The situation of Monmouth is remarkably picturesque. The valley of the Wye has slightly expanded on approaching its junction with the Monnow and the Trothy. The enclosing hills are less steep than in the upper part of its course, and are beautifully wooded or richly cultivated. The bed of the valley is a series of grassy water-meadows. Between the first two of these rivers is a low spur, a prolongation of the hills, which shelves gently down to the Wye, but falls rather precipitously towards the Monnow. Upon this Monmouth is built, and on the other side of the latter stream is a considerable and very ancient suburb. To this a long street, the principal one in the town, leads down from the market-place. On the upper portion of the spur is the church, and beyond this the remains of an old priory, while on the highest part of all, perched on the brow of a river-cliff, and looking down on the meadows by the Monnow, is the ruined castle. Its remnants, though of some extent, are architecturally unimportant. When it was first built is rather uncertain. Camden attributes it to John of Monmouth, in the reign of Henry III., and it undoubtedly was standing at that epoch. It was a favourite residence of "old John of Gaunt, timehonoured Lancaster," and "Harry Hereford," his "bold son," condemned at Coventry to "tread the stranger paths of banishment," but returning before long to depose his oppressor and sit on the throne of England as Henry IV. Here his son "Harry Monmouth" was born, growing up to be first the wild "Prince Hal," and then the conqueror of Agincourt, "too famous to live long." A narrow window, with the remains of some tracery in the head, is still pointed out as marking the room in which he first saw the light. Parts of the castle were rebuilt by his father, but at the present time it is reduced to the mere shells of a few chambers, and some fragments of crumbling sandstone walls. It formed a part of the possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster, and thus became the property of the crown in the person of Henry IV. For a time it was granted to the Earl of Pembroke by Edward IV., but it again reverted to the crown, and was held by Henry VII. and his successors. It has, however, for many years been alienated, and is in private hands. A large house, built in the year 1673, now occupies a portion of the precincts, and but for their connection with the hero of Agincourt there would be little of interest in the ruins.

CORACLES.

His statue stands "for all the world to see" in front of the town-hall-a heavy plain stone building. It represents the king in full armour, and is inscribed "Henry V., born at Monmouth, August IX., MCCCLXXXVII." As a work of art it cannot be pronounced a success. The parish church, not far from the market-place, has a good steeple, but the body of the church is in the "Grecian" style, if the word style can be applied to it at all. To the north is a curious and picturesque building, now forming part of a school. It is a remnant of an ancient priory, founded during the reign of Henry I., for Benedictine monks, by

Wyhenoc, third Lord of Monmouth. Here is said to have lived a personage well known to historians, and once a familiar author, in the days when books were few. Geoffrey of Monmouth, a reputed native of the town, was probably educated in one of its monasteries, possibly in this. In due course he became Archdeacon of Monmouth, and was subsequently consecrated Bishop of St. Asaph's, in the year 1152. A pretty oriel window in this building is still pointed out as that of his study, but there can be no doubt it is of much later date than the days when he compiled his "History of the Britons." "Myth, legend, tradition, the classical pedantry of the day, the Welsh dreams of future triumph over the Saxon, the memories of the crusades, and of the world-wide dominion of Charles the Great, were mingled together by this daring fabulist in a work whose popularity became at once immense.

Alfred of Beverley transferred his inventions into the region of sober history; while two Norman troveurs, Gaimar and Wace, translated them into French verse. So complete was the credence they obtained, that Arthur's tomb at Glastonbury was visited by Henry II., whilst the child of his son Geoffrey and of Constance of Brittany bore the name of the Celtic hero. Out of Geoffrey's creation grew, little by little, the poem of the Table Round."*

A curious old bridge spans the Monnow, bearing on its first pier an ancient gatehouse, one of the few survivors of a defensive work once common in England, and still not rare in some of the old-fashioned towns on the Continent, which, though somewhat altered by being pierced with postern arches for foot-passengers, still retains the place for its portcullis, and much of its ancient aspect. In the suburb with which it communicates, and overlooking the river, stands St. Thomas's Church. This is a most remarkable structure, though it has been grievously injured by injudicious restorations in Roman cement,

and internal fittings in an imitation "Norman " style. The former, however, probably reproduce in most cases pretty fairly the original aspect of the mouldings which they conceal. The chancel has been more recently and carefully restored. It is constructed of unsquared slab-like stones, and the Norman windows are deeply splayed. The mouldings of some of these, and of the chancel arch, are in fair preservation. It is not often that one wishes for further restoration, but this church would be the better for the process, if it were mainly one of denudation, and done, as the latest work appears to have been, by careful and reverent hands. Passing through the suburb, we come to Troy Station, on the branch line to Usk; and beyond this is Troy House, an ancient seat of the Herbert family. From this quarter there is an extremely picturesque general view of the town-a pretty effect in colour,

with its red and grey houses, roofed with red pantiles or with lead-coloured slate, rising above the water-meadows, and backed by wooded hills. The principal station on the main line from Hereford to Chepstow is near the Wye, which also is crossed by an old bridge, the character of which is unfortunately being destroyed by needful widening. The meadows near to it also command good views of the town. The view from the Kymin Hill, which rises on the other side, is justly celebrated. A pavilion has been erected on the summit, and a "naval temple," to record the exploits of various men great at sea. Beyond this is a natural curiosity called the Buckstone, reputed to be a rocking-stone, and of course attributed to the Druids. It may, however, be safely asserted that it owes nothing to the hand of man.

The public buildings of Monmouth will not long delay the traveller. It has a massive county gaol as a terror to evil-doers, and some handsome new school buildings, erected by the Haberdashers' Company. This school and some almshouses were founded by one William Jones, who had acquired wealth in London by following that trade.

Besides the gateway already named nothing of importance is left of the town walls, which were broken even in the days of Leland. Though not a large place, having a population of some 6,000, it has a fair amount of trade as a centre for the country round, as making bricks and tiles and grinding corn, and as shipping bark to Chepstow for export. An ancient charter exempts its citizens from all toll, tonnage, &c., throughout England, and it rejoices in "a mayor, two bailiffs, four aldermen, and twelve councillors,' under the style of the "Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonality of the Town and Borough of Monmouth," which, to say the least of it, has a very dignified sound.

*

LONDONDERRY.

Londonderry-Early History of Derry-The English Colony-The Irish Rising for James II.-Closing of the Gates of Londonderry-Dissensions-The Siege-Lundy's Treachery-Repeated Assaults-Sufferings of Inhabitants-Kirke's Expedition-Relief of Derry-Subsequent History-Modern Londonderry-Commemoration of the Closing of the Gates.

ARMS OF THE CITY AND SEE OF
LONDONDERRY.

ALMOST two centuries since, in the year of grace 1689, the

hearts of Englishmen were fixed on one town in the remote district of Donegal, with an anxiety similar to that which many now living can remember, when the fate of Lucknow trembled in the balance. Railways and telegraphs have made the distance seem little to us, but it was then a far cry to Londonderry, and it was almost as difficult to send relief in those days, through political exigencies, as in our own it was through the intervention of thousands of miles. The hearts of the whole people were fixed upon Londonderry-not, however, with undivided feelings; for it was in part a war of citizen against citizen, and of subjects of one nation, though owning allegiance to different kings, that was waged around its walls. Still there was little community of blood between the assailed and the assailants; the one, though born on Irish soil, were men of true English descent; the other, the representatives of the scarce yet civilised native tribes, aided by mercenaries from France.

Londonderry stands on an insulated hill, rising above the estuary of the river Foyle. Opposite to the town, this is about a fifth of a mile across, but a little nearer the sea it rapidly expands to about six times its former width. The country is hilly on either side of the Foyle, though the scenery is less wild than in the districts of Donegal further west. The ground by the riverside is level, and in places marshy; it has, however, been drained and cultivated, houses have spread upon it, and villas and plantations have given to the environs of the town a beauty which they possessed in a less degree during the time of the famous siege.

Of the early history of Londonderry we know little. Only one event of importance signalises its history before that to which indirectly it owes the former half of its name. All that we learn of Derry in ancient days is that in "the place of oaks "-for this is the meaning of the name-was the site of a monastery under the rule of St. Columba, at first noted as the foremost in the disputes which even in his days distracted Ireland, but afterwards, when a banished man, as the great missionary, who from sacred Iona preached the Gospel to the wild tribes of the Western Highlands and of the neighbouring isles. The abbot of this monastery, in the year 1158, was made Bishop of Derry. Until the beginning of the seventeenth century, the town which had grown up around the religious house remained in the hands of native rulers, owning at most but a nominal allegiance to the English. During the early part of this period it appears to have gone by the name of Derry Calgach, or the oak wood of Calgach; after the tenth century it was called Derry Columbkille, from the church of its great missionary. Peace seems seldom to have "dwelt within its walls," and its friends had always need to "wish it prosperity;" for in the brief annals recorded in Hempton's history of Derry, we find again and again records of