Puslapio vaizdai
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And what perceive; well pleased to recognize,
In nature and the language of the sense,

The anchor of my pureft thoughts, the nurse,

The guide, the guardian of my heart and soul,
Of all my moral being.

I read the whole, though we must not quote the whole here. "And thefe," I faid, "are the pleasures that men, and women too, for the poet's fifter was with him, seize upon by quitting their lazy carriages, and entering on the finest estate which God and nature have given them, a vigorous pair of legs. These are the fine free thoughts ranging through woods and mountains, and by pleasant rivers, when age or fickness or other neceffity shall have cut off all travelling, save in the enchanted regions of memory."

"It is very fine, very," said the great manufacturer," and I am sure it will do me a world of good; but it is very fevere" -and he wiped again his reeking brows, and flung open his ample waistcoat. "But here we are! See, there are the gables of Tintern, its broken walls and arched windows rising out of its wood of trees!" It was a scene of quiet, truly monastic beauty. The smoke afcended in the clear autumnal air from the hamlet cottages near, and the Wye, now brim full from the height of the tide, gave a perfecting charm to the landscape. We entered the interior of the beautiful ruin in filence. No one ever enters the place without being deeply impressed by its noble proportions, and the claffical grace and chastity of its architecture. This abbey church was built in 1131, and presents a fine specimen of the early-English style, blending into a more ornamented character, as later additions were made or changes introduced. The roof is gone, but the walls are entire; all the pillars, except those which divide the nave from the northern aisle, and the four lofty arches which fupporting the tower fpring high into the air, though reduced

to narrow rims of stone, ftill preserve their original form. The western window, with its rich tracery, is extremely beautiful. "From the length of the nave," fays Coxe, "the height of the walls, the aspiring form of the pointed arches, and the size of the east window which clofes the perspective, the first impressions are those of grandeur and fublimity. But as these emotions fubfide, and we descend from the contempla

WEST DOOR AND WINDOW.

tion of the whole to the examination of the parts, we are no less struck with the regularity of the plan, the lightness of the architecture, and the delicacy of the ornaments. We feel that elegance is its characteristic no less than grandeur, and

that the whole is a combination of the beautiful and the

fublime."

What Coxe also adds is true, and gives a peculiar beauty to the place. "Instead of dilapidated fragments overspread with weeds and choked with brambles, the floor is covered with a smooth turf, which by keeping the original level of the church, exhibits the beauty of its proportions, and heightens the effect of the grey stone. Ornamented fragments of the roof, remains of cornices and columns, rich pieces of sculpture, fepulchral ftones and mutilated figures of monks and heroes, whose ashes repose within these walls, are scattered on the greenfward, and contrast present desolation with former fplendour."

My weighty friend seated himself on a tomb; but I, observing an iron railing furrounding the top of the walls, looked for the ascent thither, and found that the walls were double, and that stairs ascended between them. I foon, therefore, stood aloft over my friend's head, and eagerly invited him to come up, and fee the charming view all around, and the admirable perspective of the church below. "Not for the world!" he exclaimed-"Not for the world! My legs have done wonders to-day, but my head would never stand that." "Good," faid I. He had done wonders, and I had done one too; for I had wiled him on to Tintern, fix good miles, and up a long, steep hill, and now he must walk back. It was more than he had done for the last twenty years.

The hiftory of Tintern contains nothing very remarkable. It was founded by the Strongbows, and became rich and hofpitable. Edward II. fought refuge there for fome time from the pursuit of his queen Ifabella. At the diffolution it contained only thirteen monks, and was valued with its

eftates, according to Dugdale, at £132, but according to Speed at £256, per annum. It was granted by Henry VIII. to the second Earl of Worcester, and is now the property of the Duke of Beaufort.

When we set out to return, my companion, instead of exhibiting fatigue, fprang up from his fepulchral feat, as he remarked, "like a giant refreshed." He feemed inspired by a vivid fenfe of the feat that he had accomplished.

"What

would they say at Chapel-en-Frith if they could see me to-day! When I tell them that I walked to Tintern and back, eh? But I tell you what, my friend, I have been thinking of what you have faid as I fate on the tombstone there, and I think you are right. One grows fluggish and stupid by riding and lolling in carriages. I will walk! I feel lighter already: and I will be lighter ftill. Why should not I be as agile as you? You walked up Cornwall. I am going to Devonshire, and I'll tramp it there as I'm alive!" And infpired by his new idea, the colossal man really became a Coloffus of roads, for he strode along with a vigour, and with ftrides that required all my recent training on the moors and rocks of Cornwall to compete with him. He had found a new pleasure, a new power, and I had to warn him not to abuse it. "Ah!" faid he, "now I am putting you to your paces," and he stalked on with a prodigious activity that aftonished me. Luckily it was downhill from the Wynd Cliff to the bridge at the bottom of Chepstow, where the steamer lay, or I might have found myself worsted in the rapid walk with my elated companion. But it was all very well, for the bell was already ringing on the steamer, and we had only time to rush on board ere the plank was pulled back, and we were afloat. My stout friend fat down with a laugh, but I rather think, never

theless, that he was glad the feat was ended, for he sat very perfiftently during the voyage. How little, when he had fingled me out for his companion to Tintern, did he know what a day might bring forth!

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