the Welsh mountains are seen to great advantage, with the Broxton hills, the solitary rock of Beeston and its ruins, mingled with a rich variety of landscape. The noble It was from the Phoenix Tower-the only one now left-that Charles I. beheld the triumph of the Parliament in the battle of Rowton Moor. Considerable remains of the ancient Abbey still exhibit a noble example of the old pointed architecture of the Normans. The Cathedral is another of those splendid monuments of which this once majestic city may justly boast. Chapter House is supposed to have been erected in the days of Earl Randle, so celebrated for his border wars, and nephew to the great Hugh Lupus, whose body was found in a stone coffin wrapped in gilt leather, with a cross on the breast, and with a wolf's head engraved on the stone. The old custom of religious sanctuary was on one occasion of some benefit to the noble earl; finding himself beset in the old Castle of Rhudland by the Welsh,—much like Bishop Hatto in his tower, he sent a messenger to his constable De Lacy for instant succour. The constable happened to be at the fair, and, assisted by one Ralph Dutton, mustered a large body of all the needy and criminal who had taken shelter in the place. With this motley band he marched boldly towards the castle; and the wild mountaineers, struck with their singular garb and imposing numbers, thought good to sound a retreat. Among its noble and numerous churches, that of St. John, erected, it is said, by Ethelred, in 689, was the most magnificent. There is a tradition of its founder, that he was directed by a vision to build this grand edifice on the spot which should be marked out to him by the appearance of a white hind. The Bridge, constructed before the time of the Conquest, is a fine and singular specimen of old architecture. After the invasion, the provost had orders to summon one man from each hide of land in the country to assist in rebuilding the Bridge and the Walls. Contiguous to the bridge are the City Mills, originally built by the famous Lupus, and worked by a current through means of a large dam raised obliquely across the river Dee. They were held by the Earls of Chester of the royal line, and were granted by Edward the Black Prince to Sir Howel, of Fwyall, for his signal valour and capture of the French King at the battle of Poictiers. Chester long continued the capital city of Venedotia, or North Wales, and was wrested from the Britons, by Egbert, early in the ninth century. In 895, it suffered from a terrific invasion of the Danes, who, retreating before the victorious Alfred, left it a heap of ruins. It was restored by Ethelfleda, the daughter of that great monarch,-celebrated in a barbarous age for her chastity, her wisdom, and her deeds in arms. Her munificence and piety restored cities, founded abbeys; and, what was then esteemed the crown of all virtues, removed the mouldering bones of departed saints to more eligible spots.* Assuming the government of the Mercian Earldom, she led her armies to victory; and disdaining the usual titles of lady or queen, she chose to be addressed by the names of Imperial Lord' and King.' Her commanding genius became the theme of the bards, and the following lines shew the veneration in which she was held:: 'Elfleda, terror of mankind, Nature, for ever unconfined, Stamped thee in woman's tender frame, Among her other works, she built a castle at Sceargate, a second at Briege,-the modern Bridgenorth,-a third at Tamworth, a fourth at Stafford, and in many other towns of Britain. She captured Brecknock, and took its queen prisoner; she stormed Derby, and, as in the case of Legerceaster, rebuilt more cities * Old Saxon Chronicle. |