LINES ADDRESSED TO MR. R. DAVENPORT. DAVENPORT! as o'er thy lyre's fweet ftrings Condolence straight her pearly tribute brings, And draw from others eyes compaffion's stream. No fad'ning pity trickles as I fing. Caft from erected hope, where once I flood, No eye, with melting tender, weeps my fate, I feel, ah! oft, e'en hunger's fang uncouth. O Davenport! to what benignant clime Shall merit fly? where find a friend fincere? Is death the only folace for defpair? For woes like mine, is fuicide a crime? Welsh-pool. *Slander. A. DONOUGHUE. Literary Literary Review. A Walk through Wales, in August 1797, by the Rev. Richard Warner, of Bath. Dilly. THE HE ancient Principality of Wales adminifters an abundance of materials to the curiofity of travellers. Accordingly the Public have of late years been prefented with a variety of details on the subject. Its hills and vales, its caftles and rivers have been accurately delineated, together with its variegated and romantic fcenery. Its hiftory also has been carefully investigated, and almost every thing that could be known refpecting the Ancient Britons has been detailed with ftudious accuracy. In this department Pennant, Grofe, and Wyndham, have laboured with diftinguished industry. Notwithstanding thefe circumftances fo unfavourable to a new traveller, we muft confefs that Mr. Warner has trodden this frequented path to advantage. We have feldom perufed fo entertaining and inftructive a volume. It is a pedeftrian tour, as may be feen from the title-page, and was accomplished, though it embraced an extent of 469 miles, in eighteen fucceffive days! For fo rapid a journey, the obfervations are numerous, and fome of the fcenes are described with the richness of a poetic fancy. An aquatinta view of Tintern Abbey, in Monmouthshire, conftitutes a frontispiece, and at the head of each letter ftands the route of the travellers (for Mr. W. had a companion) neatly engraven on wood. We could have wifhed for a fmall map of Wales, in which the whole route might have been taken in with one glance of the eye. VOL. IV. M m After After fo favourable an account of this volume, a wish may be excited to perufe fome fpecimens of the entertainment expected. Take the following extracts on fubjects which naturally intereft the attention. FLOWERS STREWED ON GRAVES. "On returning through the church-yard, we obferved, for the first time, a number of epitaphs in the language of the country; and on hearing them tranflated by the person who conducted us round the town, were much ftruck with the fimplicity of their fentiment and expreffion. Another custom also, that was equally new to us, caught our attention; the ornamenting of the graves of the deceased with various plants and flowers, at certain feafons, by the furviving relatives. It is generally done, I understand, during the feftival of Eafter, the refurrection of our Saviour; and though of Pagan origin, the custom may have been appropriated by Chriftians to that day, to adumbrate the youth, vigour, and beauty, which the body will enjoy, "when this corruptible fhall put on incorruption, and this mortal be clothed with immortality." This laft tribute of regard, this pofthumous recollection, is ftrikingly impreffive; as it fpeaks directly to a principle deeply rooted in the mind of man. To live in the remembrance of thofe we love," when we go hence, and are no more feen," it is a natural wish; a wifh implanted in our fouls by that Being, who willed that we fhould be focial creatures, and gave us all the kind affections of our nature: "For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, "The practice, you know, is a very ancient one, and may be traced back as high as claffical antiquity. Amongst the Greeks, (a lively and affectionate people) the decoration of the fepulchres of their deceased connections, on particular days, days, was observed with the most rigid punctuality; and the plants and flowers used on the occafion were not unaptly termed Egares, or the tributes of love and affection. The Romans alfo, who received in a great measure their religion from Greece, adopted this cuftom amongst other fhewy and impreffive fuperftitions; and appointed a certain feason of the year when it should be more particularly obferved. It was during the month of February that the folemn rites of the feralia, or honours paid to the manes of the departed, were performed, and the fcattering of odoriferous plants and flowers upon their tombs formed one important feature of these ftriking ceremonies. Virgil, you may recollect, alludes to this affectionate practice in fome of the fineft lines of his neid; the very beautiful apoftrophe to the fhade of Marcellus, which fo much affected the unfortunate Octavia, and produced fuch an handsome pecuniary reward to the poet : "Heu miferande puer! fi quà fata afpera rumpas, "Our return to the inn (the Lion) was quickened by a fhower of rain; and we are just preparing to discuss the events of our march, over Ufk trout and Brecknockshire mutton. "Your's, &c." DEVIL'S BRIDGE. "C― and I proceeded to explore the horrors of the Devil's-Bridge by ourselves, the guide (who is the master of the houfe) being absent from home. Our first obfervations were made from the bridge. This confias of a fingle arch, nine and twenty feet in the fpan, thrown over the original one (which still remains) in the year 1753. The chasm that yawns un * Phavorin. Etymolog. in verb. The old arch was built by the Monks of Strata Florida Abbey (a religious house ten miles from hence, the picturesque ruins of which still remain) about the conclufion of the eleventh century. It is called in Welth Pont-ar-Mynach, the bridge of the Mynach; and Pont-ar-Diawl, the bridge of the Devil; vulgar fuperftition afferting Satan to be the constructor of it. der these arches is fo overhung by wood, that the eye with difficulty catches even a partial view of the gloomy abyss below. This circumstance, however, heightens the impreffions of terror, which such a scene is calculated to inspire. Fancy, free, and fond of painting for herself, pourtrays with her magic pencil to the mind, wonders that exceed reality; horrors which have no "local habitation," and exist only in the vivid and ever-shifting pictures of the imagination. In order to obtain a nearer and lefs interrupted view of this tremendous filfure, and the torrent that rushes through it, we proceeded over the bridge; and turning quickly round to the right hand, defcended an abrupt and perilous path that conducted us to the bafe of the rocks on the eastern fide of the arch. Language is but ill calculated to convey an accurate idea of the scene which is here prefented to the eye. The awful height of the fiffure, which the bridge beftrides, one hundred and twenty feet above the obferver, rendered doubly gloomy by its narrowness, and the wood which overhangs it; the stunning noise of the torrent thundering at his feet, and struggling through black, oppofing rocks, which its ceafelefs impetuofity has worn into fhapes ftrange and grotesque; fill the mind with a mingled but fublime emotion of aftonishment, terror, and delight. Having gratified our curiofity here, we clambered up the perpendicular path, and going in a left hand direction from the bridge, about two hundred yards, pursued a winding descent that leads to a rocky projection, which commands a view of the noble cataracts to the weftward of the arch. Here the Mynach, bursting at once upon the eye in all its terrific majefty, is feen throwing itfelf down ragged rocks at least two hundred and ten feet, in four feperate, tremendous falls. The first is a leap of nearly twenty feet; after which it is received by a fathomless bason, where for a moment it seems to reft its turbid waters, in order to recruit its strength and pour with greater violence down a fecond fall of fixty feet. Its third attempt decreases again to twenty feet, and here it falls amongst broken rocks, which in vain prefent themselves as barriers to its paffage. This oppofition gives it tenfold rage, and rushing over a projecting ledge with wonderful velocity, it tumbles headlong down a descent of one hundred and ten feet, and then hurries through a stony channel to unite its waters with the Rhiddol, which ruthes from the oppofite mountains with nearly fimilar grandeur and impetuofity." CADER |