192 



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MEETING AT ROSS, 



July 27th, 1866. 



The third meeting of the Woolhope Club has been most successfuL 

 A dull, cloudy sky for many days before, a sinking barometer, and a sudden 

 change of the wind to a southerly quarter, were certain indications of 

 approaching rain, and caused some fears lest the day should prove unfavour- 

 able. Ladies had been invited, and fine weather was all the more desirable. 

 At 8 o'clock a slight shower occurred, which, though it may have prevented 

 some of them from coming, enabled others to show a faith in the good fortune 

 of the club, that met with its just reward in a very enjoyable day. I^Iembers 

 and visitors began to arrive at the Barr's Court station by halfpast 9 o'clock, 

 and before the train could start an extra carriage had to be put on. Already 

 the club assumed an unwonted air of gaiety — the members were observed to 

 take first-class tickets— the pretty hats of the ladies and the little baskets 

 they mostly carried, though they might be intended for ferns or fossils, were 

 eminently suggestive of a pleasant pic-nic ; the geological hammers were of 

 course unmistakeable j but as to the botanical boxes, the proximity of parasola 

 created the strongest suspicion that biscuits or sandwiches were the only 

 " specimens " they contained. The train soon sped onwards to Boss, picking 

 up at the several stations additions to the party. In this short distance 

 the railway crosses the Wye no less than four times, and always so directly 

 that at each time you seem to bid the river farewell. But no ! Whether 

 you shoot by woods or past meadows, in cuttings or through tunnels, there 

 you find it again and again ; and more than this ; for sometimes on one 

 side and sometimes on the other, it gracefully approaches the line, as if for 

 the mere object of adding its own beauty to the scene. The Wye, Bays 



Drayton — 



To Eos3 her course directs ; and, right her name to show, 

 Oft windeth in her way, as back she meant to go. 

 Meander, who is said so intricate to be, 

 Hath not so many turns nor crankling nooks as she. 



Nowhere, perhaps, are its wanderings better seen than from the beautiful 



pleasure grounds of the Koyal Hotel. Not that the Hereford party saw 



the Wye there at this time, for as the train reached Boss, spots of rain 



