Walk to Montford Bridge—The Severn—An agreeable companion—Delights of a
Tourist—Histrionic Ambition—Wittington—The Castle—The Church—Curious
Epitaphs.
“Oh Wittington, among thy towers
Pleas’d did my early childhood stray,
Bask’d on thy walls in sunny hours
And pull’d thy moss and pluck’d thy flowers
Full many a truant day.”
FITZ-GWARINE.
AFTER breakfasting at the inn, I, like the honorable Dick Dowlass, with
my wardrobe on my back, and a light heart, proceeded on the road to
Chirk.
The Severn, to the right, winded beautifully towards the ancient town I
left behind. Bees hummed—birds sang—and blossoms sent forth their
fragrance to delight the traveller as he gaily trudged “the footpath
way.” Cheerfulness was above, beneath, around me, and in my heart. I
paused upon the bridge at Montford, to take a lingering farewell of the
sweet flowing Severn, its wooded banks and meadows gay; and was about to
commence a sublime soliloquy, when I was accosted by an elderly personage
in a straw hat, fustian shooting coat, knee-breeches, gaiters and shoes.
He had a stout cudgel in his hand, and a knapsack, more capacious than
mine, strapped across his shoulders. He appeared to be about fifty-five
years of age, and being furnished like myself, it struck me that a
passing traveller might naturally enough take us for father and son.
Fortunately we were both pursuing the same route, and a desultory
dialogue commenced with the never failing observation:
“A fine morning, sir.”
“Very.”
“A noble river this, sir?”
“Beautiful.”
“A great admirer of the charms of nature, I presume, sir?”
“An enthusiastic one.”
“You’re for the Welsh vales, I suppose?”
“And mountains high!” I exclaimed, warming to my loquacious companion.
“In the Welsh vales ’mid mountains high,”
sang he, in a hearty, round-toned voice, with which I chimed in, and we
were the best friends, on a sudden.
There certainly is no society so interesting as that picked up by the
tourist, who leaves with contempt the starched formalities of a great
city behind him, and walks forth, unencumbered by care, to enjoy the
society of mankind in its varied and unsophisticated nature. Every
person we meet affords us information and delight; for a kindred spirit
animates almost every individual whom you may chance to encounter in
countries remarkable for beauties of scenery, and especially in a region
like North Wales, where inns of the best kind are situated at the most
convenient points, and the foot passenger is treated with as much respect
as a lord in his carriage with four post horses. The landlords of inns
here, think that a man may make the proper use of his legs without being
a beggar; and that the costume of a pedestrian may cover the form of a
gentleman. And this philanthropic conception contributes to form that
happy combination, civil hosts and merry travellers.
There is no want of society, nor any difficulty in selecting that with
which you are best pleased, for every evening brings in fresh comers from
various quarters to the different places of rest and refreshment. The
exchange of information respecting routes, the different adventures of
the day, the peculiar feelings displayed in their recital, and
countenances lit up with pleasure, give a degree of animation to the
evening, never to be equalled in the brilliant drawing-room, the blaze of
which seems to put out the eyes of reason,
“And men are—what they name not to themselves,
And trust not to each other.”
I soon discovered that my companion was a traveller of no common
information; that he was a collector of legends, an antiquarian, and a
geologist; and congratulated myself upon meeting with one who, as he gave
me to understand, was intimately acquainted with a variety of
circumstances, not generally known, which had taken place in “days of
yore,” upon the very ground we were about to traverse, and which he had
frequently visited before.
He had been an actor in his youth, and as the scenery between Mountford
Bridge and the village of Wittington has little to engage the attention,
I will here relate a portion of his early history, with which he amused
me during our journey.
HISTRIONIC AMBITION.
It was a foggy morning when Triptolemus,—for so I shall designate my new
acquaintance,—who had unfortunately been deeply bitten by a mad actor,
arose, feverish from his sleepless pillow, to awaken the cocks of the
surrounding neighbourhood with the loud rattle of his histrionic tongue.
He had, with some difficulty, prevailed upon the manager of the theatre
to permit him to make his appearance on the stage, and the character
selected for his attempt was Richmond—the gallant Richmond!
In the centre of the filthy town of — stands an ancient castle, situated
upon a lofty hill, which is now turned into a county jail. There was
around it formerly a deep moat, which having for many years been dried
up, is now converted into pleasure gardens for the corporation. From the
top of the hill there was, at this time, an opening, much like a trap
door, where commenced a descent by winding steps, leading to the gardens
beneath, and to some gates made in the iron railings that encompassed the
moat upon the other side.
Upon the summit of the hill, Triptolemus walked with all the dignity of
an English baron. The ancient fortress, that frowned above him, gave
additional fire to his excited imagination; and, as he spoke of knights
and fellows in arms, and mused of war, banners, and crop ear’d steeds,
the present peaceful times were dead to him, and nothing lived within his
gallant thoughts but those whose bones have long since whitened in the
dust.
Triptolemus had walked round, and round again, about the distance of half
a mile, spouting Shakespeare to “the unconscious wind,” when, as he was
about to take “round the third,” instead of looking at the earth, his
inspired glance was directed to the sky; and at the instant he exclaimed,
“thus far into the bowels of the land,” he vanished into the earth
through the before mentioned trap door! and awakening from his surprize,
he found himself half smothered in a bed of manure, at the bottom of the
steps.—When he had in some degree recovered from his alarm, and
ascertained that his person had escaped injury, his first reflection was
upon the fall of Lucifer,
“From night to morn—from morn to dewy eve,
A summer’s day!”
He then looked round him and fancied himself in Johnson’s happy valley,
himself the prince, and, like him, discontented with his lot, when he was
suddenly aroused to a sense of his real situation by the pointed
application of a pitchfork, unceremoniously handled by a sturdy boor, who
saluted him with, “Where the devil didst thee come from?” His indignant
spirit now gave vent to its uncontrollable fury, in a torrent of blank
verse! He felt that, like Hamlet, he could
“Do such deeds
As hell itself would quake to look upon.”
But, like Posthumous, he was doubtful which to select. His soul was in
arms!—and the thrice valiant embryo Richmond exclaimed,
“Thrice is he arm’d that hath his quarrel just;
And he but naked, tho’ lock’d up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.”
“I fell into this damned place through your neglect in leaving the trap
door open, you bloody and devouring boar,”—eyeing him all the while with
a glance that seemed to say, “If I thought you wholesome, I’d turn
cannibal.”
The bumkin, however, took no further notice of it than to assure him, if
he did not presently take to his heels, he would toss him out on the
prongs of his fork.
O! what a field for fancy did this threat open to his susceptible mind!
The tattered hat of the unceremonious gardener was converted into a
coronet of snakes that reared their threatening crests and hissed
furiously at the astonished hero. His ruddy face assumed the Gorgon’s
look, turning him almost into stone. The weapon in his hand grew fiery
red, and for a foot there seemed a cloven hoof.
An attempted application of the torturing steel however, gave motion to
his limbs;—away he scampered up the steep ascent, not daring to turn a
solitary glance behind, until he reached the spot from whence he fell.
This accident conjured up a train of reflections upon the vanity of human
wishes! “Alas!” exclaimed he, “it is but a few minutes since I fancied
myself a hero at the head of a victorious army, before which thousands
would turn and fly, or grimly bite the dust; and now I find myself a
wretched thing! routed by a base born hind with a muck fork in his hand!
Oh! vile disgrace! I only wish that fellow may see me on the boards
to-morrow night—I’ll frown him into a liquid.”
Upon the night of this eventful morning the stage-struck Triptolemus had
very unquiet dreams; his head was filled, he said, with a chaotic mass of
indistinct and indescribable objects. The last thought he had while
awake was how he should look when dressed as the gallant Richmond;—and
having settled that point to his own satisfaction, he resigned himself to
“Sweet Nature’s second course.”
He waves aloft his glittering steel—he spurs his coal black charger to
the field.—Forward! he cries—and the hostile ranks advance in terrible
array, inspired by their heroic leader! All then becomes hubbub, turmoil
and confusion, higglety pigglety, up and down, slash away work. He meets
the tyrant king—fiercely they struggle for the mastery—slap bang go their
battle axes; when suddenly a number of shadowy forms, with blood-red
cabbage-heads, encircle the enfuriated pair, yelling and dancing at the
white-rose king;—the gallant Richmond staggers beneath the prowess of his
vigorous opponent, and half believes the field is lost, when through the
spectre group a headless horseman breaks with furious speed.—’Tis
Buckingham!—he waves his gory head aloft in his red hand, and as Tydides
whirled the fragment of a rock upon his foe, even with such fury flung
the shade his head, full upon the visage of his fated Richard;—he
falls—the shadows vanish with loud cries of joy! when suddenly a dreadful
blow is dealt upon the temples of the conquering Richmond;—the chains of
sleep are broken, and Triptolemus lies stretched upon the floor.
He arose confused; he pondered upon his dream, rubbed his bruised
forehead, and began conclusions from the visions of the night. These
proving satisfactory, he descended to the breakfast parlour, inwardly
exclaiming,
“May good digestion wait on appetite.”
The rehearsal in the morning gave additional confidence, the manager
having pronounced it a very promising specimen of his ability.
Night came—and he was at his post three hours before his presence would
be required upon the stage. His hair, of which he had a great profusion,
was twisted into innumerable curls by a one-eyed frizzeur who received a
payment of twelve pence per night from the manager for decorating the
heads of his talented performers; his limbs were cased in the warlike
habiliments of the 15th century, which (with the trifling inconvenience,
occasioned by their being made for a person of nearly double his
dimensions some twenty years before, and the few dilapidations they had
received from the numberless falls, thwacks, rents, etc. during their
long and faithful servitude) gave him the appearance of a warrior of some
personal endowments. The helmet was peculiarly formed, resembling that
worn in the 14th century; for this appendage to the son of Mars had been
neglected until the very last moment, when it was supposed to be
impossible to procure one; but Triptolemus, ever fertile in resources,
seized upon a shining tin saucepan, in which the Duke of Buckingham had
brought some barley water to the theatre for the purpose of clearing his
voice, emptied its contents, and having divested it of its handle, made
of it an admirable completion to his costume. At the end of the first
act, he walked, with all the self possession of a veteran stager, into an
apartment called the green-room, but which exhibited a clear face of
white-wash, emblematic of those who frequented its chaste precincts. It
was furnished with chairs, stools, and a huge family sofa, evidently the
work of the “olden time.” This seemed a seat suited to Triptolemus,
puffed out as he was with the pride of his appearance; but unfortunately
the light comedian, when playing the part of Doricourt, fell so heavily
upon it, in the mad scene, that he made a fatal breach in the bottom,
which as yet had not undergone a repair. King Henry the sixth (a short,
stout, pompous man, who never moved but one arm in acting, and that with
the exact motion of a pump handle) was seated on one side of the fire
place, in an altitude of deep thought. Triptolemus remembered his dream,
and was astonished at the close resemblance between the red cabbage head
of the shadow and the rubicund visage of the portly personage in the
chimney corner. His surprise was the greater for that he had not met
this gentleman at the rehearsal, he having sent an apology for his
absence, being hotly engaged (as he termed it) in _making his benefit_,
i.e. paying his respects to the different taverns in the town, where his
merry associates congregated to drink porter, smoke tobacco, and
distribute as many tickets as an insinuating address and consummate
assurance would enable them to dispose of amongst their boon companions.
The fourth act is over; and Triptolemus experiences a strange sensation
rising from the bottom of his abdomen and gradually spreading itself over
his whole body!—he feels less valiant than when first he donned the
shining helmet (alias saucepan) and fastened the glittering falchion to
his mailed side. Ting a ring ting! goes the prompter’s bell!
Triptolemus was trembling at his post. The music ceases—the curtain
rises—the martial music is played loudly behind the scenes, and the
audience with breathless anxiety await the entrance of the dauntless
hero, the brave Earl of Richmond.
The trumpeters have almost split their cheeks,—the troops march on, two
and two—the Earl of Oxford then advances, next Sir James Blunt, and then
Sir Walter Herbert. Triptolemus who had been advised to appear last, and
with a rush to “take the natives by surprise,” as it is termed in
theatrical phraseology, now darted forward to the footlights, “swift as
an arrow from the Tartar bow.” The applause was deafening, and made him
fancy that the gods were at war above him; nor was he much out in his
conceit, for a chimney sweeper who had edged himself into the centre of
the gallery at that moment, caused such a commotion amongst the
goddesses, that they assisted, with their screams, the general uproar,
and shouts and cat calls “shook the pond’rous roof.” This state of
commotion was too violent to last, and at length silence was obtained,
and the hero commenced—
“Thus far into the bowels of the land—”
Here the figure of the uncivil gardener met his eyes, seated in the front
row of the pit, and grinning like a Scotch terrier with a hair-lip. He
made a full stop at this apparition! “Have we marched on,” came the word
from the prompter—“Have we marched on,”—echoed Oxford. But all was mist
before Richmond’s eyes, indignation was in his heart and silence upon his
tongue. Unable to utter a word more, with a flourish of his truncheon he
made a furious exit. “Have we marched off,” said the gallant Blunt—and
stalked off with the whole army (six in number) after his heroic leader.
The scene changed for Richard’s entrance.—Shame and fury battledoor’d our
hero about with unmerciful rapidity behind the scenes! He split his
wooden truncheon upon the scull of an unlucky lamplighter who stood in
his way, and then the call boy’s awful voice was heard bidding him
prepare for his second scene. This he managed to get through tolerably
well, taking especial care to avoid another glance at the gardener’s
fatal countenance.
All went on smoothly enough, until the scene where Richard rushes on the
stage in the midst of alarums, crying out. “What ho! young Richmond ho!”
Here, as ill luck would have it, Richmond could not find his _fighting
sword_, and his confusion was so great, when Richard again roared out,
“’Tis Richard calls!” Richmond rebellowed from behind the scenes, “Call
and be d—d,” thinking the actor was taking an unwarrantable liberty in
calling for him before so many people in such an authoritative style.
_Richard_. “I say come forth, and singly face me.”
_Richmond_, (behind) “What the devil’s the use of my coming, when I can’t
find my sword?”
At length, the combatants met, Richmond having picked up a powerful
weapon, instead of the short, blunt and harmless sword intended for the
encounter. It was keen, long, and pointed, like a lancet—a terrible
weapon in unpractised hands.
_Richard_. “Do you remember the cuts?” (in an undertone, with doubting
fear).
_Richmond_. “Oh, d—n the cuts!” at the same time dealing a blow that
laid open the shin of the crook backed tyrant, who, thinking it better to
die at once in jest, than to be killed outright in earnest, fell down
exclaiming, “Perdition catch thy arm! you’ve cut my leg open!”
_Richmond_. “Upon my soul, I could’nt help it!”
_Richard_. “But oh—! the vast renown thou hast acquired—”
This was too much for the audience to bear—“their visible muscles
unmasterly grew,” and the champions were mutually discomposed.
_Richmond_. “What the devil are they laughing at?”
_Richard_. “At you to be sure, ‘in conquering Richard.’”
Here another burst of merriment broke from the spectators, and
Triptolemus, turning his head, to check, with a high tragedy look, their
ill timed mirth, beheld, to his horror and dismay, the inveterate
gardener standing upon the front bench of the pit, waving his arms like
the sails of a windmill, and who no sooner caught a full view of his
countenance than he roared out, “I’m blest if it bea’nt he that I turned
up wi’ my pitch fork out of the muck heap!”
“All’s over!” exclaimed Richard, and gave up the ghost, with his back
turned to the audience, which created a fresh peal of laughter, groans
and hisses. Richmond, shocked at the un-Cesarian position of the
monarch, strove to obtain silence, while he spoke the tag, by turning him
over with his face to the footlights—which he did with his foot, placing
Richard’s nose within half an inch of the burning oil, who grinned his
disapprobation of such usage, till the audience shrieked with mirth.
“Ring down the curtain, for God’s sake!” shrieked the manager.
“Stop till I’ve spoken the tag!” cried Richmond.
“Ring down for the sake of my nose,” bawled the corpse. Ting a ring
ting! went the prompter’s bell, and down fell the curtain, leaving one
half of Richard’s body in view of the laughter-weeping spectators, which
was at last dragged by the heels from their sight by the indignant
Richmond, vowing, he never would again act with so diabolical a
_Richard_.
* * * * *
This story, which amused me exceedingly, was during the recital often
interrupted by my hearty bursts of laughter, and beguiled the time
admirably, until we arrived at a miserable place called _New Inn_, where
we refreshed ourselves with a glass of ale, and proceeded on our journey.
Branching off from the Oswestry road, to the right, we pursued our way to
Wittington, beguiling the time with anecdote and song, light hearts and
heels carrying us along the road like things of air. Nothing worthy of
notice took place until we reached the village of Wittington, and there
the first objects that attracted our mutual attention, were two brick
houses, perfectly plain in their exterior, upon the front of the first of
which was written, in prodigious characters, _Search the Scriptures_, and
upon the second, _Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day_, with
underneath, _Morrison’s pills sold here_.
The village is beautifully intersected with trees, and the houses are
examples of neatness and simplicity. The people look cheerful and
contented; and every shrub or flower which here profusely expands, seems
proudly to rejoice and flourish in this charming retreat.
A walk through this village will make the tourist thoroughly acquainted,
in his own belief, with the persons who inhabit it, although he never
heard the history of one of them, from the rector to the tinker. The
first portrait that rises in his imagination is the venerable curate,
with contentment beaming in his mild eyes, his silver locks flowing over
his well-brushed thread-bare coat, with snow-white neck-cloth, mended
small clothes, black hose and polished shoes, visiting the cottage of
some invalid—a lovely girl, scarce sixteen, the rose of the village, who
had long been stretched upon a bed of sickness, but now blessed with
returning health, seated at the door, the fresh evening air playing with
her fair locks, the woodbine clustering over her head, a slight tinge of
vermilion spreading on her cheeks, her eyes upraised in pious gratitude
to heaven, and to him who prayed beside her, and for her, morning and
evening, and who now with grateful heart holds up his hands to the
Creator, in thankfulness for her convalescence.
The next object is the village surgeon; a busy, merry, bustling, prying,
talkative, little gentleman, who amuses one patient with all the scandal
he has been able to pick up about another; but, notwithstanding, a most
important person, and people feign illness for the gratification his
visits communicate; constant in his morning calls from house to house, he
continues to pick up all the flying rumours of the day; and at night is,
of course, the object looked up to, in all parties, as the oracle, in
whom all the secrets of the village are deposited, while he is cautious
not to commit himself, by imprudent exposures.
Then comes the lawyer, with snuff-coloured riding coat with brass
buttons, top-booted, and spurred, who does very well for himself, by
_doing_ his neighbours in a professional way.
Then come the ladies, who are of course all nature, no art, sweetness,
simplicity, and all that; but as I am not going to write a volume upon
rural life, I will just give a short description of
WITTINGTON CASTLE.
“In ancient days, of high renown,
Not always did yon castle frown
With ivy crested brow;
Nor were its walls with moss embrowned,
Nor hung the lanky weeds around
That fringe its ruins now.”
FITZ-GWARINE.
In the year 843, when Roderick the Great was King of Wales, a British
noble, named Ynyr ap Cadfarch, built the Castle of Wittington. He was
succeeded by his son Tudor Trevor, whose descendants possessed it for
many generations; and many families at this day trace their origin to
him.
At the Conquest, Wittington became the property of Pain Peveril, who
dying without issue, it was seized by Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury, and
passed into the hands of Hugh, his son, who was succeeded by his brother
Robert; but he being defeated by Henry I, the castle was restored to the
Peverils, in the person of Sir William Peveril, who was a great warrior,
and is said to have miraculously recovered from a (supposed) _mortal
wound_ by eating the shield of a wild boar. He had a daughter named
Mellet, whose exceeding beauty attracted many suitors; but, being of
Amazonian mind, she declared she would marry none but the knight who
proved himself best and bravest in the field. Her father published this
declaration, and promised the Castle of Wittington as her dower. The
trial took place at the Peak in Derbyshire, and Guarine de Metz, who had
a shield of silver, and a peacock crest, overcame all his rivals, and
obtained the beautiful Mellet. His posterity, for nine generations,
assumed the name of Fulk, a race of heroes who performed extraordinary
feats of arms, and for a full account of which the reader is referred to
the history of Wittington, a little book of forty-one pages, by William
Davies, L.M.W.S., Head Master of Caernarven School.
The ninth, and last Fulk Fitz Gwarine, died here in his minority, in the
reign of Henry IV, and his sister Elizabeth, the heiress to the estates,
married Richard Hankfdd, who left his possessions to his only daughter
Thomasine, who married Sir William Bourchire, brother to Henry, the first
Earl of Essex; and the title of Lord Fitz Warine was given to Sir
William, in consequence of his marriage.
John, the third in descent from him, exchanged Wittington with Henry VIII
for other landed property. This John was the first Earl of Bath, and his
family retained the name of Fitz-Warren until the race became extinct,
which took place at the death of Henry, the fifth Earl of Bath. This
place was presented by Elizabeth, to Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, who
fortified it in consequence of several crimes imputed to him by the bigot
Mary, who granted it to Fitz-Alan, the last Earl of Arundel, who
mortgaged it to a number of London citizens, and William Albany, the
chief amongst them was appointed sole possessor of it, and by the
marriage of whose grand daughter it fell into the hands of Thomas Lloyd
Aston Esq. in whose family it now remains.
The castle underwent fortification soon after its original establishment;
and must have been alternately in the hands of the Welsh and Saxons in
these wars. It is well supplied with spring water, and the moats, and
entrenchments surrounding the castle are still discernible. The keep was
fortified with five round towers, each 40 feet in diameter and 100 in
height, the walls being 12 feet in thickness.—All are now in ruins.
In 1809, a well was discovered in the Keep, at the bottom of which was
found a pair of iron fetters for the legs, and a jug, stags’ heads,
swords, a head curiously carved, and a number of richly gilt glass
bottles. In the trenches there are growing some very fine tall wych
trees. The castle is situated in the midst of fertile meadows; and a
rapid stream, which a mile above takes a subterranean course, here breaks
into light again, amidst fringing poplars, and entering the moat,
encompasses the walls, which are richly festooned with ivy, and adorned
with wild flowers and woodbines. It there enters the Perry, in the
meadows below, which were formerly an extensive lake, and the ancient
fosses and entrenchments may be traced to where the lake terminated, at a
surprising distance westward, beyond the castle.
The church is a rectory, and was originally designed as a chapel to the
castle. It is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The body of the church
was rebuilt in 1806, and in the register are the following curious
epitaphs:
March 13, 1766, died
THOMAS EVANS,
Parish Clerke, Aged 72.
Old Stanhold’s lines or Vicar of Bray.
Which he tuned best, ’twas hard to say.
SAMUEL PEATE,
Of Wittington Castle, died
Aged 84.
Here lies Governor Peate,
Whom no man did hate.
At the age of fourscore,
And four years more.
He pretended to wrestle
With Death for his castle,
But was soon out of breath,
And surrendered to Death,
Who away did him take
At the eve of our wake,
One morn about seven,
To keep wake in Heaven.
ANDREW WILLIAMS
was
Born A.D 1692, and died April 18, 1776.
Aged 84.
Of which time he lived under
The Aston family, as decoy man, 60 years.
Here lies the decoy man, who lived like an otter,
Dividing his time betwixt land and water.
His hide he oft soaked in the waters of Perry,
Whilst Aston old beer his spirits kept cherry.
Amphibious his trim, death was puzzled they say
How to dust to reduce such well moistened clay,
So death turned decoy man, and decoyed him to land,
Where he fixed his abode till quite dried to the hand.
He then found him fitting for crumbling to dust,
So here he lies mouldering, as you and I must.
In this lovely village, we put up at a small inn, the Crown, to take
luncheon, which was served with much civility—cold meat, a cream salad,
and a capital Cheshire cheese, with the very best of Shropshire ale. The
name of the host I have forgotten, but it is the first inn on the left on
entering the village from Shrewsbury. It has a delightful garden
attached to it, with grottos and arbours; roses and woodbines distribute
their fragrance in prodigal gratuity, and the _tout ensemble_ gives an
admirable idea of fairy land.