146 THE SEVERN. 



Pliny, in his account of Britain, speaks of a six 

 days' navigation in the open sea with these cora- 

 cles : " Tirnaeus historicus a Britannia introrsus 

 sex dierum navigatione abesse dicit insulam 

 Mictim, in qua candidum plumbum proveniat. Ad 

 earn Britannos vitilibus navigiis corio circumsutis 

 navigare." Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. iv. c. 1 6. 



MONTGOMERYSHIRE. 



" Ever charming, ever new, 



When will the landscape tire the view I 



The fountain's fall, the river's flow, 



The woody valleys, warm and low, 



The windy summit, wild and high, 



Roughly rushing on the sky ! 



The pleasant seat, the ruin'd tower, 



The naked rock, the shady bower ; 



The town and village, dome and farm, 



Each give each a double charm, 



As pearls upon an Ethiop's arm." 



DYER. 



The chief rivers are, the Severn, with its tri- 

 butaries, the Vyrnwy and the Tanat ; all of which 

 descend eastward from the mountain ridge running 

 across the western part of the county; and the 

 Dovey or Dyvi, flowing westward from the same 

 ridge : the romantic Wye also has its source on the 

 southern side of Plinlimmon, in Montgomeryshire, 

 and, pursuing a south-easterly course by Llangurig, 

 soon enters Radnorshire. 



THE SEVERN 



Rises in a powerful stream from a chalybeate spring 



