you
-remove out of Brecknockshire; indeed, into that part of
-Glamorganshire which lieth next Monmouthshire. For this end: We
-have plain discoveries that Sir Trevor Williams of Llangibby,” &amp;c.,
-[is suspected, and must be <i>secured</i>. See “Raglan,” page 178.]</p></div>
-
-<p>Again&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">Pembroke</span>, June 28.&mdash;I have some few days since despatched horse
-and dragoons for the North. I sent them by the way of Winchester;
-thinking it fit to do so in regard of this enclosed letter, which I
-received from Colonel Dukenfield: requiring them to give him
-assistance on the way.”... “Here is, as I have formerly acquainted
-your Excellency, a very desperate enemy, who, being put out of all
-hope of mercy, are resolved to endure to the uttermost extremity,
-being very many of them gentlemen of quality, and men thoroughly
-resolved. They have made some notable sallies upon
-Lieutenant-Colonel Reade’s quarter, to his loss. [Reade had been
-intrusted with the siege of Tenby, ended June 2, and was now
-assisting at the reduction of Pembroke.] We are forced to keep
-divers posts, or else they would have relief, or their horse break
-away; our foot about them are four and twenty hundred; we always
-necessitated to have some in garrisons. The country, since we sat
-down before this place, have made two or three insurrections, and
-are ready to do it every day. So that&mdash;what with looking to them,
-and disposing our horse to that end, and to get us in provisions,
-without which we should starve&mdash;this country being so miserably
-exhausted and so poor, and we with no money to buy victuals.
-Indeed, whatever may be thought, it’s a mercy we have been able to
-keep our men together in the midst of such necessity, the
-sustenance of the foot, for most part, being but bread and water.
-Our guns, through the unhappy accident at Berkley, are not yet come
-to us; and, indeed, it was a very unhappy thing they were brought
-thither, the wind having been always so cross, that since they were
-recovered from sinking, they could not come to us: and this place
-not being to be had without fit instruments for battering&mdash;except
-by starving. And truly I believe the enemy’s straits do increase
-upon them; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_307" id="page_307">{307}</a></span> that within a few days an end will be put to this
-business&mdash;which surely might have been before, if we had received
-things wherewith to have done it....”</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">Pembroke</span>, July 11, 1648.&mdash;To Hon. W. Lenthal, Esq., Speaker of the
-House of Commons.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;The town and castle of Pembroke were surrendered to me this
-day, being the eleventh of July, upon the provisions which I send
-you here enclosed. [See Rushworth, vol. vii., 1190.] What arms,
-ammunition, victuals, ordnance, or other necessaries of war, are in
-the town, I have not to certify you&mdash;the commissioners I sent in to
-receive the same not being yet returned, nor like suddenly to be;
-and I was unwilling to defer giving you an account of this mercy
-for a day. The persons excepted are such as have formerly served
-you in a very good cause; but being now apostatized, I did rather
-make election of them than of those who had always been for the
-King, judging their iniquity double, because they have sinned
-against so much light, and against so many evidences of divine
-Providence going along with and prospering a just cause, in the
-management of which they themselves had a share.</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-“I rest your humble servant, <span class="smcap">Ol. C.</span>”<br />
-</p></div>
-
-<p>[Colonel Poyer has had to surrender the castle; Maj.-Gen. Laugharne and
-certain other “persons excepted,” have had to surrender at mercy; a
-great many more on terms. “Pembroke happily is down, and the Welsh war
-is ended.”]</p>
-
-<p>The “certain persons” here alluded to were Colonels Laugharne, Powel,
-and Poyer. They were tried by court-martial and found guilty; but
-Parliament having determined to punish only one, three papers were given
-to them, on two of which were written, “Life given by God;” the blank
-paper fell into the hands of the unfortunate Poyer, and served as his
-death-warrant.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p>Of these three officers&mdash;“heads of the insurrection in South
-Wales”&mdash;Clarendon gives the following account:&mdash;“Laugharne, Powel, and
-Poyer, commanded those parts under the Parliament, which they had served
-from the beginning. The first of them was a gentleman of good
-extraction, and a fair fortune in land in those counties, who had been
-bred a page under the Earl of Essex, when he had a command in the Low
-Countries, and continued his dependence upon him afterwards, and was
-much in his favour; and by that relation was first engaged in the
-rebellion, as many other gentlemen had been without wishing ill to the
-King. The second, Powel, was a gentleman too, but a soldier of fortune:
-the third, Poyer, had from a low trade raised himself in the war to the
-reputation of a very diligent and stout officer, and was at this time
-trusted by the Parliament with the government of the town and castle of
-Pem<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_308" id="page_308">{308}</a></span>broke. These three communicated their discontents to each other, and
-all thought themselves ill-requited by the Parliament for the services
-they had done, and that other men, especially Colonel Mitten, were
-preferred before them; and resolved to take the opportunity of the Scots
-coming in, to declare for the King upon the Presbyterian account. But
-Laugharne, who was not infected with any of these freaks, and doubted
-not to reduce the other two when it should be time to sober resolution,
-would not engage till he first sent a confidant to Paris, to inform the
-Prince of what he had determined, and of what their wants consisted,
-which if not relieved, they should not be able to pursue their purpose,
-desiring to receive orders for the time of their declaring, and
-assurance that they should in time receive those supplies they stood in
-need of. And the Lord Jermyn sent him a promise under his hand, ‘that he
-should not fail of receiving all the things he had desired, before he
-could be pressed by the enemy,’ and therefore conjured him and his
-friends ‘forthwith to declare for the King, which, he assured them,
-would be of singular benefit and advantage to his Majesty’s service,
-since, upon the first notice of their having declared, the Scottish army
-would be ready to march into England.’ Hereupon they presently declared,
-before they were provided to keep the field for want of ammunition and
-money, and when Pembroke was not supplied with provisions for above two
-months, and were never thought of after.”</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">Pembroke Castle</span> contained many elegant apartments, appropriated to the
-use of its lords, in one of which <span class="eng">Henry</span> VII. first saw the light of day.
-In the inner ward stands the <span class="eng">Keep</span>, a circular tower of vast strength and
-elegant proportions. The height is computed at seventy feet, the
-interior diameter at twenty-four, and the walls from fourteen to
-seventeen feet in thickness. <span class="eng">The State Apartments</span> appear to have been
-finished in a style of great elegance. On the north of the great tower
-is a long range of apartments, which seem to be of more recent
-construction, or to have been modernised in later times by one or other
-of its titled proprietors. From this part of the castle a staircase
-communicates with Leland’s “marvellus vault callid the Hogan”&mdash;a large
-cavern in the rock, opening upon the water, and extending a great way
-under the buildings. The entrance is now partially walled up, and formed
-into a spacious doorway. The name <i>Hogan</i>&mdash;which has occasioned some
-discussion among antiquaries and etymologists&mdash;is probably derived from
-<i>ogof</i> or <i>ogov</i>, the British name for a cavern. This castle is justly
-considered one of the most splendid remnants of military architecture in
-the United Kingdom; and, from the state of preservation in which it is
-maintained, the design and execution of every compartment may still be
-traced with accuracy and precision.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_024.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_024.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Pembroke Castle.</i></p>
-
-<p>Interior of the Great Court.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_309" id="page_309">{309}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CARDIFF_CASTLE" id="CARDIFF_CASTLE"></a>CARDIFF CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Glamorganshire.</span></h2>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_309.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_309_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="C" /></a></span><span class="eng">ARDIFF</span>, a neat and well-built town, stands at the mouth
-of the river Taafe, from which it probably derives its name.<a name="FNanchor_386_386" id="FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> Its
-chief ornaments are the church and the castle&mdash;the latter a structure of
-great antiquity, and now converted into a modern residence, in which the
-features of a Norman stronghold are made to harmonize with the
-embellishments of a refined age; and where, instead of prancing steeds
-and bristling spears, the <i>ballia</i> are lined with wallflower,
-shrubberies, and all those tranquil emblems, which indicate the reign of
-peace, and the cultivation of taste. Such innovations and refinements,
-however, are rather out of character with the place.</p>
-
-<p>The town, when such protection was necessary, was surrounded by a wall,
-flanked with towers, and fit to resist and repulse an army of besiegers;
-but these warlike appendages, like those who built them, have passed
-away, and left behind them little more than the tradition of their
-massive strength and number. The towers, as well as the castle, were the
-work of Fitz-Hamon, who, as already noticed, possessed himself of
-Glamorganshire at the close of the eleventh century, and divided the
-spoils among his retainers. The following account of his
-expedition&mdash;somewhat different from the chronicle above quoted&mdash;is from
-Caradoc of Llancarvan:<a name="FNanchor_387_387" id="FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a>&mdash;About the same time also died Cadifor, the
-son of Calhoyn, lord of Dyfed, whose sons, Llewellyn and Eineon, moved
-Gruffydh-ap-Meredith to take up arms against his sovereign prince,
-Rhys-ap-<span class="eng">Twdor</span>, with whom they joined all the forces they could levy
-among their tenants and dependants; and then passing with their army to
-Llandydoch, boldly challenged Rhys to fight; who thereupon gave them
-battle, and after an engagement, maintained with great resolution on
-both sides, the rebels were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_310" id="page_310">{310}</a></span> at length put to flight, and so closely
-pursued that Gruffydh was taken prisoner, and executed as a traitor. But
-his brother Eineon making his escape, and not daring to trust himself to
-any of his kindred, fled to Jestyn-ap-Gurgant, lord of Morgannwe, then
-in actual rebellion against <span class="eng">Prince Rhys</span>. And, to ingratiate himself the
-more in Jestyn’s favour, he promised, on the performance of certain
-articles&mdash;one of which was, that he should receive his daughter in
-marriage&mdash;that he would bring over to his aid a considerable body of
-Normans, with whom he was intimately acquainted, from the fact of his
-having served with them in England. These articles being agreed to,
-Eineon hastened across the frontier, and soon prevailed on Fitz-Hamon
-and his knights to take up the cause of Jestyn. Early in the spring they
-arrived in Glamorganshire, and joining Jestyn marched with their
-combined forces into the dominions of Prince Rhys, where, without the
-least show of mercy to his countrymen, <span class="eng">Eineon</span>, by his own example,
-encouraged the Normans to destroy all that came before them. The prince,
-then more than ninety-eight years of age, and sadly grieved to find his
-people and territory so unmercifully harassed, speedily raised an army
-and marched against the invaders. They met near Brecknock, and there,
-after a most sanguinary engagement, the venerable prince fell at the
-head of his army, and left his country a prey to Norman domination.
-Having discharged their stipulated service, and received the promised
-reward, <span class="eng">Fitz-Hamon</span> and his army prepared to embark for England. But
-before they set sail, Eineon made his complaint that Jestyn had
-ungratefully affronted him, and absolutely refused&mdash;now that the Normans
-were dismissed&mdash;to make good the conditions previously agreed upon
-between them; and such was the malignity of his revenge, that he
-resolved rather to see his country pass under the yoke of the Normans,
-than continue under the dominion of a chief who could thus forget the
-hand that had procured him the victory. He therefore made use of every
-argument most likely to influence the Norman spirit, and prevailed. They
-returned from their ships and prepared for another campaign; and great
-was the surprise of <span class="eng">Jestyn</span> when he learned that the friends whom he had
-so lately dismissed laden with the reward of their services, and
-satisfied with his liberality, were again on shore with the avowed
-intention of engaging him in mortal conflict. He now lamented his folly
-in having so rashly broken his promise with Eineon; but that was an
-error which it was now too late to rectify. The Norman standard was once
-more waving from the adjoining heights. The soldiers were animated with
-the prospect of another victory&mdash;the rich spoils they were to share&mdash;and
-charmed with the accounts which Eineon had promulgated among them, as
-baits to their cupidity, of the fertile settlements that here awaited
-them. The conflict was brief. Jestyn had little to oppose to men who
-were resolved to possess themselves of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_311" id="page_311">{311}</a></span> the country. Unable to protract
-the contest, he abandoned his lordship of Glamorgan to the invader, and
-retired into obscurity&mdash;there to meditate on his own folly, and the
-degradation to which it had reduced him.</p>
-
-<p>The Normans, as usual, took the “lion’s share.” They divided the best
-portions of the soil&mdash;all that was most pleasant and productive&mdash;among
-themselves; and left only the mountainous and craggy ground to Eineon,
-with whatever enjoyment a sense of gratified revenge, and the voluntary
-subjugation of his country, was calculated to furnish. From this moment
-the Normans were established in Wales; and soon began to erect those
-monuments of their sway, which it is our present object to notice and
-illustrate.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_311.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_311.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Curthose Tower.</span>&mdash;The apartment where Prince Robert was confined by his
-unnatural brother, is traditionally known as “Curthose’s Tower.” So in
-Chepstow Castle, the keep is distinguished as “Marten’s Tower;” but
-between the fate of the two prisoners, who have left their names thus
-associated, there is no resemblance. The more illustrious the captive,
-the more dismal was the cell in which he was immured. It must have been
-at all times a wretched<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_312" id="page_312">{312}</a></span> dungeon, such only as a malignant fiend would
-have assigned to its human victim. A ray of light, barely sufficient to
-distinguish the difference between night and day, is admitted by a small
-square hole perforated through the wall upwards; and the mere fact of
-his having existed in this dreary cell for the long period of twenty-six
-years, proves that Robert Curthose must have possessed no ordinary
-degree of fortitude and resignation. But the courage inspired by
-conscious innocence is proof against the machinations of Fortune&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“He that has light within his own clear breast,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">May sit i’ th’ centre and enjoy bright day;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Benighted walks under the mid-day sun&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Himself is his own dungeon.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The sufferings inflicted upon Robert in this dismal prison, are a theme
-on which the old chronicles dilate with painful minuteness. It would be
-a relief to imagine that the acts of wanton cruelty practised upon the
-defenceless victim, may have been, like many other points of history,
-exaggerated or misrepresented; but, taken in connection with other deeds
-of the time, there is but too just grounds to conclude that the story of
-Robert’s imprisonment, and the tortures with which it was accompanied,
-is no fable, but one of those tragical dramas of real life, to which the
-force of imagination can impart no additional horror. The subject,
-although referred to in the previous volume of this work, may justify a
-few more extracts:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“But long it was not ere Duke Robert, weary of this unwonted duresse,
-sought to escape; and having to walke in the Kinge’s meadows, forests,
-and parkes, brake from his keepers without any assisters, or meanes for
-security; who being missed was presently pursued and taken in a
-quagmire, wherein his horse lay fast. Whereupon the King hearing of this
-attempt, considering that woods were no walls to restrain the fierce
-lyon, and that to play with his claws was to endanger the state,
-commanded him not onely a greater restraint and harder durance, but
-also&mdash;a thing unfit for a brother to suffer, and most unworthy for
-Beauclearke to act&mdash;both his eyes to be put out. To effect this truly
-barbarous act, he caused his head to be held in a burning basin&mdash;thereby
-avoiding the deformity of breaking the eye-balls&mdash;until the glassie
-tunicles had lost the office of retaining their light.”</p>
-
-<p>But at last, after twenty-six years’ imprisonment, “through griefe
-conceived at the putting on of a faire new roabe&mdash;(too little for the
-Kinge himselfe, and therefore, ‘in kindnesse,’ says the Chronicle, ‘sent
-to Duke Robert to weare’)&mdash;he grew weary of his life, as disdaining to
-be mocked with his brother’s cast cloaths; and cursing the time of his
-unfortunate nativity, refused thenceforth to take any sustenance, and so
-pined himselfe to death.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_313" id="page_313">{313}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Cardiff</span>, in later times, was a point on which Owen Glendower discharged
-his vengeance. The inhabitants of Glamorganshire, as descendants of the
-Norman conquerors above named, were pre-eminently distinguished for
-their loyalty to the King, and their oppression of the natives. But now
-they were to feel “the dire resentment of an irritated injured
-countryman.” The visit of Ivor Bach to Fitz-Hamon was not more welcome
-than this of Owen to his descendants. “Ivor Bach, a Briton,” says
-Camden, “who dwelt in the mountains, a man of small stature but of
-resolute courage, marched by night with a band of soldiers, and seized
-Cardiff Castle, carrying away William, Earl of Gloucester, Fitz-Hamon’s
-grandson by the daughter, together with his wife and son, whom he
-detained prisoners until he had received full satisfaction for all
-former injuries.” The residence of this renowned Briton was Castell
-Goch, an outport of Cardiff. He was attached to the daughter of
-Jestyn-ap-Gwrgant above named; and being rejected as a suitor for her
-hand, he stormed Cardiff Castle, carried her off by force; but, being
-overtaken in his retreat near a valley called Pant-coed Ivor, he fell
-under the swords of his pursuers.</p>
-
-<p>To return to Glendower: “Having burnt, pursuant to his desolating
-system, the Bishop’s palace of Llandaff and other houses, he proceeded
-to Cardiff, which he also consigned to the flames.” The town in these
-days contained many religious houses&mdash;“a goodly priory founded by
-Robert, the first Earl of Gloucester; a priory of Black Monks, or
-Benedictines; a house of Black Friars in Crokerton Street; a house of
-Grey Friars, dedicated to St. Francis, under the custody or wardship of
-Bristol; and also a house of White Friars.” None of these houses
-experienced any favour from Glendower except the Franciscans, who,
-having been firm adherents to King Richard, and on good terms with Owen,
-escaped the conflagration; for the whole town was burnt down except the
-street where their monastery stood. In this destructive raid through
-Glamorganshire, he demolished the ancient Castle of <span class="eng">Penmarc</span>, which
-belonged to Gilbert Humphreville, one of Fitz-Hamon’s knights, before
-named; and which has remained in ruins ever since.<a name="FNanchor_388_388" id="FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> But we need not
-prosecute these records of a barbarous age further than our subject
-demands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_314" id="page_314">{314}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="TENBY_CASTLE" id="TENBY_CASTLE"></a>TENBY CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Pembrokeshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“Terra hæc triticea est marinis piscibus, vino que venali copiose
-referta; et quod omnibus præstat, ex Hiberniæ confinio aëris
-salubritate temperata.”&mdash;<i>Gyraldus.</i></p></div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_314.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_314_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="T" /></a></span><span class="eng">ENBY</span>, so justly celebrated in the present day as a
-delightful watering-place, possesses in its traditions and antiquities
-many features of deep interest to the archæologist; and although not
-selected as a subject of special illustration in this work, it is fully
-entitled to the admiration of the tourist&mdash;whether in search of health,
-the gray landmarks of History, or studying the picturesque face of
-Nature in one of her most delightful aspects. Part of its buildings
-occupy the crest of an almost insulated tongue of land projecting into
-the sea; others slope down gradually to the harbour at its foot; while
-the extreme point of the promontory is crowned with the ruins of the
-Castle. “Nothing,” to quote the words of a late sketch,<a name="FNanchor_389_389" id="FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> “can be
-prettier than its little bay, encircled with rocks of romantic unusual
-form, and beautiful warm rich colouring, in some places overhung with
-wood, more crystalline than the emerald sea which washes their base, or
-more white and firm than the rim of sand which encircles it. In addition
-to these, the expanse of sea is everywhere magnificent. Nothing can
-surpass the view from the highest part of the town, where it overlooks
-the busy little Harbour&mdash;the Castle&mdash;the Bay, with Caldy Island; the
-black Rocks of Giltar Point&mdash;the distant Mountains of
-Carmarthenshire&mdash;and the Peninsula of Gower, with its conspicuous and
-fantastic termination&mdash;the Worm’s Head Promontory.</p>
-
-<p>“To these natural beauties must be added the mingling of old-world
-relics with its modern buildings; traces of towers and fortifications,
-antiquated back streets, and crumbling fragments of the Castle, hanging
-over the verge of its sea-beaten rock. But a still greater
-recommendation to ordinary visitors is the extreme purity and softness
-of the air, the neatness and cleanliness of the streets,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_315" id="page_315">{315}</a></span> the quiet yet
-cheerful look of the place, and the romantic coast-scenery of the
-neighbourhood, with the ruins of castles and other buildings thickly
-studded within the circuit of a few miles.” With all these before us, it
-may well be questioned whether any other watering-place in the kingdom
-can offer a combination of attractions equal to those of Tenby.</p>
-
-<p>The town appears to have derived its earliest importance from its
-fisheries;<a name="FNanchor_390_390" id="FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> and this, added to the many obvious advantages of its
-site, at a time when the Anglo-Norman lords made their first successful
-descent upon these shores, clearly pointed it out as a fit locality for
-the establishment of a new colony, and the erection of a strong castle
-for their protection. When the Flemish settlers&mdash;after being driven from
-their own home by successive inundations&mdash;had this coast assigned to
-them, the prosperity of Tenby became gradually accelerated and secured.
-Under the example of that industrious people, who had brought with them
-a more refined knowledge of commercial intercourse and its numerous
-advantages, the harbour was improved, the population of the town were
-soon engaged in an extensive woollen manufactory, which, with an
-increase of inland and foreign traffic, gradually enriched and enlarged
-the place. The commercial spirit of the inhabitants, by increasing the
-wealth of the native lords, procured for Tenby the numerous privileges
-and immunities which it received under successive governments; while the
-Earls of Pembroke, much to their honour, were liberal and munificent in
-the foundation and endowment of religious and charitable institutions.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">History.</span>&mdash;Among the historical facts in the records of Tenby, is the
-escape of Richmond, afterwards Henry the Seventh, from this harbour, by
-the connivance of Thomas White, the mayor. “Henry, who had been besieged
-in Pembroke Castle, succeeded at last in passing the guard, and making
-his way to the nearest harbour, where he meant to embark for the
-continent.” Here he was received by the mayor, a wealthy wine merchant,
-whose commercial intercourse with France gave him every facility for
-serving the Prince in this necessitous position of his fortunes. He was
-no sooner aware that young Richmond and his mother were in need of his
-advice and aid, than he provided them with a temporary shelter from all
-danger of their enemies; and as soon as a vessel could be got ready,
-conducted them on board, and placing the royal fugitives under the care
-of a skilful and trusty skipper, commended them to Heaven, and saw them
-safely entered on their prosperous voyage to Brittany.</p>
-
-<p>It is pleasing to add that, when the fortunes of Richmond had placed him
-on the throne, the generous conduct of the worthy mayor of Tenby was
-not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_316" id="page_316">{316}</a></span> forgotten. The royal favour was expressed by giving him a
-life-grant of the King’s lands in and around Tenby, with all the
-privileges thereto belonging; and thus making him, in his own person and
-experience, a pleasing exception to the proverbial ingratitude of
-princes.</p>
-
-<p>The town was formerly&mdash;and so long as fortifications were
-indispensable&mdash;a place of great strength. But of the massive walls and
-gates, by which it was attached to the Castle as a citadel, the remains
-present no features of paramount interest, except, perhaps, to the
-plodding antiquary, whose eyes penetrate far below the surface, and
-trace bastions and circumvallations where ordinary men see nothing but
-the weeds that cover them.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Church</span> is a capacious edifice&mdash;not remarkable for its architecture,
-but with a lofty spire which, like most others on the coast, serves as
-an imposing landmark. Churches, dedicated to St. Nicholas, were
-generally planted on some commanding eminence overlooking the sea; so
-that a glimpse of the sacred landmark might inspire the bewildered
-mariner with fresh courage to renew the struggle, or new light to direct
-his course, when overtaken by storms or darkness.</p>
-
-<p>The interior of the Church is enriched with an elaborately-carved
-ceiling, and various sepulchral antiquities&mdash;some of which are curious
-and interesting. But that to which the stranger will probably turn with
-a partial eye, is the tomb of the worthy Mayor already named, containing
-the effigies of John and <span class="eng">Thomas White</span> in the quaint costume of their
-time, which it was the great merit of “old mortality” sculptors to
-imitate, in strict subserviency to the tailor and embroiderer. Here
-also&mdash;as in several other churches elsewhere&mdash;is the effigy of a human
-figure in the last stage of emaciation; supposed to be that of a Bishop
-of St. David’s, when bishops were known to fast as well as to pray.
-Perhaps of him who, in the great dearth&mdash;mentioned in a former page of
-this work&mdash;is said to have died of famine&mdash;a very improbable conjecture;
-for these exhibitions of frail mortality were only intended as monitors
-to the living, and to remind the thoughtless and idle spectators that to
-“this they must expect to come at last.” On a flat tombstone in the
-floor is an inscription which suggests revolting ideas of the barbarous
-practices that once disgraced the “inhospitable” shores of our own land.
-The words are, “Walter Vaughan, iv. Jan. 1637;” the name, as it is
-conjectured, of the once notorious “wrecker of Dunraven:” a miscreant
-who, by hanging out false lights in tempestuous weather, allured unhappy
-merchantmen, and other vessels, to the rocks; and when the sea had
-broken over them, and the crews were struggling in the arms of despair,
-descended with his fellow-ruffians to the double exercise of murder and
-plunder. Having amassed capital in this manner, he is supposed to have
-selected this coast as an “elegant retirement,” where he could enjoy
-the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_317" id="page_317">{317}</a></span> pleasures of society, without betraying the secret of his trade,
-and take his place at last among those worthies who have enriched the
-hallowed pile with their dust. We would gladly indulge the hope that
-this story, though repeated as a fact, is to be regarded only in the
-light of a fable; although every reader is aware that the wreckers of
-Cornwall were not imaginary beings.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Carmelites</span>, whose rule was founded upon that of St. Basil, had a
-house here, founded by John de Swynmore, of which the convent, or
-college, dedicated to <span class="eng">St. Mary</span>, stood near the parish church. But the
-ancient features of the town are fast passing away, and in a few years
-hence&mdash;if the march of improvement continue to advance at the same
-rate&mdash;many of the antiquities of Tenby will have become rather objects
-of faith than of sight.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Of the Castle</span>, the only portions now standing that indicate its former
-strength are a bastion and a square tower. The rest of the structure
-exhibits rather the air of a splendid mansion than of a military
-fortress. On the north are the ruins of a large hall, about a hundred
-feet in length by twenty in breadth&mdash;not the usual proportions; and near
-the grand entrance gate is another apartment, eighty feet long by thirty
-feet wide. Attached to these two apartments are several others of
-smaller dimensions&mdash;used probably as offices, or barracks for the
-garrison. The situation of this fortress was admirably adapted for
-defence. It occupied the extreme point of the promontory; and on every
-side&mdash;except that facing the town, which was strengthened by art&mdash;it was
-secured by inaccessible rocks. The original founder of this stronghold
-is supposed to have been one or other of those Anglo-Norman lords who,
-in the manner already described, rendered themselves masters of the
-country. In their wars with the native princes, this Castle became a
-frequent object of attack; and in the year 1151, it was taken by
-Meredydd and Rhys, sons of Gruffyd-ap-Rhys, who put the garrison to the
-sword, in revenge for the shelter they had given to certain persons
-charged with having attacked and wounded their brother Cadell, while
-engaged in a hunting excursion in the neighbourhood. Again, in 1186, it
-was invested by Maelgwn, son of Rhys-ap-Gruffyd, who, by bringing an
-overwhelming force against it, took the fortress, and demolished the
-works. But the history of this stronghold, like that of most others
-built and garrisoned for the same purpose, is nothing more than a
-catalogue of disasters, of siege and storm, capture and surrender; where
-spectacles of blood were followed by scenes of barbaric splendour, and
-he who conquered to-day was often to-morrow’s captive.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Corporation.</span>&mdash;Tenby was incorporated about the time of Edward the Third,
-by charters granted by the Earls of Pembroke, the provisions of which
-were afterwards confirmed and extended by Richard the Third and his
-successors. Previous to 1835, the government was vested in a mayor,
-common<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_318" id="page_318">{318}</a></span> council, and an indefinite number of burgesses&mdash;the mayor and
-common council being the governing body; and the style of the
-Corporation&mdash;“The Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses of the Borough of
-Tenby.”</p>
-
-<p>Besides the ecclesiastical buildings already noticed, there are the Town
-Hall, the Assembly Rooms, a Theatre, spacious baths, and various minor
-edifices. All these combine to give an air of taste, comfort, and
-prosperity to the borough; and present to the mind’s eye a pleasing
-contrast to the crumbling monuments of feudal vassalage, that for
-centuries held this flourishing little town in its iron grasp. The
-harbour consists of two piers, which shoot into a corner of the bay, and
-nearly encircle a small but safe spot for the anchorage of vessels. The
-woollen trade, first introduced by the Flemish settlers, has been long
-superseded. The imports are chiefly articles of domestic consumption;
-and the exports consist of butter, corn, coal, and culm. During the
-fishing season, Tenby is a station for the vessels belonging to Plymouth
-and Broxham; and the oyster-beds constitute a source of considerable
-profit to the fishermen. The prosperity of the place, however, depends
-more upon its attractions as a watering-place, than upon any advantage
-it possesses as a seaport; and in this respect, as already observed, it
-takes unquestioned precedence over the majority of those fashionable
-resorts which have so long flourished under the smile of popular favour.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Flemings.</span>&mdash;The cause which immediately led to the Flemish settlement on
-this coast is as follows:&mdash;An inundation<a name="FNanchor_391_391" id="FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> of great magnitude
-happening in the Low Countries soon after the Conquest, a vast number of
-Flemings, driven from their homes, betook themselves to their ships, and
-landing in England implored an asylum. An increase of industrious
-peaceable subjects was an object not to be overlooked by the Conqueror.
-They were accordingly received with alacrity, and treated with cordial
-hospitality. After a time these strangers were distributed over the
-country, and wherever they settled contributed to the prosperity of the
-district. “Many Flemings,” says Malmesbury, “came over to England on
-account of relationship to the mother of Henry the First, by her
-father’s side; insomuch that&mdash;like the Germans of the present day&mdash;they
-were burthensome to the kingdom.” “Farther,” says the old historian,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_319" id="page_319">{319}</a></span>
-“William Rufus had generally ill fortune against the Welsh, which one
-may well wonder at, seeing that all his attempts elsewhere were crowned
-with success. But I am of opinion that the unevenness of their country,
-and the severity of the weather, favoured their rebellion; so it
-hindered their progress. But King Henry found out an act to frustrate
-all their inventions, by planting Flemings in their country to curb and
-continually harass them. King Henry often endeavoured to reduce the
-Welsh, who were always prone to rebellion. At last, very advisedly, in
-order to abate their pride, he transplanted thither all the Flemings
-that lived in England. Wherefore, because their numbers created
-uneasiness, and were burthensome to the kingdom, he thrust them all into
-<span class="eng">Ros</span>, a province of Wales, as unto a common shore, as well to rid the
-kingdom of them, as to curb the obstinacy of his enemies.”</p>
-
-<p>To the multitude of Flemings thus disposed of, Henry the Second added,
-by banishing out of England all the Flemish soldiers who had taken
-service under King Stephen, and granting them permission to join their
-compatriots in Pembrokeshire. But although historians in general confine
-the influx of Flemish settlers to the lower part of Pembrokeshire, it is
-certain that they extended over a much wider district, namely, the whole
-sea-coast bounding the counties of Pembroke, Carmarthen, Cardigan, and
-Glamorgan. Of the Flemish colony who settled in Cardiganshire, there are
-unequivocal proofs in our own times; for their posterity, who continue
-to inhabit the tract assigned to their ancestors, differ materially from
-the aboriginal Welsh, not only in the peculiarities of speech, but in
-those physical distinctions which mark the different races of mankind.
-“There is a farm called Nant-y-Flyman,” says Mr. Thomas,<a name="FNanchor_392_392" id="FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> “in the
-parish of Verwick, two miles north of Cardigan, which is said to derive
-its name from the landing of this colony at Traeth-y-Mwnt, a small creek
-hard by. The reception they met with on disembarking, was from the
-swords of armed natives; and in the carnage that ensued, fell many of
-the best and bravest on both sides. In commemoration of this disastrous
-rencounter, several heaps of sand adjoining <span class="eng">Mount Church</span> point out to
-this day the cromlechs of the slain, and are traditionally called “the
-graves of the Flemings&mdash;Beddau’r Fflemings&mdash;where bones of gigantic size
-often make their appearance.”</p>
-
-<p>In the Welsh Chronicle, we read that the Normans and Flemings inhabited
-the county of Carmarthen, about Llanstephan&mdash;the castle of which we
-shall presently notice; and under the conduct of Girald and William de
-Hay invested the said castle. That they extended likewise coastwise to
-Glamor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_320" id="page_320">{320}</a></span>ganshire, is evident from the Gower Whittle&mdash;a provincial article
-of dress peculiar to the Flemings, and from them adopted by the Welsh in
-general. The south-west portion of Gower, according to Mr. Collins, is
-inhabited by the descendants of a colony of Flemings, who do not talk
-the Welsh language, and are distinguished by their own peculiar dress.
-They seldom intermarry with their neighbours on the north-west side of
-the Gower. Mr. Pye supposes that the Flemings in Wales still speak the
-language of Flanders; and relates that a servant, inquiring the road,
-“could not understand the language of some cottagers, nor make them to
-understand him, though a Welshman; and he was certain they did not speak
-Welsh. After much altercation, and inquiry at an alehouse, all
-ineffectually, a clergyman solves their doubts by relating that some
-Flemish families had settled in that part of South Wales, and have
-retained their language to this day.” Here, however, Mr. Pye must have
-been misinformed; for they all speak&mdash;that is, the lower class&mdash;a horrid
-provincial dialect of the English language, though not much worse than
-certain counties of England, retaining many Saxon words now obsolete,
-and unintelligible to any but an antiquary. Camden says, “They speak a
-language so agreeable with the English (which indeed has much affinity
-with the Dutch), that this small country of theirs is called by the
-Britons&mdash;‘Little England below Wales.’<span class="lftspc">”</span> “But here Mr. Pye is to be
-regarded as a novelist,” says Thomas;<a name="FNanchor_393_393" id="FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> “for his account is not
-historically true.”</p>
-
-<p>The policy of King Henry in settling these Flemings in Wales, for the
-purposes of conquest, security, and strength, was very judicious. Being
-a very warlike people&mdash;Belgæ&mdash;inevitably attached to their benefactors
-the English kings, they were always ready to join their standard, or to
-make a diversion in their favour against the Welsh. But such frontier
-military posts as surrounded the Welsh&mdash;such a cordon of warlike
-foreigners settled on their coasts&mdash;became a source of much evil to the
-natives; and altogether inadequate for the purpose which their
-introduction was intended to serve; namely, “to secure the fidelity of
-the Welsh nation”&mdash;whom, on the contrary, their harsh usage and
-oppression only contributed to alienate from the English crown, until
-their antipathy and resentment found vent in the open insurrection of
-Owen Glendower.</p>
-
-<p>The colony is thus described by Giraldus:&mdash;“Gens hæc fortis et robusta;
-continuoque belli conflictu gens Cambrensibus inimicissima, gens
-lanificiis, gens mercimoniis usitatissima, quocumque labore sive
-periculo, terra marique lucrum quærere. Gens prævalida vicissim loco et
-tempore, nunc ad arma, nunc ad aratra gens promptissima.”</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_025.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_025.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Manorbeer Castle.</i></p>
-
-<p>Near the Church.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_321" id="page_321">{321}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="MANORBEER_CASTLE" id="MANORBEER_CASTLE"></a>MANORBEER CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Pembrokeshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="eng">Manober</span> turribus et propugnaculis erat eximium, ab occidente portum
-extensum a Circio et Barea, sub ipsis muralibus vivarium habens
-egregium tam sua venustate, quam aquarum profunditate
-conspicuum.”&mdash;<i>Gyrald.</i></p></div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">MANORBEER</span>, another of those feudal strongholds with which the
-Principality abounds, possesses an additional interest as the
-birth-place of Giraldus Cambrensis, a sketch of whose life will be found
-in these pages.</p>
-
-<p>The Castle, says Leland, “stands between two little hillettes”&mdash;the
-rocky bases of which repel the fury of a boisterous sea&mdash;and is very
-imposing as we come upon it, through an antiquated village of
-Flemish-looking houses, with singular chimneys&mdash;old as the Castle
-itself. It is called Manorbeer, or Maenor Byrr, from its being the manor
-of the Lords, or the mansion or manor of Byrr. It occupies the crest of
-a hill, which commands an extensive prospect of land and sea&mdash;the latter
-expanding its waves, until they are enclosed by the distant promontory
-of St. Gowan’s Head, and presenting at times a scene of great animation
-by the numerous vessels that glide along the coast. With its sheltered
-green park on one hand, a bare hill, with the slender tower of the old
-Norman church, on the other, and the whole mass as if suspended over the
-sea-beach that takes its angle and curve from the protruding rocks, the
-scene presents a combination of features that never fail to impress the
-stranger with mingled sentiments of picturesque beauty, solitude, and
-desolation.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Castle</span> of Manorbeer is a capacious Norman edifice of the first
-class, with massive towers, ponderous and lofty gates, high embattled
-walls with loopholes, but no windows in the exterior. It presents the
-characteristic features of a stronghold, whose chief, at once hated and
-feared, retained possession of his conquered manor by no better security
-than that of armed retainers<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_322" id="page_322">{322}</a></span>&mdash;vassals and mercenaries, whose rights and
-sense of justice were measured by their swords.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Gateway</span> forms a grand and imposing feature; and through this, the
-principal entrance, we reach the interior Court, upon which the windows
-of the quadrangle open, and discover the apartments once occupied by the
-Baron and his family&mdash;who were thus barred in from the fair face of
-nature, and condemned to consider security and seclusion ample
-compensation for the sacrifice of other advantages. Here the justice was
-retributive; for he who plotted against the rights and liberties of his
-fellow-creatures, was little better than a prisoner in his own Castle;
-and, even among his sworn retainers, had often cause to suspect an
-assassin, and to be the reluctant slave of those fears which no doubling
-of his “tried sentinels” could exclude.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Outworks</span> of the Castle are extensive, and worthy appendages to what
-is considered “a perfect model of a Norman Baron’s residence,” the
-general characteristics of which were the following:&mdash;The simple rude
-tower of the Anglo-Saxon was enlarged and improved into what, taking its
-name from the builder, was called a Gundulph Keep, the entrance to which
-was at a great height. It was approached by a grand staircase, which
-went partly round two of the outside fronts of the Castle, and ended in
-a grand portal, before which was a drawbridge. The entrance was
-indispensably gradual. The first step in advance was the drawbridge,
-with a gate about the middle of the staircase, to arrive at the portal.
-Secondly, upon arriving at this point, you found it merely the entrance
-to a small annexed tower, the whole of which might be demolished without
-injury to the body of the Castle. This tower was for the use of the
-guard or sentinel. Within this tower was a sort of vestibule, and from
-thence was a second entrance&mdash;the real entrance to the Keep&mdash;through a
-second portal, placed in the thickness of the walls. Both the first and
-second portals were defended by a portcullis and double gates; so that
-there were three strong gates to be forced, and two portcullises to be
-destroyed, before even this entrance could be gained. In the thickness
-of the wall were two niches, in addition to the second portal, for
-wardours or sentinels. Besides this, there was the sally-port, another
-small entrance&mdash;ascended only by a movable ladder&mdash;which had no
-communication with the floor above, except by a “small winding
-staircase, that, from its narrowness and form, could easily be defended
-by one man, and to which additional security was provided by strong
-doors. On the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Ground floor</span>&mdash;as already observed in this Castle&mdash;there were no windows,
-very few loopholes, and those so constructed that no missile thrown in
-could reach farther than the bottom of the arch. In the first floor
-there were no windows, but only loopholes within the tower itself. In
-the second floor the windows were so high that no weapon discharged into
-them could take effect,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_323" id="page_323">{323}</a></span> as it struck the arch of the window, and
-dropped harmless on the floor. On the side near the principal entrance
-there were no windows nor lights whatever&mdash;not even loopholes on the
-same side as the entrance and top of the staircase, because, if so
-placed, they would have been exposed to an enemy who, having once gained
-the steps, was attempting to force the portal. In</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Vestibule</span> were large windows, because&mdash;as the author of the
-“Monumenta” supposes&mdash;that place was of no importance in a siege: but
-this opinion is considered by others to be untenable. A full command of
-view was here indispensable; and that this was the object may be
-inferred from the loopholes and windows being in an inverted order to
-what they are in the great one, and from the vestibule being immediately
-over the dungeon, so that, on any attempt at attack, escape or rescue
-would be detected. On the</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Third story</span>, which contained the state apartments, there was a gallery
-within the walls for the conveyance of orders. Mr. King, in his
-description of fortified buildings, has noticed a stone arch and false
-portals, a round angular tower, and an <i>affected</i> appearance of weakness
-in the small square tower and vestibule, as deceptions to mislead the
-enemy. But this, as observed by Fosbroke, is questionable; for such
-expedients do not occur in all castles of this era&mdash;and, had they been
-usual, must have been too well known to mislead the enemy. The lower
-apartments of these strongholds were reserved as storerooms for the use
-of the household and retainers.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Dungeon</span>, for the security of prisoners, was beneath the ground floor
-of the Keep, with which it communicated by a steep, dark, and narrow
-staircase. It had, of course, no windows nor loopholes; and the only
-aperture for the admission of air was a trap-door in the vestibule. A
-gutter carried off water from the floor, which, for this purpose, was
-made sloping towards it.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">In the centre</span> of the main walls were square wells, opening at bottom
-into arches, for the removal and distribution of stores to the upper
-apartments; and through the solid walls, also, flues were perforated for
-the conveyance of information by the voice. And these contrivances, with
-considerable improvements, continue in our own times to facilitate
-domestic intercourse in large establishments. In the centre of the
-partition wall&mdash;as seen at Rochester<a name="FNanchor_394_394" id="FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a>&mdash;was a well for water&mdash;like
-the shaft of a coal pit&mdash;going from the bottom of the tower up to the
-very leads; and over every successive floor were small arches in the
-wall, forming a communication between the pipe of the well and the
-several apartments, so that, by means of a pulley, water could be
-distributed to every part of the Castle. The fireplaces in general were
-semicircular arches&mdash;as already shown and described in this work. The
-chimneys were in the form of a sloping<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_324" id="page_324">{324}</a></span> cone, and terminated in
-loopholes. In some instances, as at Chepstow, they were covered
-internally with a hard glazing of cement, so as to prevent the
-accumulation and lodgment, and facilitate the removal, of fuliginous
-matter on the surface. The great chimney of Raglan Castle is a fine
-specimen of its kind, and so capacious as to appear like the
-perpendicular shaft of a deep well. The sinks are similar cones, but
-ending sideways, obliquely, to prevent the introduction of weapons. The
-great state apartments of the Castle consisted of three rooms: of these,
-the two principal ones were separated only by large arches, open at the
-top, so that there might be a free circulation of air; but under the
-arch was a partition wall, in later times of oak-panelling, for hanging
-the arras.</p>
-
-<p>Such are a few of the characteristic features of a Norman fortress of
-the twelfth and thirteenth centuries&mdash;the model upon which the great
-castles of Wales were constructed by Edward the First&mdash;of which various
-particulars have been already given, and others will be found
-interspersed in subsequent portions of this work.</p>
-
-<p>While wandering over the ruins of these dilapidated strongholds, of
-whose founders it may here be truly said&mdash;<i>stat nominis umbra</i>, we are
-humbled into a sense of the vain and fragile tenor by which all earthly
-possessions are held. “There the thistle shakes its lonely head; the
-moss whistles to the winds; the fox looks out from the windows, the rank
-grass of the wall waves round his head. Desolate is the dwelling of
-Moina; silence is in the house of her fathers.”</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Thrice happier he who tends his sheep<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Where yonder lowly cot appears;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Than Baron in his iron Keep,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Encircled by his glittering spears.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Church</span> of Manorbeer stands upon a high slope, fronting the south
-side of the Castle, and forms an interesting feature in the landscape.
-It is of Norman architecture, consisting of a tall square tower,
-chancel, and nave, divided by a row of massive and rudely-fashioned
-pillars. In the north side of the chancel is the monument of a
-Crusader&mdash;one of those enthusiastic knights, perhaps, who, having heard
-the preaching of Archbishop Baldwin, obeyed the summons and followed his
-lion-hearted Sovereign to the Holy Land. The effigy, reposing under a
-plain canopy, represents a warrior in ring and plate armour, the legs
-croisés, and the shield charged with the <span class="eng">Barri</span> arms. An effigy is also
-pointed out on the same side as that of Giraldus Cambrensis, or Barri,
-whose life and literary merits we have so often had occasion to notice.
-On the south side of the church are the remains of a “Chantry or
-Collegiate building,” erected probably by one of the Barri family, who,
-in 1092, joined Fitz-Hamon in his marauding<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_325" id="page_325">{325}</a></span> enterprise against a native
-prince of the country, and afterwards, as we have seen, divided the
-conquered land, in <span class="eng">Seigneuries</span>, among his twelve knights and retainers.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Founder</span> of Manorbeer, so far as we have ascertained, does not make
-any distinct figure in history. He was one of the mass of Norman
-warriors, who, by their collective strength, personal courage, and
-vaulting ambition, made themselves alternately the dread and the support
-of Royalty; and who&mdash;each in his feudal demesne, within the gates of his
-own castle&mdash;were absolute sovereigns. And yet few will deny, that out of
-the accumulated evils, that like clouds collected and darkened for a
-time the apparent destiny of Wales, permanent good was elicited. In the
-words of a great poet:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Still the ramparted ground<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">With a vision my fancy inspires,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And I hear the trump sound,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">As it marshalled our Chivalry’s sires.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">On each turf of that mead,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Stood the captors of England’s domains,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That ennobled her breed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And high mettled the blood in her veins!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">O’er hauberk and helm&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">As the sun’s setting splendour was thrown&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Thence they look’d o’er a realm,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And the morrow beheld it their own!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Wherever they were victorious in battle, there they built a stronghold.
-What was gained by violence, was to be held by the same means: while
-superior knowledge&mdash;superior tactics&mdash;the confidence of men accustomed
-to victory&mdash;of plausible designs and refined policy&mdash;were more than a
-match for mere “abettors in a good cause,” who could oppose nothing to
-the practised arms of the invader but the brute force of undisciplined
-hordes, whose indomitable love of home and freedom furnished them with
-courage to vindicate their country; and where that failed, with
-resolution to perish in the attempt. But we need not here enlarge upon
-the merits of a struggle which was protracted for centuries; and if at
-last the Norman made good his footing within the Welsh border, it was
-only after numerous checks and discomfitures, at a cost which no other
-nation could have incurred, and by a system of warfare in which success
-was often the result of accident, and where the laws of humanity were
-too often trampled under foot.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Giraldus Cambrensis</span> was born at Manorbeer about the year 1146. He was
-sent on three different occasions to France, for the sake of
-improvement; and prosecuted his studies with so much diligence and
-success, as to give him an honourable position among the learned men of
-that early period. He obtained great reputation in rhetoric, which soon
-brought him into notice; and he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_326" id="page_326">{326}</a></span> successively promoted, to a canonry
-in the cathedral of Hereford, and to the archdeaconry of Brecon. In the
-thirtieth year of his age he was elected, by the Chapter of <span class="eng">St. David’s</span>,
-bishop of that see; but the King’s approbation being withheld, he
-resolved to make another journey into France, and resume his studies in
-the University of Paris. On his return home, a few years afterwards, he
-found the whole country in a state of violent excitement, the canons and
-archdeacon of Menevia having joined with the inhabitants in driving out
-the bishop of that see, the administration of which was committed to
-Barri by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Under this authority he governed
-the see of <span class="eng">St. David’s</span> for three or four years, and made many
-reformations in it.</p>
-
-<p>The next event in his life was the King’s command, in 1185, to attend
-the young Prince <span class="eng">John</span> into Ireland. Two years afterwards he returned to
-Wales, and employed most of his time in writing and revising his
-<span class="eng">Topographia</span>, to which, after putting the last hand, he proceeded to
-Oxford, and read it in a public audience of the University.<a name="FNanchor_395_395" id="FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a> But the
-incident in his life which more particularly entitles him to a notice in
-this place, is the fact of his having accompanied Archbishop Baldwin in
-his progress through Wales, and with him, also, visited and described
-the principal features of the country.</p>
-
-<p>The object of this progress&mdash;as above noticed&mdash;was to preach a crusade
-for the recovery of the Holy Land, for which the lion-hearted <span class="eng">Richard</span>,
-accompanied by the flower of his nobility, had already set out.
-Giraldus, smit with the same enthusiasm which he endeavoured to kindle
-in others, took up the <span class="eng">Cross</span>. On his departure for the Holy Land, the
-King left the chief government of the realm in the hands of William
-Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, and appointed Giraldus to act with him in the
-commission; but this could not be valid until he obtained a dispensation
-from the Pope’s legate for discontinuing the voyage.</p>
-
-<p>In 1190, the Bishop of Ely and the Pope’s legate offered him the see of
-Bangor; and again, the following year, Prince John offered him the
-bishopric of Llandaff; both of which he declined, in hopes that the see
-of St. David’s, on which he had set his heart, might one day fall to his
-lot. The following year Girald retired from court; and, removing to
-Lincoln, wrote several works which bear his name. Here he continued
-until the death of Peter, Bishop of St. David’s, in 1198, when he was
-nominated to the vacant see, but rejected by Herbert, Archbishop of
-Canterbury, who sent a mandate to the Canons to elect and admit
-<span class="eng">Geoffrey</span>, Prior of <span class="eng">Llanthony</span>, for their bishop. Girald<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_327" id="page_327">{327}</a></span> appealed to the
-Pope and the Canons by letter, entreating his Holiness to consecrate
-him. He took a journey to Rome, and there presented the letter in
-person. The Prior of Llanthony, furnished with letters from the
-Archbishop, did the same; and the Pope, seeing no likelihood of the
-cause being speedily determined, appointed Giraldus administrator, both
-in spiritualities and temporalities of the bishopric of St. David’s, and
-sent him home.</p>
-
-<p>But in November, 1202, Giraldus was induced to make a third visit to
-Rome, where he continued until the 15th of April following; on which day
-the Pope gave a definitive sentence in the cause, and vacated the claims
-of both candidates. In the month of August, Giraldus returned home to
-solicit a new election; but in spite of the opposition, Geoffrey of
-Llanthony was elected by the Canons. Giraldus finding it useless to
-oppose the Archbishop, resigned all further pretensions to the see of
-St. David’s; and shortly after resigned the archdeaconry of Brecon to
-his nephew. The remainder of his life seems to have been spent in
-retirement, where he composed many works. But there is no evidence of
-his having taken an active part in any public affairs, political or
-ecclesiastical; and as he was subsequently offered the bishopric of St.
-David’s [in 1215], it was on conditions which compelled him to reject
-the very see to which he had so ardently aspired. The year of his death
-is not mentioned: but in 1220, as we ascertain from contemporary
-documents, he was still living.</p>
-
-<p>With a very excusable partiality for his native place, he has
-transmitted to posterity the following description of its beauties,
-natural and artificial:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Maenorpyrr</span> is distant about three miles from Penbroch. The Castle is
-excellently well defended by turrets and bulwarks. On the right hand a
-rivulet<a name="FNanchor_396_396" id="FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> of never-failing water flows through a valley, rendered
-sandy by the violence of the winds.”... “The country is well supplied
-with corn, seafish, and imported wines, and is tempered by a salubrious
-air. <span class="eng">Demetia</span>&mdash;or territory of St. David’s, with its seven cantreds&mdash;is
-the most beautiful as well as the most powerful district of Wales:
-Penbroch is the finest province of Demetia, and the place I have now
-described is the most delightful part of Penbroch. It is evident,
-therefore, that Maenorpyrr is the <span class="eng">Paradise</span> of all Wales.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_328" id="page_328">{328}</a></span>”</p>
-
-<h2><a name="NEATH_ABBEY" id="NEATH_ABBEY"></a>NEATH ABBEY,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Glamorganshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">“So fares it with the things of earth<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Which seem most constant: there will come the cloud<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That shall enfold them up, and leave their place<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A seat for emptiness. Our narrow ken<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Reaches too far, when all that we behold<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is but the havoc of wide-wasting Time&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or what he soon shall spoil.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>WE learn from Bishop Tanner, that Richard de <span class="eng">Grainville</span>, and Constance,
-his wife, gave their chapel,<a name="FNanchor_397_397" id="FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> in the Castle at <span class="eng">Nethe</span>, the tithes
-belonging to it, a large tract of waste land, and other possessions, in
-the time of Henry I., to the abbot and convent of Savigny, near Lyons,
-that they might build an abbey here in Wales. And a very fair abbey,
-dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built accordingly on the west side of
-the river, a little below the town of Neath, for monks of the order of
-Savigny, or <span class="eng">Fratres Grisei</span>, who soon afterwards became Cistercians.</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding the original gift to Savigny, as we learn from the same
-authority, he did not find any proof that this house was ever subject to
-that foreign abbey, or accounted as an alien priory. Being an abbey, it
-could not be a cell; and appears rather to have been a daughter-house to
-Savigny, in the same way as already described in our account of the two
-Llanthonys&mdash;mother and daughter. In the Appendix to the Monasticon may
-be seen the founder’s charter, with two subsequent charters of
-confirmation from King John.<a name="FNanchor_398_398" id="FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> From a manuscript notice in Benet’s
-College, Cambridge, we learn that, at the time of the dissolution, there
-were only eight monks in Neath Abbey. In the twenty-sixth of Henry
-VIII., the gross revenue of the house amounted to £150. 4s. 9d., the
-clear income to £132. 7s. 7-1/4d. The site was granted to Sir Richard
-Williams, alias Cromwell,<a name="FNanchor_399_399" id="FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a> in exchange.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_329" id="page_329">{329}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Seal</span> of the abbey represented the Blessed Virgin, crowned and
-standing, holding in her right hand a lily, in her left the infant
-Jesus; in a base, a shield with the arms of <span class="eng">Grainville</span> the
-founder&mdash;namely, three clarions: the legend&mdash;“Sigillvm. Comvne.
-Monaster. Beate. Marie. de Neth.” A very imperfect impression of this
-seal is to be seen in the Augmentation Office.</p>
-
-<p>In Moore’s Monastic Remains, it has been observed, in a passage quoted
-from Leland, that Neath Abbey was ‘once the fairest in all Wales;’ and,
-from the ruins still remaining, much credit may be given to this
-description. The west end, excepting the great arch, was tolerably
-perfect in 1788; but previously to that time the east end and principal
-part of the nave had been demolished, while the lateral aisles remained
-covered with ivy. In addition to these, several apartments of the abbey
-were still standing on the south side of the church.</p>
-
-<p>This monastery is said to have been so extensive, that seven preachers
-might hold forth at the same time in different parts of the building,
-without being mutually heard; but in the present day the crypt is the
-only characteristic feature that is left. The ruins, however&mdash;spread
-over an extensive area&mdash;still afford accommodation for numerous workmen
-employed in the famous iron-works of the place. It was in the
-Abbey-house of Neath, where he had taken refuge, that the unfortunate
-King Edward the Second was arrested:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“Whither,” says the Chronicle, in a passage at once pathetic and
-picturesque,&mdash;“whither, in the meane space, doth woeful Edward flye?
-What force, what course, what way takes he, poore Prince? Oh! fearful
-condition of so great a monarche’s state, when a wife, a son, a kingdome
-are <i>not</i> trusted; and those only <i>are</i> trusted, who had nothing strong
-but a will to live and die with him!”... “The Queen, passing from
-Oxford to Gloucester, onward to the siege of Bristol Castle, grew all
-the whyle in her strength like a rouled snowball, or as a river, which
-spreads still broader from the fountaine to the ocean&mdash;‘<i>vires acquirit
-eundo</i>.’ For thither repayred to her, for the love of the young Prince,
-the Lord Percy, the Lord Wake, and others, as well out of the North, as
-the Marches of Wales. But Edward, having left the Earle of Winchester,
-and the elder Lord Spenser, in the Castle of Bristol, for the keeping
-thereof, meditates flight with a few into the isle of Lundie, in the
-Severne sea, or into Ireland; and while he wandereth about, not finding
-where to rest safe, his royall credite, name, and power&mdash;like a cliffe
-which, falling from the top of some huge rocke, breakes into the more
-pieces the further it rolles&mdash;are daily more and more diminisht as they
-scatter, till now at last they are come to a very nothing.</p>
-
-<p>“After a week, therefore, spent upon the sea, Sir Thomas Blount
-forsaking him, and comming to the <span class="eng">Queene</span> he came on shore in
-Glamorganshire, where, with his few friends, he entrusted himself to
-God, and the faith of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_330" id="page_330">{330}</a></span> Welsh, who indeed still loved him, lying
-hidden among them in the <span class="eng">Abbey of Neath</span>.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">The King</span> not appearing, proclamations were every day made in the
-Queene’s army, declaring that it was the common consent of the realme
-that he should returne and receive the government thereof, so as he
-would conform himself to his people. This&mdash;whether stratagem or
-truth&mdash;not prevailing, Henry, Earle of Lancaster, the late Earle’s
-brother, Sir William de la Zouch, and Rhese-ap-Howell, a Welshman&mdash;who
-all of them had lands in that quarter where the Kinge concealed
-himselfe&mdash;were sent with coyne and forces to discover and take him.</p>
-
-<p>“What will not money, diligence, and faire words doe, with corrupt
-dispositions&mdash;everting of all bonds of either religious or civil duties?
-By such means, therefore, the desolate, sad, and unfortunate <span class="eng">Kinge</span> fell
-into his cousen of Lancaster’s hands, in the Abbey-house of Neath;” [or,
-according to others, in the Castle of Llantrissant, a place of great
-strength; but as the gates were thrown open by treachery, neither the
-strength of the Castle nor the courage of those around him could avail
-the royal victim,<a name="FNanchor_400_400" id="FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> doomed to expiate, it was supposed, the ruthless
-cruelty of his father in massacring the bards.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Weave the warp, and weave the woof,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">The winding-sheet of Edward’s race;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Give ample room and verge enough,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">The characters of Hell to trace.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Mark the year, and mark the night,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">When Severn shall re-echo with affright,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The shrieks of death, through Berkeley’s roof that ring&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Shrieks of an agonizing King!”]<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Richard de Greenvile</span>,<a name="FNanchor_401_401" id="FNanchor_401_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> the reputed founder of Neath Abbey, and lord
-of the adjoining Castle, is thus noticed in the ‘Baronage of
-England:’&mdash;“In the fourth of William Rufus, Jestin, the son of Gurgunt,
-being lord of Glamorgan, Rees-ap-Theodore, prince of South Wales, made
-war upon him; and that Jestin, discerning himself to be unable to make
-defence, sent one Enyon, his servant, to Robert Fitz-Hamon,<a name="FNanchor_402_402" id="FNanchor_402_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a> then a
-knight of the privy chamber to the King, for his aid, with large
-promises of reward for his help. And that hereupon Robert, having
-retained twelve knights, marched with what power they could all make
-into <span class="eng">Wales</span>; and so joining with Jestin, slew Rees, and Conan, his son.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_331" id="page_331">{331}</a></span>
-Furthermore, that after this victory, demanding his reward according to
-the agreement so made with Enyon, and Jestin refusing to perform his
-promise, the difference came to be tried by battle; and that Jestin
-being therein slain, this Robert Fitz-Hamon had full possession of all
-that territory.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Whereupon</span>, for reward to those twelve knights, with other his
-assistants, he gave unto them divers castles and manors; and, as second
-on the list, he gave to Richard de Greenvile the lordship of <span class="eng">Nethe</span>.”</p>
-
-<p>Subjoined is a view of the Crypt of this once magnificent <span class="eng">Abbey</span>, which,
-though long exposed to the wasting hand of Time, and the depredations of
-enemies, is still a monument of early piety, upon which few pilgrims
-will look unmoved, and no archæologist can survey without admiration.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_331.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_331.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_332" id="page_332">{332}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="KIDWELLY_CASTLE" id="KIDWELLY_CASTLE"></a>KIDWELLY CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Carmarthenshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">“For some brief passion<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Are centuries of high splendour laid in dust,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And that eternal honour, which should live<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sun-like above the rock of mortal fame,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Changed to a mockery and a by-word.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_332.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_332_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="K" /></a></span><span class="eng">IDWELLY</span> is supposed to have been erected by Rhys,
-Prince of South Wales, at the close of the twelfth century; and even
-now, after the lapse of five hundred years, it presents, in strength and
-appearance, one of the most striking examples of feudal architecture in
-Wales, where the science of castle-building attained the highest
-perfection. The old town of Kidwelly, over which the Castle once threw
-its protecting arms, is now ruinous; but a new Kidwelly, reared in
-happier times, and thriving under the arts of peace, seems to cast a
-glance of mingled pity and reproach upon the enormous fortress, whose
-very existence in such a situation is a melancholy proof of barbarism
-and bondage&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“When ‘might was right,’ and spear and brand<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Subdued and meted out the land&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Demesnes, which he who built the strongest,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And only he, retained the longest.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">History.</span>&mdash;Describing the situation of Kidwelly, the Chronicle says, “So
-great is the bay or creek that here getteth within the land, that this
-country seemeth, as it were, for very fear to have shrunke back, and
-withdrawn itself more inwardly. The territory around this bay was held
-for a time by Keiani the Scot’s sonnes, until they were driven out by
-Cuneda, the Cambro-Briton, and is now counted part of the inheritance of
-the Dutchy of Lancaster, by the heires of Maurice of London, or De
-Londres, who, making an outroad hither out of Glamorganshire, after a
-dangerous war, made himself master hereof, and</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_026.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_026.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Kidwelly Castle.</i></p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_333" id="page_333">{333}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">fortified old Kidwelly with a wall and castle to it, which now for very
-age is growen to decay, and standeth, as it were, forlet and forlorne:
-for the inhabitants, having passed over the little river
-Vendraeth-Vehan, built a new <span class="eng">Kidwelly</span>, enticed thither by the commodity
-of the harbour, which, notwithstanding being at this day choked with
-shelves and barres, is at this present of no great use. While Maurice de
-Londres,” continues the Chronicle, “invaded these parts,
-[Gwenliana,<a name="FNanchor_403_403" id="FNanchor_403_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a>] the wife of Prince Gruffin&mdash;a stout and resolute woman
-in the highest degree&mdash;<i>ultimæ audaciæ mulier</i>&mdash;in order to recover the
-losses and declining fortunes of her husband, came, with displaied
-banner, into the field, and assailed him, but the successe of her
-enterprise not answering to her courage, she, with her sonne Morgan, and
-other men of especial note, was slaine in battle.</p>
-
-<p>“By Hawes, or Avis, the daughter and heire of Sir Thomas de Londres,
-this passing faire and large patrimony, together with the title of Lord
-Ogmoor and Kidwelly, came unto Patrick Chaworth, and by his son
-Patrick’s daughter, unto Henrie, Earle of Lancaster. Now the heires of
-the said Maurice of London, as we learn from an old inquisition, for
-this inheritance were bound to this service&mdash;namely, that if their
-sovereign lord the King, or his Chiefe Justice, came into the parts
-about Kidwelly with an armie, they should conduct the foresaid army,
-with their banners and their people, through the mids of Nethland, as
-far as to Loghar.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Castle</span> is in a more perfect state than any other ruin in the
-Principality: “meately well kept up,” says old Leland, “and veri faire
-and double waullid;” having been repaired by Alice de Londres, wife of
-one of the Dukes of Lancaster, and lastly in the reign of Henry the
-Seventh. Its appearance is literally grand and imposing. The ruins
-comprise a quadrangular area, enclosed by strong walls, defended by
-massive circular towers at the angles, and also by bastions in the
-intervals&mdash;as shown in the accompanying illustrations. The principal
-entrance, which is at the west side, is under a magnificent gateway,
-flanked by two round towers, and is still in good preservation. Many of
-the state apartments are almost entire. Of these the groined ceilings,
-in some instances, with other portions of the edifice, display many
-interesting features of the early style of English architecture. The
-chapel is sufficiently indicated in the engraving by its lancet-pointed
-windows, and forms a noble and characteristic feature of this truly
-majestic edifice.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Kidwelly</span> is strongly situated, having on two sides a precipitous descent
-to the river Gwendraeth, and few things are finer than the first view of
-its massive and turreted bulwarks ranging along the summit of the cliff.
-The principal<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_334" id="page_334">{334}</a></span> entrance was on the west, by means of a gateway, flanked
-by round towers, one of the most perfect and beautiful in the kingdom.
-This, however, is now closed, and the visitor, after clambering up the
-steep old street on the other side of the bridge, is conducted to an
-entrance in the rear of the building, communicating with a “pleasaunce,”
-or terrace promenade, now overgrown with noble trees. On entering the
-interior, the extent and massiveness of the remains create a feeling of
-astonishment. There were three courts divided by walls and towers; and
-in the centre is a building defended by four other towers, the grouping
-of which surpasses that of any other interior in Wales, unless, perhaps,
-that of Pembroke.</p>
-
-<p>“We then clambered on the ramparts, entered the chapel, adorned with
-delicate lancet-pointed windows, and looked down from a dizzy height
-upon the river Gwendraeth, which rolls its melancholy stream through the
-marshy valley below. Altogether we were quite unprepared for the extent
-and preservation of this magnificent fortress, and regretted much that
-previous arrangements had left us so little time for its
-exploration.”<a name="FNanchor_404_404" id="FNanchor_404_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a></p>
-
-<p>The view from the ramparts is extensive: the valley of the
-Gwendraeth&mdash;the old town and its spire&mdash;the distant marshes and the
-sea&mdash;all blend together, and form a grand but melancholy picture, which
-harmonises with the feeling inspired by the aspect of the whole place
-and neighbourhood&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“How grand, and beautiful, and vast,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Fortress and hall of ages past!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">With battlement and turret crown’d,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And iron ramparts girdled round;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Whose shadow, stretching o’er the land,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Whose bulwarks, desolately grand,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Whose chambers, voiceless and forsaken,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">A tide of mingled thoughts awaken,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And dreams of fancy that restore<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The Barons and the Bards of yore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">When trumpet-peal, from turret wall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Proclaimed the knightly festival.”&mdash;<i>MS.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The air of the place is considered salubrious and the town healthy; but
-the importance which it formerly derived from its situation on the banks
-of a fine navigable river, within half a mile of its influx into the
-great bay of Carmarthen, has ceased&mdash;a reverse occasioned by an
-accumulation of sand, which has formed a dangerous bar across the mouth
-of the river. Its commerce, once flourishing, has consequently declined;
-while the opening of collieries, and the establishment of copper-works
-at Llanelly&mdash;to which port that of Kidwelly is a creek&mdash;have transferred
-the trade to that place.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_335" id="page_335">{335}</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“The scale has shifted&mdash;freighted barks no more<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Visit, with welcome sail, the lonely shore:<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Unprofitable weeds usurp the strand&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The once wide port presents a mound of sand.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">But these stout towers, defying time and tide,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Still o’er the scene in massive strength preside<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Kidwelly’s walls, firm as the native rock,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Have braved, for centuries, the tempest-shock.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Many fruitless attempts have been made to improve the navigation of the
-river, by removing the obstructions alluded to. In 1766, some docks and
-a short canal were constructed here. The navigation was afterwards
-transferred to the “Kidwelly Canal Company,” by whom it was extended
-about two miles up the valley of the Gwendraeth; and a branch, three
-miles and a half in length, was constructed to communicate with Pembrey
-harbour. Here were formerly both iron and tin works, the former of which
-have been entirely abandoned, and the latter are continued only in a
-diminished scale.</p>
-
-<p>Kidwelly received its first charter of incorporation from King Henry VI.
-James II., in the sixteenth year of his reign, granted to its
-inhabitants their present charter, by which the government is vested in
-a mayor, a recorder, two bailiffs, and a common council of twelve
-aldermen, and twelve principal burgesses, assisted by a town-clerk,
-chamberlain, two sergeants-at-mace, and other officers.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_335.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_335.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>Ancient dwellings near Manorbeer Castle.&mdash;See Note, p.
-327.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_336" id="page_336">{336}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="LLANSTEPHAN_CASTLE" id="LLANSTEPHAN_CASTLE"></a>LLANSTEPHAN CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Carmarthenshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i6">“Let them pass&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I cried: the world and its mysterious doom<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is not so much more glorious than it was,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That I desire to worship those who drew<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">New figures on its false and fragile glass,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As the old faced&mdash;phantoms ever new<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rise on the bubble, paint them as you may;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0"><i>We</i> have but thrown&mdash;as some before us threw&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Our shadows on it as it passed away.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But mark how chained to the triumphal <span class="eng">Cross</span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Were the great figures of an elder day!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">This Castle</span>&mdash;one of the oldest in Wales&mdash;crowns a bold eminence
-projecting into the bay of Carmarthen, and defends the entrance of the
-river Towy, which falls into the sea at this point. It is a military
-fortress of great strength and antiquity, but by whom founded&mdash;whether
-by Roman or Briton&mdash;or to what precise era it belongs, are questions
-which have never been satisfactorily answered. Yet the very obscurity
-which hangs upon it imparts to its dilapidated walls, mouldering
-turrets, and grass-covered courts, an interest which is seldom or never
-felt in the survey of those castellated ruins which make a prominent
-figure in the pages of history. All that has yet been advanced by
-archæologists regarding the founder of Llanstephan, is only based on
-plausible conjecture. It is not improbable, however, that the present
-castle occupies the position of a Roman fort; for it is not to be
-supposed that, during their occupation of the Silurian territory, a
-situation presenting so many natural advantages, and commanding the
-embouchure of the Towy, would be neglected by a people so prone to
-conquest, and so circumspect in all the means that could secure and
-fortify them in their new possessions. Nor were the Normans&mdash;who were
-equally observant and expert in the distribution of their military
-posts&mdash;likely to lose sight of the advantages which a castle on this
-promontory would afford in facilitating their operations, and widening
-their encroachments beyond the Welsh frontier; and in the citadel which
-now covers the steep, we have ample</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/plt_027.jpg">
-<img src="images/plt_027.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p><i>Kidwelly Castle.</i></p>
-
-<p>Inner Courts and Chapel from the Battlements.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_337" id="page_337">{337}</a></span></p>
-
-<p class="nind">testimony, that whatever hands may have raised the first structure, that
-which now occupies our attention is of Norman architecture.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The historical</span> details of Llanstephan are meagre and unsatisfactory; we
-would desire to learn the circumstances of siege and storm and
-surrender, the acts of fortitude and valour which mutually distinguished
-the besieged and their assailants, their patient endurance of
-privations, their resolute and determined resistance, the nightly
-assault, the treachery of professing allies, the regular investment by
-open enemies, the daily skirmishes, the nightly advance, the scaling of
-the walls, the final struggle, the throwing open of gates, the
-dismantling of towers, with mingled traits of personal prowess,
-magnanimity, and fortitude. But of these, history observes a mysterious
-silence. We learn, however, that</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Caddell</span>, Meredydd, and Rhys, sons of Gryffyd-ap-Rhys<a name="FNanchor_405_405" id="FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a>&mdash;the prince so
-often named in these pages&mdash;having in 1143 succeeded in their enterprise
-against Carmarthen Castle, were induced to make a similar attempt upon
-Llanstephan, and, directing their march to that point, invested the
-walls, and summoning the Norman garrison to surrender, were answered by
-a message of contempt and defiance. This, however, served merely to
-stimulate the Cambrian leaders into immediate action; for, after a
-spirited resistance, they carried the fortress by storm or stratagem,
-and planted their own countrymen within its walls. This daring exploit
-was instantly reported to the Norman legions beyond the frontier, who
-made all possible haste to vindicate the tarnished honour of the
-garrison; and mustering all their available strength, soon made their
-appearance under the walls of Llanstephan.</p>
-
-<p>The consequence of this movement was a protracted siege, in the progress
-of which everything promised a successful issue to the Normans. At last,
-while the Cambrian garrison within did little more than regard their
-operations with passive indifference, the signal was given to scale the
-ramparts, and at the word every Norman flew to the assault. Meredydd,
-however, was well prepared to give his unbidden guests a Welsh welcome;
-and while the Normans, like swarming bees, were covering fosse and rock
-with their numbers, he ordered a wedge to be struck home, and no sooner
-was the hammer at work than an avalanche of rocks, suddenly let loose
-from the highest point of the ramparts, overwhelmed the invaders, and
-hurled the scaling party and their ladders into the ravine below. A
-shout of derision followed them from the garrison above; operations on
-both sides were suspended; and with their ranks thus suddenly thinned by
-a catastrophe as unseen as it was disastrous, the Normans sullenly
-withdrew. But it was only to return with increased strength and whetted<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_338" id="page_338">{338}</a></span>
-vengeance. They had sworn to extirpate the garrison at their next visit,
-and the Norman leader was not a man to break his word whenever
-stimulated by a thirst of revenge or plunder.</p>
-
-<p>We need not dwell upon the skill and vigour of the besiegers, nor the
-spirited resistance of the garrison. But, in the present instance, the
-siege was conducted in a more regular and systematic method than
-heretofore; they had recourse to all the appliances of military art. The
-warlike engines employed against stubborn fortresses were now called
-into perpetual action, and night and day the <i>butting</i> of the
-battering-rams continued to shake the ramparts, until here and there a
-stone dropping from the mason-work, the whole ramparts began to shake
-under the feet of the besieged. At length, a breach being effected, the
-Normans poured in their best troops, and for a time the conflict was
-maintained with desperate fury. Foot to foot the assailants met, fought,
-and fell where they stood. Too proud to ask quarter, the fiery Cambrian
-rushed upon his adversary with a blind impetuosity that often placed him
-at his mercy; while the Norman, adroit in the management of his weapon,
-and bent on revenging his countrymen, was only stimulated to
-indiscriminate slaughter; and long before sunrise the Norman banner
-waved on the Castle of Llanstephan.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">In</span> <small>M.CC.XVI</small> the fortune of war was again invoked. The Norman sway, so
-intolerable to native independence, had extended its influence and
-territory; and with these had inspired into the heart of every
-reflecting Cambrian, a deep sense of the wrongs inflicted upon his
-country. With an irrepressible and Wallace-like determination to crush
-or expel the invader, he rushed to the conflict. This, so far as regards
-Llanstephan, was partly effected by Llewelyn-ap-Iorwerth, who, after a
-successful attack, entered the fortress, slew or captured the garrison,
-and then, to prevent its being again turned against the peace of the
-country, dismantled the walls, threw down the gates, filled up the
-ditches, and left its towers for a habitation to the owls.</p>
-
-<p>The position of the Castle, however, was too advantageous to be
-neglected for more than a season: for, as war continued rampant along
-the marches, the demand for garrisons increased; and Llanstephan was
-again converted into a fortress, and crowded with troops. In this state
-it appears to have continued until the year 1254. But in those days of
-mutual hatred and jealousy&mdash;when neighbour plotted against neighbour,
-and friendships cemented at morning were often changed, by some sudden
-exasperation, into mortal enmities before night&mdash;the garrison of
-Llanstephan could never remain unconcerned spectators of passing events.
-Llewelyn-ap-Grufydd, whose name is so familiar in the Cambrian annals,
-finding himself in a position to resent, to the very death, some
-personal insult from the haughty castellan of Llanstephan, summoned his
-countrymen to arms. “This offensive castle,” said he, “must be
-demolished! Ye have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_339" id="page_339">{339}</a></span> true British hearts; and if your hands will only
-obey those hearts, my countrymen, before two days elapse ye shall drive
-your goats to pasture in the courtyard, of Llanstephan!”</p>
-
-<p>This old Griffin kept his word&mdash;the raid was successful&mdash;his flag soon
-waved over the battlements of the castle; and there we leave him for the
-present to enjoy the fruits of his new seigneurie.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">St. Anton’s Well</span>, in the parish of Llanstephan, was long a place of
-popular resort for invalids. Impregnated by some mysterious qualities
-which escaped detection by the <i>ancient</i> process of analysis, the water
-was lauded as a never-failing resource under those forms of corporeal
-malady which had baffled the skill of physicians, and conducted the
-sufferer to the very brink of despair. It may, therefore, be imagined,
-that the concourse of pilgrims was a source of no little emolument to
-the place, more especially to the “hydropathic” friar of the olden day,
-who presided at the well, and propitiated, for a consideration, the kind
-offices of St. Anthony. But all the medicinal virtues of this holy well
-are now left to the gossip of old tradition; and although the fountain
-bubbles up as fresh, and clear, and salubrious as ever, public faith in
-its qualities has been shaken; and no pilgrim, in these days of
-scientific analysis, ever stoops down to taste the water, and, in
-testimony of its virtue, leaves his crutch behind him.<a name="FNanchor_406_406" id="FNanchor_406_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_339.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_339.jpg" width="462" height="163" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_340" id="page_340">{340}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="LAUGHARNE_CASTLE" id="LAUGHARNE_CASTLE"></a>LAUGHARNE CASTLE,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Carmarthenshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Now strike ye the harp that has slumbered so long,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Till yon mountains re-echo the theme of my song!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Come forth, ye bold warriors, from forest and tarn,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And up with the banner of <span class="eng">Guy of Laugharne</span>!<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i1">The sound is gone forth&mdash;all the land is awake,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Swords flash in the valley, and spears in the brake;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And, gleaming in arms, at their head ye discern<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The fearless in battle&mdash;bold <span class="eng">Guy of Laugharne</span>!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="nind"><span class="letra">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_340.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_340_sml.jpg"
-width="80"
-alt="T" /></a></span><span class="eng">OWARDS</span> the south end of the town, close on the Bay of
-Carmarthen, are the ruins of the Castle, supposed to have been founded
-by Guido de Brian, in the reign of <span class="eng">Henry</span> III., or, according to others,
-to have been rebuilt by him; for it is said that the original castle was
-destroyed by Llywelyn-ap-Iorwerth as early as 1215. If so, the said
-Guido de Brian rebuilt it in the following reign. The remains, which
-have been many years enclosed within the walls of a private garden, and
-consist of a large square building&mdash;now a mere shell&mdash;are still in
-tolerable preservation. In this parish also are the ruins of what is
-called <span class="eng">Roche’s</span> Castle, but which tradition reports to be those of a
-monastery; though of what order, or epoch in the Cambrian annals, is not
-ascertained. This monastic or feudal ruin stands about a mile from the
-Castle of</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Laugharne</span>, the subject of our present notice. The ancient appellation of
-this town and castle, according to the native writers, appears to have
-been Llacharn, and seems to have taken its present orthography from the
-general of that name&mdash;William Laughearne&mdash;who distinguished himself in
-the service of the “Parliament;” and in 1644, after a siege of three
-weeks, took the Castle of “Llacharn.” Its still more ancient name is
-Abercoran, or Cowan&mdash;the “Castle on the banks of the Coran”&mdash;which, at a
-short distance below the Castle, empties itself into the sea. Local
-tradition says that the parish church<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_341" id="page_341">{341}</a></span> formerly stood upon a farm, in an
-island called Craseland&mdash;that is, <span class="eng">Christ’s-land</span>; but of the sacred
-edifice, not a vestige remains to support the tradition&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Not an arch of nave or aisle&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Not a relic marks the pile;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Shrine and monumental stone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Floor and fretted vault are gone!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Corporation consists of a portreeve, a recorder, an indefinite
-number of aldermen, two common attorneys, four constables, and
-seventy-six burgesses, who have shares in lands and commons which were
-given to the Corporation by “Sir Guido de Brian the younger, lord
-marcher of the said town and lordship of Laugharne,” in the reign of
-King John. “His cloak or mantle,” says Carlisle, “richly embroidered in
-purple and gold, is still preserved in the parish church.” Laugharne, as
-described by a recent tourist, is one of the neatest and cleanest of the
-smaller towns of South Wales. It has many excellent dwelling-houses, a
-good inn for the accommodation of travellers, and possessing various
-local attractions and a cheap market, many private families have made
-choice of it as a residence which unites pleasure and economy. The
-situation is low and sheltered&mdash;bounded by the tidal estuary and the
-Taff, which, at low water, presents a wide extent of dry land&mdash;an
-amphibious territory, which the inconstant sea alternately invades and
-deserts.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Guy de Brian</span>&mdash;The founder of this name, and his successors, were all in
-their day knights of military renown. Their chief seat was in these
-marches, where, in the 29th Henry III., the first Guy received command
-to assist the Earl of Gloucester in suppressing some new insurrection in
-the country. Toward the close of the same reign, he had summons to
-attend the king at Chester&mdash;well fitted with horse and arms&mdash;to “prevent
-the incursions of that unruly people.” But not long after this, when the
-breach betwixt the king and divers of the great barons happened, he
-adhered unto them; for it appears that, after the battle of <span class="eng">Lewes</span>, where
-the king was made prisoner by the barons, he was constituted by them
-governor of the Castles of Cardigan and Kaermerdyn [or Carmarthen],
-which commission was renewed the next ensuing year; he having then also
-the like trust granted unto him by them for the Castle of Kilgaran. But
-shortly after, when the battle of Evesham “had quelled the power of
-those haughty spirits, he became one of the sureties for Robert de <span class="eng">Vere</span>,
-then Earl of Oxford, that he should thenceforth demean himself
-peaceably, and stand to the decree called ‘Dictum de Kenilworth,’ for
-the redemption of his lands.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Guy of Laugharne</span> married Eve, daughter and heir of Henry de <span class="eng">Traci</span>, and
-dying in the 31st Edward I. left a son&mdash;then in his twenty-fourth
-year&mdash;named also Guy, who being a knight, in the 4th of Edward III., was
-made governor of the Castle of Haverford. “But it was found by
-inquisition,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_342" id="page_342">{342}</a></span> that he complained to the King that Roger de Mortimer,
-late Earl of March, had made seizure of his Barony of Walwaynes Castle,
-in the Co. Pemb., as also of the goods and stock thereon, and had
-delivered them to Guyon his son without warranty. Likewise that the king
-then took notice of certain differences betwixt the said Sir Guy and the
-same Guyon, his son and heir, which were pacified in his presence, by
-the assent of Wenthlian his wife, in regard that himself, at the time,
-was not of sane memory. Moreover, that by this agreement the Barony of
-Chastel-Walweyn was to remain to young <span class="eng">Guyon</span> and his heirs, on condition
-that he should be obliged to prefer his two sisters out of the revenues
-thereof: As also that two hundred pounds which Ioan de Carru was bound
-to pay to him, the said Guy, for the marriage of his son Guyon, should
-be paid to Guyon towards the marriage of those his sisters. And that
-because the said Sir Guy was not in his perfect senses, the barony
-should remain in the king’s hands, and livery thereof be made to Guyon
-in performance of those covenants.” Sir Guy being thus out of his
-senses&mdash;“I come,” says the Chronicle, “to</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Guy</span>, his son, who was in the Scottish wars, and in consideration of his
-special services had an annuity of forty pounds granted to him by the
-king, to be paid out of the Exchequer during his life. In the 15th Edw.
-III. he was made governor of St. <span class="eng">Briavell’s</span>, in Co. Gloc., and warden of
-the Forest of Dene; and, in the following year, was again in the wars of
-France. So likewise in the 19th and 20th, but died June 17, in the 23d
-of the same reign, being then seized of <span class="eng">Tallughern</span> in the marches of
-Wales, which he held by the service of finding two soldiers with horses
-harnessed; or eight footmen&mdash;according to the custom of those parts&mdash;for
-three days at his own proper cost, upon notice given by the king’s
-bayliffe of Kaermerdyn [Carmarthen].”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Guy</span>, his son and heir, was at the time of his father’s demise turned
-thirty years of age, and became a person of very great note in his time.
-He was standard-bearer to the King in that notable fight with the French
-at Calais, 23d Edw. III.; and there behaving himself with great courage
-and valour, had, in recompense thereof, a grant of two hundred merks per
-annum out of the Exchequer during his life, He obtained a charter for
-free-warren in all his demesne lands, as well as at <span class="eng">Tallughern</span>, &amp;c.; and
-being still governor of St. Briavell’s, and warden of Dene Forest, he
-had a grant of all the profits and emoluments arising out of the market
-and fairs in that town. He was also constituted one of the commissioners
-for arraying men in the counties of Oxon and Berks, for defence of the
-realm against the French, who then threatened an invasion. But as our
-limits will not admit of our giving his public services in detail, we
-shall merely record them as they were successively performed in the same
-brilliant reign:&mdash;He was, with Henry, Duke of Lancaster, sent on an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_343" id="page_343">{343}</a></span>
-embassy to the Pope: attending the King in France, he was made a
-banneret: he was again in the same war, and sent a second time to Rome:
-afterwards pensioned anew for his services: made admiral of the King’s
-fleet, then acting against the French, and constituted, the year
-following, admiral of the Royal fleet from Southampton westwards:
-employed in the Scottish wars: associated with the Earl of Warwick and
-others to cause “satisfaction to be done by the King’s subjects to the
-Scots:” was elected into the most noble Order of the <span class="eng">Garter</span>: served
-again in the wars of France: was appointed one of the commissioners to
-treat with the Duke of Brittany and Earl of Montfort for a league of
-friendship with King Richard; and lastly, joined Mortimer, Earl of
-March, in the expedition into Ireland. This concludes his military
-services; but while he had proved himself a valiant son of Mars, and a
-faithful servant of the King, he was a pious son and liberal benefactor
-of the Church, in witness whereof he “founded a chauntry for four
-priests, to sing divine service in the chappel of Our Ladye within his
-mannor of Slapton, Co. Dev., and endowed the same with lands,” &amp;c. He
-married Elizabeth, daughter of William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury,
-and widow of Hugh le Despenser the third, and departed this life on
-Wednesday next after the Feast of the Assumption, 14th Rich. II.,
-leaving Philippa,<a name="FNanchor_407_407" id="FNanchor_407_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> wife of John Devereux, and Elizabeth, wife of
-Robert Lovel, daughters of his son Guy, who died in his father’s
-lifetime, to be his next heirs to the demesne of Laugharne and other
-baronies.&mdash;<i>Dugdale.</i></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_343.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_343.jpg" width="304" height="261" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_344" id="page_344">{344}</a></span></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CAREW_CASTLE" id="CAREW_CASTLE"></a>CAREW CASTLE.<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng"><span class="eng">Pembrokeshire.</span></span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Now is the stately column broke&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The beacon-light is quench’d in smoke;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The trumpet’s silver note is still;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The warder silent on the hill.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The</span> lordly towers and quadrangular pile of Carew Castle rise
-conspicuously above the waters of the surrounding creek, and are
-intimately connected in the spectator’s mind with scenes of bygone
-splendour.<a name="FNanchor_408_408" id="FNanchor_408_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a> It was one of the demesnes belonging to the sovereign
-Princes of South Wales, and, with seven others, was given as a dowery to
-Nesta, daughter of Rhys-ap-Tewdwr, or Tudor, on her marriage with Girald
-de Windsor, who, as already mentioned, was appointed by <span class="eng">Henry</span> I.
-lieutenant of these counties. His son William took the name of <span class="eng">Carew</span>,
-and the castle passed through various branches of that family, until,
-after the lapse of centuries, it was garrisoned for Charles I., and
-reduced at last, like all its neighbours, by the irresistible hand of
-Cromwell. The noble edifice is built upon a neck of land washed by the
-tide of two estuaries, with a gentle fall towards the water, and
-consists of a superb range of apartments, round a quadrangle, with an
-immense bastion at each corner, containing handsome chambers. Most of
-the rooms had each an elegant chimney-piece of wrought freestone. The
-barbican may still be traced; and through the portcullised gateway we
-pass into the great court, or inner ballium. The ground rooms of the
-north front contain magnificent windows, lighting the great state-room,
-which is one hundred and two feet long, by twenty feet wide. On the east
-side, over the chimney-piece, is an escutcheon, bearing the royal arms,
-in compliment, perhaps, to Henry the Seventh&mdash;Richmond,&mdash;who is
-traditionally reported to have been munificently lodged and entertained
-here, on his way to Bosworth Field, by the princely Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas,
-lord of the mansion. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_345" id="page_345">{345}</a></span> handsome suite of rooms is included in the
-octagon tower, which covers the right of the entrance; and along the
-whole course of the south-west side are seen the remains of ancient
-towers, of various height, diameter, and form. The whole of the north
-side is very majestic, ending in the return of a bastion to the east.
-The building is of various epochs&mdash;combining the stronghold with the
-ornamented and castellated mansion. Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, according to
-Leland, new-modelled the whole, and added the splendid range of state
-apartments which are the admiration of every traveller in these parts.</p>
-
-<div class="figright">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_345.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_345.jpg" width="187" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the extensive deer-park attached to the castle, Sir Rhys held a grand
-tilt and tournament on <span class="eng">St. Giles’s</span> day, in honour of his receiving the
-royal badge of a Knight of the Garter. This splendid festival, we are
-told, lasted a week, and was attended by six hundred of the aristocracy
-of Wales&mdash;such were the splendid pageantries, and such the numerous
-courtly throng, that once animated and emblazoned the kingly halls of
-Carew. “This festivall and time of jollitie continued the space of five
-dayes,” as the historian relates; “and tentes and pavillons were pitched
-in the parke, neere to the castle, for the spectators of these rare
-solemnities, wheare they quartered all the time, every man according to
-his qualities.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Sir Rhys</span>-ap-Thomas, lord of this and many other castles, was descended
-from Rhys-ap-Twdor, of the royal house of South Wales; and had been
-appointed governor of these counties by Richard III. One of his
-residences was Abermarles, in the county of Carmarthen&mdash;a princely
-mansion in its time, and called by Leland, “a faire house of old Sir
-Rees’s.” Newcastle-in-Emlyn, in the same county&mdash;once belonging to the
-princes of Dynevwr, and celebrated in Cambro-British history&mdash;was also
-his property, and often honoured with his presence.</p>
-
-<p>By Sir Edward Carew the castle was mortgaged to Sir Rhys-ap-Thomas, who
-made it his favourite residence, and there spent the latter part of his
-life. The Bishop of St. David’s, then a constant resident at Lamphey,
-induced Sir Rhys to prefer Carew to his other demesnes; for they were
-devoted friends, and spent much time in the society of each other. In
-the following reign his vast possessions and castellated mansions were
-forfeited by the attainder of his grandson, Rice Griffith. <span class="eng">Abermarles</span>
-was granted by the crown to Sir Thomas Jones, Knt.; thence by marriage
-it passed to Sir Francis Cornwallis, whose son leaving issue four
-daughters, and the three youngest married, the estate was divided in
-1793 among their descendants. Abermarles came to Lord Viscount Hawarden,
-who disposed of the mansion, demesne, park, and manor, to the gallant
-Admiral <span class="eng">Foley</span>, who led the fleet into action at the battle of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_346" id="page_346">{346}</a></span> Nile;
-commanded the Britannia in Lord St. Vincent’s action, and on board whose
-ship Nelson shifted his flag at the battle of Copenhagen. He built a
-magnificent mansion near the site of the old house. <span class="eng">Emlyn</span> and its
-extensive demesnes became the property of the <span class="eng">Vaughans</span> of Golden
-Grove&mdash;whose ancestors were successively Lords of Mollingar, Earls of
-Carbery, and Lords of Emlyn&mdash;and are now the property of Lord Cawdor, as
-devisee of the late “J. Vaughan, of Golden Grove, Esquire.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Carew</span>, with its castle and barony, was granted by leases, for specified
-terms, to Sir J. Perrot and others, the remainder of which terms was
-purchased by Sir John Carew, kinsman of Sir Edmund above-mentioned, to
-whom Charles the First restored the fee simple and inheritance, from
-whom it descended to the present owner.<a name="FNanchor_409_409" id="FNanchor_409_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="MARGAM_ABBEY" id="MARGAM_ABBEY"></a>MARGAM ABBEY,<br /><br />
-<span class="ceng">Glamorganshire.</span></h2>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“How many hearts have here grown cold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">That sleep these mouldering stones among!<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">How many beads have here been told&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">How many <span class="eng">Matins</span> here been sung!”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Of</span> this renowned Abbey the existing remains convey but a very inadequate
-idea. The parish church is formed out of part of the original
-abbey-church; of the chapter-house the walls only remain; and of the
-ruins scattered around, the original use, size, and distribution have
-not yet been ascertained. That it was an extensive edifice, and
-exhibited in its style and proportions all the higher characteristics of
-Cistercian monasteries, may be taken on the credit of what remains. The
-foundation is fixed in the year 1147, and the process of erection must
-have been contemporaneous with that of Tinterne&mdash;a temple of the same
-Order, whose taste and affluence, during that and the following century,
-have left so many gorgeous monuments in England and Wales.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_347" id="page_347">{347}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>Dugdale fixes the date of <span class="eng">Margam</span> Abbey in the year 1147. It was founded
-by Robert, Earl of Gloucester&mdash;so often named in this work&mdash;and
-dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In this, also, the annals of
-Margam&mdash;written by a monk of the Abbey&mdash;agree, and mention the date of
-its foundation as that of the year in which the founder departed this
-life. The chronicle, printed in the second volume of Gale’s Scriptores,
-called “Annales de Margam,” is a history of general scope, extending
-from the year of the Conquest to that of 1232, and throws but little
-light upon the particular affairs of the Monastery in which it was
-written. It is a history of the <i>times</i>, not of the Abbey. It gives the
-names, however, of four abbots, mentions three or four incursions of the
-Welsh, and remarks that Margam and Beaulieu in Hampshire were the only
-monasteries among the Cistercians that were released from King John’s
-extortions in 1210, to which reference has been already made in our
-notice of Tinterne. The plea upon which Margam escaped these severe
-taxations was, that, both in his progress to and from Ireland, the King
-and his suite had been liberally entertained by the abbot and monks of
-Margam.</p>
-
-<p>With respect to the inroads noticed in these “Annals,” we are told
-that&mdash;“This year, <small>M.C.LXI</small>, in the month of October, the Welsh burnt down
-our granary or barn; an act which was quickly followed by divine
-vengeance.” Again, “In <small>M.CC.XXIII</small>, (he says,) in the course of one week,
-wicked men have destroyed upwards of a thousand of our sheep, with two
-houses. In the following year they wantonly slew two of our servants in
-one day, while engaged in the performance of their duty; and also,
-immediately thereafter, a youth who had charge of the flock.” But the
-fourth irruption was still more serious; for “they burnt to the very
-ground our grange at Penwith, with many cattle, including the steers;
-they next depopulated the grange of Rossaulin, burnt many sheep, drove
-off the cows, and put one of our servants wantonly to death; they then
-took the cattle of the grange of Theodore Twdor, killed many on the
-road, took the rest with them. Lastly, they set fire to the Abbey houses
-in different places, and great were the flocks that perished in the
-flames.”&mdash;<i>Annal. de Marg. Scriptores a T. Gale</i>, tom. ii. pp. 7, 16,
-17.</p>
-
-<p>Leland ascribes to this Abbey the privilege of sanctuary: “Habet
-privilegium sanctuarii, sed quo rarissime aut nunquam utuntur Cambri&mdash;”
-but of which the natives very rarely or never made any use. According to
-the same authority, Margam Abbey had four daughter-houses in Ireland,
-namely&mdash;Kyrideyson, S. Crux, Maio, and Chorus Benedictus.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Abbots.</span>&mdash;William, the first Abbot, died in <small>M.C.LIII</small>; Andrew, the second,
-two years later; and it was probably in the short time of the latter, or
-that of his successor, that the altar of the Holy Trinity in the abbey
-church was consecrated by William, Bishop of Llandaff. Gilbert, the
-third Abbot, resigned<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_348" id="page_348">{348}</a></span> in July, <small>M.CC.XIII</small>, died the following year at
-Kirksted, and was succeeded by Abbot John, of whom nothing is recorded
-by the annalist.</p>
-
-<p>A large collection of original charters belonging to this Abbey is still
-preserved with the Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum. The
-common seal of the Abbey, appendant to a deed, dated 1518, has been
-elegantly lithographed, as we read in the Monasticon, by the care of the
-Rev. W. Traherne. At the Dissolution, the sum total of the revenues of
-Margam Abbey amounted to one hundred and eighty-eight pounds, fourteen
-shillings sterling; the clear income to seven pounds less. The site was
-granted by the King to Sir Rees Maxwell, Knt. The Abbey was afterwards
-the seat of Thomas, Lord Mansell; and passed afterwards into the Talbot
-family. In early times the buildings of this Abbey are described as
-affording specimens of the richest style of conventual architecture. But
-these characteristics are no longer applicable to the, ruins before us;
-for time and the quarry-man, probably, have done much to deface the
-beauty and even form of the original structure.</p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_348.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_348.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-<div class="caption"><p>Crypt&mdash;Margam Abbey.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_349" id="page_349">{349}</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_349.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_349.jpg" width="600" alt="APPENDIX." /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Osborne</span>, p. 6.&mdash;Walter, a Norman knight, and a great favourite of
-William the Conqueror, was one summer evening playing at chess with the
-King, and after a time won all he played for. The King then threw down
-the board, and with his usual oath exclaimed he had nothing more to
-lose. Walter, however, being of a different opinion, replied&mdash;“Sir, here
-is land.” “True,” said the King; “and if thou beatest me this time,
-thine be all the land on this side the bourne or river which thou canst
-see where thou now standest.” This said, to it they went once more, and
-knight Walter again won the game, whereupon the King, starting up and
-slapping him on the shoulder, said, “Henceforth thou shalt be called
-Ousebourne.” And hence, it is supposed, came the name afterwards so
-famous.&mdash;[Life of Corinni, Pegge’s Curialia Miscellanea, p. 319. Lower,
-156.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Tinterne</span>, p. 53.&mdash;The drinking after Complins of the prioress of Rumsey
-has crept into all our familiar books. Among the injunctions to the
-convent of Appleton, anno. 1489, is the following:&mdash;“<i>Item</i>, That none
-of your sisters use the <i>ale-house</i>, nor the water syde, where course of
-strangers dayly resorte.” In another it was inquired: “Whether any of
-the susters doe cherish theme moste that have any monye, and causeth
-them to spende the same, when they be within, at good ale, or
-otherwise?” <i>Item.</i>&mdash;“Whether any of the susters be commonlye drunke?”
-There were, however, many honourable exceptions. Pensions were granted
-at the Dissolution according to the character of the monastic brothers
-and sisters, which it was the business of the King’s visitors<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_350" id="page_350">{350}</a></span> to
-investigate; and recommend when approved. Rahdal Wylmyston, monk of
-Norton, they pronounced to be “a good, religious man, discreet, and
-well-grounded in learning&mdash;having many good qualities.” The nunnery of
-Legborne petitioned to be preserved, saying&mdash;“We trust in God, ye shall
-here no complaints against us, nether in our living nor
-hospitalitie-keeping.”&mdash;[<i>See Fosb., quoting M.S. Cott., Cleop.</i> E. iv.,
-370, B.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Tinterne</span>, p. 57.&mdash;That the learning of those times was rather scanty,
-even among the higher ecclesiastics, we have the testimony of
-Pitscottie:&mdash;Forman, who succeeded to the archbishopric of St.
-Andrew’s&mdash;on the death of his predecessor at the battle of Flodden&mdash;owed
-his sudden rise to the partiality of Pope Leo X. Being then at Rome, the
-new archbishop thought it decorous to give a banquet to his Holiness and
-the dignitaries of his court, before setting out on his journey
-homeward. “When the dinner came up,” says the historian, “the Pope and
-cardinals placed, and sat down according to their estate; then the use
-and custom was, that, at the beginning of the meat, he that aught
-[owned] the house, and made the banquet, should say grace and bless the
-meat. And so they required the holy bishop to say the grace, who was not
-a good scholar, and had not good Latin, but began rudely in the Scottish
-fashion in this manner, saying&mdash;‘<i>Benedicite</i>,’ believing that they
-should have answered, <i>Dominus</i>. But they answered <i>Dans</i>, in the
-Italian fashion, which put this noble bishop bye his intendiment, that
-he wist not how to proceed forward; but happened out, in good Scottish,
-in this manner, the which they understood not, saying&mdash;‘To the devil I
-give ye all, fause carles, in nomini Patriæ, Filii, and Spiritus
-Sancti!’ Amen, quoth they! Then the bishop and his men leugh. And the
-bishop shewed the Pope the manner that he was not a good clerk, and his
-cardinals had put him bye his intendiment, and therefore he gave them
-all to the devil in good Scottish; and then the Pope leugh among the
-rest.”&mdash;[<i>Pitscottie, Hist. Scotl.</i> p. 166, 299], quoted by Morton.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Tinterne</span>, p. 76.&mdash;Wyat, who was attached to the Reformers, before their
-tenets were openly proclaimed in this country, is said to have
-accelerated the downfall of monastic institutions by the following
-jest:&mdash;During a conversation with the King on the projected suppression
-of monasteries, Henry observed to the poet that he foresaw great alarm
-would be caused throughout the country if the Crown were to resume the
-immense property then accumulated by the church. Wyat, who saw that this
-scruple might produce hesitation, and perhaps obstruction in the
-measures then in progress, replied with a suggestion&mdash;“True, your
-highness; but what if the rooks’ nests were buttered?” Henry, it is
-said, took the hint, and, by distributing valuable church lands among
-the nobility, diminished the danger and odium of an enterprise at once
-so daring and unpopular.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_351" id="page_351">{351}</a></span></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Raglan</span>, p. 132.&mdash;David Gam, the Fluellin of Shakspeare, and whose name
-has been already noticed in the article on Raglan, was the son of
-Llewelyn ap Howel Vychan, of Brecknock, by Maud, daughter of Lefan ap
-Rhys ap Ivor ap Elvel. The residence of this celebrated warrior was Old
-Court, the site of which is in a field adjoining Llandeilo-Cresseny
-House, midway between Abergavenny and Monmouth. David Gam, being the
-officer sent to reconnoitre the French army before the battle of
-Agincourt, said to the King on his return&mdash;“An’t please you, my liege,
-they are enough to be killed, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough
-to ran away.” In this battle, David, with his son-in-law, Roger Vychan
-[Vaughan], and his relative, Walter Lloyd, rescued the King when
-surrounded by his foes&mdash;saved his life at the expense of their own&mdash;and
-out of the eighteen French cavaliers slew fourteen.</p>
-
-<p>The King, after this signal victory, approached the spot where they lay
-in the agonies of death, and bestowed on them the only reward that could
-then be paid to their valour&mdash;to wit, the honour of knighthood.
-Shakspeare, as we have observed, designated this fiery soldier by the
-name of Fluellin. He resided often at Peytyn-Gwyn, near Brecon, and many
-of his descendants at Tregaer; others of the family were buried in
-Christ’s Church, Brecon. There are almshouses in the parish of St.
-David’s, Brecon, with a portion of garden-ground attached to each, given
-by one of the Games or Gams of Newton, for thirteen female
-inmates&mdash;decayed housekeepers in the town of Brecon.&mdash;[<i>Owen Glendower,
-by Thomas.</i>]</p>
-
-<p>In our notice of the <span class="eng">Founders</span> of Raglan, from other historical sources,
-this David is named Sir Richard Gam, whose daughter, after the loss of
-her husband, Sir Roger Vaughan, at Agincourt, espoused Sir William ap
-Thomas, the knight of Raglan.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Raglan</span>, p. 174.&mdash;<i>Inter Carolinum</i>&mdash;the King’s route after Naseby fight.</p>
-
-<p>
-June 14. Battle of Naseby, 1645.<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 3em;">15. Lichfield&mdash;at the governor’s in the close.</span><br />
-Mond. 16. Mrs. (Widow) Barnford’s, Wolverhampton.<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 3em;">17. The “Angel” at Bewdley (two nights), 17th and 18th.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 3em;">19. Dined at Bramyard, supped at Hereford (and remained).</span><br />
-July 1. (Tuesday) To Campson, dinner, Mr. Pritchard’s&mdash;to Abergavenny,<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6em;">supper, at Mr. Guncer’s (staid second).</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">3. To <span class="eng">Raglan</span>, supper, Marquis of Worcester, remained till</span><br />
-Wed. 16. To Tridegur, to dinner&mdash;Cardiff, supper, Sir T. Timel’s&mdash;defrayed<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6em;">at the country’s charge.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 3em;">18. Back to <span class="eng">Raglan</span> to dinner, remained till</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 3em;">22. To Mr. Moore’s of the Creek, near Black Rock, and came&nbsp; back to</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6em;">supper at Raglan.</span><br />
-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_352" id="page_352">{352}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>“The Scots approach, and our own causeless apprehension of fear made us
-demur and doubt; on the first, what to resolve; and in the latter, how
-to steer our resolutions, which involved us in a most disastrous
-condition.</p>
-
-<p>
-Thurs. 24. From Raglan to Mr. Moore’s of the Creek, to pass over at the Black<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">Rock for Bristol; but his Majesty, sitting in council, and advising</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">to the contrary, marched only with his own servants and</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">troops that night to Newport-on-Usk; lay at Mrs. Pritty’s.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">25. To Ruppera, Sir Philip Morgan’s (rested).</span><br />
-Tues. 29. To Cardiff, dinner at the governor’s, at our own charge.<br />
-Aug. 5. (Tuesday) To Glancayah, Mr. Pritchard’s, dinner.<br />
-Wed. 6. To Gumevit, Sir Henry Williams’, dinner.<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">“&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; To Old Radnor, supper, a yeoman’s house.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">“&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The Court dispersed.</span><br />
-<br />
-Thurs. 7. Ludlow Castle, to dinner, Colonel Woodhouse’s.<br />
-Sept. 7. (Sunday) Raglan Castle, supper. 8th, Abergavenny.<br />
-Sund. 14. ib. supper.<br />
-<br />
-Mond. 15. Marched halfway to Bramyard, but there was <i>leo in intinere</i>, and so<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">back to Hereford again.”&mdash;[Extract from the “<i>Itinerarium</i>.”]</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Raglan Library</span>, p. 195.&mdash;The havoc and devestation of the ancient
-British MSS. is a subject of continual regret to the historian,
-antiquary, and general scholar. Bangor-is-Coed, according to Laugharne
-and Humphrey Llwyd, was furnished with a valuable library, which was
-burnt to ashes by Edelfrid, when he massacred its inmates, and destroyed
-the college&mdash;not much less, as Bishop Lloyd asserts, than one of our
-present universities. A chest of records, appertaining to the see of St.
-David’s, was destroyed by a flood; and great part of the MSS. of British
-authors were burnt during the civil wars.</p>
-
-<p>In those calamitous times, when monuments of taste and literature were
-destroyed or defaced by miscreants more ignorant and rapacious than
-Goths and Vandals, the superb library at <span class="eng">Raglan Castle</span> met with the same
-fate as other splendid establishments, when objects of military spoil or
-fanatical rage. In an age comparatively learned, the monks termed all
-ancient MSS. <i>vetusta et inutilia</i>; and little attention, we have reason
-to believe, was paid by the visitors at the Dissolution&mdash;mostly ill
-qualified for the task&mdash;to discriminate between true history and Romish
-legends, to select and preserve works of merit, and to reject the trash
-hoarded up by superstition.&mdash;[<i>Fenton’s Pemb.; Mem. Owen Glendower, Rev.
-T. Thomas</i>, 29.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Raglan</span>, p. 221.&mdash;<span class="eng">Oldcastle</span> was the dissolute companion of Henry V. when
-Prince of Wales, and afterwards a Wickliffite and reformer. He was
-sacrificed by his youthful companion to an ecclesiastical bribe,
-condemned and executed for heresy and rebellion. Lord Orford observes,
-that Cobham was the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_353" id="page_353">{353}</a></span> author, as well as the first martyr among our
-nobility: a man whose virtues made him a reformer; whose valour, a
-martyr; whose martyrdom, an enthusiast. He was suspended by a chain
-fastened round his waist, over a slow fire. The bringing him to the
-stake was considered a meritorious affair in those times of gross
-superstition. The lordship of Broniarth was granted to the family of
-Tanad, the fifth of Henry V.; and other gentlemen enjoyed several
-privileges from Edward Charleton, Lord Powys, for the assistance they
-gave in the apprehension of Oldcastle, whose son-in-law, Sir John Gray,
-brought him a prisoner to London; and for this service, Lord Powys
-received the thanks of Parliament. Oldcastle, the residence of Lord
-Cobham, is situated on the slope of the Black Mountains, near the road
-to Longtown, and about four miles from Llanfihangel. The old castle was
-demolished, and a farm-house constructed from the materials.</p>
-
-<p class="r">
-&mdash;[<i>Owen Glendower</i>, p. 122.]<br />
-</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Pembroke Castle</span>, p. 300.&mdash;Welsh bards are thus apostrophized by
-Drayton:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i2">“Oh, memorable Bards! of unmix’d blood, which still<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Posterity shall praise for your so wondrous skill;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That in your noble songs the long descents have kept<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of your great heroes, else in Lethé that had slept<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With theirs, whose ignorant pride your labours have disdained,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">How much from time and them, how bravely you have gained.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">‘Musician,’ ‘herald,’ ‘bard,’ thrice mayest thou be renowned!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And with three several wreaths immortally be crowned!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Who, when to <span class="eng">Pembroke</span> called, before the English king,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And to thy powerful harp commanded there to sing,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of famous <span class="eng">Arthur</span> told’st, and where he was interred,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In which those ‘retchless’ times had long and blindly erred.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And ignorance had brought the world to such a pass,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As now, which scarce believed that <span class="eng">Arthur</span> ever was!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But when King <span class="eng">Henry</span> sent the reported place to view,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">He found that man of men, and what thou said’st was true.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here, then, I cannot choose but bitterly exclaim<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Against those fools that all <i>Antiquity</i> defame;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Because they have found out some credulous ages laid<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Slight fictions with the truth, whilst truth on rumour staid.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And that our forward times (perceiving the former neglect<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A former of her had), to purchase her respect,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With toys then trimmed her up, the drowsy world to allure,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And lent her what it thought might appetite procure.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To man, whose mind doth still variety pursue,” &amp;c., 217<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>So did Mars reverence the Muses, that, if a Welsh bard struck his harp
-at the moment of encounter, the hostile spirit pervading both armies was
-suddenly subdued; their swords were returned bloodless to the scabbards;
-and they who had come forth to mutual slaughter, united in the song of
-peace and goodwill to men.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Pembroke</span>, p. 301.&mdash;“The castel,” says Leland, “standith hard by the
-waull on a hard rocke, and is verie large and strong, being doble
-warded. In the utter warde I saw the chambre where Kinge Henri VII. was
-borne, in knowledge<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_354" id="page_354">{354}</a></span> whereof a chyromancy is now made with the armes and
-badges of this kinge. In the botome of the great stronge rownd tower in
-the inner ward, is a marvellus vault called the <span class="eng">Hogan</span>. The top of this
-rownd tower is gathered with a rofe of stone, almost in <i>conum</i>; the
-topp whereoff is keverid with a flat mille stone.”</p>
-
-<p>The outer ward, here mentioned, was entered from the tower by a grand
-gateway, yet standing, of prodigious strength, and defended by two round
-towers, one on each side.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Pembroke</span>, p. 302.&mdash;The small remains of the Ely Tower, in Brecknock
-Castle, still exist. The fate of Morton and Buckingham, though their
-views were similar, were very unlike. Morton was meritoriously elevated
-to the dignities of a Cardinal, and Archbishop of Canterbury, for his
-services: while Buckingham was intercepted, and lost his head at
-Salisbury.<a name="FNanchor_410_410" id="FNanchor_410_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a> He discovered, too late, that tyrants pull down those
-scaffolds which elevated them to power. His son Edward was restored by
-Henry VII., but through the machinations of Wolsey fell into disgrace,
-and was beheaded by Henry VIII. for the whimsical alleged crime of
-consulting a <i>wizard</i> about the succession. When the Emperor Charles V.
-heard of his death, he observed&mdash;“A butcher’s dog has torn down the
-finest buck in England.”<a name="FNanchor_411_411" id="FNanchor_411_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Pembroke</span>, p. 303.&mdash;On the 7th of December, 1780, the following letter
-from the Lord Bishop of St. David’s, and the Justices of the County of
-Pembroke, to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, was read at the Society of
-Antiquaries of London, being copied from the “Scrinia Burleighiana,”
-Vol. 79, No. 3, then in the library of James West, Esq., at Alscot.</p>
-
-<p>By this letter is seen the great importance attached to Pembroke, both
-as a fortress, a seaport, a safe bay, and a productive soil, but at that
-time quite unprotected against foreign invasion. It runs thus:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>“Right Honorable our singular good Lorde.&mdash;The bounden dutie we owe to
-her Maᵗⁱᵉ, the consience we have for safegarde of the whole Realme, and
-the care that in nature and reason wee carry of this our countrie, have
-emboldened us to offer this Discourse unto yʳ Honʳ. concerninge the
-safetie of them and us all. It becometh us not to feare, neither do we
-doubte of the wise and grave consideracon that yʳ Lp. and the rest of
-the LLˢ. moste honourable privie counsaill, have had, and still have,
-for yᵉ preservacon of her Maᵗⁱᵉ and the realme; but yett, fearing yʳ
-want of due informacon touching the estate of Mylforde Haven, and the
-p’tes adjoining, It may please you to understande that yᵉ Haven itself,
-being neyther barred to hynder entrie, nor to be embayed by anye wyndes
-to lett yssuinge forthe, is a sufficient harborough for an infynite
-number of Ships; wᶜʰ haven beying once gotten by the enemye, maie drawe
-on such fortificacon of Pembrock Towne and Castle, and the Towne and
-Castle of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_355" id="page_355">{355}</a></span> Tynby, with other places nere unto yᵐ, as infynite nombers of
-men, and greate expense of treasure, will hardely in a long tyme remove
-the enemye, during which tyme her Maᵗⁱᵉ shall loose a fertyle countrey,
-wᶜʰ yeldes her Maᵗⁱᵉ xii. lib. by yeere, and more in revenue paide to
-her Maᵗⁱᵉ’ˢ Receaver, besides all other Receipts, both temporal and
-ecclesiasticall, as tenthes, subsidies, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Also</span>, it is to be remembred that the soyle nere the sayde haven yeldeth
-corn in such aboundance, as wolde suffice to maynteigne a greate armye:
-and the sea coasts nere about it yelde greate plenty of fishe. The
-harbour also standeth very commodiouslye to receave victualls from
-Ffrance, Brytaine, or Spayne, all wᶜʰ things maie be an occasion to move
-the enemye to affect that place beffore others.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Also</span>, there are in Pembrockshire xviii. castles, of wᶜʰ tho’ there be
-but twoe or three in reparacon, yett are the rest places of greate
-strength, and easylie to be fortyfied by the enemye; some of wᶜʰ are so
-seated naturally for strength, as theye seeme ympregnable.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Also</span>, there are in that shire dyvers sconces or forts of earth, raysed
-in greate height wᵗʰ greate rampiers and dytches to the number of vi. or
-vii., wᶜʰ in tymes past have been places of strength in tyme of war: All
-wᶜʰ castles and forts wolde yelde greate advantage to the enemyes to
-strengthen themselves in such sorte, that it wolde be an infynite charge
-to remove them from thence. Agayne, the same is situate within vii.
-hours sailing of Waterforde and Wexforde, in Yrelande; so as yf the
-enemye have an intencon to invade Yrelande, his harborough in this haven
-maie serve him to greate purpose.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">Ffurthermore</span>, being lorde, as it weare, of thease seas, by possessing
-this harbour, what spoile he maie make along Seaverne on both sides,
-even to Bristoll, maie be easelie conjectured. And if he&mdash;wᶜʰ God
-forbidd&mdash;shᵈ enjoye Brytanie withall, our Englishe marchants can have no
-trade, wᶜʰ will decrease her Highness’ customes and decaie the navy.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="eng">If</span> it be thought that he may be kept from landinge, neyther the force
-of men, nor furniture here, will serve the turne; considering here be
-manie places where he may easelie land, and he maie com upon us within
-half a daie’s saylinge, we having no ships at sea to descry hym
-sooner&mdash;and how then our small forces may be in a readyness to
-withstande hym, wee referr to yʳ Honʳ’ˢ judgment. <span class="eng">And</span> if it be thought
-that her Maᵗⁱᵉ’ˢ Navy Royall be able to conquer them being once in this
-haven, and that by them fortyfied, yt woulde be founde very harde, by
-reason that, uppon every little storme, they shall be in greate danger
-of wrack, and no lande forces are able to expell them: Whereupon we
-humblie praie yʳ Lp. to consider whether it be not expedient for the
-withstanding of the enemye, that he obtayne not this harborough, to have
-a convenient number of ships of warr, and fortyficacons to defende the
-same, wᶜʰ preparacon, if the enemye might perceave, wee beleve verelie
-it woulde alter<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_356" id="page_356">{356}</a></span> his mynde from adventuringe his navy uppon this coaste.
-<span class="eng">And</span> whereas, of late, Mr. Pawle Ivye was sent hither to survey yᵉ Haven,
-and to consider of fitt places for fortyficacon, what report he hath
-made of his opinyon wee know not: but sure wee are, that his abode about
-that service was verie short, and his survey verie speedilie dispatched;
-so that, because none of us were privye to his entennt or conceyte, wee
-do yet retayne some hope that, if some other man of experience were
-sentt downe hither, to consider of all the said circumstances, some such
-report woulde happlie be made unto yʳ Honʳ. and the reste, as some
-better event might ensue for the safetie of this poore countrey, and the
-whole realme, than as yett, for ought we knowe, hath beene determined
-uppon: especiallie yf the partie shall have instruccons to viewe the
-Towne and Castle of <span class="eng">Tynby</span>, being a place wᶜʰ may be easelie made of
-exceedinge strenth, and was not seene by Mr. Ivye nearer than two myles
-distance, for aught that we can learne....”</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Pembroke Castle.</span>&mdash;“Of William Earl of Pembroke,” says Clarendon, “a
-short story may be here not unfitly inserted:&mdash;It being very frequently
-mentioned by a person of known integrity, whose character is here
-undertaken to be set down, and who, at that time, being on his way to
-London, met, at Maidenhead, some persons of quality, of relation or
-dependence upon the Earl of Pembroke. These were Sir Charles Morgan,
-commonly called ‘General’ Morgan, who had commanded an army in Germany,
-and defended Stoad; Dr. Field, then Bishop of St. David’s; and Dr.
-Chafin, the Earl’s then chaplain in his house, and much in his favour.
-At supper, one of them drank a health to the Lord Steward;<a name="FNanchor_412_412" id="FNanchor_412_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a> upon
-which another of them said, that he believed his lord was at that time
-very merry, for he had now outlived the day which his tutor, Sandford,
-had prognosticated, upon his nativity, he ‘would not outlive.’ But he
-had done it now, for that was his birthday, which completed his age to
-fifty years. The next morning, however, by the time they came to
-Colebrook, they met with the news of his death!” [He died “exceedingly
-lamented by men of all qualities, and left many of his dependents and
-servants owners of good estates, raised out of his employments and
-bounty.”]</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="eng">Benedictine Rule.</span>&mdash;The Abbot is presumed to represent Jesus Christ: he
-is authorised to summon all his monks to council in important affairs,
-and afterwards to adopt and carry into practice what he considers the
-best advice. He is entitled to obedience without delay; commands
-silence; permits no scurrility, idle or angry words, or such as tend to
-provoke unseemly mirth or laughter. The rule enjoins humility, patience,
-and forbearance, under all injuries and provocations; manifestation or
-confession of secret faults to be made to the Abbot;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_357" id="page_357">{357}</a></span> contentment with
-the meanest things in food, dress, and employments; not to speak unless
-when asked; to observe habitual gravity; to keep the head and eyes
-inclined downwards to the earth; to rise to church service two hours
-after midnight; the <span class="eng">Psalter</span> to be sung through once a week; to leave the
-church together, at a sign from the Superior; and in large abbeys every
-ten monks to be under the surveillance of a Dean.</p>
-
-<div class="figright">
-<a href="images/ill_pg_357.jpg">
-<img src="images/ill_pg_357.jpg" width="191" height="402" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Further</span>: The <span class="eng">Rule</span> permits light in the dormitory; to sleep, young and
-old, in their clothes, with their girdles on, as servants ready to
-attend their Lord, come he at what hour he may. Upon cases of
-delinquency, where admonition has failed to produce reformation, public
-reprehension and excommunication are pronounced, and on failure of these
-also to effect a change, recourse is to be had to corporal chastisement.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">For faults</span> of a lighter nature, the offender is subjected to the smaller
-and temporary excommunication of eating alone, after the brotherhood
-have finished; but for graver offences, the delinquent is banished from
-the public table, excluded from prayer and society, neither himself nor
-his food to receive the benediction, and those who join or speak to him
-to be placed under the ban of excommunication. In the meantime the
-Abbot, with paternal solicitude for his penitence and restoration,
-deputes certain of the elder brethren to exhort him to humility, and to
-make such reparation and satisfaction as the infringement of the rule
-demands. The whole congregation meanwhile are to pray for him. If all
-these means should fail to attain the object in view, the last step to
-be taken is that of formal expulsion from the convent; and no person so
-expelled can be received back after the third expulsion. Children are to
-be punished by fasting or whipping.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Cellarer</span> is to do nothing without the Abbot’s order; and in large
-houses he is allowed to have assistants. Habits and goods of the house
-to be under the custody of proper officers, and the Abbot to have an
-account of them. There is to be no [private] property: distribution of
-things needful, to be made according to every one’s necessities. The
-monks are to serve weekly, and by turns, in the kitchen and at table.
-Upon having their weeks, both he that left it, and he that began it, to
-wash the feet of the others; on Saturdays, to clean all the plates, and
-the linen used in the washing of feet; to replace all the dishes clean
-and whole in the hands of the Cellarer, who is to give them to the new
-Hebdomadary. These officers are to have drink and food before the
-others, and above the common allowance, so that they may wait upon them
-with cheerfulness. On solemn days, both on entering and retiring from
-office, the Hebdomadaries are to continue till the <span class="eng">masses</span>. After matins
-on the Sunday, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_358" id="page_358">{358}</a></span> are to kneel and beg the others to pray for them;
-those going out are then to say a certain prayer three times, and
-receive the <span class="eng">benediction</span>, whilst the one coming in does the same, and
-after benediction goes into office.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Infirmary.</span>&mdash;This department had its particular officer, who had the
-direction of the baths, and administration of the medicine and diet
-ordered for the sick. The rule was mitigated in favour of children and
-aged men, who had leave to anticipate the usual hours of eating. The
-refection, as already described, was conducted in silence&mdash;all listening
-to the Scripture-<span class="eng">reader</span>, whose voice alone was heard during the repast.
-Whatever was wanted, was asked for by sign. The reader was appointed
-weekly. The dinner consisted of two dishes only, with fruit; and to each
-monk, daily, one pound of bread was distributed, which was to suffice
-for both dinner and supper. No animal food was allowed, except to the
-sick and aged in the infirmary. The allowance of wine was three-quarters
-of a pint per day. From Holyrood-day to Lent, the dinner hour was at
-<span class="eng">nones</span>; in Lent till Easter, at six o’clock; from Easter to Pentecost, at
-<span class="eng">sext</span>; and all summer, except on Wednesdays and Fridays, at <span class="eng">nones</span>. The
-collation, or spiritual lecture, was given every night before
-<span class="eng">complin</span>&mdash;that is, after supper; and complin finished, they were enjoined
-strict silence.</p>
-
-<p>Tardiness at church or table was punished with loss of rank, prohibition
-of wine, or their usual allowance, or sitting in the place of disgrace.
-The excommunicated were condemned to make prostration with the face
-toward the ground, and without the church gate, when the monks proceed
-to prayers. For any fault in the <span class="eng">chant</span>, he who made it was to ask
-immediate pardon; and in other places, breaking of any utensil, or
-neglect of duty, was to be spontaneously acknowledged before the Abbot
-and congregation. The signal for repairing to church was given by the
-<span class="eng">Abbot</span>; and nobody was to sing or read there without his leave.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Daily work</span> was to be done from <span class="eng">prime</span> till near ten o’clock, from <span class="eng">Easter</span>
-till the kalends of October, and from ten till twelve o’clock was to be
-spent in reading. After refection at noon, the monks were allowed to
-take their <span class="eng">meridian</span> or siesta; but those who preferred reading were
-allowed to do so. After nones, labour was recommenced and continued
-until the evening, from the kalends of October until Lent, reading till
-eight <small>A.M.</small>, then <span class="eng">Tierce</span>, and afterwards labour until nones. After
-refection they had reading or psalmody. In Lent they had reading until
-tierce; doing what was ordered [in the Ritual] until ten&mdash;with the
-delivery of the books at their season.<a name="FNanchor_413_413" id="FNanchor_413_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_413_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a> It was the duty of the
-<span class="eng">Senior</span> to go round the house, and see that the monks were not idle. On
-Sunday, all spent their time in reading&mdash;except the officers, and the
-idle and infirm, who had work given them. During Lent, abstinence from
-meat, drink, and sleep, with a grave,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_359" id="page_359">{359}</a></span> pious, and solemn demeanour, are
-more strictly enjoined, and, if need be, enforced. If engaged in a
-journey, the monks are to halt wherever they may happen to be at the
-time, and there say the canonical hours. [An instance of this
-punctuality has been given in our account of Tinterne Abbey.] Monks
-staying out of convent beyond a day, are not to eat in secular society
-without leave of the Abbot. The church was never to be used but for the
-solemnity of prayer: any other use was to be considered desecration in
-its gravest sense.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Strangers</span> are to be received by the monks to join them in prayers&mdash;with
-the salutation of peace, and prostration, and washing of feet, as of
-<span class="eng">Christ</span>, whom they represent. They are then led to prayers; the
-Scriptures are read to them; after which the Prior, except on very
-solemn occasions, is permitted to break his fast. The <span class="eng">Abbot’s</span> kitchen
-and that of the visitors, are to be kept separate; so that the brethren
-may not be disturbed by guests or pilgrims coming in at unseasonable
-hours. No letters or presents can be received without leave from the
-Abbot. When he has no strangers in the convent, the Abbot may invite to
-his table certain of the brotherhood in rotation.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Workmen</span> or artisans in the house are to labour for the common profit.
-Novices are to be tried by austerities, denials, and hard essays, before
-admission: their term of probation to comprise twelve months; in the
-interim, the rule is to be read to them every fourth month. They are
-then to be admitted by a petition laid upon the <span class="eng">Altar</span>, and by
-prostration at the feet of all the monks. [See the forms already given
-in our notice of Tinterne Abbey.]</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Parents</span> are to dedicate their children to the service of God, by
-wrapping their hands in the pall of the altar; promising to leave
-<i>nothing</i> to them that might serve as a temptation to their leaving the
-house or convent for the world; but if they bring anything with them,
-the use of it is to be reserved during their lives.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Priests</span> requesting admission are to be tried by delays; to sit near the
-Abbot, and conform to the <span class="eng">rule</span>, but not to exercise sacerdotal functions
-without special leave. Stranger monks are to be received hospitably,
-and, if shown to be of good character and morals, invited to take up
-their abode. Monks who have been ordained priests, are to be subject to
-the <span class="eng">rule</span> and officers of the establishment, or to incur the pain of
-expulsion.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Precedence</span> is to be taken in accordance with the time of profession: the
-elders are to address the juniors as <i>brothers</i>; and the latter to
-address the former as <i>nonnos</i>, or fathers; the Abbot to be styled
-Dominus, or father-abbot. When two monks meet, the junior is to ask the
-benediction of his senior; and when he passes by, the junior is
-respectfully to rise, offer him his seat, and not to sit down again
-until invited.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Election</span> of abbots was determined by the whole society, and a
-plurality of votes; the grand recommendation of the candidate for that
-sacred office,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_360" id="page_360">{360}</a></span> being the purity of his life and conduct. The prior was
-elected by the Abbot, who could depose him for disobedience, or any
-flagrant abuse of power or neglect of duty. Among the minor officials&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Abbey Porter</span> was required to be a shrewd old man&mdash;able to give and
-receive an answer; he was to have a cell near the gatehouse, and a
-junior porter for his companion. It was very desirable, in order to
-prevent the habit of straying beyond the abbey walls, to have a mill,
-well, bakehouse, and other domestic offices within the house, with a
-garden and orchard adjoining. Monks going on a journey are to have the
-prayers of the congregation beforehand; and on their return to the
-convent, they are to confess and solicit pardon for any excesses they
-may have committed whilst abroad.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Undertakings</span>, which had subsequently appeared difficult or even
-impossible to carry out, agreeably to the orders of the Superior, were
-to be humbly represented to him; but if he persisted, then the
-assistance of God was to be implored, and relied upon, for their final
-accomplishment. No monk was permitted to defend or excuse the
-delinquency of a brother: no blow was to be inflicted&mdash;no
-excommunication carried into effect&mdash;without the knowledge and express
-sanction of the Abbot. In the correction of children and pupils, a
-discretionary power was allowed. The duty of mutual obedience was
-straitly enjoined; but no member was permitted, in obedience to orders,
-to give to any private person a preference over his monastic superiors.
-And the apology to be made and demanded in such cases, was prostration
-at the feet of the superiors, until their anger or displeasure was
-appeased, the rule of the institution vindicated, and the offender
-brought to a due sense of his degradation.<a name="FNanchor_414_414" id="FNanchor_414_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_414_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">Habit.</span>&mdash;“As for the habits of the Benedictine monks,” says Stevens,
-“they were left to the discretion of the abbots, according to the nature
-and temperature of the country, as it was hotter or colder.” Nothing
-could be more sensible and considerate; for it cannot be doubted that a
-neglect of this must be attended with pernicious consequences to the
-general health of any society, that numbered amongst its members the
-natives of various climates, which, in point of dress, required a
-special regulation.</p>
-
-<p>In temperate climates, a <span class="eng">Cowl</span> and a tunic were sufficient&mdash;the cowl of a
-thicker texture for winter, and a thinner for summer&mdash;with a scapular to
-work in. The scapular was the upper garment during the time of labour,
-which was thrown off at pleasure, and the cowl worn during the remainder
-of the day. Every monk had two <span class="eng">tunics</span> and two cowls, either to change at
-night or to have them washed. The stuff of which they were made, was to
-be the cheapest the country afforded. To the end that no man might have
-any property&mdash;that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_361" id="page_361">{361}</a></span> is, anything that he might call his own&mdash;the Abbot
-supplied them all with everything necessary in point of clothing.
-Besides the habit, each monk had a handkerchief, a knife, a needle, a
-steel pen, and tablets to write upon. Their beds were mats, with a straw
-paillasse, a piece of serge, a blanket, and a pillow.</p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">St. Benedict</span> did not decide of what colour the habit should be; but it
-appears, from the inspection of ancient pictures, that the garment worn
-by the first Benedictines was white, and the scapular black&mdash;that the
-scapular then worn was not of the same shape as that used by the Order
-in the present day. It was more like the jerkins or jackets worn by
-sailors, except that it was not open in front, but only a little in the
-sides. That description of garment had been long in use before the
-common garment, worn by the peasantry and poor people, was introduced.
-This will be understood by referring to the woodcut.</p>
-
-<p>A black woollen robe covers the whole body and feet; the hood is loose,
-obtuse, oval, and broad; the scapulary is plain, of the breadth of the
-abdomen; the girdle is broad, with a black cowl descending to the
-ancles. The inner tunics, in general, are black, and the shirt is narrow
-at the wrist; but in the house, the monk lays aside the hood, girds his
-scapulary, and wears a crested or twofold cap on his head. Owing to the
-sombre hue that prevailed in their habit, they were called <span class="eng">Black
-Friars</span>.<a name="FNanchor_415_415" id="FNanchor_415_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_415_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="eng">The Nuns</span> of this Order wear a black robe, with a scapular of the same
-colour and texture; and under this black robe they wear a tunic of wool
-that has not been dyed; others wear the tunic quite white. In the choir,
-or upon solemn occasions, they wear over all a black cowl, like that of
-the monks; but in the engravings of Benedictine Sisters, a black veil
-and white wimple are introduced.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Authorities</span> quoted or referred to in the preceding
-articles:&mdash;History of Monmouth&mdash;Pembroke&mdash;Glamorgan&mdash;English
-Baronage&mdash;Monasticon&mdash;Memoir of Owen Glendower&mdash;Welsh Genealogical
-History&mdash;King’s Munimenta Antiq.&mdash;Carlisle and Lewis’
-Wales&mdash;Roscoe’s South Wales&mdash;Illustrations of Magna Charta&mdash;Life of
-Charles I.&mdash;Mem. of Cromwell and the Parliament&mdash;Puritanism in
-Wales&mdash;the English Historians and Chroniclers&mdash;with most of the
-Authorities, local and national, already enumerated in the
-preceding sections of the work.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Chepstow.</span>&mdash;The reference to the Appendix, in the note at the bottom
-of page 32, is explained in the account of <span class="smcap">Neath Abbey</span>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_362" id="page_362">{362}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>[In the course of this work, it has been our pleasing duty to refer
-to numerous authors, ancient and modern, on whose authority, in the
-various branches of Archæology, our observations have been
-frequently based; and now that we are closing another volume, it
-would be injustice to the memory of departed worth to pass over in
-comparative silence the author of “Tinterne Abbey and its
-Vicinity.” <span class="smcap">Mr. W. Hearde Thomas</span>, by whose premature death the
-republic of letters has lost a zealous and valuable contributor,
-was many years a medical practitioner in the retired village of
-Tinterne-Parva; where, in the exercise of his profession among a
-widely-scattered population, he had daily opportunities of visiting
-those classic and time-hallowed remains with which the county of
-Monmouth is so greatly enriched, and thus collected materials for
-the local guide-book which associates his name so favourably with
-Tinterne Abbey and other historical sites, which have recently
-passed under our notice.</p>
-
-<p>The merits of his little work&mdash;far above the ordinary hand-books of
-the day&mdash;were speedily noticed by the press in terms of approbation
-and encouragement. To the various objects which he undertook to
-illustrate, he brought the united tastes and acquirements of
-historian, antiquary, and poet&mdash;the result of much reading, close
-observation, and a delicate perception of those natural beauties
-which are so profusely scattered along the banks of the Wye. To
-these were added an early taste for Natural history,<a name="FNanchor_416_416" id="FNanchor_416_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_416_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a> which was
-assiduously and successfully cultivated during his residence at
-Tinterne. To him the embroidery of flowers, the “garniture of
-fields”&mdash;mountain, forest, and “minnowy brook,” were objects of
-never-failing interest and contemplation, the results of which he
-had purposed in due time to lay before the public.</p>
-
-<p>For the prosecution of these studies, a visit to Canada, and
-personal examination of its natural history, had given him various
-facilities not to be acquired on this side of the Atlantic. But his
-constitution, naturally delicate, had slowly given way under the
-combined influence of mental and bodily fatigue; and when overtaken
-at last by the heaviest of domestic calamities&mdash;the death of his
-wife&mdash;such was the prostration of his health and spirits, that, as
-a last resource, he made preparation to emigrate to one of our
-colonies, where the effects of a genial climate were held out as
-the only means of re-establishing his health, and opening a wider
-and safer field for the exercise of professional talent and
-industry.</p>
-
-<p>This cheering prospect, however, was but a glimpse of sunshine,
-that soon disappeared in disappointment and darkness. A rapid
-journey to London, at an inclement season, induced a train of
-symptoms which, assuming a more and more decided character,
-continued their fatal progress until arrested by the hand of death,
-which took place in December, 1848.</p>
-
-<p>He died in the prime of life, having survived his wife one brief
-twelvemonth, and left behind him an infant family, with “a father’s
-blessing for their patrimony,” for whom no better wish can be
-expressed by his friends than that they may inherit their father’s
-virtues, without his sorrows. These orphans were immediately
-transferred to the care of a near relative, under whose
-affectionate guardianship and devoted care they have already shown
-evidence of an intellectual capacity that expands by cultivation,
-and promises to bring forth good fruit in its season.</p>
-
-<p>As far as the loss of parents could be supplied at their tender
-age, it has been supplied by this relative&mdash;whose delicacy must not
-be hurt by any commendation from a stranger, whose only object, in
-thus closing the volume, is to record his admiration of Genius that
-so often flourishes and fades in the shade; yet, strong in the
-faith that looks for a better country, feels that the trials of
-this life are all softened, if not disarmed, by the practice of
-virtue, and a humble reliance on the promises of God.</p>
-
-<p>In the little churchyard of Tinterne-Parva&mdash;which he had so
-feelingly described&mdash;repose the remains of William Hearde Thomas,
-and the short-lived partner of his joys and sorrows.]</p></div>
-
-<p class="fint">END OF THE SECOND SERIES.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
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-
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-
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-
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-price is so moderate as to place the work within the reach of all
-classes.”&mdash;<i>Britannia</i>, May 23, 1846.</p></div>
-
-<p>The Christian in Palestine; or, Scenes of Sacred History. Illustrated
-from Sketches taken by Mr. W. H. Bartlett, during his recent Journey in
-the Holy Land. With Explanatory Descriptions, by Henry Stebbing, D.D.,
-F.R.S. In Twenty Monthly Parts, price 2<i>s.</i> each, with four
-highly-finished Engravings on Steel, by Cousen, Bentley, Brandard, and
-others.</p>
-
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-other countries, it can rarely be equalled, and certainly never
-surpassed, by that which belongs to those given of Palestine, the
-land of the law and the Gospel.”</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>The Christian in Palestine,’ and ‘Royal Gems from the Galleries
-of Europe.’ These interesting publications, which we class
-together, as issuing from the same press, continue to merit the
-commendation which their excellence has so unequivocally claimed.
-They evince considerable taste, with great resources, and a most
-laudable spirit of artistic enterprise.”&mdash;<i>Morning Chronicle</i>, Aug
-22, 1846.</p>
-
-<p>“This book, in its own department, which we need not say is a
-deeply interesting one, merits similar praise with the work which
-we have just noticed [‘Royal Gems’]. It will prove one of the very
-best of the pictorial illustrations of the Holy Land.”&mdash;<i>Watchman</i>,
-July 22, 1840.</p>
-
-<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>The Christian in Palestine’ is an illustrated work, the plates of
-which are from the careful drawings of Mr. Bartlett, who has
-recently visited Palestine, and brought home a well-stored
-portfolio of brilliant and characteristic sketches. The work will
-form a pleasing companion to the Bible, as the plates are all
-scriptural in scenery, and chaste in treatment, and give a faithful
-representation of the most celebrated scenes connected with the
-birthplace of the Saviour of mankind, and the land of miracle and
-redemption.”&mdash;<i>Britannia</i>, May 23, 1846.</p></div>
-
-<p>Walks in and about the City &amp; Environs of Jerusalem. By W. H. Bartlett.
-Illustrated by Nine Engravings on Steel, by Cousen, Bentley, and
-Brandard; a Map, and nearly Forty superior Woodcuts. Medium 8vo, in
-cloth binding, price 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>The object of this work is to give a correct idea of the present
-state of this memorable city, from personal observation. The
-“Walks” embrace the principal objects of interest: many of which
-have neither been drawn or described in any previous publication;
-and the Ancient City is illustrated in a brief essay, together with
-a view of it, as besieged by Titus, drawn up from the most careful
-investigation of the best authorities, and beautifully printed in
-the tinted style by the new patent process.</p>
-
-<p>“Our impression is that Jerusalem was never before so successfully
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-<hr style="width: 15%;" />
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-<p class="c"><i>Uniform Series of Illustrated Works.</i></p>
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-the highest style, with Historical Text from the Pen of Dr. Beattie. The
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-Traditions of Germany, possesses also the unusual attraction of being
-illustrated, in this instance, by nearly 80 superior Wood Engravings.
-One Volume, 2<i>l.</i> 2<i>s.</i></p>
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-the Traveller through the Swiss and Italian Cantons. In Two Volumes,
-cloth gilt, 3<i>l.</i></p>
-
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-interesting series of 72 Engravings of the Scenery of the Valleys of the
-Alps, after Drawings by W. H. Bartlett, W. Brockedon, F.R.S., and
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-new Order for Morning and Evening Prayer daily throughout the year is
-already in its thirtieth edition of 1,000 each. 30,000 copies of a book
-of common prayer for Dissenters, recommended by twenty-five
-distinguished ministers, whose names are given, and who include some of
-the most prominent of the day, cannot be dispersed throughout England
-without working some considerable change in the minds of probably
-200,000 persons.”&mdash;<i>Times</i>, Sept. 27, 1843.</p>
-
-<p>This work, as may be seen below, has been strongly recommended by the
-most talented Ministers of all denominations. As it is by no means
-Sectarian, all sects and divisions of the Christian Churches both use
-and recommend it. In addition to this, a very large circulation has been
-obtained for the work in America, and nearly a hundred of the most
-influential of the Transatlantic Ministers have sent letters to the
-Publisher, testifying their high sense of approbation, earnestly
-advocating its merits to their Flocks and to the Religious Public at
-large.</p>
-
-<p>The following are a few of the English Ministers who have expressed
-their high satisfaction with it:&mdash;</p>
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-<p>
-Rev. J. A. James, Birmingham.<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">J. Pye Smith, D.D. Homerton.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">T. Raffles, LL.D. Liverpool.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">F. A. Cox, LL.D. Hackney.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">W. B. Collyer, D.D. Peckham.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">G. Collison, D.D. Hackney.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Adam Thomson, D.D. Coldstream.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Josiah Pratt, B.D. Vicar of St. Stephen’s, London.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">J. Sherman, Surrey Chapel.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">James Parsons, York.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">John Clayton, Poultry Chapel.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">J. Davis, Bristol.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">G. Legge, Bristol.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">G. Lawson, Selkirk.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">T. Binney, Weigh-House.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Samuel Luke, Chester.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">John Ely, Leeds.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">R. Philip, Maberly Chapel.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">H. Calderwood, Kendal.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">J. Sibree, Coventry.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">J. Young, Albion Chapel.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Samuel Ransom, Hackney.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">J. Gilbert, Islington.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">P. Brotherston, Alloa.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">J. W. Massie, Manchester.</span><br />
-</p>
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-with 211 Engravings and an elegant Frontispiece. In Two Volumes, 16mo,
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-<div class="blockquot"><p>This is a most excellent book; the engravings are well designed to
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-<div class="blockquot"><p>“A very nice little volume, containing a charming collection of
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-such a rich selection of pieces, that are at once sprightly and
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-<p>“A very pleasing and suitable selection.”&mdash;<i>Westminster Review.</i></p>
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-<p>“A judicious selection of attractive poems, suited to children
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-Abbey; and Edward Taylor, Esq. Gresham Professor of Music. Complete in
-Three Vols. in very handsome cloth bindings. Price 1<i>l.</i> 12<i>s.</i> The
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-<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">II.&mdash;Sacred Music, Chants, &amp;c.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; 12&nbsp; 0</span><br />
-III.&mdash;Songs, Duets, Trios, Glees, Madrigals, &amp;c. 12 0<br />
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-Madrigal Societies, &amp;c., with the sacred and secular music.</p>
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-<p>Mozart’s Requiem&mdash;his last and greatest Work&mdash;adapted to English Words,
-selected chiefly from the Scriptures, and approved by Ecclesiastical
-Dignitaries; by the Gresham Professor of Music, E. Taylor, Esq.; and
-with Accompaniments arranged from the original score, by J. Turle, Esq.
-Organist of Westminster Abbey. In one neat volume, oblong royal 4to,
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-<p class="c">New Illustrated Edition of the Works of Miss Jane Porter.</p>
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-<p>1. The Scottish Chiefs. With an entirely new Preface and Notes by the
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-from Designs by E. Corbould, Esq. One Volume, 8vo, cloth, 13<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
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-<p>3. The Pastor’s Fireside. With an Original Preface and Explanatory
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-<img src="images/ill_pg_369.jpg" width="143" height="215" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Sacred Classics: a select Library of Theological Works; being a
-choice Selection of Sacred Poetry and Sermon Literature of the
-Seventeenth Century. Edited by the Rev. R. Cattermole, B.D., and the
-Rev. Henry Stebbing, D.D. To which are prefixed, Original Essays,
-Memoirs, Notes, &amp;c., by Dr. Pye Smith, Robert Southey, Esq., James
-Montgomery, Esq., Dr. Croly, the Rev. W. Trollope, and others. Foolscap
-8vo, cloth lettered, price 4<i>s.</i> each Volume.</p>
-
-<p><i>The Series comprises the following important Works</i>:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Jeremy Taylor’s Liberty of Prophesying</span>; showing the
-Unreasonableness of prescribing to other Men’s Faith; and the
-Iniquity of persecuting different Opinions.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Cave’s Lives of the Apostles and the Fathers.</span> Two Vols.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Bates’s Spiritual Perfection Unfolded and Enforced</span>; with an
-Introductory Essay, by the Rev. John Pye Smith, D.D.</p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">Bishop Hall’s Treatises</span>, Devotional and Practical.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Baxter’s Dying Thoughts.</span></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Jeremy Taylor’s Select Sermons.</span></p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">Butler’s Analogy of Religion</span>, Natural and Revealed, to the
-Constitution and Course of Nature: to which are added, Two Brief
-Dissertations. With a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. George
-Croly, LL.D.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Dr. Watts’s Lyric Poems.</span> With a Biographical Essay, by Robert
-Southey, Esq. LL.D.</p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">Beveridge’s Private Thoughts.</span> To which is added, <span class="smcap">The Necessity of
-Frequent Communion</span>. Two Vols.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Cave’s Primitive Christianity.</span> With an Historical Account of
-Paganism under the First Christian Emperors; and the Lives of
-Justin Martyr and St. Cyprian. Two Vols.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Archbishop Leighton’s Expositions of the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer,
-and the Ten Commandments</span>, &amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Sermons</span>, selected from the Works of the most <span class="smcap">Eminent Divines of the
-Seventeenth &amp; Eighteenth Centuries</span>. Three Vols.</p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">The Hon. Robert Boyle</span> on the Veneration Due to <span class="smcap">God</span>:&mdash;On Things
-above Reason:&mdash;and on the Style of the Holy Scriptures. With an
-Essay, by H. Rogers, Esq.</p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">Vicesimus Knox’s Christian Philosophy.</span></p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">Howe’s Select Treatises.</span> With a Memoir, by Thomas Taylor, Author of
-“The Life of Cowper,” “Memoirs of Bishop Heber,” &amp;c.</p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">Sacred Poetry of the Seventeenth Century</span>, Two Vols. including the
-whole of Giles Fletcher’s “Christ’s Victory and Triumph,” with
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-Wither, Bishop King, Quarles, Hebert, and Milton.</p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">Jeremy Taylor’s Life of Christ.</span> Three Vols. With an Introductory
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-<p><span class="smcap">Locke on the Reasonableness of Christianity.</span> With an Appendix,
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-<span class="smcap">Charge to the Clergy of Durham</span> in 1751. With an Appendix by Bishop
-Halifax.</p>
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-<p><span class="smcap">Bishop Horne’s Commentary on the Psalms</span>, with Life of the Author,
-by the Rev. W. Jones, of Nayland; and an Introductory Essay by
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-<p><span class="smcap">Jeremy Taylor’s Holy Living and Holy Dying</span>, with a Sketch of his
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-Three Vols., imperial 8vo, 2<i>l.</i> 12<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
-
-<p>The Life and Times of Whitefield; compiled chiefly from Original
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-<p>The Life, Times, and Characteristics of John Bunyan, Author of “The
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-<p class="c">USEFUL AND PRACTICAL WORKS</p>
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-3<i>s.</i></p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>“Till this hour Baxter is comparatively neglected. Although his
-Practical Works are rich magazines of wealth&mdash;although mind beams
-and radiates in every page&mdash;although every sentiment uttered is
-imbued, we might almost say saturated, with piety, and the style is
-often elevated by his sublime earnestness into more than
-Demosthenic eloquence&mdash;how few there are who can boast of having
-read more than his ‘Saint’s Everlasting Rest,’ and his ‘Call to the
-Unconverted.’&mdash;To recover Baxter’s works from neglect, and to bring
-them once again into general notice, is a more important thing than
-to have raised, if it had been possible, the holy man from his
-grave. The best part of him lives in his writings&mdash;his intellect,
-his heart, his heavenly-mindedness is there. By these, ‘he being
-dead yet speaketh.’ To every religious family, able to afford a
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-containing a complete library of practical divinity. No minister of
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-
-<p>The Works of the Rev. John Newton, late Rector of the united Parishes of
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-<div class="blockquot"><p>“Coming on to modern theological writers, I recommend you to
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-of Andrew Fuller. I know nothing like the latter for a beautiful
-combination of doctrinal, practical, and experimental
-religion.”&mdash;<i>Counsels to Students of Theology on leaving College,
-by John Angell James.</i></p></div>
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-with the means of instructing those around them in the most
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-founded on the most unobjectionable authorities; and care will be
-taken to describe, as fully as possible, the labours and struggles
-of those holy men whose patience and triumphs have ever been
-considered as affording the best demonstration of the power of
-Christian faith.</p>
-
-<p>Though primarily intended as a book for Family Instruction, it is
-hoped that this History will not be undeserving the notice of
-religious readers in general, or of Theological Students, who will
-find in it a careful digest of whatever is most necessary to be
-considered in the annals of the Christian Church.</p></div>
-
-<p class="c">THE ONLY EDITION CONTAINING DR. SYMINGTON’S IMPROVEMENTS.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>To be completed in Forty Parts at Two Shillings. Each Part
-embellished with Two highly-finished Steel Engravings, or Maps,
-from Drawings made on the Spot, by Mr. <span class="smcap">Bartlett</span>, in 1846.</p></div>
-
-<p>The Rev. T. Scott’s Commentary on the Holy Bible, containing the Old and
-New Testaments according to the Authorized Version, Illustrated by
-Original Views of the Scenery and Remarkable Places in and around
-Jerusalem and the Holy Land, including accurate representations of the
-Scenes of the most important Events in Sacred History, the Life and
-Labours of the Saviour, and the Journeys of his Apostles. With an
-Introductory Essay, and numerous Practical, Explanatory, and Critical
-Notes, by the Rev. <span class="smcap">W. Symington</span>, D.D., Glasgow.</p>
-
-<p>A New Pocket Bible with Scott’s Commentary, and Copious Marginal
-Readings, References, &amp;c. With 28 Illustrative Plates by artists of the
-highest celebrity. In royal 16mo, and splendid morocco elegant binding.
-Price 10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">London</span>: GEORGE VIRTUE; Sold by <span class="smcap">Hall &amp; Co.</span> 25, Paternoster-row</p>
-
-<p>R. Clay, Printer, Bread Street Hill.</p>
-
-<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
-</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Inde vagos Vaga Cambrenses, hinc respicit Anglos;<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-Qui cum jam ad ostium fere devenerit <i>Chepstow</i> præterfluit, id est, si
-è Saxonico interpreteris forum vel negotiationis locus Britannis,
-<i>Castle Went</i>, oppidum hoc est celebre quondam mœnibus nunc solum Castro
-firmum, cujus domini fuerunt è Clarensium familia nobiles, à proximo
-Castro <i>Strighull</i>, quod incoluerunt <i>Striguliæ</i> et Penbrochiæ Comites
-dicti quorum ultimus Richardus.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Longitudo ecclesiæ <i>prioratus</i> Chepstow, 50 virgæ. latitudo
-eccl. prædictæ, 33 virgæ.&mdash;<i>Will. de Worc.</i> 133.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Longitudo pontis de Chepstow, 126 virgæ.&mdash;<i>Will. de Worc.</i>
-133.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> From the form of the British Channel, says De la Beche, and
-the absence of a free passage for the waters, such as exists at the
-Straits of Dover, in the English Channel, westerly winds force up and
-sustain a great body of water, thereby raising the sea above the mean
-level several feet. During such phenomena, it is said, the body of water
-in the river assumes a convex surface. In the great storm of 1703, the
-tide flowed over the top of Chepstow bridge, inundating all the low
-land, and washing away whole farm-yards and incalculable stock.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell, vol. ii. p.
-278.&mdash;<i>Note.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> See <span class="smcap">Castles and Abbeys</span>, vol. i. of this work, Carisbrooke,
-Isle of Wight. Upon the death of the renowned Fitzosborne, Dugdale,
-quoting the Monk of Utica, thus moralizes:&mdash;“After this short life of
-nature, there is a long life of Fame, who will blow her trumpet aloud to
-posterity, and plainly lay open to the world as well the bad as good
-actions of the most potent that shall be in their highest pitch of
-worldly power. ‘Veré ut gloria mundi flos feni,’ &amp;c. Certainly the glory
-of this world fadeth and withereth as the flowers of the field; yea, it
-passeth away and vanisheth even as smoke. What,” he continues, “is
-become of <span class="eng">William Fitzosborne</span>, Earl of Hereford, vicegerent of the king,
-sewer of Normandy, that most warlike general! Was he not, in truth, the
-chief and greatest oppressor of the English, and he who cherished an
-enormous cause by his boldness, whereby many thousands were brought to
-miserable ends! Lo! the just Judge, beholding all things, rewardeth even
-man according to his demerits. Alas, is he not now slain? Hath not this
-hardy champion had his desert? As he slew many with the sword, so he
-suddenly received his death by the sword.”&mdash;<i>Baronage, 67, quoting
-Orderic Vitulis.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Richardus</i> vir infracto animo et projectissimis brachiis
-<i>Strangbow</i> cognominatus, quod arcu intentissimo uteretur, et nihil levi
-brachio ageret. Hiberniam Normannis primus sua virtute
-aperuit.&mdash;<i>Camden.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> “A full and particular relation of the manner of the late
-besieging and taking of Chepstow Castle, in Wales, by the forces of his
-Excellency the Lord Fairfax, expressed in a letter from Colonel Ewer to
-the Honourable William Lentall, Speaker of the House of Commons. The
-governor to the said castle within, that betrayed it to the King’s
-forces, was slain in this service; as also all the rest of the
-commanders and soldiers killed and taken. London: printed by Mathew
-Simmons, for Henry Overton, in Paper Head Alley, 1648.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Historical and Descriptive Account, &amp;c., of Chepstow
-Castle, 1808; Heath; Burke’s Commoners, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The family of Kemeys is one of the most ancient in
-Monmouthshire. The late William Kemeys, Esq. of the Maindee, and the
-present J. Gardiner Kemeys, Esq. of Pertholy, are descended from the
-same family.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> This report is somewhat different from that given by
-another authority, already quoted.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> If such be the fact, it would almost lead to the
-conclusion that there was some truth in the story of the Parliament
-party having disposed of his remains in some unusual way; although,
-otherwise, the story seems very improbable, as that was not the form in
-which their cruelty was wont to show itself. They were likely enough to
-have seized his estate, his goods and chattels, and to have turned his
-family out of doors; but they had no respect for dignities or titles,
-and cared little for churches, churchyards, and dead bodies.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> This lady showed Mr. Heath a document of Oliver Cromwell,
-of which the following is a copy:&mdash;
-</p><p>
-<span class="eng">Oliver P.</span> It is our will and pleasure that you permit and suffer Colonel
-Edward Coke, with his company and hounds, to hunt, kill, and dispose of
-a Brace of Staggs, this season, in our Parke or Woodes neer Chepstowe,
-and that you, and every of you, be aydeing and assisting to him herein;
-and for your soe doing this shall be your sufficient warrant.
-</p>
-
-<p class="c">
-Given at Whitehall, the 12 July, 1683.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p class="hang">
-To Major Blethan, or, in his absence, to
-Lieutenant Phillips, or any other of the
-keepers of Chepstow Parke or Wentwood
-Chase.
-</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> See Burke’s Commoners, vol. iv.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> This connection of the two Cromwells, through the Kemeys
-family, is worth notice.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Of the Tynte family, Burke gives the following account:&mdash;
-</p><p>
-“The family of <i>Tynte</i> has maintained for centuries a leading position
-in the west of England; of its surname, tradition has handed down the
-following derivation:&mdash;‘In the year 1192, at the celebrated battle of
-Ascalon, a young knight of the noble house of Arundel, clad all in
-white, with his horse’s housings of the same colour, so gallantly
-distinguished himself on that memorable field, that Richard Cœur-de-Lion
-remarked publicly, after the victory, that the maiden knight had borne
-himself as a lion, and done deeds equal to those of six crusaders;
-whereupon he conferred on him for arms, a lion <i>gules</i> on a field
-<i>argent</i>, between six crosslets of the first, and for motto, <i>Tynctus
-cruore Saraceno</i>.’<span class="lftspc">”</span>&mdash;<i>Commoners.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> C. J. Kemeys-Tynte, Esq., M.P., F.R.S.&mdash;whose father, C.
-Kemeys-Tynte, Esq., succeeded to the estates of his great-uncle, the
-last baronet&mdash;is coheir to the barony of Grey-de-Wilton; and in July,
-1845, was declared by a committee for privileges of the House of Lords,
-to be senior coheir of the whole blood to the abeyant barony of
-Wharton.&mdash;<i>Dod’s Parliam. Comp.</i>, 1847.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> With regard to the tower called “Longine,” the tradition
-ran, that “it had been erected by one Longinus, a Jew, father of the
-soldier whose spear pierced the side of Christ. He was condemned either
-for some crime of his own, or for having given birth to a criminal, to
-repair to Britain, and there to erect a religious edifice on the river
-Wye. That edifice was the Chapel of our Lady in the castle; and although
-a Jew, the said Longinus appears to have had a fine Gothic taste.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Of the supposed chapel, Mr. Williams says&mdash;“This is not in
-the usual style of such a building: the windows, arches, and other
-decorated parts were extremely rich, and in the finest Gothic taste.
-There are, however, several traces of plain Saxon arches filled up in
-the wall [arches of construction], which indicate a higher antiquity
-than the general decorations of the castle.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> By him the vote was proposed, that the King’s statues at
-the Royal Exchange and other places should be taken down, and the
-following inscription substituted:&mdash;“<i>Exit Tyrannus, Regum ultimus, Anno
-Libertatis Angliæ Restitutæ primo</i>, <small>A.D.</small> 1648.” When it was proposed,
-“that the House of Peers in parliament was useless and dangerous, and
-ought to be abolished,” Marten proposed that the word <i>dangerous</i> should
-be omitted, and that <i>useless</i> alone should be retained, and that it
-should be declared that the Lords <i>were useless, but not
-dangerous</i>.&mdash;<i>Parl. Hist.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Sir Henry Marten, his father, was one of the brightest
-ornaments of the age in which he lived. He was principal Judge of the
-Admiralty, twice Dean of the Arches, a Knight, and, in 1684, Judge of
-the Prerogative Court, in all of which offices he was allowed to be one
-of the most eminent civilians that ever filled them. He was in high
-favour with his sovereign, King James, who jocularly used to remark on
-Sir Henry, “that he was judge over the dead and over the living.” He
-died the 26th of September, 1641, aged 80, and was buried at his seat at
-Longworth, near Abingdon, in Berkshire.&mdash;<i>Heath.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> On the contrary, it is said by other writers that he was
-affectionately attended by his wife and daughters during his
-incarceration in Chepstow Castle.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> This anecdote does credit to Marten’s spirit, and very
-little to Mr. Lewis, “who first violated the rules of good breeding
-towards a man who, at the very time, was expiating what power had made a
-crime, and then revenged himself by a petty inhospitality. It was
-punishment enough, surely, for poor Marten to have been imprisoned for
-twenty years, without having to accept a dinner on such terms.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Old Antony Wood was not likely to speak well of any
-regicide, and from the hypothetical way in which he speaks of Marten’s
-penitence, he seems to have known of the anecdote with Mr. Lewis, or, at
-least, as much as it indicates.&mdash;See his character as given by <span class="smcap">Mr.
-Carlyle</span>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> As no such epitaph was at all likely to be permitted to be
-engraven, on the tombstone, if Marten was even allowed a tombstone,
-until after the Revolution, which took place nine years after his death,
-is it not more likely that these lines were composed by some quaint “Old
-Mortality” of the Cromwell school, than by the subject of
-them?&mdash;<i>Correspondent.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> How Mr. Seward or Mr. Heath could have applied this
-quotation to Marten, it is difficult to imagine.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Here follows a disquisition on the genuineness of the
-picture, which concludes:&mdash;“Such is the account attached to this
-picture, which, after what has been said, does not positively prove it
-to be the portrait of Henry Marten; but I am the more inclined to assent
-to the traditionary evidence, because it has all the character of such a
-man. It further seems to have been taken while he was in the army, from
-his wearing armour, being Cromwell’s major-general over the county of
-Surrey, in which command his conduct was marked by the most flagrant
-rapacity; so that the picture must have been brought to St. Pierre, and
-not painted during his residence in Monmouthshire. If, therefore, the
-picture must be received as the portrait of Harry Marten, I am led to
-believe that, when his family came to share in his confinement, they
-brought it with them to Chepstow, and, after Marten’s decease, gave it
-to Mr. Lewis’s ancestors. It is in the finest preservation.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The Lords of Striguil were entitled to the prisage and
-butlerage of all wines brought into the ports of Swansea and Chepstow.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Tradition relates that an officer actually made his escape
-from this castle in the manner described, and, crossing the river by
-swimming, joined the Protector’s army on the Gloucester heights, where a
-battery was established.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> During the siege, as the tradition runs, a barge lay at
-anchor immediately under this window, by means of which, if driven to
-extremity, the governor at least, and part of the garrison&mdash;desperate as
-the attempt must have been&mdash;might be enabled to make their escape. This
-becoming an object of suspicion, a soldier of the republican army
-volunteered to deprive the governor of this last resource. Throwing
-himself at midnight into the river, he swam to the barge, and there with
-a knife, which he had carried in his teeth for that purpose, severed the
-cable, sent the boat adrift, and then swam back to his comrades in
-triumph.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> In 1696, the castle was garrisoned by the royal troops,
-the daily expense of which may be estimated by the following
-examples:&mdash;The governor, in addition to six captains’ pay, had 2s. a
-day; the gunner, 20d.; a mathorse, 10d.; fire and candle for the guard,
-8d.; a company of foot, consisting of a captain, 8s.; a lieutenant, 4s.;
-two sergeants, at 1s. 6d. each, 3s.; three corporals and a drummer, at
-1s. each, 4s.; sixty-two soldiers, at 8d. each, 41s. 4d. = £3. 5s.
-6d.&mdash;<i>Hist. of Chepstow.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Fosbroke&mdash;Local History and Guide.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> His history is short and melancholy. In the course of the
-American war, he was appointed governor of the island of St. Vincent,
-where he expended a large sum from his own private resources in its
-fortification. Upon its fall, the minister of the day disavowed his
-claim for compensation. His creditors became clamorous, and he was cast
-into the King’s Bench prison, where he languished for twelve years. When
-released from his confinement, he was broken in health and
-spirits&mdash;suffering most of all from the domestic calamity which his
-fallen fortunes had produced in the insanity of his wife; and shortly
-after he died at the house of a relative in London. He was a generous
-and benevolent man, as the poor of his neighbourhood could well testify.
-On his departure for the West Indies, they came in troops to bid him a
-tearful farewell; and the muffled bells of the neighbouring church rang
-a funeral knell as he left the home of his love, and the scenes which he
-had embellished both by his taste and his life.&mdash;<i>Roscoe’s South
-Wales.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Chepstow Guide.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> “It may almost be said,” remarks the same writer, “that
-the last happy moments Gray knew in this world were spent upon the Wye;
-for, a few months after, we find him a prey to ill health and
-despondency&mdash;complaining of an incurable cough, of the irksomeness of
-his employment at Cambridge, and of ‘mechanical low spirits.’ He died in
-the course of the following summer, æt. 55.”&mdash;P. M. August, 1835.&mdash;See
-his Life by Mason.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> The historian of the abbey here quoted has probably made
-some mistake in the name; as it was to <i>Neath</i> Abbey, not Tinterne, that
-King Edward retreated.&mdash;<i>See Append.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> In 1210, when <span class="eng">King John</span> summoned all the ecclesiastics and
-religious orders to meet him at London, he levied fines, which were
-computed to amount to £100,000. The White or <span class="eng">Cistercian</span> Monks alone paid
-£40,000 of silver additional; and their order, for a time, became so
-much reduced, that it was dispersed throughout all the other monasteries
-of England. From this condition, however, they speedily recovered; and
-of the seventy-five religious houses of this order that flourished at
-the Dissolution, <i>thirty-six</i> were superior monasteries.&mdash;<i>Ecclesiast.
-Hist.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> 1287.&mdash;Conventus Ecclesiæ Beatæ Mariæ de <span class="eng">Tynterna</span> intravit
-dictam ecclesiam ad celebrandum in <i>nova</i> ecclesia. Et quinto nonas
-Octobris in anno sequenti Conventus intravit in choro, et prima missa
-celebrata fuit ad magnum altare. Dedicacio Ecclesiæ Tynterniæ, 28 die
-Jullii. F. littera.&mdash;<i>Will. de Worc.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Citeaux&mdash;now Gilly-les-Citeaux&mdash;so famous for its abbey.
-“L’abbaye de Citeaux,” says a French tourist, “chef d’ordre d’où
-dependaient 3,600 couvents de deux sexes, fut fondée par Saint Robert,
-Abbé de Molesme en 1098. <span class="eng">Saint Bernard</span> y prit l’habit en 1113, et y jeta
-la même année, les fondements de l’abbaye de la Ferté sur Gròne; de
-celle de Pontigny en 1114; de celles de Clairvaux et de Morimont en
-1115, appelées <i>les quatre filles de Citeaux</i>.” Yet Citeaux, afterwards
-so famous, was a miserable desert at the arrival of St. Robert and his
-disciples:&mdash;“Qui locus (<i>Cistercium</i>) et pro nemorum, et spinarum tunc
-temporis opacitate accessui hominum insolitus, a solis feris
-inhabitabatur. Ad quem Viri Dei venientes locumq. tantó religione quam
-animo jamque conceperant et propter quam illuc advenerant, habiliorem
-quanto secularibus despicabiliorem et inaccessibilem intelligentes,
-nemorum et spinarum densitate prescissa et remota, Monasterium ibidem
-construere cœperunt.&mdash;<i>Mon. Angl. art. Cister.</i> v. iv. 695.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Quia etiam beatum Benedictum non in civitatibus, nec in
-Castellis aut in villis, sed <i>in locis à frequentia hominum et populi
-semotis</i>, Cœnobia construisse sancti viri illi sciebant, idem se æmulari
-promittebant. Et sicut ille monasteria constructa per <i>duodenos monachos
-adjuncto patre</i> disponebat, sic se acturos confirmabant.&mdash;<i>Monast. Angl.
-ii.; art. Cisterc.</i>
-</p><p>
-Exuti ergo veterem hominem, novum se induisse gaudent: et quia nec in
-regula nec in vita Sancti <i>Benedicti</i> eundem doctorem tegebant
-possedisse ecclesias, vel altaria seu oblationes aut sepulturas vel
-decimas aliorum hominum seu furnos vel molendinos aut villas aut
-rusticos, nec etiam fæminas monasterium ejus intrâsse, nec mortuos
-ibidem excepta sorore sua sepelisse, ideo <i>hæc omnia abdicaverunt</i>,
-dicentes&mdash;ubi beatus <i>Benedictus</i> docet ut monachus à secularibus
-actibus se faciat alienum, &amp;c., &amp;c.&mdash;<i>Monast. Angl. iv.</i> 699.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> It is added that, when Cœur-de-Lion was about to start for
-the Holy Land (<small>A.D.</small> 1191), Folgius, a bold confessor of the church,
-exhorted the monarch to dismiss his three daughters before joining the
-Crusade. “Hypocrite!” said the king, “well thou knowest that I have no
-daughters.” “My liege,” rejoined the confessor, “you have three&mdash;Pride,
-Avarice, and Luxury.” “Aha!” exclaimed Richard, “why, then, the Templars
-shall have Pride&mdash;the Cistercians, Avarice&mdash;and as for Luxury, let my
-bishops and clergy share her among them, and then they will all be well
-provided for until my return.”&mdash;<i>Thomas’s Tinterne.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> They became so powerful at last, that they were said to
-“govern all Christendom;” but, if they did not govern, they had at least
-an influence in every government and kingdom of Europe. Cardinal de
-Vetri says, they neither wore skins nor shirts; never ate flesh, except
-in sickness; and abstained from fish, eggs, milk, and cheese; lay on
-straw-beds in tunics or cowls; rose at midnight to prayer; spent the day
-in labour, reading, and prayer; and in all they did, exercised a
-continual silence.&mdash;<i>See Monast. Angl.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> In quo <i>regula</i> sine ulla mitigatione ad apicem
-servaretur.&mdash;<i>Mabillon</i>, quoted by Fosbroke.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Brit. Monachism</i>, p. 69.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Dev. Vie Monastique.&mdash;Brit. Monachism, <i>note</i>, page 70.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> De Orig. et Progr. Monach., p. 313, quoted by Fosbroke, p.
-70.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> “Critics who censure the west window as too broad for its
-height, do not consider that it was not intended for a particular
-object, but to harmonize 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.”&mdash;<i>Coxe.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> The following are the ancient admeasurements of the church
-and cloisters:&mdash;
-</p><p>
-Longitudo ecclesiæ <i>Sanctæ Maria Tynterniæ</i> continet 75 virgas. <i>Item</i>,
-in dicta ecclesia sunt ex parte australi 10 archus, et inter quamlibet
-columnam sunt 5 virgæ longitudinis cujuslibet dictorum 10 arcuum: item
-sunt in parte inferiori dictæ ecclesiæ ex parte australi 10 fenestræ de
-consimili operatione. Et 10 fenestræ principales ex parte boreali
-ecclesiæ, et quælibet fenestra continet duas magnas panellas
-fenestratas. <i>Item</i>, in <i>le ovyrhistorye</i> sunt consimiliter 10 fenestræ
-principales, et quælibet fenestra continet duas panas vitratas secundum
-proportionem, quamvis non secundum quantitatem fenestrarum totius
-ecclesiæ Westmonasterii apud Londoniam.&mdash;<i>Will. de Worc.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Latitudo <i>orientalis fenestræ</i> ante magnum altare,
-continet 8 pannas <i>glasatas</i> cum armis <span class="smcap">Rogeri Bygot</span>, fundatoris. Et in
-orientali parte duarum elarum orientalium, in earum duabus fenestris,
-quælibet fenestra constat ex tribus panis vitreatis sine armis. Item
-longitudo <i>Chori</i> constat ex iiii. arcubus ultra quantitatem areæ
-quadratæ campanilis principalis in medio Chori qua; continet ... virgas.
-Sic in toto longitudo Chori cum area campanilis continet virgas. <i>Item</i>,
-altitudo <i>voltæ</i> totius ecclesiæ ab area ecclesiæ continet xi. Anglicè
-<i>vetheyms</i>, et quilibet vetheym constat, &amp;c.... pedibus seu ... virgis.
-Longitudo de le <i>Crosseyle</i>, id est brachiorum ecclesiarum, tam ex parte
-meridionali quam boreali continet 50 virgas, id est 150 pedes. <i>Item</i>,
-quadrature spacia areæ campanilis in medio <i>Chori</i> ecclesiæ scitæ
-continet in longitudine 12 virgas. <i>Item</i>, dicta quadratura campanilis
-continet in latitudine 12 virgas. <i>Item</i>, <i>fenestra</i> principalis
-<i>meridionalis</i> atque <i>Septentrionalis</i> vitrea continet vi. pannas
-glasatas magnæ altitudinis.&mdash;<i>Will. de Worc. ed. 1778, Cantab.</i> [with
-various blanks.]
-</p><p>
-<span class="eng">Cloisters.</span>&mdash;Ecclesiæ de Tynterna: Memorand.&mdash;<i>The Cloyster</i> is 37 virgæ
-in longit. et in lat. 33 virg. <i>Item</i>, tota eccles. continet 14 archus
-in una parte et 14 archus in altera parte. <i>Item</i>, pars fenestra
-borealis principalis 14 panellas glasatas. <i>Item</i>, latitudo dietæ
-fenestræ tam ex boreali quam oppositæ fenestræ ex parte meridionali
-continet iii. virgas. <i>Item</i> the <i>fermarge chyrch</i> continet in
-longitudine 34 virgas, id est 60 steppys meas&mdash;quæ sunt 34 virgæ&mdash;et in
-latitudine viii. virgas. <i>Item</i>, capitulum in longitudine continet 18
-virgas, in latitudine 9 virgas. <i>Memorand.</i>, quod 24 steppys, sive
-gressus mei, faciunt 12 virgas. <i>Item</i>, 50 virgæ faciunt 85 gradus, sive
-steppys meas.&mdash;<i>Will. de Worc.</i> 83.
-</p><p>
-In all its parts, according to Dugdale, this church is a copy of
-Salisbury Cathedral, built only a few years previously.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Paper on the Abbey. Tinterne, which is coeval with
-Westminster Abbey, has a remarkable similarity in its whole plan and
-style of architecture, and was, in fact, a <i>repetition</i> in
-miniature.&mdash;<i>Dallaway’s Arts</i>, p. 36.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> A barge-builder at Tinterne severed the head from the
-trunk, and defaced the features, legs, and shield, leaving it in its
-present mutilated state.&mdash;<i>Tinterne and its Environs.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> In the early Church, “a fish was generally used by
-Christians as a symbol of the Great Founder of their faith, the letters
-of the Greek word, ιχθυς (a fish), forming the <i>initials</i> of the most
-important titles of our blessed Lord:”&mdash;Ι.Χ.Θ.Υ.Σ.&mdash;<i>Pompeïana.</i>
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Ίησους Χριστὸς Θεου Ύιὸς Σωτηρ<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> The naturalist will not leave the area of the Abbey
-without noticing an alder-tree in the northern transept, covered with
-<i>aphides</i>, to which a long train of black ants have for some years been
-observed continually coming and departing through the sacristy door, and
-pacing along the pediment of one of the lofty columns to the root of the
-tree. This is the only <i>procession</i> now visible in the Abbey, and is
-formed, not for devotion, but for a lowlier, yet not less imperative
-purpose&mdash;the alder-tree is their <i>refectory</i>, and the sweet <i>exuviæ</i> of
-the plant-lice form their food.&mdash;<i>Thomas’s Tinterne</i>, p. 26.
-</p><p>
-<i>b</i> He enumerates the following as indigenous in the fruitful vale of
-Tinterne:&mdash;Delphinium consolida, Aquilegia vulgaris, Saponaria
-officinalis, Eriophorum polystachion, Galanthus nivalis, Narcissus
-pseudo-narcyssus, Allium Carinatum, Ornithogalum Pyrennaicum, Acorus
-calamus, Euphorbia Cyparissias, Anemone pulsatilla, A. Appenina, A.
-nemorosa.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a>
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">If thou would’st view fair Melrose aright,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Go visit it by the pale moonlight;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For the gay beams of lightsome day<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Gild but to flout the ruins gray....<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then go&mdash;but go alone the while&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And view <span class="eng">St. Mary’s</span> ruin’d pile;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then, home returning, soothly swear<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was never scene so sad and fair!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Beauties, Harmonies, and Sublimities of Nature.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Prædictus conquestor dedit manerium de Wolleston et
-manerium de Tudenham in parte; et similiter dedit ei licentiam
-conquerendi super Wallenses postea, &amp;c.&mdash;<i>Monast. Angl.</i> iv. 725.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a>
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Is bruder Sir <span class="eng">Gileberd</span>, that eir was of the londe,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">He bitoke mid gode wille the eritage an hond.<br /></span>
-<span class="i15">&mdash;<i>Robert of Gloucester.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Baronage, 208.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> “He died untimely,” says the historian, “on the nones of
-April, 1176, and was buried in the Chapterhouse at Gloucester.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Bar. Monast.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> In the “<i>New Temple</i>” or Temple Church, as recorded by
-Robert of Gloucester:&mdash;
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And Willam <span class="eng">Marchal</span> deide tho, that longe worth in mone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And atte <i>nywe temple</i> was iburied at Londone.&mdash;Vol. ii. p. 518.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Mat. Paris, 1245.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Bp. of Fernis, a Cistercian monk, and an Irishman by
-birth.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> William, eldest son of the above-named Earl Marshall, gave
-a charter to the Abbey of Tinterne, dated March 22, <small>A.D.</small> 1223. Pro
-salute animæ meæ et pro animabus bonæ memoriæ Walteri filii Ricardi,
-filii Guilberti Strongbow, avi mei, et Willielmi Mariscalli, patris mei,
-et Ysabellæ Matrisque meæ et antecessorum, hæredum et successorum
-nostrorum.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Dugdale’s Baronage.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> His deeds, assassination, and burial, are thus recorded by
-Robert of Gloucester:&mdash;
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“As noble bodi in he smot, he nolde longe abide,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">He slou to ground her and ther, vaste on either side,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">More prowesse ne mizte of bodi be,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Than me mizte of <span class="eng">Richard</span> the <span class="eng">marschal</span> there ise.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>
-Then describing the nature of the wound given him by an assassin&mdash;“in
-aboute the fondement as he vnarmed was,” adds&mdash;
-</p>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“At Kildar he was aslawe that in <span class="eng">Yrlonde</span> is,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And at the <span class="eng">frere prechors</span> ibured, at Kilkenni, iwis.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Tho vr <span class="eng">Kyng Henry</span> hurde of is deth telle,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And of the prowesse that he dude, ar me him mizte quelle,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And he vnderstod of his wit, and of is wisdom,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Him thozte it was a gret love to al is kinedom,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Vor is deth he made deol inou, and for is soule he let do<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Almes dede mani on, and mani masse al so.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Baronage. Mat. of Paris. Mat. Westm. “Being suspected of
-overmuch gallantry towards the wife of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales
-(sister of King Henry), he was by him subtilely invited to an Easter
-feast, but after the entertainment was over, he was charged therewith,
-and cast into prison, where he suffered death by a barbarous murder.
-Some say he was hanged, and the princess with him.”&mdash;<i>Dugdale. Bar.</i>
-419.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <span class="eng">Rogerus Bygod</span>, Comes Norfolciæ, dedit ecclesiæ de Tynterna
-dominium de Eccle ac ecclesiam S. Edwardi de Halbergate ē omnibus eorum
-pertinenciis.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> The hospitaler was allowed to drink with any orderly
-person, for the sake of sociality, at the direction and request of that
-person, without asking leave.&mdash;<i>Licet hostilario, etc.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <span class="eng">St. Bernard</span> induced all his brothers, five in number, to
-follow his example of retirement. His only <span class="eng">sister</span> still remained in the
-world; but coming to visit the <span class="eng">monastery</span> in the dress, and <i>with the
-attendance of a lady of quality</i>, she found herself treated with so much
-neglect, that, bursting into tears, she said, “True it is, I am a
-sinner, yet, nevertheless, it was for such that <span class="smcap">Jesus</span> died.” Moved by
-expressions so truly evangelical, Bernard remitted his severity, gave
-her directions suitable to the taste of the age, and probably still
-better advice; but all that <i>Gulielmus</i>, the writer here quoted, has
-thought fit to record, is, that Bernard’s sister became a nun, and
-resembled her brother in piety.&mdash;<i>Life of St. Bernard.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Brit. Monach.</span>: art. <i>Guest-Hall</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a>
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“From due oblation, at the vaulted door,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The entering <span class="eng">monks</span> stood, each one with his mate,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">At the two tables of the lowest floor,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Their looks directing to the spiry state<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Of chair much sculptured, where the <span class="eng">Prior</span> sate;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To this, where transversely, a board was spread,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Inferior lordlings of the convent ate;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">As passed the Prior, all depressed the head;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Loud rang a tinkling bell, and wonted grace was said.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a>
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“The <span class="eng">Prior</span> gave the signal word; aloud<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The reader ’gan the love of God reveal;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">At the first stated pause, the holy crowd<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Turned to the board in instantaneous wheel,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And solemn silence marked their instant meal;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The Prior to the reader bow’d, again<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">They turned; the <span class="eng">Sacrist</span> rang a tinkling peal,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Last grace was said; and, carolling a strain<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Of David, two and two withdrew the hooded train.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2"><span class="smcap">Brit. Monach.</span>&mdash;<i>Monastic Æconomy</i>, 401.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a>
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“At noon-hour&mdash;did no fleshless day betide&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">On posied trenchers the plain cates were spread,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The snow-white egg, the fish’s corned side,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Domestic fowl, by barn-door plenty fed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">And, best of nutriment, fermented bread;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">No thirst was theirs but what that juice could pall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The sugar’d ears of bearded barley shed;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">An aged monk was marshal of the hall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">There walking to and fro, the servitours to call.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i15">&mdash;<i>Poem quoted.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a>
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Pinguia concedens quæ sunt <i>affinia carni</i>,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sic tamen ut nunquam sit <i>manifesta</i> caro.<br /></span>
-<span class="i10">&mdash;<i>Spec. Stultor.</i> <span class="smcap">Brit. Mon.</span><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> “Nullus et monachus habeat colloquium cum maliere cognata
-aut extranea, in temporibus indebitis, sicut, prandii, et coenæ, et horæ
-meridianæ, aut tempore potûs assiguati.”&mdash;<i>MS. Cott. Jul. II. 2. f.
-159.</i> Quoted by Fosbroke, p. 220.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> See <i>ante op. cit.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Brit. Monach. new Ed. p. 287.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Hutchinson, ii. 67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Usus Cistercienses.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> These rules, however, proved very ineffectual in the end,
-and were only observed until the temptation to break them had become
-sufficiently strong.&mdash;See <i>ante</i>, pp. 33, 36.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> See <i>ante</i> pages 35, 36, 37.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> See note in this vol. <i>ante</i> page 35.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Annales Cistercienses.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Morton, 200.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Morton’s Monastic Annals, quoting Bibl. Cotton. Nero A.
-121.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Nicolson’s Engh. Hist. lib. quoted by Morton.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> West’s Furness, 1774.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Mores Catholici, xi. 77.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Mores Catholici.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Mores Catholici.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> See Account of the <i>Schism</i> already given.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Hist. Monast. Villar. apud Mor. Cath.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Annales Cistertienses, quoted by Morton, 209.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> <i>Annales Cisterc.</i> 1154, iv. 6. This varies but slightly
-from the original. See also Monast. Annals, p. 210.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> In the grounds at Hawkestone, the seat of Lord Hill, and
-in those of Fountains Abbey, some extraordinary hunters’-leaps are
-pointed out, as having been taken in the heat of the chase; but that
-given in the tradition of Lancaut, is one that will never be repeated.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> These objections, it is to be hoped, are no longer
-applicable to Tinterne Parva. The “desecration,” so justly yet playfully
-complained of, is a practice which cannot be too strongly reprobated;
-but to such instances of negligence or “economy,” nothing but the
-progress of Archæology can apply a final check.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> From the time of Henry the Second, to whom the land of
-Gwent submitted, the royalty of Wentwood Chase was vested in the crown,
-and its privileges were ascertained in the Charta Forestæ of Henry the
-Third; but the rights of lords of manors, and free tenants, in times of
-general confusion, became involved and disputable. In the assumption of
-the Chase of Wentwood by the house of Somerset, after the Restoration,
-the recognition of ancient customs and privileges involved it in
-numerous controversies and processes of law.&mdash;<i>County History.</i> See also
-Letter from Cromwell, supra.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Striguil, or Strigul Castle, is quite distinct from that
-of Chepstow, with which it has been often confounded, under the common
-name of <i>Striguil</i>, or <i>Estrigoel</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Thomas, p. 62.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Ibid. 63.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Hard by are seene Wondy and Penhow, the seats in times
-past of the noble family of Saint Maur, now corruptly named Seimor. For
-G. Mareshall, Earle of Pembrock, about the yeere of our Lord, 1240, was
-bound for the winning of Wondy, out of the Welshmen’s hands, to aide
-William Seimor. From him descended Roger de Saint Maur, knight, who
-married one of the heires of L. Beauchamp of Hach, a very noble baron,
-who derived his pedigree from Sibyl, heire unto William Mareshall, that
-puissant Earle of Pembrock, from William Ferrars, Earle of Derby, from
-Hugh de Vivon, and William Mallet, men in times past highly renowned.
-The nobility of all these, and of others besides, as may be evidently
-shewed, hath met together in that right honourable personage, Edward
-Saint Maur, or Seimor, now Earle Hertford, a singular favourer of vertue
-and good learning, worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and commended
-to posterity.&mdash;<i>Camden Silures</i>, 634.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Rupis Aurea, eò quod aurei coloris saxa sole repercussa
-miro fulgore sunt rutulantia: nec mihi de facili persuasio fieri posset,
-quod frustratum dederit natura nitore saxis, quodque suo fuerit flos hic
-sine fructu, si foret qui venas ibidem, et penitima terræ viscera arte
-prævia transpenetraret.&mdash;<i>Gyraldus Cambrensis.</i>
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">There is a hill near famed Caerleon,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Which, if the sun but dart a ray on,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">It shines like gold; hence Goldcliffe hight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But if there’s gold, ’tis not in sight.<br /></span>
-<span class="i10">&mdash;<i>Wonders of Wales.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> With regard to this tract Camden relates:&mdash;Beneath this
-lieth spred for many miles together a <i>Mersh</i>, they call it the <i>Moore</i>,
-which, when I lately revised this worke, suffered a lamentable losse;
-for when the Severn sea, at a spring tide in the change of the moone,
-what being driven back for three daies together, with a south-west
-winde, and what with a verie strong pirrie from the sea troubling it,
-swelled and raged so high, that with surging billowes it came rolling
-and inrushing amaine upon this tract lying so low, as also upon the like
-flates in Somersetshire over against it, that it overflowed all
-subverted houses, and drowned a number of beasts and some people withal.
-<i>Camden</i>, 635. See also <i>Note supra</i>, page 5. Neere to this place there
-remaine the reliques of a <i>Priorie</i>, that acknowledge those of <i>Chandos</i>
-for their founder and patron.&mdash;<i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> County Hist. vol. ii. p. 57.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Neere Throgos, where we saw the wall of a castle that
-belonged to the high-constables of England, and was holden by the
-service of high-constableship.&mdash;<i>Camden Silures</i>, 634.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, page 32.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> <i>Mathern</i> is “derived from Merthern Tuderic&mdash;or Martyrdom
-of Theodoric.” When a Christian chief, who, like Theodoric, fell in
-conflict with the Saxons, then pagans, he was admitted to the honours of
-martyrdom.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> For the avouching and confirming of the antiquity of this
-place, I think it not impertinent to adjoin here those antique
-inscriptions lately digged forth of the ground, which the Right Reverend
-Father in God, Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaffe, a passing great
-lover of venerable antiquity, and of all good literature, hath of his
-courtesie imparted unto me. In the year 1602, in a meadow adjoining
-Mathern, there was found by ditchers a certain image of a personage,
-girt and short-trussed, bearing a quiver&mdash;(but head, hands, and feet
-were broken off)&mdash;upon a pavement of square tile in checkerworke; also a
-fragment of an altar, with this inscription engraven in great capital
-letters three inches long, erected by <i>Haterianus</i>, the
-lieutenant-general of Augustus, and proprietor of the province of
-Cilicia&mdash;<span class="smcap">Haterianus Leg. Aug. Pr. Pr. Provinc. Cilic.</span>&mdash;The next yeere
-following hard by, was this table also gotten out of the ground, which
-proveth that the foresaid image was the personage of <i>Diana</i>, and that
-her temple was repaired by Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus, an old
-soldier, haply of a band of the Second Legion&mdash;<span class="smcap">T. Fl. Postumius Varus V.
-C. Leg. Templ. Dianæ restituit</span>. Also, a votive altar, out of which Geta,
-the name of Cæsar, may seeme then to have been rased, what time as he
-was made away by his brother Antonine Bassianus, and proclaimed an
-enimie; yet so as by the tract of the letters it is in some sort
-apparent. <span class="smcap">Pro Salute Augg. N. N. severi et Antonini [et Getæ Cæs.] P.
-Saltienus P. F. Mæciu Thalamus Hadri. Præf. Leg. II. Aug. C. Vampeiano
-et Lucilian.</span>&mdash;<i>Camden. Silures. Britan.</i> pp. 637, 638.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Hist. of Engl. quoting Bishop Godwin.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> See Speed’s Chronicle.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Pict. Hist. of England: Ecclesiast. Affairs.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Pict. Hist. Book vi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil.
-Transact. vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil.
-Transact. vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Headed in the North by Lord Darcy, Robert Aske, &amp;c. See
-history of that year, 1539, in Pict. Hist.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Ellis’s Orig. Letters in Pict. Hist.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> On the 11th June, 1539.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Wilkins’ Concilia, quoted in Hist. of Engl. Civil and
-Milit. Transact. vol. ii. 403.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> In the taxation of 1291, being the nineteenth year of the
-reign of Edward the First, the entries relating to the possessions of
-Tinterne are thus given:&mdash;
-</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-
-<tr><td class="c" colspan="2">SPIRITUALIA DIOC. HEREF.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;
-</td><td class="rt">£
-</td><td class="rt"><i>s.</i>
-</td><td class="rt"><i>d.</i></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Porcio in ecclesia de Tudenham, </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">3</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td class="c" colspan="2">TEMPORALIA DIOC. LANDAF.</td></tr>
-
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2"><span class="eng">Abbas</span> de Tynterne habet Grang: de Asarto ubi sunt tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De prato ibidem quatuor acr. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De silva cedua per annum,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">5</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De redd. assis,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">2</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De plantis et perquisitis,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De gurgite et piscar. in Weyt,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">16</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De pastura vasti,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">4</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">2</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Item idem habet apud Rogenston quatuor caruc. terræ prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De gardino et curilag,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De Molend. per annum,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">15</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De pastura de vasto,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">10</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Apud Marthog’m duas caruc. terr. et dimid. et novemdecim acr. prec. cujuslibet car.</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Et prec. cujuslibet acr. de prædictis novemdecim acris,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">3</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De redd. assis ibidem,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">5</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">In parochia de Magor de redd,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">3</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">In parochia de Wundy,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">13</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">4</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Et in eadem parochia novemdecim acr. terræ prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">2</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Et ibidem quatuordecim acr. prati prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Apud motam duas caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">10</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De prato ibidem quatuor acr. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">In la Bredeme deme in paroch de magir. quinquaginta et duas acr. prati. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Ibid. in aedil. assis,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">10</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Apud Penthleng. tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Apud Exellek sex caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Apud platelande tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Apud Hardstrete unam caruc. terr. prec.,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">4</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Ibidem viginti quatuor acr. ten. prec. omnium,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">In villa de Sturggyl de redd. assis,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">4</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Apud Eriket unum molend foler prec.,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Ibidem ac redd. assis,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">12</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Do molend,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">10</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De una gurgite et dimid. per annum,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">2 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De sub bosco venet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">13</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">4</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De pannag,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De perquis cur,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">13</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">4</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De melle vend,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">5</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De Fanneria,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">2 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Apud Penbo sexdecim acr. terr. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De redd. assis apud Uskam,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">4</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De Willielmo de Hereford pro quadem grang. de redd. assis,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">6</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De Johanne de Stonsœu’arl pro quadam grang.</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">1</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De Landavenio triginta acr. pastur. prec. cujuslibet,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">3</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2" class="c">Summa </td>
-<td class="rt" valign="bottom" style="border-top:1px solid black;border-bottom:1px solid black;"> £38 </td>
-<td class="rt" valign="bottom" style="border-top:1px solid black;border-bottom:1px solid black;">5</td>
-<td class="rt" valign="bottom" style="border-top:1px solid black;border-bottom:1px solid black;">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">Abbas de Tynterne habet cens. reacc. prec. omium,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">7</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">10</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De mult. duo mill. ducent. et sexaginta quatuor exitus omnium,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">37</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">14</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">8</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2">De ovibus matricibus mill. exitus omnium,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">25 </td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom">0</td></tr>
-<tr><td valign="top" colspan="2" class="c">Summa </td>
-<td class="rt" valign="bottom" style="border-top:1px solid black;"> £70 </td>
-<td class="rt" valign="bottom" style="border-top:1px solid black;">4</td>
-<td class="rt" valign="bottom" style="border-top:1px solid black;">8</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Monaster. de Eleemosyna paternalis domus de Tynterna.
-</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-<tr><td align="left">Tynterna in Hibernia,</td><td align="left">}</td><td align="left">filiales domus de</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">Kingeswodde in Gloucestershire,</td><td align="left">}</td><td align="left">Tynterna.</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Archdale has preserved the following names and dates of
-some of the abbots:&mdash;
-</p><p>
-John Torrell was the first; another John occurs in 1308; Roger Codd,
-1346; David Furlong succeeded; Thomas Wyggemore, 1355; William Walsh,
-1356; Thomas Young, 1471; John Power was the last abbot, he surrendered
-it in the 31st Henry VIII.
-</p><p>
-The abbey itself is stated to have been rebuilt in 1447. It was granted,
-with all its lands and appurtenances, 27th August, 18th Elizabeth, in
-capite, to Anthony Colcleugh, at the annual rent of £26. 4s., Irish
-money.
-</p><p>
-King John’s Charter is dated Hamstede, iii die Decembris&mdash;but no year.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> King Henry the First’s Charter, authorising Roger de
-Berkeley’s gift of Ackeolt to the monks, will be found in the appendix
-to the Monasticon, with William de Berkeley’s letter to Pope Innocent,
-praying for his ratification of the grant of Kingswood, followed by five
-other charters, confirming the land at Kingswood, from Roger de Berkeley
-the elder, Roger de Berkeley the younger, and King Henry the Second. The
-last instrument given in the former edition of Dugdale, is a cession
-from Nicholas de Kingestone of certain land called Jonesham.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Monasticon and Baronage.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> The following is a list of the pensions granted to the
-monks of this house at the dissolution:&mdash;
-</p><p>
-“Here cumeth such stipends as is thought necessary and expedient by us,
-John Tregonwell, Nicholas Peyntz, Knight; John Peyntz, Esquyer; John
-Freeman; and Edward Gosewike, commissioners appointed for the
-dissoluement of the late monastery of Kingswood, in Wiltes, for the
-abbote and monks thereunto, euery of them appoynted what they shall have
-by yere during their lyves, that is to say&mdash;</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="">
-<tr><td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td><td align="left"><i>li.</i></td><td align="left"><i>s.</i></td><td align="left"><i>d.</i></td></tr>
-<tr><td colspan="2">Furst to William Bandlaie, late abbot there, by yere,</td><td align="left">i</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to Thomas Redinge, prior there, by yere,</td><td align="left">vi</td><td align="left">xiii</td><td align="left">iiii</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to John Wensbury, monke there, by yere,</td><td align="left">iiii</td><td align="left">xiii</td><td align="left">iiii</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to John Gethin, monke there, and curate of the parishe, by yere,</td><td align="left">iiij</td><td align="left">xiii</td><td align="left">iiii</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to William Wotton, grangitor there, by yere,</td><td align="left">iiij</td><td align="left">vj</td><td align="left">viii</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to William Hughes, monke there, by yere,</td><td align="left">iiij</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to John Sodbury, monke there, by yere,</td><td align="left">iiij</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to Nicholas Hampton, subprior there,</td><td align="left">iiij</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to William Pakker, monke there,</td><td align="left">iiij</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to Nicholas Acton, cellarer there,</td><td align="left">iiij</td><td align="left">xiii</td><td align="left">iiij</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to Edward Ermingham, sexton there,</td><td align="left">iiij</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to Thomas Orchard, monke there,</td><td align="left">iiij</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="left">&mdash;</td><td align="left">to John Stonley, monke there, being no prest,</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">xi”</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>To this are annexed the signatures as above.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Floquet, Hist. du Parl. de Norm., quoted in Mor. Cath.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Mor. Cath., quoting St. Ambros. Orat. lib. v.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Macaulay.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Macaulay’s History of England.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Bishop Godwin. See Pict. Hist. Eccl. Affairs.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Blunt’s Sketch of the Reformation in England. See Pict.
-Histor. ii. 404. Hist. and Fate of Sacrilege.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Latimer’s Sermons. Hist. above quoted, vol. ii. 404.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> It would be difficult in the present day to find much of
-the church property, thus alienated, in the hands of any descendant of
-those royal favourites on whom it was sacrilegiously bestowed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Letter from Fitzwilliam to Cromwell, dated at Hampton
-Court, Sept. 12, 1537, and given in Pict. Hist. vol. ii. p. 405.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Latimer’s Sermons, &amp;c., quoting Blunt’s Sketch of the
-Reformation. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 405.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> See Letter from Coverdale to Cromwell in 1538.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Hist. Henry VIII.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> Madden, Penalties, p. 49.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Page 77.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> According to Hall, the following barbarous verses were
-set up in great letters upon the stake or gallows, to which the unhappy
-victim was bound:&mdash;
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">David-Darvel-Gatheren,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As saith the Welshmen,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Fetched outlaws out of hell;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now is he come with spear and shield,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In harness to burn in Smithfield,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">For in Wales he may not dwell.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">And <span class="eng">Forest</span> the friar,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That obstinate liar,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">That wilfully shall be dead;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In his contumacy<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the Gospel, doth deny<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The King to be Supreme Head.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> See the facts in Hall, Stow, and Godwin, abridged in the
-popular History quoted above.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Warton, Monastic Influence on Poetry and the Fine Arts.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Brit. Monach., Manners and Customs of Monks and Nuns.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> Opus citat. Brit. Monach.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Fosbroke, in quotation of various ancient authors, p.
-259.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Gregory had a whip with which he threatened the young
-clerks and singing boys, when they were out, or failed in the notes;
-they also fasted the day before they were to chant, and constantly ate
-beans.&mdash;<i>Hawkins’s Music.</i> Fosbroke, p. 273.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> Knighton, a canon of St. Mary-le-Prè, has, to his own
-disgrace, recorded his bitter condemnation of the translation made by
-his contemporary <span class="eng">Wickliffe</span>:&mdash;“Christ intrusted his gospel,” says that
-ecclesiastic, “to the clergy and doctors of the <span class="eng">church</span>, to minister it
-to the laity and weaker sort, according to their exigencies and several
-occasions; but this Master John Wickliffe, by translating it, has made
-it vulgar, and has laid it more open to the laity, and even to women who
-can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy, and
-those of the best understanding; and thus the gospel jewel, the
-evangelical feast, is thrown about and trodden under feet of
-swine.”&mdash;Decem Script. Col. 2644.
-</p><p>
-Such language, as an ingenious and learned divine has justly observed,
-was looked upon as good reasoning by the clergy of that day, who saw not
-with what satire it was edged against themselves.&mdash;Nichols’s Append. to
-the Hist. of Leicester, vol. i. p. 108. Fosbroke, p. 253.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> Fosbroke, p. 252.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Fosbroke, p. 246.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Ibid. p. 247.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Conviv. Religios.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> Cruditis. Fosbroke, p. 253.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Mem. de Petrarque, iii. 606. Fosbroke.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> Fosbroke, quoting Parsons’ MSS. in the Bodl. Libr.,
-Oxford.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> One of the last important occasions, on which the abbey
-seal of Tinterne was used, was in ratifying an instrument, whereby the
-abbot and convent appointed Charles, Earl of Worcester, and Henry
-Somerset, Lord Herbert, his son and heir apparent, chief stewards of
-their manor of <i>Acle</i>, or Oakley, in Norfolk, 6th Hen. VIII.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Taylor’s Index Monasticus Pref. ap. Brit. Monach. p. 229,
-note.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> MS. Harl. 1051. Fosbroke, art. Cloister.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Monachus quidam Sagiensis cænobii de cella quadam in
-partibus Angliæ longinquis ad aliam cellam loci ejusdem remotis in
-Walliæ finibus, super mare Milvordicum et Hibernicum gyrovagando
-discurrens, ne <i>solus</i> esset in via, quia, vae soli!&mdash;non socium sibi,
-sed <i>sociam</i>, elegit; ejus turpitudo, terque quaterque, turpiter
-deprehensa fuit. Adeo quidem, quod à Castellanis partium illarum demum
-captus et in carcerem missus, sociaque ipsius et confusionis causâ
-ribaldis exposita fuerit et garcionibus prostituta. Tales autem honores,
-et tales honestates ex monachis ad cellulam missis ordine monastico
-pervenire solent.&mdash;MSS. Cott. Tiber B. 13. ap. Fosbroke, p. 271.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> In the notes to Robert of Gloucester’s <span class="eng">Chronicle</span> [vol.
-iii. § 8-9] we read:&mdash;“About this tyme the order of <span class="eng">Cysteaux</span> was fyrst
-brought into Englande by one Walter, that founded the first abbey of
-that religion at <span class="eng">Ryuall</span>.” The question, however, has been set at rest by
-the extracts already given from the Chronicles of Tinterne, in which the
-date of their appearance in Englande is fixed at the beginning of the
-twelfth century, regnante <i>Henrico primo</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> Quidam monachi dicunt <i>omnes esse monachos qui in
-paradiso erant</i>, vel potius nullum ibi esse non monachum.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Mox ut mortuus fuero, cucullam Ordinis Cisterciensis mihi
-induite, et ne fiat me vivente, diligentissime cavete. MS. Roy. Lib. 7.
-A. III. ap. Fosbroke, 173.
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">So&mdash;when the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But when the devil got well, the devil a monk was he.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> It appears, however, that the books so carefully
-transcribed in the monasteries were seldom understood, or even perused,
-by the higher clergy; for it is told that Lewis Beaumont, bishop of
-Durham, 1317, understood not a word of either Latin or English. In
-reading the <i>bull</i> of his appointment to that see&mdash;which he had been
-taught to spell for several days before&mdash;he stumbled upon the word
-<i>metropolitice</i>, which he in vain endeavoured to pronounce; and, having
-hammered over it a considerable time, at last cried out in his mother
-tongue, “Soit pour dite! Par Seynt Lowys, il ne fu pas curteis qui ceste
-parole ici escrit.”&mdash;Robert de Greystanes. Anglia Sacra, 1. 761., as
-quoted by Craik, 1. 137.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Sketches of the History of Literature and Learning in
-England, vol. i. p. 69. By Geo. L. Craik.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> See Fosbroke. Dallaway’s Heraldic Enquiries.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Henniker, Norman Tiles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Cowel, Mosaic Work, apud Fosbroke.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> The Signor left the banks of the Wye the day after
-relating the preceding anecdote, or the narrator would have shared
-another experiment with him. “While at Derby, however, it is related
-that such was the wonderful power of his imitative faculties, that he
-far outsoared the violins when playing in <i>alt</i>, whose masters laid them
-down in the orchestra in astonishment at being so entirely eclipsed by a
-human voice. They next played a hunting song, in which the signor
-appeared to equal advantage. The rich and mellow tones of the French
-horn were as successfully imitated, as the still finer and more distinct
-ones of the violins; and in some shakes he quite enraptured his
-audience. They then played a full piece together, which was such a grand
-display of his talents, that the admiration and delight of his auditors
-could go no further&mdash;they seemed electrified by his powers.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> The river’s bank is here the haunt of otters, and the
-resort of herons and halcyon kingfishers. The rocky precipices abound in
-rabbits, foxes, weasels, martins, and polecats; whilst the more
-umbrageous parts afford protection to hedgehogs, dormice, and
-squirrels.&mdash;<i>Thomas.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> See view of the Refectory.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> See view of the door leading into cloisters.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> “The Beaufort Arms,” where the writer experienced much
-civility with moderate charges, is, unfortunately, too small to
-accommodate more than a party of three or four persons; but it is
-comfortable.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> See page 38-62.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> See page 33, passim.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> See page 38-39, passim.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> See page 65, passim.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> Running across the neck of land, it shortens the distance
-between the Abbey and Tinterne Parva.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> In this engraving, the modern iron gate which shuts up
-this passage, dividing the church from the cloisters, has been
-<i>intentionally</i> omitted, as not in harmony with the subject.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> See page 52, passim.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Published by order of Parliament, 1827.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> Acle, or Oakley, eleven miles east from Norwich, and
-situated near the Bure, on grounds which rise suddenly from the marshes
-below. The church, dedicated to St. Edmund, is a rectory, value £20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Monast. ii. 724, v. 269.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 250.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 252.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. i. p. 327.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 251.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> By Gertrude, daughter of Manners, Earl of Rutland, his
-first wife, he had issue four sons and three daughters. His second wife
-was Elizabeth, widow of Sir William Cavendish, whose son Henry married
-the Lady Grace, one of the earl’s daughters by his first wife.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> Messrs. Brayley and Britton: 1805. King, Whitelocke,
-Itinerary, and other sources.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> The cut here inserted represents specimens of [supposed]
-ancient armour in the Gateway Tower.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> Raglan, elegans comitis Wigorniæ Castellum, etc. Silur.,
-p. 510.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Son of Thomas ap Gwillim ap Jenkin, by his wife Maud,
-daughter and heiress of Sir John Morley, Knt., Lord of Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> This gallant warrior fell by the side of his master,
-Henry V., at the battle of Agincourt.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Collins, vol. iii. 25, 27.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Robert Hillyard.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> Speed, p. 858, 859. Which the reader may compare with
-Dugdale, p. 257; and Collins, vol. iii. p. 28, by whom the circumstances
-are somewhat differently stated. See also Hollinshed, p. 672.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> The Herberts in former times were spread all over this
-county, and possessed several of its best estates and mansions; but,
-notwithstanding the immense possessions of this ancient family, yet it
-is very singular that there is not one landowner of £50 a year of the
-name of Herbert to be found in the whole county; although it must be
-allowed that the family of <i>Jones</i> of Lanarth, is of an elder branch of
-the Earls of Pembroke.&mdash;<i>Williams.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Grafton, vol. ii. p. 15, 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> Whose mother and Henry Duke of Somerset were brother’s
-children.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> At the Festival of the Virgin Mary, 1514.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> See notice of Chepstow, ante, page 4.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> See vol. i. of this work, art. Arundel Castle.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> As stated by Collins&mdash;Mr. Thomas says, “at Raglan Castle;
-adding, ‘two headless and mutilated parts of alabaster statues of this
-nobleman and his lady, which are, alas, kicked about by every chance
-visitor to the church, alone remain of the magnificent tomb erected to
-their memory!’<span class="lftspc">”</span>&mdash;<i>Raglan</i>, p. 137.
-</p><p>
-[When the Editor visited the place in August, 1848, the monument
-presented the same pitiable state of dilapidation&mdash;a bitter homily on
-the vanity of wealth, birth, and titles&mdash;yet in sad but perfect harmony
-with the desolation of the adjoining Castle.]</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> Collins, 1768, vol. iii. p. 208.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> Illustrations of British History, vol. i. p. 490.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> Illustrations of British History, vol. i. p. 490, 491,
-ed. 1838.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> History of England, <i>Manners and Customs</i>, book viii.
-chap. vi. p. 629.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> Till the year 1627, it was customary in these two
-counties to have but one sheriff.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> Charles Sackville was the direct descendant of the great
-Thomas Lord Buckhurst. Of his youth it is disgraceful enough to say,
-that he was the companion of Rochester and Sedley; but his mature life,
-like that of Sedley, was illustrated by public spirit, and his fortune
-enabled him to be a beneficent friend to men of genius. He attended the
-Duke of York as a volunteer in the Dutch war, and finished his
-well-known song, “<i>To all you ladies now at land</i>,” on the day before
-the sea-fight in which Opdam, the Dutch admiral, was blown up with all
-his crew:&mdash;
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“To all you ladies now at land,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">We men at sea indite;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">But first would have you understand,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">How hard it is to write;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The Muses now, and Neptune too,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">We must implore to write to you.<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">With a fa, la, la, la, la.<br /></span>
-</div>
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Should foggy Opdam chance to know<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Our sad and dismal story;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The Dutch would scorn so weak a foe,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">And quit their fort at <i>Goree</i>;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">For what resistance can they find<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">From men who’ve left their hearts behind!<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">With a fa, la, la, la, la.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">&mdash;<i>Campbell’s British Poets</i>, p. 316.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> Peck’s Curiosa.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> Opus citatum in Pict. Hist. Engl., book vii. chap. vi. p.
-629.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> It was fortunate that, while the aristocracy were thus
-becoming more vitiated, the common people had become more temperate than
-formerly; but to this assertion Stow adds&mdash;“It was not from abstinence
-but necessity; ale and beer being small, and wines in price above their
-reach.” During the period of the Commonwealth, greater temperance in
-eating and drinking naturally prevailed, from the ascendancy of Puritan
-principles, which recommended simplicity and self-denial.&mdash;<i>Manners and
-Customs</i>, Pict. Hist.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> Something like the court-suit of Prince Esterhazy.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Pictor. Hist. Engl., cit. <i>Winwood</i>, book vi. chap. vi.
-p. 630.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> Harleian MS., quoted by Miss Aikin, in her ‘Memoirs of
-the Court of James I.’ This Lady Compton, who valued herself upon being
-“so reasonable,” was the daughter and sole heiress of Sir John Spencer,
-who was probably the wealthiest citizen of his time, as he died worth
-nearly a million sterling. He was called “The Rich Spencer.” Lord
-Compton, her husband, was so transported at his inheritance, that he
-went out of his wits, and remained in that condition for several
-years.&mdash;<i>Winwood</i>, quoted in the Pict. Hist. of England.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> Osborne’s Memoirs of King James, in Pict. Hist. of Engl.,
-book vii. chap. vi. p. 630.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> <i>Manners and Customs</i>, Pict. Hist. of England.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> History of England, <i>Manners and Customs</i>, quoting from
-“Peck’s Curiosa,” “Evelyn’s Diary,” “Strutt,” “Somers’ Tracts,” and
-“Court of King James.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> So much was swearing identified with loyalty, that
-Cromwell, after a skirmish with the Scottish horse at Musselburgh, sent
-word to the Parliament that the enemy had English cavaliers in their
-ranks, <i>because</i> he heard one of their wounded exclaiming with his last
-breath, “<i>D&mdash;n me! I’m going to my King.</i>”&mdash;<i>Howel’s Letters</i>, quoted in
-the History of England.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> The woodcut here introduced represents the <span class="eng">boar’s head</span>&mdash;a
-favourite dish in the olden time&mdash;on its way from the kitchen to the
-banquet-room.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> See notice of him in this work, art. “Chepstow Castle.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> Tour throughout South Wales and Monmouthshire, by J. T.
-Barber.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> Bayly, p. 36-44.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> Churchyard. See Wood’s “Rivers of Wales.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> Was it here that Henry Bolingbroke was confined, as
-traditionally believed?</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> The reader is probably aware that in certain churches,
-palaces, &amp;c., obnoxious pictures and statues were treated in this manner
-by the soldiery; and hence the lamentable destruction of these works of
-Art, which were once the ornaments of the country.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> See the Woodcut.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> See Thomas’s Tinterne, p. 133.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> See paper in the “Archæological Journal.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> See Description and Anecdote in a subsequent page of this
-Volume.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> Archæolog. Journal, art. “Raglan Castle.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> Ibidem.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> By removing the ivy from a portion of the great Hall, in
-the course of last autumn, another magnificent window has been brought
-into view; and by a similar course of discovery, other interesting
-features of baronial splendour will no doubt reappear.&mdash;[Note by Mr. G.
-May, “Warden” of the Castle, whose efforts to preserve what remains, and
-bring into view what is yet concealed of these noble ruins, is alike
-creditable to his taste and his industry.]</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> This appears ungenerous. There seems no just ground for
-suspecting the Marquess of any motive incompatible with the most devoted
-loyalty.&mdash;See his own declaration in a subsequent page of this article.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> Lord Clarendon’s Hist., vol. iii. p. 154, ed. 1706.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> “Out of a window they (the rabble) killed Colonel Lawley,
-and two officers more, without hurting a common soldier.”&mdash;<i>Clar.
-Hist.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> Lord Clarendon’s Hist., vol. ii. p. 156, ed. 1706.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> An allusion possibly to some design on the part of
-Charles to forsake rebellious London, and make York his capital; but
-more probably&mdash;as I am reminded by a correspondent&mdash;to an old prophetic
-saw in rhyme, viz.&mdash;
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Lincoln <i>was</i>, London <i>is</i>, and York <i>shall be</i><br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The greatest city of the three.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> Ubi Troja nunc seges.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> Literally, having been created Marquess very recently.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> This quaint phrase may mean two days or two months.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> Thus the King had his money, and the poor Marquess was
-indulged with the royal conversation, which Dr. Bayly worked up into the
-“Certamen Religiosum,” a duodecimo of 232 pages.&mdash;<i>Certamen Religiosum</i>,
-p. 2-11, Lond. 1649.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> In variety of wines, and the copious use of them, the
-wealthier classes of England in this age were not a whit behind their
-ancestors. The arrival of the Danish King and his courtiers in the reign
-of James, had greatly increased the national thirst; insomuch that it
-was observed, “The Danes have again conquered England!” In the reign of
-Charles the First the <span class="eng">Cavaliers</span> were as little famed for temperance as
-the Courtiers of King James. The English followed also, very
-scrupulously, the Danish custom of drinking healths; and foreigners were
-astonished to find that when a company amounted to some twenty or
-thirty, it was still expected that every guest should drink the health
-of each in rotation. Such festivals, of course, inflamed the love of
-quarrel. Toasts were given which produced discussion, or refusal to
-drink them; and if the overheated parties did not immediately come to
-blows, still duels and bloodshed were the usual consequences. Sometimes,
-when a lady or an absent patron was toasted, the company pledged the
-toast upon their knees. Among other disgusting modes of drinking healths
-at this period, the toper sometimes mingled his own blood with the
-wine.&mdash;“<i>Manners and Customs of England.</i>”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> Apophthegm 25, Bayly, p. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> Nothing can be more wondered at than that the King should
-amuse himself about forming a new army in counties which had been
-already vexed and worn by his own troops, and the licence of those
-governors whom he had put over them; and not have immediately repaired
-into the west, where he had an army already formed, and a people
-generally well devoted to his service; whither all his broken troops,
-and General Gerrard, might have transported themselves, before Fairfax
-could have given them any interruption.&mdash;<i>Clarendon.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> The branch of the Morgan family here mentioned, like that
-of Worcester, were devoted to the royal cause, and on all occasions
-evinced that unshrinking loyalty which added lustre to their descent. In
-the halls of Tredegar, as in Raglan Castle, Charles found an asylum&mdash;the
-only asylum, perhaps, that could then be a sure guarantee for his
-personal safety. The Morgan family was descended from the ancient
-princes of South Wales, and as much distinguished by its hospitality as
-its antiquity.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Sir Henry Ellis’s Orig. Lett., vol. iii. p. 310.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Grandfather of the famous Dean of St. Patrick’s.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> Apophthegms.&mdash;See the former <i>note</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> Among what are called “<i>The King’s Pamphlets</i>,” in the
-British Museum, the collection of which, begun by a Mr. George Thomason,
-and continued by order of King Charles the First, there is a single
-folio sheet printed at London, containing “<span class="smcap">Verses</span> lately written by
-Thomas Earle of Strafford.”&mdash;<i>Sir Henry Ellis’s “Original Letters”
-illustrative of English History</i>, vol. iii. p. 238.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> Of this disastrous event a sympathising French poet
-writes:&mdash;
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Tel qu’un lion forcé de repaire en repaire,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">En dépit des chasseurs regagne sa tanière.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Mais <span class="eng">Charles</span>, en cet asile investi sans sécours,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Ne pouvait s’y flatter que d’un frêle recours&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Trop déplorable objet de tant de trahisons,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Indigné, trainé de prisons en prisons,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">L’imfortuné Monarque, abreuvé de misères,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Finit sur le billot ses destins sanguinaires.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> See Thomas’s “Tinterne,” p. 78.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> Rowland Williams of Llangibby was distinguished by royal
-favour, both in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and that of her successor,
-and in proof thereof received the honour of knighthood. His grandson,
-the Sir Trevor Williams here mentioned, in consideration of his loyal
-attachment to the interests of King Charles, was created a baronet on
-the 14th of May, 1642.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> See Letter published by Mr. Thomas in his “Account of
-Raglan,” <i>note</i> 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> Stated by Rushworth, as only 1,500 men, while the
-garrison in the Castle amounted to 800 men.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> Of this document the following is a copy:&mdash;
-</p><p>
-“To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Thos. Glenham, Sir Thos. Tildesley,
-Col. H. Washington, Col. Tho. Blagge, Governors of our Cities and Towns
-of Oxford, Lichfield, Worcester, and Wallingford, and all other
-Commanders of any Towns, Castles, and Forts, in our Kingdome of
-England:&mdash;
-</p>
-
-<p class="rt">
-<span class="eng">“Charles R.</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>
-“Having resolved to comply with the desires of our Parliament in every
-thing which may be for the good of our subjects, and leave no means
-unessayed for removing all differences amongst us, therefore We have
-thought fit, the more to evidence the reality of our intentions of
-settling an happy and firm peace, to require you to quit those Towns,
-Castles, and Forts intrusted to you by us, and to disband all the Forces
-under your several commands.
-</p><p>
-“Newcastle, the 10th June, 1646.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> The Marquess, like many other royalists, considered that
-the King was under restraint; and that it was his <i>duty</i> to disobey the
-royal orders for surrender. In fact, Charles himself had written to the
-Queen that he was in durance in the hands of the barbarous and
-perfidious Scots; and that she, his son, and all his faithful
-counsellors, were to regard every order from him, C. R., as forced or
-surreptitious. The Marquess, therefore, regarded the document with
-well-grounded suspicion, and took exception to his Majesty’s warrant,
-because, while it specified others, it did not name him or his
-Castle.&mdash;<i>Hist. of Engl., Civ. and Milit. Transact.</i> p. 356.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> It is worthy of remark, that Sir Thomas Fairfax, on his
-arrival, does not so much continue the siege already commenced by
-Colonel Morgan, as begin a new siege by a new summons. It was thought,
-perhaps, that the Marquess would be more disposed to surrender his
-Castle to a man of General Fairfax’s rank than to Colonel Morgan; and
-from what follows, the opinion was not without foundation.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> A prohibition, by-the-by, which the noble owner and his
-royal master do not seem to have applied to themselves.&mdash;See <i>Certamen
-Religiosum</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> “An exact and true Relation of the many several Messages
-that have passed between his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax and the
-Marquess of Worcester, Governor of Raglan Castle, touching the Surrender
-thereof: Together with a Copy of the Propositions sent to the General
-from the Marquess of Worcester out of Raglan Castle, and his
-Excellency’s Refusal to treat on them: Also, the Names your Commissioner
-appointed to treate with the Enemy upon the Propositions sent to them
-from the Generall. Certified in a Letter to a Member of the Honourable
-House of Commons, on Tuesday, August 18th, 1646, and commanded to be
-forthwith printed and published. London. 1646.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> Fairfax was encamped on a rising ground north of the
-Castle, which commanded the whole line of the fortress occupied by the
-Marquess of Worcester.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> It is deserving of notice, that the communication above
-quoted was ordered by the House of Commons to be made public the moment
-it was received, although it describes very frankly all the plans and
-difficulties of the besieging army. In other cases it would probably
-have formed the substance of a secret despatch.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> An account precisely similar to that quoted is given in
-the “Mercurius Civicus&mdash;London’s Intelligencer; or, Truth impartially
-related from thence to the whole Kingdom, to prevent misinformation.
-From Thursday, August 13, to Thursday, August 20, 1646.” This
-singular-looking gazette, determined it would seem on impartiality of
-honours, ornaments its title-page with a likeness of Sir Thomas Fairfax,
-faced by that of King Charles.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Part of this building remains, with the date 1616. In the
-parish church of Llandenny, is a monument of Roger Oates of Kevantilla,
-who died 1706, ætatis 67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> “History of England,” Charles I. p. 607.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Among the gentlemen who took part with him in the defence
-was Sir Harry Killigrew, of whose melancholy fate Clarendon gives some
-interesting particulars.&mdash;<i>Clarendon</i>, part ii. p. 39, ed. 1706; also,
-vol. v. p. 40.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and
-his idols of gold, which they made, each one for himself to worship, to
-the moles and to the bats.”&mdash;Isaiah ii. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> Dr. Henry Edwards, author of “History of the Siege of
-Jerusalem.”&mdash;<i>Archæol. Journ.</i>, vol. i. p. 112.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> “Thomas’s Tinterne,” p. 158.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> From lines ascribed to Lord Strafford.&mdash;<i>Sir Henry
-Ellis’s</i> “<i>Original Letters</i>,” vol. iii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> “Tout est perdu, hors <i>l’honneur</i>.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> Carlyle’s “Cromwell:” [quoting Hist. of Independ. London,
-1683-5.]</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> See description of this walk, <i>ante</i> p. 158.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> London, 1650; a thin folio volume.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> Douay, 1654.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> Quoting from Sacred Writ.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> “Guide to Piety.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> A small volume with this title: “Worcester’s Apophthegms;
-or, Witty Sayings of the Right Honourable Henry (late) Marquess and
-Earle of Worcester, delivered upon several occasions, and now published
-for the benefit of the reader, by T. B., a constant observer and no less
-admirer of his Lordship’s wisdom and loyalty. 1650.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> See <i>ante</i> page 175, the King’s letter to Glamorgan.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> This, in some degree, explains the strong motives by
-which the Marquess was actuated in his devotion to the King.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> On the coffin was this inscription, engraved on a brass
-plate:&mdash;“Depositum illustrissimi principis Edwardi, Marchionis et
-Comitis Wigorniæ, Comitis de Glamorgan, Baronis Herbert de Raglan,
-Chepstow, et Gower, nec non serenissimo nuper Domino Regi Carolo Primo,
-South Walliæ locum tenentis, qui obiit apud Lond., tertio die Apriles,
-An. Dom. <small>MDCLXVII.</small>”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> August 18, 1660.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> See description of the moat, &amp;c., <i>ante</i> p. 158.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> Tinterne and its Vicinity, page 130.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> Page 131.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> Monmouth, Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Salop, Wilts,
-Somerset, Devon, Brecon, Glamorgan, Caermarthen, Cardigan, and Radnor;
-together with the British Channel to some distance beyond the Holms.
-Near the latter is a Tower called “Kemey’s Folly.” Its founder, boasting
-to his father that the tower could be seen from thirteen counties, was
-answered&mdash;“I am sorry, my son, that so great an extent of country should
-be witness to thy consummate folly;” and from that day, we are told, the
-tower assumed the name which it still retains.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> Or, according to Mr. Thomas, 1720 feet.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> “Thomas’s Raglan,” p. 155.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> A MS. plan, which has just been sent to the Editor from
-Raglan, in confirmation of the above, seems to complete the evidence
-which was hitherto wanting.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> One solitary attempt to imitate the jousts and
-tournaments of former days, was made a few years ago at the expense of
-the Earl of Eglinton; but “the burlesque was apparently too extravagant,
-if not too costly, for repetition.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> In the bowling-green attached to the residence of a
-gentleman at Muswell Hill, Hornsey, the ancient national game is still
-kept up&mdash;<i>ritu majorum</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> Fosbroke, Nares, Strutt, Gage’s Hengrave
-Hall.&mdash;<i>Encyclopædia of Antiq.</i>, vol. ii. p. 674.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> See “Strutt’s Sports,” p. 97.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> “Fosbroke’s Gymnastics.” The late Sir S. R. Meyrick gives
-various kinds of jousts, <i>i. e.</i> where the combat is limited to two
-rivals.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> Page 175 of this volume.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> The contributor of this anecdote is not sufficiently
-acquainted with the habits of birds as to pronounce that no bird builds
-its nest of white-thorn; but if such be really the case, that
-circumstance might surely have led the cavaliers to suspect that the
-prophecy had received some aid in its fulfilment from the worthy
-townsmen of Caernarvon. But the explanation given by the Marquess is, as
-usual, felicitously characteristic, and veiled in a politico-religious
-guise.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> Bayly, Apophthegm xix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> The woodcut represents the old baronial <span class="eng">kitchen</span> with its
-appendages, as described page 154.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> See note, page 138.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> As an author, he is known by a work relating to that
-curious monument of former ages, Stonehenge, which he pronounced to be a
-Roman temple, dedicated to Cœlus; an opinion, however, which antiquaries
-have decried as erroneous and absurd.&mdash;<i>Biog.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> See account of the King’s visit to Raglan, p. 163.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> He died in 1348.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> The lordship of Grosmont was absorbed in the acquisitions
-of the house of Lancaster, and a court-baron is held for the district,
-called “the Hundred of the Three Castles”&mdash;Grosmont, Skenfreth, and
-White Castle, or Castle Gwyn.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> 1326.&mdash;See Hist. of Monmouth.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> 1387.&mdash;Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Life of Henry V.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> In the “Shakspeare,” edited by the late poet Campbell, it
-is thought that the parts of <i>Gloucester</i> and <i>Edgar</i> are taken from the
-story of the Paphlagonian King in Sir Philip Sydney’s “Arcadia.” There
-was also a play, entitled “The True Chronicle Historie of King Leare and
-his 3 Daughters,” entered at Stationers’ Hall in 1594, which kept
-possession of the stage several years, and must have been familiar to
-Shakspeare himself.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> The recent epic poem by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart.,
-entitled “King Arthur,” is one of the few poems of our own times that
-promises to descend to posterity. What Milton admired, and Dryden
-projected, as the subject of a national poem, Sir Edward has
-accomplished with that felicitous taste and ability which have impressed
-his name on the popular and classic literature of the day. Pope himself
-had at one period of his life resolved to complete, what Milton and
-Dryden had only planned&mdash;a heroic poem on the same subject.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> Among the estates thus rejected was the ancient manor of
-Berkeley, in the Vale of Gloucester. “Nam cum eis aliquando tota
-provincia de Bergelay a Rege et Regina, gratis offeretur,” etc. etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> Regina verò Matildis sanctitatis ignara quanta videlicet
-mentis constantia insaturabilem divitiarum fugeret ingluviem; cum
-aliquando <i>rogare cœpit ut modis omnibus sineret eam manum suam in sinum
-ejus mittere</i>, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> The precise year of its foundation has never been
-ascertained; but there is no doubt that it was commenced after 1108, and
-completed before 1136, when the greater part of the brotherhood were
-removed to Hereford, and subsequently to New Llanthony, near Gloucester.
-We have the testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis that, in 1186, the
-Mother-Abbey had been long completed. He describes it as covered with
-lead, and not inelegantly constructed with a roof of stone.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> Hist. Abbatiæ de <span class="eng">Llanthony</span>, in Bibl. Cotton, Sub. Effigie
-Julii <small>DXI.</small> fol. 30. B.; also, Monasticon Angl. vol. iii. p. 58. Ed.
-1673. It is too long for our purpose; but the article will be
-interspersed with extracts from it.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> Translated by the late Sir R. Colt Hoare, Bart., 1806.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> The name of the place in Welsh, as he explains it, is
-Nanthodeni. <i>Nant</i> signifies a running stream, from whence this place is
-still called by the inhabitants, Llandevi Nantodeni, or, the Church of
-St. David upon the river Hodeni. By the English, therefore, it is
-corruptly called Llanthoni; whereas it should either be called
-Nanthodeni, that is, the brook of the Hodeni, or Lanthodeni, the church
-upon the Hodeni.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> This was before the <i>New</i> Abbey had been thought of; or,
-in the original words, “Before the Daughter had existence; and I
-sincerely wish,” adds the devout historian, “that she had never been
-produced.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> Resembling in many respects&mdash;though in a less
-inhospitable region&mdash;the Augustine monks of “the Great St. Bernard,” and
-holding no intercourse with the world around them, unless by means of
-those pilgrims who resorted to their shrine, and spread abroad the fame
-of their sanctity.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> Seneca’s Morals.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> This anecdote, somewhat differently told, we have already
-noticed in the sketch of Tinterne Abbey.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> This reminds us of a visit to a celebrated monastery in
-Tuscany, where the writer was received by one of the superior monks with
-great politeness and hospitality. In the course of the evening he
-mentioned the principal circumstances of his life&mdash;“court intrigue,
-dissipation, extravagance, and moral depravity; at last,” said he, “I
-became utterly disgusted with the life I had led, and flew for refuge to
-this sanctuary, where I have lived many years, and found, to my soul’s
-content, that there is no happiness in this life but in preparing for
-the next&mdash;<i>pensare, pensare, sull’ éternità</i>.”&mdash;Ed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> Sir R. C. Hoare, quoting Giraldus.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> Orig. Nova Marchia. Chr. New March?</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> See the account already given of the Clare family.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> In those times the Wye was considered the boundary
-between England and Wales.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, founders and benefactors of Tinterne Abbey.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> Of the strict legal phraseology of this document, the
-following is a specimen:&mdash;Volo et firmiter præcipio quod Canonici
-<span class="eng">Lanthoniæ</span> Primæ, omnia tenementa sua in terra de <span class="eng">Ewias</span>, tam laica quam
-ecclesiastica quæcumq: in præsenti habent vel in posterum, emptione,
-donatione, vel quocumq: alio titulo habituri sunt, bene et in pace,
-liberè et quietè teneant in omnibus locis et rebus ubicumque fuerint in
-terra de <span class="eng">Ewias</span>, quieta de omnibus placitis et querelis, et auxiliis, et
-<i>sumagiis</i>, et <i>cariagiis</i>, et clausturis; et de pontium et castrorum
-ædificatione, et de conductu thesauri, et de omni operatione et lestagio
-et stallagio et summonitionibus, et de assisis, et superassisis; et de
-omnibus foris functis, quacumque occasione emerserint; et de assartis.
-Nullus verò de Forestariis nostris quicquam se intromittat de boscis
-Prioris et Canonicorum <span class="eng">Lanthoniæ</span> Primæ; sed omnem potestatem et
-libertatem, quam ego et hæredes mei in boscis nostris habemus, vel
-habere poterimus, habeant prædicti Prior et Canonici in boscis suis,
-sint verò et homines et res ipsorum quieta de telonio, et ex omnibus
-exactionibus, et consuetudinibus in Nundinis, foris, et mercatis; et
-omnibus locis et rebus <i>per totam terram de</i> <span class="eng">Ewias</span>. Habeant prædicti
-Prior et Canonici omnem justiciam de <i>assaultu</i> et <i>murdro</i> et sanguinis
-effusione, et pacis infractione et thesauri inventione, et quicquid ad
-nostram pertinet potestatem.... Concedo quod habeant de hominibus suis
-et de tota possessione sua, quam habent vel habituri sunt, in terra de
-<span class="eng">Ewias</span>, etc. etc. Concedo quod predicti <span class="eng">Prior</span> et Canonici omnes
-libertates prædictas et liberas consuetudines habeant adeo liberè et
-quietè, pacificè et integrè sicut ego et antecessores mei, ipsius
-libertatis unquam melius, plenius, et liberiùs habuimus. Concedo etiam
-quod habeant omnes libertates quas ego et successores mei per Regem
-Angliæ, vel alium, habere poterimus in terra de <span class="eng">Ewias</span>, etc. etc.&mdash;Datum
-per nostrum manum apud <span class="eng">Langley</span>, Anno regni nostri decimo octavo.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> These Canons were to live in common; to have but one
-table, one purse, one dormitory. But as many of them had begun to abate
-somewhat of the strictness of their first rules, a new set sprang up
-that pretended to reform upon the rest; and these, from their more
-pointed observance of the vow, were styled <span class="eng">Regular Canons</span>; whereas those
-who had fallen from the original purity of the Order were called, by way
-of reproach, <span class="eng">Secular Canons</span>. In this manner the monks of New Llanthony,
-who affected a more exemplary life, called themselves Regulars&mdash;which
-they did not permit those of the parent Abbey, in Wales, to assume, but
-addressed them only as Canons or Seculars. It was by this
-distinction&mdash;“I am holier than thou”&mdash;that they endeavoured to justify
-their “unfilial conduct,” and promote their own ascendancy, in their
-connection with Old Llanthony. [But in the <span class="eng">Charters</span> they are often
-called <i>Regulars</i>.]
-</p><p>
-It seems uncertain at what precise period the title or designation of
-Canons was assumed in the church; but the first Regulars we read of were
-those employed by Pope Alexander II., in his mission to St. John
-Lateran. But so irregular, says a historian, were those Regulars, and so
-addicted to crimes, that even Pope Boniface VIII. was forced to drive
-them away, and placed Secular Canons in their room.
-</p><p>
-They were introduced into England about the middle of the seventh
-century.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> The paper is entitled, “<span class="smcap">Licentia per Regem Edwardum
-Quartum</span>, pro unione Prioratûs de <span class="eng">Llanthony</span> <i>Prima</i>, in Wallia, Prioratui
-de <span class="eng">Lanthony</span> juxta Gloucestriam.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> In the Original, the contrast between the two
-monasteries, in their position and outward circumstances, is thus
-picturesquely and forcibly drawn. Speaking of the introduction of the
-old Canons to their new cells on the Severn, he says&mdash;Nam valdè
-dissimiliter sibi respondere experti sunt, <span class="eng">urbem</span> Gloucestriæ et montem
-<span class="eng">Hatyre</span> [Hatterilhills], et fluvium <span class="eng">Sabrinæ</span>, et aquam <span class="eng">Hodanie</span>; <i>Anglos</i>,
-ditissimos et Wallenses pauperrimos: Illic, agros fertiles; hîc saltus
-steriles, unde illorum copia blandientæ illecti; istorum inopia urgente
-pertæsi locum istum, nec hominum quorum libet nec dum religiosorum
-inhabitatione dignum censuerunt.
-</p><p>
-The next is quite in keeping:&mdash;
-</p><p>
-Audivi quidem dici et ex parte credo, quosdam linguæ levitate (et utinam
-non odii livore) desiderâsse ut quilibet hujus Ecclesiæ lapis <i>lepus</i>
-foret: alios autem, quod in pace illorum dixerim, ore sacrilego
-impetisse ut Ecclesia cum omnibus officinis abyssi voragine
-absorberetur! Omnes verò <span class="eng">Ecclesiæ</span> hujus redditus pro suo arbitrio
-expenderunt; illic excelsa et decentia officinarum ædificia fabricantes;
-hìc verò fabricata situ et vetustate deferentes.
-</p><p>
-Et quoniam eis indignissimum videbatur ut locus [old Llanthony] tam
-antiqua religione sacer et tam amplis possessionibus ditatus, omninò
-virorum religiosorum residentiâ destitueretur, destinare solebant genes
-debiles, et abjectiores, qui nec sibi nec aliis multum prodesse
-valebant, qui non immeritò cum <span class="eng">Apostolo</span> dicere poterant: <i>tanquam
-purgamenta fratrum facti sumus omnium paripsima usque adhuc</i>.&mdash;<i>Pri. de
-Lanth. ord. S. Aug.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> In old writings it is spelt Hodenay, Hondy, Hodenie, &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> We have not introduced the original Welsh; but the reader
-may see the whole in the “Historie of <span class="eng">Cambria</span>, now called Wales, a part
-of the most famous Yland of Brytane, by <span class="eng">David Powel</span>, Doctor in
-Divinitie, c&#772; privilegio. 1584.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> State of Europe during the Middle Ages.&mdash;<i>Hallam.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> Hallam’s Middle Ages.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> Whewel.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> Sir Thomas More said to his lady that the consideration
-of the time&mdash;for it was Lent&mdash;should restrayne her from so scolding her
-servants. “<i>Tush, tush</i>, my lord,” said she; “<i>Lookye! here is one step
-to heavenward</i>,”&mdash;shewing him a frier’s girdle. “Alas! I fear me,” said
-he, “this <i>step</i> will not bring you up one step higher.”&mdash;<i>Camd.
-Remains</i>, quoted Brit. Monach. p. 173.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> Dugdale gives it at £71. 3<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i>; Speed at £112.
-1<i>s.</i> 5<i>d.</i> At the Dissolution, John Ambrose was Prior, and with John
-Nealand and three other Canons subscribed to the Supremacy in 1534.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> See the notice of Tinterne Abbey.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> The north aisle is occupied by a wash-house and
-skittle-ground. The cloisters, dormitories, and other offices are used
-for the reception of visitors, under the direction of a resident
-steward. Latterly, the ruins appear to have suffered little from time or
-desecration. The western front is very perfect and beautiful, but the
-tracery of the great window is obliterated. The owner of the property is
-Walter Savage Landor, Esq., the poet.&mdash;<i>Archæol. Journ.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> <i>Edition</i> 1806; but serious dilapidations have taken
-place since then, and even within three or four years. Great credit is
-due to the house of Beaufort for the pains taken in the conservation of
-the religious houses and castles that have fallen to its possession and
-custody; and it is very gratifying to know that the example is followed
-by the present Proprietor of Llanthony.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> London: Pickering.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> Now, in Walter de Troucestre’s Chron., we read, “<small>A.D.</small>
-1301, on the first day of April, being Easter-eve, the Church of
-Llanthony, near Gloucester, was entirely burnt to the bare walls,
-together with its <i>four</i> belfries, nor did any bell remain that was not
-either broken or melted.”&mdash;<i>Roberts.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> Supposed by some to have been the Sacristy or
-Vestiary.&mdash;See preceding pages.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> See Tinterne Abbey: Descrip. of Dole.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. iii. Orat. August.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> The <span class="eng">Rules</span>&mdash;of which the above are but a meagre and
-imperfect outline&mdash;are expressed with great beauty and simplicity in the
-original, to which the reader is again referred. It is worth mentioning
-that the celebrated Thomas à Kempis was a monk of this Order; and,
-perhaps, no devotional work has appeared in so many languages, or run
-through so many editions, as his “<i>De Imitatione Christi</i>.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> The tracts written, and supposed to be written, by him,
-were published by Bertrand Tissier in 1662.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> Vol. iii. page 66.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> Conveyances of smoke by holes in the walls are of very
-ancient date in English castles; but the earliest certain instance of
-chimneys, properly so called, is understood to occur in some castles
-abroad, about the year 1347.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> See Raglan Castle, description and woodcut, <i>ante</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> The Castle of Grosmont, by a grant of King John, belonged
-to the family of Breoses, but afterwards to Hubert de Burgh, who, to
-“calm a court tempest,” resigned it with three others to Edward III. See
-description of the Castle in this work.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> Thomas’s Glendower, 132</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> Memoirs of Owen Glendower, 1822.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> See the preceding account of Raglan Castle.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> “Secunda urbicula, quam Burrium Antoninus dixit, sedet
-ubi Brithin profluens Iscae commiscetur, Britannis hodie, transpositis
-literis, Brumbegie pro <i>Burenbegie</i>, et Caer-Uske&mdash;Gyraldo Castrum
-Oscæ&mdash;et Anglis Usk, nunc solum Castri ampli ruinas ostendit, quod
-amænissimé intersidet inter Iscam flumen, et Oilwy rivulum ...”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> Monuments Antiqua, Kennet’s Rom. Antiq., Tacitus,
-Vegetius de re Militari, Thomas, p. 141.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> We do not read of any nuns having been “stolen from the
-nunnery” of Uske; but as the reader may be aware, poor Sir Osbert
-Giffard paid severely for his sacrilegious gallantry in stealing not one
-but <i>two</i> nuns out of Wilton Abbey. He was ordered never to enter a
-nunnery more! never to be in the presence of a nun without special leave
-of his Diocesan. Nor was this enough: he was condemned to go thrice
-“naked in his shirt and breeches” to the parish church of W., though
-not, it is said, in presence of the nuns; to be each several time beaten
-with a rod, much to the comfort of his own soul, and the edification of
-the by-standers; and so, also, in Salisbury market, and in Shaftesbury
-church. He was condemned, moreover, to doff the insignia of knighthood,
-and don a coarse garment of russet, trimmed with lamb or sheep’s wool;
-to wear calf-skin on his nether extremities, and not to wear any shirt
-after flagellation. And all this ignominious treatment to be rigorously
-enforced, until he, the said Osbert, should have been three years in the
-Holy Land, or recalled by royal authority.&mdash;<i>Brit. Monachism</i>, iii. 161.
-<i>County Hist.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> The town is incorporated and governed by a portreeve who
-has concurrent jurisdiction with the county magistrates, a recorder, two
-bailiffs, and burgesses. The recorder appoints the burgesses, from among
-whom the portreeve is chosen at a court-leet, on a day previous to St.
-Luke’s day, or the 29th of October. The recorder is appointed by the
-lord of the borough. Four constables are chosen at an annual court-leet
-of the lord of the manor of Uske, who is also lord of the borough,
-although the latter is no part of the manor. The quarter-sessions are
-held alternately here and at Monmouth. The town-house, erected by the
-Duke of Beaufort, is a handsome building. There are monthly fairs, and
-the inhabitants, besides the japan ware already mentioned, are occupied
-in the salmon fishery and agriculture. A free grammar-school for boys
-was founded here in 1621, by Roger Edwards, with almshouses for twelve
-poor persons, and an exhibition at Oxford. These almshouses, forming
-three sides of a quadrangle, have been recently rebuilt. In the main
-street the houses are much scattered, and ornamented by intervening
-gardens, which give an air of healthy cheerfulness to the place. The
-Wesleyans, Independents, and Roman Catholics, have all their
-meeting-houses or chapels.&mdash;<i>Parl. Gaz.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> Or in the elegant lines of Ausonius:&mdash;
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“Nec te puniceo rutilantem viscere salmo<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Transierim, latæ cujus vaga verbera caudæ<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Gurgite de medio summas reseruntur in undas.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> See vol i. of this work, art. “Arundel.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> A.D. 1189. Hen. Rex ... dedit Maritagium Isabellæ, filiæ
-Ricardi <span class="eng">Strongbow</span>. Willelmo <span class="eng">Marescallo</span> primo, et sic factus est Comes
-totius Pembrochiæ, et dominus totius hæreditatis.&mdash;<i>Will. Worcest.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> See history of Tinterne Abbey, <i>ante</i> p. 44.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> See his character as already given in this work.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> See the original, as above.&mdash;Tinterne, p. 46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> Gilbert Mareschal, a principal and most potent peere of
-the realm, proclaimed here a Disport of running on horseback with
-launces, which they called <span class="eng">Tourneaments</span>, under the name of <i>Fortunie</i>,
-making a scorne of the King’s authority, whereby these Tourneaments were
-inhibited. To which place, when a great number of the nobility and
-gentry were assembled, it fortuned that Gilbert himselfe, as he ranne at
-tilt, by occasion that his flinging horse brake bridle and cast him, was
-trampled under foote, and so pitifully died.&mdash;<i>Chronicle.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> Among his other feats “of spirit and prowess,” the
-following, recorded by the grave monk of St. Albans, is sufficiently
-“characteristic:”&mdash;About this time, William de Valence, residing at
-Hertfort Castle, as it is said, rode to the parke of Heathfeld,
-belonging to the Bishop of Ely, and there, hunting without any leave,
-went to the bishop’s manor-house; and there readily finding nothing to
-drink but ordinary beer, and, swearing and cursing the drink and those
-who made it, broke open the butlery doors. After all his company had
-drunk their fills of the best wines in the bishop’s cellars, he pulled
-the spigots out of the vessels, and let out the rest upon the floor; and
-then a servant of the house hearing the noise, and running to see what
-the matter was, they laughed him to scorn, and so departed.&mdash;<i>Dugd.</i> B.
-774, Paris, 855.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> This Earl of Pembroke fell at the battle of Bayonne, in
-June, 1296, being the 23d of Edw. I., and was buried in St. Edmond’s
-chapel, Westminster.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> Scotticé, <i>Peel</i>, or castle.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> Penbrock, Penbrok, Pembrok, or Pembroke: names of the
-same places and persons, all variously spelt in the original deeds.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> These jousts and tournaments were used a long time, says
-the chronicle, and with such slaughter of gentlemen in all places, but
-in this England most of all&mdash;since that King <span class="eng">Stephen</span> brought them
-in&mdash;that by divers decrees of the Church they were forbidden, upon paine
-that whosoever therein were slaine should want Christian buriall in
-church or churchyard: and hiere with us King <span class="eng">Henrie</span> the Third, by advice
-of his sages, made an Act of Parliament, that their heires who
-transgressed in this kind should be disinherited. Howbeit, contrary to
-the said law, so good and wholesome, this naughty and wicked custome was
-practised a great while, and grew not quite out of use before the happie
-daies of Kinge <span class="eng">Edward</span> the Third, [Matt. Paris, 1248.] In the present
-instance, the Earl was a youth of but seventeen; but inspired with the
-manly courage of his forefathers, adventured to tilt with Syr John <span class="eng">St.
-John</span>, by an unlucky slip of whose lance young Hastings was run through
-the body, and suddenly died. He was a person of so noble disposition
-that, in bounty and courtesy, he exceeded most of his degree. But, adds
-the chronicle, his untimely death was then thought by many to be a
-judgment upon the family in regard that Aymer de Valence, his ancestor,
-was one of those who gave sentence of death upon Thomas, Earl of
-Lancaster; for it was observed, that after that judgment so given, <i>none
-of the succeeding</i> Earls ever saw his father, nor any father of them
-took delight in seeing his child!</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> The reader may refer to our account of this transaction
-in the history of Raglan, in which, also, sketches of the Earls of
-<span class="eng">Pembroke</span>, of the house of Herbert, are given.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> <span class="eng">Hywel y Fwyall</span>, a British chieftain, is described by the
-Welsh bards as having commanded a body of his countrymen, as a corps of
-reserve, at the battle of Cressy; and by his seasonable advance, and
-valorous incursion upon the French lines, to have materially added to
-the acceleration of victory.&mdash;<i>Ow. Glendwr</i>, 33.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_380_380" id="Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> The Plantagenets are at the plough; while the descendants
-of the knaves that served them are at the helm of public affairs.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_381_381" id="Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> See Speed, p. 465.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_382_382" id="Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> See the Drama of Richard III., Act V.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_383_383" id="Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> See also the Enumeration as given by Shakspeare.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_384_384" id="Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> Thomas’s “Glendwr,” 1822.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_385_385" id="Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> It is mentioned as a curious genealogical fact, that
-Cromwell was descended from Cadwgan, second son of Bleddyn-ap-Cynfyn,
-founder of the third royal tribe. The family name was anciently
-Williams; Morgan Williams, of Nantchurch, in Cardiganshire, married the
-sister of Thomas Cromwell, the minister Earl of Essex, and was succeeded
-by his son, Sir Richard Cromwell, of Hinchinbroke, in Huntingdonshire,
-who first assumed the name of Cromwell. He was father to Sir Henry
-Cromwell, the grandfather, by Robert, the second son of Oliver, the
-“Protector.” Yorke&mdash;Thomas’ Mem. of Owen Glendwr, 225.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_386_386" id="Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> <i>Caer-Tyf</i>&mdash;Castle or fort on the Taafe.&mdash;See Warner, p.
-46.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_387_387" id="Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> Powel’s Hist. p. 111; also, Warner’s Tour, p. 47</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_388_388" id="Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> Tanner’s Not. Monast.; Thomas’s Mems. of Glendower;
-Coxe’s Tour.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_389_389" id="Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> Excursions in Wales. 1851.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_390_390" id="Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> Its Welsh name is <i>Dynbych-y-Pyscoed</i>,&mdash;<i>piscium</i> copia
-admodum celebre, ut Britannicé Tenby-Piscoid denominatur.&mdash;<i>Gyrald.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_391_391" id="Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> Of this inundation, which swamped part of Holland, and
-sent a new colony to Wales, Drayton sings:&mdash;
-</p>
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">“When wrathful Heaven the clouds so liberally bestowed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The seas&mdash;then wanting room to lay their boist’rous load&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Upon the Belgian coast their pampered stomachs cast,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">That peopled cities sank into the mighty waste.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">The <span class="eng">Flemings</span> were enforced to take them to their oars,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To try the setting main to find out firmer shores.<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">When, as this spacious Isle them entrance did allow,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">To plant the Belgian stock upon this goodly brow;<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">These nations, that their tongues did naturally affect,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Both generally forsook the <span class="eng">British</span> dialect.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_392_392" id="Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> There was also a chapel, dedicated to St. Julian, on the
-quay; the free chapel of St. John’s, founded by the Valences, or
-Valentias, with a lazar-house and almshouse. The modern charities of
-Tenby are liberally supported.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_393_393" id="Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> See his Memoirs of Owen Glendwr, p. 61, to which we are
-indebted for much information on this subject.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_394_394" id="Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> See vol. i. of this work, Castles and Abbeys, pp. 155,
-156.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_395_395" id="Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> “The first day he read the <i>first book</i> to a great
-concourse of people, and afterwards entertained all the poor of the
-town; on the second day he read the <i>second book</i>, and entertained all
-the doctors and chief scholars; and on the third day he read the <i>third
-book</i>, and entertained all the young scholars, soldiers, and
-burgesses.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_396_396" id="Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> The rivulet here mentioned is that which supplied the
-ancient ponds, and is shown on the right of the engraved picture. On the
-left is seen the church with its tall embattled tower&mdash;much resembling
-an Italian campanile&mdash;of Norman workmanship, and a style peculiar to
-this county. On the foreground is the dilapidated framework of an
-ancient cottage, with a chimney common to the country. This relic is
-supposed to belong to an era not less remote than that of the castle. To
-the right of the engraving, the promontory of St. Gowan’s Head is seen
-closing the distant horizon; and directly in front, the sea view
-presents an unlimited expanse of waters.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_397_397" id="Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> Capellam nostri Castelli de Nethe, cum omni decima
-procurationis nostræ dæmus, in annona, et cateris rebus, et cum omni
-decima hominum mestrorum illius provincia, viz.: Francorum et Anglorum,
-etc., etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_398_398" id="Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> Dat. per manum H. de <span class="eng">Well</span>, Arch. de Well, apud Burbeche,
-vj Januarii, anno regni nostri ix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_399_399" id="Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> See note regarding this name, <i>ante</i> p. 305.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_400_400" id="Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> <span class="eng">Edward II.</span> is also said to have found a temporary asylum
-in the parish of Llangynwyd-fawr, in the county of Glamorgan. He had
-interested himself much in the concerns of his Welsh subjects,
-arbitrating the feuds, and determining the disputes among the
-chieftains. In the day of adversity, these condescensions were repaid
-with loyal devotion to his person; and when harassed by his barons, and
-deserted by his English subjects, he found a brief sanctuary in Wales,
-at Neath Abbey, and also, as other writers conjecture, at <span class="eng">Tinterne</span>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_401_401" id="Footnote_401_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> Or Grenville, Grainvil, Greenfeld&mdash;various spellings for
-the same name.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_402_402" id="Footnote_402_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> See Tewkesbury, vol. i. of this work, p. 172.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_403_403" id="Footnote_403_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> On the authority of Girald. Cambrens.; <i>query</i>,
-Gwentiana, from Gwent, fair?</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_404_404" id="Footnote_404_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> Tourist in Wales, (1851,) p. 130.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_405_405" id="Footnote_405_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> This and most others of the native patronymics are all
-variously spelt by different writers.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_406_406" id="Footnote_406_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> Nevertheless, the old maxim of ἀριστον μεν ὐδωρ has lost
-nothing of its truth as a medicinal agent in the treatment of human
-maladies. The superstitious belief that once carried the invalid to
-drink, “nothing doubting,” of some distant well, necessitated, in many
-instances, a total change of scenes and habits, which could hardly fail
-to prove beneficial in many cases, in which the comforts of home and the
-established rules of treatment had been found quite ineffectual. The
-cures ascribed to hydropathy in our own time are, in many cases, not a
-whit less wonderful than those ascribed by monkish legends to the holy
-wells of England and Wales. The only difference is, that while tradition
-affirms that new <i>limbs</i> were known to sprout out [as in the claw of a
-lobster] by the plentiful use of certain waters, hydropathics restrict
-themselves to the reproduction of <i>lungs</i> only; so that the modern wells
-have rather an advantage over the ancient in the art of
-miracle-working.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_407_407" id="Footnote_407_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> This daughter afterwards married Sir Henry le Scrope,
-Knt.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_408_408" id="Footnote_408_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> Near the entrance to the lawn in front of the castle, on
-the road leading to Carew village and church, stands one of the early
-<span class="eng">Crosses</span>, in the centre of which is an elaborate inscription, but which
-cannot now be deciphered.&mdash;<i>Prescot</i>, 164.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_409_409" id="Footnote_409_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> G. H. Warrington, Esq. See “Thomas’ Glendwr,” 1822.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_410_410" id="Footnote_410_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> See the particulars as related in the chronicles of Speed
-and others.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_411_411" id="Footnote_411_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> Camden.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_412_412" id="Footnote_412_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> The Earl being at the time Lord Steward of the King’s
-household.&mdash;<i>Clarend.</i>, vol. i. p. 58.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_413_413" id="Footnote_413_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413_413"><span class="label">[413]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> Dec. Lanfr. Fosb. 67.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_414_414" id="Footnote_414_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414_414"><span class="label">[414]</span></a> Sanctor. Patrum. Reg. Monast. Louv. 12mo. 1571, fol.
-9-51. Joh. de Turre Cremata, Concordia Regularum, &amp;c., quoted in the
-Brit. Monach. p. 68.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_415_415" id="Footnote_415_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415_415"><span class="label">[415]</span></a> So far we have followed Stevens; but according to other
-authorities, he seems to have forgotten that the ancient Benedictines
-wore a <i>coif</i> upon the head. The “Specimen Monochologiæ” clothes the
-Benedictine monk with breeches.&mdash;<i>V. Brit. Mon.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_416_416" id="Footnote_416_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416_416"><span class="label">[416]</span></a> His work on Osteology&mdash;written during the time he acted
-as Demonstrator in one of the metropolitan schools, and before he had
-reached his twentieth year&mdash;did him great credit.</p></div>
-
-</div>
-<hr class="full" />
-<pre style='margin-top:6em'>
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diff --git a/old/63832-h/images/plt_027.jpg b/old/63832-h/images/plt_027.jpg
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