"Change of air! change of air!" Every body was in the same story.
"Medicine is of no use," said the doctor; "a little change of scene will
set all to rights again." I looked in the child's face--she was
certainly very pale. "And how long do you think she should stay away
from home?" "Two or three months will stock her with health for a whole
year." Two or three months!--oh, what a century of time that is, now
that we have railroads all over the world, and steam to the
Pyramids--where in all the wide earth are we to go? So we got maps of
all countries, and took advice from every one we saw. We shall certainly
go among hills, wherever we go; beautiful scenery if we can--but hills
and fresh air at all events. We heard of fine open downs, and an
occasional tempest, in the neighbourhood of Rouen. A steamer goes from
Portsmouth to Havre, and another delightful little river-boat up the
Seine. For a whole day we had determined on a visit to the burial-place
of William the Norman--the death-place of Joan of Arc; we had devised
little tours and detours all over the mysterious land that sent forth
the conquerors of England; but soon there cane "a frost, a nipping
frost,"--are we to be boxed up in an hotel in a French town the whole
time? No, we must go somewhere, where we can get a country-house--a
place on the swelling side of some romantic hill, where we can trot
about all day upon ponies, or ramble through fields and meadows at our
own sweet will. So we gave up all thoughts of Rouen. "I'll tell you
what, sir," said a sympathizing neighbour: "when I came home on my three
years' leave, I left the prettiest thing you ever saw, a perfect
paradise, and a bungalow that was the envy of every man in the
district." "Well?" I said with an enquiring look. "It's among the
Neilgherries; and as for bracing air, there isn't such a place in the
whole world. I merely mention it, you know; it's a little too far off,
perhaps; but if you like it, it is quite at your service, I assure
you." It was very tempting, but three months was scarcely long enough.
So we were at a nonplus. Scotland we thought of; and the Cumberland
lakes; and the Malvern hills; and the Peak of Derbyshire; and where we
might finally have fixed can never be known, for our plans were decided
by the advice of a friend, which was rendered irresistible by being
backed by his own experience. "Go to Wales," he said. "I lived in such a
beautiful place there three or four years ago--in the Vale of
Glasbury--a lovely open space, with hills all round it--admirable
accommodation at the Three Cocks, and the most civil and obliging
landlord that ever offered good entertainment for man and beast." Out
came the maps again; the route was carefully studied; and one day at the
end of May, we found ourselves, eight people in all, viz., four children
and two maids, in a railway coach at Gosport, fizzing up to Basingstoke.
There is such a feeling of life and earnestness about a railway
carriage;--the perpetual shake, and the continual swing, swing, on and
on, without a moment's pause, with the quick, bustling, breathless sort
of tramp of the engine--all these things, and forty others, put me in
such a state of intense activity that I felt as if I kept a shop--or was
a prodigious man upon 'Change--or was flying up to make a fortune--or
had suddenly been called to form an administration--or had become a
member of the prize ring, and was going up to fight white-headed Bob.
However, on this occasion I was not called upon either to overthrow
white-headed Bob of the ring, or long-headed Bob of the administration;
and at Basingstoke we suddenly found ourselves, bag and baggage, wife,
maids, and children, standing in a forlorn and disconsolate manner, at
the door of the station-house; while the train pursued its course, and
had already disappeared like a dream, or rather like a nightmare. There
were at least half-a-dozen little carriages, each with one horse; and
the drivers had, each and all of then, the audacity to offer to convey
us--luggage and all--sixteen miles across, to Reading. Why, there was
not a vehicle there that would have held the two trunks; and as to
conveying us all, it would have taken the united energies of all the
Flies in Basingstoke, with the help of the Industrious Fleas to boot, to
get us to our destination within a week. While in this perplexing
situation, wondering what people could possibly want with such an array
of boxes and bags, a quiet-looking man, who had stood by, chewing the
lash of a driving-whip in a very philosophical manner, said, "Please
sir, I'll take you all." "My good friend, have you seen the whole
party?" "Oh yes, sir, I brought a bigger nor yourn for this here
train--we have a fly on purpose." What a sensible man he must have been
who devised a vehicle so much required by unhappy sires that are ordered
to remove their Lares for change of air! "Bring round the ark," we
cried; and in a minute came two very handsome horses to the door,
drawing a thing that was an aggravated likeness of the old hackney
coaches, with a slight cross of an omnibus in its breed. It held seven
inside with perfect ease, and would have held as many more as might be
required; and it carried all the luggage on the top with an air of as
much ease as if it had only been a bonnet, and it was rather proud than
otherwise of its head-dress. The driving seat was as capacious as the
other parts of the machine, and we had much interesting conversation
with the Jehu--whose epithets, we are sorry to say, as applied to
railroads, were of that class of adjectives called the emphatic. There
is to be a cross line very shortly between Basingstoke and Reading,
uniting the South-Western and Great Western Railways--and then, what is
to become of the tremendous vehicle and its driver? The coach, to be
sure, may be retained as a specimen of Brobdignaggian fly, but my friend
Jehu must appear in the character of Othello, and confess that "his
occupation's gone." Thank heaven! people wear boots, and many of them
like to have them cleaned, so, with the help of Day and Martin, you may
live. "That's the Duke's gate, sir," he said, pointing with his whip to
a plain lodge and entrance on the left hand. "The lodge-keeper was his
top groom at the time Waterloo was--and a very nice place he has." This
was Strathfieldsaye: there were miles and miles of the most beautiful
plantations, all the fences in excellent order, the cottages along the
road clean and comfortable, and every symptom of a good landlord to be
seen as far as the eye could reach.
"If it wasn't for all this here luggage," said Jehu in a confidential
whisper, with a backward jerk of his head towards the moving pyramid
behind us; "we might go through the park. The Duke gives permission to
gentlemen's carriages."
So the poor man deluded himself with the thought, that if it wer'n't for
the bandboxes, we might pass muster as fresh from the hands of Cork and
Spain.
"That's very kind of the Duke."
"Oh, he's the best of gentlemen--I hears the best of characters of him
from his tenants, and all the poor folks round about." Now here was our
driver--rather ragged than otherwise, and as poor as need be--bearing
evidence to the character of the greatest man in these degenerate days,
on points that are perhaps more important than some that will be dwelt
on by his biographers. The best of characters from his tenants and the
poor;--well, glorious Duke, I shall always think of this when I read
about your victories, and all your great doings in peace and war; and
when people call you the Iron Duke, and the great soldier, and the hero
of Waterloo, I shall think of you as the hero of Strathfieldsaye, and
the best of characters among your tenants and the poor folks round
about.
"Does the Duke often come to Reading?"
"No; very seldom."
"I should have thought he would come by the Great Western, and drive
across."
"He!" exclaimed the driver, giving a cut to the near horse by way of
italicising his observation. "He never comes by none of their rails. He
don't like 'em. He posts every step of the way. He's a reg'lar
gentleman, he is, the Duke."
And in the midst of conversation like this, we got to Reading. Through
some wretched streets we drove, and then through some tolerable ones;
and at last pulled up at the Great Western Hotel, a large handsome
house, very near the Railway station; and in a few minutes were as
comfortably settled as if we had travelled with a couple of outriders,
and had ordered our rooms for a month. The sitting-room had three or
four windows, of which two looked out upon the terminus. At these the
whole party were soon happily stationed, watching the different trains
that came sweeping up and down every few minutes; long luggage trains,
pursuing their heavy way with a business-like solidity worthy of their
great weight and respectability; short dapper trains, that seemed to
take a spurt up the road as if to try their wind and condition; and
occasionally a mysterious engine, squeaking, and hissing, and roaring,
and then, with a succession of curious jumps and pantings, backing
itself half a mile or so down the course, and then spluttering and
dashing out of sight as if madly intent upon suicide, and in search of a
stone wall to run its head upon. As to feeling surprise at the number of
accidents, the only wonder a sensible man can entertain on the subject
is, that there is any thing but accidents from morning to night. And
yet, when you look a little closer into it, every thing seems so
admirably managed, that the chances are thousands to one against any
misfortune occurring. Every engine seems to know its place as accurately
as a cavalry charger; the language also of the signals seems very
intelligible to the iron ears of the Lucifers and Beelzebubs, and the
other evil spirits, who seem on every line to be the active agents of
locomotion. Why can't the directors have more Christianlike names for
their moving power? What connexion is there between a beautiful new
engine, shining in all its finery--the personification of obedient and
beneficent strength--with the "Infernal," or the "Phlegethon," or the
"Styx?" Are they aware what a disagreeable association of ideas is
produced in the students of Lemprière's classical dictionary by the two
last names? or the Charon or Atropos? Let these things be mended, and
let them be called by some more inviting appellations--Nelson, St
Vincent, Rodney, Watt, Arkwright, Stephenson, Milton, Shakspeare,
Scott;--but leave heathen mythology and diabolic geography alone. As
night began to close, the sights and sounds grew more strange and awful.
A great flaming eye made its appearance at a distance; the gradual boom
of its approach grew louder and louder, and its look became redder and
redder; and then we watched it roll off into the darkness again, on the
other side of the station, on its way to Bath--till, tearing up at the
rate of forty miles an hour, came another red-eyed monster, breathing
horrible flame, and seeming to burn its way through the sable livery of
the night with the strength and straightness of a red-hot cannon-ball.
And then we called for candles and went to bed.
The train was to pass on its way to Bristol at half-past eleven, so we
had plenty of time to see the lions of Reading--if there had been any
animals of the kind in the neighbourhood--but after a short detour in
the street, and a glimpse into the country, we found ourselves
irresistibly attracted to the railway. The scene here was the same as on
the previous night, and we were more and more confirmed in our opinion,
that, next to the sea or a navigable river, a railway is the pleasantest
object in a rural view. As to the impostors who extort thousands of
pounds from the unhappy shareholders, on the pretext that the line will
be injurious to their estates, they ought at once to be sent to Brixton
for obtaining money under false pretences. It gives a greatly increased
value to their lands, as may be seen by the superior rents they can
obtain for the farms along the line; and as to the picturesqueness of
the landscape, it is only because the eye is not yet accustomed to it,
nor the mind embued with railway associations, that it is not considered
a finer "object" than the level greenery of a park, or the hedgerows of
a cultivated farm. Painters have already begun to see the grandeur of a
tempestuous sea ridden over by steamers; and before the end of the next
war, some black "queller of the ocean flood," with short funnel and
smoke-blackened sails, will be thought as fit a theme for poetry and
romance, as the Victory or the Shannon.
Knowledge, which we are every where told is now advancing at railway
speed, is still confined within very narrow limits, we are sorry to say,
among railway clerks and other officials. They still seem to measure the
sphere of their studies by distance, and not by time; for instance, not
one of the _employés_ at Reading could give us more information about
Bristol than if it had been three days' journey removed from him. Three
hours conveys us from one to the other--and yet they did not know the
name or situation of a single inn, nor where the boats to Chepstow
sailed from, nor whether there were any boats to Chepstow at all. In
ancient times such ignorance might be excusable, when the towns were
really as distant as London and York now are; but when three hours is
the utmost limit, and every half hour the communication is kept up
between them, it struck us as something unaccountable that Bristol
should be such a complete _terra incognita_ to at least a dozen
smart-looking individuals, who stamp off the tickets, and chuck the
money into a drawer, with an easy negligence very gratifying to the
beholder. Remembering the recommendation of the Royal Western Hotel
given us by a friend, with the whispered information that the turtle was
inimitable, and only three-and-sixpence a basin; we stowed away the
greater portion of the party in a first-class carriage, and betook
ourselves in economical seclusion to a vehicle of the second rank. And a
first-rate vehicle it was--better in the absence of stuffing on that
warm day, than its more aristocratic companion; and in less than three
minutes we were all spinning down the road--a line of human and other
baggage, at least a quarter of a mile in length.
At Swindon we were allowed ten minutes for refreshment. The great
lunching-room is a very splendid apartment--and hungry passengers rushed
in at both doors, and in a moment clustered round the counters, and were
busy in the demolition of pies and sandwiches. Under a noble arch the
counters are placed; the attendants occupying a space between them, so
that one set attend to the gormandizers who enter by one of the doors,
and the rest on the others. It has exactly the effect of a majestic
mirror--and so completely was this my impression, that it was with the
utmost difficulty I persuaded myself that the crowd on the other side of
the arch was not the reflection of the company upon this. Exactly
opposite the place where I stood--in the act of enjoying a glass of
sherry and a biscuit--I discovered what I took of course to be the
counterfeit presentment of myself. What an extraordinary mirror, I
thought!--for I saw a prodigious man, with enormous whiskers, ramming a
large veal pie into his mouth with one hand, and holding in the other a
tumbler of porter. I looked at the glass of sherry, and gave the biscuit
a more vigorous bite--alas! it had none of the flavour of the veal and
porter; so I discovered that the law of optics was unchanged, and that I
had escaped the infliction of so voracious a double-ganger.
The country round Chippenham is as beautiful as can be conceived; all
the fruit-trees were in full blossom, and we swept through long tracts
of the richest and prettiest orchards we ever saw. Hall and farm, and
moated grange, passed in rapid succession; and at last the fair city of
Bath rose like the queen of all the land, and looked down from her
palaces and towers on the fairest champaign that ever queen looked upon
before. Seen from the railway, the upper part of the town seems to rise
up from the very midst of orchards and gardens; terrace above terrace,
but still with a great flush of foliage between; it is a pity it ever
grew into a fashionable watering-place; though, even now, it is not too
late to amend. Like some cynosure of neighbouring eyes, fed from her
gentle youth upon all the sights and sounds of rural life, she is too
beautiful to put on the airs and graces of a belle of the court. Let her
go back to her country ways--her walks in the village lanes--her
scampers across the fields; she will be more really captivating than if
she was redolent of Park Lane, and never missed a drawing-room or
Almack's. But here we are at Bristol, and must leave our exhortations to
Bath to a future opportunity.
It is amazing how rapidly the passengers disperse. By the time our
trunks and boxes were all collected, the station was deserted, the empty
carriages had wheeled themselves away, and we began to have involuntary
reminiscences of Campbell's _Last Man_. Earth's cities had no sound nor
tread--so it was with no slight gratification that we beheld the cad of
an omnibus beckoning us to take our place on the outside of his buss.
The luggage had been swung down in a lump through a hole in the floor,
and by the time we reached the same level, by the periphrasis of a
stair, every thing had been stowed away on the roof, where in a few
moments we joined it; and careered through the streets of Bristol, for
the first time in our lives. "Do you go to any hotel near the quay where
the Chepstow steamers start from?" was our first enquiry; but before the
charioteer had time to remove the tobacco from his cheek, to let forth
the words of song, a gentleman who sat behind us very kindly interfered.
"The York Hotel, sir, is quite near the river, in a nice quiet square,
and the most comfortable house I ever was in. If they can give you
accommodation, you can't be in better quarters." Next to the
praiseworthiness of a good Samaritan, who takes care of the houseless
and the stranger, is the merit of the benevolent individual who tells
you the good Samaritan's address. We made up our minds at once to go on
to the York Hotel.
"For Chepstow, sir?" said the stranger--"a beautiful place, but by no
means equal to Linton in North Devon. Do you go to Chepstow straight?"
"As soon as a boat will take us: we are going into Wales for change of
air, and the sooner we get there the better."
"Change of air!--there isn't such air in England, no, nor anywhere else,
as at Linton. Why don't you come to Linton? You can get there in six
hours."
"But Welsh air is the one recommended."
"Nonsense. There's no air in Wales to be compared with Linton. I've
tried them both--so have hundreds of other people--and as for beauty and
scenery, and walks and drives, Linton beats the whole world." All this
was very difficult to resist; but we set our minds firmly on the Three
Cocks and Glasbury vale, and repelled all the temptations of the gem of
the North of Devon. Every hour that took us nearer to our goal, brought
out the likeness we had formed of it in our hearts with greater relief.
A fine secluded farm--of which a few rooms were fitted up as a house of
entertainment--a wild hill rising gradually at its back--a
mountain-stream rattling and foaming in front--all round it, swelling
knolls and heathy mountains. What had Linton to show in opposition to
charms like these? We rejected the advice of our good-natured counsellor
with great regret, more especially as a sojourn in Linton would probably
have enabled us to cultivate his further acquaintance. The York was
found all that he described--clean, quiet, and comfortable. When the
young fry had finished their dinner, away we all set on a voyage of
discovery to Clifton. Up a hill we climbed--which in many neighbourhoods
would be thought a mountain--and passed paragons, and circuses, and
crescents, on left and right, wondering when we were ever to emerge into
the open air. At last we reached the top--a green elevation surrounded
on two sides by streets and villas--crowned with a curious-looking
observatory, and ornamented at one end with a strange building on the
very edge of the cliff; being one of the _termini_ of the suspension
bridge, which got thus far, and no further. Going across the Green, the
sight is the most grand and striking we ever saw. Far down, skirting its
way round cliffs of prodigious height--which, however, except when they
are quarried for building purposes, are covered with the richest
foliage--along their whole descent winds the Avon, at that moment in
full tide, and covered in all its windings with sails of every shape and
hue. The rocks on the opposite side are of a glorious rich red, and
consort most beautifully with the green leaves of the plantations that
soften their rugged precipices, by festooning them to the very brink.
Then there are wild dells running back in the wooded parts of the hill,
and walks seem to be made through them for the convenience of maids who
love the moon--or more probably, and more poetically too, for the
refreshment of the toiling citizens of the smoky town, who wander about
among these sylvan recesses, with their wives and families, and enjoy
the wondrous beauty of the landscape, without having consulted Burke or
Adam Smith on the causes of their delight. As you climb upwards towards
the observatory, you fancy you are attending one of Buckland's
lectures--the whole language you hear is geological and philosophic.
About a dozen men, with little tables before them, are dispersed over
the latter part of the ascent, and keep tempting you with "fossiliferous
specimens of the oolite formation," "tertiary," "silurian," "saurian,"
"stratification," "carboniferous." It was quite wonderful to hear such a
stream of learning, and to see, at the same time, the vigour of these
terrene philosophers in polishing their specimens upon a whetstone, laid
upon their knees. A few shillings put us all in possession of memorials
of Clifton, in the shape of little slabs of different strata, polished
on both sides, and ingeniously moulded to resemble a book. A little
further up, we got besieged by another body of the Clifton Samaritans,
the proprietors of a troop of donkeys, all saddled and bridled in battle
array. Into the hands of a venerable matron, the owner of a vast number
of donkies, and two or three ragged urchins, who acted as the Widdicombs
of the cavalcade, we committed all the younkers for an hour's joy,
between the turnpike and back, and betook ourselves to a seat at the
ledge of the cliff, and "gazed with ever new delight" at the noble
landscape literally at our feet. But the hour quickly passed; the
donkeys resigned their load; and we slid, as safely as could be
expected, down the inclined plane that conducted us to the York. We did
not experiment upon the turtle-soup, as we had been advised to do at the
Royal Western, but some Bristol salmon did as well; and after a long
consultation about boats, and breakfast at an early hour, we found we
had got through our day, and that hitherto the journey had offered
nothing but enjoyment.
The morning lowered; and, heavily in clouds, but luckily without rain,
we effected our embarkation, at eight o'clock, on board the Wye--a
spacious steamer that plies every day, according to the tide, between
Bristol and Chepstow. We were a numerous crew, and had a steady captain,
with a face so weather-beaten that we concluded his navigation had not
been confined to the Severn sea. The first two or three miles of our
course was through the towering cliffs and wooded chasms we had admired
from the Clifton Down. For that part of its career, the Avon is so
beautiful, and glides along with such an evident aim after the
picturesque, that it is difficult to believe it any thing but an
ornamental piece of water, adding a new feature to a splendid landscape;
and yet this meandering stream is the pathway of nations, and only
inferior in the extent of its traffic to the Thames and Mersey. The
shores soon sink into commonplace meadows, and we emerge into the
Severn, which is about five miles wide, from the mouth of the Avon to
that of the Wye. All the way across, new headlands open upon the view;
and, far down the channel, you catch a glimpse of the Flat Holms, and
other little islands; while in front the Welsh hills bound the prospect,
at a considerable distance, and form a noble background to the rich,
wooded plains of Monmouthshire, and the low-lying shore we are
approaching. Suddenly you jut round an enormous rock, and find yourself
in a river of still more sylvan gentleness than the Avon. The other
passengers seemed to have no eyes for the picturesque--perhaps they had
seen the scenery till they were tired of it; and some of them were more
pleasantly engaged than gaping and gazing at rocks and trees. Grouped at
the tiller-chains were four or five people, very happily employed in
looking at each other--a lady and gentleman, in particular, seemed to
find a peculiar pleasure in the occupation; and were instructing each
other in the art and mystery of tying the sailor's knot. Time after time
the cord refused to follow the directions of the girl's fingers--very
white fingers they were too, and a very pretty girl--and, with untiring
assiduity, the teacher renewed his lesson. We ventured a prophecy that
they would soon be engaged in the twisting of a knot that would not be
quite so easy to untie as the sailor's slip that made them so happy.
On we went on the top of the tide, rounding promontories, and gliding
among bosky bowers and wooded dells, till at last our panting conveyer
panted no more, and we lay alongside the pier of Chepstow. The tide at
this place rises to the incredible height of fifty, and sometimes, on
great occasions, of seventy feet; so they have a floating sort of
foot-bridge from the vessel to the shore, that sinks and rises with the
flood, connected with the land by elongating iron chains, and
illustrating the ups and downs of life in a very remarkable manner. I
will not attempt to describe Chepstow on the present occasion, for a
stay in it did not enter into our plan. The Three Cocks grew in interest
the nearer we got to their interesting abode. We determined to hurry
forward to Abergavenny--thence to send a missive of enquiry as to the
accommodations of the hostel--to go on at once, if we could be
received--and (leaving all the lumber, including the maids and the
younger children) to make a series of voyages of discovery, that would
entitle us to become members of the Travellers' Club.
A coach was on the strand ready to start for Monmouth; a whisper and
half-a-crown secured the whole of the inside and two seats out, against
all concurrents; and the Wye, the boat, the knot-tying passengers, were
all left behind, and we began to climb the hill as fast as two
miserable-looking horses could crawl. A leader was added when we had got
a little way up; but as they neglected to furnish our coachman with a
whip long enough to reach beyond his wheeler's ears, our unicorn pursued
the even tenor of his way with very slackened traces, while our friend
sat the picture of indignation, with his short _flagellum_ in his hand,
and implored all the male population who overtook us, to favour him by
kicking the unhappy leader to death. An occasional benevolent Christian
complied with his request to the extent of a dig with a stout boot
under the rib; but every now and then, the furibund jarvey apologised to
us for the slowness of our course by asking--"Won't I serve him out when
I gets a whip!" A whip he at last got, and made up for lost time by
belabouring the lazy culprit in a very scientific manner; and having got
us all into a gallop, he became quite pleasant and communicative. All
the people in Monmouthshire are Welsh, that is very clear; and
Monmouthshire is as Welsh a county as Carnarvon, in spite of the maps of
geographers, and the circuits of the Judges. The very faces of the
people are evidence of their Taffy-hood. We have had no experience yet
if they carry out the peculiar ideas on the rights of property,
attributed to Taffy in the ancient legend, which relates the method that
gentleman took to supply himself with a leg of beef and a marrow bone;
but their voices and names are redolent of leeks, and no Act of
Parliament can ever make them English. You might as well pass an Act of
Parliament to make our friend Joseph Hume's speeches English. And
therefore, throughout the narrative, we shall always consider ourselves
in Wales, till we cross the Severn again. We trotted round the park wall
of a noble estate called Pearcefield, and when we had crowned the
ascent, our Jehu turned round with an air of great exultation, pulling
up his horses at the same time, and said--"There! did you ever see a
sight like that? This is the Double View." He might well be proud--for
such a prospect is not to be equalled, I should think, in the world. The
Wye is close below you, with its rich banks, frowned over by a
magnificent crag, that forms the most conspicuous feature of the
landscape; and in the distance is the river Severn, pursuing its shining
way through the fertile valleys of Glo'stershire, and by some _deceptio
visus_, for which we cannot account, raised apparently to a great height
above the level of its sister stream. It has the appearance of being
conveyed in a vast artificially raised embankment, laughing into scorn
the grandest aqueducts of ancient Rome, and bearing perhaps a greater
resemblance to the lofty-bedded Po in its passage through the plains of
Lombardy. The combination of the two rivers in the same scene, with the
peculiar characteristics of each brought prominently before the eye at
once, make this one of the finest "sights" that can be imagined. The
driver seemed satisfied with the sincerity of our admiration, and, like
a good patriot, evidently considered our encomiums as a personal
compliment to himself. The whole of the drive to Monmouth is through a
succession of noble views, only to be equalled, as far as our travelling
experience extends, by the stage on the Scottish border, between
Longtown and Langholm. But soon after this, the skies, that had gloomed
for a long time, took fairly to pouring out all the cats and dogs they
possessed upon our miserable heads. An umbrella on the top of a coach is
at all times a nuisance and incumbrance, so, in gloomy resignation to a
fate that was unavoidable, we wrapt our mantle round us, and made the
most of a bad bargain. To Monmouth we got at last, and to our great
discomfort found that it was market-day, and that we had to dispute the
possession of a joint of meat with some wet and hungry farmers. We
compromised the matter for a beefsteak, for which we had to wait about
an hour; and having seen that the whole of the garrison was well
supplied, we proceeded to make enquiries as to the best method of
getting on to Abergavenny. Finding that information on a matter so
likely to remove a remunerative party from the inn was not very easy to
be obtained from the denizens thereof, we made our way into the market.
The civility of the natives, when their interests are not concerned, is
extraordinary; and in a moment we were recommended to the Beaufort Arms,
a hotel that would do honour to Edinburgh itself--had ordered a roomy
chaise, and procured the services of a man with a light cart, to follow
us with the heavy luggage. The sky began to clear, the postillion
trotted gaily on, and we left the county town, not much gratified with
our experience of its smoky rooms and tough beefsteaks. We followed the
windings of the Trothy, a stream of a very lively and frisky
disposition, passing a seat of the Duke of Beaufort, who seems
lord-paramount of the county, and at length came in view of the noble
ruins of Ragland Castle. But now we were wiser than we had been at the
early part of the journey, and had bought a very well written
guide-book, by Mr W.H. Thomas, which, at the small outlay of one
shilling, made us as learned on "the Wye, with its associated scenery
and ruins," as if we had lived among them all our days. Inspired by his
animated pages, we descanted with the profoundest erudition, to our
astonished companion on the box, about its machicolated towers, and the
finely proportioned mullions of the hall. "If you ascend the walls of
the castle," we exclaimed in a paroxysm of enthusiasm, as if we were
perched on the very top, "you will see that the castle occupies the
centre of an undulating plain, checkered with white-washed farm-houses,
fields, and noble groves of oak. The tower and village of Rhaglan lie at
a short distance, picturesquely straggling and irregular. To the north,
the bold and diversified forms of the Craig, the Sugar Loaf, Skyrids,
and Blorenge mountains, with the outlines of the Hatterals, perfect the
scene in this direction; whilst the ever-varying and amphitheatrical
boundary of this natural basin, may be traced over the Blaenavons,
Craig-y-garayd, (close to Usk,) the Gaer Vawr, the round Twm Barlwm, the
fir-crowned top of Wentwood forest, Pen-cae-Mawr, the dreary heights of
Newchurch and Devauder; the continuation of the same range past
Llanishen, the white church of which is plainly visible; Trelleck,
Craig-y-Dorth, and the highlands above Troy Park, where they end." We
were going on in the same easy and off-hand manner to describe some
other peculiarities of the landscape, when a sudden lurch of the
carriage brought the book we were furtively pillaging into open view,
and we were forced, with a very bad grace, to confess our obligations to
Mr W.H. Thomas. A very beautiful ruin it is, certainly, and we made a
vow to devote a day to exploring its remains, and judging for ourselves
of the accuracy of the guide-book's description. Even if the road had no
recommendation from the lovely openings it gives at every turn, it would
be a pleasure to travel by it in sunshine, for the hedges along its
whole extent were a complete rampart of the sweetest smelling May. Such
miles of snow-white blossoms we never saw before. It looked like
Titania's bleaching-ground, and as if all the fairies had hung out their
white frocks to dry. And the hawthorn blossoms along the road were
emulated on all the little terraces at the side of it; the apple and
pear trees were in full bloom, and every little cottage rejoiced in its
orchard--so that, with the help of hedges and fruit trees, the whole
earth was in a glow of beauty and perfume--and we prophecy this will be
a famous year for cider and perry. Abergavenny has a very bad approach
from Monmouth, and we dreaded a repetition of the delays and toughnesses
we had just escaped from; how great therefore was our gratification when
we pulled up at the door of the Angel, and were shown into a splendid
room, thirty-five or forty feet long by twenty wide, secured bedrooms as
clean and comfortable as heart could desire, and had every thing we
asked for with the precision of clockwork and the rapidity of steam. The
Three Cocks began to descend from the lofty place they held in our
esteem, and we resolved for one day at least to rest contentedly in such
comfortable quarters, and look about us; so forth we sallied, and in the
course of our pilgrimage speedily arrived at Aberga'ny Castle. Talk of
picturesqueness! this was picturesque enough for poet or painter with a
vengeance--great thick walls all covered over with ivy, crowning a round
knoll at the upper part of the town, and looking over a finer view, we
will venture to say, than that we have just described as seen from
Ragland; and to complete the beauty of it--the comforts of modern
civilization uniting themselves to ancient magnificence--the main walls
have been fitted up by one of the late lords into a pretty
dwelling-house, which is at this moment occupied by one of the surgeons
of the town. This is the true use of an antique ruin--this is replacing
the coat of mail with a rain-proof mackintosh--the steel casque of Brian
de Boisguilbert with the Kilmarnock nightcap of Bailie Nicol Jarvie.
And in this instance the change has been effected with the greatest
skill; the coat of mail and steel casque are still there, but only for
show; the mackintosh and nightcap are the habitual dress: and few
dwellings in our poor eyes are comparable to the one, that outside has
the date of the crusaders, and inside, the conveniences of 1845. The
town has a noble body-guard of hills all round it; and perched high up
on almost inaccessible ledges, are little white-walled cottages, that
made us long for the wings of a bird to fly up and inspect them closer;
no other mode of conveyance would be either speedy or safe, for the
sides of the mountains are nearly perpendicular, and would have put
Douglas's horse to its mettle when he was on a visit to Owen Glendowr.
Dark, gloomy, Tartarean hills they appear, and no wonder; for their
whole interior is composed of iron, and day and night they are
glimmering and smoking with a hundred fires. They have a dreadful,
stern, metallic look about them, and are as different in their
configuration from the chalk hills of Hampshire as _they_ are from
cheese. Some day we shall ascend their dusky sides, and dive into
Pluto's drear domains--the iron-works--a god who, in the present state
of railway speculation, might easily be confounded with Plutus; and with
this and many other good resolutions, we returned to the hospitable care
of our friend Mr Morgan, at the Angel. Next day was Sunday, and very
wet. We slipped across the street and heard a very good sermon in the
morning, in a large handsome church, which was not quite so well filled
as it ought to have been, and were kept close prisoners all day
afterwards by the unrelenting clouds.
But our object was not yet attained, and we resolved to start off with
fresh vigour on our expedition to the Three Cocks. It was only
two-and-twenty miles off; our host, with none of the spirit that, they
say, is always found between two of a trade, spoke in the highest terms
of the Vale of Glasbury, and its clean and comfortable hotel. He also
made enquiry for us as to its present condition, and brought back the
pleasing intelligence that it was not full, and that we should find
plenty of accommodation at once. This did away with the necessity of
writing to the landlord, and in a short time we were once more upon the
road, maids and children inside as usual, and a natty postilion cocking
his white hat and flicking his little whip, in the most bumptious manner
imaginable. Through Crickhowell we went without drawing bridle, and went
almost too fast to observe sufficiently its very beautiful situation;
past noble country-seats, bower and hall, we drove; and at last wound
our solitary way along a cross-road, among some pastoral hills, that
reminded us more of Dumfries-shire than any country we have ever seen.
The road ascended gradually for many miles; and on crowning the
elevation, we caught a very noble extensive view of a rich, flat,
thickly-wooded plain, that bore a great resemblance to the unequalled
neighbourhood of Warwick. Down and down we trotted--hills and heights of
all kinds left behind us--trees, shrubs, hedges, all in the fullest
leaf, lay for miles and miles on every side; and the scenery had about
as much resemblance to our ideal of a Welsh landscape, as ditch water to
champagne. Through this wilderness of sweets, stifling and oppressive
from its very richness, we drove for a long way, looking in vain for the
hilly region where the Three Cocks had taken up their abode. At last we
saw, a little way in front of us, at the side of the road--or rather
with one gable-end projecting into it, a large white house, with a mill
appearing to constitute one of its wings. "The man will surely stop here
to water the horses," was our observation; and so indeed he did--and as
he threw the rein loose over the off horse's neck--there! don't you see
the sign-board on the wall? Alas, alas, this is the Three Cocks! An
admirable fishing quarter it must be, for the river is very near, and
the country rich and beautiful, but not adapted to our particular case,
where mountain air and free exposure are indispensable. But if it had
been ten times less adapted to our purpose we had travelled too far to
give it up.
"Can you take us in for a few weeks?"
The landlord laughed at the idea. "I could not find room for a single
individual, if you gave me a thousand pounds. A party has been with me
for some time, and I can't even say how long they may stay."
And, corroborative of this, we saw at the window our fortunate
extruders, who no doubt congratulated themselves on so many points of
the law being in their favour. Here were we stuck on the Queen's high
road--tired horses, cooped-up children--and the Three Cocks as
unattainable as the Philosopher's stone. The sympathizing landlord
consoled us in our disappointment as well as he could. The postilion
jumped into his saddle again, and we pursued our way to the nearest
place where there was any likelihood of a reception--namely, the Hay, a
village of some size about five miles further on. "Come along, we shall
easily find a nice cottage to-morrow, or get into some farm-house, and
ruralize for a month or two delightfully." Our hopes rose as we looked
forward to a settled home, after our experience of the road for so many
days; and we soared to such a pitch of audacity at last, that we
congratulated ourselves that we had not got in at Glasbury, but were
forced to go forward. The world was all before us where to choose. The
country seemed to improve--that is, to get a little less Dutch in its
level, as we proceeded--and we finally reached the Hay, with the
determination of Barnaby's raven, to bear a good heart at all events,
and take for our motto, in all the ills of life, "Never say die!--never
say die!"
The hotel had been taken by assault, and was occupied in great force by
a troop of dragoons, on their march into Glo'stershire. We therefore did
not come off quite so well as if we had led the forlorn-hope ourselves;
but, after so long a journey, we rejoiced in being admitted at all. Two
or three Welsh girls, who perhaps would have been excellent waiters
under other circumstances, appeared to consider themselves strictly on
military duty, and no other; so we sate for a very long time in solitary
stateliness, wondering when the water would boil, and the tea-things be
brought, and the ham and eggs be ready. And of our wondering there was
likely to be no end, till at last the hungry captain, the lieutenant,
and the cornet, were fairly settled at dinner, and at about eight
o'clock we got tea, but no bread; then came the loaf--and there was no
butter; then the butter--and there was no knife; but at last, all things
arrived, and the little ones were sent off to bed, and we amused
ourselves by listening to the rain on the window panes, and the
whistling of the wind in the long passages; and, with a resolution to be
up in good time to pursue our house-hunting project on the morrow, we
concluded the fifth day of our peregrinations in search of change of
air.
We had a charming prospect from the window, at breakfast. A gutter
tearing its riotous way down the street, supplied by a whole night's
rain, and clouds resting with the most resolute countenances on the
whole face of the land. At the post-office--that universal focus of
information--to which we wended in one of the intervals between the
showers, we were told of admirable lodgings. On going to see them, they
consisted of two little rooms, in a narrow lane. Then we were sent to
another quarter, and found the accommodation still more inadequate; and,
at last, were inconceivably cheered, by hearing of a pretty
cottage--just the thing--only left a short time ago by Captain somebody;
five bed-rooms, two parlours, large garden; if it had been planned by
our own architect, it could not have been better. Off we hurried to the
owner of this bijou. The worthy captain, on giving up his lease, had
sold his furniture; but we were very welcome to it as tenant for a year!
"Are there no furnished houses in this neighbourhood, at all?"
"No--e'es--may be you'll get in at the shippus,"--which, being
Anglicized, is sheep-house; and away we toddled a mile and a half to the
shippus--a nice old farm-house, with some pretensions to squiredom, and
the inhabitants kind and civil as heart could wish.
"Yes, they sometimes let their rooms--to families larger than ours--they
supplied them with every thing--waited on them--_did_ for them--and, as
for the children, there wasn't such a place in the county for nice
fields to play in."
We looked round the room--a good high ceiling, large window. "This is
just the thing--and I am delighted we were told of your house."
"It would have been very delightful, but--but we are full already, and
we expect some of our own family home."
And why didn't you tell us all this before?--we _nearly_ said--and to
this hour, we can't understand why there was such a profuse explanation
of comforts--which _we_ were never destined to partake of.
"But just across the road there is a very nice cottage, where you can
get lodged--and we can supply you with milk, and any thing else you
want."
Oho! there is some hope for us yet; and a few minutes saw us in colloquy
with the old gentleman, the proprietor of the house. With the usual
politeness of the Welsh, he dilated on the pleasure of having agreeable
visitors; and, with the usual Welsh habit of forgetting that people
don't generally travel with beds and blankets, carpets and chairs, and
tables and crockery, on their shoulders, he seemed rather astonished
when the fact of the rooms destined for us being unfurnished was a
considerable drawback. So, in not quite such high spirits as we started,
we returned to the Hay. After a little rest, we again sported our
seven-league boots, and took a solitary ramble across the Wye. A
beautiful rising ground lay in front; and as our main object was to get
up as high as we could, we went on and on, enjoying the increasing
loveliness of the view, and wondering if a country so very charming was
really left entirely destitute of furnished houses, and only enjoyed by
the selfish natives, who had no room for pilgrims from a distance. In a
nest of trees, surrounded on all sides by trimly kept orchards, and
clustering round a venerable church, we came, at a winding of the road,
on one of the most enchanting villages we ever saw. Near the gate of a
modest-looking mansion, we beheld a gentleman in earnest conversation
with a beggar. The beggar was a man of rags and eloquence; the gentleman
was evidently a political economist, and rejected the poor man's
petition "upon principle." A lady, who was at the gentleman's side,
looked at a poor little child the man carried in his arms. "Go to your
own place," said the gentleman; "I never encourage vagrants." But it was
too good-natured a voice to belong to a political economist.
I wish I were as sure of a house as that the poor fellow will get a
shilling, in spite of the new poor-law and Lord Brougham.
The lady, after looking at the child, said something or other to her
companion; and, as we turned away at the corner, we heard the
discourager of vagrants apologizing to himself, and also reading a
severe lecture on the impropriety of alms-giving. "Remember, I
disapprove of it entirely. You are indebted for it to this lady, who
interposed for you." So the poor man got his shilling after all; and we
considered it a favourable omen of success in getting a house.
The next turn brought us to a dwelling which we think it a sort of
sacrilege to call a public-house. The Baskerville Arms, in the village
of Clyroe, is more fit for the home of a painter or a poet than for the
retail of beer, "to be drunk on the premises." There was a row of three
nice clean windows in the front; the house seemed to stand in the midst
of an orchard of endless extent, though in reality it faced the road;
and, with a clear recollection of the line,
"Oh, that for me some cot like this would smile,"
upon our heart and lips, we tapped at the door, and went into the room
on the right hand. Every thing was in the neatest possible
order--bunches of May in the grate, and bouquets of fresh flowers in two
elegant vases upon the table. What nonsense to call this a public-house!
It puts us much more in mind of Sloperton, Moore's cottage in Wiltshire;
and in a finer neighbourhood than any part of Wiltshire can show.
The landlady came; a fit spirit to rule over such a domain--the
beau-ideal of tidiness and good humour. There were only two bedrooms;
and one parlour was all they could give up.
The raven of Barnaby Rudge had a hard fight of it to maintain his
ground. We very nearly said die! for we had felt a sort of assurance
that this was our haven at last.
The landlady saw our woe.
"There's such a beautiful cottage," she said, "a mile and a half
further on."
"Is it furnished?"
"Well, I don't know. I think somehow it is. Would you like to go and see
it? I don't know but my husband would put enough of furniture into it to
do for you, if you liked it."
It was, at all events, worth the trial. A little girl was sent with us
to act as guide; and along a road we sauntered in supreme delight--so
quiet, so retired, and so rich in leaf and blossom, that it seemed like
a private drive through some highly-cultivated estate; and, finally, we
reached the cottage. It stood on the side of an ascent; it commanded a
noble view of the Herefordshire hills and the valley of the Wye; and
there could be no doubt that it was the identical spot that the doctors
had seen in their dreams, when they described the sort of dwelling we
were to choose. I wish I were a half-pay captain, with a wife and three
children, a taste for gardening, and a poney-carriage. I wish I were a
Benedict in the honeymoon. I wish I were a retired merchant, with a good
sum at the bank, and a predilection for farming pursuits. I wish I were
a landscape painter, with a moderate fortune, realized by English art. I
wish--but there is no use of wishing for any thing about the cottage,
except that Mr Chaloner may furnish it at once, and let us be its tenant
for two or three months.
Mrs Chaloner, on our return to the Baskerville Arms, was gratified at
our estimate of the surpassing beauties of the house. She would send her
husband to us at the Hay the moment he returned; and, in the midst of
"gay dreams, by pleasing fancy bred," we returned to our barrack, and
created universal jubilee by the prospect we unfolded.
In a sort of delirium of good nature, we waited patiently till the
soldiers had had all the attentions of the household again. We had
almost a sense of enjoyment in all the discomforts we experienced. The
doors that would not shut--the waiters that would not come--all things
shone of the brightest rose-colour, seen through the anticipation of ten
or twelve weeks' residence in the paradise we had seen.
Late at night Mr Chaloner was announced. He had heard the whole story
from his worthy half; was in hopes he should be able to meet our wishes,
but must consult his chief. If _he_ agreed, he would see us before ten
next morning--if not, we were to consider that the furniture could not
be put in.
And again we were slightly in the dumps.
At half-past nine next morning we rang the bell, and ordered a carriage
to be at the door at ten. If we hear from Chaloner, we shall drive at
once to the Baskerville Arms; if not, there is no use of house-hunting
in such an inhospitable region any more; let us get back to our friend
at Abergavenny. If there is no house near _it_, let us go back to
Chepstow; if we are disappointed there, let us go home, and tell the
doctor we have changed the air enough.
Ten o'clock.--No Chaloner; but, as usual, also no carriage. Half-past
ten.--No Chaloner. At eleven--the carriage;--and behold, in three hours
more, the smiling face of Mr Morgan--the great long room and clean
apartments of the Angel, and the end of our expectations of house and
home, except in an hotel.
We have no time on the present occasion to tell how fortune smiled upon
us at last. How our landlord exerted himself, not only to make us happy
while under his charge, but to get us into comfortable quarters in a
large commodious house in the neighbourhood. In some future Number we
will relate how jollily we fare in our new abode. How we are waited on
like kings by the kindest host and hostess that ever held a farm; and
how we travel in all directions, leaving the little ones at home, in a
great strong gig, drawn by a horse that hobbles and joggles at a famous
pace, and gives us plenty of good exercise and hearty laughter. All
these things we will describe for the edification of people under
similar circumstances to ourselves. The present lucubration being
intended as a warning not to move from _one_ home till another is
secured; the next will be an example how country quarters are enjoyed,
and a description of how pale cheeks are turned into red ones by living
in the open air.