On our first entrance, we gazed with that rapt astonishment, which fears
to disturb, or be disturbed, by the mutual communication of thought. Mr.
Warner, in his survey of this ruin, was much disappointed; but I cannot
help allowing, although the view from it was inferior to Chepstow, that
its antiquated walls wear a nobler appearance; and the gloom that reigns
around it forces a sigh, and evinces the transitory nature of sublunary
greatness. The antiquity of the building is very obscure. Passing
through the village of Caldecot, we soon entered