Welsh Journals

THE USK j*l GLEANER' A Local Register of Events and Magazine of Information. No. 6. Published Br J. H. CLARK, at " The County Observer" Office, Use. PRICE 3d AT "THE FOLLY." In this beautiful island of ours, one cannot go far in its most beautiful districts without seeing a pleasure-tower or "Folly" perched on some com¬ manding eminence. As a rule these towers serve to perpetuate the names of the persons who had them built; and, except as landmarks, they very often serve no other purpose, for one generally finds the door locked and that the key (which would be useless if it could be found, owing to the rust in the lock) deposited no one knows where. Sometimes, as at Leith Hill, in Surrey, which commands one of the vastest prospects in England, the builder has designed the tower for his tomb. Sometimes, these edifices have curious legends connected with them : such an one is Cook's Folly, overlooking the fine ravine of rocks and woods through which the turbid Avon sweeps down into the Bristol Channel. They say that that was erected by a merchant named Cook, in order to put his son in and keep him safe beyond a certain period when, according to some old gipsy, some danger was likely to happen to him; and that all was of no use, for an adder got carried into the tower and bit the boy to death, and so fulfilled the prophecy. Sometimes these towers are curious in themselves, like Blakemore's Folly, on Little Doward Hill, near Monmouth. Old Mr. Blakemore, who was an eccentric individual, built that one all of iron bars, and there it stands, over¬ topping some of the most exquisite scenery on the glorious "Wye, for all the world like a great bird¬ cage. Sometimes, as on the breezy Kymin, the tower is turned to good account as a dwelling-house, where the traveller, hot and panting from climbing up the hill, can get grateful refreshments. And sometimes, as at the Folly near Pontypool, the building serves as a rallying point, where excursion¬ ists and pleasure parties may meet and find the best point for looking over the surrounding country. As we stand by the tower, an exclamation of admiration is uttered impulsively. On the one side stretches a vast expanse of rich and highly culti¬ vated country, over which the eye ranges untired, miles, after miles, to the grey heights which close in the far distance. On the other side arises an amphitheatre of mighty mountains, whose majestic outlines intermingle in beautiful sweeps and curves, with luxuriantly wooded heights and dingles in the foreground, (5 The vast prospect rivets the attention of most visitors. It is not only vast; it is full of elements of beauty. Such is the rich variety of its details, that one always finds something new in it, some happy " bit " unnoticed before. And as for asso¬ ciations, few landscapes can compare, for it teems with romantic history. Here the eye embraces the sites of some of the most picturesque incidents in the annals of our island. The hill slopes suddenly downwards from the low '* pudding-stone" wall which forms a parapet along its crest, and down in the hollow the Brecon and Newport canal winds gleaming along, now hidden, now revealed, and spanned at frequent intervals by little one-arched bridges. From the canal side, the land widens out far, far away to the east, the north, and the south, rising into ridges and wooded knolls, variegated with bright green meadows, golden crops, and arab'e patches of the deep red color which the soil of this part of the country owns; intersected by a network of hedge-rows ; and plentifully dotted with pleasant homes, and with a little village church peeping up here and there. Away to the south, stretches the broad silvery expanse of the Severn, widening out into the Channel, and studded with slowly moving ships. The Steep and Flat Holmes hang like two dark clouds amid the shining water, and the shores of Somerset show dimly on the horizon. Up that shining water came the Roman ships to invade Siluria, and up towards Chepstow our brave Caractacus unsuccessfully opposed their landing, and among yonder hills he was driven back from point to point, fighting fiercely for this fair country. Up that shining water came the Danes to devastate Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. Down it sailed the pilgrims who embarked at St. Tecla's in the mouth of the Wye, and down it went the sad hearts whom Bristol sold into slavery. Yonder in the south, near where Newport now sends out her princely argosies, glittered the gilded roofs of the stately palaces of Caerleon, the empress city of the West. There King Arthur and his knights held their tour nays, and the fair Guinever and Sir Launcelot hid their love ; there the great magician Merlin prophesied and saw his visions of dragons ; and over the waves to Avallon, the apple-bearing Paradise of the marshy "land of summer," or Somerset, was borne the pallid body of Arthur when his goo' sword Exca'ibur had been received by the awful hand that lifted itself out of the water,