England -- Description and travel; Wales -- Description and travel
Most singular is the formation of the Stipperstones. Of course there
are sundry legends to account for these gigantic rocks that strew the
crests of the hills, as though some cyclopean city had been ruined
there, and the Devil plays a prominent part in all. How busy the Devil
appears to have been in England during the old days! I call to mind
the Devil's Leap, the Devil's Dyke, the Devil's Bridge, the Devil's
Punch Bowl, the Devil's Stone, the Devil's Den, the Devil's Frying-pan,
and many another spot named after him. The one sin of idleness cannot
be placed at his door. Then as we drove on Marton Mere, church, and
village made a pleasant diversion, and shortly afterwards the tiny
old town of Montgomery came into view, climbing the steep hillside,
with its ruined castle above, and tumble of hills beyond. From this
point Montgomery presents such a picture as Turner loved to paint--a
prominent castle, grey and old, a sleepy little town below, with dreamy
hills beyond, and a winding road leading the eye towards them.
When last I was at Montgomery--let me see, that was over twenty long
years ago. Alas, how time flies! Still, however I may have changed,
the old town looks to me just as it did then; it is one of those
delightful, remote places that never seem to change, let the outer
world wag as it will--Well, twenty years or so ago the clerk (may he
be alive and as well as I!) showed me the Robber's Grave in a quiet
corner of the churchyard there, a grave on which no grass will grow,
in proof of which the grave was pointed out to me, a bare spot roughly
in the shape of a coffin, when all around was freshly green. Whether
the grave be still bare I know not, for my present road did not lead
me into the town; I almost wish now I had gone the short distance out
of my way to reinspect the spot. This is the story I noted down at
the time of the Robber's Grave as told to me by the said clerk, only
retold in brief. A certain John Newton, a long while ago, was accused
of highway robbery, convicted and sentenced to be hanged, such an
offence being then punished by death. On the scaffold Newton loudly
proclaimed his innocence, exclaiming, "I have prayed God in proof of my
innocence that no grass may grow on my grave." I forget now how many
years the clerk told me he had been clerk there, but they were many,
during which period he had carefully watched the grave, but not a blade
of grass would grow upon it. Fresh sods had been laid there, but they
withered away even in one night; the earth was dug up and grass seeds
sown, but they would not come up, so the grave remained bare and brown.
"I've been clerk here for all those long years," said he, "and I'm only
telling you the truth." I cannot say why, but that clerk reminded me of
another of the fraternity who exclaimed to a certain Dean he had shown
over his church, "I've been clerk here for now over forty years and
never missed a service, and, thank God, I'm still a Christian"!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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