CHAPTER IX.

REDBROOK-LLANDOGO-BROCKWEIR-TINTERN-WINDCLIFF-PIERCEFIELD

-CHEPSTOW-BRISTOL CHANNEL.

O SYLVAN WYE! thou wanderer through the woods,
How often has my spirit turned to thee!

Through a long absence have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration.

Wordsworth's Wye Revisited.

A CALM bright afternoon of Autumn found me quietly journeying from royal Monmouth towards the end of my pleasant Wye wanderings; few greater pleasures could befal me than the enjoyment of Nature's glories so lavishly bestowed around. For a considerable distance the scenery maintained the same rich character. On the Monmouthshire side of the river, a mile below the town, is the Church of Penalt, situated on the steep side of a wooded eminence, at the back of which