ABSTRACT
The ‘Phenomena of the Wye, During the Winter of 1797–8’ appeared serially over two issues of the Monthly Magazine in the summer of 1798. The enchanting beauties of the River Wye, of such parts at least as lie between Ross and Chepstow, are by this time pretty generally known among the lovers of the picturesque. Like most journals of this era, the Monthly Magazine was encyclopedic, a miscellany of poetry, publishing announcements, political news, obituaries, commercial and agricultural reports, philosophy, literary criticism and scientific articles on an extremely wide range of topics. The main purpose of the journal was the diffusion of knowledge and the promotion of intellectual debate – aims which, as might be imagined, appealed greatly to Thelwall. The chapter describes the general scenery in the neighbourhood of the Wye. It abounds with character – always picturesque or romantic, and frequently bound together.
