bearing trees, are probably self-sown. Havdng mounted our carriages again, at 

 the point of the new road just below the Moss Cottage, we were soon conveyed 

 to Tintern, the last place to be visited on the programme.'and which we all con- 

 sidered to be a delightful " finish" to the day's excursion. 



These ruins, and the picturesque country around them, which adds so much 

 to their effect, have been like those of Chepstow Castle, so often described, and 

 are so well known to every admirer of Wye scenery, that it would be superfluous 

 in me to attempt to recount their merits here. Many of us had often contem- 

 plated them under more favourable circumstances, but even in this hurried visit 

 we were able to discover some new feature of interest and beauty in them, and 

 we left them to return to Chepstow, impressed with the feeling that if so grand 

 in its desertion and decay, how magnificent this abbey must have appeared in the 

 hey-day of its splendour and usefulness. 



We reached the Beaufort Arms, Chepstow, for dinner, at 6 p.m., congratula- 

 ting ourselves that there was no paper to be read, and that we had lost the edge 

 of our appetite at Piercefield, for had it been otherwise, the paper must have 

 been voted as read, and the dinner taken as " eaten," so short was the time at 

 our disposal for such purposes. At 7 o'clock we were off for the return journey. 



Our fourth field meeting of the season was held at the Forest of Dean on the 



29th of August. 



We travelled from Hereford to Ross with the 9.35 train, and thence by car- 

 riage vid the Gloucester road to Hownhall turnpike, when we turned to the right 

 out of the main track, and passed through Drybrook, by Holy Trinity Church, 

 and over the high road that skirts the left side of the Cinderford valley, to the 

 bridge of that name, which we crossed, and then entered the Speech House road, 

 along which we drove until we arrived at our place of destination. 



The Speech House stands in the middle of the Forest of Dean, and was 

 erected in the year 1680. The Court of the Speech, or the miners and verderers 

 court, was held there, at which some curious customs are said to have been ob- 

 served ; for instance, the forester on entering the court kneeled and delivered his 

 horn to the Chief Justice ; the miner did likewise, and presented his hatchet 

 to his Lord, and the "Hands," or witnesses, were required to stand holding a 

 piece of holly in their hand while the oath was being administered to them. 



At 1.30 we commenced the walking part of the excursion, under the guidance 

 of Mr. H. Southall, of Koss, who led off along the Coleford road. We first 

 halted at the mouth of the Speech House Hill Pit, where we were addressed by 

 Mr. Harris, of Ross, who informed us that the pit was 83 yards deep, and was 

 worked at the Rocky vein, which is the lowest vein but one workable of what is 

 called the upper series, which, beginning at the surface, is arrived at in the fol- 

 lowing order : Smith Coal, Lowrey, Starkey, Rocky Church Way, High Delf, and 

 then no coal, or the "farewell rock." Mr, Harris further stated that the layers 

 were about two feet in thickness, and the dip one foot in four ; that the lower 







