We took our farewel leave of Monmouth on a hazy morning, that concealed the surrounding scenery in the earliest part of our ride to Gloucester. But the mist gradually withdrawing allowed us a gleam of the majestic Wye, about two miles from Monmouth; which, soon deserting the course of the road, winds beneath the bare rocky cliffs of the little Doward, and becomes lost among high wooded hills. Near the seven-miles stone from Monmouth we struck off the turnpike into an embowered lane in search of GOODRICH CASTLE, a very picturesque ruin, which rises among tufted trees on a bold eminence above the Wye. The view of the castellated hill, combined with a grand fertile valley, which extends for many miles in a richly-variegated undulation, enlivened with the elegant though simple spire of Ross church, and with peculiar graces, watered by the copious river, was uncommonly striking: while to the right we caught a glimpse of the grand features about Symonds-gate and the Caldwell rocks, backed by a range of heathy hills that forms the boundary of the forest of Dean. [Picture: Goodrich Castle] The remains of this castle shew it to have been of considerable strength, though not very extensive. Its figure is nearly square, measuring fifty-two yards by forty-eight, with a large round tower at each angle. A deep trench, twenty yards wide, is cut in the rock round the walls, leaving a narrow ridge which crosses the moat to the grand entrance. On entering the gateway, a small apartment to the left, with an ornamented Gothic window, and a stone chalice for holding holy-water, appears to have been the chapel; or, considering its small size, rather an oratory. A curious octagon column rising from a mass of ruins opposite has belonged to a principal apartment, and most probably the baronial hall. A large square tower was the keep, which is said to have been built by an Irish chieftain named Mackbeth, as a ransom for himself and his son, who were held prisoners in the castle; and until lately two ponderous helmets were shewn as belonging to them, one of which held half a bushel.