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 LOTGlCiQT, OKME, BBOVnST, GKEEK & LON-GMH-TS, rAIEmTOSIER H.O\«r, 
 
THE WYE 
 
 AND ITS ASSOCIATIOJSTS 
 
 A PICTURESQUE RAMBLE. 
 
 By LEITCH RITCHIE, Esq. 
 
 AUTHOR. OF *' WANDERIXOS EY THE LOIItK," " AVANDERINGS BY THE SEINE,' 
 "the MAGICIA.X," ETC. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND 
 LONGMANS. 
 
 184L 
 
 3« 
 
frn 
 
 A ^ oi^i H 
 
 LONDON : 
 PIUNTBD BY J. HADDON, CASIXE STREET, FINSBURY. 
 
 ff'U 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 A PORTION of the lower part of the 
 Wye has been described by Gilpin, Arch- 
 deacon Coxe, and some others ; and the 
 same portion has been touched upon, 
 with greater or less minuteness, by Prince 
 Puckler Muscau, and various Welsh 
 tourists, as well as by Whateley in his 
 Essay on Modern Gardening. It seemed, 
 however, to the writer of the present 
 sketch, that something more was due to 
 the most celebrated river in England ; 
 and that another book (not too large for 
 the pocket, and yet aspiring to a place in 
 the library) which should point out the 
 beauties of the Wye, and connect them 
 
IV ADVEPmSEMENT. 
 
 with their historical and romantic asso- 
 ciations — beginning at the source of the 
 stream on Plinlimmon, and ending only 
 at its confluence with the Severn — might 
 still be reckoned an acceptable service by 
 the lovers of the picturesque. Hence this 
 little work, which may be consulted at will 
 either as a finger-post by the traveller, or 
 as a companion by the reading lounger at 
 home. 
 
 London, November 28tk, 1840. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Philosophy of the picturesque... Peculiarities of English scenery 
 ...Worcester... Immigration of peasant girls... The Devils' 
 Garden. ..The Rest on the Stones. ..Plinlimmon... Inhabi- 
 tants of the summit. ..The Inn. ..Source of the Wye . . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Descent of Plinlimmon... Singular illusion. ..Llangerrig... Com- 
 mencement of the picturesque... The Fall of the Wye... 
 Black Mountain... Course of the river... Builth... Peculiarity 
 of the scenery... Approach to the English border... Castle of 
 the Hay... First series of the beauties of the Wye . .17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Clifford Castle.. .Lords-marchers.. .Fair Rosamond. .. Ruins of 
 the Castle... The silent cottage... Approach to Hereford... 
 Castle. . . Cathedral. . . NeU Gwynn. . . Cider. . . Salmon . , . Wolves 31 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Beauty and tameness... The travelling hOl... Ross... The silver 
 tankard... The Man of Ross... The sympathetic trees... 
 Penyard Castle... Vicissitudes of the river... Wilton Castle... 
 A voyage to sea in a basket... Pencraig Hill . . .45 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Roman passes of the Wye... Goodrich Castle... Keep... Fortifi- 
 cations... Apartments... Its history... Goodrich Court... Forest 
 of Dean. ..Laws of the Miners... Military exploit... "Wines of 
 Gloucestershire 58 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Iron furnaces of the Wye...Lidbroke... Nurse of Henry V.... 
 Coldwell Rocks... Symond's Tat. ..New "Weir... Monmouth . 74 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Monmouth... History of the Castle... Apartment of Henry of 
 Monmouth . . . Ecclesiastical remains . . . Benedictine priory. . . 
 Church of St. Mary... Church of St. Thomas... Monnow 
 Bridge... Modern town... Monmouth caps... The beneficent 
 parvenu 87 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "Welsh pedigree of queen "V^ictoria... A poet's flattery... Castles 
 of Monmouthshire . . . Geoffrey of Monmouth . . . Henry of 
 Monmouth... The Kymin... Subsidiary tour... Sir David Gam 
 ..."White Castle'... Scenfrith... The Castle spectres... Gros- 
 mont...Lanthony Abbey 100 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Raglan Castle... Description of the ruins... History of the 
 Castle. ..The old lord of Raglan... Surrender of the fortress 
 ...Charles I. and his host. ..Royal weakness... The pigeons of 
 Raglan... Death of the old lord. ..Origin of the steam engine 121 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Troy House... Anecdote... Antique custom... "Village churches 
 of Monmouthshire... "White-washing... The bard... Strewing 
 graves with flowers ... St. Briavels' Castle . . . Llandogo. . . Change 
 in the character of the river. ..The Druid of the "Wye... 
 "Wordsworth's " Lines composed above Tintern Abbey " , 140 
 
CONTENTS. VU 
 
 CHAPTER XI, 
 
 Page. 
 
 Vales of the Wye.. .Valley of Tintem...Tintern Abbey.. .His- 
 tory... Church... Character of the ruin... Site... Coxe's de- 
 scription ... Monmouth ... Insecurity of sepulchral fame... 
 Churchyarde on Tombs ... Opinions on Tintern... Battle of 
 Tintern 156 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Wye below Tintern... Benagor Crags.. .Lancaut... Pierce- 
 field Bay. ..Chepstow. ..Ancient and modem bridge... Chep- 
 stow Castle... Roger de Britolio... Romance of History... 
 Chepstow in the civil wars... Marten the regicide . . 174 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Piercefield . . . Points of view . . . Ctirious appearance . . . Scenic 
 character of the place... View from WyndcliflF... Account of 
 Valentine Morris. ..Anecdotes. ..The Wye below Chepstow... 
 Aust Ferry. ..Black Rock Ferry. ..St. Theodoric... Conclusion 192 
 
ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 Page. 
 GOODRICH CASTLE, VIGNETTE TITLE. 
 
 LLANGERMG . . . . . .19 
 
 RHAIADYR . ..... 21 
 
 NEAR RHAIADYR . . . . . . 22 
 
 CLIFFORD CASTLE ..... 35 
 
 HEREFORD . . . . . .44 
 
 ROSS . ... . , 48 
 
 THE NEW WEIR . . . . . .81 
 
 TINTERN ...... 158 
 
 TINTERN ABBEY . . . . . .160 
 
 CHEPSTOW . . . . . . 177 
 
 VIEW FROM WYNDCLIFF ..... 198 
 
THE WYE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Philosophy of the picturesque — Peculiarities of English scenery — 
 Worcester — Immigration of peasant girls — The Devils' Garden 
 — The Rest on the Stones — Plinlimmon — Inhabitants of the 
 summit — The Inn — Source of the Wye. 
 
 Foreigners have often expressed their sur- 
 prise that the Enghsh should travel so far in 
 search of picturesque scenery, when they have 
 abundance at home : but the remark is conceived 
 in an unphilosophical spirit. We do not travel 
 for the mere scenery. We do not leave 
 the Wye unexplored, and go abroad in search 
 of some other river of its own identical cha- 
 
 B 
 
2 THE WYE. 
 
 racter. What we gaze at in strange lands is 
 not wood, and water, and rock, but all these 
 seen through a new medium — accompanied by 
 adjuncts which array universal nature herself in 
 a foreign costume. A tree peculiar to the 
 country — a peasant in an un-English garb — a 
 cottage of unaccustomed form — the slightest 
 peculiarity in national manners — even the traces 
 of a different system of agriculture — all con- 
 tribute to the impression of novelty in which 
 consists the excitement of foreign travel. 
 
 The proof of this is our keener perception of 
 the beauties of English scenery after returning 
 from abroad. We are then capable of insti- 
 tuting a comparison ; and our national manners 
 are no longer the sole medium, but one of 
 various media through which nature is viewed. 
 An untravelled Englishman is ignorant of his 
 own country. He must cross the seas before 
 he can become acquainted with home. He 
 must admire the romance of the Rhine — the 
 sublimity of the (mountain) Rhone -the beauty 
 of the Seine and the Loire — before he can 
 tell what is the rank of the Wye, in picturesque 
 character, among the rivers of Europe. 
 
NATIONAL PECULIARITIES. 3 
 
 The journey from London to Worcester, 
 which is the direct route to the Upper part of 
 the Wye, discloses many of the pecuharities of 
 Enghsh scenery and character — pecuharities 
 which to the natives are of so every day a kind, 
 that it is only by reflection and comparison 
 they learn to appreciate them. The country 
 seats of the great land proprietors, with their 
 accompaniments of lawn and plantation, extend- 
 ing as far as the eye can reach, form a part 
 of the picture ; and so do the cottages of the 
 village peasantry, with their little gardens before 
 the door, admitting a peep into the interior 
 of the humble abode. In the aristocratical 
 dwellings, half hidden in that paradise of 
 groves and glades, we find every refinement 
 that gold can purchase, or taste produce : in 
 the huts, comfort, and its inseparable adjunct 
 cleanliness, are the most striking characteristics. 
 
 The former speak of wealth, and the happi- 
 ness that depends on wealth ; the latter of 
 comparative poverty, and the home pleasures 
 that are compatible with poverty. On the 
 continent, there is always something out of 
 keeping in the picture. In the great chateaux 
 
 B 2 
 
'i THE WYE. 
 
 and their grounds, there is always some mean- 
 ness, some make-shift observable ; while in the 
 great country seats of England, on the contrary, 
 all is uniform. In the cottages abroad, even 
 those of a higher order, there are always dirt 
 and slovenliness — inattention to the minute 
 comforts of humble life — meals snatched any- 
 how and anywhere — sleep taken without an 
 idea of the luxuries of sleep. In England, on 
 the other hand, notwithstanding the irregularities 
 of fortune, we find an absolute identity in the 
 various classes of the population. The labourer 
 — returned, perhaps, from mending the highway, 
 sits down in state to dinner, with a clean white 
 table-cloth, and the coarse ware nicely arranged 
 before him. The floor is swept, perhaps washed, 
 to do honour to the occasion ; and his wife, who 
 is at once the mistress and the servant of the 
 feast, prides herself on making her husband 
 (whom she calls her " master") — comfortable. 
 
 We need not be told that this is not a univer- 
 sal picture. We need not be reminded of the 
 want and misery which exist in numerous parts 
 of the country, for with these we are well 
 acquainted. The foreigner, however, to whom 
 
ENGLISH SCENE. 5 
 
 such scenes are new, will meet with them fre- 
 quently enough, and especially on the road we 
 are now travelling, to induce him to set them 
 down as one of the grand characteristics of 
 England. 
 
 The road presents, also, at various turnings, 
 that truly English scene, a well-known specimen 
 of which is viewed from Richmond Hill. A 
 level country lies a few hundred feet below us, 
 and extends in front, and on either side, till 
 it is lost in the distance, or bound in by low 
 and filmy hills which just mark the horizon 
 with their waving line of shadow. This ex- 
 panse is studded with towns, and villages, and 
 seats, and cottages, and square towers, and 
 tapering spires, rising amidst woods and groves, 
 and surrounded by green fields and meadows. 
 A great part of the peculiar character of the 
 landscape is due to the enclosures of various 
 kinds of foliage " which separate one field from 
 another. In most parts of the continent — and 
 more especially in France — these are of very 
 rare occurrence ; and thus the beauty of the 
 picture, when it has any beauty at all, depends 
 upon the colours of the different kinds of grain 
 
 B 3 
 
6 THE WYE. 
 
 or Other productions, which make the vast ex- 
 panse of vegetation resemble an immense and 
 richly variegated carpet. In spring, therefore, 
 before these colours have been fairly brought 
 out, it may easily be conceived that France is 
 one of the least interesting countries in Europe. 
 With us, on the other hand, the face of the 
 earth resembles a garden, and more especially 
 in one of those flat landscapes we have alluded 
 to. The changes of the seasons diversify with- 
 out diminishing the beauty ; and even winter 
 presents, instead of a uniform and dreary waste, 
 a varied picture executed in hoar frost and 
 snow. 
 
 Worcester is one of the most aristocratic 
 looking towns in England, and presents every 
 token of being a wealthy and flourishing place. 
 Its cathedral, an edifice of the beginning of 
 the thirteenth century, has drawn hither many 
 a pilgrim foot even from foreign countries. 
 Our present business, however, is with the 
 works of nature, or with those of art fallen 
 into decay, and their fragments standing amidst 
 the eternal youth of the hills and rivers, like 
 monuments of the insignificance of man. 
 
PEASANT GIRLS. 7 
 
 Worcester is famous for its manufactures of 
 porcelain and gloves ; but our attention was 
 more strongly attracted to exports of another 
 kind, of which it appeared to be at least the 
 entrepot, if it was not the original riiarket. 
 At a little distance from the town, several wag- 
 gons had halted near a public house, and their 
 freight, a numerous party of peasant girls, were 
 breakfasting by the road side. They were 
 eating and drinking as joyously as if their laps 
 had been filled with far more enticing food 
 than bread and ale. They were on their way 
 to some greater mart — perhaps to the all-de- 
 vouring metropolis ; and when breakfast was 
 over, they resumed their slow journey, some 
 few who had mounted the waggons singing in 
 parts, and the rest, walking by the side, joining 
 in the chorus. They had no fears, poor girls, 
 of the result of their adventure — or rather, no 
 forethought. 
 
 But it is not till after we pass the little town 
 of Kington, on the eastern borders of Here- 
 fordshire, that the picturesque commences, 
 and we must hasten on to our more immediate 
 task. Between Kington and New Radnor, 
 
8 THE WYE. 
 
 are the Stanner Rocks, with the Devil's Garden 
 on their summit, luxuriously planted — of course 
 by no human hand — with wild flowers. Be- 
 yond New Radnor (formerly the county town, 
 but now a paltry village,) opens the Vale of 
 Radnor on one side, and on the other, a rude 
 mountain scene, distinguished by a waterfall 
 of some celebrity, called Water-break-its-neck. 
 The stream rushes down a precipitous descent 
 of seventy feet, into a hollow with craggy and 
 unequal sides. The spot of the cascade is 
 marked by an insulated rock, eighteen or twenty 
 feet high, standing erect above it like a monu- 
 ment. 
 
 After passing the village of Penybont, the 
 Llanbadarn Vawr, or great church of Badarn, 
 is to the left of the road, an edifice which dates 
 from the time of the Conqueror ; and nothing 
 else of interest is observable till we reach 
 Rhaiadyr, on the Banks of the Wye. As it 
 will be more convenient, however, to examine 
 the river in descending with the stream, we 
 shall only say here, that the journey from 
 Rhaiadyr to the summit of Plinlimmon lies 
 through woods, and hill passes, becoming ruder 
 
REST ON THE STONES, 9 
 
 and wilder at every step we advance. The 
 character of the population seems to change 
 in conformity with their physical circumstances. 
 The want of tidiness which marks the British 
 mountaineer is the more conspicuous from the 
 contrast it presents to the opposite quality we 
 have admired in the plains ; and already the 
 women have assumed the round hat of the ruder 
 sex, and destroyed with its masculine associ- 
 ations the charms peculiar to their own. 
 Against this absurdity we must protest^ whether 
 we meet with it in the Welsh girl, or the fair 
 equestrian of Hyde Park. It betrays not only 
 the most pitiful taste, but the most profound 
 ignorance of nature, on which is founded the 
 theory of female beauty. 
 
 Stedva Gerrig, or "the Rest on the Stones" 
 now commonly called by the name of the moun- 
 tain, is a hamlet of three or four houses situated 
 on a stream which separates the counties of 
 Montgomeryshire and Cardiganshire, in a nook 
 of comparatively level land, into which abut 
 several of the lower ridges of Plinlimmon. 
 The spot has little of the wildness of mountain 
 scenery, but its extreme solitude ; for being here 
 
10 THE WYE. 
 
 near the top of the mountainous group, and 
 surrounded by its remaining elevations, we are 
 insensible of our real altitude above the level 
 of the country. These elevations, besides, have 
 none of the ruggedness of character we usually 
 find in such places. They are, in general, 
 smoothly-swelling eminences, which if rising 
 from the plain would receive the name of hills ; 
 they are wholly naked of trees, or even brush- 
 wood ; and being covered with green herbage, 
 they at first sight give one the idea of an exten- 
 sive grass farm, rather than a sterile mountain. 
 It is the altitude of the spot, however, and the 
 nipping blasts to which it is exposed, that render 
 it naked of the larger kinds of vegetation ; and 
 there is only a nook here and there capable of 
 bearing even a scanty crop of oats. This 
 region, therefore, excepting a few fields around 
 Stedva Gerrig, supplies subsistence only to 
 sheep ; and the greater number even of these 
 we found had been withdrawn to situations less 
 exposed to the Welsh winds. 
 
 Of the few inhabitants of the hamlet, the 
 principal man of course is the innkeeper ; and 
 the other fathers of families are shepherds. 
 
INHABITANTS OF THE MOUNTAIN. 11 
 
 The latter class of men have wages amounting 
 to twelve pounds a year, and enjoy their houses 
 and little fields of corn and potatoes, with as 
 much pasturage as they have use for free of 
 rent. The husband, assisted by his sons, 
 when young, tends the sheep on the mountain ; 
 the wife makes flannel, and knits stockings ; 
 and the daughters go out to serviice at an 
 early age. Their little menage is comfortable. 
 Their bread is barley cakes ; they sometimes 
 salt a pig ; they provide themselves with a 
 quarter of beef at one time, and, like their 
 betters, " live at home, and kill their own mut- 
 ton." Nay, one of these flourishing shepherds 
 is a rival of the innkeeper ; his hut being duly 
 licensed to sell ale, cyder, &c., and the sign-board 
 having the following intimation : — " The noto- 
 rious hill of Plinlimmon is on these premises, 
 and it will be shown with pleasure to any gen- 
 tlemen travellers who wishes to see it." And 
 this intimation (letting grammar alone) is correct ; 
 for although the notorious article in question, 
 viz., the loftiest part of Phnliramon is not en- 
 tirely in the garden, curtained off, like the bal- 
 loon at the Yorkshire Stingo, from the gaze 
 
12 THE WYE. 
 
 of all who do not pay a shilling to see it, 
 yet it is actually on the premises, about three 
 or four miles — only a sheep walk — distant. 
 
 The Plinlimmon inn, undoubtedly, is the 
 place for our money. It is now — although its 
 character was very different only two years ago 
 — neat, clean, and comfortable. We do not say that 
 it affords the accommodation of a city on the top 
 of a Welsh mountain, but yet to the traveller 
 who has seen more of the world than the plains 
 of England, it will make a very desirable rest- 
 ing-place. Such traveller, on dismounting from 
 the Aberystwith mail, will be right glad to sit 
 down by a clean and bright fire-side, and if 
 the turf should not be lighted in the parlour, 
 he will be proud of the privilege of the kitchen. 
 There, if he has our own good fortune, he will 
 find the landlady, a frank, cheerful, and kindly 
 woman, with the table drawn in quite to the 
 hearth, and reading '' Elegant Extracts." Ma- 
 terials of another kind will speedily grace the 
 board, viz., bread, butter, cheese, eggs, and 
 excellent home-brewed ale. Do you sneer at 
 this bill of fare ? A fico for thy travellership ! 
 Then will mine host enter in the midst, a bold, 
 
THE INN. 13 
 
 intelligent, yet modest fellow ; and, bustling 
 through the various parts of the scene, will 
 " come, like a shadow, so depart " the substan- 
 tial form of the serving maiden, her cheeks 
 round and flushed, her eye beaming with inno- 
 cent gaiety, and her full and swelling chest 
 seeming as if it were with difficulty withheld 
 from bursting the corsage. These three, by 
 the way, are the only inhabitants of the hamlet 
 who speak English. 
 
 After supper, the traveller, if he be not of 
 the heathen sect of Tee-totallers, takes a glass 
 of brandy and water, for the reason assigned 
 by St. Paul in his Epistle to Timothy, or any 
 other orthodox reason ; and finally, he will enter 
 into a clean and comfortable bed, and sleep, not 
 the less soundly it is to be presumed, that his 
 meal had not involved the murder of a chicken, or 
 of any other of his fellow creatures of the earth. 
 
 The next morning the landlord walked with 
 us to the source of the Wye, about three miles 
 distant. We ascended and descended several 
 of the rounded summits already mentioned ; and 
 upon the whole, the little excursion is somewhat 
 trying to the lungs. A rill flowed between 
 
14 THE WYE. 
 
 every two eminences, destined soon or late to 
 unite with the Wye, and at length the latter 
 stream appeared, bubbling down the side of a 
 slope in a volume which might be comprised 
 in the circumference of a teacup. Higher up, 
 a few rushes seem to hide the fountain frora^ 
 which it springs ; but following for a brief space 
 a line of damp, plashy earth above, we reach a 
 tiny pool, little more than a hand-breadth 
 across, supplied by droppings rather than gushes 
 from a bank of black earth — and this is the 
 source of the Wye. Looking down its tortuous 
 valley, the view is majestic from the massive 
 forms of the objects which surround it ; but the 
 solitude, the dreariness, the utter desolation of 
 the scene, form the distinctive features of the 
 picture. 
 
 Plinlimmon, or Pumlumon, is not, correctly 
 speaking, a single mountain, but several distinct 
 mountains rising from one base. Each of these 
 distinct mountains, again, is subdivided into 
 several others ; but in the aggregate, there is 
 little of the variety which might be expected 
 from so extraordinary an assemblage. It is 
 entirely destitute of wood. There are none of 
 
VIEW FROM PLINLIMMON. 15 
 
 the craggy peaks and precipices which usually 
 form the picturesque of mountain scenery. All 
 is smooth but blackened turf, frequently undu- 
 lating over fathomless bogs, the mysteries of 
 which the traveller who ventures into this 
 desolate region without a guide has a fair chance 
 of exploring. The summit, of which the high- 
 est point is two thousand four hundred and 
 sixty-three feet above the level of the sea, 
 forms a plateau of several miles ; whence the 
 hills of Cardiganshire are seen to the south ; 
 Cardigan bay and Saint George's channel 
 to the west ; to the north, the perpendicular 
 brow of Cader Idris ; to the north-west, the 
 three-peaked Breidden hills ; and to the east, 
 the fertile plains of Herefordshire and Shrop- 
 shire. 
 
 Besides the Wye, there are several other 
 rivers which have their source on Plinlimmon, 
 the most distinguished of which is the Severn. 
 About two miles distant from where we now 
 stand, this stream issues from a little bog-hole, 
 in a volume which might be stepped across 
 by a child. The whole mountain, in fact, seems 
 
 a reservoir of water ; and it is not surprising 
 
 c 2 
 
16 THE WYE. 
 
 that Owen Glendwr should have been able to 
 maintain himself here, as he did in 1401, even 
 with so small a force as a hundred and twenty 
 men. The entrenchments made by the hero 
 may still be traced ; and brazen spearheads, and 
 other instruments of war, have been found with- 
 in them in our own day. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Descent of Plinlimmon — Sinffular illusion — Llangerrig — Com- 
 mencement of the Picturesque — The Fall of the Wye — Black 
 Mountain — Course of the river — Builth — Peculiarity of the 
 scenery — Approach to the English border — Castle of the Hay — 
 First series of the beauties of the Wye. 
 
 Leaving Stedva Gerrig, the road runs by 
 the side of the stream before mentioned, 
 through a succession of mountain valleys, which, 
 being without the grandiose forms of the view 
 from Plinlimmon, are uninteresting from the 
 want of trees. On the left there was a wreath 
 of grey smoke flying backward on the wind, 
 from the brow of the steep which forms the 
 side of the valley ; and we speculated within 
 
 ourselves as to whether this was the ensign of 
 
 c 8 
 
18 THE WYE. 
 
 some unlawful still. It proved, however, to be 
 the foam of a little mountain torrent, caught 
 suddenly by the gust ere it reached the edge 
 of the precipice ; and so complete was the illu- 
 sion, that it was not till we had climbed to the 
 spot, that we were convinced of the phenomenon 
 being the production of water instead of fire. 
 
 The valley here was wide, and the vista 
 backwards towards Stedva Gerrig of consider- 
 able length. A very remarkable effect was pro- 
 duced by the light of the early sun streaming 
 through masses of grey clouds, and flashed back 
 again not only by the stream, but by the entire 
 surface of the soil which was completely satu- 
 rated by torrents of rain that had fallen during 
 the night. Just after this, and nearly three 
 miles from the inn, the Wye suddenly burst 
 into- the valley from the left, and rushing be- 
 neath a bridge, flung itself into the little river. 
 The latter, conscious that although its volume 
 was greater, its strength and impetuosity were 
 less than those of the marauder, quietly resigned 
 itself to its fate, receiving the name and 
 acknowledging the authority of its lord and 
 spouse ; and thenceforth, we found ourselves 
 
-a^-9t^^yZyZ^ 
 
 Ti cmHrm ^ PtiHialied far the Praprietor, bT XoiigDisii- S-: Q°. "fgiiemofrter !Raw . 
 
SCENIC VICISSITUDES. 19 
 
 wandering along the banks, less known than 
 those less renowned, of the classic Vaga. 
 
 The sameness of the scenery continued for 
 five miles further, till on entering the hamlet 
 of Llangerrig, consisting of a few huts of the 
 meanest description, and an old church, of which 
 a view is annexed, trees began to add their 
 interest to the picture. The valley, however, 
 was wide, the trees small, and the river, not- 
 withstanding its receiving here another accession, 
 was still insignificant. By degrees, however, 
 as we proceeded, the hills became closer, and 
 the massiveness of their forms lent a certain 
 degree of grandeur to the scene. These again 
 disappeared ; and the hills returned : and the 
 Wye as before ran brawling through a common- 
 place valley. A series of vicissitudes went on 
 till the hills, assuming the character without the 
 magnitude of mountains, threw themselves 
 wildly together, and we found ourselves in a 
 savage pass, the steep abutting masses of which 
 were in some cases formed of grey and naked 
 rock. 
 
 The river here is occasionally almost choked 
 up with stones and fragments of rocks, which 
 
20 THE WYH. 
 
 must either have rolled from the heights into 
 the bottom of the valley, or been uncovered in 
 their original beds by the action of the water. 
 Here opens (in our judgment) the first of the 
 numerous picturesque views presented by the 
 Wye. The spot is marked by the accession of 
 a tributary stream, which is crossed by means of 
 a bridge. 
 
 After getting out of this gorge, the scenery 
 becomes softer and more commonplace ; and at 
 three miles nearer, the vista is terminated by the 
 little church tower of Rhaiadyr, painted against 
 a misty hill at some distance beyond. 
 
 In the time of the Welsh princes, there was 
 here a fortress of some importance, of which 
 no vestiges remain. It was erected, we are told, 
 by Rhys, prince of South Wales, in the time 
 of Richard II., and burnt down in 1231, by 
 Llewellin ap Jorwerth. The little toM^n itself is 
 modern, and consists principally of two streets 
 intersecting each other at right angles. The 
 name, which is in full Rhaiadyr Pwy, means 
 the Fall of the Wye, but is no longer appli- 
 cable, the cataract having been almost levelled 
 in 1780, when the bridge was erected. From 
 
BLACK MOUNTAIN. 21 
 
 this bridge the view of the river is exceedingly 
 fine, as will be seen by the annexed engraving ; 
 although all the remnant of the M^aterfall is the 
 plunging of the stream over a low ledge of 
 rocks. The town itself has a good deal of 
 character. It is decidedly a Welsh town ; and 
 notwithstanding the commingling that must 
 have taken place in the races, it possesses that 
 foreign aspect which is so exciting to the curi- 
 osity. 
 
 This appearance, however, is still more evi- 
 dent in the next place at which we arrive, 
 Builth ; but the traveller must not be in a hurry 
 to get there. The valley of the Wye, during 
 the fourteen miles which intervene, presents a 
 continuous series of picturesque views, sufficient 
 of themselves to make the reputation of the 
 river. The stream rushes the whole way 
 through a singularly rocky and winding bed, 
 bound in by lofty and fantastic banks, and these 
 by hills, naked or wooded, barren or fertile, of 
 every variety of form. One of the most re- 
 markable of the latter is the Black Mountain, 
 which is posted directly in front, and fills up 
 the valley, as if to guard the pass from the 
 
^y THE WYE. 
 
 further progress of the Wye : but our wander- 
 ing stream sweeps abruptly round its base, and 
 escaping by a narrow defile, pursues its trium- 
 phant way towards Builth. One of those 
 pictures is imitated in the annexed engraving, 
 and it will not be difficult to find the identical 
 spot chosen by the artist. 
 
 For more than half the distance the road 
 runs close by the side of the river; but on 
 reaching a few houses called Newbridge, we 
 diverge a little, and do not come near again till 
 we have travelled a distance of nearly five miles 
 and approached the town of Builth. The pe- 
 destrian, however, cares little for roads ; and, 
 rejoining the river at will, he finds the series of 
 views continued — sometimes grand, sometimes 
 beautiful, sometimes picturesque, sometimes 
 absolute gems of pastoral repose. The river 
 increases visibly before our eyes ; and at length, 
 when near Builth, it rolls along, still foaming, 
 still brawling, but in a stream of considerable 
 volume. Its principal tributaries between Rhaia- 
 dyr and this place, are the Elian, the Ithon, and 
 the Yrfon ; the last of which is celebrated by 
 the defeat of Llewellin in 1282, which took 
 
ffsc %e TVoprieinr, 'irr Li 
 
 -frogman, Sz C? .PaiemostET .Ho-yr. 
 
BUILTH. 23 
 
 place at the spot where the little river is crossed 
 by a bridge, just before it falls into the Wye, 
 above Builth. 
 
 This part of the country, however, is com- 
 pletely secluded. There never was, so far as 
 we know, a public conveyance between Rhaia- 
 dyr and Builth ; and at the latter town, at this 
 season of the year— although it is still early in 
 October — the traveller will find no means of 
 communication with the rest of the world, ex- 
 cept for those who journey with post horses, 
 and those who make use of the locomotive 
 powers of their own limbs. 
 
 Builth is finely situated, its narrow streets 
 rising in irregular terraces on the side of a hill 
 on the right bank of the Wye. The houses 
 are as Welsh as can be, and have a primitive, 
 gld world look, that has a great charm in our 
 eyes. The town is approached by a stone 
 bridge of considerable length ; at the end of 
 which, on the left hand, are some mounds of 
 grass and ivy, which conceal the remains of a 
 castle supposed to date from the eleventh cen- 
 tury. All, however, is conjecture as regards this 
 castle, which was a small fortress, with a keep of 
 
24f THE WYE. 
 
 forty yards in circumference, surrounded by a 
 ditch, and defended towards the south by two 
 trenches. It was repaired in 1209, by Gilbert, 
 Earl of Gloucester ; after the death of Llewellin, 
 it became an English fortress ; and in 1690, 
 was accidentally destroyed by a fire, which at 
 the same time consumed the greater part of the 
 town. Builth, however, is older than its castle. 
 It is set down by the learned as the Bullaeum 
 Silurum of the Romans ; and various druidical 
 remains in the neighbourhood carry back the 
 ken of the antiquarian to a still more remote 
 epoch, which is lost in shadows. 
 
 It was in this neighbourhood, as we have 
 said, that Llewellin, the last of the Welsh 
 princes, was defeated and slain in 1282. Tra- 
 dition relates, that while at Aberedw, a short 
 distance down the river, on the opposite bank, 
 he was surprised by the English, and escaped 
 so narrowly, that he had only just time to pass 
 the drawbridge of Builth, before his pursuers 
 came up. The English, however, succeeded 
 in cutting him off from his army, by getting 
 between the town and a village on the right 
 bank of the Wye where it was posted. Lie- 
 
BUILTH. 25 
 
 wellin, upon this, attempted to conceal himself 
 in the woods, but he was discovered, and be- 
 headed, and his body buried at a place called 
 Cern y Bedd. 
 
 The air of Builth is supposed to be very 
 salubrious, and for this reason many respectable 
 families have chosen it for their residence. The 
 abundance of game in its woods and hills, and 
 of trout, salmon, and grayling in its streams is 
 another inducement, and probably the cause of 
 the good health of its visitors. In this neigh- 
 bourhood are mineral springs of three kinds, — 
 saline, sulphurous, and chalybeate, — and a pump- 
 room, frequently attended by a numerous com- 
 pany. 
 
 From a hill above the town is obtained a fine 
 view of the Llynsyraddon, the largest lake in 
 Wales except Bala. The country people believe 
 that its bed was formerly the site of a city ; and, 
 as in Ireland, Brittany, and other places where a 
 similar tradition prevails, they still see the towers 
 of old " 'neath the calm, cold wave reclining." 
 Giraldus calls the lake Clamosam, from the 
 " terrible thundering noise it makes upon the 
 breaking up of the ice in winter." 
 
26 
 
 THE WYE. 
 
 The valley of the Wye is less wild after 
 passing Builth, but more beautiful. After the 
 fourth milestone, there is a magnificent specimen 
 of a formation of the hills which may be 
 said to be the grand peculiarity of this district. 
 It consists of a massive range on the opposite 
 bank, laid out in square terraces, such as Mar- 
 tin delights to heap on each other in his pictures. 
 But here, where Nature is the builder, these 
 masses of architecture are of rough, disjointed 
 stones, hoary with age, and sometimes over- 
 grown with moss and lichens. On the right 
 bank where we stood, a small house is built 
 just above the road, as if to enjoy the picture ; 
 and, a little further on, another of more aristo- 
 cratic pretensions. A view, including a portion 
 of the latter — the green, smooth-shaven pastures 
 which answer for a lawn and extend to the 
 water's edge — the Wye foaming and brawling 
 at the bottom, half hidden by trees of the 
 deepest shadow — with the castellated mount 
 beyond, and the sweep of the valley closed in 
 by hills to the left — would form a whole, which 
 Gilpin, with the dogmatism of art, might call 
 " correctly picturesque." 
 
SINGULAR PICTURE. 27 
 
 A little further on, we had an opportunity 
 of inspecting these rocks more closely, which 
 are only remarkable from the forms they assume. 
 In the instance before us, they were two im- 
 mense cubes of stone, as precise as if ruled by 
 the square, and" cut with the chisel. They stood 
 exactly horizontal with the ground, and the 
 upper was of smaller proportions than the lower. 
 No other rock or even stone was near. At some 
 distance another entirely insulated mass pre- 
 sented itself, as large as a cottage of two 
 stories, with walls as perpendicular, and secluded 
 like a cottage by trees. 
 
 The small village of Glasbury presents a view 
 well worth notice. This is particularly the case 
 at Maeslough Hall, where Gilpin characterises 
 the scenery as " wonderfully amusing," declaring 
 that the situation is one of the finest in Wales. 
 On passing the seventh milestone, the valley 
 spreads out into a wide plain bounded by an 
 amphitheatre of hills ; and as we proceed, 
 numerous villas peeping through the trees, show 
 that we have now left entirely behind us the 
 peculiarities of Welsh scenery, and are again 
 on the borders of merry England. As we 
 
 D 2 
 
28 THE WYE. 
 
 approach the Hay, the aristocratical buildings 
 become more numerous, and the romance of the 
 scene diminishes, till at length we enter a small^ 
 but neat and comfortable-looking town. 
 
 The Hay has some historical associations of 
 the doings of Llewellin and King John, by the 
 latter of whom its castle was destroyed in 1^16; 
 but with the exception of a Gothic gateway 
 there are no remains to interest the antiquarian. 
 There are said, indeed, to be the fragments of 
 some Roman fortifications ; but we are some- 
 thing like Sir Walter Scott in this respect, who 
 had seen so many ghosts, that at last he found 
 it difficult to believe in them. Tradition relates 
 that the castle was built in one night by the 
 celebrated Maud de Saint Wallery, alias Maud 
 de Hain, alias Moll Walbee. " She built (say 
 the gossips)," as we find in Jones's Brecknock, 
 " the castle of Hay in one night : the stones for 
 which she carried in her apron. While she was 
 thus employed, a small pebble, of about nine 
 feet long, and one foot thick, dropped into her 
 shoe. This she did not at first regard ; but in 
 a short time, finding it troublesome, she indig- 
 nantly threw it over the river Wye into Llowes 
 
METAMORPHOSES OF THE WYE. 29 
 
 churchyard in Radnorshire (about three miles 
 off), where it remains to this day, precisely in 
 the position it fell, a stubborn memorial of the 
 historical fact, to the utter confusion of all scep- 
 tics and unbelievers." 
 
 Between Builth ^nd the Hay ends one series 
 of the beauties of the Wye. The stream hitherto 
 is a mountain rivulet, sometimes almost a tor- 
 rent, and its characteristics are wildness and 
 simplicity. Its course is impeded by rocks, 
 amidst which it runs brawling and foaming; 
 and, generally speaking, it depends upon itself, 
 and upon the nature of its own bed for the 
 picturesque, the hills around forming only the 
 back ground. We shall see, as we get on, the 
 manner in which this will change, till the banks 
 become the objects of admiration, and the stream 
 itself, although much increased in volume, is 
 considered a mere adjunct, and its bosom a con- 
 venient site from which to view them. 
 
 Gilpin's observations on this point are very 
 judicious, although he had not the advantage of 
 seeing with his own eyes the upper part of the 
 Wye. " It is possible, I think," says he, " the 
 Wye may in this place (alluding to the country 
 
 D 3 
 
30 THE WYE. 
 
 between Builth and the Hay) be more beautiful 
 than in any other part of its course. Between 
 Ross and Chepstow, the grandeur and beauty of 
 its banks are its chief praise. The river itself 
 has no other merit than that of a winding surface 
 of smooth water. But here, added to the same 
 decoration from its banks, the Wye itself assumes 
 a more beautiful character ; pouring over shelv- 
 ing rocks, and forming itself into eddies and 
 cascades, which a solemn parading stream 
 through a flat channel cannot exhibit. An 
 additional merit also accrues to such a river 
 from the different forms it assumes according to 
 the fulness or emptiness of the stream. There 
 are rocks of all shapes and sizes, which con- 
 tinually vary the appearance of the water, as it 
 rushes over or plays among them ; so that such 
 a river, to a picturesque eye, is a continued fund 
 of new entertainment," 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Clifford Castle — Lords-marchers — Fair Rosamond — Ruins of the 
 Castle — The silent cottage — Approach to Hereford — Castle — 
 Cathedral — NeU Gwynn — Cider — Salmon — Wolves. 
 
 Leaving Hay, the valley widens, the back- 
 ground softens, and the whole scene assumes 
 the character of an English vale, where the hills 
 on each side are cultivated to the summit. On 
 the right, as we proceed, a deep umbrageous 
 wood comes in to give effect, just where effect 
 was wanting ; and, surmounting a conical emi- 
 nence above the road, near the second milestone, 
 the hoary ruins of Clifford Castle intermix with 
 the monotony of modern life the associations of 
 the olden time. 
 
32 THE WYE. 
 
 Clifford Castle was built by William Fitz- 
 osborne, earl of Hereford, but was held at the 
 time of the Domesday Survey by Rudolphus 
 de Totenie. It was obtained by the Cliffords 
 by the marriage of Walter Fitz-Richard with 
 Margaret, daughter of Ralph de Cundy. Walter 
 Fitz-Richard — a descendant of Richard II., 
 duke of Normandy — whose father accompanied 
 the Conqueror into England, having married the 
 heiress of Ralph de Cundy, of Clifford Castle, 
 took the name of De Clifford, and the place 
 remained the baronial seat of the family for two 
 centuries. 
 
 The nobles of that age were not merely re- 
 quired to do military service for their lands, but 
 other imposts were laid upon them by the feudal 
 custom, which had the effect of a true property 
 tax. At the marriage of Matilda, daughter of 
 Henry I., with Charles V. of Germany, the king 
 collected a sum equal to about £135,000 of our 
 money from the land, at a fixed rate per hide ; 
 and the returns (certijicationes) show very clearly 
 the distribution of property at the time. We 
 find Walter de Clifford set down for one hide in 
 Herefordshire in Wales. It may be noted, in 
 
ROYAL LIBERALITY. 33 
 
 passing, that Henry was not only generous in 
 granting lands to his own and his father's fol- 
 lowers, but the same request being made to him 
 by some Flemings, whose share of terra firma 
 had been wrested from them by an incursion of 
 the sea, he made no scruple to comply. " Being 
 very liberall," say the Welsh chronicles, " of 
 that which was not his owne, he gave them the 
 land of Mos, in West Wales, or Dynet, where 
 Pembroke, Haverford, and Tenby are now built; 
 and they there remain to this day, as may well be 
 perceived by their speech and conditions being 
 farre differing from the rest of the countrye." 
 
 The Norman knights who settled on the 
 Welsh borders acquired the name of Lords 
 Marchers, being styled Marchiones Walliae in 
 the Red Book of the Exchequer ; although the 
 title of nobility derived from this, Marquis, 
 was not introduced till the reign of Richard II. 
 These lords marchers, of whom were the Clif- 
 fords and other families in Hereford, had each a 
 law for his own barony, and determined of their 
 own authority all suits between their tenants. 
 They were entitled to the goods and chattels of 
 such of their tenants as died intestate. This 
 
34. 
 
 THE WYE. 
 
 power, in fact, was such as could only be con- 
 tinued by violence ; and hence the coolness or 
 treachery of some of them when any serious 
 attempt was made by the sovereign to introduce 
 the laws and customs of the English into Wales. 
 After the death of Llewellin, the last prince of 
 Wales, this was at length effected by Edward I.; 
 but still, the Marches, not being included in the 
 division of the land into counties became a scene 
 of such anarchy, that it was found necessary to 
 institute a court of judicature for that district 
 alone. This court continued till the first year 
 of William and Mary, when it was dissolved by 
 an act of Parliament, in consequence, as the 
 preamble states, of its having become "a great 
 grievance to the subject." Previous to this, 
 however, in the time of Henry VIII., "the 
 Marches of Wales were definitely united to 
 England ; when Clifford and other places, which 
 were before a debatable land of bloodshed and 
 confusion, became a part of Herefordshire. 
 
 But Clifford Castle is not associated merely 
 with ideas of war and rapine, but with those of 
 love and beauty. Here was born that too cele- 
 brated lady, of whom Dryden says — 
 
FAIR ROSAMOND. 35 
 
 ' Jane CliiFord was her name, as books aver, 
 Fair Rosamond was but her nom de guerre." 
 
 She was the daughter of one of the earls of 
 Clifford, and became celebrated for her amour 
 with Henry II. ; who built her a bower in 
 Woodstock Park, which he defended from his 
 jealous wife by the classical device of a labyrinth. 
 Queen Eleanor, however, who was as well read 
 in ancient history as her spouse, was not slow in 
 hitting upon the expedient of the clue of thread ; 
 and, on reaching her rival, the historical ro- 
 mancers add, she compelled her to swallow 
 poison. Whatever may have been her fate. Fair 
 Rosamond was buried at Godstow, and a Latin 
 epitaph inscribed on her tomb to this effect : 
 
 " Here lies not Rose the Chaste, but Rose the Fair, 
 "Whose breath perfumes no more, but taints the air." 
 
 The ruins of the castle, completely covered 
 with ivy, look down solemn and sad upon the 
 Wye: 
 
 " Clifford has fallen— howe'er subhme. 
 Mere fragments wrestle stiU with time ; 
 
36 THE WYE. 
 
 Yet as they perish, sure and slow, 
 And rolling dash the stream below, 
 They raise tradition's glowing scene, — 
 The clue of silk, the wrathful queen ; 
 And link in memory's firmest bond 
 The love-lorn tale of Rosamond." 
 
 We carried away with us for a considerable 
 distance the dreamy repose of Clifford Castle ; 
 but this was at length broken by repose of an- 
 other character. The scene was a little wayside 
 hut, purporting to be an inn, where the weary 
 pedestrian might obtain shade or shelter, if no 
 refreshment. An old man, and an old woman, 
 occupied the two fireside corners, the one read- 
 ing, the other sewing, in profound silence. 
 Around the hearth, there was a semi-circle of 
 five cats, in various attitudes of rest, but not one 
 breaking the stillness of the place even by a pur. 
 A dog, apparently kept in proper order by his 
 feline associates, lay outside the semicircle, and 
 shared in the tranquillity of the scene. We 
 paused for a moment at the door, feeling that 
 our presence was an intrusion ; but, after a brief 
 question, and a brief reply, the good wife dropped 
 her eyes again upon her work, and the dog, who 
 had himself raised his head, returned to his 
 
APPROACH TO HEREFORD. 37 
 
 slumber with a sigh. As for the other inhabitants, 
 our presence had produced no effect upon them at 
 all, and we withdrew to proceed upon our wan- 
 derings, unconsciously taking care to tread with- 
 out noise. 
 
 From this place to Hereford, the road runs 
 through a rich and well cultivated country, 
 dotted here and there with houses and villages, 
 but not thickly enough to disturb the idea of 
 pastoral repose. Approaching Bradwardine, 
 where the old castle said to have been the 
 residence of the family of that name is not, the 
 soil swells into wooded eminences, one of which 
 is called Mirebeck Hill ; and Brobury's Scar, a 
 picturesque cliff rising from the bank of the 
 river, adds still further to the diversity of the 
 prospect. Then came the various villas which 
 usually adorn the neighbourhood of a large 
 town — and which here are true embellishments 
 to the landscape ; and finally we enter the an- 
 cient, sober, quiet cathedral city of Hereford. 
 
 Hereford was a principal town of Mercia under 
 the Heptarchy, the palace of Offa, the most 
 powerful of the Mercian princes, being within 
 three miles of it on the north-eastern side. Its 
 
 E 
 
88 
 
 THE WYE. 
 
 church, in the time of OfFa, was probably nothing 
 more than a wooden building ; but to the rise of 
 that church in wealth and reputation was owing, 
 according to the usual sequence of events at the 
 period, the prosperity of the town. OfFa had 
 treacherously inveigled to his court Ethelbert, 
 prince of the East Angles, when he murdered 
 him, and usurped his crown. The body of the 
 victim was buried in the church, where by work- 
 inff of miracles it attracted so much attention to 
 the spot, that a new church of stone was con- 
 structed on the site of the wooden edifice, and 
 dedicated to Saint Ethelbert. Multitudes of course 
 flocked to visit the martyr's tomb ; the church 
 was richly endowed by the remorse or hypocrisy 
 of the assassin ; and Hereford speedily rose 
 from its comparative obscurity. 
 
 About the year 939, the city was first enclosed 
 by walls, the fragments of which now existing 
 are supposed to stand upon the original founda- 
 tions. They were eighteen hundred yards in 
 extent, enclosing the town on all sides except 
 towards the south, where it has the defence of 
 the Wye. There were six gates, and fifteen 
 embattled watch-towers. The castle, concerning 
 
HEREFORD CASTLE. 39 
 
 the date of which antiquarians are not agreed, 
 stood on the south and east sides of the city, 
 with the Wye on the south and the cathedral 
 on the west. Leland describes the keep as having 
 been " high and very strong, having in the outer 
 wall ten semicircular towers, and one great tower 
 within." He adds, that "it hath been one of 
 the largest, fayrest, and strongest castels in 
 England." In the time of the civil wars, Here- 
 ford was the scene of some strife, but since 
 then nothing has occurred^ — not even the intro- 
 duction of manufactures — to disturb its repose. 
 
 With the exception of the cathedral, a grand 
 view of which is to be had from the Castle Green 
 Promenade — a fine public walk on a small scale 
 — there is nothing to detain the traveller. Some 
 fragments of the city walls, however, and of an 
 old priory, may be visited by the antiquary ; to- 
 gether with an old house, a ''brotherless hermit," 
 the last of a race demolished for the purpose of 
 widening the street where the town hall stands — 
 or rather sits — resting uneasily on some thin 
 columns. The house, adorned with grotesque 
 faces, bears its date, 1621. 
 
 The traveller may also go, if he will, to Pipe 
 
 E 2 
 
40 THE WYE. 
 
 Lane, formerly called Pipe Well Street, leading 
 from the bridge to the cathedral, to see the 
 hoiiise where Nell Gwynn was not born, and 
 the bedchamber where she did not sleep. These 
 curiosities will be shown for a trifle, and they 
 must now suffice : the dwelling which really had 
 the distinction of giving birth to Mistress Eleanor 
 having been pulled down more than twenty 
 years ago. 
 
 After the removal of this celebrated lady to 
 London, she made her first appearance in Drury 
 Lane Theatre, in the character of a fruit-girl, not 
 on the stage, but in the lobby. Mr, Hart, the 
 manager, however, was induced to notice her by 
 her natural humour and vivacity, and he produced 
 her upon the boards about the year 1667. Here 
 she became a favorite of Dryden, who wrote 
 some of his prologues and epilogues expressly for 
 her. " The immediate cause of her becoming 
 the object of the king's affection is thus repre- 
 sented. At the duke's theatre, under Killegrew's 
 patent, the celebrated Nokes appeared in a hat 
 larger than that usually assigned to Pistol, which 
 diverted the audience so much as to help off a 
 bad play. Dryden, in return, caused a hat to 
 
NELL GWYNN. 41 
 
 be made of the circumference of a large coach 
 wheel, and made Mrs. Gwynn speak an epi- 
 logue under the umbrella of it, with the brim 
 stretched out in its utmost horizontal extension, 
 not unlike a mushroom of that size. No sooner 
 did she appear in this strange dress, than the 
 house was in convulsions of laughter. Amongst 
 the rest, the king gave the fullest marks of ap- 
 probation, by going behind the scenes after the 
 play, and taking her home in his own coach to 
 sup with him."* Her son, born in 1670, was 
 afterwards created duke of St. Albans ; and her 
 grandson became a prelate of the church, and 
 the denizen of the episcopal palace nearly ad- 
 joining the humble house in Pipe Lane, where 
 his maternal ancestor was born. Mrs. Gwynne 
 was one of the few royal favorites who have not 
 abused their power, otherwise than in spending 
 money which should have been under the con- 
 trol of the nation. She was munificent in her 
 charities, and may be considered, if not the 
 founder of Chelsea Hospital, the cause of its 
 having been founded. " Her stature was short. 
 
 Duncomb's Collections. 
 
 E 3 
 
42 THE WYE. 
 
 her hair inchned to red ; her eyes were small 
 and lively, and she possessed what the French 
 term embonpoint. Her feet were of the most 
 diminutive size, and as such were the subject of 
 frequent mirth to the merry monarch." 
 
 The staple commodity of Hereford is cider; 
 but the reputation of the county for this pro- 
 duction dates backward only to the reign of 
 Charles I., when, according to Evelyn, it became 
 " in a manner one entire orchard." The apples 
 are merely a variety of the crab, as the pears are 
 descended from the common wild pear. The 
 plantations are found in every aspect, and on 
 every soil ; but in general the west winds, so 
 much praised by the Roman poets, and after 
 them by Philips the bard of cider, are un- 
 wholesome to the plant, from the circumstance of 
 their blowing over the Welsh mountains, which 
 are capped with snow even in the spring. The 
 best colours for cider fruits are red and yellow, 
 the juice of the green being harsh and poor. 
 The pulp should be yellow, but this part of the 
 apple is not so important as the rind and kernel, 
 in which the strength and flavour of the liquid 
 reside ; and for this reason the smaller the apple 
 
CIDER. 43 
 
 is the better. From twenty-four to thirty gallons 
 are required to fill the provincial hogshead of 
 one hundred and ten gallons. 
 
 The cider-mill used even at this moment is a 
 rude and imperfect contrivance, consisting of a 
 circular stone, about twelve hundred weight, set 
 on its edge in a shallow circular trough, and 
 drawn round by a horse. The apples are 
 gradually introduced into the trough, and a 
 quantity may be thus mashed equal to a hogs- 
 head of cider in the day. The expressed juice is 
 put into casks, not quite filled, and in the open 
 air ; and as soon as the vinous fermentation takes 
 place, it is racked. When two years old it may 
 be bottled, after which it will become rich and 
 sparkling, and so remain for twenty or thirty 
 years. Perry is made with pears pretty nearly 
 in the same way. 
 
 The salmon is still the principal fish taken in 
 the Wye, though far less plentiful than formerly. 
 It was at one time a common clause in the 
 indentures of apprentices that they should not 
 be compelled to hve on salmon more than two 
 days in the week. Wolves were formerly so 
 numerous in this district, that in 1234 a pro- 
 
44 THE WYE. 
 
 clamation was issued commanding them to be 
 destroyed, and calling upon " all the king's liege 
 people to assist therein." A wolf would now be 
 an extraordinary spectacle indeed on the sunny 
 slopes, or prowling among the apple orchards of 
 Hereford ! But the Wye has seen changes more 
 remarkable than this. 
 

 Q^c^i-fg/^^ 
 
 Xcmaan, rtffiKslica ibr -fln> Proprirair,liY .Langaim. * C° I-atemostEr Sow . 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Beauty and tameness — The travelling hill — Ross — The silver tan - 
 kard — The Man of Ross^ — The sympathetic trees — Penyard Cas- 
 tle — Vicissitudes of the river — Wilton Castle — A voyage to sea 
 in a basket — Pencraig Hill. 
 
 Comparatively speaking, there is little worthy 
 of remark between Hereford and Ross ; and yet 
 Gilpin's charge of tameness is unjust. What it 
 wants is excitement. The valley of the Wye is 
 here beautiful — neither more, nor less; but its 
 beauty is similar to that of the portion we have 
 just traversed between the Hay and Hereford, 
 and we therefore call it tame. Why did we not 
 apply the word before? Because the contrast 
 presented by the valley after leaving Hay with 
 the wilder or grander features we had passed 
 
46 THE WYE. 
 
 formed one of the vicissitudes of the river. This 
 will be understood by a traveller who journeys 
 up the stream. On reaching Ross, after emerg- 
 ing from the tumult, or sublimity, of the lower 
 passage, he will gaze with delight on one of the 
 most quietly beautiful landscapes in England — 
 whose smooth green eminences, gentle groves, 
 orchards and hop plantations (the latter far finer 
 objects than the vineyards of the continent), 
 white cottages, villages, and village spires, give 
 an endless and yet simple variety to the picture. 
 After passing Hereford, in quest of new excite- 
 ment, the scene-hunter will pronounce a similar 
 character of landscape tame. 
 
 Six miles from Hereford, the Lay adds its 
 waters to the Wye, and near the confluence we 
 remark an abrupt elevation, which being wholly 
 different in character from the rest of the soil 
 conveys the idea of an accident of nature. And 
 such it actually is. 
 
 Marclay Hill — for so the elevation is called — 
 in the time of ElizabelJi, according to Camden, 
 " rose as it were from sleep, and for three days 
 moved on its vast body with an horrible noise, 
 driving everything before it to an higher ground." 
 
STRANGE TRAVELLER. 47 
 
 Fuller states that the ascent gained by the sur- 
 prising traveller was eleven fathoms, that its bulk 
 was twenty acres, and that the time it took to 
 perform the feat was fourteen hours. Sir Richard 
 Baker, in the " Chronicles of England," is still 
 more minute. "In the thirteenth year of Queen 
 Elizabeth," says he, " a prodigious earthquake 
 happened in the east parts of Herefordshire, at 
 a little town called Kinnaston. On the seven- 
 teenth of February, at six o'clock in the evening, 
 the earth began to open, and a hill, with a rock 
 under it, making at first a great hollowing noise, 
 which was heard a great way off, lifted itself up, 
 and began to travel, bearing along with it the 
 trees that grew upon it, the sheepfolds and flocks 
 of sheep abiding there at the same time. In the 
 place from whence it was first moved it left a 
 gaping distance forty foot broad, and fourscore 
 ells long : the whole field was about twenty 
 acres. Passing along it overthrew a chapel 
 standing in the way, removed a yew tree planted 
 in the churchyard from the west to the east: 
 with the like force it thrust before it highways, 
 sheepfolds, hedges, and trees ; made tilled ground 
 pasture, and again turned pasture into tillage. 
 
48 THE WYE. 
 
 Having walked in this sort from Saturday even- 
 ing till Monday noon, it then stood still." The 
 yew tree still exists as a witness of the fact, and 
 the church bell was dug up not many years 
 ago. 
 
 The traces of a Roman camp on Woldbury 
 Hill, and on Eaton Hill those of an ancient 
 fortification, forming a link in the chain of de- 
 fences which formerly ran along this part of the 
 country, may be inspected with advantage by the 
 pedestrian who is read in antiquarian lore ; but 
 to others there will appear nothing which should 
 detain their steps before the little town of Ross. 
 Here commences the tour of the lower Wye — 
 of that part of the river which is known to fame 
 as the Wye. As for the town itself, it is neat 
 and prim-looking, sitting quietly upon an emi- 
 nence above the river. It is full of memories of 
 the Man of Ross, which sanctify it from the 
 boisterous vulgarities of a town. The " heaven- 
 directed spire" which he taught to rise is its 
 prominent feature ; and this object keeps the 
 lines of Pope ringing in our ears like the church 
 bell, and with a little of its monotony. 
 
 This bell, by the way, is something more than 
 
THE MAN OF ROSS. 49 
 
 an ordinary bell. It bears the name of John 
 Kyrle, and was cast at Gloucester, in 1695, at 
 his own expense. Nay, it possesses a relic more 
 valuable than his name, for there is incorporated 
 with its substance his favorite silver tankard. 
 He attended himself at the casting, and, drinking 
 solemnly the orthodox toast of " Church and 
 King," he threw the cup into the molten mass. 
 In a local guide-book, we find several little par- 
 ticulars of this fine old fellow, which are interest- 
 ing from their naivete. 
 
 It appears he was entered a gentleman com- 
 moner, of Baliol College, Oxford, in 1654, and 
 that he was intended for the bar but soon relin- 
 quished all thoughts of that profession, and re- 
 turning to Ross gave himself up to agriculture 
 and building, and the improvement of his native 
 town. 
 
 An old maiden cousin, of the euphonous name 
 of Bubb, kept house for him many years. In 
 his person, John was tall, thin, and well-shaped; 
 his health was remarkably good, and he scarcely 
 knew any of the frailties of old age until within 
 a very short time of his death. His usual dress 
 was a suit of brown dittos, and a king William's 
 
50 THE WYE. 
 
 wig, all in the costume of his day. He disliked 
 crowds and routs, but was exceedingly fond of 
 snug, social parties, and '' of dinnering his 
 friends upon the market and fair days." He 
 was also exceedingly pleased with his neighbours 
 dropping in without ceremony, loved to make a 
 good long evening of it, enjoyed a merry story, 
 and always seemed sorry when it was time to 
 break up. His dishes were generally plain and 
 according to the season, but he dearly loved a 
 goose, and was vain of his dexterity in carving 
 it. During the operation, which he invariably 
 took upon himself, he always repeated one of 
 those old sayings and standing witticisms that 
 seem to attach themselves with peculiar prefer- 
 ence to the cooked goose. He never had roast 
 beef on his table save and except on Christmas 
 day ; and malt liquor and good Herefordshire 
 cider were the only beverages ever introduced. 
 At his kitchen fire there was a large block of 
 wood, in heu of a bench, for poor people to sit 
 upon; and a piece of boiled beef, and three 
 pecks of flower, made into loaves, were given to 
 the poor every Sunday. The number he chose 
 at his " invitation dinners," were nine, eleven, 
 
SYMPATHETIC TREES. 51 
 
 or thirteen, including himself and his kinswo- 
 man, Miss Bubb ; and he never cared to sit down 
 to table until he had as many as made one of 
 these numbers. He not only superintended the 
 labours of the road makers, planters, and gar- 
 deners, but commonly took an active part in 
 them himself, delighting above all things to car- 
 ry a huge watering-pot to water the trees he had 
 newly set in the earth. " With a spade on his 
 shoulder and a glass bottle of liquor in his hand, 
 he used to walk from his house to the fields and 
 back again several times during the day." 
 
 Without the trees planted by John Kyrle, 
 Ross would be nothing, so far as the picturesque 
 is concerned ; and a delightful tradition, the 
 truth of which is vouched by undeniable evi- 
 dence, proves that the trees were not ungratefiil 
 to their founder. A rector, as the story goes, 
 had the impiety to cut down some of these living 
 monuments of the taste of John Kyrle, which 
 shaded the wall of the church beside his own 
 pew ; but the roots threw out fresh shoots, and 
 these, penetrating into the interior, grew into 
 two graceful elms, that occupied his seat with 
 their foliage. If any one doubt the fact, let him 
 
 F 2 
 
52 THE WYE. 
 
 go and see. The trees are still there ; their 
 branches curtain the tall window that opens upon 
 the pew ; and their beautiful leaves cluster 
 above the seat, 
 
 " And still keep his memory green in our souls." '■ 
 
 Besides the elms in the churchyard and neigh- 
 bourhood, there is a fine avenue, planted by 
 John Kyrle, called the Prospect, or the Man of 
 Ross's Walk. It is on the ridge of a hill behind 
 the church, and commands a view of the valley 
 of the Wye, about which there is some difference 
 of opinion. In King's anecdotes the planter's 
 taste for prospects is commended ; and it is said 
 that " by a vast plantation of elms, which he 
 disposed of in a fine manner, he has made one 
 of the most entertaining scenes the county of 
 Hereford affords." Gilpin, on the other hand, 
 who travelled with an easel before his mind's 
 eye, cannot make a picture of it ; and Gray the 
 poet asserts, in reference to the spot in question, 
 that " all points that are much elevated spoil the 
 beauty of the valley, and make its parts, which 
 are not large, look poor and diminutive." 
 
PENYARD CASTLE. 53 
 
 The only other relic shown at Ross is a frag- 
 ment of an oak bedstead, on which Charles I. 
 slept, on his way from Ragland Castle. A 
 house in Church Lane, called Gabriel Hill's 
 Great Inn, contains the chamber so distinguished. 
 
 Here the traveller may hire a boat, if he 
 choose, for the remainder of his journey. The 
 Wye, however, is navigable to Hereford in 
 barges of from eighteen to forty tons ; and some- 
 times in lighter boats even to the Hay, but the 
 shoals in summer and the floods in winter fre- 
 quently interrupt the navigation. In 1795 
 the river rose fifteen feet at the former place 
 within twenty-four hours, and carried away 
 bridges, cattle, sheep, timber, and everything 
 that stood in its way. 
 
 But even if he determine afterwards to proceed 
 by the river, the traveller will do well to walk 
 from Ross to the ruins of Penyard Castle; not that 
 these ruins are in themselves worthy of his atten- 
 tion, but the road is beautiful throughout, and 
 from the summit, Penyard Chace, he will see the 
 little town he has left, and our wandering Wye 
 in a new phasis. The country is diversified with 
 hills and valleys, and wooded spaces between ; 
 
54 THE WYE. 
 
 and more especially when the shadows of evening 
 are stealing over the landscape, the whole is a 
 scene of enchantment. 
 
 Although the lower passage of the river com- 
 mences at Ross, we do not, for two or three 
 miles further, get fairly into its peculiarities. 
 From the gentle, the graceful, the gay, it glides 
 almost insensibly into the picturesque, the bold, 
 and the grand. The tranquillity of its course 
 from the Hay — a tranquillity dearly purchased 
 by the labours of its wild career during the upper 
 passage — has prepared it for new vicissitudes, 
 and new struggles. The following description, 
 by archdeacon Coxe, applies to a great part 
 of the portion we are now entering upon, and 
 cannot be improved either in fideUty or style. 
 
 " The effects of these numerous windings are 
 various and striking ; the same objects present 
 themselves, are lost and recovered with different 
 accompaniments, and in different points of view : 
 thus the ruins of a castle, hamlets embosomed 
 in trees, the spire of a church bursting from the 
 wood, figures impending over the water, and 
 broken masses of rock fringed with herbage, 
 sometimes are seen on one side, sometimes on 
 
THE RTVER. 55 
 
 the other, and form the fore-ground or back- 
 ground of a landscape. Thus also the river 
 itself here stretches in a continuous line, there 
 moves in a curve, between gentle slopes and 
 fertile meadows, or is suddenly concealed in a 
 deep abyss, under the gloom of impending 
 woods." " The banks for the most part rise 
 abruptly from the edge of the water, and are 
 clothed with forests, or are broken into cliffs. 
 In some places they approach so near that the 
 river occupies the whole intermediate space, and 
 nothing is seen but woods, rocks, and water; 
 in others, they alternately recede, and the eye 
 catches an occasional glimpse of hamlets, ruins, 
 and detached buildings, partly seated on the 
 margin of the stream, and partly scattered on the 
 rising grounds. The general character of the 
 scenery, however, is wildness and solitude ; and 
 if we except the populous dictrict of Monmouth, 
 no river perhaps flows for so long a course 
 in a well cultivated country, the banks of which 
 exhibit so few habitations." 
 
 A little below Ross, on the right bank of the 
 river, are the ruins of Wilton Castle, which was 
 for several centuries the baronial residence of the 
 
56 THE WYE. 
 
 Greys of the south, and was destroyed by the 
 Hereford royalists in the time of Charles I. 
 Let us relate, however, as a circumstance of still 
 more interest, that it was left, with the adjoining 
 lands, by Thomas Guy, to the admirable charity 
 in London which he founded, known by the 
 name of Guy's Hospital. 
 
 The Wye here passes under Wilton bridge, a 
 construction of rather a curious kind, which 
 dates from the close of the sixteenth century. 
 Coracles are seldom seen so high up the river as 
 this ; but we mention them here because the hero 
 of Gilpin's often repeated anecdote was an inha- 
 bitant of Wilton. This man, it seems, ventured 
 into the British Channel in a coracle, as far as 
 the isle of Lundy ; a very remarkable voyage to 
 be made in a canvass tub, the navigation of the 
 estuary of the Severn being quite as trying 
 as that of any part of the British seas. Pre- 
 viously, however, to this exploit, the very same 
 feat was performed by an itinerant stage-doctor 
 of Mitchel Dean in the Forest. The coracles 
 are a sort of basket made of willow twigs, cover- 
 ed with pitched canvass or raw hide, and resem- 
 bling in form the section of a walnut-shell. Similar 
 
CORACLES. 57 
 
 rude contrivances are in use among the Esqui- 
 maux and other savage tribes, and were employed 
 by the ancient Britons for the navigation of rivers. 
 They are now the fishing-boats of the rivers of 
 South Wales ; and when the day's work is done are 
 carried home on the shoulders of their owners, dis- 
 posed in such a way as to serve for a hood in case 
 of rain. The early ships of Britain are described 
 by Caesar and Pliny as being merely larger co- 
 racles — clumsy frames of rough timber, ribbed 
 with hurdles and lined with hides. According 
 to Claudian they had masts and sails, although 
 they were generally rowed, the rowers singing 
 to the harp. 
 
 At the farm of Weir End, the river takes a 
 sudden bend, and rolls along the steep sides of 
 Pencraig Hill, which are clothed with wood to 
 the water's edge. Soon the ruined turrets of 
 Goodrich Castle present themselves, crowning 
 the summit of a wooded eminence on the right 
 bank, and as they vanish and reappear with the 
 turnings of the river the effect is magnificent. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Roman passes of the Wye — Goodrich Castle — Keep — Fortifications 
 — Apartments — Its history — Goodrich Court — Forest of Dean — 
 Laws of the Miners — Mihtary exploit — Wines of Gloucestershire. 
 
 If the conjecture of antiquaries be correct, that 
 the great Roman road from Blestium to Glou- 
 cester, by Ariconium, proceeded by the ford of 
 the Wye at Goodrich Castle, it is possible that 
 this spot may have been of some consequence 
 before the period when history takes any cogni- 
 zance of the fortress. Blestium is supposed to 
 be Monmouth, from which the road probably 
 led along the line of the present turnpike, be- 
 tween an entrenchment to the left, opposite 
 
ROMAN PASSES OF THE WYE. 59 
 
 Dixon Church, and an encampment on the Little 
 Doward, to the right, supposed by some to be 
 Roman, but usually described in the road books 
 as British. The name of Whitchurch Street, 
 applied to a portion of this route further on, 
 favours the supposition of a Roman origin. 
 Ariconium, the next station from Blestium, is 
 Rosebury Hill, near Ross, according to those 
 who identify Monmouth with Blestium; There 
 was another Roman way which led from Bles- 
 tium to Glevum (Gloucester) by a more direct 
 route ; crossing the Wye at the former place, 
 and leading up the Kymin from the left bank of 
 the river. At Stanton, a little further on, the 
 vestiges of a Roman settlement are indubitable, 
 not only in the name of the place itself, but in the 
 entrenchments that may be observed near the 
 church, and the Roman cinders scattered about 
 the fields. At Monmouth and Goodrich Castle, 
 therefore, were the two great passes of the Wye 
 used by the Romans. At the latter the river is 
 crossed by a ferry. 
 
 " The awe and admiration could not be en- 
 hanced with which I wandered through the dark 
 passages and the spacious courts, and climbed 
 
60 THE WYE. 
 
 the crumbling staircase of Goodrich Castle." 
 So says the German prince: although the time of 
 his visit was winter, when the Wye and its ruins 
 are stripped of the adjunct of foliage, which in 
 the imagination of common travellers is inse- 
 parably connected with ideas of the picturesque 
 or beautiful in natural scenery. 
 
 Goodrich Castle forms a parallelogram, with a 
 round tower at each angle, and a square keep in 
 the south-west part of the enclosure^, A minute 
 account of this remarkable ruin is given in the 
 " Antiqua Monumenta ; " and Mr. Bonner in- 
 troduces his brief description, in illustration of 
 his perspective views, with the remark that "the 
 fortification (although not of large dimensions) 
 contains all the different works which consti- 
 tute a complete ancient baronial castle." For 
 this reason, if for no other, it would demand 
 special observation ; but the tourist of the Wye, 
 even if ignorant of the interest which thus 
 attaches to Goodrich Castle, will acknowledge 
 that it forms one of the finest objects hitherto pre- 
 sented by the banks of the river. It stands on the 
 summit of a wooded hill, in the position of one 
 of the castles of the Rhine, and in the midst of 
 
SACRED GROVE. 61 
 
 a scene of solemn grandeur which Mason may 
 have had in view when he wrote his spirited 
 description of the sacred grove of Mona, in 
 " Caractacus." 
 
 " Here, Romans, pause, and let the eye of wonder 
 Gaze on the solemn scene : behold yon oak 
 How stern it frowns, and with its broad brown arms 
 Chills the pale plains beneath him : mark yon altar, 
 The dark stream brawling round its rugged base, 
 These cliffs, these yawning caverns, this wide circus, 
 Skirted with unhewn stone : they awe my soul 
 As if the very genius of the place 
 Himself appeared, and with terrific tread 
 Stalked through his drear domain," 
 
 " Yonder grots, 
 Are tenanted by bards, who nightly thence, 
 Robed in their flowing vests of innocent white. 
 Descend, with harps that glitter to the moon, 
 Hymning immortal strains. The spirits of the air, 
 Of earth, of water, nay of heav'n itself. 
 Do listen to their lay : and oft, 'tis said. 
 In visible shapes dance they a magic round 
 To the high minstrelsy." 
 
 The keep is the most ancient remains of the 
 castle, and presents, on a small scale, all the 
 usual features of this part of a fortification of the 
 olden times. It was composed of three stories, 
 
62 THE WYE. 
 
 being intended to overlook the works, and had 
 no windows on the landward side. Each of 
 these stories consisted of a single small room, 
 the lowest being the prison, without even a loop- 
 hole to admit air or light. " The original win- 
 dows," says King, " are the most truly Saxon 
 that can be." This applies more particularly to 
 the one in the middle of the upper story, which 
 appears to have remained without any alteration ; 
 while, in the one beneath, a stone frame for glass 
 seems to have been inserted. The style of this 
 addition points to the time of Henry VI., and 
 we may believe that it was made by the cele- 
 brated Earl Talbot, who tenanted one of these 
 small chambers. Besides the glass window, this 
 apartment boasts a hearth for fire; and, as is 
 usual in such buildings, the communication with 
 the floor above is by a circular staircase in an 
 angle of the massive wall. " To this staircase 
 is a most remarkable door-way ; it was one large 
 transom-stone, as if to aid the arch to support 
 the wall above, and in this respect resembles 
 several other Saxon structures, in which this 
 strange kind of fashion seems to have been uni- 
 formly adopted; until it became gradually al- 
 
FORTIFICATIONS. 63 
 
 tered by the introduction of a flattish under-arch, 
 instituted in the room of the transom-stone."* 
 
 The entrance to the keep was by a flight of 
 steps, leading to the above apartment; but the 
 dungeon had an entrance of its own, of a con- 
 struction which leads antiquarians to conjecture, 
 that it was added in the reign of Edward III., 
 when Richard Talbot obtained the royal license 
 for making his dungeon a state prison. 
 
 The fortifications to be surmounted before an 
 enemy could arrive at the keep, were numerous 
 and complete. Independently of the fosse, there 
 was a deep pit, hewn out of the solid rock, to be 
 crossed by a draw-bridge, and then commenced 
 a dark vaulted passage between two semicircular 
 towers. Eleven feet within the passage was a 
 massive gate, defended (as likewise the draw- 
 bridge) by loopholes in the sides of the vault, and 
 machicolations in the roof, for pouring down 
 molten lead or boiling water on the assailants. A 
 few feet farther on was a portcullis, and then a 
 second, the space between protected by loop- 
 holes and machicolations. Presently there was 
 
 * IMonumenta Antiqua. 
 
64) THE WYE. 
 
 another strong gate, and finally a stone projec- 
 tion on both sideS; intended for the insertion of 
 beams of timber, to act as a barricade. If we 
 add that the passage thus defended was less than 
 ten feet wide, and that the exterior walls of the 
 whole building were in general seven feet thick, 
 an idea may be formed of the strength of Good- 
 rich Castle. 
 
 Within the ballium, or enclosed space, entered 
 with such difiiculty, were the keep here de- 
 scribed, the state apartments, chapel, &c. ; but 
 the whole of these are in so ruinous a state, as 
 to be nearly unintelligible except to antiquaries. 
 The great hall was sixty-five feet long and 
 twenty-eight broad, and appears to have been a 
 magnificent apartment of the time of Edward I., 
 as its windows indicate. The fire-place is still 
 distinguishable in the great kitchen. Communis 
 eating with the hall is a smaller room, from 
 which a passage led into another room of state, 
 fifty- five feet by twenty ; and this opened into 
 the ladies' tower, standing upon the brow of a 
 lofty precipice, and commanding a delightful 
 view over the country. 
 
 It is curious that so remarkable a structure 
 
FORTUNES OF GOODRICH. 65 
 
 should be almost destitute of authentic histoiy, 
 till the very period when it ceased to exist but 
 as a ruin. All that is known of its origin is, 
 that a fort, held by a doomsday proprietor, of the 
 name of Godric, commanded the ford of the 
 river at this place before the Conquest. The 
 fort consisted, in all probabihty, of little more 
 than the keep; to which, at later periods, ad- 
 ditions were made, cognisable by their style, till 
 Goodrich Castle became a regular fortress. In 
 1165 it was the property of the earl of Pem- 
 broke, then lord of the whole district from Ross 
 to Chepstow ; and, subsequently, it was a seat 
 of the Talbot family, who, in 1347, founded a 
 priory of black canons at Flanesford, which is 
 now a barn, about a quarter of a mile below the 
 castle. During the civil wars this fortress played 
 a conspicuous part, being taken and retaken by 
 the opposing parties. In the first instance it 
 held for the parliament ; but was afterwards 
 seized by Sir Richard Lingen, who, in 1646, 
 defended it with great gallantry against Colonel 
 Birch for nearly five months, and thus conferred 
 upon it the distinction of being the last castle in 
 
 England, excepting Pendennis, which held out 
 
 Q S 
 
66 THE WYE. 
 
 for the king. In the following year it was 
 ordered by the parliament to be " totally dis- 
 garrisoned and slighted" which sentence was 
 just sufficiently carried into effect to give the 
 Wye a magnificent ruin at the very Spot 
 where taste would have placed it. " Here," says 
 Mr. Gilpin, " a grand view presented itself, and 
 we rested on our oars to examine it. A reach 
 of the river, forming a noble bay, is spread be- 
 fore the eye. The bank on the right is steep, 
 and covered with wood, beyond which a bold 
 promontory shoots out, crowned ■with a castle 
 rising among trees. This view, which is one of 
 the grandest on the river, I should not scruple 
 to call correctly picturesque." 
 
 Near the spot where Mr. Gilpin must have 
 been is the ferry where Henry IV., who was 
 waiting to be taken across, received intelligence 
 of his queen's being delivered of a prince at 
 Monmouth Castle. The king, according to 
 tradition, was so overjoyed at the news, that he 
 presented the ferry and boat, which at this time 
 belonged to the crown, to the ferryman. On 
 the left bank, nearly opposite, are the church 
 and village of Walford, in the former of which is 
 
GOODRICH COURT. 67 
 
 buried Colonel Kyrle, who deserted the service 
 of Charles I. for that of the parliament. 
 
 Goodrich Court, to which a winding path 
 leads from the castle, is somewhat nearer Ross. 
 It is the seat of Sir Samuel Meyrick, the well 
 known antiquary, and presents, in the architec- 
 ture, an exact imitation of a mansion of the 
 middle of the fourteenth century. In this 
 respect, as well as in the arrangement of its pro- 
 prietor's valuable collection of old armour, the 
 house may be said to be absolutely perfect. It 
 forms in itself and its contents, one of the most 
 interesting museums in Europe ; and it is open, 
 with very little ceremony, to the inspection of 
 the traveller, as all such things are, when they 
 do not happen to be the property of persons un- 
 worthy to possess them. 
 
 The river sweeps boldly round the wooded 
 headland on which Goodrich Castle stands ; and 
 the ruin is thus presented again and again, in 
 new phases (but none so interesting as the first), 
 to the voyager, as he glides down the now varied 
 and romantic river. A steep ridge on the right 
 bank is called Coppet, or Copped Wood Hill, 
 where the stream makes a sweep of five miles. 
 
68 THE WYE. 
 
 to perform the actual advance of one. The mass 
 of foliage on the opposite bank is a part of the 
 Forest of Dean, variegated by rocks, hamlets, 
 and village spires. Bishop's Brook here enters 
 the Wye, and serves as a boundary between the 
 counties of Hereford and Gloucester, and be- 
 tween the parishes of Walford and Ruerdean. 
 " The view at Ruerdean church," says Mr. Gil- 
 pin, " is a scene of great grandeur. Here both 
 sides of the river are steep, and both woody; 
 but on one (meaning the left bank), the woods 
 are interspersed with rocks. The deep umbrage 
 of the Forest of Dean occupies the front, and the 
 spire of the church rises among the trees. The 
 reach of the river which exhibits this scene is 
 long ; and of course the view, which is a noble 
 piece of natural perspective, continues some time 
 before the eye ; but when the spire comes 
 directly in front, the grandeur of the landscape 
 is gone." 
 
 The famous Forest of Dean is in the space 
 which here lies between the Severn and the 
 Wye. " In former ages," as Camden tells us, 
 "by the irregular tracks and horrid shades," it 
 was so dark and dreary as to render its inhabitants 
 
LAWS OF THE MINERS. 69 
 
 more audacious in robberies. In the time of 
 Edward I. there were seventy-two furnaces here 
 for melting iron ; and it is related, that the 
 miners of those days were very industrious in 
 seeking after the beds of cinders, where the Ro- 
 mans of Britain had been at work before them, 
 which remains, when burnt over again, were sup- 
 posed to make the best iron. The privileges of 
 these miners were, no doubt, for the most part 
 assumed, but some granted by law are highly 
 curious. The following are specimens : — 
 
 " Also, if any smith holder, or any other be 
 debtor, for mine to a miner, the which smith 
 holder or other be within, then the miner is 
 bailiff in every place (except his own close), to 
 take the horse of the debtor, if he be saddled 
 with a work saddle, and with no other saddle ; 
 and be it that the horse be half within the door 
 of the smith, so that the miner may take the tail 
 of the horse, the debtor shall deliver the horse 
 to the miner. And if he so do not, the miner 
 shall make and levy hue and cry upon the said 
 horse, and then the horse shall be forfeit to the 
 king for the hue and cry made and levied, and 
 
70 THE WYE. 
 
 yet the miner shall present the debtor in the 
 Mind Law, which is the court for the mine." 
 
 " And the debtor before the constable and 
 his clerk, the gaveler and the miners, and none 
 other folk to plead the right, only the ministers 
 shall be there, and hold a stick of holly, and the 
 said miner demanding the debt, shall put his 
 hand upon the said stick, and none other with 
 him, and he shall swear by his faith, that the 
 said debt is to him due ; and the prove made, the 
 debtor, in the same place, shall pay the miner all 
 the debt proved, or else he shall be brought to 
 the castle of St. Briavells till grace be made, 
 and also he shall be amerced to the king in two 
 shilhngs. 
 
 " Also the miner hath such franchises to in- 
 quire the mine in every soil of the king's of 
 which it may be named, and also of all other 
 folk, without withsaying of any man. 
 
 " And also if any be that denieth any soil, 
 whatsoever it be, be it sound or no, or of what 
 degree it may be named, then the gaveler, by 
 the strength of the king, shall deliver the soil to 
 the miners, with a convenient way, next stretching 
 to the king's highway, by the which mine may 
 
MILITARY EXPLOIT. 71 
 
 be carried to all places and waters that lean 
 convenient to the said mine, without withsaying 
 of any man." 
 
 The Forest of Dean plays a conspicuous part 
 in the wars of Monmouthshire, serving as a 
 natural outwork for the county. The following 
 transaction is described by Sanderson, the his- 
 torian of Charles I. : — " After Sir William 
 Waller," says he, " had refreshed his men, he 
 advanced towards Monmouthshire, invited by 
 some gentlemen to reduce these parts. At his 
 coming to the town of Monmouth, the garrison 
 of the lord Herbert retired, leaving a naked 
 place to Sir William; where he found small 
 success of his parties, sent abroad for supplies 
 of money. He marches to Usk, and spending 
 some time to no purpose in that county, he 
 returns, the stream of the people affording him 
 no welcome, being all universal tenants of that 
 county to the earl of Worcester. 
 
 " In this time Prince Maurice enters Teuxbury, 
 with a brigade of horse and foot added to the 
 lord Grandeson, resolving to make after W'aller, 
 or to meet his return out of Wales. A bridge 
 of boats wafts him over the Severn, with a body 
 
72 THE WYE. 
 
 of two thousand horse and foot. Waller was 
 nimble in his retreat, not to be catcht in a 
 noose or neck of Wales ; but, by a bridge of 
 boats, came back at Chepstow, with his foot and 
 artillery, and himself, with his horse and dra- 
 goons, passed through the lowest part of the 
 Forest of Dean, near the river side of Severn ; 
 and ere the prince had notice, sends forth two 
 parties to fall upon two of the Prince's quarters, 
 which was performed, while Waller's main body 
 slipped between both, and a party was left also 
 to face them, and make good the retreat, which 
 came off but disorderly, with loss of some 
 soldiers. It was held a handsome conveyance, 
 and unexpected, to bring himself out of the 
 snare by uncouth ways." 
 
 Gloucestershire, of which the Forest of Dean 
 forms a part, although still boasting one of the 
 richest soils in England, is no longer a wine 
 country. "The ground," according to William 
 of Malmesbury, "spontaneously produces fruit in 
 taste and colour far exce^eding others, majiy of 
 which will keep the year round, so as to serve 
 their owners till others come in again. No 
 pounty in England has more or richer vineyards. 
 
WINES OE ENGLAND. 73 
 
 or which yield greater plenty of grapes, and of 
 a more agreeable flavour. The wine has not a 
 disagreeable sharpness to the taste, as it is little 
 inferior to that of France in sweetness." On 
 this Camden remarks, that it is more owing to 
 " the indolence of the inhabitants than to the 
 alteration in the climate," that in his time wine 
 was no longer a production of the county. 
 
 Vines were introduced into Britain by the 
 Romans, and the hills of South Wales became 
 more especially famous for their vineyards. They 
 were mentioned in the Domesday Book, before 
 the time of William of Malmesbury ; and tithes 
 of wines are frequently alluded to in the records 
 of cathedrals. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Iron furnaces of the Wye — Lidbroke — Nurse of Henry V. — Cold- 
 well Rocks — Symond's Yat — New AVeir — Monmouth. 
 
 The woods rising amphitheatrically on the left 
 bank, just before reaching Ruerdean, are called 
 Bishop's Wood ; and there will be observed, for 
 the first time of their presenting themselves con- 
 spicuously, the iron furnaces, which form a very 
 striking characteristic of the river. 
 
 The iron furnaces on the Wye rather add to 
 than diminish the effect of the scenery. This is 
 caused by the abundance of wood in the furnace 
 districts, which conceals the details, while it 
 permits the smoke to ascend in wreaths through 
 
IRON FURNACES. 75 
 
 the trees, and float like a veil around the hills. 
 These works, however, are merely a modern 
 revival of a species of industry which extends 
 backwards beyond the reach of history. The 
 heaps of cinders which are discovered on the 
 hills of Monmouthshire are the production either 
 of bloomeries, the most ancient mode of fusing 
 iron, or of furnaces of a very antique construc- 
 tion. The operation of smelting was performed 
 in both of these by means of charcoal ; and 
 after the lands were cleared, the want of fuel led 
 to the decline of the iron works. About eighty 
 years ago, in consequence of the discovery of 
 the mode of making pig iron, and subsequently 
 even bar iron, with coal instead of charcoal, this 
 branch of industry suddenly revived ; although 
 on the Wye charcoal is still burnt, and made 
 upon the spot, where, instead of vulgarising the 
 district, it adds a very remarkable feature to the 
 picturesque. 
 
 At Lidbroke, on the same side, the commoner 
 sympathies of life come into play, and the vulgar 
 occupations of men serve at once to diversify the 
 scene, and even to give it a new character of the 
 picturesque. The lower passage has hitherto 
 
 H 2 
 
76 The wye; 
 
 been chiefly distinguished by a romantic gran- 
 deur, both in the forms of nature, and the asso- 
 ciations of history ; and even the iron furnaces, 
 from the circumstances we have mentioned, have 
 added a charm congenial to the character of the 
 picture. At Lidbroke, the new adjunct is nothing 
 more than a wharf, with little vessels lying near 
 it, — boats passing and repassing, — horses, carts, 
 men, women, and children stirring along the 
 banks : but the whole, in such a spot, forms an 
 assemblage which adds, by contrast, to the 
 general effect. 
 
 On the opposite bank the district of Mon- 
 mouthshire, called Welsh Bicknor, commences — 
 for we have hitherto been in Hereford— and 
 Courtfield claims our attention for a moment, as 
 the place where Henry V. is said to have been 
 nursed, under the care of the countess of Salis- 
 bury. The remains of a bed, and an old cradle, 
 were formerly shown as relics of the Monmouth 
 hero. Half a mile further down the river is 
 Welsh Bicknor Church, which has puzzled the 
 antiquarians by its sepulchral effigy, representing 
 a recumbent female figure in stone, not ungrace- 
 fully dressed in a loose robe, but without inscrip- 
 
NURSE OF HENRY V. 77 
 
 tion or coat of arms. Tradition will have it that 
 this is the countess of Salisbury ; and it is per- 
 haps correct in the person, though wrong in the 
 name, for the lady who nursed Henry at Court- 
 field (supposing him to have been there at all) 
 was, in all probability, Lady Montacute, who 
 married a second son of the lirst earl of Salis- 
 bury, but was no countess herself. Her son, 
 however, Sir John de Montacute, who possessed 
 the manor of Welsh Bicknor, succeeded to the 
 earldom, and became earl-marshal of England. 
 It was he who was chief of the Lollards, and 
 was mui'dered in 1400 by the populace of Ciren- 
 cester. The manor, although falling to the 
 crown on account of his supposed treason, was 
 afterwards restored to the family, and became 
 the property of his descendant Richard, the 
 great earl of Warwick and Salisbury. Dugdale 
 traces this ominous heirloom to Margaret, 
 grand-daughter of the great earl, daughter of 
 the duke of Clarence, and wife of Lord Mon- 
 tague. This lady, after witnessing the execution 
 of her brother Edward, earl of Warwick, and 
 her son Henry Lord Montague, was herself be- 
 headed in 1541. The manor of Welsh Bicknor, 
 
 H 3 
 
78 THE WYE. 
 
 and the mansion of Courtfield, passed subse- 
 quently into the ancient family of Vaughan. We 
 may mention here, however, although the cir- 
 cumstance is of no great consequence, that Sir 
 Samuel Meyrick assigns the costume of the 
 figure in Welsh Bicknor Church to the era of 
 Edward I., about a ' century before that of 
 Henry V. 
 
 A short distance below the church this abut- 
 ment of Monmouthshire terminates, and the right 
 bank of the river lies as before in Hereford, the 
 left in Gloucester. At Coldwell, the view is 
 closed in by a magnificent rock scene, differing 
 entirely in character from any yet afforded by 
 the Wye. To suffer this to appear — sup- 
 posing the traveller to be descending the river— 
 a M'ooded hill, called Rosemary Topping, one of 
 the common features of the stream, shifts like 
 a scene in a theatre, and becomes a side-screen ; 
 so that the almost naked cliff remains the prin- 
 cipal object, and confers its character upon the 
 view, to which the river and its banks to the 
 right and left are only adjuncts. 
 
 The first grand mass of rock is nearly insu- 
 lated, and reminds one at first sight of the keep 
 
COLDWELL ROCKS. 79 
 
 of some ruined castle. But the Cold well rocks 
 want no associations of the kind: they are frag- 
 ments of the temples of nature, and have nothing 
 to do with the history of man. To our judg- 
 ment, the shadowy hollows scooped out of the 
 sides of the precipices, and overhung by foliage, 
 which are nothing more than the sites of lime 
 kilns, are more advantageous to the picture than 
 the finest ruins imaginable. They come in with- 
 out pretence ; they make no effort at rivalry ; 
 but present the idea of human nature in an 
 attitude of befitting humility and simplicity. 
 " These," says the German prince, " are craggy 
 and weatherbeaten walls of sandstone, of gigan- 
 tic dimension, perpendicular or overhanging, 
 projecting abruptly from amid oaks, and hung 
 with rich festoons of ivy. The rain and storms 
 of ages have beaten and washed them into such 
 fantastic forms, that they appear like some 
 caprice of human art. Castles and towers, am- 
 phitheatres and fortifications, battlements and 
 obelisks mock the wanderer, who fancies himself 
 transported into the ruins of a city of some extinct 
 race. Some of these picturesque masses are at 
 times loosened by the action of the weather, and 
 
80 THE WYE. 
 
 fall thundering from rock to rock, with a terrific 
 plunge into the river." 
 
 From Symond's Yat to the New Weir, this 
 hind of scenery continues ; although the masses 
 of cliff of course change their form and situation. 
 The river, in a portion of its course, washes their 
 base, at one time an almost perpendicular 
 wall, at another clothed in woods till near the 
 summit, which is seen rising out of the foliage, 
 and tracing its battlemented outline upon the 
 sky. From these two points the distance is 
 only six hundred yards by land, and not less 
 than four miles by water ; and the shorter route 
 is in this case the better. On the river, we soon 
 lose the magnificence of the picture ; while on 
 shore, there is superadded to this a view of the 
 extravagant mazes of the Wye on either side of 
 the neck of land on which the spectator stands. 
 If it be added that the point of view, Symond's 
 Yat, appeared to Mr. Coxe to be two thousand 
 feet high (although this is an evident mistake), it 
 will readily be imagined that this scene is of itself 
 worth a pilgrimage to the Wye. The prospect, 
 comprehending portions of Herefordshire, Glou- 
 cestershire, and Monmouthshire, embraces the 
 
NEW WEIR. 81 
 
 following objects, according to those who are 
 versed in the local names. To the north is seen 
 Coppet Wood Hill, interspersed with rock and 
 common ; — to the north-west appear the spire 
 and village of Goodrich, and, at the foot of the 
 hill, Rocklands and Huntsholm Ferry ; — to the 
 west, Hunthsolm, behind which is Whitchurch, 
 and, in the distance, the Welsh hills ; — to the 
 south-west, the mountainous side of the Great 
 Doward ; — to the south, Staunton Church, and 
 the Buck-stone, upon a promontory; and below, 
 Highmeadow Woods and the river ; on the left, 
 the rock of the New Weir, and on the right, the 
 rocky wall of the east side of the Doward ; — 
 to the south-east, the village of English Bicknor, a 
 side view of Coldwell Rocks, and Rosemary Top- 
 ping ; — and, to the east, Ruerdean Wood, with 
 the church in the distance. Bishop's Wood, and 
 Courtfield, with the woody ridges of Hawkwood 
 and Puckwood completing the panorama. 
 
 Gilpin calls the New Weir the second grand 
 scene on the Wye. 
 
 " The river," says he, " is wider than usual in 
 this part, and takes a sweep round a towering 
 promontory of rock, which forms the side-screen 
 
0» THE WYE. 
 
 on the left, and is the grand feature of the view. 
 It is not a broad, fractured piece of rock, but 
 rather a woody hill, from which large projections 
 in two or three places burst out, rudely hung 
 with twisting branches, and shaggy furniture ; 
 which, like the mane round the lion's head, gives 
 a more savage air to these wild exhibitions of 
 nature. Near the top a pointed fragment of 
 solitary rock, rising above the rest, has rather a 
 fantastic appearance — but it is not without its 
 
 effect in marking the scene On the right 
 
 side of the river, the bank forms a woody 
 amphitheatre, following the course of the stream 
 round the promontory. Its lower skirts are 
 adorned with a hamlet, in the midst of which 
 volumes of thick smoke, thrown up at intervals 
 from an iron forge, as its fires receive fresh fuel, 
 
 add double grandeur to the scene 
 
 " But what peculiarly marks this view, is a 
 circumstance on the water. The whole river at 
 this place makes a precipitate fall — of no great 
 height indeed, but enough to merit the name of 
 a cascade, though to the eye above the streatn it 
 is an object of no consequence. In all the scenes 
 we had yet passed, the water moving with a 
 
PICTURESQUE SCENE. 83 
 
 slow and solemn pace, the objects around kept 
 time, as it were, with it; and every steep, and 
 every rock which hung over the river, was 
 solemn, tranquil, and majestic. But here the 
 violence of the stream, and the roaring of the 
 waters, impressed a new character on the scene : 
 all was agitation and uproar, and every steep 
 and every rock stared with wildness and terror." 
 
 Let us add the testimony of another great 
 authority on the picturesque ; more especially as 
 his remarks serve to corroborate our own on the 
 effect received by the river from objects which 
 elsewhere are mean and common. 
 
 " A scene at the New Weir on the Wye, 
 which in itself is truly great and awful, so far 
 from being disturbed, becomes more interesting 
 and important by the business to which it is 
 destined. It is a chasm between two high ranges 
 of hills, that rise almost perpendicularly from 
 the water: the rocks on the sides are mostly 
 heavy masses, and their colour is generally 
 brown ; but here and there a pale craggy shape 
 starts up to a vast height above the rest, uncon- 
 nected, broken, and bare : large trees frequently 
 force out their way amongst them ; and many 
 
84 THE WYE. 
 
 of these stand far back in the covert, where their 
 natural dusky hue is heightened by the shadow 
 that overhangs them. The river too, as it retires, 
 loses itself in the woods, which close immediately 
 above, then rise thick and high, and darken the 
 water. In the midst of all this gloom is an 
 iron forge, covered with a black cloud of smoke, 
 and surrounded with half-burnt ore, with coal, 
 and with cinders : the fuel for it is brought down 
 a path, worn into steps narrow and steep, and 
 winding among precipices ; and near it is an 
 open space of barren moor, about which are 
 scattered the huts of the workmen. It stands 
 close to the cascade of the Weir, where the 
 agitation of the current is increased by large 
 fragments of rocks, which have been swept down 
 by floods from the banks, or shivered by tem- 
 pests from the brow; and the sullen sound, at 
 stated intervals, of the strokes from the great 
 hammer in the forge, deadens the roar of the 
 waterfall. Just below it, while the rapidity of 
 the stream still continues, a ferry is carried across 
 it ; and lower down the fishermen use little round 
 boats called truckles (coracles), the remains 
 perhaps of the ancient British navigation, which 
 
ESCAPE OF THE RIVER. 85 
 
 the least motion will oversetj and the slightest 
 touch may destroy. All the employments of 
 the people seem to require either exertion or 
 caution ; and the ideas of fear or danger which 
 attend them give to the scene an animation 
 unknown to the solitary, though perfectly com- 
 patible with the wildest romantic situation."* 
 
 To this, however, we must add as a note, that 
 both Weir and forge have now vanished. The 
 more headlong rush and louder roar of the river 
 mark the place where the former stood ; and 
 some limekilns contribute the «moke of the latter 
 without its noise. 
 
 During the whole of this part of the passage, 
 the stream is interrupted by fragments of rock, 
 around which the water rushes tumultuously ; 
 but at the New Weir these interruptions, above 
 noticed, acquire a character of sublimity, when 
 taken in conjunction with the rest of the picture. 
 The river, roaring and foaming, is in haste to 
 escape, and at length is lost to the eye, as it 
 seems to plunge for ever into sepulchral woods. 
 
 Beyond this, there are several other rock 
 
 * Whateley's Observations on Modern Gardening. 
 
 I 
 
86 
 
 THE WYE. 
 
 scenes, but none that will bear description after 
 the foregoing ; although to the traveller wearied 
 with excitement, they come in with good effect. 
 Below New Weir, the river stretches with a 
 curve between Highmeadows Wood on the left 
 bank, and the precipitous cliffs of the Great 
 Doward on the right. Then the Little Doward 
 peeps over a screen of rocks and shrubs. These 
 two hills are called King Arthur's Plain, and 
 between these is King Arthur's Hall, the level of 
 an exhausted iron mine. Then we pass a cluster 
 of rocks called St. Martin's or the Three Sisters, 
 and a pool of the river named St. Martin's 
 Well, where the water is said to be seventy feet 
 deep. Various seats and cottages give variety to 
 the picture, situated in the midst of rich woods 
 and undulating eminences ; and at length the 
 landscape sinks calmly down, and Monmouth — 
 "delightsome Monmouth" — is seen in long per- 
 spective, terminating a reach of the river. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Monmouth — History of the Castle — Apartment of Henry of Mon- 
 mouth — Ecclesiastical remains — Benedictine priory— Church of 
 St. Mary — Church of St. Thomas — Monnow Bridge— Modern 
 town — Monmouth caps — The beneficent parvenu. 
 
 Monmouth lies embowered among gentle hills, 
 only diversified by wood, corn, and pasture ; but 
 to view it either from the Wye, or any of the 
 neighbouring eminences, one would be far from 
 supposing it to have so tame, or at least so quiet 
 a site. From one point, its spire is seen passing 
 through a deep and mysterious wood ; from an- 
 other, it hangs perched on a precipitous ridge ; 
 and from the Wye it rises with considerable 
 stateliness in the form of an amphitheatre. It 
 stands at the confluence of the Wye and the 
 
 I 2 
 
88 THE WYE. 
 
 Monnow, from which it derives its English 
 name. 
 
 A royal fortress existed here before the con- 
 quest, a circumstance which renders its early 
 history full of fearful vicissitudes, although these 
 are but very imperfectly traced. In the time of 
 Henry III., the castle, after changing hands 
 repeatedly, was taken and rased to the ground. 
 " Thus the glorie of Monmouth," says Lam- 
 barde, " had clean perished, ne had it pleased 
 God longe after in that place to give life to the 
 noble King Henry V., udio of the same is called 
 Henry of Monmouth." It was a favourite resi- 
 dence of the father of this prince, King Henry 
 IV., and also of his father, John of Gaunt, 
 " time honoured Lancaster," to whom it came 
 by his marriage with Blanch, daughter and 
 heiress of Henry, duke of Lancaster, whose title 
 he was afterwards granted. Henry V. was born 
 here in 1387, and from this circumstance is 
 styled Henry of Monmouth. This prince en- 
 larged the duchy of Lancaster with his maternal 
 inheritance, and obtained an act of parliament 
 that all grants of offices and estates should pass 
 under the seal of the duchy. Henry VI. and 
 
MONMOUTH CASTLE. 89 
 
 VII. possessed the castle of Monmouth, as part 
 of the duchy, by right of inheritance ; but be- 
 tween these reigns it was given by Edward IV. 
 to Lord Herbert, afterwards earl of Pembroke. 
 Although the duchy, however, continued in the 
 crown, the castle, together with other possessions 
 in Monmouthshire, was alienated, and became 
 private property, but at what period does not 
 clearly appear. In the reign of Elizabeth, it is 
 ascertained, by different grants, to have been still 
 parcel of the duchy, and also in that of James 
 I., by the following presentment made under a 
 commission : " Item, wee present that his ma- 
 jestic hath one ancient castell, called Monmouth 
 Castell, situated within the liberties of the said 
 towne, which is nowe, and hath been for a long 
 time, ruinous and in decaye, but by whom it hath 
 byn decayed wee knowe not, nor to what value, 
 in regarde it was before our rememberment, 
 savinge one greate hall which is covered and 
 mayntayned for the judges of the assise to sitt 
 in. And for and concerning any demean lands 
 belonginge to the same castell, wee knowe not 
 of any more save only the castell hill, where- 
 in divers have gardens, and the castell green, 
 
 I 3 
 
90 THE WYE. 
 
 which is inclosed within the walls of the said 
 castell." 
 
 Before the end of the seventeenth century, we 
 find the castle in the hands of the first duke of 
 Beaufort, if the following anecdote, indicative 
 either of an ambitious or a fantastic spirit, can 
 be believed. " The marchioness of Worcester," 
 says the author of the Secret Memoirs of Mon- 
 mouthshire, " was ordered by her grandfather, 
 the late duke of Beaufort, to lie in of her first 
 child in a house lately built within the castle of 
 Monmouth, near that spot of ground and space 
 of air, where our great hero Henry V. was 
 born." 
 
 Whatever mutilations this castle may have 
 undergone since the days of its royal magnifi- 
 cence, by whomever it may have been at length 
 " decayed," or at whatever period it came into 
 the hands of the Beauforts, this at least is cer- 
 tain, that there is now not more than enough left 
 to indicate its site. " The transmutations of 
 time," says Gilpin, " are often ludicrous. Mon- 
 mouth Castle was formerly the palace of a king, 
 and the birthplace of a mighty prince ; it is now 
 converted into a yard for fattening ducks." The 
 
RUINS. 91 
 
 ruins, however, must have been concealed from 
 his view by the stables and other outhouses that 
 had risen from the fragments, so as completely 
 to hide them from the townward side. Coxe, 
 a much more correct observer, although less 
 learned in the laws of the picturesque, describes 
 them in 1800 as presenting, when viewed from 
 the right bank of the Monnow, " an appearance 
 of dilapidated grandeur which recalls to memory 
 the times of feudal magnificence." 
 
 Although the roof and great part of the walls 
 had already fallen, the site of two remarkable 
 apartments could be traced distinctly ; that in 
 which Henry was born, and another adjoining 
 which had been used, even within the memory 
 of some of the inhabitants, for the assizes. The 
 latter was sixty-three feet in length and forty-six 
 in breadth, and was no doubt the "greate hall" 
 mentioned in the presentment quoted above as 
 being "mayntayned for the judges of the assise 
 to sitt in." 
 
 The apartment of Henry of Monmouth is thus 
 described by the archdeacon : 
 
 " The apartment which gave birth to the 
 Gwentonian hero was an upper story, and the 
 
92 THE WYE. 
 
 beams that supported the floor still project from 
 the side walls ; it was fifty-eight feet long, and 
 twenty-four broad, and was decorated with gothic 
 windows, of which some are still remaining, and 
 seem to be of the age of Henry III. The 
 walls of this part are not less than ten feet in 
 thickness. About fifty years ago, a considerable 
 part of the southern wall fell down with a tre- 
 mendous crash, which alarmed the whole town, 
 leaving a breach not less than forty feet in 
 length. On the ground floor beneath are three 
 circular arches terminating in chinks, which have 
 a very ancient appearance ; at the north-eastern 
 angle, within a stable, may be seen a round tower 
 six feet in diameter, which was once a staircase 
 leading to the grand apartment." 
 
 To the right of this apartment, the same 
 author traced the vestige of the original walls in 
 a private house built within the ancient site. 
 They were from six to ten feet, formed of peb- 
 bles and mortar, and is so compact a mass as 
 not to yield in hardness to solid stone. 
 
 Next to the ruined castle of an ancient town, 
 come the ecclesiastical remains ; for the strong- 
 hold of the chief, and the cell of the monk, were 
 
BLACK MONKS. 93 
 
 usually the nucleus round which the town was 
 gathered. The principal relics of the latter 
 kind in Monmouth are those of a benedictine 
 priory of black monks, dedicated to .St. Mary, 
 which was founded as a cell to the monastery of 
 St. Florence, near Saumur in Anjou, by Wikenoc, 
 lord of Monmouth in the reign of Henry I. 
 The ruins are small, but interesting ; and not 
 the less so fi'om containing an apartment distin- 
 guished by a rich gothic bay window, pointed 
 out by tradition as the study of that mysterious 
 personage, GeofFry of Monmouth. The church 
 of the priory stood on the site of the present 
 parish church of St. Mary, of which the tower 
 and the lower part of the spire are the only 
 remains of the original. This spire, which is 
 " lofty, and light, and small," is the grand scenic 
 feature of the town when viewed from a dis- 
 tance ; and in return, it affords to the traveller 
 who will take the trouble to ascend it a point 
 from which to view the country to most advan- 
 tage. The beautiful vale in which the town 
 stands, with its undulating eminences, among 
 which wander the Wye, the Monnow, and the 
 Trothy, is seen in an almost circular form. 
 
94 THE WYE. 
 
 enclosed from the vulgar world by a line of hills 
 mantled with woods and forests. 
 
 The ancient church of St. Thomas stands 
 near the bridge of the Monnow, and from its 
 circular arches, and extreme simplicity of appear- 
 ance, is probably older than the conquest. This 
 does not apply, however, to the entire building, 
 the western window, and some other morceaux, 
 displaying the ornamented Gothic of a late 
 period. The antiquity of the building, it should 
 be said, is rendered the more probable by its 
 standing beyond the bridge, where the suburbs 
 of the modern town are supposed to occupy the 
 site of the British town during the Saxon era. 
 
 The bridge, of which a view is given in 
 Grose's Antiquities, is itself an object of interest, 
 containing, on its centre, the Monnow Gate, the 
 only one of the four original gates, mentioned by 
 Leland, that remains entire. Both bridge and 
 gate bear evidence of very high antiquity, and 
 were probably erected by the Saxons as a bar- 
 rier against the Welsh. The town was farther 
 fortified by a wall and moat, of which the latter 
 was entire in the time of Leland, and some frag- 
 ments of the former remaining. But all vestiges 
 
MONMOUTH CAPS. 95 
 
 of those defences have now vanished, with the 
 exception of the Monnow Gate, and some pieces 
 of a tower. 
 
 Of the modern town, it can be said that it is 
 neat and clean, with one broad and well-built 
 street. It is neither mean nor elegant, and 
 presents no offensive contrast to the beautiful 
 scenery by which it is surrounded. The navi- 
 gation of the Wye is its principal support, for at 
 the present day at least it has no manufactories, 
 although celebrated in that of its own Henry 
 for caps. " If your majestic is remembered of 
 it, the Welchmen did goot service in a garden 
 where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their 
 Monmouth caps." The account given of this 
 staple article by Fuller, in his Worthies, is worth 
 quoting. 
 
 " These," says he, " were the most ancient, 
 general, warm, and profitable coverings of men's 
 heads in this island. It is worth our pains to 
 observe the tenderness of our kings to preserve 
 the trade of cap-making, and what long and 
 strong struggling our state had to keep up the 
 using thereof, so many thousands of people 
 being thereby maintained in the land, especially 
 
96 THE WYE. 
 
 before the invention of fulling-mills, all caps be- 
 fore that time being wrought, beaten, and thick- 
 ened, by the hands and feet of men, till those 
 mills, as they eased many of their labour, outed 
 more of their livelihood. Capping anciently set 
 fifteen distinct callings on work, as they are 
 reckoned up in the statute: i. carders, 2. spin- 
 ners ; 3. knitters ; 4. parters of wool ; 5. forfers ; 
 6. thickeners ; 7. dressers ; 8. walkers ; 9. dyers ; 
 10. battelers; 11. shearers; 12. pressers; 13. 
 edgers; 14. liners; 15. band-makers, and other 
 exercises. No wonder then that so many sta- 
 tutes were enacted in parliament to encourage 
 this handicraft." * * * * « Lastly ; to keep 
 up the usage of caps, it was enacted, in the 13th 
 of Queen Eliz. cap. 19, that they should be 
 worne by all persons (some of worship and qua- 
 lity excepted) on sabbath and holy days, on the 
 pain of forfeiting ten groats for the omission 
 thereof. 
 
 " But it seems that nothing but hats would 
 fit the heads (or humours rather) of the English, 
 as fancied by them fitter to fence their fair faces 
 from the injury of wind and weather, so that the 
 39th of Queen Elizabeth this statute was re- 
 
MONMOUTH ALE. 97 
 
 pealed ; yea, the cap, accounted by the Romans 
 an emblem of liberty, is esteemed by the Eng- 
 lish (falconers and hunters excepted) a badge of 
 servitude, though very useful in themselves, and 
 the ensign of constancy, because not discom- 
 posed, but retaining their fashion, in what form 
 soever they may be crouded. 
 
 " The best caps were formerly made at Mon- 
 mouth, where the capper's chapel doth still re- 
 main, being better carved and gilded than any 
 other part of the church. But on the occasion 
 of a great plague happening in this town, the 
 trade was some years since removed hence to 
 Beaudley, in Worcestershire, yet so that they 
 are called Monmouth caps unto this day. Thus 
 this town retains, though not the profit, the cre- 
 dit of capping, and seeing the child keeps the 
 mother's name, there is some hope in due time 
 she may return to her." 
 
 Monmouth appears also to have dealt largely 
 in ale, if we may judge by a grant of Henry IV. 
 as lord of the manor, to its burgesses. " That 
 the brewers of ale there, who were anciently 
 held to pay the king's ancestors and progenitors 
 eight gallons of ale at every brewing, in the 
 
 K 
 
98 THE WYE. 
 
 name of Castlecoule, during the time the king, 
 or his heirs, were dwelhng in the said town, 
 should now pay in lieu thereof lOd. each brew- 
 ing, except when the king, his heirs or his 
 councils, holding his sessions there, were pre- 
 sent in the said town, in which case the ancient 
 custom of Castlecoules should be observed." 
 
 We must not omit an anecdote connected with 
 the history of a free-school, founded here in the 
 reign of James I. William Jones, born at Mon- 
 mouth, as Burton tells us in his History of 
 Wales, was forced to quit the place for not 
 being able to pay ten groats. He removed to 
 the great field for adventurers, London, and be- 
 came first a porter, then a factor, and afterwards 
 went over to Hamburgh, where he found such 
 sale for his Welsh cottons, that in a very short 
 time he realised a handsome fortune. He 
 founded a school in his native place, allowing 
 fifty pounds a year to the master, and a hundred 
 pounds salary to a lecturer, together with an 
 almshouse for twenty poor people, each having 
 two rooms and a garden, and two shillings and 
 sixpence a week. It is said, however, by other 
 authorities, that Jones was a native of Newland, 
 
THE MONMOUTH PARVENU. 99 
 
 in Gloucestershire; and after having made his 
 fortune in London, that he returned thither in 
 the assumed character of a beggar, to try the 
 liberality of his townsmen. In this he found 
 them wanting, for they tauntingly told him to go 
 and ask relief at Monmouth, where he had lived 
 at service. He took their advice, and being better 
 received there, founded the above charities in 
 token of his gratitude. 
 
 k2 
 
CHAPTER VITI. 
 
 Welsh pedigree of queen Victoria — A poet's flattery — Castles of 
 Monmouthshire — Geoffrey of Monmouth — Henry of Monmouth 
 — The Kymin — Subsidiary tour — Sir David Gam — "White Castle 
 — Scenfrith — The Castle spectres — Grosmont — Lanthony Abbey. 
 
 " Monmouthshire," as has been well observed, 
 " though now an English county, may be justly 
 considered the connecting link between England 
 and Wales, as it unites the scenery, manners, 
 and language of both." In ancient times, it was 
 a debatable land of another kind, when Romans, 
 Saxons, and Normans, strove by turns against 
 the aboriginal Britons. During the Roman in- 
 vasion it was a part of the territory of the 
 Silures, who inhabited the eastern division of 
 South Wales, and were one of the three great 
 
PEDIGREE OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 101 
 
 Welsh tribes ; but in the conflict of the Saxons, 
 Gwent (its British name) played the most distin- 
 guished part of all, under its sovereign Utha 
 Pendragon and the renowned king Arthur. To 
 Gwent, moreover, if chronicles say true, we are 
 indebted for our present sovereign lady, who is 
 descended collaterally from its princes. Merrich, 
 the son of Ithel, king or prince of Gwent, died 
 without issue male, leaving one daughter, Mor- 
 vyth, who espoused Gwno, great grandson to 
 Rees ap Theodore, prince of South Wales, and 
 lineal ancestor of Sir Owen Tudor, grandfather 
 of Henry VII. ''So that it appears," say the 
 Secret Memoirs of Monmouthshire, " that the 
 kings of Scotland and England are originally 
 descended from Morvyth, this Gwentonian 
 prince's daughter, and heir to Meyrick, last king 
 of Gwent, who, according to several authentic 
 British pedigrees, was lineally descended from 
 Cadwalladar, the last king of Britain, and as 
 our historians do testify, did prognosticate, fifteen 
 hundred years past, that the heirs descended of 
 his loins should be restored again to the king- 
 dom of Britain, which was partly accomplished 
 in king Henry VII., and more by the accession 
 
 K 3 
 
102 THE WYE. 
 
 of James I. to the British throne, but wholly 
 fulfilled in the happy union of all Britain by the 
 glorious queen Anne; whom God long preserved 
 of. his great goodness, and the succession of the 
 Protestant line." 
 
 We know not what value may be attached to 
 this illustrious ancestry by Queen Victoria ; but 
 her predecessor, Queen Elizabeth, was fond of 
 tracing her descent from the ancient kings of 
 her country — a predilection which the courtly 
 Spenser does not omit to flatter in his Faerie 
 Queene. 
 
 " Thy name, O soveraine Queene, tliy realme and race, 
 From this renowned prince derived arre, 
 Who mightily upheld that royal mace 
 Which thou now bear'st, to thee descended farre 
 From mighty kings and conquerors in warre, 
 Thy fathers and thy grandfathers of old, 
 Whose noble deeds above the northern starre, 
 Immortall fame for ever hath enrold ; 
 As in that old man's booke thej' were in order told." 
 
 The old man have referred to is Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth, of whom more anon. 
 
 It is to the Norman invasion that Monmouth- 
 
CASTLES OF MONMOUTHSHIRE. 103 
 
 shire owes its castles ; for the great barons 
 were not employed by the state, as had 
 been the case with the Saxons, to conquer the 
 territory, but were invited to enter upon adven- 
 tures at their own cost, and for their own gain. 
 The lands they subdued became their own ; 
 they were created lords-barons over them ; and 
 castles speedily bristled up all over the territory 
 to maintain the authority so acquired.- Pennant 
 states the number for Wales at a hundred and 
 forty-three, of which Monmouthshire, as the 
 frontier region between the belligerents, had of 
 course the greatest proportion, amounting, it is 
 said, to at least twenty-five. In these baronial 
 lands, the writs of ordinary justices of the royal 
 courts were not current. The barons marchers, 
 as they were called, had recourse to their feudal 
 lord the king in person ; and the same abuses 
 and confusion were the result which we have 
 noticed in Herefordshire, till Henry VIII. 
 abolished this anomalous government, divided 
 Wales into twelve shires, and withdrew Mon- 
 mouthshire into the list of the English counties. 
 It is interesting to trace the chain of fortresses 
 thus destined to become, still earlier than in the 
 
104 THE WYE. 
 
 natural course of time, a series of ruins. They 
 extend, in this county, along the banks of the 
 Monnow, the Wye, and the Severn, and from 
 Grosmont, diagonally, to the banks of the Rum- 
 ney; while castellated mansions, such as Raglan, 
 which we shall notice presently (at first only a 
 rude fortress), arose in all quarters to keep the 
 natives in due respect. 
 
 King Arthur, mentioned above as prince of 
 Gwent, did not reign at Monmouth, but at Caer- 
 leon ; although he is closely associated with the 
 former place, inasmuch as the gothic room in 
 the priory which we have pointed out, on the 
 authority of tradition, as the study of Geoffi-ey of 
 Monmouth, was in all probability the birthplace 
 of his most heroic achievements. Geoffrey, in 
 fact, for it is needless to attempt to conceal the 
 fact from our readers, was an historical romancer 
 rather than an historian. The groundwork of 
 his celebrated performance was Brut y Breni- 
 nodd, or the Chronicle of the Kings of Britain, 
 written by Tyssilio, or St. Telian, bishop of St. 
 Asaph, in the seventh century ; but Geoffrey 
 owns himself, that he made various additions to 
 his original, particularly of Merlin's prophecies. 
 
GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. 105 
 
 After all, however, if we may venture to express 
 our private opinion on so recondite a subject, it 
 seems to us that a monkish history, of the seventh 
 century, must have been reasonably fertile in 
 itself in wonderful incidents and legendary tales, 
 and that in all probability Geoffrey of Mon- 
 mouth deserves less credit as a romancer than 
 he has received from one party, as well as less 
 credit as an historian than he has received from 
 the other. 
 
 However this may be, the work has served as 
 a valuable storehouse for our poets and ro- 
 mancers. It has even supplied the story of King 
 Lear to Shakspeare, who deepened the pathos by 
 making Cordelia die before her father ; whereas, 
 in the original story, Lear is restored to his king- 
 dom, and Cordeha to life. Milton drew from it 
 his fiction of Sabrina in the Mask of Comus ; 
 and in early life he had formed the design of 
 writing an epic poem on the subject taken up 
 from Geoffrey by Spenser, in the second book 
 of the Faerie Queene — 
 
 " A chronicle of Briton kings, 
 From Brute to Arthur's reign." 
 
106 THE WYE. 
 
 Dryden, also, intended to produce an epic poem 
 on the subject of king Arthur, but he contented 
 himself with an opera, in which he has sublimely 
 described the British worthy 
 
 " in battle brave, 
 But still serene in all the stormy war, 
 Like heaven above the clouds ; and after fight 
 As merciful and kind to vanquished foe 
 As a forgiving God." 
 
 Pope followed, in like manner, with plentiful 
 materials for the pavement of a certain place — 
 good intentions ; but after all, our national his- 
 tory has been left to the muse of Blackmore.* 
 
 Geoffrey was born in Monmouth, and is sup- 
 posed to have been educated in the monastery, 
 although the room pointed out as his study is 
 evidently of a more modern date. He became 
 archdeacon of his native town, and in 1152 was 
 consecrated bishop of St. Asaph. This is all 
 
 * Of late years, Mr. Pennie attempted to revive a taste for such 
 subjects in his " Britain's Historical Drama," but without effect. 
 It a work, however, of considerable merit. Southey's Madoc has 
 only a slender groundwork in British history. 
 
HENRY OF MONMOUTH. 107 
 
 that is known of his history ; and his works, 
 with the exception of his great romance adverted 
 to above, are confined to a treatise on the Holy 
 Sacraments, and some verses on the enchanter 
 Merlin. 
 
 Perhaps a word may not be amiss on the other 
 worthy connected by birth with the fame and the 
 ruins of Monmouth. Henry V. passed some of 
 his earliest years in this county ; but in his 
 youth was transferred to Oxford, where he 
 studied under his uncle Cardinal Beaufort, then 
 chancellor of the university, and where, as Stowe 
 relates, he " delighted in songs, meeters, and 
 musical instruments." He is thus described by 
 the chronicler, on the authority of John of 
 Elmham : 
 
 " This prince exceeded the meane stature of 
 men, he was beautiful of visage, his necke long, 
 body long and leane, and his bones small ; never- 
 thelesse he was of great marvellous strength, 
 and passing swift in running, insomuch that he 
 with two other of his lords, without hounds, 
 bow, or other engine, would take a wild buck or 
 doe in a large parke." 
 
 Henry is usually treated as a mere warrior; 
 
108 THE WYE. 
 
 and it is the custom to sneer at him as such, by 
 those who are unable to judge of the minds of 
 men by the spirit of the age in which they live. 
 He was remarkable, however, for more than his 
 military prowess, and exhibited many traits of a 
 truly great character. Some of these are very 
 agreeably detailed by Mr. Coxe, who relates 
 also, from Speed, that " every day after dinner, 
 for the space of an hour, his custom was to lean 
 on a cushion set by his cupboard, and there he 
 himselfe received petitions of the oppressed, 
 which with great equitie he did redresse." His 
 sudden change from the wild licentiousness of 
 his youth is described b} his contemporary, 
 Thomas de Elmham, as having taken place at 
 the bedside of his dying father ; and we need 
 not remark that in that age, the religious feeling 
 he exhibited on the occasion was not inconsistent 
 with the ferocity of the hero. 
 
 " The courses of his youth promis'd it not ; 
 The breath no sooner left his father's body, 
 But that his wildness, mortified in him, 
 Seem'd to die too : yea, at that very moment, 
 Consideration Uke an angel came. 
 And whipped the oiFending Adam out of him ; 
 
THE KYMIN. 109 
 
 Leaving his body as a paradise, 
 
 To envellop, and contain celestial spirits. 
 
 Never was such a sudden scholar made ; 
 
 Never came reformation in a flood, 
 
 With such a heady current, scouring faults ; 
 
 Nor ever hydra-headed wilfulness. 
 
 So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, 
 
 As in this king." 
 
 Monmouth, as the half-way station between 
 Ross and Chepstow for the tourists of the Wye, 
 usually claims a large portion of their attention ; 
 and, independently of its historical associations, 
 the delightful walks in the neighbourhood abun- 
 dantly repay it. The views from numerous points 
 are very beautiful ; and one more especially, 
 independently of the nearer parts of the picture, 
 commands on all sides an expanse of country 
 which seems absolutely unlimited. 
 
 "If among these views," says the historical 
 tourist, "one can be selected surpassing the 
 rest, it is perhaps that from the summit of the 
 Kymin, which rises from the left bank of the 
 Wye, and is situated partly in Monmouthshire, 
 and partly in Gloucestershire. On the centre of 
 this eminence overhanging the river and town, a 
 pavilion has been lately erected by subscription, 
 
110 THE WYE. 
 
 to which is carried a walk, gently winding up 
 the acclivity 
 
 "I shall not attempt to describe the unbounded 
 expanse of country around and beneath, which 
 embraces an extent of nearly three hundred 
 miles. The eye, satiated with the distant pros- 
 pect, reposes at length on the near views, dwells 
 on the country immediately beneath and around, 
 is attracted with the pleasing position of Mon- 
 mouth, here seen to singular advantage, admires 
 the elegant bend and silvery current of the 
 Monnow, glistening through meads, in its way 
 to the Wye, and the junction of the two 
 rivers, which forms an assemblage of beautiful 
 objects, 
 
 " The level summit of the Kymin is crowned 
 with a beautiful wood, called Beaulieu Grove, 
 through which walks are made, terminating in 
 seats, placed at the edge of abrupt declivities, 
 and presenting in perspective, through openings 
 in the trees, portions of the unbounded expanse 
 seen from the pavilion. There are six of these 
 openings, three of which comprehend perspective 
 views of Monmouth, stretching between the Wye 
 and the Monnow, in diiFerent positions. At one 
 
SUBSIDIARY TOUR. Ill 
 
 of these seats, placed on a ledge of impending- 
 rocks, I looked down on a hanging wood, cloth- 
 ing the sides of the declivities, and sloping 
 gradually to the Wye, which sweeps in a beau- 
 tiful curve, from Dixon Church to the mouth of 
 the Monnow ; the town appears seated on its 
 banks, and beyond the luxuriant and undulating 
 swells of Monmouthshire, terminated by the 
 Great and Little Skyrrid, the Black Mountains, 
 and the Sugar Loaf, in all the variety of sublime 
 and contrasted forms." 
 
 It is not our intention to notice any of the 
 numerous seats and mansions with which this 
 delightful region abounds ; but, leaving the tour- 
 ist to make such easy discoveries for himself, we 
 would hint to him that, while at Monmouth, he 
 has an opportunity, without great expense of 
 time or labour, of making himself acquainted 
 with many interesting objects which ought to be 
 considered as adjuncts of the tour of the Wye. 
 Between this place and the Hay the river de- 
 scribes an irregular semicircle, of which the 
 Monnow, for about half way, may be said to be 
 the cord ; and this latter stream, as the most 
 important and beautiful tributary of the Wye, 
 
 L 2 
 
112 THE WYE. 
 
 has a claim upon the pilgrim which should not 
 be set aside. 
 
 This minor excursion, however, will not be 
 complete without diverging a little to the left at 
 the outset for the purpose of visiting White 
 Castle; for this ruin is inseparably associated 
 with the other reliques of baronial power pre- 
 sented by the route. It is within a short dis- 
 tance of Landeilo Cresseney on the Abergaven- 
 ny road, where a farm will be pointed out to the 
 traveller, called the Park, belonging to the duke 
 of Beaufort, as the site of Old Court, formerly 
 the residence of the valiant Sir David Gam, who, 
 before the battle of Agincourt, reported to Henry 
 V. that there were " enough of the enemy to be 
 killed, enough to run away, and enough to be 
 taken prisoners." It is said that the children of 
 this Welsh worthy were so numerous as to form 
 a line extending from his house to the church. 
 From Gladys, one of these children, the dukes 
 of Beaufort and earls of Pembroke are descended. 
 The farm alluded to was formerly the red deer 
 park of Raglan Castle. 
 
 White Castle must have been constructed in 
 the earliest period of the Norman era, if not be- 
 
WHITE CASTLE. 113 
 
 fore the conquest ; and the massive ruins that 
 still remain attest that it must have kept the 
 country side in awe, as the abode of one of those 
 fierce barons who were the prototypes of the 
 giants and dragons of the romancers. This for- 
 tress, with those of Scenfrith and Grosmont on 
 the banks of the Monnow, belonged to Brien 
 Fitz Count, the Norman conqueror of the tract 
 called Overwent, stretching from the Wye to 
 Abergavenny ; and they were afterwards seized by 
 Henry III., and given by him to the celebrated 
 Herbert de Burgh. Herbert resigned them 
 anew to the crown, after being imprisoned and al- 
 most famished to death. Henry granted them 
 to his son Edward Crouchback, and they after- 
 wards fell to John of Gaunt, in the way we have 
 related of Monmouth Castle, and became parcel 
 of the duchy of Lancaster. 
 
 The ruins stand on the ridge of an eminence, 
 surrounded by a moat. The walls, which are 
 very massive, describe nearly an oval, and are 
 defended by six round towers, not dividing the 
 courtine in the usual way, but altogether extra- 
 mural, and capable, therefore, of acting as inde- 
 pendent fortresses, even after the inner court had 
 
 L 3 
 
114 THE WYE. 
 
 been taken. The principal entrance was pro- 
 tected by a portcullis and drawbridge, and by 
 an immense barbican, greatly disproportioned to 
 the size of the castle, on the opposite site of the 
 moat. The name of the place was Castell 
 Gwyn, White Castle, or Castell Blanch, all 
 which mean the same thing in British^ Saxon, 
 and Norman. 
 
 In the time of James L, it is presented as 
 " ruinous and in decay time out of mind," and 
 yet, during the reign of his immediate predeces- 
 sor Elizabeth, it is described in the Worthines 
 of Wales as "a loftie princely place." 
 
 " Three castles fayre are in a goodly ground, 
 Grosmont is one, on hiU it builded was ; 
 Skenfrith the next, in valley it is found, 
 The soyle about for pleasure there doth passe ; 
 Whit Castle is the third of worthy fame. 
 The county there doth bear Whit Castle's name, 
 A stately seate, a loftie princely place. 
 Whose beauties give the simple soyle some grace." 
 
 Scenfrith is not more than five miles from 
 White Castle, but the access to it is only fit for 
 pedestrians. The ruin stands on a secluded spot 
 in the midst of hills, and overlooks the placid 
 
THE CASTLE SPECTRES. 115 
 
 Monnow, the passage of which it was no doubt 
 its duty to guard. It is a small fortress severely 
 simple, and exhibiting all the marks of high an- 
 tiquity. There are no traces of outworks; but 
 the walls are flanked by five circular towers. 
 About the middle of the area is a round tower, 
 which was the keep or citadel. Scenfrith seems 
 to have no history peculiarly its own ; it was one 
 of " the three castles," changing hands with 
 them apparently as a matter of course, and that 
 was enough for its ambition. 
 
 The road from Scenfrith to Grosmont leads 
 through Newcastle ; but the remains of the for- 
 tress, from which this place derived its name, 
 are barely discernible, and its history has for 
 ever perished. In the absence of human as- 
 sociations, however, it is well provided with those 
 of another kind. The mount, or barrow, under 
 which its fragments are hidden, is the haunt of 
 spirits ; and an oak tree in the neighbourhood is 
 so completely protected by such means, that 
 an attempt even to lop a branch is sure to be 
 punished by supernatural power. 
 
 The ruins of Grosmont Castle stand on an 
 eminence near the Monnow, surrounded by a 
 
116 
 
 THE WYE. 
 
 dry moat, with barbican and other outworks. 
 Its pointed arches declare it by far the youngest 
 of the three sisters. The remains now left en- 
 close only a small area; but walls and foun- 
 dations may be traced, which show that its 
 original size was really considerable, and this is 
 confirmed by the presence of a spacious apart- 
 ment, which no doubt formed the great baronial 
 hall. In the reign of Henry III. it was invested 
 by Llewellin, and the siege raised by the king ; 
 and, on another occasion, Henry retreated to 
 Grosmont, where his troops were surprised by 
 the Welsh as they slept in the trenches, and 
 lost five hundred horses, besides baggage and 
 treasure. The banks of the Monnow, from 
 which the ruins rise, are precipitous, and tufted 
 with oaks, and the whole scene is singularly pic- 
 turesque. The hero of the village tradition is 
 here John of Kent, or Guent, who built a bridge 
 over the Monnow in a single night, by means of 
 one of his familiar spirits. Many other stories 
 as wonderful are related of him by the inhabit- 
 ants ; some say he was a monk, versed in the 
 black art ; others that he was a disciple of Owen 
 Glendowr; and others that he was the great 
 magician himself. 
 
PATRON SAINT OF WALES. 117 
 
 At Grosmont the line of the Monnow turns 
 away to the west, towards its source among the 
 Black Mountains ; but the traveller who eschews 
 more fatigue than is necessary will take the route 
 by Craig-gate and Crickhowell, and so get into 
 a road which will lead him along the Honddy, 
 a tributary of the Monnow, to the magnificent 
 ruins of Lanthony Abbey, the furthest object 
 we propose to him in this subsidiary tour. 
 
 " Here it was, stranger, that the patron saint 
 Of Camhria passed his age of penitence — 
 A sohtary man ; and here he made 
 His hermitage ; the roots his food, his drink 
 Of Honddy's mountain-stream. Perchance thy youth 
 Has read with eager wonder how the knight 
 Of Wales, in Ormandine's enchanted bowers, 
 Slept the long sleep : and if that in thy veins 
 Flows the pure blood of Britain, sure that blood 
 Has flowed with quicker impulse at the tale 
 Of Dafydd's deeds, when through the press of war 
 His gaUant comrades followed his green crest 
 To conquests. Stranger ! Hatterel's mountain heights, 
 And this fair vale of Cwias, and the stream 
 Of Honddy, to thine after thoughts will rise 
 More grateful, thus associate with the name 
 Of Dafydd and the deeds of other days." 
 
 " After catching a transient view of the Hond- 
 dy," says archdeacon Coxe, " winding through a 
 deep glen, at the foot of hills overspread with 
 
118 THE WYE. 
 
 wood and sprinkled with white cottages, we pro- 
 ceeded along a hollow way, which deepened as 
 we advanced, and was scarcely broad enough to 
 admit the carriage. In this road, which, with 
 more propriety might be termed a ditch, we 
 heard the roar of the torrent beneath, but seldom 
 enjoyed a view of the circumjacent scenery. We 
 passed under a bridge thrown across the chasm, 
 to preserve the communication with the fields on 
 each side : this bridge was framed of the trunks 
 of trees, and secured with side rails, to prevent 
 the tottering passenger from falling in the abyss 
 beneath. It brought to my recollection several 
 bridges of similar construction, which I observed 
 in Norway, which are likewise occasionally used 
 as aqueducts, for the purposes of irrigation. 
 Emerging from this gloomy way, we were struck 
 with the romantic village of Cwnyoy, on the op- 
 posite bank of the Honddy, hanging on the 
 sides of the abrupt cliff, under a perpendicular 
 rock, broken into enormous fissures. We con- 
 tinued for some way between the torrent and the 
 Gaer, and again plunged into a hollow road, 
 where we were enclosed, and saw nothing but 
 the overhanging hedgerows , . 
 
LANTHONY ABBEY. 119 
 
 The abbey was built like a cathedral, in the 
 shape of Roman crosses, and though of small 
 dimensions, was well proportioned. The length, 
 from the western door to the eastern extremity, 
 is 210 feet; and the breadth, including two 
 aisles, 50 ; the length of the transept, from north 
 to south, 100. It was constructed soon after the 
 introduction of the Gothic architecture, and be- 
 fore the disuse of the Norman, and is a regular 
 composition of both styles. The whole roof, 
 excepting a small fragment of the north aisle, 
 is fallen down, and the building is extremely 
 dilapidated. The nave alone exhibits a com- 
 plete specimen of the original plan, and is sepa- 
 rated on each side by the two aisles, by eight 
 pointed arches, resting on piers of the simplest 
 construction, which are divided from the upper 
 tier of Norman arches by a straight band of 
 fascia. From the small fragment in the north- 
 ern aisle, the roofs seem to have been vaulted 
 and engroined, and the springing columns, by 
 which it was supported, are still visible on the 
 wall. Four bold arches, in the centre of the 
 church, supported a square tower, two sides 
 of which only remain. The ornamental arch 
 
120 THE WYE. 
 
 in the eastern window, which appears in the en- 
 graving of Mr. Wyndham's Tour, and in that 
 pubHshed by Hearne, has now fallen. The only 
 vestiges of the choir are a part of the south wall, 
 with a Norman door, that led into the side aisle, 
 and the east end of the south wall ; a bold Nor- 
 man arch, leading from the transept into the 
 southern aisle of the choir, still exists. The 
 walls of the southern aisle are wholly dilapi- 
 dated; and the side view of the two ranges of 
 Gothic arches, stretching along the nave, is sin- 
 gularly picturesque; the outside wall of the 
 northern aisle is entire, excepting a small portion 
 of the western extremity ; the windows of this 
 part are wholly Norman, and make a grand ap- 
 pearance. In a word, the western side is most 
 elegant ; the northern side is most entire ; the 
 southern the most picturesque ; the eastern the 
 most magnificent." 
 
 The abbey originated in a small chapel, built 
 here as a hermitage by St. David, the titular 
 saint of Wales ; but for the account of its foun- 
 dation and history, we must refer the reader to 
 Mr. Coxe's Tour, Dugdale's Monasticon, or the 
 History of Gloucestershire. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Raglan Castle — Description of the ruins — History of the Castle — 
 The old lord of Raglan — Surrender of the fortress — Charles I. 
 and his host — Royal weakness — The pigeons of Raglan — Death 
 of the old lord — Origin of the steam Engine. 
 
 That magnificent specimen of what is called a 
 castellated mansion, Raglan castle, is so interest- 
 ing in itself, and at so convenient a distance from 
 the river, that it forms an indispensable part of 
 the tour of the Wye. The ruins stand upon an 
 eminence, near the village of the same name, 
 eight miles from Monmouth, and cover, with 
 their massive forms, an area of one-third part of a 
 mile in circumference. This includes the citadel, 
 which was not contained within the fortress as 
 usual, but formed a separate building, connected 
 
 M 
 
122 
 
 THE WYE. 
 
 with it by a drawbridge. It was called Melyn 
 y Gwent, or the Yellow Tower of Gwent. It 
 was of a hexagon form, five stories high, de- 
 fended by bastions and a moat, and surrounded 
 with raised walks or terraces. The building was 
 faced with hewn stone, of a greyish colour, and 
 from its smoothness resembling polished marble. 
 The earliest style of this edifice dates only 
 from the reign of Henry V. ; but the greater 
 part was probably added afterwards, when, by 
 the marriage of Sir Charles Somerset into the 
 house of Herbert, and the acquisition then of the 
 lordships of Raglan, Chepstow, and Gower, the 
 house of Beaufort became one of the greatest in 
 the county. The building is of a description 
 peculiar to that period in the history of Mon- 
 mouthshire, when the barons had superadded to 
 their warlike habits those of modern luxury and 
 magnificence. Externally, the place has evi- 
 dently been a strong fortress ; internally a 
 splendid mansion. The ascent to the state 
 apartment is both noble and well contrived; 
 while the circular staircase in the hexagon cita- 
 del, the windows of the great hall, and the chim- 
 ney-pieces, with their light and elegant cornices. 
 
WAR AND LUXURY. 123 
 
 are in the style of modern edifices. The kitchen 
 and butlery were connected with the hall, and 
 indicate, by their construction, the princely hos- 
 pitality of the lords of Raglan. All the rooms 
 had chimneys, those of each floor distinct from 
 the rest. The cellars were extensive — so were 
 the subterranean passages and dungeons. The 
 architecture is various, some parts of the most 
 elegant gothic, some heavy and unwieldy, repre- 
 senting at once the two distinct characters of 
 luxury and war. The southern declivity, to- 
 wards the village, was laid out in fish-ponds ; 
 three parks of considerable extent supplied 
 game and recreation ; and the proprietor of this 
 unique mansion was able, through the fertility 
 of his surrounding estates, to maintain a garrison 
 of eight hundred men. 
 
 " Of these noble ruins," says Mr. Coxe, 
 " the grand entrance is the most magnificent ; it 
 is formed by a gothic portal, flanked with two 
 massive towers : the one beautifully tufted with 
 ivy, the second so entirely covered, that not a 
 single stone is visible. At a small distance, on 
 the right, appears a third tower, lower in height, 
 almost wholly ivyless, and with its machicolated 
 
 m2 
 
124 THE WYE. 
 
 summit, presenting a highly picturesque appear- 
 ance. The porch, which still contains the 
 grooves for two portcullises, leads into the first 
 court, once paved, but now covered with turf, 
 and sprinkled with shrubs. The eastern and 
 northern sides contained a range of culinary 
 offices, of which the kitchen is remarkable for 
 the size of the fire-place ; the southern side 
 seems to have formed a grand suite of apart- 
 ments, and the great bow window of the hall, at 
 the south-western extremity of the court, is 
 finely canopied with ivy. The stately hall 
 which divides the tw6 courts, and seems to have 
 been built in the days of queen Elizabeth, con- 
 tains the vestiges of ancient hospitality and 
 splendour : the ceiling is fallen down, but the 
 walls still remain ; it is sixty feet in length, 
 twenty-seven in breadth, and was the great ban- 
 queting-room of the castle. At the extremity 
 are placed the arms of the first marquis of Wor- 
 cester, sculptured in stone, and surrounded with 
 the garter: underneath is the family motto, 
 which fully marks the character of the noble 
 proprietor, who defended the castle with such 
 spirit from the parliamentary army: ' Mutare 
 
RAGLAN CASTLE. 125 
 
 vel timere sperno ;' ' I scorn either to change or 
 to fear.' The fire-place deserves to be noticed 
 for its remarkable size, and the singular struc- 
 ture of the chimney. The hall is occasionally 
 used as a fives court. 
 
 " To the north of the hall are ranges of 
 offices, which appear to have been butteries ; be- 
 yond are the traces of splendid apartments. In 
 the walls above I observed two chimney-pieces, 
 in high preservation, neatly ornamented with a 
 light frieze and cornice : the stone frames of the 
 windows are likewise in many parts, particularly 
 in the south front, distinguished with mouldings 
 and other decorations, which Mr. Windham 
 justly observes, would not be considered inele- 
 gant, even at present. 
 
 " The western door of the hall led into the 
 chapel, which is now dilapidated ; but its situa- 
 tion is marked by some of the flying columns, 
 rising from grotesque heads, which supported 
 the roof. At the upper end are two rude whole- 
 length figures, in stone, several yards above the 
 ground, recently discovered by Mr. Heath, un- 
 der the thick clusters of ivy. Beyond the foun- 
 dations of the chapel is the area of the second 
 
 M 3 
 
126 THE WYE. 
 
 court, skirted with a range of buildings, which, 
 at the time of the siege, formed the barracks of 
 the garrison. Not the smallest traces remain of 
 the marble fountain, which once occupied the 
 .centre of the area, and was ornamented with the 
 statue of a white horse. 
 
 " Most of the apartments of this splendid 
 abode were of grand dimensions, and the com- 
 munications easy and convenient. The strength 
 of the walls is still so great, that if the parts still 
 standing were roofed and floored, it might even 
 now be formed into a magnificent and commo- 
 dious habitation." 
 
 The fountain mentioned above was called the 
 White Horse, from the figure from which the 
 water played. In a note supplied by Dr. Griffin 
 to Williams's History of Monmouthshire, it is 
 said that the people who showed the ruins used 
 to exhibit part of the body of a black horse which 
 stood in the middle of the water which supplied 
 the castle. The cause of the change of colour 
 was that during the siege the parliamentarians 
 poisoned the fountain ! The horse, it seems, 
 absorbed the fatal drug, and not only became 
 black, but when struck by any hard substance, 
 emitted a fetid smell. 
 
THE HERBERTS. 127 
 
 It is difficult to trace the early history of the 
 castle, from the contradictory accounts given of 
 it by Dugdale ; but in the time of Henry V. 
 the proprietor was Sir William ap Thomas, 
 second son of Sir Thomas ap Guillim, from 
 whom the earls of Pembroke, Powis, and Caer- 
 narvon are descended in the male, and the dukes 
 of Beaufort in the female line. William, the 
 eldest son of this Sir William, was created by 
 Edward IV. lord of Raglan, Chepstow, and 
 Gower ; and, in obedience to the royal command, 
 he discontinued the Welsh custom of changing 
 the surname at every descent, and took Herbert 
 as his family name, in honour of his ancestor Her- 
 bert Fitzhenry, chamberlain to Henry I. Richard 
 was for some time detained at Raglan in the cus- 
 tody of lord Herbert, who was a distinguished 
 partisan of the house of York, and who at length 
 died on the scaffold, at Banbury, in this cause, 
 having previously been created earl of Pembroke. 
 His son, by the desire of Edward IV., yielded 
 this title to the Prince of Wales; and, dying 
 without male issue, the castle of Raglan, and 
 many other noble possessions devolved upon his 
 daughter Elizabeth. The heiress married Sir 
 
128 THE WYE. 
 
 Charles Somerset, natural son of the duke of 
 Somerset, who lost his head in 1463 for his de- 
 votion to the house of Lancaster ; and he, a 
 brave soldier, a prudent statesman, and an ac- 
 complished courtier, was created by Henry VIII., 
 for his services, earl of Worcester. 
 
 It is probable that the castle of Raglan, owed 
 a great part of its magnificence to him. In the 
 following reign, it is thus mentioned in the 
 Worthines of Wales. 
 
 Not far from thence, a famous castle fine, 
 That Raggland hight, stands moted almost round, 
 IMade of freestone, upright, straight as line. 
 Whose workmanship in heauty doth abound. 
 
 ' The curious knots, wrought all with edged toole. 
 The stately tower that looks ore pond and poole, 
 The fountain trim, that runs both day and night, 
 Doth yield in showe a rare and noble sight." 
 
 Four earls of Worcester held almost royal 
 state in this princely abode; but the fifth earl 
 and first marquis was destined to witness its fall. 
 He was one of the most devoted friends of 
 
BRILLIAMT EXPLOIT. 129 
 
 Charles I. ; and may be said to have defended 
 not only his own mansion but all Monmouthshire 
 from the parliamentary arms. 
 
 The defeat of the royal army at Marston 
 Moor was the signal for the fall of Monmouth 
 and of Raglan Castle. Prince Rupert immedi- 
 ately directed his attention to the marches of 
 Wales, and ordered colonel Gerard to force his 
 way through Gloucestershire by the Aust pas- 
 sage : but the latter was opposed by Massey, 
 and defeated. Monmouth soon after fell into 
 the hands of Massey by the treachery of Kirle, 
 lieutenant-colonel to Holtby, governor of the 
 town for Charles ; and lord Worcester at Raglan, 
 in great alarm, demanded the assistance of prince 
 Rupert's cavalry. 
 
 Throgmorton, on whom the command of 
 Monmouth devolved, set out with a party of 
 three hundred horse to surprise the castle of 
 Chepstow, and in his absence the following 
 brilliant exploit was performed by the royahsts, 
 which we give in the words of Sanderson. 
 " The cavaliers from Ragland and Godridg, 
 about break of day, lodg themselves undiscovered 
 behind a rising ground near Monmouth, and 
 
130 THE WYE. 
 
 viewing all advantages, fourty of them come up 
 to the higher side of the town towards Hereford, 
 having a sloping bank cast up of good height, 
 with a ditch, over which they pass, mount the 
 bank, and climbed over, and so got to the next 
 part, fell upon the guard, some killed, other fled, 
 and with an iron bar break the post chain, force 
 the gate, and open it to the horse, who ride up 
 with full career to the main guard, seized them, 
 and took the rest in their beds, with colonel 
 Broughton, four captains, as many lieutenants 
 and ensigns, the committee, all the common 
 souldiers, two hundred prisoners, two sakers, a 
 drake, nine hammerguns, ammunition and provi- 
 sion, and five hundred muskets." 
 
 But the fate of the war was now determined, 
 and after the battle of Naseby Charles was un- 
 able to meet the parliamentarians in a general 
 engagement, and retired to the castle of Raglan. 
 Thence he secretly departed to commit himself 
 to the Scottish army ; and the marquis of .Wor- 
 cester was besieged at Raglan for six months. 
 The old lord, who was then eighty-four years of 
 age, on hearing of the landing of his son lord 
 Glamorgan with some Irish forces, sent the fol- 
 
OLD LORD OF RAGLAN. 131 
 
 lowing bold letter to the parliamentarian com- 
 mittee at Chepstow. 
 
 " Having notice that you are not ignorant of 
 my son's landing with the Irish forces, I am so 
 much of a father, and tender of the whole coun- 
 try's ruin, that if this coming to this place be 
 hasted by the occasion of your answer, you and 
 not I will be the occasion of the country's 
 curse. You have taken from me my rents and 
 livelihood, for which if you give unbelied re- 
 parations, I shall be glad to live a quiet neigh- 
 bour amongst you ; if otherwise, you will force 
 me to what my own nature hath no liking of, and 
 yet justifiable by the word of God, and law of 
 nature. I expect your answer by the messenger, 
 as you give occasion. 
 
 " H. Worcester. 
 
 " Raglan, May 29, 1646." 
 
 This brought on a long and fruitless negotia- 
 tion. The old lord saw that even the master of 
 Raglan was not the master of circumstances ; 
 and, at length, it was agreed that the castle 
 should be delivered up. " Nobly done," says 
 Sanderson, " to hold out the last garrison for 
 
132 THE WYE. 
 
 the king in England or Wales." In the articles 
 of surrender, however, the soldierly honour of 
 the marquis was spared as much as possible, it 
 being agreed "that all the officers, gentlemen, and 
 soldiers, with all other persons there, should 
 march out with their horses and arms, colours 
 flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, matches 
 lighted at both ends, bullets in mouth, each 
 soldier twelve charges of powder, matches and 
 bullets proportionable, bag and baggage, to any 
 place within two miles of any garrison where the 
 marquis shall mention." 
 
 Soon after this surrender, the castle was de- 
 molished, and the timber cut down in the parks, 
 the loss to the family, in personal property, with- 
 out including the forfeiture and an estate of 
 twenty thousand pounds a year, being estimated 
 at upwards of a hundred thousand pounds. The 
 Chase of Wentwood, including Chepstow Castle 
 and Park, was immediately bestowed upon Oliver 
 Cromwell; who appears also to refer, in the 
 settlements upon his family to other estates in 
 Monmouthshire, parcels of the noble property of 
 the marquis of Worcester. 
 
 In a publication of that day, entitled " Witty 
 
KING CHARLES AND HIS HOST. 133 
 
 Apothegms delivered at several times, and on 
 several occasions, by king James I., king Charles 
 I., and the marquis of Worcester," several anec- 
 dotes are given which throw a strong light 
 upon the character of this fine old lord of 
 Raglan. 
 
 " In the midst of the civil commotions, Charles 
 I. made several visits to Raglan Castle, and was 
 entertained with becoming magnificence. The 
 marquis not only declined all offers of remunera- 
 tion, but also advanced large sums ; and when 
 the king thanked him for the loans, replied, 
 Sir, I had your word for the money, but I never 
 thought I should be so soon repayed ; for now 
 you have given me thanks, I have all I looked 
 for." At another time, the king, apprehensive 
 lest the stores of the garrison should be con- 
 sumed by his suite, empowered him to exact 
 from the country such provisions as were neces- 
 sary for his maintainance and recruit, " I hum- 
 bly thank your majesty," he said, "but my castle 
 will not stand long if it leans on the country ; 
 I had rather be brought to a morsel of bread, 
 than any morsels of bread should be brought 
 me to entertain your majesty." 
 
 N 
 
134) THE WYE. 
 
 The following conversation shows the amiable 
 weakness of Charles's humanity. 
 
 Sir Trevor Williams, and four other principal 
 gentlemen of Monmouthshire, being arrested for 
 disloyalty, and conducted to Abergavenny, the 
 king was advised to order them to an immediate 
 trial, which must have ended in their conviction; 
 but Charles, moved by the tears and protestations 
 of Trevor Williams, suffered him to be released, 
 on bail, and committed the others only to a 
 temporary confinement. " The king told the 
 marquess what he had done, and that when he 
 saw them speak so honestly, he could not but 
 give some credit to their words, so seconded by 
 tears, and withal told the marquess that he had 
 onely sent them to prison ; whereupon the mar- 
 quess said, what to do ? to poyson that garrison ? 
 Sir, you should have done well to have heard 
 their accusations, and then to have shewn what 
 mercy you pleased. The king told him, that he 
 heard that they were accused by some contrary 
 faction, as to themselves, who, out of distaste 
 they bore to one another on old grudges, would 
 be apt to charge them more home than the nature 
 of their offences had deserved; to whom the mar- 
 
THE PIGEONS OF RAGLAN. 135 
 
 quess made this return, Well, Sir, you may chance 
 to gain the kingdom of heaven by such doings 
 as these, but if you ever get the kingdom of 
 England by such ways, I will be your bondman." 
 
 Another conversation between the marquis and 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax is worth relating. 
 
 " After much conference between the marquess 
 and General Fairfax, wherein many things were 
 requested of the general by the marquess, and 
 being, as he thought himself, happy in the attain- 
 ment, his lordship was pleased to make a merry 
 petition to the general as he was taking his 
 leave, viz. in behalf of a couple of pigeons, who 
 were wont to come to his hand, and feed out of 
 it constantly, in whose behalf he desired the 
 general that he would be pleased to give him his 
 protection for them, fearing the little command 
 that he should have over his soldiers in that 
 behalf. To which the general said, I am glad 
 to see your lordship so merry. Oh, said the 
 marquess, you have given me no other cause, 
 and hasty as you are, you shall not go untill I 
 have told you a story. 
 
 " There were two men going up Holborn in 
 a cart to be hanged; one of them being very 
 
 N 2 
 
136 THE WYE. 
 
 merry and jocund, gave offence to the other who 
 was sad and dejected, insomuch that the down- 
 cast man said unto the other, I wonder, brother, 
 that you can be so frolic, considering the busi- 
 ness we are going about. Tush, answered the 
 other, thou art a fool ; thou wentest a thieving, 
 and never thought what would become of thee, 
 wherefore being on a sudden surprised, thou 
 fallest into such a shaking fit, that I am ashamed 
 to see thee in that condition : whereas I was 
 resolved to be hanged, before ever I fell to 
 stealing, which is the reason nothing happenning 
 strange or unexpected, I go so composed unto 
 my death. So, said the marquess, I resolved to 
 undergo whatsoever, even the worst of evils that 
 you are able to lay upon me, before I took up 
 arms for my sovereign, and therefore wonder not 
 that I am so merry." 
 
 " In the correspondence with Fairfax," says 
 the author of the Historical Tour, "which pre- 
 ceded the capitulation, the marquis of Worcester 
 seems to have strongly suspected that the par- 
 liament would not adhere to the conditions. His 
 apprehensions were not groundless, for on his 
 arrival in London he was committed to the cus- 
 
DEATH OF THE OLD LORD. 137 
 
 tody of the Black Rod. He bitterly complained 
 of this cruel usage, and deeply regretted that he 
 had trusted himself to the mercy of the parha- 
 ment. A few hours before his death, he said to 
 Dr. Bayley, If to seize upon all my goods, to pull 
 down my house, to fell my estate, and send up 
 for such a weak body as mine was, so enfeebled 
 by disease, in the dead of winter, in the winter 
 of mine age, be merciful, what are they whose 
 mercies are so cruel ? Neither do I expect that 
 they should stop at all this, for I fear they will 
 persecute me after death. 
 
 " Being informed, however, that parliament 
 would permit him to be buried in his family 
 vault, in Windsor Chapel ; he cried out, with 
 great sprightliness of manner. Why, God bless 
 us all, why then I shall have a better castle 
 when I am dead, than they took from me whilst 
 I was alive. With so much cheerfulness and 
 resignation did this hero expire, in the eighty- 
 fifth year of his age." 
 
 The second marquis was the author of that 
 puzzling " Century of the Names and Scantlings 
 of such Inventions as I can at present call to 
 mind to have tried and perfected." 
 
 N 3 
 
138 THE WYE. 
 
 "It appears," we are told, "from a passage 
 in the Experimental Philosophy of Dr. Desagu- 
 liers, that Captain Savary derived his invention 
 of the fire engine, since called the steam engine, 
 from the 68th article in the Century of Scant- 
 lings; and that to conceal his original he bought 
 up all the marquis's books, and burnt them." 
 The following is the " scantling." 
 
 " An admirable and most forcible way to drive 
 up water by fire, not by drawing or sucking it 
 upwards, for that must be, as the philosopher call- 
 eth it, intra sphceram activitatis, which is at but 
 such a distance. But this way hath no bounder, 
 if the vessels be strong enough ; for I have taken 
 a piece of a whole cannon, whereof the end was 
 burst, and filled it three quarters full of water, 
 stopping and screwing up the broken end, as 
 also the touch-hole, and making a constant fire 
 under it, within twenty-four hours it burst, and 
 made a great crack ; so that having a way to 
 make my vessels that they are strengthened by 
 the force within them, and the one to fill after 
 the other, I have seen the water run like a con- 
 stant fountain stream forty feet high ; one vessel 
 of water, rarified by fire, drives up forty feet of 
 
ORIGIN OF THE STEAM ENGINE. 139 
 
 cold water. And a man that attends the work 
 has but to turn two cocks, that one vessel of 
 water being consumed, another begins to force 
 and refit with cold water, and so successfully, 
 the fire being tended and kept constant, with the 
 self-same person may likewise abundantly per- 
 form in the interim between the necessity of 
 turning the said cocks." 
 
 We now renew our onward course, but with 
 many a lingering look at " delightsome Mon- 
 mouth." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Troy House — Anecdote — Antique custom — Village Churches of 
 Monmouthshire — White-washing — The bard — Strewing graves 
 with flowers — St. Briavels' Castle — Llandogo — Change in the 
 character of the river — The Druid of the Wye — Wordsworth's 
 " Lines composed above Tintefn Abbey." 
 
 Just below Monmouth the Wye forms a sharp 
 curve, the apex of which is met by the Monnow 
 and the Trothy, in such a way that these two 
 streams, tending to nearly the same point, but 
 coming from different directions, and the two sides 
 of the Wye curve, make the place resemble the 
 meeting of four roads. We have already seen how 
 interesting the Monnow is ; the Trothy, which 
 passes White Castle, and has its source in the 
 mountains near the Great Skyrrid, is hardly less 
 so ; the Wye we have followed from the summit 
 
TROY HOUSE. 141 
 
 of Plinlimmon, through a tract of mingled beauty 
 and grandeur, unrivalled in England ; and we 
 are now about to trace its course to the monastic 
 ruins of Tintern, and through the fairy land of 
 Piercefield to its destined bourne, the Severn. 
 
 The banks are at first low, and the country 
 laid out in level meadows, framed in at a short 
 distance by swelling hills. Troy House is the 
 first object that arrests our attention in front by 
 its sombre woods. In the reign of James I. it 
 was the property of Sir Charles Somerset, the 
 brother of the gallant defender of Raglan Castle, 
 between whom and Charles I. a conversation re- 
 lating to Troy House took place, which is thus 
 reported in the " Apothegms." 
 
 "Sir Thomas Somerset, brother to the mar- 
 quis of Worcester, had a house which was call- 
 ed Troy, five miles from Ragland Castle. This 
 Sir Thomas, being a complete gentleman, de- 
 lighted much in fine gardens and orchards, where, 
 by the benefit of art, the earth was made so 
 gratefull to him at the same time that the king 
 (Charles the first) happened to be at his brother's 
 house, that it yielded him wherewithal to send 
 him a present ; and such a one as (the times 
 
142 THE WYE. 
 
 and seasons considered) was able to make the 
 king believe that the sovereign of the planets had 
 now changed the poles, and that Wales (the 
 refuse and outcast of the fair garden of England) 
 had fairer and riper fruit than England's bowels 
 had on all her beds. This present, given to the 
 marquis, he would not suffer to be presented to 
 the king by any other hand than his own. 
 ' Here I present you, sir,' said the marquis, 
 (placing his dishes on the table) ' with that which 
 came not from Lincoln that was, nor from Lon- 
 don that is, nor from York that is to be, but 
 from Troy.' Whereupon the king smiled, and 
 answered the marquis, ' Truly, ray lord, I have 
 heard that corn grows where Troy town stood, 
 but I never thought there had grown any apri- 
 cots before.' " 
 
 Some articles said to be relics of Henry V. 
 are preserved here : the bed in which he was 
 born, the cradle in which he was rocked, and the 
 armour in which he fought at Agincourt. There 
 is also a carved oak chimney-piece from Raglan 
 Castle. 
 
 Soon the hills approach nearer, and, covered 
 with rich foliage, sweep down more suddenly 
 
ANTIQUE CUSTOM. 143 
 
 towards the river. On the right bank is Penalt 
 church, standing on a wooded eminence ; and be- 
 hind it, an extensive common distinguished for 
 a superstitious custom, derived, as is supposed, 
 from the days of the druids. When a funeral 
 passed that way, the cortege stopped at an oak 
 tree, and placed the corpse on a stone seat at its 
 foot. The company than sang a psalm, and re- 
 sumed their procession. It may be remarked 
 that wherever an old oak tree is found in this 
 part of the country, in an insulated or otherwise 
 remarkable situation, there is sure to be con- 
 nected with it some religious tradition, or some 
 observance whose origin is lost in antiquity 
 The churches are usually an interesting feature 
 in the landscape, for it would seem as if their 
 founders had sought purposely out for them soli- 
 tary places, by the banks of rivers or in the 
 midst of groves or fields. In general they are 
 exceedingly simple in appearance, many having 
 the marks of great antiquity, and almost all being 
 whitewashed from top to bottom. An antiquary 
 has ingeniously accounted for this peculiarity, 
 by the custom the Normans had of constructing 
 even large buildings of pebbles and rag-stone. 
 
144 THE WYE. 
 
 which obliged them to cover the inequahties, 
 outside and inside, by a coat of lime and sand. 
 However this may be, the effect is not unpleas- 
 ing; more especially when the rural temple, as 
 is frequently the case, is shaped like a barn, and 
 without a belfry. Such churches, more es- 
 pecially in the mountainous districts, still present 
 the rounded arches, and other peculiarities, 
 which denote that their rude walls were raised 
 by our Saxon ancestors, if not by the ancient 
 Britons themselves. 
 
 We find the white walls, so common in Wales, 
 alluded to as a poetical circumstance by one of 
 the bards of the fourteenth century, in a piece of 
 considerable beauty ; and in the succeeding pa- 
 ragraph there is an allusion to another Welsh 
 custom, of more classical authority, that of strew- 
 ing the graves of the dead with flowers. The 
 poem is an invocation to summer, to shed its 
 blessings over the country of Gwent. The fol- 
 lowing is the paragraph referred to, with the 
 second allusion, terminating the ode by an 
 abrupt and pathetic transition. 
 
 " If I obtain thee, O summer, in thy splen- 
 did hour, with thy fair growth and thy sporting 
 
THE BARD. 145 
 
 gems ; thy serenity pleasantly bear, thou golden 
 messenger, to Morganoc. With sunshine morn 
 gladden thou the place, and greet the whitened 
 houses ; give growth, give the first fruits of the 
 spring, and collect thou blossoms to the bushes ; 
 shine proudly on the wall of lime, full as light 
 and gaily bright; leave there in the vale thy 
 footsteps in juicy herbage, in fresh attire ; diffuse 
 a load of delicious fruits, in bounteous course 
 among its woods ; give thy crop like a stream 
 over every lawn, the meadows, and the land of 
 wheat ; clothe the orchard, the vineyard, and the 
 garden, with thy abundance and thy teeming 
 harvest ; and scatter over its fair soil the lovely 
 marks of thy glorious course ! 
 
 " And oh ! whilst thy season of flowers, and 
 thy tender sprays thick of leaves remain ; I will 
 pluck the roses from the branches ; the flowerets 
 of the meads, and gems of the woods ; the vivid 
 trefoils, beauties of the ground, and the gaily 
 smiling bloom of the verdant herbs, to be offered 
 to the memory of a chief of favorite fame: 
 Humbly I will lay them on the grave of Ivor!" 
 
 The Ivor here alluded to was Ivor Hael, or 
 the Generous, an ancestor of the Tredgear family 
 
 o 
 
146 THE WYE. 
 
 of Morgans, whose pedigree is traced by the 
 Welsh bards from the third son of Noah. The 
 poet David, ap Gwillim, styled the Welsh Ovid, 
 loved a lady of the name of Morvid, in whose 
 praise his prolific muse produced no fewer than 
 a hundred and forty-seven poems. A rich 
 rival, however, gained the unwilling prize; and 
 the son of song consoled himself by carrying off 
 his lost mistress on two several occasions, when 
 her husband, Rhys Gwgan, was with the army 
 in France, where he served in the rank of cap- 
 tain at the battle of Crecy. For both these 
 offences he was fined and imprisoned, and in 
 both instances liberated by the gentlemen of 
 Gwent, who came forward in a body in favour of 
 their darling bard. The above extract is taken 
 from one of two poems which he wrote in testi- 
 mony of his gratitude. It may be added, that 
 when flowers are planted on graves, it was, and 
 we believe is the custom to surround the area with 
 stones, which are periodically whitewashed. 
 
 On the bank opposite Penalt, or a little fur- 
 ther down, is Redbrook, upper and lower, the 
 one standing above the other on the hill side. 
 The stream from which they derive this name 
 
ST. BRIAVELS' CASTLE. 147 
 
 separates Monmouthshire from Gloucestershire, 
 and the Wye then continues the boundary. The 
 brook, also, serves the purpose of turning the 
 wheels of some iron and tin works ; but without 
 vulgarising any more than such accidents have 
 done heretofore, the scenic romance of the river. 
 Wye Seal House comes next, on the same side 
 of the river, with the hamlet of Whitebrook and 
 its paper-mills on the opposite bank. Then 
 Pan-y-van hill, and the ruins of the old manor- 
 house of Pilton — then an iron bridge over the 
 Wye, and then Big's-weir House, and its sur- 
 rounding grove, with Hudknolls behind, and 
 the ruins of St. Briavels' Castle on their 
 summit. 
 
 This fortress stands in the forest of Dean, and 
 dates from the reign of Henry I., when it was 
 founded by Milo, earl of Hereford, for the resi- 
 dence and defence of some of the lords-marchers. 
 St. Briavels, formerly a place of some import- 
 ance, is now a village. Its inhabitants enjoyed 
 several singular immunities which are now obso- 
 lete ; but they have still a right of common in 
 Hudknolls wood, a tract of land on the banks of 
 the Wye seven miles long. They are supposed to 
 
 o 2 
 
148 THE WYE. 
 
 enjoy the privilege through the performance of 
 a strange ceremony on Whit-sunday. Each in- 
 habitant pays twopence to the churchwardens, 
 who buy bread and cheese with the fund, which 
 they cut into small pieces, and distribute to the 
 congregation immediately after the service is 
 ended, in the midst of a general scramble. They 
 are also allowed to cut wood, but not timber, in 
 any part of the forest. It is said that a countess 
 of Hereford procured for them their privileges 
 by the performance of a feat similar to that of 
 the Lady Godiva. 
 
 St. Briavels' Castle was erected by Milo St, 
 Walter, earl of Hereford, in the time of Henry 
 I., as a barrier against the Welsh. Two circular 
 towers alone remain entire with a narrow gate- 
 way between, composing the north-west front. 
 They contain several apartments, the walls of 
 which are eight feet thick. One is used as 
 a prison for the hundred. In the interior 
 are two other similar gateways, on the right 
 and left of which are the remains of spacious 
 rooms. 
 
 The governor of St. Briavels — for it became 
 a royal fortress after the Hereford family had 
 
LLANDOGO. 149 
 
 possessed it for about a century — had formerly 
 jurisdiction over the forest of Dean ; and it is 
 recorded, that in his court the miners were 
 sworn upon a branch of holly instead of the 
 testament, lest the holy book should be defiled 
 by their fingers. 
 
 We now enter a long reach of the river, with 
 Tiddenhara Chase Hill rising boldly in front ; 
 till Llandogo appears, a beautiful little village on 
 the right bank, seated on a hill side in the midst 
 of gardens and orchards, and with its small 
 church near the edge of the water, peeping 
 through the trees. This is a scene of quiet 
 beauty, which after the massive forms we have 
 passed, we term prettyness. Whatever be its 
 proper name, however, in the pedantry of taste, 
 it is not surpassed on the Wye in its own kind. 
 It is unfortunate, nevertheless, that at this spot 
 an unfavourable change should be observed in 
 the river — although only in the river considered 
 as a volume of water, and not taken in conjunc- 
 tion with its scenery. Here the Wye becomes 
 a tide stream, acted upon by the ebb and flow of 
 the Severn sea ; and in consequence, it is hence- 
 forward habitually turbid, and no longer a cur- 
 
 o 3 
 
150 THE WYE. 
 
 rent of pure element, subject only to the influence 
 of rains and freshes. 
 
 This circumstance has also its effect upon the 
 moral character of the river. Large barges are 
 floated up by the tide to Brook Weir, a little 
 lower down, which is midway between Mon- 
 mouth and Chepstow, or nine miles from each ; 
 and there they receive the merchandise brought 
 thither in small inland vessels from the upper 
 part of the Wye. Our romantic stream, therefore, 
 whose outlines hitherto have been broken only 
 by the smokes of furnaces hidden among the 
 trees, and whose still life has been varied only 
 by the corracles of the ancient Britons, and other 
 inland craft that never dreamt of the breezes of 
 the salt sea, becomes now a small highway of 
 trade, a sort of water lane by which the corn, 
 and hoops, and fagots, and other productions of 
 the interior are conveyed to Bristol. But even 
 the coasting barge, with her blackened sails, and 
 sixty tons of cargo, is not here " a jarring and a 
 dissonant thing." Creeping with the tide along 
 those solemn banks, she acquires a portion of 
 their solemnity ; floating silently through those 
 pastoral vales, she is invested, for the time being, 
 
DRUID OF THE WYE. 151 
 
 with their simplicity. Her characteristics are 
 swallowed up in the character of the river — the 
 spell of the Wye is upon her ! 
 
 If you doubt the fact, let us wander on 
 but a little further ; let us turn the point of 
 Lyn Weir, and, looking along the reach beyond, 
 inquire with what vulgarised ideas, with what 
 broken associations, we find ourselves gliding 
 into the region of Tintern ! Near this spot, the 
 great Druid of the Wye, the poet of nature 
 internal and external, produced a poem which 
 in all probability will be read, either with tears 
 or smiles of delight, long after the works of man 
 shall have completely obliterated those features 
 of the grand, the beautiful, the simple, and sub- 
 lime, to which it is our humble task to point the 
 finger. 
 
 ' Five years have past, five summers, with the length 
 Of five long winters ! and again I hear 
 These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs 
 With a sweet inland murmur.— Once again 
 Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, 
 That on a wild secluded scene impress 
 Thoughts of more deep seclusion ; and connect 
 The landscape with the quiet of the sky. 
 The day is come when I again repose 
 
152 THE WYE. 
 
 Here, under this dark sycamore, and view 
 These plots of cottage ground, these orchard tufts, 
 Which, at this season, with their unripe fruits. 
 Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves 
 Among the woods and copses, nor disturb 
 The wild green landscape. Once again I see 
 These hedgerows, hardly hedgerows, little lines 
 Of sportive wood run wild : these pastoral farms, 
 Green to the very doors, and wreaths of smoke 
 Sent up, in silence, from among the trees ; 
 With some uncertain notice, as might seem 
 Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods. 
 Or of some hermit's cave, where, by his fire, 
 The hermit sits alone. 
 
 " These beauteous forms. 
 Through a long absence, have not been to me 
 As is a landscape to a bUnd man's ej^e : 
 But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din 
 Of towns and cities, I have owed to them. 
 In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, 
 Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart ; 
 And passing even into my purer mind, 
 With tranquil restoration : — feelings too 
 Of unremembered pleasure : such, perhaps. 
 As have no slight or trivial influence 
 On that best portion of a good man's life, 
 His little, nameless, unremembered acts 
 Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust. 
 To them I may have owed another gift. 
 Of aspect more sublime ; that blessed mood 
 In which the burden of the mystery 
 In which the heavy and the weary weight 
 Of aU this unintelligible world 
 
A poet's musings. 153 
 
 Is lightened : — that serene and blessed mood, 
 In which the affections gently lead us on, 
 Until, the breath of this corporeal frame 
 And even the motion of our human blood 
 Almost suspended, we are laid asleep 
 In body, and become a living soul : 
 While with an eye made quiet by the power 
 Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, 
 "We see into the life of things. 
 
 " If this 
 Be but a vain belief, yet, oh ! how oft, 
 In darkness and amid the many shapes 
 Of joyless daylight, when the fretful stir 
 Unprofitable, and the fever of the world 
 Have hung upon the beatings of my heart ; 
 How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, 
 O sylvan Wye ! Thou wanderer through the woods. 
 How often has my spirit turned to thee. 
 
 • And now with gleams of half extinguished thought, 
 With many recognitions dim and faint. 
 And somewhat of a sad perplexity. 
 The picture of the mind revives again. 
 While here I stand, not only with the sense 
 Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts 
 That in this moment, there is life and food 
 For future years, and so I dare to hope. 
 Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first 
 I came among these hills ; when like a roe 
 I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides 
 Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams. 
 Wherever nature led : more like a man 
 
154 THE WYE. 
 
 Flying from something that he dreads, than one 
 
 Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then 
 
 (The coarser pleasures of my boyish days, 
 
 And their glad animal movements all gone by) 
 
 To me was all in all. — I cannot paint 
 
 What then I was. The sounding cataract 
 
 Haunted me like a passion : the tall rock, 
 
 The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, 
 
 Their colours and their forms, were then to me 
 
 An appetite ; a feeling and a love 
 
 That had no need of a remoter charm, 
 
 By thought supplied, nor any interest 
 
 Unborrowed from the eye. — That time is past. 
 
 And all its aching joys are now no more, 
 
 And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this 
 
 Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur ; other gifts 
 
 Have followed ; for such loss, I would believe. 
 
 Abundant reconapense. For I have learned 
 
 To look on nature, not as in the hour 
 
 Of thoughtless youth ; but hearing oftentimes 
 
 The still, sad music of humanity 
 
 Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power 
 
 To chasten and subdue. And I have felt 
 
 A presence that disturbs me with the joy 
 
 Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime 
 
 Of something far more deeply interfused. 
 
 Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 
 
 And the round ocean and the living air, 
 
 And the blue sky, and in the mind of man : 
 
 A motion and a spirit, that impels 
 
 All thinking things, all objects of all thought, 
 
 And roUs 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 
 
NATURE AND THE SOUL. 155 
 
 Of ej'e, and ear, — both what they half create, 
 And what perceive ; well pleased to recognise, 
 In nature and the language of the sense. 
 The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse. 
 The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul 
 Of all my moral being." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 Vales of the Wye — Valley of Tintern — Tintern Abbey — History 
 — Church — Character of the ruin — Site — Coxa's description — 
 Monuments — Insecurity of sepulchral fame — Churchyarde on 
 tombs — Opinions on Tintern — Battle of Tintern. 
 
 The " Lines composed a few miles above Tin- 
 tern Abbey, on revisiting the banks of the Wye 
 during a tour," are justly esteemed one of the 
 masterpieces of modern poetry ; but indepen- 
 dently of this, they belong so peculiarly to the 
 river we are attempting to illustrate, and are 
 associated so intimately with the character of its 
 scenery, and its reputation as a fountain of high 
 thoughts and beautiful feelings, that our volume 
 would have been incomplete without them. It 
 is curious that this piece, which is dated in the 
 
VALES OF THE WYE. 157 
 
 concluding years of the last century, should be 
 the only fruits as yet given to the world of the 
 poetical inspiration of the Wye — for the effusions 
 of Bloomfield are not to be named with those of 
 Wordsworth. 
 
 We have seen that where the picturesque 
 character of the Wye is chiefly formed by its 
 banks, which is the case from Goodrich Castle 
 downwards, these embrace the stream with more 
 or less straitness, rising in naked crags from the 
 water's edge, or throwing their waving woods 
 over the current. At intervals, however, they 
 recede to some little distance from either side ; 
 picturesque hills forming the side-screens, and 
 hills, rocks, and trees terminating the perspective 
 in front, and enclosing the river like a lake. In 
 such cases, the 'bottom is formed by a green 
 pastoral meadow, through which the stream 
 wanders leisurely, as if reposing after former 
 struggles, and preparing for new ones. These 
 lonely vales ai'e not merely secluded from " the 
 hum, the crowd, the shock of men," but from all 
 turbulent thoughts and unholy desires. The world 
 lives in them only in the recollections of dead 
 things, and feelings, and persons. They are 
 
158 THE WYE. 
 
 spots, to use the fine but unappreciated image of 
 Maturin, 
 
 " Where memory lingers o'er the grave of passion, 
 "Watching its tranced sleep ! " 
 
 The admirable taste so unequivocally dis- 
 played by the monks of old; in the selection of 
 sites for their ascetic retreats, could not have 
 overlooked this characteristic of the Wye ; and 
 accordingly we find, in the most beautiful of these 
 delightful nooks, standing on a gently swelling 
 meadow, by the banks of the lake-like river, the 
 finest conventual ruins in England. 
 
 Tintern Abbey, though one of the oldest of 
 the Cistercian communities in this country, was 
 never famous either for its wealth, or the number 
 of its brethren ; and at the dissolution it con- 
 tained only thirteen monks, supported by a rental 
 of between two and three hundred pounds at the 
 highest calculation.* It was founded in 1131 
 by Walter de Clare, and dedicated to the Virgin 
 
 * According to Dugdale, £132. Is. 4d. ; aud Speed, £256. lis. 6d. 
 
TINTERN ABBEY. 159 
 
 Mary ; but the endowments were greatly in- 
 creased by Gilbert de Strongbow, lord of 
 Striguil and Chepstow, and afterwards earl of 
 Pembroke. The religious colony consisted of 
 Cistercians, otherwise called White Monks, in- 
 troduced into England only three years before, 
 where they formed an establishment at Waverley 
 in Surrey. These brethren spread so luxuriantly, 
 however, that in the reign of Henry VITI. there 
 were thirty-six greater, and thirty-nine lesser 
 monasteries, and twenty-six nunneries, of their 
 rule. 
 
 The founder of the church was Roger Bigod, 
 earl of Norfolk ; and it would appear that the 
 choir was finished and consecrated before the 
 rest of the building was complete, a circumstance 
 not unusual at that time. The consecration took 
 place in 1^68; and in the body of the church 
 the architecture is of a style long subsequent. 
 The remains of the church are now the only 
 interesting parts of the ruin, at least as a pic- 
 ture : and they are in fact what is called " Tin- 
 tern Abbey ;" although there are still fragments 
 remaining here and there of the other parts of the 
 pile. The church was built in the regular cathe- 
 
 p 2 
 
160 THE WYE. 
 
 dral form ; with a nave, north and south aisles, 
 transept and choir, and a tower which stood in 
 the centre. 
 
 Complete as the demolition is, there are at 
 least vestiges, even in the most ruinous parts, 
 which explain the original form, and even most 
 of the details of the edifice. The very effects of 
 time, as may be well supposed, are here among 
 the principal advantages. The broken outlines, 
 the isolated columns, the roofless walls, are all 
 adjuncts of the picturesque ; but added to these, 
 there are the curtains, the canopies, the chap- 
 lets, coronals, festoons, of ivy, mosses and 
 lichens, which give as much effect to a ruin, as 
 rich draperies do to naked walls. 
 
 The tiles which formed the flooring have been 
 removed, and a carpet of smooth turf laid down, 
 on which fragments of columns, monuments, 
 statues, and sculptures are scattered. This of 
 course is not entirely the doing of time ; but art 
 is not displayed obtrusively enough to offend. 
 A ruined edifice, it should be observed, although 
 this is frequently forgotten by critics, is a work 
 of man and nature conjointly ; and the traces, 
 therefore, of taste or ingenuity are not to be 
 
_/^^ 
 
 loDfiaa rnmilMa fcT ihi! Uropriimr, -by L3ngr«ii 
 
 Sc C^ PalBmDmBT Ei3^. 
 
DECEITFULNESS OF THE RUIN. 161 
 
 condemned, as if these were exercised in shaping 
 a clifF or amending a cataract. 
 
 Gilpin describes Tintern Abbey as occupying 
 "a great eminence, in the middle of a circular 
 valley;" and another author declares its site, 
 somewhat tautologically, to be di flat plain ; to 
 which some idle person has taken the liberty of 
 appending this marginal note, in the copy of the 
 work in the British Museum — " Flat plain in- 
 deed ! It is situated just at the brow of a richly 
 wooded hill ! " The truth is, that the ruin itself 
 is not to be entirely depended upon, as it con- 
 trives to assume a different appearance even in 
 respect of position, at every turn. Viewed from 
 a short distance down the river, it actually looks 
 as if standing on an eminence ; but on a nearer 
 approach, we find it in reality not greatly elevated 
 above line of the water. It is in fact built at the 
 bottom of the valley, in a spot chosen apparently 
 for solitude and meditation. The solitude, how- 
 ever, it must be confessed is not now so complete 
 as one would wish. The inhabitants of the 
 monastery, it is true, have vanished, but their 
 places have been supplied by poor cottagers, 
 who hide their misery in the very cells of the 
 
 p 3 
 
162 THE WYE. 
 
 monks ; and, if this were not enough, fragments 
 of the ruin have been broken up, or unearthed; 
 for the construction of other hovels. In the 
 following description will be found the opinions 
 on this remarkable scene of archdeacon Coxe, 
 who, together with the less correct, but more 
 artistical Gilpin, have been hitherto the only 
 recognised authorities of the Wye. 
 
 " We disembarked about half a mile above 
 the village of Tintern, and followed the sinuous 
 course of the Wye. As we advanced to the vil- 
 lage, we passed some picturesque ruins hanging 
 oyer the edge of the water, which are supposed 
 to have formed part of the abbot's villa, and 
 other buildings occupied by the monks ; some of 
 these remains are converted into dwellings and 
 cottages, others are interspersed among the iron 
 founderies and habitations. 
 
 "The first appearance of the celebrated re- 
 mains of the abbey church did not equal my 
 expectations, as they are half-concealed by mean 
 buildings, and the triangular shape of the gable 
 ends has a formal appearance. 
 
 " After passing a miserable row of cottages, 
 and forcing our way through a crowd of impor- 
 
coxe's description. 163 
 
 tunate beggars, we stopped to examine the rich 
 architecture of the west fronts but the door 
 being suddenly opened, the inside perspec- 
 tive of the church called forth an instanta- 
 neous burst of admiration, and filled me with 
 delight, such as I scarcely ever before expe- 
 rienced on a similar occasion. The eye passes 
 rapidly along a range of elegant gothic pillars, 
 and, glancing under the sublime arches which 
 supported the tower, fixes itself on the splendid 
 relics of the eastern window, the grand termina- 
 tion 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 con- 
 templation of the whole to the examination of 
 the parts, we are no less struck with the regu- 
 larity of the plan, the lightness of the architec- 
 ture, and the delicacy of the ornaments ; we feel 
 that elegance is its characteristic no less than 
 grandeur, and that the whole is a combination 
 of the beautiful and the sublime. 
 
164 THE WYE. 
 
 " The church was constructed in the shape of 
 a cathedral, and is an excellent specimen of 
 gothic architecture in its greatest purity. The 
 roof is fallen in, and the whole ruin open to the 
 sky, but the shell is entire ; all the pillars are 
 standing, except those which divided the nave 
 from the northern aisle, and their situation is 
 marked by the remains of the bases. The four 
 lofty arches which supported the tovrer spring 
 high in the air, reduced to narrow rims of stone, 
 yet still preserving their original form. The 
 arched pillars of the choir and transept are com- 
 plete ; the shapes of all the windows may be 
 still discriminated, and the frame of the west 
 window is in perfect preservation ; the design of 
 the tracery is extremely elegant, and when deco- 
 rated with painted glass must have produced a 
 fine effect. Critics who censure this window as 
 too broad for its height, do not consider that it 
 was not intended for a particular object, but to 
 harmonise with the general plan ; and had the 
 architect diminished the breadth, in proportion 
 to the height, the grand effect of the perspective 
 would have been considerably lessened. 
 
 " The general form of the east window is 
 
DRAPERY OF THE RUINS. 165 
 
 entire, but the frame is much dilapidated ; it 
 occupies the whole breadth of the choir, and is 
 divided into two large and equal compartments, 
 by a slender shaft, not less than fifty feet in 
 height, which has an appearance of singular 
 lightness, and in particular points of view seems 
 suspended in the air. 
 
 " Nature has added her ornaments to the 
 decorations of art; some of the windows are 
 wholly obscured, others partially shaded with 
 tufts of ivy, or edged with lighter foliage ; the 
 tendrils creep along the walls, wind round the 
 pillars, wreath the capitals, or, hanging down in 
 clusters, obscure the space beneath. 
 
 " Instead of dilapidated fragments overspread 
 with weeds and choked with brambles, the floor 
 is covered with a smooth turf, which, by keeping 
 the original level of the church, exhibits the 
 beauty of its proportions, heightens the effect of 
 the gray stone, gives a relief to the clustered 
 pillars, and affords an easy access to every part. 
 Ornamented fragments of the roof, remains of 
 cornices and columns, rich pieces of sculpture, 
 sepulchral stones, and mutilated figures of monks 
 and heroes, whose ashes repose within these 
 
166 THE WYE. 
 
 walls, are scattered on the green sward, and 
 contrast present desolation with former splen- 
 dour. 
 
 "Although the exterior appearance of the 
 ruins is not equal to the inside view, yet in some 
 positions, particularly to the east, they present 
 themselves with considerable effect. While Sir 
 Richard Hoare was employed in sketching the 
 north-western side, I crossed the ferry, and 
 walked down the stream about half a mile. 
 From this point, the ruins, assuming a new 
 character, seem to occupy a gentle eminence, 
 and impend over the river without the interven- 
 tion of a single cottage to obstruct the view. 
 The grand east window, wholly covered with 
 shrubs, and half mantled with ivy, rises like the 
 portal of a majestic edifice embowered in wood. 
 Through this opening and along the vista of the 
 church, the clusters of ivy, which twine round 
 the pillars or hang suspended from the arches, 
 resemble tufts of trees ; while the thick mantle 
 of foliage, seen through the tracery of the west 
 window, forms a continuation of the perspective, 
 and appears like an interminable forest." 
 
 The reputation of Tintern Abbey depends 
 
SEPULCHRAL FAME. 167 
 
 upon no historical associations. The romance 
 of its situation is heightened by no romance of 
 incident. It is simply a part of a picture, and 
 might be entitled in the catalogue of a gallery 
 " an abbey." The sepulchral remains it holds 
 retain neither name nor date ; and one of the 
 most entire of the figures (supposed to be the 
 effigies of the founder of the monastery, which, 
 however, must be looked for at Gloucester, 
 where according to Leland he was buried) is 
 disputed the possession of the usual number of 
 fingers on the right hand; one antiquary, hesi- 
 tating between four and five, and another ac- 
 cording to it, more generously, five fingers — and 
 a thumb ! In no part of the country has this 
 means of prolonging fame been more constantly 
 resorted to than in Monmouthshire ; but unfor- 
 tunately, owing to its geographical position as a 
 frontier district, in no part of the country has 
 the object been more frequently defeated. As a 
 solitary instance of this among thousands, we 
 are tempted to quote a fragment which just now 
 catches our eye, from the rhymes of Church- 
 yarde (a most suitable name), and the rather 
 that it exhibits the poet of the " Worthines of 
 
168 THE WYE. 
 
 Wales" in a more poetical light than usual. He 
 is describing the tombs in the church of Aber- 
 gavenny ; and after noting the arms and other 
 particulars, proceeds — 
 
 " But note a greater matter now, 
 Upon his tomb in stone, 
 Were fourteene lords that knees did bow 
 Unto this lord alone. 
 Of this rare work a porch is made, 
 The barrens there remaine 
 In good old stone, and auncient trade, 
 To show all ages plaine, 
 What honour wass to Hastings due. 
 What honour he did win : 
 What armes he gave, and so to blaze 
 What lord had Hastings bin." 
 
 But alas for the frailty of fame even so secured ! 
 The dilapidated monument laughed in the un- 
 conscious rhymer's face through the rents of 
 time ; the principal effigies had been removed to 
 a window, and several of the " fourteene lords " 
 placed in a porch ; and the very name of him 
 whose memory the whole had been intended to 
 perpetuate, had become a matter of doubt and 
 controversy ! " Some say this great lord was 
 
OPINIONS OF TINTERN. 169 
 
 called Bruce and not Hastings, but most do hold 
 opinion he was called Hastings ! " 
 
 It may seem almost superfluous to give any 
 further evidence respecting the picturesque cha- 
 racter of Tintern Abbey ; but as we design this 
 volume not merely to act the part of a sign-post, 
 but to save the common reader the trouble of 
 reference, we shall add two other quotations. 
 
 " It would be difficult to imagine a more 
 favourable situation, or a more sublime ruin. 
 The entrance to it seems as if contrived 
 by the hand of some skilful scene-painter 
 to produce the most striking effect. The 
 church, which is large, is still almost perfect ; 
 the roof alone, and a few of the pillars, are 
 wanting. The ruins have received just that 
 degree of care which is consistent with the full 
 preservation of their character ; all un picturesque 
 rubbish which could obstruct the view is re- 
 moved, without any attempt at repair or embel- 
 lishment. A beautiful smooth turf covers the 
 ground, and luxuriant creeping plants grow amid 
 the stones. The fallen ornaments are laid in 
 picturesque confusion, and a perfect avenue of 
 thick ivy-stems climb up the pillars, and form a 
 
 Q 
 
170 THE WYE. 
 
 roof over head. The better to secure the ruin, 
 a new gate of antique workmanship, with iron 
 ornaments, is put up. When this is suddenly 
 opened, the effect is most striking and surprising. 
 You suddenly look down the avenue of ivy-clad 
 pillars, and see their grand perspective lines closed, 
 at a distance of three hundred feet, by a magnifi- 
 cent window eighty feet high and thirty broad : 
 through its intricate and beautiful tracery you 
 see a wooded mountain, from whose side project 
 abrupt masses of rock. Over head the wind 
 plays in the garlands of ivy, and the clouds pass 
 swiftly across the deep blue sky. When you 
 reach the centre of the church, whence you look 
 to the four extremities of its cross, you see the 
 two transept windows nearly as large and beau- 
 tiful as the principal one ; through each you 
 command a picture totally different, but each in 
 the wild and sublime style which harmonises so 
 perfectly with the building. Immediately round 
 the ruin is a luxuriant orchai'd. In spring, how 
 exquisite must be the effect of these grey vener- 
 able walls rising out of that sea of fragrance 
 and beauty ! " 
 
 The] other extract belongs to the class senti- 
 
SENTIMENTAL DESCRIPTION. 171 
 
 mental, and is not a description of Tintern Abbey, 
 but of the mood of mind to which it disposes. 
 
 "The great tree, or vegetable rock, or emperor 
 of the oaks (if you please), before which 1 bowed 
 with a sort of reverence in the fields of Tintern, 
 and which for so many ages has borne all the 
 blasts and bolts of heaven, I should deem it a 
 gratification of a superior kind, to approach 
 again with ' unsandaled feet ' to pay the same 
 homage, and to kindle with the same devotion. 
 But I should find amidst the magnificent ruins 
 of the adjoining abbey, something of a sublime 
 cast, to give poignancy to my feelings. 1 must 
 be alone. My mind must be calm and pensive. 
 It must be midnight. The moon, half veiled in 
 clouds, must be just emerging from behind the 
 neighbouring hills. All must be silent, except 
 the winds gently rushing among the ivy of the 
 ruins. I should then invoke the ghosts of the 
 abbey ; and fancy, with one stroke of her magic 
 wand, would rouse them from their dusty beds, 
 and lead them into the centre of the ruin. I 
 should approach their shadowy existences with 
 reverence, make inquiries respecting the manners 
 and customs, and genius and fate of antiquity, 
 
 Q 2 
 
172 THE WYE. 
 
 desire to have a glimpse of the destiny of future 
 ages, and enter in conversations which would 
 be too sacred, and even dangerous to communi- 
 cate." 
 
 The only event unconnected with the monas- 
 tery which is assigned to this locality is a battle. 
 Whether it was fought on the hills above, or 
 whether the demon of war actually intruded 
 within the charmed circle of Tintern — or whe- 
 ther the whole is a fable, invented for the ex- 
 press purpose of desecrating the very idea of 
 the place — we cannot tell. But however this 
 may be, the fact, or the falsehood, is commemo- 
 rated in the following epitaph, which is placed 
 on the north side of the chancel of the church 
 of Mathern. 
 
 Here lyeth entombed the body of 
 Frederic, King of Morganocli or 
 Glamorgan, commonly called 
 St. Thewdrick, and accounted a martyr, 
 because he was slain in a battle against 
 the Saxons, being then Pagans, and in 
 defence of the Christian religion. The 
 battle was fought at Tintern, when he 
 obtained a great victory. He died here 
 being in his way homeward, three 
 
BATTLE OF TINTERN. 173 
 
 days after the battle, having taken 
 order with Maurice his son, who suc- 
 ceeded him in the kingdom, that in the 
 same place he should happen to decease, a 
 church should be built, and his body buri- 
 ed in y same, which was accordingly performed 
 in the year 1601. 
 
 Q 3 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The "Wye below Tintern — Banagor Crags — Lancaut — Piercetield 
 Bay — Chepstow — Ancient and modern bridge — Chepstow Castle 
 — Roger de Britolio — Romance of history — Chepstow in the 
 civil wars — Marten the regicide. 
 
 The Wye being now a tide river, time requires 
 to be studied by the traveller who would see it 
 in its beauty or grandeur. The shores must be 
 hidden by the full stream, and the overhanging 
 woods fling their shadow as before over the 
 glancing waters. Some bargain for the moon, to 
 silver the tree tops, and send her angel-visitings 
 through the vistas of foliage. But the truth is, 
 before reaching this point we have become the 
 spoiled children of nature ; we have grown fas- 
 tidious in our admiration, and would criticise 
 perfection itself. 
 
BELOW TINTERN. 175 
 
 With the one drawback of the sludginess of 
 the shores at ebb water, the Wye below Tintern 
 is as worthy of our homage as ever. But it may 
 be, that the romance of its rocks and woods im- 
 pending over the current, and the deep stillness 
 of the scene, broken only by the rippling sound of 
 its flow, may harmonize too closely with the 
 holy solitude we have left. Our sensations are 
 uninterrupted ; we carry with us the ruins and 
 their associations ; the mouldering abbey glides 
 upon the stream before us ; and the recesses of 
 the rocks, and deep paths of the woods, are 
 peopled with the spectres of the monastery. Thus 
 we have no new impressions to mark our pro- 
 gress, and one of the finest parts of the river 
 escapes almost without notice. 
 
 There is notwithstanding much variety in this 
 part of our course. The reaches are short; the 
 banks steep, sometimes overhanging in naked 
 precipices, sometimes waving with romantic 
 woods; while numerous narrow promontories 
 intercept the view, and cut the scene into sepa- 
 rate pictures. Banagor Crags, on the left, form a 
 stupendous wall of cliff, extending for a con- 
 siderable distance, without presenting anything 
 
176 THE WYE. 
 
 in themselves to relieve the eye, except here 
 and there some recesses or small shrubs, paint- 
 ing their interstices. But, as if aware of the dis- 
 advantage even of a sublime uniformity, nature 
 has spread upon the opposite side a scene incom- 
 parable for richness and variety. A bright green 
 sward, broken into narrow patches, swells up- 
 wards from the water's edge, till it is lost in 
 acclivities mantled with woods ; and rising from 
 the ridge of these, a mass of perpendicular rock 
 towers aloft to the height, as it is computed, of 
 eight hundred feet, overhung with shaggy 
 thickets. 
 
 We now turn the peninsula of Lancaut, which 
 comes sloping down from Tiddenham Chase, till 
 it terminates in fertile meadows; and, on the 
 right, rise from the water's edge, with a kind of 
 fantastic majesty, the Piercefield cliffs, capped with 
 magnificent woods. Twelve projecting masses 
 of these rocks have received the names of the 
 twelve apostles, and a thirteenth is called St. 
 Peter's Thumb. While wondering where this 
 will end, we sweep round another point, and 
 find ourselves in Piercefield Bay. To the right 
 a line of perpendicular cliffs is still seen, but 
 
CHEPSTOW. 177 
 
 crowned instead of trees with an embattled for- 
 tress ; which, for a moment, might seem to have 
 been cut out of the rock. The view is closed by 
 a range of red cliffs, with the magnificent iron 
 bridge of Chepstow spanning the river. This is 
 the last of the great views on the Wye ; and if 
 seen under favorable circumstances of time and 
 tide, it is one of the finest. 
 
 Chepstow stands on the side of an acclivity, 
 overlooked itself on all sides by loftier hills, so 
 that from every part of the town a different 
 view is obtained. Approaching it from the road 
 which leads from the New Passage, this position, 
 owing to the singularity of a part of the higher 
 ground, gives the scene a very peculiar appear- 
 ance. Nothing is seen but the red cliffs of the 
 Wye, and the tall masts of the shipping rising 
 among them ; and it is not till close at hand that 
 the houses appear, shelving down to the river. 
 Archdeacon Coxe observes, that he has seldom 
 visited any town whose picturesque situation sur- 
 passed that of Chepstow ; and according to Mr. 
 Wyndham, another traveller in this district, 
 " the beauties are so uncommonly excellent, that 
 the most exact critic in landscape would scarcely 
 
178 THE WYE. 
 
 wish to alter a position in the assemblage of 
 woods, cliffs, ruins, and water." Among these 
 features, the Wye and its banks are conspicuous. 
 The ridge of cliff on the left bank below the 
 bridge is remarkable both for its form and 
 variety of colouring ; while, on the opposite 
 bank above, the gigantic remains of the castle, 
 stretching along the brink of the precipice, give 
 an air of romance to the picture, not frequently 
 found in one of the crowded haunts of men. 
 
 The bridge is of cast iron, and was completed 
 only in 1816. There are five arches, resting on 
 stone piers; but although in reality a massive 
 structure, it has the air of lightness, when viewed 
 from the river, which iron bridges usually pos- 
 sess. The old bridge was formerly composed of 
 a level floor, carried along wooden piers, except 
 in the centre, where a massive pillar of stone, 
 dividing Gloucester and Monmouth, was the 
 support. Afterwards, however, stone piers were 
 substituted for those on the Monmouth side, 
 before the two counties joined in the erection of 
 the present noble structure. 
 
 " According to tradition," says Mr. Coxe, 
 " the bridge of the Wye was formerly half a 
 
CASTLE. 179 
 
 mile above the present bridge, at a place called 
 Eddis, nearly opposite to the alcove in Pierce- 
 field grounds, and seemingly in a direction lead- 
 ing towards an ancient encampment which en- 
 circles the grotto. The remains of the abut- 
 ments are said to have been visible in the 
 memory of some of the present generation ; and 
 the vestiges of a pitched road were recently 
 found in digging near the spot. I walked to the 
 spot, but could not discern the smallest traces of 
 the ancient bridge, and the ground on which the 
 pitched road was discovered was planted v/ith 
 potatoes. I was, however, amply gratified for 
 my disappointment by the pleasantness of the 
 walk by the side of the river, the beauty of the 
 hanging woods of Piercefield, and the pictur- 
 esque appearance of the castle." 
 
 The castle of Chepstow is said by some an- 
 tiquaries, to have been built originally by Julius 
 Caesar; which is denied by others, on the rea- 
 sonable grounds, that JuUus Caesar never was 
 there, and that Roman reliques, although abun- 
 dant in the neighbourhood, have never been dis- 
 covered in the town. However this may be, the 
 name by which it is at present known, is Saxon, 
 
180 THE WYE. 
 
 and denotes a place of traffic ; and Leland traces 
 at least its prosperity to its situation being 
 favourable for commerce. " The towne of Chep- 
 stowe," says he, " hath been very strongly walled, 
 as yet well doth appere. The walles began at 
 the grete bridge, over the Wy, and so came to 
 the castel; the which yet standeth fayer and 
 strong, not far from the ruin of the bridge. A 
 grete lykelyhood ys, that when Carguen began 
 to decay, then began Chepstow to flourish, for 
 yt standeth far better, as upon Wy there ebbing 
 and flowing, by the Rage coming out of the 
 Severn, so that to Chepstowe may come grete 
 shippes." 
 
 The castle, as we have said, crowns the brow 
 of a precipice, forming here the right bank of the 
 Wye ; and its walls, on the northern side, are so 
 close to the edge as to seem nothing more than 
 a prolongation of the rock. The rest of the for- 
 tress was defended by a moat and its own lofty 
 towers. 
 
 The area was divided into four courts. The 
 first, which is entered by a Norman gateway, 
 contained the grand hall, the kitchen, and other 
 apartments, on a scale of considerable grandeur. 
 
ROGER DE BRITOLIO. 181 
 
 At the south-eastern angle of this court is the 
 keep, or citadel, now called Harry Marten's 
 Tower. The second court contains no architec- 
 tural remains, except the walls ; but in the third 
 is a remarkable building, usually designated as 
 the chapel. It seems to have formed one mag- 
 nificent apartment, probably with a gallery run- 
 ning along the sides. The fourth court was 
 separated from the rest by a moat, which was 
 crossed by a drawbridge. Whether a former 
 building stood here or not, William Fitzosborn, 
 earl of Hereford, is said in Domesday Book to 
 have built the castle of Chepstow. It was 
 inherited by his third son Roger de Britolio, 
 who was deprived of his estates, and condemned 
 to perpetual imprisonment for rebellion. The 
 fierce character of this Norman baron is well 
 illustrated in the following anecdote preserved 
 by Dugdale. 
 
 " Though he frequently used many scornful 
 and contumelious expressions towards the king, 
 yet he was pleased, at the celebration of the feast 
 of Easter in a solemn manner (as was then used), 
 to send to this earl Rodger, at that time in 
 prison, his royal robes, who so disdained the 
 
 R 
 
18SI THE WYE. 
 
 favour, that he forthwith caused a great fire to 
 be made, and the mantle, the inner surcoat of 
 silk, and the upper garment, lined with precious 
 furs, to be suddenly burnt. Which being made 
 known to the king, he became not a little 
 displeased, and said, * Certainly he is a very 
 proud man who has thus abused me ; but, by the 
 brightness of God, he shall never come out of 
 prison as long as I live.' Which expression 
 was fulfilled to the utmost, for he never was 
 released during the king's life, nor after, but 
 died in prison." 
 
 In the reign of Henry I., we find Chepstow 
 in the possession of the Clare family ; of whom 
 Richard de Clare, surnamed, like his father, 
 Strongbow, is famous for his Irish adventures. 
 At the solicitation of Dermot Macnagh, king of 
 Leinster, who had been dethroned by his rival 
 Roderic the Great, king of Connaught (for there 
 were then five kings in Ireland), he proceeded 
 to that country with twelve hundred men, to 
 espouse the cause of the unfortunate potentate : 
 being offered, in the spirit of the age, his daugh- 
 ter for a wife, and his kingdom for an inherit- 
 ance. Strongbow landed at Waterford in 1171; 
 
ROMANCE OF HISTORY. 183 
 
 married the princess ; and his father-in-law dying 
 at the very moment demanded by poetical justice, 
 conquered his promised kingdom, and took pos- 
 session of Dublin the capital. The romance, 
 however, was spoiled by Henry II., who, in 
 high dudgeon at this presumption of a subject, 
 confiscated his estates, and carried an army 
 over to Ireland, with the purpose of annexing 
 Leinster to the English crown. Strongbow sub- 
 mitted ; abandoned Waterford and Dublin to his 
 feudal master ; was restored to his estates, and 
 made constable of Ireland. His character is 
 thus described by Giraldus Cambrensis : 
 
 " This earle was somewhat ruddie and of san- 
 guine complexion and freckle face, his eyes 
 greie, his face feminine, his voice small, and his 
 necke little, but somewhat of high stature : he 
 was verie liberall, corteous, and gentle ; what 
 he could not compass or bring to passe in deed, 
 he would win by good word and gentle speeches. 
 In time of peace he was more redie to yield and 
 obeie than rule and beare swaie. Out of the 
 campe he was more like to a souldier companion 
 than a captaine or ruler ; but in the camp and 
 in the warres he carried with him the state and 
 
 R 2 
 
184 THE WYE. 
 
 countenance of a valiante captaine. Of himselfe 
 he would not adventure anie thing ; but being 
 advised and set on, he refused no attempts ; but 
 for himselfe he would not rashlie advenliure or 
 presumptuouslie take anie thing in hand. In 
 the fighte and battell he was a most assured 
 token and signe to the whole companie, either to 
 stand valiante to the fight, or for policie to retire. 
 In all chances of warre he was still one and the 
 same manner of man, being neither dismaied 
 with adversitie, or puffed up with prosperitie." 
 
 By the marriage of a daughter of Richard 
 Strongbow (who had no male issue) our castle 
 next came into the hands of one of the greatest 
 men of his time, William, marshal of England, 
 lord protector of the kingdom ; and by the mar- 
 riage of his daughter (for although he had five 
 sons they all died without issue), it fell to Hugh 
 Bigod, earl of Norfolk. This daughter was 
 Maud, remarkable for having been in her widow- 
 hood created marshal in virtue of her descent, 
 the king himself, Henry III., solemnly giving 
 the truncheon into her hands. She was buried 
 in Tintern Abbey in 1248, her body being carried 
 into the choir by her four sons. 
 
THE CIVIL WAR. 185 
 
 After changing hands several times, Chepstow 
 Castle appears to have been sold to the earl of 
 Pembroke ; whose heiress Elizabeth conveyed it 
 by marriage, as we have already had occasion to 
 relate, to Sir Charles Somerset, afterwards earl 
 of Worcester. Churchyarde mentions the fact of 
 the sale in his uncouth rhymes. 
 
 " To Chepstowe yet, my pen agayne must passe, 
 When Strongbow once (an earl of rare renown), 
 A long time since, the lord and maister was 
 (In princly sort) of casle and of towne. 
 Then after that, to Mowbray it befell. 
 Of Norfolbe duke, a worthie known full well ; 
 Who sold the same to William Harbert, knight, 
 That was the earle of Pembroke then by right." 
 
 During the civil wars, this place was con- 
 sidered of great importance. 
 
 " At first, Chepstow was garrisoned for the 
 king, until in 1645, Colonel Morgan, governor 
 of Gloucester, at the head of three hundred 
 horse and four hundred foot, and assisted by the 
 mountaineers, with little difficulty made himself 
 master of the town, and in a few days compelled 
 the governor, Colonel Fitzmorris, to surrender 
 
 R 3 
 
186 THE WYE. 
 
 the castle. But the castle was afterwards sur- 
 prised by the loyalists, under Sir Nicholas 
 Hemeys, who, in the absence of the governor, 
 by means of a secret correspondence, obtained 
 possession of the western gate, and made the 
 garrison prisoners of war. On this event Crom- 
 well marched against it in person, took posses- 
 sion of the town, but assailed the castle without 
 success, though garrisoned only by a hundred 
 and sixty men. He then left Colonel Ewer, 
 with a train of artillery, seven companies of foot, 
 and four troops of horse, to prosecute the siege. 
 But the garrison defended themselves valiantly, 
 until the provisions were exhausted, and even 
 then refused to surrender under promise of quar- 
 ter, hoping to escape by means of a boat, which 
 they had provided for that purpose. A soldier 
 of the parliamentary army, however, swam across 
 the river, with a knife between his teeth, cut the 
 cable of the boat, and brought it away ; the castle 
 was at length forced, and Sir Nicholas Hemys 
 and forty slain in the assault. This event was 
 considered by the parliament so important, that 
 the captain who brought the news was rewarded 
 with fifty pounds, and a letter of thanks was sent 
 
HARRY MARTEN. 187 
 
 to Colonel Ewer and the officers and soldiers 
 engaged in that service." 
 
 In 1645, the castle, with the other estates 
 belonging to the marquis of Worcester, were 
 settled upon Oliver Cromwell, but were given 
 back to the family at the restoration. 
 
 ' For thirty years secluded from mankind, 
 Here Marten lingered. Often have these walls 
 Echoed his footsteps, as with even tread 
 He paced around his prison. Not to him 
 Did nature's fair varieties exist : 
 He never saw the sun's delightful heams, 
 Save when thro' yon high bars he pour'd a sad 
 And broken splendor." 
 
 All this, it now appears, is a poetical exag- 
 geration, and the thirty years' captivity (dimin- 
 ished to twenty years) passed away as easily as 
 the sense of captivity would permit. The regi- 
 cide was permitted to spend his property as he 
 pleased, to enjoy the association of his wife, to 
 receive visits, and even to return them in the 
 neighbourhood, accompanied by a guard. 
 
 Marten was one of the most zealous of those 
 men who cast down the statue of royalty from a 
 
188 THE WYE. 
 
 pedestal, upon which, although re-erected, it can 
 never again stand securely of its own strength 
 unsupported by public opinion. He does not 
 appear to have been himself of irreproachable 
 character, but he was honest at least in theory, 
 and true to his principles, such as they were. 
 
 " Being authorised," says Anthony Wood, 
 " by parhament, about 1642, he forced open a 
 great iron chest, within the college of West- 
 minster, and thence took the crown, robes, 
 sword, and sceptre belonging anciently to king 
 Edward the Confessor, and used by all our kings 
 at their inaugurations ; and with a scorn greater 
 than his lusts and the rest of his vices, he openly 
 declared that there should be no farther use of 
 those toys and trifles, and in the jolity of that 
 humour he invested George Wither (an old puri- 
 tan satyrist) in the royal habiliments ; who being 
 crowned and royally arrayed (as well right be- 
 came him) did first march about the room, with 
 a stately garb, and afterwards with a thousand 
 apish and ridiculous actions exposed those sacred 
 ornaments to contempt and laughter." 
 
 Marten was a member of the high court of 
 justice, regularly attended the trial, was present 
 
THE regicide's DOOM. 189 
 
 when sentence was pronounced, and signed the 
 warrant of death. It is added, that when 
 Cromwell took up the pen to sign, he spattered 
 some ink upon Marten ; and Marten, when his 
 turn came, returned the frolic ! The two friends, 
 however, were enemies at last. Cromwell would 
 have made himself king if he had been able, but 
 Marten said, " If they must have a king, he had 
 rather have had the last than any gentleman in 
 England; he found no fault in his person, but 
 in his office." When the regicides who sur- 
 rendered to the king's proclamation were con- 
 demned, they claimed mercy on the score of 
 having given themselves up in order to save their 
 lives ; and Marten, always forward and fearless, 
 added, " that he had never obeyed any proclama- 
 tion before this, and hoped that he should not be 
 hanged for taking the king's word now." He 
 was at length condemned to perpetual imprison- 
 ment, but both in the Tower and in Chepstow 
 Castle he was treated with great lenity. He 
 died of apoplexy in the twentieth year of his 
 confinement, and seventy-eighth of his age. He 
 was buried in the chancel of the parish church 
 at Chepstow, and a stone, with an inscription 
 
190 THE WYE. 
 
 written by himself placed over his body. This 
 was removed, however, to another part of the 
 church, by the pious loyalty of a succeeding 
 vicar ; but the stone being defaced, a new one 
 was substituted, by order of the churchwardens, 
 in 1812, with the original epitaph. 
 
 Here, 
 September the 9, in the year of our Lord 1680, 
 Was buried a true Englishman, 
 Who iu Berkshire was well known 
 To love his country's freedom 'bove his own, 
 But living immured full twenty year, 
 Had time to write, as does appear. 
 
 HIS EPITAPH. 
 
 H ere, or elsewhere (all 's one to you, to me), 
 E arth, air, or water, gripes my ghostly dust ; 
 N o one knows how soon to be by fire set free. 
 R eader, if you an oft-tried rule will trust, 
 Y ou will gladly do and suffer what you must. 
 
 M y life was spent in serving you, 
 
 A nd death 's my pay (it seems), and welcome too ; 
 
 R avenge destroying but itself, while I 
 
 T o birds of prey leave my old cage and fly. 
 
 E xamples preach to th' eye, care then (mine says) 
 
 N ot how you end, but how you spend your days. 
 
MODERN TASTE. 191 
 
 The church was part of the chapel of a priory 
 of Benedictine monks, founded here soon after 
 the Conquest ; and is interesting from its archi- 
 tecture, being for the greater part in the early 
 Norman style, but with ornamented gothic win- 
 dows — and a tower adorned by the taste of the 
 present age with Greek pilasters ! 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Piercefield — Points of view — Curious appearance — Scenic character 
 of the place — View from WyndclifF — Account of Valentine Mor- 
 ris — Anecdotes — The Wye below Chepstow — Aust Ferry— Black 
 Rock Ferry — St. Theodric — Conclusion. 
 
 The romantic region of Piercefield, extending 
 from Chepstow to WyndclifF — a distance of about 
 three miles by the sinuous walk, is one of the 
 grand attractions of this place. It is nothing 
 more, it is true, than a gentleman's park; but 
 then the landscape gardener by whom this park 
 Was laid out is Nature herself, who has lavished 
 here her beauty, her grandeur, and her romance, in 
 the wildest profusion. Art is entirely subservient 
 to her purposes, opening the view where it was 
 shut in, and forming paths for the pilgrim foot 
 that would approach to worship. 
 
PIERCEFIELD. 193 
 
 " In the composition of the scenery/' says the 
 historical tourist, "the meandering Wye, the 
 steep cHfFs, and the fertile peninsula of Lancaut, 
 form the striking characteristics. 
 
 '^' The Wye, which is everywhere seen from a 
 great elevation, passes between WyndclifF and 
 the Bangor rocks, winds round the peninsula of 
 Lancaut, under a semicircular chain of stupendous 
 cliffs, is lost In its sinuous course, and again ap- 
 pears in a straight line at the foot of the Lancaut 
 rocks, and flows under the majestic ruins of 
 Chepstow Castle towards the Severn. 
 
 " The rocks are broken into a variety of fan- 
 tastic shapes, and scattered at different heights 
 and different positions : they start abruptly from 
 the river, swell into gentle acclivities, or hang on 
 the summits of the hills ; here they form a per- 
 pendicular rampart, these jet into enormous pro- 
 jections, and impend over the water. 
 
 "But their dizzy heights and abrupt precipices 
 are softened^ by the woods which form a no less 
 conspicuous feature in the romantic scenery ; 
 they are not meagre plantations placed by art, 
 but a tract of forests scattered by the hand of na- 
 ture. In one place they expand into open groves 
 
 s 
 
194 THE WYE. 
 
 of large oak, elm, and beech ; in another form a 
 shade of timber trees, copses, and underwood, 
 hiding all external objects, and wholly impervious 
 to the rays of the sun, they start from the crevices 
 of the rocks, feather their edges, crown their 
 summits, clothe their sides, and fill the interme- 
 diate hollows with a luxuriant mass of foliage, 
 bring to recollection of the border 
 
 ' Of Eden, where delicious paradise, 
 Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green, 
 As with a rural mound, the champaign head 
 Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides. 
 With thicket o'ergrown, grotesque and wUd, 
 Access denied, and over head up grew 
 
 Insuperable height of loftiest shade, 
 
 ****** 
 
 A sylvan scene and as the banks ascend 
 Shade above shade, a woody theatre 
 Of stateliest view,' " 
 
 And this grandeur is heightened, not dimin- 
 ished, by the view presented in the midst of fer- 
 tile fields, and the simple details of rural occu- 
 pation. The peninsula of Laucaut, on the oppo- 
 site bank of the Wye, is a comparatively exten- 
 sive farm, cultivated to the highest perfection, 
 
POINTS OF VIEW. 195 
 
 and rich with the gifts of Ceres. It is dotted 
 with trees, and a range of elms fringes it on the 
 side of the river. Towards the middle of its 
 pear-shaped area, or rather approaching the 
 isthmus, stands the farm house, with rocks and 
 woods behind. The principal points of view 
 are the following : 
 
 1. The Lover's Leap. 2. A seat near two 
 beeches on the edge of the precipice. 3. The 
 Giant's Cave, which occupies the centre of the 
 amphitheatre and overlooks Lancaut peninsula. 
 4. The halfway seat under a large beech tree. 5. 
 The double view. 6. Above Piercewood. 7. The 
 grotto. 8. The platform. 9. The alcove. 
 
 But other portions of the grounds not so 
 frequently visited are noticed by an observant 
 traveller. " From the Giant's cave, a road winds 
 beautifully along the brow of the cliff to a grove 
 of lofty oak, beech, and sycamore, which is cleared 
 from underwood, in the centre of the extensive 
 forest which spreads beneath the Lover's Leap. 
 In this charming and sequestered spot is a cold 
 bath supplied by a copious and transparent rill, 
 which springs at the foot of the winding cliff, and 
 ripples down the side of the declivity. The road 
 
 s 2 
 
196 
 
 THE WYE. 
 
 then descends to Malridge meadow, on the bank 
 of the Wye, where the river appears hke a lake, 
 and the fertile peninsula of Lancaut rises in a 
 gentle declivity from the margin of the stream 
 to the isthmus. 
 
 " A beautiful walk, two miles in length, skirts 
 this meadow, at the foot of the stupendous range 
 of Piercefield cliffs, and then mounts to the 
 house by steps, cut in a steep rock. As the 
 house stands several hundred feet above the 
 river, the ascent is long and difficult, but the 
 toil is amply repaid by the beauty and sublimity 
 of the scene." 
 
 From some of these points, it may be observed, 
 the Severn, seen beyond the Wye, appears to be 
 considerably above it ; and, however easily ex- 
 plained the phenomenon may be, an indescri- 
 bably puzzling effect is produced by the idea that 
 the latter river, a few miles lower down, runs in- 
 to the former. The fact is noticed by Mr. Coxe, 
 whose description is truly excellent. 
 
 "From the Lover's Leap the walk is carried 
 through a thick mantle of forests, with occasional 
 openings, which seem not the result of art or 
 design, but the effect of chance or nature, and 
 
SCENIC CHARACTER. 197 
 
 seats placed where the spectator may repose and 
 view at leisure the scenery above, beneath, and 
 around. This 
 
 Bowery walk 
 Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day 
 Falls on the lengthened gloom, 
 
 is conformant to the genius of Piercefield ; the 
 screen of wood prevents the uniformity of a 
 bird's eye view, and the imperceptible bend of 
 the amphitheatre conveys the spectator from one 
 part of the fairy region to the other without per- 
 ceiving the gradation. Hence the Wye is some- 
 times concealed or half-obscured by overhanging 
 foliage, at others, wholly expanding to view, is 
 seen sweeping beneath in a broad and circuitous 
 channel ; hence in one place the Severn spreads 
 in the midst of a boundless expanse of country, 
 and on the opposite side to the Wye ; at another 
 both rivers appear on the same side, and the 
 Severn seems supported on the summit of the 
 cliiEFs which form the bank of the Wye. Hence 
 the same objects present themselves in different 
 aspects, with varied accompaniments ; hence the 
 magic transition from the impervious gloom of the 
 
 s 3 
 
198 THE WYE. 
 
 forest to open groves ; from meadows and lawns, 
 to rocks and precipices, and from the beauties of 
 English landscape, to the wildness of Alpine 
 scenery. 
 
 " The summit of Wind Cliff, which towers 
 above the northern extremity of the grounds, 
 commands, in one point of view, the whole ex- 
 tent of this interesting scenery: as I stood on 
 the brow of this precipice, I looked down on the 
 fertile peninsula of Lancaut, surrounded with 
 rocks and forests, contemplated the hanging 
 wood, rich lawns, and romantic cliffs of Pierce- 
 field, the castle and town of Chepstow, and 
 traced the Wye, sweeping in the true outline of 
 beauty, from the Bangor crags to its junction 
 with the Severn, which spreads into an estuary, 
 and is lost in the distant ocean. 
 
 "A boundless extent of country is seen in every 
 direction from this commanding eminence, com- 
 prehending not less than nine counties. In the 
 midst of this expanse, I principally directed my 
 attention to the subject of my tour, which now 
 drew to a conclusion. I traced, with pleasing 
 satisfaction^ not unmixed with regret, the lux- 
 uriant vallies and romantic hills of this interest- 
 
VALENTINE MORRIS. 199 
 
 ing country, which I had traversed in various 
 directions, but I dwelt with peculiar admiration 
 on the majestic rampart which forms its boun- 
 dary to the west, and extends in one grand and 
 unbroken outline, from the banks of the Severn 
 to the Black Mountains, 
 
 " ' Where the broken landscape, by degrees 
 Ascending, roughens into rigid hills ; 
 O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far clouds 
 That skirt the blue horizon, du^ky rise.' " 
 
 Till Piercefield was inherited by Valentine 
 Morris, whose father had obtained it by pur- 
 chase, the capabilities of the place were un- 
 known, principally, we should think, from the 
 view being hidden by a deep veil of forest. 
 Morris saw everything, however, with the eye of 
 taste ; and without officiously intermeddling with 
 nature, he contrived, by merely displaying the 
 treasures that before were concealed, and by 
 opening out paths through the woods to enable 
 visiters to enjoy them, to render Piercefield the 
 fairy-land it now appears. He seems to have 
 been a man of a princely mind, but a thoughtless, 
 unreflecting disposition. His beautiful property 
 
200 THE WYE. 
 
 was nothing to him without admirers ; and he 
 was so grateful for admiration, that he caused 
 his servants to wait upon and feast, gratuitously, 
 even the vagrant stranger, as soon as his foot 
 had entered the magic circle. It is hardly neces- 
 sary to add, therefore, that by the time the 
 beauties of Piercefield had become extensively 
 known, their master was ruined. Various other 
 circumstances, however, concurred to dissipate 
 a large fortune, and at length he retired to the 
 West Indies, where he had inherited considera- 
 ble property. The following anecdote is told of 
 his adieu to Piercefield: — 
 
 " Before his final departure from England, he 
 indulged himself with bidding adieu to Pierce- 
 field. In company with a friend he surveyed 
 his own creation, for the last time, with apparent 
 composure and manly resignation. On his 
 return to Chepstow he was surrounded by the 
 poor ; who, throwing themselves on their knees, 
 thanked him for the numerous instances of his 
 bounty, and implored the blessing of Heaven on 
 their generous benefactor. Even this aflfecting 
 spectacle he bore with silent fortitude, and 
 entered the chaise which conveyed him to Lon- 
 
A NATIONAL CREDITOR. 201 
 
 don. But he no sooner reached the Gloucester- 
 shire side of the bridge, than his ear was struck 
 with the mournful peal of bells, muffled, as is 
 usual on the loss of departed friends; deeply 
 affected with this mark of esteem and regret, he 
 could no longer control his emotions, and burst 
 into tears." 
 
 He was made lieutenant-governor, and after- 
 wards governor in chief, of St. Vincent's ; where 
 his. affairs prospered so much that he had almost 
 recovered his fortune, when the island was at- 
 tacked by the French. With his usual nobility 
 of spirit, he advanced large sums out of his 
 private funds towards the defence, but all in 
 vain : St. Vincent's was taken, and Morris 
 Piercefield never could obtain from government 
 either his outlay or arrears. He returned to 
 England to seek redress ; was arrested by his 
 creditors, and himself a creditor of the country 
 to a large extent, languished in a debtor's prison 
 for seven years. His books, movables, trifles, 
 everything were sold for bread; and his wife 
 sunk under the horrors of their situation, and 
 became insane. Morris at length recovered his 
 liberty, and Lord North determined to shame his 
 
202 THE WYE. 
 
 predecessors in the ministry, by performing an 
 act of common honesty. A minister, however, 
 is seldom honest from choice, because the out- 
 lay of money curtails his resources, and be- 
 cause the wilful withholding, even of a just debt, 
 does not involve his character in society as a man 
 of honour. Lord North accordingly delayed the 
 restitution as long as he could ; and poor Valen- 
 tine Morris in 1789, was indebted to his brother- 
 in-lavf for a bed on which to die. 
 
 We cannot refrain from adding an anecdote 
 relating to one of the family of Walters, to 
 whom the estate of Piercefield formerly belonged. 
 
 " Holding one day a conversation with Mr. 
 Knowles, whom he employed in building the 
 alcove, he made inquiries concerning the family 
 of Walters, and asked if any of them were yet 
 living. Knowles replied that William, the 
 brother of John who sold the estate, was still 
 ahve and in great distress. ' Bring him to 
 Piercefield,' said Morris, ' and I will make him 
 welcome.' ' If you would give him your v/hole 
 estate he could not walk, he is so much affected 
 with the gout in his feet, and earns a precarious 
 livelihood by fishing.' ' If he then cannot come 
 
WALTERS OF PIERCEFIELD. 203 
 
 to me, I will take the first opportunity of calling 
 on him.' Being some time afterwards engaged 
 with Knowles in forming an opening in the 
 wood, he saw two men in a boat ; ' Stay here,' 
 he said to Knowles, ' I will cross the river in 
 that boat, and examine whether the objects I 
 want to show can be seen from hence.' De- 
 scending hastily he hailed the watermen, leaped 
 into the boat, was ferried over, and on his return 
 entered into conversation with the men, and in- 
 quired their names and condition, ' My name,' 
 said one of them, ' is *****, I am a native 
 of Chepstow ; and that man, pointing to his com- 
 panion, is William Walters.' ' What, Walters 
 of Piercefield !' exclaimed Morris. ' Yes, please 
 your honour, I am the brother of John, who 
 sold the estate that you now enjoy.' Morris 
 made no reply ; but giving a gratuity to each of 
 the men, leaped on shore, rapidly ascended the 
 hill, and rejoining Knowles, cried, ' I have been 
 talking with W^alters :' taking out several guineas, 
 he added, ' carry these to him, and tell him that 
 he shall never want while it is in my power to 
 assist him.' Knowles suggested, that as the 
 man was much addicted to liquor, he would ren- 
 
204 THE WYE. 
 
 der him more service by a weekly allowance. 
 The next market-day one of Morris's servants 
 carried to Walters a joint of meat, and a small 
 sum of money, which was continued weekly un- 
 til his death. Morris defrayed the expenses of 
 his funeral, and his carriage conveyed the corpse 
 to St. Arvans, where it was interred in the 
 family vault."* 
 
 From Chepstow to the confluence of the Wye 
 with the Severn, the distance is three miles ; but 
 although the banks are in general lofty, they 
 possess no features of interest to the descending 
 traveller. It may be sufficient merely to name 
 the Red Rocks, the Hardwick Cliffs, and Thorn- 
 well Woods. After these St. Ewan's Rocks 
 appear on the left bank ; and we glide gradually 
 into the wide expanse of the Severn. A pro- 
 longation, however, of the left bank continues 
 for some time after we are fairly out of the Wye ; 
 the peninsula of Beachley, extending almost half 
 way across the Severn. From this is the ferry 
 of the Aust Passage, supposed to have been 
 named after one of the Roman generals. A 
 
 * Historical Tour. 
 
NEW PASSAGE FERRY. 205 
 
 steam-packet now plies instead of an open boat, 
 and lands passengers at a handsome pier at all 
 hours of the tide. 
 
 On the Monmouthshire coast, a little way be- 
 yond the mouth of the Wye, is the Black Rock 
 Inn of the New Passage ferry, supposed, not- 
 withstanding its name, to be as ancient as the 
 other. This ferry was suppressed by Oliver 
 Cromwell, on account of a catastrophe which 
 took place here of a very interesting description. 
 When the king was pursued by his enemies, he 
 crossed the Severn to Chiswell Pill on the 
 opposite side ; but when the boatmen returned 
 to the Black Rock, they found a party of sixty 
 armed republicans, waiting to follow the royal 
 fugitive. The ferrymen were royalists, but there 
 was no resisting commands enforced by so many 
 drawn swords, and reluctantly they took the 
 enemies of their prince on board, and pulled 
 across the Severn. They landed their unwelcome 
 freight upon the English Stones, which appeared 
 to be a part of the shore, but was in reality se- 
 parated by water, fordable only at low tide. 
 The tide had just turned. Some moments, no 
 doubt, were lost in dismay, and some in shout- 
 
 T 
 
206 THE WYE. 
 
 ing to the treacherous boatmen, who lay upon 
 their oars to watch the event. The EngHsh 
 Stones disappeared with a suddenness customary 
 in the flow of that river ; and the cries of sixty 
 drowning men were lost in the rush of the wild 
 waters of the Severn. 
 
 Before the Black Rock Inn, and near the 
 mouth of the Wye, is Mathern, formerly the 
 episcopal residence of the bishops of LlandafF. 
 The church close by is the one pointed to by 
 tradition as having been raised over the ashes of 
 Theodoric, the hermit-king, who desecrated the 
 holy solitude of Tintern with the sounds of battle. 
 
 " The manor of Matherne, where there is 
 now a palace, was given to the bishops of Llan- 
 dafF by Maurice, king of Glamorganshire, about 
 the year 560, on the following occasion: — His 
 father, St. Theodoric, as he is usually called, 
 having resigned his crown to this son, embraced 
 the life of a hermit. The Saxons invading the 
 country, Theodoric was reluctantly called from 
 his hermitage to take the command of the army ; 
 he defeated them near Tintern upon the Wye. 
 Being mortally wounded in the engagement, he 
 precipitated his return, that he might die among 
 
ST. THEODORIC. 207 
 
 his friends, and desired his son to erect a church, 
 and bury him on the spot where he breathed his 
 last: but scarcely had he proceeded five miles, 
 when he expired at a place near the conflux of 
 the Wye and Severn. Hence, according to his 
 desire, a chapel being erected, his body was 
 placed in a stone coffin. As I was giving orders 
 to repair this coffin, which was either broken by 
 chance or decayed by age, I discovered his 
 bones, not in the smallest degree changed, 
 though after a period of a thousand years, the 
 skull retaining the aperture of a large wound, 
 which appeared as if it had been recently inflict- 
 ed. Maurice gave the contiguous estate to the 
 church, and assigned to the place the name of 
 Merthur Tewdrick, or the martyrdom of The- 
 odorick; who, because he perished in battle 
 against the enemies of the christian name, is 
 esteemed a martyr." 
 
 Our task is now finished: we turn away to 
 seek " firesh fields and pastures new," but the 
 murmur of the Wye will remain long in our ear. 
 
 T 2 
 
DISTANCES 
 
 THE TOUR OF THE WYE. 
 
 From the source of the Wye to 
 
 Stedva Gerrig . . . . • ^i miles. 
 
 Rhaiader . . . ^ . . l?^ 
 
 Builth . . . , . .14 
 
 Hay 15i 
 
 Clifford Castle . . . . • 2^ 
 
 Hereford . . . . . 16^ 
 
 Ross . . . . . . 14i 
 
 FROM ROSS TO MONMOTH AND CHEPSTOW. 
 
 -By Land. 
 
 From Ross by the turnpike to Monmouth 
 
 In a straight line, or as the crow flies 
 
 From Ross to Chepstow by the turnpike 
 
 By Coleford ..... 
 
 In a straight line .... 
 
 The base or supposed tunnel of the hiU, betweeen Coldwell and 
 the New "Weir, is six hundred yards ; the circuit of the river is 
 four miles two furlongs. 
 
 m. 
 
 /■ 
 
 P- 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 4 
 
 
 
DISTANCES. 
 
 
 
 209 
 
 By Water. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'm. 
 
 f- p- 
 
 From Ross to Goodricli Castle 
 
 
 . 4 
 
 4 
 
 ToColdweU 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 To New "Weir 
 
 
 . 4 
 
 2 
 
 To Monmouth . ... 
 From Ross to Monmouth 
 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 . 20 
 
 7 
 
 To Tintern 
 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 To Chepstow 
 
 From Ross to Chepstow 
 
 
 . 6 
 
 4 60 
 
 37 
 
 7 60 
 
 NAMES OF PLACES AS THEY OCCUR IN 
 
 DESCEND- 
 
 ING THE RIVER FROM ROSS. 
 
 
 
 RIGHT BANK. 
 
 LEFT BANB 
 
 ♦ 
 
 Wilton Bridge and Castle 
 
 
 
 
 ■Weir End .... 
 
 Hill or New Hill Court 
 
 Pencraig House and Wood 
 
 
 
 
 Goodrich Court 
 
 
 
 
 Castle 
 
 
 
 
 Priory or Haverford 
 
 Walford Church 
 
 
 North side of Coppet Wood HiU 
 
 Lays Hill 
 
 
 
 
 Bishop's Wood 
 
 
 
 Ruerdean Church 
 
 
 Court Field 
 
 Lidbrook 
 
 
 
 Welsh Bicknor 
 
 Rosemary Topping 
 
 Mr. Warren's Monument 
 
 CoiiDWELL Rocks 
 
 South side of Coppet Wood HiU 
 
 Stmond's 
 
 Yat 
 
 
 Goodrich Church 
 
 
 
 
 Whitchurch 
 
 New Weir 
 
 ' 
 
210 THE 
 
 WYE. 
 
 Great Doward 
 
 . Highmeadow Woods 
 
 Arthur's Vale 
 
 
 Little Doward and Lays House 
 
 Table Mount 
 
 Dixton Church 
 
 
 MONMODTH 
 
 
 Troy House ' . 
 
 . Halfway House 
 
 Penalt 
 
 Redbrook 
 
 Whitehrook 
 
 
 Pen-y-van Hill and Maypole 
 
 . Wye Seal-house 
 
 Paper MiUs 
 
 
 Pilstone House 
 
 Big's Weir House 
 
 LliANDOGO 
 
 . St. Briavels 
 
 Coedithal Weir 
 
 Hudknolls 
 
 Llyn "Weir 
 
 . Brook Weir 
 
 Tintern 
 
 
 Fielding's House 
 
 
 Tintern Abbey 
 
 
 
 Bennagor Crags 
 
 Wyndcliff and Moss Cottage 
 
 Fryer's Rocks 
 
 Lover's Leap 
 
 . Lancaut 
 
 PlERCEFIELD 
 
 Piercefield Bay 
 
 Twelve Apostles 
 
 . Tiddenham Rocks 
 
 Chepstovt 
 
 Tutshill 
 
 FROM MONMOUTH TO 
 
 CHEPSTOW BY THE 
 
 NEW ROAD. 
 
 Upper Redbrook 
 
 .21 miles. 
 
 Lower Redbrook 
 
 i 
 
 Florence College 
 
 . 3 
 
 Big's Weir 
 
 4 
 
 Llandogo 
 
 .1 
 
DISTANCES. 
 
 211 
 
 Tintern .... 
 
 2| 
 
 Tintern Abbey .... 
 
 WyndclifF and Moss Cottage 
 
 St. Aryans ..... 
 
 • 1 
 2 
 1 
 
 Crossway Green .... 
 Chepstow ..... 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 15i 
 
 The distance from Chepstow to the embouchure of the Wye is 
 about three miles. 
 
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