They are
about ten miles in length, and the highest point, the Worcestershire
Beacon, is some fourteen hundred feet above the sea. It is
the spot alluded to in Macaulay's lines on the Armada--
Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely
height;
and two hundred years before the Armada it was on "Malvern
hulles" that William Langland "forwandered" till he fell asleep
and dreamed his fiery "Vision of Piers Plowman"--
In a somere season, when softe was the sonne
when, looking "esteward, after the sonne" he beheld a castle
on Bredon Hill
Truth was ther-ynne
and this great plain, that to him symbolized the world.
A fair feld ful of folke fonde ich ther bytwyne;
Alle manere of men; the meme and the ryche.
Now, in the afternoon light, we can see the towns of Great
and North Malvern, and Malvern Wells, nestling at foot of
the steep slant; and eight miles to the right, but over thirty
from where we stand, the cathedral tower of Worcester. The
whole plain is one sea of woods with towers and steeples glinting
from every part of it; notably Tewkesbury Abbey, which shines
white in the sunlight some fourteen miles from us.
Pages:
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
1523
1524
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
1535