Impressions of England; or, Sketches of English Scenery and SocietyCoxe, A. Cleveland (Arthur Cleveland)
History
Impressions of England; or, Sketches of English Scenery and Society
Coxe, A. Cleveland (Arthur Cleveland)
England -- Description and travel
I was made to feel at home, without further preface, and the dinner-hour
passed delightfully, in conversation suited to the day and the services
of the morning, with many recognitions of the power of our holy religion
to obliterate differences of nationality and of education, and to bind
entire strangers in practical brotherhood. The hour came to repair to
the mountain sanctuary, which proved to be several miles distant, and
the whole party of us went together, in a Welsh vehicle of peculiar
shape, but well suited to the road. As we began to ascend into the
hills, a fine view of the vale of Clwyd presented itself. From the great
mountain ranges, on the north and west, to the crowned crag on which
rises the Castle of Denbigh, the eye took a majestic sweep, over one of
the loveliest valleys in Great Britain, and one full of romance and
poetry. At last we came to the Church, a most primitive little
structure, of ancient date, with a mere bell-gable, instead of a tower
and spire, but of a most ecclesiastical pattern in every respect. The
villagers of Tremeirchion were crowding the doorway, and on entering, I
found a large assembly of the Welsh peasantry, neatly attired, and
exceedingly intelligent in their appearance. A Welsh Prayer-book was put
into my hand, which, being a strict translation of the English, I was
enabled to use very profitably, in following the service. The whole was
novel and attractive. I observed some old tombs and monuments, and was
particularly pleased to find the altar, the candlesticks, and other
parts of the Church, garnished with Pentecostal flowers—alike fragrant
and suggestive of festive emotions, in harmony with the blessed day of
the Holy Comforter. But the sweet and simple worship of the villagers
absolutely enraptured me. Their responses were given in earnest, and
their chants were particularly touching. I was especially pleased with
the _Gloria Patri_, which, as perpetually recurring, I soon caught up,
and was able to sing with them, in a language of which, in the morning,
I had not known a word. Even now it lingers in my ear, with all the
charms of that plaintive intonation which seemed to me characteristic of
the Welsh tongue, and which singularly comports with its _prestige_, as
the language of an ancient and romantic people, whose nationality has
been never subdued, notwithstanding the ages of its absorption into that
of a stronger race.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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