ls rise in the distance.

GOODRICH CASTLE AND SYMOND'S YAT.

[Illustration: RUINS OF GOODRICH CASTLE.]

[Illustration: A BEND OF THE RIVER WYE.]

The Wye flows on through its picturesque glen towards Monmouth, the
water bubbling with a strong current. A raised causeway carries the road
to Monmouth over the meadows. On the right hand are the ruins of Wilton
Castle, built in Stephen's reign, and burned in the Civil War. Tourists
go by small boats floated on the current down the Wye, and the boats are
hauled back on donkey-carts, little trains of them being seen creeping
along the Monmouth road. From Ross to Monmouth the river flows through a
region of rolling hills, with abrupt declivities where the rapid stream
has scarped the margin into cliffs and ridges. The valley narrows, and
the very crooked river flows through bewitching scenery until by another
great horseshoe bend it winds around the ruins of Goodrich Castle,
reared upon a wooded cliff, with Goodrich Court near by. The latter is a
modern imitation of a mediaeval dwelling, constructed according to the
erratic whims of a recent owner. This Court once contained the finest
collection of ancient armor in England, but most of it has been
transferred to the South Kensington Museum. Goodrich Castle was once a
formidable fortress, and it dates from the reign of Stephen. Here it was
that in the days of Edward the Confessor, "entrenched in a stockade of
wood, Goderic de Winchcomb held the ford" over the Wye, and gave the
place his name. It grew in strength until the Civil War, when Sir
Richard Lingen held it for the king. This was a memorable contest,
lasting six weeks, during which the besiegers belabored it with the best
battering-cannon they could procure, and used up eighty barrels of
gunpowder voted by Parliament for the purpose. Then the defenders
demanded a parley, but the assailants, angry at being so long baulked of
their prey, insisted upon unconditional surrender. Afterwards the castle
was demolished, but the fine old keep remains in good preservation,
commanding a grand view over the winding valley of the Wye and to the
Forest of Dean in one direction and the Malvern Hills in another. The
ruins are of a quadrangular fortress, and within the courtyard
Wordsworth once met the child whose prattle suggested his familiar poem,
"We are Seven." Little now remains of Goodrich Priory, but the parish
church of the village can be seen afar off, and contains a chalice