serves, that men of warm imaginations, in Monkish times,-seduced by such a scene, -should wish to become inhabitants of the place; which must have been passing excellent for monastic life and discipline.

To the pensive scene above recorded, we would oppose the appearance of the Abbey in the blossom season, The grounds that encircle it, on every side, are thickly planted with the choicest fruit trees, which, when in bloom, afford the most striking contrast to the ivy-vested walls of the monastery. Such cheerfulness surrounding such desolation, is a circumstance very rarely equalled; and when it happens to be what is provincially called A HIT, that is, "when the rosy tribe of fruits are bend

ing their parent trees to kiss the ground,"-this luxuriance in Autumn is equally pleasing as the gaiety of the preceding part of the year.

The Monks were eminently skilled in horticulture; -to their care we are principally indebted for the fine productions of our gardens and orchards.

The POWER of MUSIC would be here felt with all the rapture it is capable of inspiring,-but this high treat it has not yet been the writer's good fortune to partake of. In the year 1799, the BEAUFORT FAMILY made. the excursion by water from hence to Chepstow, attended by the whole band (nearly twenty performers), of the county militia. On the noble visitors arrival at Tintern, they alighted from the barge to view the. Abbey,--but not expressing a desire for the attendance of the Music, the band were more intent on gratifying'

their appetites with the good things brought from Troy House, than in administring a mental entertainment to those, whom the charms of their art had attracted to these walls.

THE WOODS,*

Which here add so much to the beauty of the scenery, are greatly deprived of that interest which they formerly contributed, by the increase of the Iron Manufactory. Their growth was usually extended to twenty years, and upwards; but now they are fell every twelve or fourteen years, and sometimes under that period.

It was characteristic of the Cistercian Order of Religious, to erect their Monasteries in the deepest solitudes, far remote from the busy haunts of society. No doubt but that, when the site was first chosen, the whole of the vale was cloathed with wood, as the neighbourhood gives us reason for so thinking. The roads, till within these few years, were almost in an impassable state,-even now they are of difficult access for carriages from some places, and it is owing entirely to very late improvements, that the road from Saint Arvons is rendered so much superior to every other approach, and it is the way I would recommend to company coming here by such conveyances, or on horseback, from any part of the county.

The Rev. Mr. Davis remarks, "That the woods and cliffs along the Wye, Persfield Walks, and the whole neighbourhood of Chepstow, " abound more with Nightingales than any parts of this Island that I' “have vifited; and that their notes are stronger, and more harmonious, "than in other places within my knowledge,"

When

When the fallen stones within the Abbey were removed, and the inside laid down in its present form, it was the opinion of Mr. Tregose, with whom the idea originated, that the Spire, of the Monastery, if any, was composed of Wood only, because no parts were found that warranted a different conclusion.

A WALL, of considerable height and strength, surrounded the Abbey, which,-to judge from the part now remaining,-appears to have been erected principally with the view of defending the Monastery from the depredations of the river floods; an inconvenience to which it would have been subject but for this protection. A few head of Deer were kept within its boundary by Mr. Tanner, during his residence at Tintern, but they have been disposed of since that period.

SALMON FISHING.

A considerable number of people, who reside here, are employed in fishing for Salmon in the river Wye, the season for which is from the middle of November to the middle of August. The method used for taking them is, by mooring a boat (one end near the shore), with a net fixed to two poles:-upon the fish striking against the net, the men press down the poles, which raises up the net, and secures the salmon. This is a business of great uncertainty; but when fortunate, well rewards the patient fisherman's anxious toil.

They are often out more than twelve hours at a time, the greater part of which is in the night.

THE

FIRST SETTLEMENT OF TINTERN

AS A

WIRE MANUFACTORY.

ON the ruins of Monastic life, an industrious band

of skilful artists,-natives of Germany or Sweden,-first settled this now active colony, by introducing the making of WIRE; which, through process of time, and the addition of other branches of the IRON TRADE, has increased to a large and populous parish; while the manufactories have imparted the bustle attendant on commercial life to the surrounding neighbourhood.

It reflects a high degree of lustre on the laws and government of Britain, that owing to the arbitary edicts of Foreign Princes, and the consequent asylum, as well as protection, which their subjects found in England, we owe the origin of many of our most valuable manufactories.

Whether the hopes of a better reward for their labours, or the desires of a particular body of people here, first induced them to emigrate, cannot now be ascertained; neither can the precise time be known, when they made Tintern their residence, but it is supposed to have been very carly in the seventeenth century, in the reign of James the First.

Certain,

Certain, however, it is, that they were received with a particular degree of encouragement. Their dwellings, which obtained the names of SEATS,- probably from their being seated when at work,-were made copyholds of inheritance; gave them a vote for Members of Parlia ment for the county; and were exempted from all kinds of taxes. Their wages were also permanently fixed; and their Masters could neither eject or remove them from their employment.

The assistance of the mechanic powers to the operations of labour, appear to have been in a very infantile state at that period, if an opinion may be formed from the process of their work, of which tradition has preserved a feint recollection. A large beam was erected across the building where they carried on their trade, to which were affixed as many seats (in the form of large wood scales,) as there were men employed, who were fastened in them by means of a girdle, that went round their bodies. The men were placed opposite each other, while between them stood a piece of iron, filled with holes of different bores, for reducing the wire to the various sizes. When the iron to be worked was heated, the beam was put in motion by means of a water wheel, that moved it, with the workmen in their seats, regularly backwards and forwards, who, with a large pair of tongs, passed and repassed the iron through the holes, till by force they reduced it to the sizes required. The motion was as regular as the pendulum of a clock; and if any one of the men missed seizing the iron with his tongs, he suffered a considerable shock in the return of the beam.