and enter the stableyard, so as not to cause alarm by their presence. A large number of special constables had been sworn in, and they with Mr. Phillips occupied the inn, and looked out of the upper windows, watching for events to develop.

Meanwhile the columns of Frost and Williams had met, but that of Jones from Pontypool had not arrived. The night had proved wet, and the men at intervals fired off their guns to convince themselves that their powder was dry. The leaders found the utmost difficulty in maintaining a show of order. The Chartists broke into the houses on the way, demanding drink and victuals and to dry themselves at the fires. Some felt their courage ooze away, and their enthusiasm for the cause grow slack, and endeavoured to withdraw. Every man met on the way or found in a house was compulsorily required to join the rabble. The two columns combined were to have entered Newport at two o'clock in the morning, but did not arrive till half-past eight.

The Mayor would not allow the inn door to be shut, nor a soldier to be seen; and when the Chartists poured into the square before the hotel, armed with muskets, pikes, pitchforks, and cudgels, he came down, and standing in the doorway demanded of the leaders what they wanted, and what were their grievances. A shout in response was a demand for prisoners; but it was not understood whether they asked for the surrender of Vincent and other agitators who had been imprisoned, or whether they required that the Mayor and constables should surrender themselves. One of the constables thinking that the latter was required, in a stentorian voice replied, "No, never." Whereupon one of the Chartists fired at him. Happily the bullet missed. Seeing the danger, he stepped inside and slammed the door. The constables made no attack, as they had been specially ordered by the Mayor to act on the defensive only. The discharge of the gun inspired the rabble

THE CHARTISTS

53

with courage, and struck such a panic into the breasts of the special constables that they all ran away and concealed themselves where they could in different parts of the houseone secreted himself in a copper-boiler, from which he did not emerge till the fray was over. Some got over the wall at the back, and escaped to their own homes.

The soldiers were now brought into the hotel, and placed in one room; almost immediately after, the rioters burst in at the front, and others, making the circuit of the house, came in at the rear. Guns were discharged by them and several persons were wounded, among others the Mayor, by a shot in the hip and a slug in the arm.

The condition of affairs was now serious, and Mr. Phillips ordered the soldiers to fire on the mob. This they did, and after a few volleys from the windows, and then down the passage at the rioters who had entered, the affray was at an end; the Chartists fled in all directions, throwing away their arms, and even their outer garments.

Some of the refugees came upon the column of Jones as it was advancing, and the news of the failure of Frost and Williams so dismayed his men that they also took to their heels.

Five Chartists had been left dead before the hotel, and two were secured who were wounded. Two more dead men were found elsewhere-they had staggered away to fall. Finally, the number who died amounted to twenty-two.

The leaders were soon afterwards secured and tried, and the three, Frost, Williams, and Jones, were sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to transportation for life; but in 1854 all received their pardon. Frost returned to England, as cantankerous and violent as ever, and died in 1877 at the ripe age of ninety-three years. Williams died in Tasmania in 1874, and Jones in Launceston, Australia, in 1873.

Mr. Phillips, the Mayor, for his collected and judicious conduct on the occasion of the riot, was knighted.

CHAPTER III

ABERGAVENNY

Once a health-resort-Wig-making-The key to Brecknock-The castleWilliam de Braose-Massacre of Welsh princes-Raglan Castle-Henry, Marquess of Worcester-Edward, Marquess of Worcester-Siege of the castle-Tombs in Abergavenny Church-A saintly dog-Jesse-treeLlanthony-Roger, Bishop of Salisbury - Partrishow - Monmouth Geoffrey the Archliar-The Buckstone.

АВЕН

BERGAVENNY, the Roman Gobannium, is very prettily situated on a ridge of drift gravel and pebbles brought down from the Welsh mountains, and at the juncture of the Gavenny with the Usk.

For some reason, possibly because of its gravelly subsoil, Abergavenny enjoyed an ephemeral reputation in the eighteenth century as a health-resort. There the patients drank goats' milk. It may be remembered how Winifred Jenkins wrote in Humphry Clinker to her dear friend, Mrs. Mary Jones, from Bath :

"Chowder (the dog) seems to like the waters no better than the squire; and mistress says, if his case don't take a favourable turn, she will sartinly carry him to Aberga'nny, to drink goats' whey. To be sure the poor dear honymil is lost for want of axercise; for which reason she intends to give him an airing once a-day upon the Downs, in a postchaise."

But Abergavenny has lost its repute as a health-resort for dogs and men, and doctors have long ceased sending patients to it.

Abergavenny also had a period of ephemeral prosperity, as it became a manufacturing place for wigs, deriving the