QUERY, CONCERNING A Passage in the Marriage Ceremony, stated and resolved. In what sense are we to understand that declaration of the husband to his bride," With my body I thee worship ?" The word worship, in ancient English, signifies neither more nor less, than that honour, attention, and respect, which are due to worth-ship, i. e. to distinguished excellence. The Church of England, taking it for granted that a man has a very high opinion of the woman he marries, enjoins him to testify that good opinion; and in such terms, as are equivalent to a solemn promise of treating her tenderly and respectfully or, as the apostle Peter expresses it, of giving honour to the wife, as to obaves egw.oxever, the less robust vessel of the two. 1 Pet. iii. 7. A late very sensible * writer supposes, agreeably to the venerable Hooker's comment on the phrase, that the design of the above stipulation is, "To express, that the woman, by virtue of this marriage, has a share in all the titles, and honours, which are due or belong to the person of her husbandt." He also observes, that Martin Bucer, who lived at the very time when our liturgy was composed, translated the passage in question by cum corpore meo te honoro, i. e. "with my body I thee honour:" and that the learned Mr. Selden renders it corpore meo te dignor.-"It is true," adds Mr. Wheatly," the modern sense of the word is [or rather seems] somewhat different: for which reason, at the review of our liturgy, after the restoration of king Charles II. the word worship was promised to be changed for that of honour. How the alteration came to be omitted, I cannot discover. But, so long as the old word is explained in the sense here given, one would think no objection could be urged against the using of it." Viz. Mr. Wheatly, in his Rationale of the Book of Common Prayer, p. 440. Edit. 1722. Octavo. See Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, Book v. Sect. 73. M-VOL. XV. TOUR INTO SOUTH WALES. MY DEAR SIR, LETTER I. Caerphily, August 5, 1802. THE HE approach to Chepstow, from Bristol, is grand and picturesque. The castle is a most noble and beautiful ruin, overlooking the Wye, which runs impetuous at the foot of the rocks on which it is situIated on this side the castle was impregnable. Chepstow being formerly one of the grand bulwarks of the ancient Britons, it was of course a place of great strength, and occupied seven acres of ground. It is famous for being the property of the illustrious De Clare, Earl Strongbow, and was considered of great importance during the wars of Charles and his parliament. The walls facing the west are in good preservation, and exhibit a fine and beautiful picture. The room in which Colonel Martin was confined, and in which he spent twenty-seven years in repenting his former patriotism, is well proportioned, and commands a pleasing view of the river and woods which skirt the opposite shore. Exclusive of its antiquities the town of Chepstow presents little to detain the traveller; the scenes in its vicinity are, however, strikingly beautiful. The castle and palace of Mathern, once the residence of the Bishops of Llandaff, being in our way, we lost some little time in examining their dilapidated state; we then proceeded towards the once celebrated Caerwent. The aqueducts, temples, porticoes, and baths, that once decorated Caerwent, and all those monuments of the arts which distinguished the residence of the excellent but unfortunate Agricola, are now sunk down to a most miserable and impoverished village. A mosaic pavement was here discovered in 1777, resembling in some measure a Turkey carpet, (as some tourist has observed) but the idleness of wanton cupidity has almost entirely destroyed this national relict of Roman elegance. Several pavements have since been discovered, but have all fallen a prey to the same childish desire of possessing some of the tesseræ. These tesselated floors must have been once numerous at Caerwent, as Camden mentions them in his Brittan. Silures. p. 509, edit. 1586. I recollect seeing, some time ago, an ingenious comparison between a piece of Mosaic, and that of nature, exemplified in the wing of a butterfly. The comparison is ingenious, and adds a farther proof of the distance between the exertions of nature, and those of The following table exhibits the difference between the man. pavement in Sussex, a modern Roman picture, and the wing of a The road from hence to Caerleon winds through a most beautiful valley. High intersected hills, covered on each side with wood up to their summit, form a barrier to any distant prospect, except those casually caught at the division of the hills; the variety of the immediate scenes, however, amply recompensed us, and left us nothing to desire. The ancient city of Caerleon, whose importance may be gathered from its titles Urbs legionum, et secunda Augusta is finely situated on the Usk, which divides it from a steep and woody hill on the south, and may be still recognized in an old and harmonious description. It stands upon a forced hill Not farre from flowing flood, Where loe, ye view long vales at will, It was once seven miles in circumference, and many curious remains of its former splendour existed in the twelfth century. It once, like Caerwent, possessed Her temples and her groves, Her palaces, her walks, baths, theatres, and stoves, Drayton, Polyolbion, Song 4 And according to Gyraldus, its palaces fretted with gold, its edi fices, theatres, and aqueducts, once vied with the magnificence of Rome itself. A fine passage in Shakspeare occurs in the contemplation of this city, one line of which I shall quote, in order to amend a passage which, in the editions I have seen (which by the bye are not many) have been neglected. Leave not a wrack behind. Tempest. The editions have wreck. Wrack means a ruin, which is certainly more to the purpose. He uses the word in Venus and Adonis, l. 558, same sense, which confirms me in the above reading.* the *This expression has not escaped the numerous commentators on Shakspeare. En. I cannot bid adieu to Caerleon without calling to your remem brance the favourite of our childhood, the celebrated Arthur, a man, as William of Malmsbury justly says, worthy of being celebrated for upholding his declining country, and inspiring his subjects with military glory. His claim upon our regard, however, arises chiefly from his protection to learning and learned men. He certainly is worthy of being classed with Charlemagne and Alfred. Some of the laws of Arthur's round table are excellent, and it were to be wished that the second was oftener observed. "That every knight should be ever ready to assail all tyrants and oppressors of the people." Caerleon has given fine food for our antiquaries, and a piece of bell-metal (shewn us by a gentleman) about two feet in length, and eighteen inches in breadth, in the inside of which is carved DAVIDUS, will probably exercise them in addition to those mentioned by Camden and his improver. It is highly fortunate for the world that Milton did not execute his design of celebrating Arthur as he once intended. Ipse ego Dardanias Rutupina per æquora puppes Merlini dolus. Epitaphium Damonis, l. 162. I may add, that we are equally fortunate in his not translating Homer, either of these would have been the cause of his relinquishing a subject "so worthy of being sung," and which "Pleas'd him long chusing, and beginning late." From Caerleon the country displays itself to great advantage, and we soon arrived at the town of Newport, pleasantly situated on the declivity of a hill, at the foot of which the Usk "Inteat et auget aquas Sabrini fluminis→→→ "Præceps." The castle is in a wretched condition: it was well situated for defending the mouth of the Usk, over which is thrown, after astonishing labour, expence, and time, a strong and well-built bridge, The Welch seem well aware of the advantages of navigable canals: here is one reaching to *Pontypool, &c. and others at Swansea, Neath, and other places. An inhabitant told us, with an air of consequence, an anecdote sufficiently ludicrous, which I afterwards found in Camden, respecting Henry the Second's easy capture of this place, by his fortunately having a freckled face. My old friend Isaac Walton, in his elegant essay on angling, furnishes me with a curious anecdote respecting the salmon in this river. The view from the church yard is very fine, and comprises almost every thing that is beautiful in landscape. After pursuing the road to Cardiff, for about four miles, we turned to the right, and soon entered the enchanting valley of Machen. The Rhymny, which runs through this valley, divides Monmouth and Glamorgan: its banks are mostly decorated with pasture, while mountains, on the sides and at the feet of which the road meanders, shaded sometimes by wood, sometimes cultivated to their summits, and studded with white cottages and farm-houses, gives it an air of grandeur; while various animals creeping up their sides, give a finishing and enlivening touch to this profusely rich and delightful landscape. The quiet which reigns in this valley is interrupted, for some time, by nothing but the murmuring of the numerous rills which trickle down in every direction from the mountains, and send forth a most "bewitching music," till the iron forges at Machen awaken attention, and startle contemplation. Passing two small waterfalls on the left, we passed over Bedway's bridge, and for the first time trod upon Welch ground. The grand towers of Caerphily soon struck us, and -seem'd to frown In awful majesty on all around. The extent of this castle was once immense, and exceeded every other in England, except Windsor. We approached by an old des cayed draw-bridge, and were struck with wonder and delight at its awful and sublime appearance. The despicable Despenser here proved himself possessed of a courage and conduct, in the management of a siege, little expected, and in some measure retrieved the character he had so deservedly lost. A gentleman (an emigrant) who accompanied us from the inn, informed us, that this noble monument of decayed power resembles, in some measure, the fortress of Loches, in Turin. He had also visited the hanging tower at Pisa, his description of which lessened our pleasure in contem Monmouthshire was one part of the principality, |