{184b} Castle coch, or the Red castle, situated upon a high bank of the river Taffe, about four miles above Landaff, is a small ruin which we neglected to visit. {185} Monmouthshire has been separated from Wales by the judicial arrangement of later times; yet the character of the county throughout is so entirely Cambrian, that I cannot consider myself out of Wales until after having passed the Wye. Indeed, this highly-varied and interesting district may be considered as an epitome of the whole principality. The mountains stretching over the north-west of Monmouthshire shire may vie with any in South-Wales, and even aspire to the majestic wildness of some in North-Wales; the rich fertility, or broken precipices accompanying the course of the Severn, Wye, and Usk, with much contrastive grandeur, possess the highest pretensions to picturesque fame; and its numerous ruins and other monuments of antiquity are among the most celebrated in the kingdom.—An elegant and able work, in two volumes, quarto, has been lately published, descriptive of Monmouthshire, and illustrated by no less than 90 excellent plates. The researches of its author (Mr. Coxe) have been so accurate and complete, as to leave little more for a succeeding tourist to do than to select and transcribe. The descriptions I always found highly satisfactory and just; I have therefore, in the generality of instances, thought it unnecessary to follow any other authority for documents in history and antiquities. {192} An officer who had the superintendance of the walls, and collected a toll for keeping them in repair. {195} We did not visit Rogeston castle, about two miles north-west of Newport, a fortress of the Stradlings who came over with Fitzhammon. Part of its remains appear in the foundation of the mansion built on its site, belonging to the Morgans, but tenanted by Mr. Butler of Caerleon, and employed as a manufactory of iron bolts and tin plates. {200a} In ancient military architecture “_circinatio angulorum_;” a plan condemned by Vitruvius, because it rather sheltered the besiegers than the besieged, “_quia hostem magis tuentur quam civem_.” {200b} A decent little inn, and the only one in the town. {208} These ruins are attributed to the ravages of Owen Glendower, who sacked and burnt the town.