The Wye and Its Associations

of the Castle-The silent cottage-Approach to Herefo

ted 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 emin

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 i

s (certificationes) show very clearly the distribution of property at the time. We find Walter de Clifford set down for one hide in Herefordshire in Wales. It may be noted, in passing, that Henry was not only generous in granting lands to his own and his father's followers, but the same request being made to him by some Flemings, whose share of terra firma had been wrested from them by

heir tenants as died intestate. This power, in fact, was such as could only be continued by violence; and hence the coolness or treachery of some of them when any serious attempt was made by the sovereign to introduce the laws and customs of the English into Wales. After the death of Llewellin, the last prince of Wales, this was at length effected by Edward I.; but still, the Marches, not being included in the division of the land into counties became a scene of such anarchy, that it was found necessa

of war and rapine, but with those of love and beauty. He

was her name,

was but her

sical 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 riv

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perish, su

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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 w

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 t

owing, according to the usual sequence of events at the period, the prosperity of the town. Offa had treacherously inveigled to his court Ethelbert, prince of the East Angles, when he murdered him, and usurped his crown. The body of the victim was buried in the church, where by working of miracles it attracted so much at

and fifteen embattled watch-towers. The castle, concerning the date of which antiquarians are not agreed, stood on the south and east sides of the city, with the Wye on the south and the cathedral on the west. Leland describes the keep as having been "high and very strong, having in the outer wall ten sem

Some fragments of the city walls, however, and of an old priory, may be visited by the antiquary; together with an old house, a "brotherless hermit," the last of a race demolished

use 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

udience so much as to help off a bad play. Dryden, in return, caused a hat to be made of the circumference of a large coach wheel, and made Mrs. Gwynn speak an epilogue under the umbrella of it, with the brim stretched out in its utmost horizontal extension, not unlike a mushroom of that size. No sooner did she appear in this strange dress, than the house was in convulsions of laughter. Amongst the rest, the king gave the fullest marks of approbation, by going behind the scenes after the play, and taking her home in his own coach to sup with him." [41] Her son, born in 1670, was afterwards created duke of St. Albans; and her grandson became a prelate of the church, an

spect, and on every soil; but in general the west winds, so much praised by the Roman poets, and after them by Philips the bard of cider, are unwholesome to the plant, from the circumstance of their blowing over the Welsh mountains, which are capped with snow even in the spring. The best colours for cider fruits are red and yellow, the juice of the

are gradually introduced into the trough, and a quantity may be thus mashed equal to a hogshead of cider in the day. The expressed juice is put into casks, not quite filled, and in the open air; and as soon as the vinous

e on salmon more than two days in the week. Wolves were formerly so numerous in this district, that in 1234 a proclamation was issued commanding them to be destroyed, and calling upon "all the king's liege