their admiration in immortal song:-- ... “Once again Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, That on a wild secluded scene impress Thoughts of more deep seclusion, and connect The landscape with the quiet of the sky. “How oft, In darkness, and amid the many shapes Of joyless daylight, when the fretful stir Unprofitable, and the fever of the world, Have hung upon the beatings of my heart-- How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer through the woods, How often has my spirit turned to thee!” WORDSWORTH, _July 13, 1798_. * * * * * AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding article:--Dugdale’s Monasticon.--Baronage.--Camden’s Britannia.--Leland’s Itinerary.--County History.--Local Guides: Heath.--Wood.--De la Beche.--Williams.--Thomas.--Roscoe.--Burke’s Peerage and Commoners.--Chronicles.--Giraldus Cambrensis.--William of Worcester.--History of the Commonwealth.--Life of Cromwell.--Notes by Correspondents.--MS. Tour on the Wye, 1848; with other sources, which will be found enumerated in the article upon _Tinterne Abbey_. [Illustration] [Illustration] TINTERNE ABBEY. “There are some, I hear, who take it ill that I mention monasteries and their founders; I am sorry to hear it. But, not to give them any just offence, let them be angry if they will. Perhaps they would have it forgotten that our ancestors were, and we are, Christians; since there never were more certain indications and glorious monuments, of Christian piety than these.”--CAMDEN’S _Britannia, Pref. Ages of Faith_, Book xi. [Illustration: T]<g>he Abbey of Tinterne</g>, though one of the oldest in England, makes no conspicuous figure in its history, a proof that its abbots were neither bold nor ambitious of distinction, but devoted to the peaceful and retiring duties of their office. We do not find that the secluded Tinterne was ever the scene of any rebellious outbreak, or the refuge of any notorious criminal. From age to age, the bell that summoned to daily matins and vespers was cheerfully obeyed; and all they knew of the great world beyond the encircling hills, was learned, perhaps, from the daily strangers and pilgrims who took their meal and night’s lodging in the _hospitium_.