4 
from the town, was our next point; but, as the investigations 
under Mr. Wylie have long been discontinued, there was but 
little visible evidence of those resting places of about one hundred 
bodies of our Saxon forefathers, whose remains, corporeal and 
ornamental, furnished Mr. Wylie with such curious evidence of 
the manners and customs, arts and manufactures, of the ancient 
Saxon race, as he has given us in his interesting volume, entitled 
Saxon Graves. A few beads, from a cottager, furnished us with a 
souvenir of the Saxon; some of pottery inlaid with strips of glass 
or enamel, others of amber. We know not whether this gum was 
supposed to possess any extraordinary charm, but it appears to 
have been much cherished by the Saxons, and the number of 
heads of this description found at Fairford would fill two or three 
pint measures. 
On August 8rd we met in Gloucester and took the rail to 
Chepstow; a more scientific party may have occasionally met to- 
gether, but not often a party more thoroughly disposed to enjoy 
an exquisite day amongst exquisite scenery. We started from 
Chepstow on a coach under the guidance of my excellent trooper, 
Jem Dobbs, of the White Hart, who drove us to within a short 
distance of the summit of the Windcliffe, whence we saw at our 
feet such meanderings of the Wye, that a cannon-ball would cross 
the river four times in its course to Chepstow Castle ; while, if we 
raised the eye above the rock and wood:of the opposite bank, it met 
the full range of the Cotteswold hills in the distance. Descend- 
ing to the Moss Cottage, where we again found our vehicle, which 
descent was performed by some vid the path with steps leading 
from the right of the summit, (where by the way we found the 
Asplenium trichomanes, growing in unusual Juxuriance and 
beauty), and by others, more adventurous, who determined to find 
or make a way to the left, (by that extraordinary providence which 
the Musselman believes to attach to certain classes none were 
killed: Jem Dobbs still points out the scar of rock which one 
came down)—by right or left all finally arrived at the bottom and 
proceeded to Tintern. 
I will not attempt to give any ideas of my own of this exquisite 
Abbey, but, as I in right of my office as President, claim the right 
of plagiarizing to any extent from the ideas of any of our mem- 
bers, a privilege of which I avail myself largely, often without 
acknowledging it, I will read Professor Buckman’s ideas of it as 
slightly better than any I could give of my own. 
An examination of its details must leave the following impres- 
sions upon a thoughtful mind :— 
1st, The great economy of materials, every part being nicely 
adjusted to the work it had to do. 
2nd, The complete absence of constructive ornament, its carv- 
ings are merely for the ornamentation of some useful and necessary 
part of the structure, and in no instance is anything unnecessa- 
rily obtruded so as to display ornament. - 
3rd, The ornamentation has been so nicely balanced, that the 
