by the music of a greater variety of instruments | the crystalline lens is brought nearer to the pupil than we have described. It deserves to be remarked, that the cymbals which were so highly valued in the earlier part of the Jewish history, seem to have fallen into contempt after the Roman invasion; for St. Paul compares the worthlessness of a man, destitute of charity, to "sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." (1 Cor. xiii. 1.) But while the Jewish kingdom flourished in its integrity, cymbals were so highly valued, that they were always introduced into public worship; for we are told of Hezekiah, that,— He set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. (2 Chron. xxix. 25.) than in its natural state it ought to be. The ciliary apparatus and that belonging to the iris is overworked, and hence arises derangement of the functions of the different parts. Extreme caution requires to be exercised in the use of these instruments; the eye should be allowed long intervals of repose, and much will depend on the state of the individual's health generally. Above all things, we caution our young readers to beware of adopting that silly bauble, a quizzing-glass; for, even to shortsighted persons its operation is bad, since it contributes to render the adjusting powers of the two eyes unequal; and if the healthy eye persist in its use, a few years will suffice to bring the floating musca to the eye which so needlessly employs the glass, as a prelude to disorders of a more serious kind. It is a point of much importance in the choice of spectacles, that the substance of the glass should be ON EMPLOYMENTS WHICH INJURE THE free from opaque impurities, and its surface from EYE-SIGHT. No. V. ON THE CUSTOMARY USE OF GLASSES. IN young persons, long-sightedness is occasioned by the flatness of the crystalline lens, and may be remedied by employing a convex lens, which prevents the convergency of the rays beyond the retina, which otherwise occurs, by which vision is indistinct, for a reason the very opposite to that by which short sight is produced. The powers of the eye are so influenced by the employments to which it is habitually subjected, that we must, in many cases, refer acuteness or dimness of vision to the exercises fitted or unfitted to the function of the optic structure. The short or the long-sighted eye, provided the organism of the parts be healthy, have their comparative want of adaptive power remedied, as we have seen by the assistance of a concave or convex lens; but no single lens will confer on the landsman the perfect adjusting power to great distances of the seaman, to whose eye the speck on the extreme horizon, often invisible to the unaccustomed eye, appears in all the detail of a wellappointed vessel, the number of whose guns, her flag, her masts, &c., are accurately detailed, while, on the other hand, the same long sight is inadequate to the detail of near and minute objects, which the shortsighted eye appreciates so well. But, however wise and beneficent is the principle which gradually adapts an organ to its accustomed employments, provided they are not at variance with its legitimate use, the same principle fails to explain the great superiority in vision of some individuals, among the lower animals as well as in man, over others. The eagle and other birds of prey possess remarkably acute vision for near as well as distant objects: soaring high in the air, so as to command an extensive range of prospect, they have the power, it is said, of pushing out the cornea to increase its convexity, and so include a wider range of vision; but it is probable that this superior vision, ascribed to a more complete and comprehensive power of adaptation, which theory only assumes, and experience does not confirm, ought rather to be ascribed to a superior sensibility of the retina, since anatomy shows that the optic nerve in such animals is not only large, but ramified in a complete manner, such as is not found in man. Let us now suppose that a healthy eye is constantly employed in looking through optical glasses, such as watchmakers, engravers, naval officers, philosophical instrument-makers, astronomers, &c., the adjusting powers of the eye are being constantly taxed, that is, scratches or indentations, because the existence of either of those irregularities necessarily occasions an unequal action of light upon the retina. Let us illustrate this by an extreme case. Suppose an indivi dual were constantly to wear spectacles, and that when one of the glasses had a black spot, an eighth of an inch diameter near the centre, the retina at one particular spot spherically opposite to the opaque spot on the glass, would be deprived of the direct rays usually impingent upon it, and would only receive those coming by oblique directions; the consequence of which would be, that the retina would be unequally acted upon, and so far from being benefited by that spot being less excited, it would produce those unnatural effects, which always accompany the partial exercise of an organ to the exclusion of the line of separation between the active and the another part, which is generally an inflammation of inert portions. This being the case in an extreme instance, we may expect effects somewhat analogous, but slighter, when the irregularity is smaller, independent of the dimness which is given to the images of objects on the retina. The than is necessary for absolutely distinct vision, or Spectacles should always be chosen less powerful the eye gets wearied and distressed by the use of them, and what is perhaps as bad, the disease is increased by the violence of the intended cure. writer, speaking from experience, recommends nearsighted individuals to be content with vision a little obscured, and to be thankful that science affords the means of attaining even that imperfect degree of visual perception. In concluding this article we may remark that our object has not been to excite alarm by contributing to the fears of the many, the employment of whose eyes furnishes them with daily bread. The several from which many of our illustrations have been trades and professions that we have named, and taken, may, we are convinced, be exercised with impunity, provided the exercise be attended with caution. Cleanliness, bodily exercise, and temperance, are the main safeguards which will not fail to prevent the evils we have cited, or to mitigate their action if they have already begun. Those who have obtained the farthest insight into nature have been in all ages firm believers in God.—WHEWELL. No object is more pleasing to the eye, than the sight of a to the ear, as the voice of one that owns you for his bene man whom you have obliged; nor any music so agreeable factor CORONATION ANECDOTES. No. I. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. WILLIAM was very anxious that his conquest of England should at least appear to be sanctioned by the consent of the people, and he therefore gave orders that his new subjects should be invited to witness the ceremony of his coronation, on Christmas day, 1066. Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, refused to perform the ceremony, as some assert, because he looked upon the Norman prince as an intruder; but Langtoft informs us that Stigand was at the time suspended by the pope. The passage in Langtoft is curious: * Fair grace William fond; his chance fulle wele him satte That tyme was suspended, the pope reft him the state. Rufus, by Maurice, bishop of London, the archbishop of Canterbury being out of the country. In every respect the forms of his coronation were the same as those of the Saxon kings. But it appears from Langtoft, that he was crowned a second time, by Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, after his marriage with Ma tilda, niece of Edgar Atheling, of the ancient Saxon line, or, as Langtoft calls her, "kyng & sire," that is, a sovereign in her own right. The oder men of honoure, archdecane & person The coronation of Stephen, after he had sworn alleWer prived of thar office, of woulfes had renoun giance to the empress Matilda, was viewed with great For lechorie that vice wer many als don doun. anxiety, in an age when it was supposed that the The archbishope of York com with devocioun, Thorgh William praiere, com to London toun, punishment of perjury was immediate and visible. The Bifor the barons brouht, he gaf William the coroun ceremony was performed by William, archbishop of To chalange was he nouht, Sir Stigand was don doun, Canterbury; and it is said that a dreadful storm arose, After William had taken the coronation oath, to which threw all the parties into such confusion, that protect the church, prohibit oppression, and execute the consecrated wafer fell on the ground, the kiss of judgment in mercy, Aldred put the question, "Will ye "Will ye peace after the sacrament was omitted, and even the have this prince to be your king?" the people answered final benediction forgotten. It was also remarked, with loud shouts, and the noise gave so much alarm to that the archbishop, and the false witnesses who dethe Norman garrison in the city, that the soldiers be-clared that Henry I. disinherited his daughter a little lieving the English to have revolted, without waiting to make any investigation, immediately set the next houses on fire, which spreading and giving a general alarm, most of the congregation rushed out of the church, the English hastening to stop the fire, and the Normans to plunder. The bishops, clergy, and monks, who remained within the church, were in such confusion, that they were scarcely able to go through the office of crowning the king: William himself, who saw the tumult, and could not conjecture its cause, sat trembling at the foot of the altar, and though no great mischief was done by the fire, it laid the foundation of a long and inveterate enmity between the English and the Normans. Matilda, William's queen, was crowned eighteen months afterwards, by the same archbishop of York. WILLIAM II., RUFUS. before his death, met a speedy and miserable end. In Bot sen dis courounyng till Oxenford he fore, For common the folk it wanh wod open and forest. The three clauses of this oath are singularly characWilliam II. laid claim to the crown by virtue of teristic of the age; the necessity for the first clause a form of election; the nobles believing that he would arose from the custom of keeping sees vacant, and be less inclined to control their usurped privileges applying their revenues to the use of the crown until a than his elder brother, Robert. He was crowned new bishop was chosen, and it is also connected with at Westminster, September 27th, 1087, by Lanfranc, the question of lay investitures, which at that time archbishop of Canterbury, and the archbishop of York; convulsed Christendom. In the second clause we eight other bishops, and many of the chief nobility, find that the forest-laws, so rigidly enforced by the assisted at the ceremony. Besides swearing to obNorman kings, were a serious grievance; indeed, all serve justice, equity, and mercy, in all his conduct, the old historians agree that the worst feature in the and to maintain the peace, liberties, and privileges of administration of Henry I. was the severity with which the church, he promised that he would follow the arch-he punished those who took venison in the royal bishop's counsels in all his administrations, and, as Fabian says, “he was well eyded of Lamfrank whyle he lyved, for he was dyvers and unstable of manners, so that atwene hym & his lordes was often dyssension." Langtoft specially mentions the ring in this coronation: To William the rede kyng is gyven the coroun, HENRY I. The coronation of Henry I. was performed in a hurried manner, on the fourth day after the death of Langtoft, an Augustin friar, who about the commencement of the fourteenth century wrote a chronicle of England in verse, forests, cut down wood, or committed any waste therein, A Maiden. c Charge. Clergyman. Each. HENRY II. Henry, called Fitz-Empress, from his mother, and Court-Mantel, from his having introduced the fashion of short cloaks into England, was crowned at Westminster on the Sunday before Christmas day, A. D. 1154, being the Romish feast of St. Ligerius, by Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury. Although his hereditary right was unquestionable, he was formally elected by the clergy and people; they testified their assent by loud acclamations, and Langtoft insinuates that his subjects were more anxious to have him for a king than he was to acquire a kingdom: To London thei him brought with grete solempnitie Thebald of Canterber gaf him the coroune and the ryng. Now comes hir sonne in pas, Henry hir heyr thorgh right. It is said that Henry was crowned again with his queen, A. D. 1159, but Mr. Arthur Taylor plausibly conjectures that this report arose from his having worn the crown during the ceremony. Indeed it was usual for the English kings to have a kind of minor coronation performed at the great festivals, but this was terminated, A. D. 1159, when Henry and his queen, spending the Easter holidays at Worcester, entered the offertory in solemn procession, placed their crowns upon the high altar, and vowed never to wear them again during their lives. Early in the year 1170, King Henry adopted what was in England a very unusual measure, and which was manifestly pregnant with danger; he proposed to his parliament to have his son Henry crowned titular king. Gervase of Canterbury insinuates that some of the nobles were unwilling to comply with this proposal, but that they feared to oppose the king's pleasure, lest he should bring them to trial for various malversations and outrages during Henry's absence in Normandy. The young prince was knighted by his father on the morning of the 14th of June, being the second Sunday after Trinity, and the same day was crowned by Roger, archbishop of York, assisted by the bishops of Durham, London, Salisbury, and Rochester, in the abbey church of Wesminster. William, king of Scotland, his brother David, and a greater number of nobles and prelates than had ever assembled at a like solemnity, performed fealty and homage to the young king on the following day, with a limitation, "saving the fealty due to their lord the king, his father." On this occasion Henry did not exhibit his usual prudence, but seems to have been guided by passion rather than policy. The ceremony of the coronation was performed by the archbishop of York, without any protestation to save the rights of the see of Canterbury, and the prince's wife, daughter to the king of France, was not crowned with him, according to the usual practice when the king has a consort. The former of these circumstances was an intentional insult to the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas à Becket, then in the midst of his fierce contest with the king, and every precaution had been taken to make the injury more flagrant. The king, immediately after the death of archbishop Theobald, got a bull from the pope, allowing him to have his son crowned by whatever prelate he pleased; but Becket contended, and probably with truth, that this licence was obtained to prevent the archbishop of York from pretending to consecrate the Found. d Manifestly. • Matilda's. Believed to be the rightful heir. new king, as matter of right, in case the see of Canterbury should be vacant. Roger, archbishop of York, also obtained a bull, granting him the privilege of crowning the king of England, as some of his predecessors had done, and of having his cross carried erect before him through all the kingdom. The latter privilege was restricted, however, to the archiepiscopal province of York by a subsequent bull, and Becket's partisans maintained that the former had been tacitly subjected to a similar limitation. Roger, however, was a privileged person; he was the papal legate for Scotland, and therefore exempt from Becket's legatine jurisdiction, and consequently he was the fittest prelate to consecrate the youthful sovereign. The apparent slight to the princess Margaret arose solely from the necessity of keeping the exact time of the coronation secret, and thus frustrating the machinations of Becket. As soon as the ceremony was completed, the king sent orders to provide a suitable equipage for Margaret with all the ornaments necessary to the state of a queen. Becket's conduct proves the importance of this secrecy; he had sent inhibitions to the archbishop of York and all the English bishops, forbidding them to officiate at the coronation, and had procured bulls from the pope to the like effect, which, however, the papal messengers were afraid to carry into England. Roger, bishop of Worcester, undertook to convey the papal inhibitions to the English parliament, but he was stopped at Dieppe by Richard du Hommet, justiciary of Normandy, and an embargo laid on all the shipping in the harbour, until the coronation was over. At the coronation feast, Henry with his own hand served up a dish at the prince's table, but the arrogant boy, instead of feeling grateful for the unusual honour conferred upon him, said to the archbishop of York, who complimented him upon it, "Assuredly it is not a great condescension for the son of an earl to wait on the son of a king." Prince Henry was crowned a second time, in company with his wife Margaret, at Winchester, A.D. 1172, by the archbishop of Rouen assisted by the bishops of Evreux and Worcester. The see of Canterbury was then vacant, and the king of France, for whose gratification the ceremony was performed, insisted that neither the archbishop of York, nor the bishops of London or Salisbury, should officiate at the coronation. ON THE LOSS OF A BELOVED OBJECT. Than music in her sweetest key; More comfortable than the day; All earthly comforts vanish thus ; Or mind not how there may be made A thankful use of what we had.-WITHER. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE. Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom. How "delightsome" are the associations connected with the Wye! yet how few amongst the great mass who have the means of making an annual excursion in search of health or recreation, are acquainted with it except by name. It shall be our object to give a full and popular illustration of this romantic river, in a short series of papers, with such notices of the remarkable antiquities and highly-interesting country through which it passes, within reach of the tourist, as may tend to render the subject complete. We trust that we shall thus diffuse information amongst the body of our readers, which many of them may be able to turn some day to pleasant account. Our opening remarks may be widely extended. Notwithstanding all the advantages of cheap travelling and steam-boats, how slight is the acquaintance of the majority of our countrymen of the middle, and often of the higher, classes, with the wonders of nature and art that abound in their native land. To our mind the first duty of a man who possesses the means of travelling, should be to make a minute acquaintance with his own country. Comparatively few amongst us are thoroughly acquainted with England, Wales, that stronghold of the picturesque, although very easily accessible, is trodden but by a few,-Scotland, our northern hillcountry, with its wild and romantic shores and VOL. XII. groups of islands, is still, except by hearsay, as little known to many Englishmen as Polynesia,and Ireland, though rich in natural beauty of the highest class, is an absolute terra incognita; we have, however, undertaken the agreeable task of supplying information on these subjects, and we refer to our papers on Ireland, and other places, with peculiar satisfaction. It has been well remarked by an ingenious writer, in contrasting the scenery of Great Britain with that on the continent of Europe, that magnitude is not essential to beauty, and that sublimity is not always to be measured by yards and feet. A mountain may be loftier, or a lake longer and wider, without any gain to that picturesque effect which mainly depends on form, combination, and colouring. In the peculiar nature of its scenery, too, England mav be said to stand alone. Corn-waving fields, and pasture green, and slope distinguish even the most uninteresting districts, which sometimes make up for their deficiency in the higher order of natural beauty, by more striking events in their history, or by monastic or castellated remains of a more attractive character. Nor must 383 we lose sight of local and national attachment, which cast an indescribable charm over all. So much for the "picturesque" or topographical side of the subject. Our limits will not permit us to attempt even a bare enumeration of the wonders of art, which have elevated this country to the highest rank amongst nations, else we could dwell at length on the field presented to the traveller in search of information, on the manufacturing and commercial establishments, the dockyards and arsenals, ports, mines, canals, bridges, railroads, and other public works, which contribute to our prosperity, and are eminently calculated to instruct the inquiring mind. Having thus slightly glanced at the profitable nature of home tours, let us proceed to our immediate subject, and request the reader to accompany us to the source of the "sylvan Wye." But none, to my delighted eye, A veil of such transparent blue, That God's own eye seems gazing through. THE "pleased Vaga," as the Wye is poetically termed by Pope, takes its rise from a spacious hollow near the summit of Plynlimmon, a dreary mountain which attains an altitude of 2463 feet, on the borders of the counties of Cardigan and Montgomery, about fifteen miles from that fashionable watering-place, Aberystwith. The lower parts of the mountain are covered with soft mossy turf, and stunted heath, but often broken with rugged and extensive bogs, which render the ascent dangerous and difficult*. In other places the surface is entirely overspread with large loose stones, or white-coloured rocks, which give it a singular appearance on approaching its base. The summit consists of two peaks, on each of which are piled a pyramid of loose stones, called in the language of the country, Carnedd, or Carneddau. Similar heaps of stones are common on the neighbouring mountains, and in many other places in Wales. It has been supposed that they are sepulchral monuments erected by the Britons in honour of their military heroes, but it seems more probable that those on Plynlimmon were formerly used as beacons, as they might have been seen from ten counties. In 1401, the renowned chieftain, Owen Glendower, posted himself on this mountain with a small body of men, awaiting the arrival of his vassals and friends from various parts of the principality, and from whence he frequently descended and harassed the adjacent country. The entrenchments he threw up may still be traced. The blade of a British spear or pike made of brass, was found in a bog near this spot some years ago. The views from the summit in clear weather embrace a wild and extensive range of landscape; exhibiting mountains rolling, as it were, over each other in the most sublime forms and beautiful hues. In the north appears Cader Idris, and the lofty region of Snowdonia; the hills of Salop and Hereford may be seen to the east and north-east; and on the west the bay At a small roadside inn at Eisteddfa Gurrig, a guide can be obtained, and from whence the mountain is generally ascended. of Cardigan, and a dim outline of the coast of Ireland. After a copious fall of rain, the cataracts which descend with headlong fury down the sides of the mountain, add considerably to the grandeur and wildness of the scenery. This "hill king" of Cambria is best known, however, as the parent of no less than five streams or rivers, whence is derived the name Pum, five, and Luinon, springs, or fountain. The most important of these is the Severn, which rising in the north-east of the same group of mountains, (for Plynlimmon consists properly of three mountains piled together into one gigantic mass,) after a course of about two hundred miles, pours its waters into the sea below Bristol. The WYE, or Gwy, which in Celtic signifies a river, issuing from the southern side of the mountain, falls in a narrow streamlet several hundred yards nearly perpendicular, till gradually increasing by the union of several small springs, the overplus of the surrounding morasses, it soon forms a cataract, rolling with amazing rapidity over a rocky channel. The other rivers, the Rheidal, the Llyffnant, and the Fynach, though considerable streams, are of minor importance. The WYE, (says Gilpin,) after dividing the counties of Radnor and Brecon, passes through the middle of Herefordshire; it then becomes a second boundary between the counties of Monmouth and Gloucester, and falls into the Severn a little below Chepstow. The exquisite beauty and grandeur of the scenery which in many parts adorn its shores in almost endless variety, is scarcely to be equalled. Such is the sinuosity of its course, that between Ross and Chepstow, a distance not exceeding seventeen miles in a direct line, the water passage is thirty-eight. Along the whole of this distance, the poet Gray truly observes, that its banks are a succession of nameless beauties. The beauty of these scenes arises chiefly from two circumstances; the lofty banks of the river, and its mazy course; both of which are accurately embodied by the poet, when he describes the Wye as echoing through its winding bounds. It could not well echo, unless its banks were both lofty and winding Let us now commence our matter-of-fact tour. The progress of the Wye from its source to LLANGURIG, a distance of about ten miles, is through a naked and dreary country, with undulating hills in the background. Mr. Roscoe observes, in his delightful Wanderings, that the village is honoured in all travellers' note-books with the cognomen of "wretched." There is only one very indifferent house of entertainment, but now that there is a prospect of the Upper Wye Tour becoming appreciated as it ought, we agree with Mr. Roscoe that Llangurig will no doubt at an early period afford superior accommodation. Poor as the village is, the scenery is wild and extremely magnificent, so much so, indeed, that Nicholson speaks of it as "exceeding the powers of description." The hamlet stands on the north bank of the river, surrounded by towering mountains, the lower portions of which are partially covered with wood, and relieve the hitherto monotonous tone of the landscape, the eye having previously been accustomed to dwell chiefly on the sullen and savage sterility of Plynlimmon. The scenery from Llangurig to Rhayadyr, especially on approaching the latter, is highly interesting; the river being confined by close rocky banks, and having a considerable declination, the whole is a succession of rapids and waterfalls. The Nanerth rocks, for nearly three miles, form a fine screen to the north bank. The trees and shrubs which overhang the eddying pools and rapids in many places, add considerably to the picturesque character of the scenery. RHAYADYR, a straggling, but rather a curious specimen of a Welsh town, has little to recommend |