FOOTNOTES:
“Inde vagos Vaga Cambrenses, hinc respicit Anglos;
Qui cum jam ad ostium fere devenerit Chepstow præterfluit, id est, si è Saxonico interpreteris forum vel negotiationis locus Britannis, Castle Went, oppidum hoc est celebre quondam mœnibus nunc solum Castro firmum, cujus domini fuerunt è Clarensium familia nobiles, à proximo Castro Strighull, quod incoluerunt Striguliæ et Penbrochiæ Comites dicti quorum ultimus Richardus.”
[2] Longitudo ecclesiæ prioratus Chepstow, 50 virgæ. latitudo eccl. prædictæ, 33 virgæ.—Will. de Worc. 133.
[3] Longitudo pontis de Chepstow, 126 virgæ.—Will. de Worc. 133.
[4] From the form of the British Channel, says De la Beche, and the absence of a free passage for the waters, such as exists at the Straits of Dover, in the English Channel, westerly winds force up and sustain a great body of water, thereby raising the sea above the mean level several feet. During such phenomena, it is said, the body of water in the river assumes a convex surface. In the great storm of 1703, the tide flowed over the top of Chepstow bridge, inundating all the low land, and washing away whole farm-yards and incalculable stock.
[5] Life and Letters of Thomas Campbell, vol. ii. p. 278.—Note.
[6] See Castles and Abbeys, vol. i. of this work, Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight. Upon the death of the renowned Fitzosborne, Dugdale, quoting the Monk of Utica, thus moralizes:—“After this short life of nature, there is a long life of Fame, who will blow her trumpet aloud to posterity, and plainly lay open to the world as well the bad as good actions of the most potent that shall be in their highest pitch of worldly power. ‘Veré ut gloria mundi flos feni,’ &c. Certainly the glory of this world fadeth and withereth as the flowers of the field; yea, it passeth away and vanisheth even as smoke. What,” he continues, “is become of William Fitzosborne, Earl of Hereford, vicegerent of the king, sewer of Normandy, that most warlike general! Was he not, in truth, the chief and greatest oppressor of the English, and he who cherished an enormous cause by his boldness, whereby many thousands were brought to miserable ends! Lo! the just Judge, beholding all things, rewardeth even man according to his demerits. Alas, is he not now slain? Hath not this hardy champion had his desert? As he slew many with the sword, so he suddenly received his death by the sword.”—Baronage, 67, quoting Orderic Vitulis.
[7] Richardus vir infracto animo et projectissimis brachiis Strangbow cognominatus, quod arcu intentissimo uteretur, et nihil levi brachio ageret. Hiberniam Normannis primus sua virtute aperuit.—Camden.