we lose sight of local and national attachment, which cast an indescribable charm over all. So much for the "picturesque" or topographical side of the subject. Our limits will not permit us to attempt even a bare enumeration of the wonders of art, which have elevated this country to the highest rank amongst nations, else we could dwell at length on the field presented to the traveller in search of information,—on the manufacturing and commercial establishments, the dockyards and arsenals, ports, mines, canals, bridges, railroads, and other public works, which contribute to our prosperity, and are eminently calculated to instruct the inquiring mind. Having thus slightly glanced at the profitable nature of home tours, let us proceed to our immediate subject, and request the reader to accompany us to the source of the "sylvan Wye." PART I. PLINLYMMON-SOURCE OF THE WYE-LLANGURIG THOU Sylvan Wye, since last my feet * But none, to my delighted eye, A veil of such transparent blue, of Cardigan, and a dim outline of the coast of Ireland. After a copious fall of rain, the cataracts which descend with headlong fury down the sides of the mountain, add considerably to the grandeur and wildness of the scenery. This hill king" of Cambria is best known, however, as the parent of no less than five streams or rivers, whence is derived the name Pum, five, and Luinon, springs, or fountain. The most important of these is the Severn, which rising in the north-east of the same group of mountains, (for Plynlimmon consists properly of three mountains piled together into one gigantic mass,) after a course of about two hundred miles, pours its waters into the sea below Bristol. The WYE, or Guy, which in Celtic signifies a river, issuing from the southern side of the mountain, falls in a narrow streamlet several hundred yards nearly perpendicular, till gradually increasing by the union of several small springs, the overplus of the surrounding morasses, it soon forms a cataract, rolling with amazing rapidity over a rocky channel. The other rivers, the Rheidal, the Llyffnant, and the Fynach, though considerable streams, are of minor importance, The WYE, (says Gilpin,) after dividing the counties of Radnor and Brecon, passes through the middle of Herefordshire; it then becomes a second boundary between the counties of Monmouth and Gloucester, and falls into the Severn a little below Chepstow. The exquisite beauty and grandeur of the scenery which in many parts adorn its shores in almost endless variety, is scarcely to be equalled. Such is the sinuosity of its course, that between Ross and Chepstow, a distance not exceeding seventeen miles in a direct line, the water passage is thirty-eight. Along the whole of this distance, the poet Gray truly observes, that its banks are a succession of nameless beauties. The beauty of these scenes arises chiefly from two circumstances; the lofty banks of the river, and its mazy course; both of which are accurately embodied by the poet, when he describes the Wye as echoing through its winding bounds. It could not well echo, unless its banks were both lofty and winding f That God's own eye seems gazing through. THE "pleased Vaga," as the Wye is poetically termed by Pope, takes its rise from a spacious hollow near the summit of Plynlimmon, a dreary mountain which attains an altitude of 2463 feet, on the borders of the counties of Cardigan and Montgomery, about fifteen miles from that fashionable watering-place, Aberystwith. The lower parts of the mountain are Let us now commence our matter-of-fact tour. covered with soft mossy turf, and stunted heath, but The progress of the Wye from its source to LLANoften broken with rugged and extensive bogs, which GURIG, a distance of about ten miles, is through a render the ascent dangerous and difficult. In other naked and dreary country, with undulating hills in places the surface is entirely overspread with large the background. Mr. Roscoe observes, in his deloose stones, or white-coloured rocks, which give it a lightful Wanderings, that the village is honoured in singular appearance on approaching its base. The all travellers' note-books with the cognomen of summit consists of two peaks, on each of which are "wretched." There is only one very indifferent piled a pyramid of loose stones, called in the language house of entertainment, but now that there is a of the country, Carnedd, or Carneddau. Similar heaps prospect of the Upper Wye Tour becoming appreciated of stones are common on the neighbouring mountains, as it ought, we agree with Mr. Roscoe that Llanand in many other places in Wales. It has been gurig will no doubt at an early period afford superior supposed that they are sepulchral monuments erected accommodation. Poor as the village is, the scenery by the Britons in honour of their military heroes, is wild and extremely magnificent, so much so, inbut it seems more probable that those on Plynlim-deed, that Nicholson speaks of it as exceeding the mon were formerly used as beacons, as they might powers of description.' The hamlet stands on the have been seen from ten counties. In 1401, the renorth bank of the river, surrounded by towering nowned chieftain, Owen Glendower, posted himself mountains, the lower portions of which are partially on this mountain with a small body of men, awaiting covered with wood, and relieve the hitherto monothe arrival of his vassals and friends from various tonous tone of the landscape, the eye having preparts of the principality, and from whence he fre- viously been accustomed to dwell chiefly on the sullen quently descended and harassed the adjacent country. and savage sterility of Plynlimmon. The entrenchments he threw up may still be traced. The scenery from Llangurig to Rhayadyr, espe The blade of a British spear or pike made of brass, cially on approaching the latter, is highly interesting; was found in a bog near this spot some years ago. the river being confined by close rocky banks, and The views from the summit in clear weather embrace having a considerable declination, the whole is a suca wild and extensive range of landscape; exhibiting cession of rapids and waterfalls. The Nanerth rocks, mountains rolling, as it were, over each other in the for nearly three miles, form a fine screen to the north most sublime forms and beautiful hues. In the north bank. The trees and shrubs which overhang the appears Cader Idris, and the lofty region of Snow-eddying pools and rapids in many places, add condonia; the hills of Salop and Hereford may be seen to the east and north-east; and on the west the bay At a small roadside inn at Eisteddfa Gurrig, a guide can be obtained, and from whence the mountain is generally ascended. 66 siderably to the picturesque character of the scenery. RHAYADYR, a straggling, but rather a curious specimen of a Welsh town, has little to recommend GILPIN'S Observations on the river Wye. + Pope. it, save its beautiful situation. It stands on elevated ground on the east bank of the Wye, which, after leaving the Nanerth rocks, makes an easy bend under woody hills. The view from the bridge, which has a very fine arch, is singularly grand, the river here falling over a ledge of rugged rocks and forming a magnificent cascade, from which the town derives its name Rhayadyr Gwy; Rhayadyr, signifying a cataract, and Gwy, a river. There is excellent fishing above Rhayadyr, the river abounding with fine trout, and in the Summer season it is much resorted to by the lovers of the piscatory art. The town is divided into four streets, intersecting each other at right angles, a plan common in most of the old Welsh towns. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, the quarter sessions were held here, but were soon afterwards removed, chiefly on account of the inability of the place to afford necessary accommodation for the judges. In the centre of the town stands the hall, a square building erected about 1768. The castle, which stood on a nook of the Wye, at the extremity of Maes-bach, a small common in the neighbourhood, was anciently of considerable importance. Of the superstructure nothing now remains. It is said to have been erected by Rhys, prince of South Wales in the time of Richard the First, and afterwards burnt in 1231 by Llewellyn ap Jorwerth. CHAPTERS ON CORONATIONS. No. II. THE REGALIA. AMONG the Regalia of England there is no article possessing more historical interest than King Edward's or, as it is commonly called, ST. EDWARD'S CHAIR, in which the sovereign is seated when the crown is placed upon his head. It is in shape similar to the high-backed chairs which were fashionable in England about a century ago; its height is six feet seven inches, its depth twenty-five inches, and the breadth of the seat measured withinside is twenty-eight inches. At the height of nine inches from the ground there is a ledge which supports the celebrated Stone of Destiny, which Edward I., or Longshanks, brought from Scotland as a memorial of his conquest of that country. This stone was originally the royal seat of the kings of Ireland; they called it Liafail, or "the stone of destiny," and attributed so much importance to it, that they named the island in honour of it, Innisfail, or "the island of destiny." According to the monkish legends, this was the identical stone which served Jacob as a pillow when he saw the miraculous vision in Bethel; they tell us that it was brought by Gathol, king of the Scuths, or Scots, to Brigantia, a city of Gallicia in Spain, and that it was removed from thence to Ireland by Simon Brech, the leader of a body of Scots, about seven hundred years before the birth of Christ. From these invaders Ireland received the name of Scotia, which it retained until within a century of the English invasion. Fergus, a descendant of Simon Brech, being compelled to leave Ireland in consequence of civil wars, led a body of emigrants to Argyleshire, and brought with him the stone of destiny, which he deposited at Dunstaffnage, about three hundred years before the birth of Christ. All his descendants were installed on this stone seat, and it was believed that when the rightful heir took his seat, the stone emitted loud and harmonious musical sounds, but that it remained silent whenever a pretender attempted to be crowned. The real history of the stone is scarcely less curious than that ascribed to it in the legend. We learn | from sacred history that the earliest altars were made of unhewn stone: indeed, the Chaldee word for altar, signifies literally, "stones orderly erected," and God himself directs Moses, "If thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it." (Exod. xx. 25.) This reverence for unhewn stones led to their being used as idols. We read of the children of Israel in the age of their corruption, that "they set them up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree." (2 Kings xvii. 10.) Here the Hebrew word Matzebah, which our translators have rendered "image," properly signifies "a stone pillar." So also in the Levitical law: "Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land to bow down before it: for I am the Lord your God.” (Levit. xxvi. 1.) Here the word Matzebah, rendered "standing image," signifies simply a stone pillar. In consequence of these perversions, the erection of the Matzebah was entirely prohibited, when Moses recapitulated the law to the children of Israel. The worship of stone pillars was very common in the East; Clement of Alexandria declares that rude stones were the object of adoration in those lands where the art of statuary was not understood; Pausanius mentions several such pillars in Boeotia, where they were probably introduced by the Phoenician colonists; and Arnobius declares that the pagans of Northern Africa consecrated pillars of stone for idols so late as the fourth century of the Christian era. Superstition connected stone seats with the administration of justice, which was regarded as a right delegated to rulers by the gods. This custom lasted to a very late period; a marble bench anciently stood at the upper end of Wesminster Hall, where the king in person, and at a subsequent period his chief judges, heard the pleas of those who complained of injury, and hence the chief criminal court of the realm is now called the Court of King's Bench. The Irish stone of destiny appears from the ancient records of Ireland to have been an altar, an idol, and the throne of the kings; and it was therefore viewed A remarkable prophecy with three-fold reverence. identified its fortunes with those of the royal line of the Scots, which is thus given in the old monkish rhymes:Ni fallat fatum, That is: Scoti, quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, Tenentur regnare ibidem. Or Fate is false, or where this stone is found, It was on account of the importance attached to this prophecy that Kenneth removed the stone from Dunstaffnage to Scone, where, for more than four hundred and fifty years, it was used as a throue at the coronation of the Scottish kings. Its removal to England was felt by the entire people of Scotland as a national humiliation, and they stipulated for its restoration at the treaty of Northampton, A.D. 1328. Writs for sending it back were issued by Edward the Third, but from some unexplained cause they were never executed. When James the First ascended the throne of England great importance was attached to this fulfilment of the prophecy connected with the stone of destiny, and so deep was the impression thus produced on the minds of the Scottish people, that in the reign of Queen Anne it reconciled many to the Union, who would otherwise have opposed that measure., KING EDWARD'S CHAIR. A close examination of the stone induces us to believe that it is a block of red sandstone, containing a more than ordinary proportion of ferruginous matter; it certainly is not an aerolite, as several matter; it certainly is not an aerolite, as several authors have asserted. Its dimensions are, twentytwo inches in length, thirteen in breadth, and eleven in depth. At each end are two short iron chains. The chair itself was anciently decorated with carving, gilding, and painting, but its beauty has been long since effaced. At modern coronations it is covered with cloth of gold, but we could wish that the decorations of this very interesting relic of antiquity should be restored as nearly as possible according to the ancient pattern. The AMPULLA, or Golden Eagle, in which the holy oil for anointing the kings is preserved, is a vessel of oil for anointing the kings is preserved, is a vessel of pure gold, in the shape of an eagle with expanding wings, nearly seven inches in height, and weighing about ten ounces. The old historian Walsingham, in his account of the coronation of Henry the Fourth, connects the use of this Ampulla with a very singular legend:-Henry the Fourth, according to the historian, was anointed with the identical holy oil which the blessed Virgin gave to St. Thomas the Martyr, archbishop of Canterbury: that is, to Thomas à Becket, whose extreme pride and insolence form so remarkable a part of the history of Henry the Second. Becket received this extraordinary boon when he was in exile, and the Virgin assured him, that whatever kings of England should be anointed with this oil, they would become merciful rulers and distinguished champions of the church. It may be curious to remark, that Walsingham, or, as he is more frequently called, "the worthy monk of St. Alban's,' is not very scrupulous respecting the purity of the language he attributes to the Virgin, for the word which we have rendered "champions," literally signifies boxers, or heroes of the prize-ring,-a kind of champions not very well suited to the defence of the church. This oil, preserved in a golden eagle and stone jar, was long lost, but it was at last miraculously brought to light. While Henry, the first duke of Lancaster, was waging war in foreign parts, the aforesaid eagle THE AMPULLA. and jar were delivered to him by a holy man, to of the French kings is still more extraordinary. It down a phial in his mouth full of holy oil. All that were And behold a dove, fairer than snow, suddenly brought present were delighted with the fragrancy of it, and when the archbishop had received it, the dove vanished. Another historian, quoted by Menin, is rather more particular in his relation : When he that bore the chrism was absent and kept off by the people, lo! suddenly no other doubtless than the Holy Spirit appeared, in the visible form of a dove, who carrying the holy oil in his shining bill, laid it down be tween the hands of the minister. At the corona The oil of this mystic vessel was declared by the Romish priests to be undiminished by use, and this was gravely put forward as a standing miracle until the time of the French Revolution. tion of Charles the Tenth, the priests had the folly to proclaim in the public papers that a phial containing some of this invaluable unction had been preserved from the destruction of the rest of the Regalia, to anoint the head of a monarch so devoted to the interests of the Romish church. The original Ampulla given to Thomas à Becket was not destroyed with the rest of the Regalia in the time of the Commonwealth; but it was renovated for the coronation of Charles the Second, and at the same time a new spoon was prepared into which the oil is poured by the consecrating prelate. The spoon, like the eagle, is of chased gold, and is adorned with four large pearls in the broadest part of the handle. Kings were anciently anointed on the head, the bowings of the arms, on both shoulders, between the shoulders, on the breast, and on the hands. There are only three distinct anointings in modern coronations, on the head, breast, and hands, which were said by Becket to indicate glory, holiness, and fortitude. Great importance was attached to this unction, for Shakspeare represents Richard the Second declaring on the invasion of Bolingbroke: Not all the water in the rough rude sea, Can wash the balm from an anointed king. The rich IMPERIAL CROWN of gold with which the monarchs of England are crowned, is still called St. Edward's crown, though it was actually made for the coronation of Charles the Second, the more ancient crown having been stolen and sold in 1642. It is embellished with pearls and precious stones, as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, and has a mound of gold on the top, enriched with a fillet of gold embellished also with precious stones. Upon the mound is a cross of gold garnished with jewels, and three very large oval pearls, one fixed on the top, and two others pendent on the ends of the cross. It is composed of four crosses pattée, and as many The queen's circlet of gold is richly adorned with large diamonds, and has a string of pearls round its upper edge. The cap is purple velvet, lined with white taffeta, and turned up with ermine richly powdered. The queen's crown, or the crown of St. Edgitha, was originally manufactured for Catherine, the consort of Charles the Second. It is a rich imperial crown of gold, set with very valuable diamonds, intermixed with other precious stones and pearls. It is composed of crosses and fleurs de dis, with bars and arches, and a mound and cross on the top, like the crown of St. Edward, only smaller and lighter. The cap is of purple velvet, and turned up with fleurs de lis of gold, all embellished with precious stones. From these crosses arise four circular bars or arches, which meet at the top in form of a cross; having at their intersection a pedestal, on which is fixed the mound already mentioned. The cap within this crown is of purple velvet, lined with white taffeta, and turned up with ermine. On the day of coronation the jewels and precious stones belonging to the Crown of State, so called because it is worn by every Sovereign coming in state to parliament, are taken out, fixed in collets, and pinned into the imperial crown: their places are supplied by mock stones, when the ceremony of the coronation is concluded. Since the time of Charles the Second a very rich crown of state, to be worn by the sovereign only at the coronation dinner in Westminster Hall, is prepared for every succeeding king or sovereign queen. This is very rich, being embellished with several large diamonds, and a great number of pearls; but it is most distinguished by a very large ruby, set in the middle of one of the four crosses, and estimated at the value of ten thousand pounds, and also by the mound's being one entire stone of a sea-green colour, known by the name of an aquamarine. The cap is QUEEN EDGITHA'S CROWN. The ermine, or minever pure, richly powdered. crown of St. Edward is used solely for the coronation of a sovereign queen, and cannot be worn by a queen consort. The Saxon kings of England wore crowns like those of other nations, which were at first only simple circlets of gold. King Egbert first adorned the fillet, or circle, with radiant points, similar to the crowns worn by the emperors of the East; and King Edmund, surnamed Ironside, tipped the points with pearl. William the Conqueror surmounted the circle with points and leaves, the points being much higher than the leaves, and each of them was tipped with three pearls; on the top of the cap, or tiara, was a cross pattée. William Rufus adorned his crown with points only, which were all tipped with pearls. The crown of Henry the First was adorned with fleurs de lis only; these fleurs de lis appear to have been originally designed to represent the heads of lances, and to have been borrowed from some military decorations of the ancient Germans. Maud, Queen of England, enriched her crown with leaves and points alternately, the leaves being higher than the points; and this custom remained unvaried until the accession of Edward the Third. He enriched his crown with fleurs de lis and crosses pattée. Edward the Fourth was the first English monarch who wore a close or arched crown; it was decorated with fleurs de lis and crosses pattée, and arched with four bars. Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth had their crowns composed of fleurs de lis and crosses pattée, with two arches, embellished with pearls and precious stones; and this form has been since continued. The ancient French crown was a circle of gold enamelled, of eight fleurs de lis, encompassed with eight arched diadems, bearing at the top a double fleur de lis, which is the crest of cognizance of France. The Spanish crown was a circle of gold, richly decorated with jewels and precious stones, and adorned with eight leaves. It was not closed with arches until the marriage of Philip the Second with Queen Mary of England, when four arches were added, being double the number of those in the English crown. Those of Bohemia, Poland, Denmark, and Sweden, are similar to the Spanish; but no foreign crown has the velvet tiara or the ermine of the English crown. The crown of Hungary, worn by the emperors of Austria, is double: the lower crown is similar to the Spanish; the upper is composed of sixteen plates of gold, from which two arches arise, having in the centre a cross, richly decorated at the extremities with pearls. The sixteen plates are enamelled with busts of Jesus Christ, the evangelists, and the apostles; so also is the flat part of the arches, the whole being enriched with pearls, diamonds and precious stones. Before concluding this part of the subject, it may be as well to describe the crowns or coronets worn by the princes of the blood and the English nobility. The crown of the Prince of Wales, when there is an heir apparent to the throne of Britain, is a circle of gold, surrounded with four crosses pattée and as many fleurs de lis, set alternately placed on the circle itself all round. The cap and tassel are the same as before. Coronets were first assigned to viscounts in the reign of James the First. The coronet of a Baron has only six pearls set round the circle, at equal distances; before the reign of Charles the Second barons wore simply a crimson cap, turned up with white fur, but that monarch assigned them coronets, and at the same time issued warrants permitting the peers of Scotland and Ireland to use coronets similar to those worn by noblemen of the same rank in England. MATERIALISM. THE doctrine of the materialists was always, even in my youth, a cold, heavy, dull, and insupportable doctrine to me, and necessarily tending to atheism. When I heard with disgust, in the dissecting rooms, the plan of the physiologist, of the gradual secretion of matter, and its becoming endued with irritability, ripening into sensibility, and acquiring such organs as were necessary, by its own inherent forces, and at last rising into intellectual existence, a walk into the green fields, or woods, by the banks of rivers, brought back my feelings from nature to God. I saw in all the powers of matter, the instruments of the Deity: the sunbeams, the breath of the zephyr, awakened animation in forms prepared by Divine Intelligence to receive it; the insensate seed, the slumbering egg, which were to be vivified, appeared like the new-born animal, works of a divine mind; I saw love as the creative principle in the material world, and this love only as a divine attribute. Then, in my own mind, I felt connected with new sensations and indefinite hopes, a thirst for immortality; the great names of other ages, and of distant nations, appeared to me to be still living around me; and even in the funeral monuments of the heroic and the great, I saw, as it were, the indestructibility of mind. These feelings, though generally considered as poetical, offer a sound philosophical argument in favour of the immortality of the soul. In all the habits and instincts of young animals, their feelings or movements may be traced in intimate relation to their improved perfect state; their sports have always affinities to their modes of hunting or catching their food, and young birds even in the nest show marks of fondness, which, when their frames are developed, become signs of actions necessary to the re-production and From the two centre crosses an arch arises, adorned with pearls, and surmounted by a ball and cross: within the preservation of the species. The desire of glory, of coronet is a cap of crimson velvet, lined with white sar-honour, of immortal fame, and of constant knowcenet, and turned up with ermine. The Prince of Wales has also another distinguishing ornament, viz., a simple coronet, surmounted with a plume of three ostrich feathers, and having the motto, "Ich Dien," that is, I serve.' This cognizance was first assumed by Edward, Prince of Wales, commonly called the Black Prince, after the battle of Crecy, A.D. 1346, where, having killed John, king of Bohemia, he took from his head such a plume, and put it upon his own. The CORONET of the Princes of the Blood-royal is composed of a circle of gold, richly chased, having on the edge two crosses pattée, two strawberry-leaves, and four fleurs de lis. Within the coronet is a crimson velvet cap, lined with sarcenet, and turned up with ermine. On the top of the cap there is a rich tassel of gold and spangles. The coronet of a Duke is a circle of gold, richly chased, having on the edge eight strawberry-leaves, which most probably were originally lance-heads, all of equal height; within is a crimson velvet cap, topped by a gold tassel, and turned up with ermine of one row. The coronet of a Marquis is a circle of gold, set round with four strawberryleaves, and as many pearls, on pyramidal points of equal height, alternately. The cap is the same as that of the duke. An Earl's coronet has eight pyramidal points, with as many large pearls on the tops of them, placed alternately with as many strawberry-leaves, lower than the pearls. The cap and tassel are the same as before. Coronets were first assigned to earls in the reign of Henry the Third. The Viscount has only pearls, without any limited number, ledge, so usual in young persons of well-constituted minds, cannot, I think, be other than symptoms of the infinite and progressive nature of intellect― hopes, which, as they cannot be gratified here, belong to a frame of mind suited to a nobler state of existence.--SIR HUMPHRY DAVY. The proper study of mankind is man.-POPE. Ir the proper study of mankind is man, it is proper only so far as it may conduce to our own advancement in righte ousness, by making us acquainted with that weakness and corruption of our nature, which self-love is for ever labouring to conceal. Should we forget to apply to our own individual cases, the observations which we make in the case of others, our knowledge will not only be barren of improvement, but may even serve to engender a censorious spirit; and increase that pride and presumption which we know too frequently attends the mere possession of specu lative knowledge. Our own personal improvement is the centre towards which all reflections upon the nature and actions of man should converge; and whatsoever tends to unfold and bring to light any weakness lurking in the heart, should be received on our parts with all the readiness and impartiality which becomes creatures who are consci ous of their responsible condition, and of that higher and eternal destiny which is to succeed this probationary life! -J. S. M. ANDERSON. |