Part 5 (1/2)
Our travelling continued in rocky tracks, at the rate of a mile an hour, until we recovered the Llandilo road; from which we soon turned off, on the right, to visit Glenheir waterfall, in the grounds of Mr. Dubaison, about five miles south of Llandilo. At this place the Loughor river pursues its course between steep banks clothed with various trees and shrubs. On one of the descents a walk is traced, with some ingenuity, in front of a small picturesque cascade formed by a tributary stream to the Loughor. This might be mistaken for the object sought; but, crossing a rustic bridge, the eye on a sudden encounters the whole river rus.h.i.+ng beneath a portal of trees, and throwing itself over a ledge of black rock in a single fall of eighteen feet. The effect of the whole, seen through the gloom of pendent trees, is undoubtedly striking; though, it must be confessed, the sheet of water presenting the formality of an unbroken square is somewhat unpicturesque. The person who attended us pointed out the effects of the torrent at fifteen feet above its surface, to which height it was swelled in the morning by the late storm; a greater rise than was ever known before: the cataract then exhibited a scene more tremendously grand than imagination can picture, or words describe; yet some idea may be formed in conceiving so vast a bulk of water, bursting over the precipice, stunning with its roar, and filling the atmosphere with its spray; while up-rooted trees, the shattered fragments of buildings, and other ruins, swept headlong on by the irresistible torrent, would ill.u.s.trate its terrors, and complete a spectacle great indeed! Yet, alas, at how high a purchase, appeared from the lamentations of the neighbourhood! Nor were we without a share in the general calamity; for, crossing the Loughor at a ford about two miles further, my poney on a sudden slipped out of his depth, and we had separately to swim for our lives to the opposite bank. This disagreeable business was much aggravated; for my books, papers, and some other articles which I carried in a leather-case behind the saddle, were completely soaked, and several drawings utterly spoiled. My companion, having a taller horse, escaped, with only his boots full of water. Here it may not be amiss to apprize the traveller through Wales, that these fords (frequently occurring) are not unattended with danger after great falls of rain: at such times, a careful enquiry should be made of the people near them: a precaution that would have saved us our ducking; for it afterwards appeared, that no other travellers had crossed the ford during the day, but avoided it by taking a circuitous route.
In this plight we jogged on upwards of eight miles, with the unwelcome gloom of the Black Mountains on our left, and a pleasant diversified country on our right, to the village of Pont-ar-dulas, but which we did not reach before evening. The comfortable inn at this place afforded us a change of apparel and good cheer, that soon dissipated the inconveniences of our journey. On the following morning we rose early, and then found the place to possess many traits of picturesque attraction, being seated near a rapid river, and agreeably interspersed with woods. Thence we had a pleasant ride to Swansea; where we rejoined a party of our friends at breakfast, after a fortnight's excursion.
During our stay in this town, protracted to several days by its agreeable society, Mrs. Hatton, mistress of the bathing-house, and sister of the English Melpomene, exhibited her theatric powers on the humble boards of Swansea theatre. But, labouring under the misfortune of lameness, and the enc.u.mbrance of more human flesh than I ever before saw crowded in one female figure, she was obliged to go through her task, the recitation of Alexander's Feast, _sitting_: notwithstanding which _weighty_ drawback, the lady did not fail to exhibit a vivid tincture of the family genius.
Here too we were gratified with the news of an event, before whose solid advantages the victories of a century sink, in a rational estimate, like glittering tinsel before ma.s.sive ingots. I was awakened at an early hour by the loud huzzas of the towns-people, and the frequent discharge of cannon from vessels in the harbour. The s.h.i.+ps displayed their gayest colours; and the people, in dancing through the streets, congratulated each other on the long wished-for blessing of PEACE! The chagrin of two or three provision-monopolizers, and a few others whose interest was in opposition to the public weal, with the old subterfuge that it was not the proper time for peace, covering a real sentiment of endless war, pa.s.sed unnoticed, nor formed a perceptible speck on the brilliancy of the people's joy!
CHAP. X.
NEATH ABBEY, TOWN, AND CASTLE-THE KNOLL-BRITON FERRY-FUNEREAL RITES-ABERAVON-MARGAM-ABBEY RUIN-PILE.
Our tour now took an eastward direction. Crossing Swansea river by an exceeding good ferry, and pa.s.sing a region of furnaces, we traversed a considerable hill to the neighbouring valley of NEATH; a spot that might be deemed pleasing, were it not overhung with the smoke of numerous manufactories, and its soil blackened with coal-works and rail-ways.
{145} Neath abbey is a short distance west of the town, and its remains are extensive. Besides the abbey church, the walls of the offices and other apartments are yet standing; but, undecorated with verdure, and partaking of the sable hue that impinges on every object around, it fails to create an idea of beauty or grandeur. As we were exploring the dark recesses of the ruin, a number of haggard forms on a sudden darted from various apertures, and eagerly pressed toward us. Their wan countenances, half hidden by black matted hair, bore the strongest expression of misery; which was further heightened by a scanty ragged apparel, that scarcely covered their meagre limbs: upon their whole appearance one might have asked with Banquo,-
”What are these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire, That look not like th' inhabitants o'the earth, And yet are on't?-You should be women; And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.”-
The poor creatures were the wives of miners, and women that worked in the manufactories, who burrowed and brought up their families in the cells of the ruin. Unceasing drudgery, however, was unable to obtain them the necessaries of life; much less a taste of those comforts, to which the exertion of useful labour might seem to have a just claim. An old woman, bent nearly double with years,
”Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless,”
gave us her account of the ruin. She shewed us the nuns' dining-room, the roof of which is still entire, supported by Saxon, or rather early Norman pillars and arches. From the refectory we pa.s.sed to what was once the dormitory, and were shewn a nauseous dungeon, in which, as the legend of the ruin relates, offending nuns were wont to be confined. This abbey was built by Richard de Granville and Constance his wife, in the reign of Henry the First, for Cistertian monks, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity: at the dissolution of monasteries its revenues were valued at 150_l._ _per annum_. The abbey-house, about a century and a half since, formed an admired seat of the Hobby's family.
Neath, the Nidum of Antoninus, was formerly of greater extent and importance than at present; for, notwithstanding its flouris.h.i.+ng manufactories, it now makes but a poor dirty appearance. The Castle, now an inconsiderable ruin, was built by Richard de Granville, one of Fitzhammon's knights, upon the site of a British fortress of very antient foundation; and was taken and in part burnt by Prince Llewelyn A.D. 1231.
The Neath river limits that tract of country called Gower; it also formed the western boundary of the Lords.h.i.+p of Glamorgan, which anciently extended eastward to the river Usk. The latter district fell under the dominion of the Normans in the following manner.
In the year 1090, Jestyn, lord of Glamorgan, having a difference with Rees, King of Wales, had recourse to arms, and solicited the a.s.sistance of Fitzhammon, an Anglo-Norman chieftain, to support his cause. The confederates were successful; but, as it generally happens when foreign aid is required in domestic disputes, the remedy proved worse than the disease; for, on the plea that the conditions of their compact had not been fulfilled, Fitzhammon collected his forces, attacked Jestyn, and deprived him of his life and territory. Fitzhammon shared the spoil with twelve knights who accompanied him, rewarding each with a manor. Now, as a dominion thus acquired must be supported by the iron arm of coercion, we find the first attention of the conquerors directed to rearing fortresses on their domains; and shortly afterwards an appendant creation of religious houses makes its appearance, as a salvo for the slaughter and injustice that purchased their greatness. To this foundation most of the picturesque ruins that we are about to examine in Glamorgans.h.i.+re, and part of Monmouths.h.i.+re, may be traced: it will, therefore, be necessary not to lose sight of this point of history.
We did not fail to admire the KNOLL, a castellated seat of Sir Herbert Mackworth's, occupying the summit of a hill at the termination of a n.o.ble lawn. The fine views which its elevation commands, encompa.s.sed by hanging woods, and extensive plantations, its shady walks and picturesque cascades, render it a place deservedly attractive. Beneath the tufted hills of this estate, we pa.s.sed from Neath in our way to Briton ferry; and soon remarked a single stone monument {150}, a ma.s.sive paralellopiped, on a height to our left: another immediately afterwards appeared in a field close to the road on the right.
From these monuments of other times, however, the rich hanging woods and open groves of BRITON FERRY attracted our interest, clothing that charming domain of Lord Vernon's.
The extensive plantations spread over several bold hills westward of the Neath river, whose broad translucid stream here emerges in a fine sweep between high woody banks, partly broken into naked cliffs, and soon unites with the sea. From a delightful shady walk impendent over the stream, we branched off into an ”alley green” that led us up a steep hill covered with large trees and tangled underwood: the ascent was judiciously traced where several bare craigs projecting from the soil formed an apposite contrast to the luxuriant verdure that prevailed around. On gaining the summit the charms of Briton ferry disclosed themselves in
”An ample theatre of Sylvan grace”
of more than common beauty; beyond which the Bristol channel, bounded by the aerial tint of its opposite coast, formed the distance. But from a roaming prospect the eye gladly returned to repose on the local beauties of the scene; the tufted knoll, the dark glade, and the majestic river.
In returning, we pa.s.sed the mansion, a very ordinary building; but paused on the neat simplicity of the village-church adjoining, and its well-ordered cemetery.
The custom of planting ever-greens over the graves of departed friends, and bedecking them with flowers at certain seasons of the year, is, here attended to with peculiar care; and to this pleasing tribute of affection, characteristic of Wales, David ap-Gwillim, a Welch bard who flourished about the middle of the fourteenth century, thus sweetly alludes in one of his odes:
”O whilst thy season of flowers, and thy tender sprays thick of leaves remain; I will pluck the roses from the brakes; the flowerets of the meads, and gems of the woods; the vivid trefoils, beauties of the ground, and the gaily smiling bloom of the verdant herbs, to be offered to the memory of a chief of fairest fame: Humbly will I lay them on the grave of Ivor!”
Shakspeare also, with exquisite tenderness:
”With fairest flowers while summer lasts I'll sweeten thy sad grave: thou shalt not lack The flower that's like thy face, pale Primrose; nor The azur'd Harebell, like thy veins; no, nor The leaf of Eglantine, whom not to slander Outsweeten'd not thy breath.”
Highly pleased with Briton ferry, we proceeded along the coast, and pa.s.sed through the little town of ABERAVON. Its copper and tin works added no charms to the verdant fertility of this part of the country, which appeared ornamented with several gentlemen's seats, and well planted hills; but, grandly rising above comparison, ”the mighty hill of MARGAM,” a steep mountain entirely shaded with oaks from the base to its ”cloud-cap't” summit, arrested our chief attention.