The rivers of Great Britain, descriptive, historical, pictorical; rivers of the south and west coasts . lowing beneath the ancient stone bridge sliowu in our view (page 136), theriver passes on, through scenery that is never less than pleasant, to Caerleon, prettilyplaced on the right bank; and here the Usk takes toll of the Afon. Caerleon isone of the most interesting spots in all this part of Wales. Here was quarteredthe second Augustan legion, and this was the principal Roman town in thecountry of the Silures. In those days it must have been a place of great magnifi-cence and refinement as
The rivers of Great Britain, descriptive, historical, pictorical; rivers of the south and west coasts . lowing beneath the ancient stone bridge sliowu in our view (page 136), theriver passes on, through scenery that is never less than pleasant, to Caerleon, prettilyplaced on the right bank; and here the Usk takes toll of the Afon. Caerleon isone of the most interesting spots in all this part of Wales. Here was quarteredthe second Augustan legion, and this was the principal Roman town in thecountry of the Silures. In those days it must have been a place of great magnifi-cence and refinement as well as of war, for Giraldus Cambrensis, writing in thetwelfth centmy, tells s>i the remains of splendid palaces, baths, theatres, and otherpublic buildings; and though these have all vanished, an abundance of Roman relicshas been unearthed, which are treasiu-ed in a museum that has been built by anantiquarian society; and bits of the wall are still to be seen in situ. But thelegendary associations of Caerleon are even more memorable than its history; for 156 EI VERS OF GEE AT BEITAIX. [The ~K (/. 1 licre it was, according to one Aversion of the Arthurian myth, tliat tlie Britisli iiriuce,when, after the -w-ithdi-a-wal of the legions, the land was laid waste by the lieutlienhosts and by the warfare of the native princes— Tliro the puissance of his Table RoundDrew all their petty princedoms under him,Their king and head, and made a realm and reigned. Tlie Roman amphitlieatre consists of a grassy hollow enclosed by a bank,lying just outside the wall on the cast; Arthurs Round Table is a bankof earth some sixteen feet high. There is no reason to doubt that afterthe Koman era Caerleon became the centre of one of tlic British kingdoms. At alater time it was threatened by the Heet of Alfred, which, h(jwever, was recalledhome before making an attack. In earl}^ days it had its martyrs —8t. Julius and —and afterwards it became tlie seat of a bishopric, which for s
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidriversofgreatbr00lond
