WCP339

Lettersheet (WCP339.339)

[1]1

Dear Herbert2

As I plainly see

By your last letter unto me

That you have 'taen [taken] to Poesy

I'll try to get my pen to go

And write away a page or so

And tell you what I've seen

And all about this wondrous place3

And of the ancient Cambrian race

With whom I've lately been[.]

You know it is a good long time4

Since I have left Cold Radnors line

From thence unto this place we came

By many a spot of ancient fame

But now of small renown

O'er many a mountain dark & drear

And vales whose groves the parting year

Had tinged with mellow brown —

And as the morning sun arose

new beauties round us to disclose

we reached fair Brecons town

Then crossed the Usk my native stream5

A River fair & bright

From which the suns bright morning beam

Reflected back the light

And shewed a fair & beauteous scene

Unto my lingering sight —

Then rose before us up on high

Like Giant reaching to the sky

The beacons6 double head

Around whose summits mist & cloud

Were hanging like a gloomy cloud7

The wary travellers dread —

Thence by a mountain road we came

Unto a place well known to fame

And Merthyr Tydfil is its name

A place where men from stones & earth

Cause Iron bars to take their birth8

Where rushing fires forever roar

And mighty blasts increase then more9

when fire & air and steam combine

With the rough ore raised from the mine

To make this metal which we see

Spread round us universally10

A metal of far greater worth

Than all the jewels of the earth

And metal which fore every use

The arts & sciences produce

Exceeds in value gems & gold

more than by words can e[']er[?] be told.11

[2] From thence we passed o[']er mountain bare[?]

And down a valley long & fair

Into this place which now I[']ll try

Unto you to describe [1 letter struck through?]

And tell you what we've been about

And many things beside —

This Parish Cadaxton [Cadoxton] by name12

Is just 16 miles long

In a straight line o'er Hill and dale

O[']er rocks and torrents strong

And though perhaps you'll think this length

In every way is plenty

yet if you go along the road

The miles will come to 20 —

O[']er all this Parish we must go

Each field & house & garden shew

In proper size & place

And every river streams & brook

with every turn & bend and crook

Correctly we must trace —

The land upon the surface here is very poor & bad13

And as the folks round here do say none good is to be had

The fields are mostly all about

With rushes overgrown

The hay so bad you'd hardly think

It worth while to be mown

About 3 inches 'tis in length

and very coarse and brown

About September when they think

It time to cut it down —

Tis underneath the surface that

Its value all does lay

In beds of coal and ironstone

which famously do pay

And all about the country here

Are large pits dark & deep

From which the men at work appear

Much blacker than a sweep

A wild & savage race are they

Who work far from the light of day

A race whose minds are dark

Who have[?] no intellectual ray

Whose only joy is drunken fray

Or dangerous midnight lark[.]

[3] Steam Engines at every pit

Which bring the coal up every bit

And pump the water out of it

Which otherwise would drown the men

Unless they soon came up again

From every pit a railroad's made

To take the coal away

Some to the town is ta'en [taken] for trade

Some to the place where iron's made

To purge the dross away —

'Twas but the other day I saw14

A sight would strike your mind with awe

And fill you with such sweet surprise

'Twould make you loth to turn your eye

Away from such a scene to see

But Barren hills or open lea

'Twas a waterfall15 as fine a one

As 'ere was shone on [MS damaged] the sun

The river rushed along its bed

With rocks16 of mighty size 'oerspread [overspread]

Now dashing down some rugged rock

The white foam rising with the shock

Now eddying through some deep recess

Amidst a rocky17 wilderness

Till come unto the accustomed18 place

When it must take its its19 desperate leap

Like racehorse20 rushing in the race

It poured its waters down the steep

Down down into the mighty deep

Clear of the rock behind it fell

Till from the bottom of the dell

It rose in clouds of mist & foam

Once more to fall and seek its home[?]

By rushing on its rock ground course

With undiminished <strength> [MS damaged] & force

[4] Untill[sic] its foaming waves are seen

To lose themselves in Tawe's stream21

(NB. The fall is about 100 ft. perpendicular)

Dear Herbert now I hope you'll write

A good long letter telling me

Of every fair & wondrous sight

You've seen at your Academy

Tell me all that you see or do

And all that you are learning too

Have you yet Algebra begun

If not I hope you quickly will full soon

As I am sure the day will come

When you will think it a great boon

Having now no more room I must remain[?]

Your Brother ever dear & sign my name | A R Wallace [signature]

To Mr. H. E Wallace

[5]22

Prepaid

Mast[e]r. Herbert Wallace

at Mr Perry's Academy

Shenfield

near Brentwood

Essex.

Largely illegible text in blue pencil, possibly in ARW's hand, is written in the left-hand margin of this page, to be read if the page is rotated. It begins "Name — | Distance fr[om] Sun |".
Wallace, Herbert Edward (1829-1851). Brother of ARW and assistant to him in Brazil.
ARW wrote to Herbert from Neath, and in his autobiography, described his journey there from Kington in Herefordshire in late 1841, with their brother William (see Wallace, A. R. 1905. My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, 2 vols. London, UK: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [vol. 1, p. 178]).
The line "You know it is a good long time" is separated from the lines above by a mark in blue pencil. ARW had been working with his brother William as a surveyor in various places in Radnorshire in around 1840 (see Wallace, A. R. 1905. My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, 2 vols. London, UK: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [vol. 1, pp. 143-150]).
The River Usk and the River Honddu converge near the town centre of Brecon; ARW refers to his birthplace at Usk in Monmouthshire here (see Wallace, A. R. 1905. My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, 2 vols., London, UK: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [vol. 1, p. 12]).
The word "beacons" has been altered in blue pencil to "Beacons". The Brecon Beacons, a mountain range and place of natural beauty in South Wales, now form part of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
A later annotation in lead pencil, probably by ARW, reads: "— ?Shroud".
The two lines " A place where men from stones & earth / Cause Iron bars to take their birth" are marked in blue pencil. By the 1840s, Merthyr Tydfil had developed into an industrial centre notable for its coal mines and iron works, which in 1844, were said to employ fifteen thousand people; the blast furnaces of works there such as Cyfarthfa and Dowlais were considered to be the largest producers of iron at that time (Slater, I. 1844. Pigot & Co.'s Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography. London & Manchester, UK: I. Slater).
This line is separated from the line below by a mark in blue pencil.
The words "Spread round us universally" have been altered in blue pencil to read "Around us universally".
The lines "A metal which for every use... More than by words can eer be told" have been marked in blue pencil.
Cadoxton-juxta-Neath, a parish near Neath in Glamorgan, like Merthyr Tydfil and nearby Neath, had become heavily industrialised by the time of writing, the site of many stone quarries, coal mines and iron, tin, copper and other works (Lewis, S. 1840. A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 2 vols. London, UK: S. Lewis & Co. [vol. 1]).
ARW described the difficulties of farming in Wales in one of his first attempts at essay writing entitled "The South-Wales Farmer: His modes of Agriculture, Domestic Life, Customs, and Character", published in his autobiography: Wallace, A. R. 1905. My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, 2 vols. London, UK: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [vol. 1, pp. 206-222].
The section beginning " 'Twas but the other day I saw... " is marked in blue pencil, perhaps ending with the line "Once more to fall and seek its home[?], where another blue pencil mark appears.
The words "a waterfall" have been altered in blue pencil to read "a cascade". ARW perhaps refers to Sgwd Einion Gam or possibly Sgwd Gwladus, which he describes (as Ysgwd Einon Gam and Ysgwd Gladys) in his autobiography (see Wallace, A. R. 1905. My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, 2 vols. London, UK: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [vol. 1, p. 249]).
The word "rocks" has a later annotation, perhaps by ARW, in blue pencil above it reading: "stones".
The word "rocky" has been later altered in blue pencil to read "craggy".
The word "accustomed" has been later altered in blue pencil to read "fated".
The repeated word "its" has been struck through in blue pencil.
The word "racehorse" has been later altered in blue pencil to read "courser[?]".
The waterfall Sgwd Einion Gam cascades into a stream leading to the River Tawe (see Wallace, A. R. 1905. My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, 2 vols., London, UK: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [vol. 1, p. 249]).
A later annotation, probably by ARW, in blue pencil reading "March 16th. 1842" is written in the left-hand margin, to be read if the page is rotated. Two postmarks are stamped above the address: "N[EATH?] MR 14 1842" and "BRENTWOOD <MR 1>7 <184>2". Another stamp on top of the postmarks reads "C PAID <16> MR 16 1842".

Published letter (WCP339.7527)

[1]

"From Kington to this place we came

By many a spot of ancient fame,

But now of small renown,

O'er many a mountain dark and drear,

And vales whose groves the parting year

Had tinged with mellow brown;

And as the morning sun arose

New beauties round us to disclose,

We reached fair Brecon town;

Then crossed the Usk, my native stream,

A river clear and bright,

Which showed a fair and much-lov'd scene

Unto my lingering sight."

Please cite as “WCP339,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP339