Edward, first lord Herbert of Cherbury, was born anno 1581: his infancy was remarkable for mental and bodily weakness; but he soon became distinguished as a scholar and a valiant knight. Most of the living languages and every elegant accomplishment engaged his study. We learn from the history of his life; written by himself (in which he is considered to be the most chivalrous, learned, handsome, discerning, and wonderful gentleman that ever figured in story); at fifteen he took to himself a wife; and being a few years afterwards presented at court; his love-inspiring attractions excited the rusty passions of Elizabeth, then seventy years of age.—“The queen,” says the noble biographer, “looked attentively upon me, and swearing her ordinary oath, said, “It is pity he was married so young,” and thereupon have me her hand to kiss twice; both times gently clapping me on the cheek.” The consorts of Lewis the Thirteenth and James the First were still more fascinated by this mighty conqueror of hearts, who excited jealousy even in the breast of royalty! Many enamoured dames of the court wearing his picture in their bosoms brought him in hourly danger of assassination from their enraged husbands: yet his miraculous courage and address ensured victory in every encounter. Among numerous excellencies that distinguished his clay from the common material of mortality, the noble lord declares, “it is well known to them that wait in my chamber, that the shirts, waistcoats, and other garments I wear next my body, are sweet beyond what either can be believed or hath been observed in any body else; which sweetness was also found to be in my breath before I used to take tobacco.” With all this extravagance, which may be set to the account of old age, often vain and garrulous, Lord Herbert may be justly considered one of the first characters of the age and country in which he lived.
Lantarnam house and park, situated about a mile and a half from Caerleon, near the road from Newport to Pont-y-pool, occupy the site of a rich Cistercian abbey. The mansion is a neglected gloomy structure, which appears to have been erected about the reign of Elizabeth, and chiefly out of the materials of the abbey. A large Gothic gateway and the monks cells, now converted into stabling, are vestiges of the parent building.
The accounts that we had collected of Pont-y-pool did not incline us to abandon the line of our tour to visit it. The town, sufficiently large and populous, yet blackened by neighbouring coal and iron works, and situated in a dreary region only rich in mineral treasure, would hardly prove interesting but to those concerned in its traffic. Its first consequence arose from a manufacture of japanned ware invented in the time of Charles the Second, which remained a long time peculiar to the town, but is now generally understood. In its immediate vicinity Pont-y-pool Park, the seat of Hanbury Leigh, Esq. forms a conspicuous ornament, and is described by Mr. Coxe as possessing a good collection of pictures.
Our road from Caerleon to Usk, leaving the house and encampment of Penros on the left, led up an ascent from which we had an interesting view of the surrounding district: A narrow valley winds round the base of the eminence watered by the Usk. The opposite boundary of the valley sustained the woods of Kemey’s and Bertholly; and in the contrary direction the eye ranges over the venerable groves of Lantarnam, and a wavy intervening country to the distant mountains near Abergavenny. Within two miles of Usk we entered Langibby, a small village, only to be noticed for an ancient mansion of the Williams’s family near it. This structure, attributed to the erection of Inigo Jones, contains no distinguishing points of architecture; but the house and grounds command delightful views, which receive no inconsiderable interest from the local possession of a majestic ruin. Langibby Castle rears its mouldering battlements on the brow of a bold hill, completely overspread with wood. We have no certain accounts when this castle was built; but the pointed arches that occur throughout the ruin denote its erection to have been posterior to the first settlement of the Normans in these parts. It formerly belonged to the Clares Earls of Gloucester; but has been upwards of two centuries in the family of the present possessor. Of this line was Sir Trevor Williams, a zealous supporter of the parliamentary cause in the civil wars, when Langibby castle was spoken of by Cromwell as a fortress of strength and importance.
Our approach to Usk was traced through its vale on a bank of the river, and beneath a high hill entirely shaded with wood: close to our left appeared the whitened Gothic church of Lanbadock: but the handsome bridge of Usk, the antique town and ivy-mantled castle, formed more interesting objects in successive distances; while, afar off, the varied line of the mountains near Abergavenny, the craggy summit of the Skyridd, and the abrupt cone of the Sugar-loaf, contrasting the lofty even swell of the Blorenge, presented a terminating line of the most picturesque description. This distance alone was illumined by the sun; for the evening drew to a close, and all our home view was wrapt in one grand shadow.
CHAP. XIV.
USK CASTLE AND CHURCH—EXCURSION TO RAGLAN—ELEGANT RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE—VIEWS FROM THE DEVAUDON—ROMAN ANTIQUITIES AT CAERWENT—TESSELATED PAVEMENT.
Usk, supposed to be the Burrium of the Romans, occupies a flat situation on the banks of its river. Though now a small place, in great part untenanted and falling to ruin, [208] it was formerly of very considerable extent. The form and dimensions of its ancient boundary may be traced in an imperfect rampart among the adjoining fields and orchards. The figure is not oblong, as most Roman works of the kind were, but irregularly rectilinear. On a gentle eminence in the northern precinct of the town is the castle, famous in history for withstanding many a fierce assault; but the ruin has little picturesque attraction: such parts as are not converted to the domestic purposes of a farm-yard are so enveloped in ivy, as scarcely to afford a characterizing form externally. We entered the castle through a Gothic gateway: vestiges of the baronial hall appear on the east side; and some of the towers, with round arched apertures, seem of the earliest construction: but we have no certain accounts when the castle was founded.
Not far from the castle is the church, still a large structure, though much contracted from its original extent. The tower, in which circular arches are introduced, is the oldest part of the edifice; the body of the church is Gothic. This church belonged to a Benedictine priory of five nuns; and part of the priory-house is now standing, a little southward of the Church, in the occupation of a farmer. The common prison, a Gothic building near the bridge, was formerly a Roman Catholic chapel. [209]
There are several ancient encampments in the neighbourhood of Usk. That of Craeg-y-garcyd, crowning a woody precipice on the west side of the river, about a mile above the town, is supposed by Harris to be Roman. Its figure is very irregular, and remarkable for seven very large tumuli within the rampart. About two miles from Usk, in our way to Raglan, we passed Campwood on our left, another encampment, of art oval figure, entirely covered with wood, but not remarkable either in its situation or construction.