[311] “The view at Rure-dean Church,” says Mr. Gilpin, “is a scene of great grandeur. There both sides of the river are steep and both woody; but in one the woods are intermixed with rocks. The deep umbrage of the forest of Dean occupies the front; and the spire of the church rises among the trees. The reach of the river which exhibits this scene is long: and, of course, the view, which is a noble piece of natural perspective, continues some time before the eye: but when the spire comes directly in front, the grandeur of the landscape is gone.”
[312] “The river is wider at this part,” says Mr. Gilpin, “and takes a sweep round a towering promontory of rock, which forms the side-screen on the left, and is the grand feature of the view. It is not a broad fractured face of rock; but rather a woody hill, from which large rocky projections, in two or three places, burst out, rudely hung with twisting branches and shaggy furniture, which, like mane round the lion’s head, give a more savage air to these wild exhibitions of nature. Near the top a pointed fragment of solitary rock, rising above the rest, has rather a fantastic appearance; but it is not without its effect in marking the scene. A great master in landscape has adorned an imaginary view with a circumstance exactly similar:
Stabat acuta silex, præcisis undique saxis,
— dorso insurgens, altissima visu,
Dirarum nidis domus opportuna volucrum,
— prona jugo, lævum incumbebat ad amnem.”Æn. viii. 233.
[317] Tanner’s Notitia Monastica.
[321] Warner’s first Walk through Wales.
[333] The isles of Anglesea and Man are discovered from Snowdon.