HAY CASTLE-FAIR ROSAMOND. 95 castles had incouraged their maisters." It was afterwards restored, and came into the possession of Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford, and on several occasions changed masters, till it was finally destroyed by Owen Glyndwr. The celebrated Fair Rosamond, daughter of Walter de Clifford, a baron of Herefordshire, was born in this castle. Her story is well known. Hollinshead, speaking of Henry II.'s incontinence, says, "But most of all he delited in the companie of a pleasant damosell whom he 'cleped the rose of the world; the common people named her Rosamond, for her passing beautie, propernesse of person, and pleasant wit, with other amyable qualities, being verily a rare and peerlesse peece in those days. He made for her an house at Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, like to a laberinth, that is to mean, wrought like a knot in a garden, called a maze, with such turnings and windings in and out, that no creature might find her, nor come to her, save he were instructed of the king, or such as were secret with him in that matter. But the common report of the people is, that the queene finally found hir out by a silke thread, which the king had drawne foorth of hir chamber with his foote, and dealte with hir in such sharpe and cruelle wise, that she lyved not long after. She was buried in the Nunrie of Godstow, beside Oxford, with these verses upon hir tumbe : * "Hic jacet in tumbâ Rosa mundi, non Rosa munda, Queen Eleanor might have been a little more compassionate to this rose of the world," seeing that her own character was not imma frail" The renowned George Clifford, third earl of Cumberland, and a great favourite with Queen Elizabeth, appears to have been one of the most "illustrious" members of the Clifford family. An anecdote related. of his daughter, the Lady Anne, who was successively married to Richard earl of Dorset, and to Philip earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, deserves mention here. The countess seems to have bated nothing of the family spirit on the score of feminine gentleness. Sir Joseph Williamson, when secretary of state to Charles II., wrote to the countess, wishing to name a candidate to her for the borough of Appleby he received the following reply: : "I have been bullied by an usurper-I have been neglected by a court-but I will not be dictated to by a subject.-Your man shan't stand. "ANNE DORSET, PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY." Of this pithy and laconic letter-writer Dr. Donne remarked, that "in her younger years she knew well how to discourse of all things, from predestination to slcasilk;" and if the decision and terseness of her conversation equalled that of her writing, I, for one, could wish "Anne Dorset" alive again, that I might hear her talk-for a brief space. Clifford Castle, from our description of which we have been beguiled by the thoughts of ladies fair, is seated on a high knoll, overlooking the Wye, and culate; at least if we may believe her confession in the old ballad, beginning with "Queen Elianor was a sicke woman, And afraid that she should dye; Then she sente for two fryars of France, To speke with her speedilye." WYE SCENERY TO HEREFORD. 97 appears to have held a good and commanding position in times of danger. The ruins are draped with ivy, and surrounded by graceful trees; the neighbouring country is also richly wooded. I have advanced so gradually from the sterner features of the Wye banks amid rocks and cloud-capped mountains, that the change of character in the scenery, though impressed on my own mind, has not, perhaps, been made sufficiently evident to the kind listeners of my home travels; they must bear in mind, if they please, that our queenly river has three distinct phases, if I may use the term. In her outset, sportive and frolicsome, gay as a maiden 'mid her native hills, she comes dancing and singing along, leaping merrily over the rocks that interrupt her course, and even when older grown, not forgetting her wild youthful antics. From Plinlimmon to Aberedw the scenery through which we follow her course is wild, rocky, picturesque, and sublime below Aberedw, the Wye grows somewhat more staid in her demeanour; and the surrounding scenes become more rich and luxuriant than startling or grand-they are more English. She goes on in a calm, maidenly mood, "girt with beauty;" and, until we pass Ross, no material change appears in the cultivated, rich, happy-looking valleys, whose bright fields laugh in the summer sunshine, nor fear its drought, while their noble river rolls her full tide along. third character commences at Goodrich, and from thence to her union with the Severn all is richly, harmoniously grand-one series of glorious pictures outspread on either side the majestic stream. Her At Rhydspence, about a mile from Clifford, the Wye H quits the borders of Radnorshire, and turning eastward, enriches the county of Hereford, one of the gardenplots of our dear England. Small lovely villages are scattered along at intervals, with fine old gabled houses, wreathed with vines and roses from porch to roof-tree, mingled with jasmine clinging round "The massive mullioned windows, and the stacks Of twisted, carved, and lozenge-shaped device." Hollyhocks, those high and graceful flowers, adorn the box-edged borders of the little crammed parterre before the windows, and, leaning over the crazy moss-grown palings in front, look abroad with a generous, frank, good-humoured glance for the passer-by, and a smile of kindly recognition to wonted guests. Such gables and gardens the wanderer by the Wyeside from Hay to Hereford, will ofttimes pass, in his progress through Witney, Winforton, Willersley, Letton, Bradwardine, &c., interspersed with meadow scenes. Between Letton and Staunton-on-Wye is Brobury Scar, a cliff rising from the river's northern bank, and agreeably breaking the even, rich luxuriance of the scenery around. Moccas Court, with its fair grounds and park-lands, lies on the southern bank; it was anciently called Moches, and was a part of the possessions of St. Guthlach, the holy father, we opine, the inventor of * *Moccas Park contains some of the finest oaks in the county of Hereford, and also a profusion of rich hawthorns. On the summit of the hill above the park, is the Druidical remain called Arthur's Stone. It is a cromlech, consisting of one long and wide stone resting on short columns. the whip so celebrated for the virtue of its flagellations. The old house stood below the site of the present, which is a modern structure, and was in part built from the ruins of Bradwardine Castle, now demolished, but in days of yore the family seat of Thomas Bradwardine, archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of Edward III., and for his deep learning named Doctor Profundus. From Moccas Park, crossing the brow of the intervening hill, we are tempted to descend into the far-famed Golden Vale, whose luxuriant vegetation, and gay, yellow vernal flowers well deserve such a fairytale name. Journeying on, we come in sight of Kenchester, the supposed Ariconium of antiquity, said to have been destroyed by an earthquake. The Roman encampment of Magna Castra is immediately adjacent, and various remains telling of former occupants, consisting of Roman bricks, coins, &c., have been found on the spot. In 1669, a large paved vault, with some tables of plaster, were discovered in a wood not far distant, and the following year a bath was found, with the brick flues entire. A short distance south-east of Kenchester, is a spot called the Camp Field, and on the south bank of the river lies Eaton Camp: both these places have apparently been outposts to the chief station at Magna Castra. Just before entering Hereford, at an angle of the road, is a stone cross, called the White Cross; its present height is not more than fifteen feet, the slender stages of the shaft having departed with bygone time. The remaining portion consists of an hexagonal flight of seven steps, and the first and only existing stage |