In a few moments a gleam of light, transmitted by reflection through an opening in some trees, shone on my track, and discovered a dark huge figure standing at my horse's head. I was scarcely collected from my surprize when my bridle was forcibly arrested, and a loud but unintelligible voice seemed to demand that I should stop. Already was I conceiving how to repel the attack, when the man, observing that I did not understand Welch, civilly accosted me in imperfect English, and a.s.sured me that I was on the edge of a precipice. Nor did he leave me with this service, but kindly led my horse to the little village of PONT-Y-PRIDD, then within a short distance. Here, while regaling over a mug of ale, my conductor accounted for the light that surprized me: it proceeded from an immense bonfire of a party of colliers in some distant mountains, rejoicing at the blessing of peace. At this place I determined to fix my quarters; nor could the offer of a guide and lanthorn, to conduct me to the superior accommodation of the Bridgewater arms, induce me to tempt again the dangers of the night, or quit the coa.r.s.e barley bread, salt b.u.t.ter, and miserable beer of the village alehouse.

Early in the morning my companion rejoined me, when we visited Pont-y-pridd, the celebrated bridge of Glamorganshire. This extraordinary piece of masonry consists of a single arch, whose chord is 147 feet, thrown across the Taffe. William Edward, an ingenious mason of this country, who built it, failed in two preceding attempts, which would have proved his ruin; but the gentry in the neighbourhood laudably supported ported his ingenuity, although at first unsuccessfully exerted, and enabled him to complete the present structure. The great beauty of this arch arises from the simplicity of its construction, and indeed from its very defect as a roadway; for the pa.s.sage over the bridge is not sloped away into the adjoining roads, as it might be; but precipitately descends on each side, following the line of the arch. This circ.u.mstance, and its being defended with only a very low parapet, gives the bridge a remarkably light appearance. Situated in a romantic hollow, and abruptly jetting from the bold woody banks of the river, it looks a magic bow thrown across by the hands of fairies.

Two waterfalls in this neighbourhood deserve notice. One occurs about half a mile above the bridge. We proceeded to it through a delightful sylvan path on the bank of the river, and under the beetling brow of Craig-er-esk. The river is seen for a considerable distance struggling through a region of rocks, which in some places rise in large ma.s.ses above its surface, and in others appear through the transparency of the stream shelving to a considerable depth; wearing throughout the odd appearance of a vast a.s.semblage of cubes, variously heaped, but with one face constantly horizontal: at length the river breaks over a compact strata; yet only in a fall of eight or ten feet, which is divided into several streams. The white foam of the river, and the light grey tint of the rocks, afford a strong contrast to the mixed verdure and dark shadows of its banks; but upon the whole the subject is rather to be noticed for its singularity than for any leading points of picturesque beauty. More agreeably composed appeared to us the other cascade of the tributary river Rhayder, about two miles distant from the bridge. The dark rocks that occasion the fall; the surrounding craigs; the light and pendant foliage that adorns them, and the vigorous trees that emerge from the banks, are all disposed with the utmost symmetry, and form a highly-pleasing picture, though of inconsiderable dimensions.

CHAP. XII.

SCENERY OF THE TAFFE-STUPENDOUS RUINS OF CAERPHILLY CASTLE-THE LEANING TOWER-FINE VIEW FROM THORNHILL-CARDIFF CASTLE-ECCLESIASTICAL DECAY OF LANDAFF-THE CATHEDRAL.

From Pont-y-pridd we made another excursion toward Merthyr-tidvill; less to witness the lately-acquired importance of the town in consequence of the great iron-works established in its neighbourhood, than to trace the beauties of the Taffe through its romantic valley. At one time, a towering hill completely mantled with wood lifted its s.h.a.ggy summit to the clouds; in succession, naked rocks perpendicularly descended to the water; or, through favoured hollows, a stripe of green meadow would gently slope and mix its verdure with the stream. As we advanced, the narrow valley still further contracted, and the river, confined by the approaching bases of the mountains, a.s.sumed the character of a torrent.

Our road continued on one margin of the river, and a ca.n.a.l, singularly abounding with locks, kept pace with us on the other; to the Cyclopean region of Merthyr-tidvill. {173} We did not enter the town, but re-measured our steps to Pont-y-pridd; and about four miles below it bade adieu to the romantic course of the Taffe, in deviating up a steep confine of its valley towards the town and castle of Caerphilly.

[Picture: Caerphilly Castle]

The celebrated ruin of CAERPHILLY CASTLE soon appeared at some distance beneath us, occupying the centre of a small plain, which, with its surrounding amphitheatre of hills, presented a display of regular fences and cultivation that strikingly contrasted with the district that we had just left. The idea formed on a first view of this stupendous pile is rather that of a ruined town than a castle: it is by much the largest ruin in Britain, although its dimensions are somewhat inferior to those of Windsor castle. The high outer rampart, with its ma.s.sive abutments and frequent towers, still in a great measure entire, conveys at once a clear impression of the great extent of the fortress. In entering upon an examination of the ruin we pa.s.sed the barbican, {174} now built up into habitations; and, proceeding between two dilapidated towers, entered the great area of the castle:-a range of building, beneath the rampart on our right, once formed the barracks of the garrison. We then advanced to that pile of superior building, _i.e._ of citadel, hall, chapel, state and other apartments, which is generally considered as the castle, in distinction from the encircling area and its wall: clambering over the fragments of another drawbridge and its defending towers, we entered the first court, which appears to have comprised the citadel: thence we pa.s.sed through a large gateway, with several grooves for portcullises, to the princ.i.p.al court of the Castle. The area of this court is seventy yards by forty: on the south side is that princely apartment, by some considered the hall, and by others the chapel: but, whichever it may have been, vestiges of much original beauty appear in the elegant outline of its four large windows; the grand proportions of the chimney-piece, and the light triplet pillars, with arches that go round the room. The appearance of mortice holes in the walls for the ends of beams, at the height of about the middle of the windows, led Camden to suppose that the cieling was projected from thence, and that an apartment above was lighted by the upper portion of the windows; but surely at a time when symmetry in building was so well cultivated, and where it appears to have been so successfully applied, such a ridiculous contrivance could not have taken place: more probably, as I conceive, from those mortices a support was derived for a lofty arched roof, or a gallery. {175} Eastward of the hall, is the curiosity of a leaning tower, a bulky fragment of the ruin between seventy and eighty feet in height, whose walls are of a prodigious thickness: it hangs nearly eleven feet out of the perpendicular, and is only held together by the strength of its cement. How or when this phenomenon happened no legend informs us; but it has remained in this state many centuries. As the adjoining towers, and all the standing parts of the ruin, remain perpendicular, the cause must have arisen from a local failure of the foundation: hence I am of opinion, that a solution of the phenomenon may be found in the effects of a mine, and which probably took place during the long siege which Hugh le Despenser sustained in this castle in the time of Edward the Second.

Near this part of the ruin a place is shewn as the mint, with two furnaces for melting metal. From this chamber we ascended a spiral staircase to the corridor, still in very good preservation, which, lighted by small windows, and pa.s.sing round the princ.i.p.al court, formed a communication with the different apartments. The external view of the western entrance of the ruin, with its ponderous circular towers venerably shaded with ivy, is remarkably striking; and, with the remains of its drawbridge and defending outwork, may be considered as the most entire part of the ruin. An artificial mound some distance off, but within the works of the castle, was most likely used for exploratory purposes.

From the great plan of this castle, and there being no direct evidence to the contrary, its foundation has been attributed to the Romans; and some ingenious arguments have been adduced to prove, that it was their Bullaum Silurum. But it sufficiently appears, that no considerable part of the present fortress was built by them, as the predatory army of Rhys Tycan took and rased Caerphilly castle in 1221. The best supported opinion is that of the Hon. Daines Barrington, who attributes the present erection to Edward the First.-Caerphilly has lately increased from an obscure village to a well-built little town; and the respectable appearance of its two inns may be in a great measure dated from the great increase of the visitants of the castle. {177}

We left Caerphilly, over to hilly boundary, on the road to Cardiff; where we noticed the singular appearance of some peasants digging coals from the surface of the ground. At the extremity of this tract, Thornhill, a grand elevation, afforded us a most extensive prospect, which, illuminated by an evening sun, formed a picture of uncommon brilliancy.

The wide plain of Cardiff displayed for many miles, in every direction, a gratifying extent of Nature's bounty, in an endless variety of cultivation, chequered with numberless hedgerows, and enlivened by several villages, whose neatly whitened walls glistened through their appendant foliage: the rich verdure was in one part varied by the russet hue of an extensive warren. At the extremity of this tract appeared the expansive Severn, in which the two islands of the steep and flat Holmes were conspicuous; and afar off the bold hills of Somersetshire closed the prospect. We slowly descended from the spot commanding this range of objects, and travelled on a good road towards Cardiff, with the episcopal ruins of Landaff at a small distance on our right.

On entering CARDIFF, the capital of Glamorganshire, between the ivy-mantled walls of its castle, and the mouldering ruin of a house of White Friars, we were much pleased with the aspect of the town: nor were we less so on a closer examination of its neat well-paved streets; it appearing to us one of the cleanest and most agreeable towns in Wales.

The high tower of its church, crowned with four transparent Gothic pinnacles, had long engaged our interest; but on a near view we did not find the body of the church to correspond with it; it being of an older date, a plain Norman structure. This, I believe, was the conventual church of the Franciscan Friars that are described as having occupied the eastern suburb of the town. The other parish church, for Cardiff is divided into two parishes, was undermined by the action of the river, about a century and a half since, and fell down. The house of the White Friars has been already noticed; and without the west gate stood a monastery of Black Friars. This town was formerly encompa.s.sed by a wall, and vestiges of its four gates yet remain. Cardiff, having the benefit of a good harbour, carries on a brisk trade with Bristol, and other places, and has of late considerably increased its commercial importance: but perhaps its chief interest with tourists will be derived from its castle.

CARDIFF CASTLE, a seat of the Marquis of Bute, (Baron Cardiff and Earl of Windsor), was until lately a Gothic structure of considerable elegance; but having undergone a repair, without attention to the antique style of architecture, it presents a motley combination, in which the remaining Gothic but serves to excite our regret for the greater portion destroyed.

The misguided direction of this work is prominently conspicuous in the enlargement of the building, wherein fashionable square windows appear throughout the lower apartments, while the original character of the edifice is imitated in the Gothic lines of the upper windows: a strange violation of common propriety, to raise an antique superstructure upon a modern foundation! The part of the castle which is kept up is a single range of building; and an elegant machicolated tower, overlooking the whole, still frowns defiance on the petty innovations beneath. The internal has been entirely new-planned, and a number of portraits of the present lord's progenitors are ranged in the apartments, with the princ.i.p.al events of their lives, emblazoned in letters of gold; but they are for the most part indifferently executed. In front of the building is a s.p.a.cious lawn, from the trim surface of which rises an artificial mound, bearing the mouldering ruin of the ancient keep, {181} carefully shorn of shrub and briar. In the tower, at the entrance, a dark damp dungeon is described to have been the prison of Robert duke of Normandy; in which he was confined near thirty years, after being deprived of his sight and inheritance by his younger brother Henry the First. But it is more probable that he had the whole range of the castle; for, independent of the improbability that any human creature could live so long in such a place, we have the authority of Odo Vitalis and William of Malmesbury, that Henry made his imprisonment as easy as possible; furnishing him with an elegant table, and buffoons to divert him. A high rampart incloses the whole; round the top of which a walk is carried, affording many pleasing views of the surrounding country.

When Robert Fitzhammon conquered and divided the lordship of Glamorgan with his twelve knights, he reserved the town of Cardiff, among other estates, for himself, and erected this castle: here he held his courts of Chancery and Exchequer; the former on the first Monday in every month, when his knights or their heirs were bound to attend, and were then ent.i.tled to apartments in the outer court of the castle; which privilege, says Sir John Price, their heirs or a.s.signs enjoy to this day.

This castle has frequently experienced the vicissitudes of war. Soon after its erection, one Ivor Black, a little resolute Welchman, marched hither privately, with a troop of mountaineers, and surprised the castle in the night; carrying off William Earl of Gloucester (Fitzhammon's grandson), together with his wife and son; whom he detained prisoners until he obtained satisfaction for some injuries that he had suffered.

It was also taken by Maelgon and Rhys gyre anno 1282; and again by the parliamentary forces in the civil wars, after a long siege.

A pleasant walk over the fields led us to the episcopal city of LANDAFF, now in extent an inconsiderable village: this deserted spot occupies a gentle eminence in the great plain of Cardiff. The west front of the cathedral is an admirable relic of Norman architecture, with two elegant towers of extraordinary height, profusely enriched with the best sculpture of that age: here all the apertures are circularly arched; but the windows of part of the nave, yet remaining, are Gothic. Upon the chancel's falling to decay some score years since, a great sum was expended in raising the present church upon the old stock; but surely such an absence of taste and common sense was never before instanced: beneath the solemn towers has sprung up a fantastic summer-house elevation, with a Venetian window, Ionic pilasters, and flower-pot jars upon the parapet. The same sort of window is coupled with the elegant line of the ornamented Gothic in other parts of the structure; and within, a huge building upon the model of a heathen temple surrounds the altar; which, with two thrones, darken and fill up nearly half the church. From this ma.s.s of inconsistencies we turned to the inspection of several ancient monuments, which were chiefly rec.u.mbent, and from several marks of recent damage appeared to be much neglected. {184a}

The cathedral, now in ruins, was built by Bishop Urban, anno 1120, upon the site of pile founded by St. Dubritius in the commencement of the sixth century, and dedicated to more saints than I have room to enumerate. Urban also built a palace here, which was destroyed by Owen Glendower: its high outer walls and gateway, however, remain, and form an inclosure to a garden. A large mansion adjoining, occupied by Mr.

Matthews, is, I understand, attached to the bishopric. {184b}

CHAP. XIII.

ENTRANCE OF MONMOUTHSHIRE-ANCIENT ENCAMPMENTS-CASTLETON-TREDEGAR PARK-NEWPORT; CHURCH; AND CASTLE-EXCURSION TO MACHEN PLACE-PICTURESQUE VIEW FROM CHRIST CHURCH-GOLD CLIFF-CAERLEON'S ANTIQUITIES-ENCAMPMENTS-LORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY-LANTARNAM-LANGIBBY CASTLE.

On quitting Cardiff, we soon entered MONMOUTHSHIRE {185} in crossing Rumney bridge. The church of Rumney is a large Gothic edifice, with an embattled tower. Nearly opposite to it, on the left of the road, crowning a steep bank of the river, is an old encampment of an irregular figure, with a triangular outwork; and a short distance further, at Pen-y-pile, another occurs of a polyhedrous form. As we proceeded, the elevated mansion and extensive woods of RUPERAH, an elegant seat belonging to a branch of the Morgan family, appeared finely situated beneath the brow of some hills bordering the vale of Caerphilly; and on a gentle hill below it, KEVEN-MABLE, an ancient seat of the Kemy's family.

At the rural little village of St. Mellons, the old and new roads to Newport unite: we took the latter, which is the lowermost and nearest, traced on a range of gentle eminences skirting Wentloog level, an extensive fertile plain won from the sea. This wide flat, extending from the Rumney to the Usk rivers, is relieved by the intersections of hedges and drains, and has a sprinkling of white cottages; among which the towers of St. Bride's, Marshfield, and Peterson churches rise conspicuously. Our route pa.s.sed through Castleton, where there was formerly a castle; of which, however, only a small artificial mount, the site of its citadel, now inclosed in the garden of Mr. Phillips, and a chapel converted into a barn, remain. Gwern-y-cleppa park, the next object of our attention on the road, contains a ruin nearly hidden in an interwoven thicket, once the mansion of Ivor-hael (the generous), the pride of bardish song, who flourished in the commencement of the fourteenth century.

We entered TREDEGAR PARK in succession, a very ancient seat of the Morgan family. This park is laid out in the obsolete style of groves and avenues; but possesses great room for modern taste, in the variety of swell and hollow composing its surface, the remarkable size and beauty of the oaks and Spanish chesnuts with which it is decorated, and the picturesque course of the rapid Ebwy, whose red rocky banks form a striking contrast to the surrounding verdure. The turnpike road pa.s.ses through the park, and within a few hundred yards of the mansion, a huge quadrangular brick building, of the date of Charles the Second's reign, with a high shelving roof, in which are two or three tiers of windows, similar to the weighing-house at Amsterdam. Internally, the house is convenient and well arranged, with state and domestic apartments, several of which are preserved in their original character. The most remarkable is the oak room; the flooring of which, forty-two feet by twenty-seven, was furnished by a single oak; and the wainscoting, formed of the same material, is much admired for its antique carving. A large collection of pictures, chiefly family portraits, is distributed through the house; but few of them are valuable as specimens of art. Among the extensive offices are several remains of the ancient castellated mansion, described by Leland as "a very fair place of stone."

The Morgan family being one of the most ancient and considerable in Wales, the ingenuity of the bards has been excited to trace its origin: some have venally derived it from Cam the second son of Noah; but others refute this position, and modestly carry it no further than his third son. Without noticing several intervening personages contended to be the founders of this family, Cadivor the great, lord of Dyfed, who died anno 1084, appears to be the only one well supported in the appointment of its great ancestor.

From Tredegar Park we immediately crossed the Ebwy by a long narrow bridge, and presently entered NEWPORT, a dirty ill-built town nearly comprized in one long street winding down a bank of the river Usk. The eminence on which its church is situated, at the upper part of the town, affords a very fine prospect of the surrounding country; at the extremity of the town appears its ruined castle, watered by the silvery Usk: an intermixture of wood and pasture clothes the surrounding hills and valleys: the wild mountains about Pont-y-pool are strongly contrasted by the fertile tract of Wentloog and Caldecot levels, and the n.o.ble expanse of the Bristol channel backed by the cultivated hills of Somersetshire.

The church exhibits the architecture of several ages: its nave comprehends the original church, which is of the oldest mode of building, and may be considered as of a date prior to the settlement of the Normans: the chancel and ailes are of later architecture. The western doorway, connected with the ancient chapel of St. Mary, now converted into a burying-place, and which was formerly the grand entrance, exhibits a curious specimen of Saxon carving, in a circular archway, with hatched and indented mouldings resting on low columns with capitals of rude foliage. The church contains three ancient monuments; but its chief ornament is the high square embattled towers built by Henry the Third, in grat.i.tude for the attachment of the townsmen to his cause during his contest with the barons. St. Wooloo, the patron of this spot, is held in high veneration by the natives. He retired from the pride and pageantry of kinghood, to lead a life of prayer and mortification: a lowly cottage was his dwelling; sackcloth his apparel; he lived by the labour of his hands; the crystal rill afforded his only beverage, and barley bread, rendered more disrelishing by a sprinkling of ashes, his constant food.

He left this world for better fare in the next about the end of the fifth century.

NEWPORT CASTLE is a ruin of very inconsiderable dimensions: its quadrangular area was only defended by a simple wall, except on the side next the river, where three towers still remain in a nearly intire state.

There is an octagon tower at each extremity of this side; a large square one between them, with turrets at each angle, appears to have been the citadel, and contains a vaulted apartment called the state-room; at the bottom of this tower a handsome Gothic arch forms a water-gate, which has within it the groove of a portcullis: between this and the further tower was the baronial hall, the ruins of which yet remain. The pointed arches throughout this building testify it to have been a work posterior to the Norman era; though it is certain, that there was a castle at Newport in 1173, when Owen ap Caradoc, going to treat with king Henry without arms or attendants, was basely murdered by the soldiers of Newport castle.

Jowerth ap Owen, his father, in revenge for this treachery, carried fire and sword to the gates of Hereford and Gloucester. Newport was formerly encompa.s.sed with a wall; but of this there are no remains; nor of the three gates mentioned by Leland, except some small vestiges of the one next the bridge. A large Gothic building near the castle, with a stone coat of arms over the door, now occupied as a warehouse, was formerly the murringer's {192} house. In place of an inconvenient wooden bridge, a handsome stone one of five arches has been lately executed by Mr. David Edward, son of the mason of Pont-y-pridd: a ca.n.a.l was also just finished at the time of our visit, reaching from Pont-y-pool, by means of which its brisk and improving trade in coals and iron is much facilitated.

On the banks of the river, a short distance below the bridge, are the remains of a house of preaching friars; consisting of the s.p.a.cious refectory, part of the church, and other buildings, now converted to private uses.-About a mile further southward, near the conflux of the Usk and Ebwy, are the small vestiges of Green castle, once a considerable fortress belonging to the duke of Lancaster, and described by Churchyard, who flourished in the reign of Elizabeth, as

"A goodly seate, a tower, a princely pyle."

We made an excursion on the road to Caerphilly, which embraces several objects not unworthy of notice. About a mile and half from Newport is the Gaer, a large encampment supposed to be Roman, occupying the brow of an eminence near the Ebwy in Tredegar park. A short distance further is the little village of Ba.s.sALEG, the approach to which is very picturesque; where the Ebwy appears struggling in its bed of red rocks, and throwing its clear stream over a weir just beneath the bridge: above it rises the church, with its embattled tower finely relieved by intervening foliage. Here, according to Tanner, was a Benedictine priory, a cell to the abbey of Glas...o...b..ry; but of this no traces are evident; unless a ruin in the deep recesses of a forest about a mile westward, called Coed-y-Monachty, or the wood of the monastery, are its remains. On the summit of a hill overgrown with coppice, about a mile from Ba.s.saleg, near the road to Llanvihangel, is a circular encampment called Craeg-y-saesson.

From Ba.s.saleg the country continues undulating and fertile, to the vale of Machen, where the Rumney emerges from among wild hills and overhanging forests, and sweeps through the plain: a sprinkling of white cottages enliven the scene, which receives an additional effect from its picturesque church, and the steep acclivity of Machen hill, studded all over with lime-kilns. At the opening of the vale is MACHEN-PLACE, once a respectable seat of the Morgans, but now tottering in decay, and occupied as a farm-house: some memorials of faded grandeur may here be traced in a circular apartment, with a rich stuccoed cieling, called the hunting-room. A pair of andirons weighing two hundred weight, formerly employed in roasting an entire ox, and an immense oak table, may also convey an idea of the solid fare and plenty of days of yore. We pursued the road no further; but, returning through Newport {195}, and crossing its bridge, took the road to Caerleon.

Our route soon became uninteresting, and continued a confined and miry avenue: until, arriving at CHURCH-CHURCH, and looking over a hedge opposite to it, when a prospect burst upon us with an electric suddenness, grandly extensive and delightful. From the foreground descended a succession of bold knolls or gentle swells, clothed with ornamental plantations, in a wide display of sylvan beauty, to Caldecot level, whose uniform though fruitful plain was in a great measure concealed by the intervention of contrasting heights. Beyond this, the majestic Severn's

"-fresh current flow'd Against the eastern ray translucent, pure, With touch aethereal of Heaven's fiery rod."

Numerous barks diversified its surface; and a large fleet of ships, anch.o.r.ed at King's-road, became a striking object. The high opposite sh.o.r.es of Somersetshire either descended in fertile slopes, laid out in pastures and cornfields; or, abruptly disjoined, opposed their cliffs, a naked surface of rock, to the waves. Eastward, over Gloucestershire and the neighbouring counties, such a variety of hills and valleys, verdant lawns and waving woods, embowered hamlets and handsome villas appeared, that the eye was at a loss where to rest for pre-eminent beauty. Light clouds floated in the atmosphere; and the sun, "sparing of light,"

distributed its rays in partial streaks; but the varied illumination rather heightened than diminished the charms of the picture. We turned from this a.s.semblage of nature's wealth, this delightful landscape, with regret, and descended among the adjoining plantations of Sir Robert Salusbury, Messrs. Sykes, Kemeys, and Philips, towards Caldecot level; a large tract of land, similar to that of Wentloog, rescued from the inroads of the sea by human industry. Near the western extremity of this plain rises the peninsulated promontory of GOLD CLIFF, so called from a glittering yellow mica incorporated with the rock, and which is even now considered by the peasants as indicating a gold mine. The brow of the cliff was formerly dignified with an opulent priory, founded by Robert de Chandos anno 1113: its small remains are incorporated into a barn, and other buildings of a farm-house.

Returning, we took a hasty view of Christchurch, an ordinary building chiefly Gothic; but a Saxon arch reposing on low columns, which forms the entrance, indicates that the greater part of the present structure is engrafted upon an older foundation. Within, a Gothic screen of exquisite workmanship, separating the chancel from the nave, was formerly much admired; but it is now shamefully injured. A curious sepulchral monument here is deemed miraculous, on the eve of the circ.u.mcision, in curing sick children. Formerly the tomb was crowded with the little subjects of credulity, who were bound to remain in contact with the stone during the night; but, the natural agency of a warm bed being found more favourable to convalescence than the miraculous interposition, the fees of the s.e.xton have of late considerably diminished. The public house near the church was the ancient manse.

A descent of alarming steepness led us toward the ancient town of CAERLEON, through its suburb, a long narrow village, still bearing the cla.s.sical appellation of Ultra Pontem. We crossed the Usk by a narrow wooden bridge with a flooring of loose planks, and immediately entered the town, the Isca Silurum of Antoninus, the station of the second legion, and the princ.i.p.al Roman own in the country of the Silures, now so far diminished as scarcely to occupy one sixth of the area within are Roman walls. It was, however, in a declining state so far back as the fourteenth century, as appears from the following account given by Giraldus: "Many remains of its former magnificence are still visible.

Splendid palaces, which once emulated with their gilded roofs the grandeur of Rome; for it was originally built by the Roman graces, and adorned with stately edifices. A gigantic tower; numerous baths; ruins of a temple and a theatre, the walls of which are partly standing. Here we still see, both within and without the walls, subterraneous buildings, aqueducts, and vaulted caverns, and stoves so excellently contrived as to convey their heat through secret and imperceptible pores." This description has been followed in a compiled Tour published not long since, and, by an unfortunate mistake, given as its present appearance.

Alas! it exhibits a melancholy reverse:

The cloud-capt towers, The gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples,

are dissolved: the town is a poor straggling place; and vestiges of its former magnificence must be curiously sought after to be seen at all.

Statues, altars, columns, elegant freizes, sarcophagi, coins and intaglios, have been making their appearance during several ages; but they are immediately carried away by curious persons, or more frequently applied to domestic uses. An altar with a Roman inscription had been dug up just before our arrival, and we were conducted by an obliging gentleman of the town to the garden in which it was found: where we saw the venerable monument of antiquity just finished slicing into half a dozen slabs for paving.

The Roman fortification forms an oblong square, with the corners a little rounded, {200a} and unfurnished with towers. Many fragments of the walls accompanied by the fosse are evident; deprived of the facing-stones, they appear in great ma.s.ses of grout-work; _i.e._ of stones, broken tiles, and bricks promiscuously bedded in cement. The remains are no where more than fourteen feet high, which is much less than their original elevation, and ten or twelve in thickness. Their circ.u.mference does not exceed 1800 yards; but the adjacent fields are continually yielding up foundations, &c. which denote the suburbs to have been very extensive; tradition, indeed, reports them to have been nine miles round. The castle stood between the walls and the river, of which some small vestiges appear at the Hanbury Arms. {200b} At a little distance from this place, on the opposite side of the road, we noticed a high artificial mound about 300 yards in circ.u.mference, which is the site of the citadel described by Giraldus as gigantic. The small remains of its walls appear to consist of solid masonry; but this part of the fortification is, no doubt, posterior to the rest, and was most likely erected by the Normans.

The house of Miss Morgan, formerly a Cistercian abbey, has been entirely new-faced with squared stones collected from the ruins of Caerleon, as have also many others in the town. This lady has collected several Roman coins, and has other curiosities in her possession that we would gladly have examined, and were offered an introduction for that purpose; but our way-worn apparel (a false shame, if the reader insist upon it) was an obstacle in our way of accepting it. Other Roman vestiges appear in the market-house of Caerleon, which is supported by four ma.s.sive Tuscan pillars. Immediately without the town, and adjoining Miss Morgan's premises, is the Roman amphitheatre, commonly called Arthur's round table. It is an oval concavity, seventy-four yards by sixty-four, and six deep; in which are ranges of stone seats, though now covered with earth and verdure. The foundation of its encircling walls was met with on digging in the year 1706, when a statue of Diana and two ornamental pedestals were also discovered.

In the neighbourhood of Caerleon are several encampments that were probably used for airing the troops in summer. The most remarkable are, that of the Lodge, occupying a hill in the park of Lantarnam, about a mile north-west of Caerleon; the one of Penros, a short distance to the left of the road to Usk; that at Mayndee, near Christ-church; and a fourth in the wood of St. Julian's, towards Newport. Near the latter spot a chapel of high antiquity, dedicated to St. Julius; is now used as a barn. But St. Julian's is more remarkable for a Gothic mansion, once the residence of the ingenious, valiant, and vain lord Herbert of Cherbury.

Edward, first lord Herbert of Cherbury, was born anno 1581: his infancy was remarkable for mental and bodily weakness; but he soon became distinguished as a scholar and a valiant knight. Most of the living languages and every elegant accomplishment engaged his study. We learn from the history of his life; written by himself (in which he is considered to be the most chivalrous, learned, handsome, discerning, and wonderful gentleman that ever figured in story); at fifteen he took to himself a wife; and being a few years afterwards presented at court; his love-inspiring attractions excited the rusty pa.s.sions of Elizabeth, then seventy years of age.-"The queen," says the n.o.ble biographer, "looked attentively upon me, and _swearing her ordinary oath_, said, "It is pity he was married so young," and thereupon have me her hand to kiss twice; both times gently clapping me on the cheek." The consorts of Lewis the Thirteenth and James the First were still more fascinated by this mighty conqueror of hearts, who excited jealousy even in the breast of royalty!

Many enamoured dames of the court wearing his picture in their bosoms brought him in hourly danger of a.s.sa.s.sination from their enraged husbands: yet his miraculous courage and address ensured victory in every encounter. Among numerous excellencies that distinguished his clay from the common material of mortality, the n.o.ble lord declares, "it is well known to them that wait in my chamber, that the shirts, waistcoats, and other garments I wear next my body, are sweet beyond what either can be believed or hath been observed in any body else; which sweetness was also found to be in my breath before I used to take tobacco." With all this extravagance, which may be set to the account of old age, often vain and garrulous, Lord Herbert may be justly considered one of the first characters of the age and country in which he lived.