{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_52885/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_52885","id":"gutenberg_52885","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52885","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - British","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Travel Writing","Wales, North -- Description and travel"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1833 T. T. and J. Tegg edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n [Picture: Book cover]\n\n [Picture: The M\u00e6nai Bridge; Beaumaris Castle; Holyhead Church. London.\n Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\n\n\n\n\n SCENES\n IN\n NORTH WALES.\n\n\n WITH\n HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS, LEGENDS,\n AND\n BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.\n\n BY\n G. N. WRIGHT, A. M. P. A. R. H. A.\n AUTHOR OF \u201cWELSH TOPOGRAPHY,\u201d \u201cILLUSTRATIONS OF IRELAND,\u201d ETC.\n\n [Picture: Decorative graphic]\n\n Embellished with Thirty-six Engravings.\n\n * * * * *\n\n LONDON:\n PRINTED FOR T. T. AND J. TEGG, CHEAPSIDE:\n\n R. GRIFFIN AND CO. GLASGOW;\n J. CUMMING AND W. F. WAKEMAN, DUBLIN.\n\n * * * * *\n\n CHISWICK:\n PRINTED BY C WHITTINGHAM.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nTHERE is a local interest attached to mountain scenery, arising not only\nfrom a natural concentration of grand and majestic objects, but also from\na spirit of independence and ardent love of liberty with which the\nmountaineer, invariably, seems to be inspired.\n\nThe great deeds of Leonidas were done amidst the rocks and\nglens;\u2014Switzerland displays her hatred of tyranny in an undying affection\nfor the memory of Tell;\u2014while from the chivalrous exploits of Glandwr,\nbrandishing high the torch of liberty, a stream of light has issued, that\nseems to have poured its rays into the deepest recesses of his native\nglens.\n\nThe demi-anarchy of the feudal system occasioned the erection, in\nGwynedd, of many stately castles, whose lonely ruins now adorn the petty\nkingdoms they once overawed. And in the violent struggles of the ancient\nBriton to preserve his wild home from Saxon intrusion, originated those\nyet more splendid palaces, that illustrate like monuments, or like\nmedals, the history of those periods in which they were erected.\n\nNotwithstanding the great power by which the Cambrians were overthrown,\nand the healing measures subsequently pursued to obtain a willing\nsubmission to their conquerors, the draught appears to have been\nimbittered by the introduction of some ingredient not easily detected by\nhistorical analysis; for, as a people, the ancient Britons are still\ntotally distinct from the parent state in customs, manners, dress, in\nfeelings, and in language. The tenacity with which they adhere to their\nprimitive tongue, tends to a dissociation from the greater part of the\nempire, and contributes to the preservation, by intermarriages amongst\nthemselves and otherwise, of a state of society peculiar and\nextraordinary as existing in the very bosom of the British isles.\n\nThe Isaurians were a small nation in the heart of the Roman empire; they\ndwelt among mountains; they saw civilization on every side, yet they\nrejected it with scorn, and, on occasion, found employment for the\nlegions through several ages.\n\nThe Cambrians have not despised civilization, but have rather so\nengrafted it upon the ancient stem, that the variation in the tree is\nscarce perceptible. The fruit however proves fair and wholesome. A\nnation is produced, of such proverbial gentleness, that although the\nenvious attribute it to the obscurity of their abode, the legislature\nmust appreciate the moral value of subjects who are honest from a love of\njustice, and governed without expense.\n\nTo illustrate the scenery of a country possessing so large a portion of\nnatural beauty, abounding in so many records of eminent persons and\nremarkable events, and occupied by a peasantry peaceful, innocent, and\nhappy, presents a favourable opportunity for the production of a work\nboth of amusement and interest. If these ends shall not have been\nhappily attained, there is still one more valuable recommendation in\nreserve, that is, the moral tendency of the whole.\n\nThe inhabitants of North and South Wales are to be considered as quite\ndistinct. They speak different dialects of the ancient language, are\nsprung from a different ancestorial stock, and, in the Southern half of\nthe principality, the arts and manufactures of England are introduced and\ncultivated with the most entire success.\n\nThe selection and arrangement of the graphic illustrations, which precede\neach historic sketch, are influenced by two circumstances. First, a\ndesire to include scenes intimately connected with the most interesting\nperiods of local history, and, secondly, a wish to introduce a number of\npicturesque views sufficient to convey a distinct idea of the peculiar\nfeatures of a country so romantic.\n\nNotwithstanding the small cabinet size to which public convenience limits\neach delineation, truth and expression will uniformly be found\nassociated, accompanied also by a clearness rarely attained in engravings\nexecuted on such a miniature scale.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n Page\nANGLESEA 1\n M\u00e6nai Bridge 2\n Beaumaris Castle 9\n Holyhead Church 14\nCAERNARVONSHIRE 16\n Caernarvon Castle 18\n Snowdon, from Capel Curig 21\n Bangor Cathedral 24\n Dolwydellan Castle 32\n Conway Castle 36\n Beddgelert 42\n Llyn Ogwen 48\n Pont-y-Pair 50\n Llanberis Lake 54\nDENBIGHSHIRE 60\n Denbigh Town 61\n Aber Waterfall 63\n Llyn Gwynant 66\n Llangollen 68\n Plas-newydd, Llangollen 70\n Denbigh Castle 72\n Valle Crucis Abbey 77\n Rhuthin Castle 78\n Wynnstay 80\n Chirk Castle 85\n Llanrwst Church 90\nFLINTSHIRE 94\n Flint Castle 95\n Rhuddlan Castle 100\n Mostyn Hall 106\n St. Winifred\u2019s Well, Holywell 111\n Hawarden Castle 116\n Aberglaslyn, Caernarvonshire 119\n St. Asaph 121\n South Stack Lighthouse, Holyhead 124\nMERIONETHSHIRE 126\n Corwen 128\n Barmouth 130\n Tre Madoc 132\n Harlech Castle 134\nMONTGOMERYSHIRE 139\n Castell G\u00f4ch (Welsh Pool) 140\nCUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF THE WELSH 147\n\n\n\n\nANGLESEA.\n\n\nANGLESEA, the Mona of the Romans and the Mon {1} or Ultima Thule of its\nstill more ancient occupants, is the most western county of North Wales.\nIts shores are washed on the north, west, and south by the waves of the\nIrish sea, while the M\u00e6nai strait insinuates itself between this shire\nand Caernarvon. Here the beautiful scenery associated with the name of\nCambria is only to be enjoyed in the distant prospect, the level,\nunwooded surface of the island presenting nothing of pictorial or\nromantic interest. Only two eminences of any consequence, vary the\nmonotony of the landscape, Holyhead Mountain and Parry\u2019s Hill, the latter\ncontaining that wonderfully productive mine of copper, whence two\nfamilies, now ennobled, have drawn the chief parts of their princely\nfortunes.\n\nThe consecrated groves of this district, suited to the deep and wild\nmysteries of the arch-druid, became extinct soon after the destruction of\nthe order itself by the Romans, under Agricola; but the celebration of\nthe savage festivals of this mysterious people\u2014\n\n \u201cRites of such strange potency\n As done in open day, would dim the son,\n Though throned in noontide brightness,\u201d\n\nare attested by the existence of numerous cromlechs, circles, and\nsacrificing stones, in every direction over the island.\n\nThe Cambrian Alps present a scene of great beauty, dignity, and\nsublimity, to the inhabitants of Anglesea. Emerging from the sea below\nCaenarvon Bay, and ascending gradually to their point of culmination in\nthe peak of Snowdon, they descend again in shattered ridges towards the\nnorth, where the lofty Penmaen Mawr terminates the chain. No rivers of\nimportance diversify the surface of this insulated county; but the banks\nof the M\u00e6nai strait are delightfully wooded and adorned with numerous\nseats and villas. The towns of Caernarvon and Beaumaris, as well as the\ncity of Bangor, are agreeably seated on its opposing shores.\n\n\n\nM\u00c6NAI BRIDGE.\n\n\nTHE union of Ireland with Great Britain rendered it an object of\nparamount importance to facilitate and expedite communication between the\ncapitals of both kingdoms. The shortness and security of the voyage\nbetween Holyhead and Howth at once suggested the advantage of improving\nthe line of road through North Wales to Shrewsbury, and so on to the\nmetropolis of the united kingdom. In the year 1810 a select committee\nwas appointed by the House of Commons, to inquire into the best mode of\naccomplishing this desirable end, and, amongst the valuable improvements\nrecommended by them, none have given so remarkable and so dignified a\ncharacter to their proceedings, as the suggestion of throwing a\nsuspension bridge across the M\u00e6nai, a deep and rapid strait, where delay\nalways attended transmission, and danger not unfrequently. Amongst the\nmany melancholy tales of disasters that befel passengers in crossing\nPorthaethwy, {3} two possess a lamentable notoriety, from the number of\nsouls then hurried in an instant to a watery grave. On the 5th of\nAugust, 1820, the ferry boat was overturned, containing twenty-six\npassengers, of which number but one escaped with life; and thirty-seven\nyears before an event of increased horror happened here in a similar way,\nwhen sixty-nine poor beings perished, _one_ only, as before, escaping.\nIt is a singular fact that the name of the survivor in both instances was\nHugh Williams. The M\u00e6nai, or \u201cNarrow Water,\u201d is about fifteen miles in\nlength, its breadth varying from two miles to two hundred yards. Six\nferry stations have been established on its banks since the reign of\nHenry the Eighth, who granted five of them to William Gifford. These\nstations passed subsequently into the possession of the Bulkeley family,\nand were afterwards dispersed amongst various owners. Porthaethwy, or\nBangor Ferry, when the idea of constructing a bridge over the strait was\nfirst suggested, was found to be the property of Lady Erskine, from whom\nit was purchased at the expense of twenty-six thousand three hundred and\nninety-four pounds, being thirty years purchase, according to an average\nof the annual receipts for a number of years preceding.\n\nVarious designs were presented, by Mr. Telford, for the adoption of the\ncommittee, from amongst which a suspension bridge was selected. This\nspecies of structure is now very generally preferred chiefly where\ncentering is attended with difficulty and expense; but it is by no means\na modern invention. It has long been known to the eastern countries: a\nJihoola, or suspension bridge, was found amongst the inhabitants of the\nHimal\u00e4 vales, on the river Touse, in the East Indies, by Mr. Frazer; and\nan ingenious and well executed work of this description made of\nbide-ropes, was discovered by Captain Hall, on the river Maypo in South\nAmerica. The magnitude of the M\u00e6nai Bridge, and the boldness of the\ndesign render it still the most interesting and wonderful work of the\nkind in existence; and, although the bridge of Avignon possesses a span\nof fire hundred feet, and is also a truly admirable work, yet it is still\ninferior in the breadth of the principal span, the height above the\nwater-level, and is constructed in a situation where there existed little\ndifficulty in placing each bar, pin, and bolt, in their allotted berths.\n\nThe M\u00e6nai Bridge consists of one principal opening, the breadth of which,\nbetween the centres the supporting pyramids, is five hundred and sixty\nfeet, in addition to which spacious waterway there are four arches of\nstone on the Anglesea site, and three on the Caernarvon, to complete the\ncommunication, each having a span of fifty feet, with a springing line\nsixty-five feet above the level of high water, spring tides. The whole\nbreadth, of the channel, or rather length of the bridge, amounts to eight\nhundred and eighty feet, and the roadway is elevated one hundred feet\nabove the surface of high water. The sea-end of each series of arches is\nterminated by a pyramid, rising fifty feet above the level of the\nroadway; over the summits of these pass sixteen supporting chains, from\nwhich a horizontal roadway is suspended by vertical iron rods, linked at\ntheir lower extremities with the sleepers of the roadway. The whole\nbreadth of the roadway is divided into two carriage tracks, each twelve\nfeet broad, and a footpath of four feet in breadth, in the intermediate\nspace, each protected by guards ten inches in height and six in\nthickness. The carriage ways pass through arches constructed in the\nsupporting pyramids, and, to prevent the possibility of a collision of\nvehicles, are continued separate to the land extremities of each series\nof arches.\n\nIn order to obtain a safe tenure for the main chains, the extreme links\nare enlarged and pierced with eyes, through which strong iron bolts are\npassed, constituting a species of framework, and the whole mass imbedded\nsecurely in the solid rock. The sixteen chains are formed into four\nlines of suspension, extending one thousand seven hundred and fourteen\nfeet in length; five hundred and seventy-nine and a half of which form a\ncatenary curve, between the pyramids, from which the roadway is\nsuspended. A weight of six hundred and thirty-nine tons, nineteen\nhundred and nine pounds, is suspended between the pyramids, and the\nestimated weight of the iron work, from one extremity of the suspension\nchains to the other, amounts to two thousand one hundred and thirty tons,\neighteen hundred being of wrought iron and only three hundred and thirty\nof cast. To give the iron work a fair bearing in their respective\nchambers, the following precaution was adopted: each bar and pin were\nwrapped in flannel, saturated with white lead and oil, and, to establish\nclose and impenetrable joints, Borradaile\u2019s patent felt was introduced\nbetween them, eight thousand superficial feet of which were consumed in\nthis manner. The floor is composed of three strata of planks, the first\nthree inches in thickness, the middle and the lowest two inches each,\nlayers of patent felt being introduced between the planking strata.\nTwenty-four thousand seven hundred and ninety feet of felt were consumed\nin the roadway alone. Screens, or trellis-work of light bars protect\neach side, and permit the breezes to pass freely through; and a hand-rail\nof African oak directs and confines the hesitating steps of the foot\npassenger. The floor of the suspended part frequently assumes an arched\nappearance, which is not its original form, but arises from a contraction\nin the chains on the land side of the pyramids, the effect of which,\nbeing diffused equally over the chain of the suspended part, causes a\ntemporary elevation of the roadway. It must be remarked that the sixteen\nmain chains recline on saddles on the summits of the pyramids, without\nbeing attached to them, whereby every contraction or expansion which may\noccur on one side is communicated to the other, and over the whole,\nwithout any danger of rocking or disturbing the masonry.\n\nIn the construction of the stone arches the same care and scientific\nknowledge are displayed which characterize every part of this noble work.\nThe arches on each side, adjacent to the main piers, are semicircular,\nthe others are less segments gradually diminishing as they approach the\nland: the crowns continuing parallel to the roadway admit a handsome\nentablature and cornice. A beautiful marble, raised at Penmon in\nAnglesea, is employed in the mason work, and Aberdaw lime was used in\nbedding the blocks that were laid under water.\n\nThe first stone of this great work was laid, without ceremony, by W. A.\nProvis, Esq. on the 10th of August, 1820; it is a block of marble about\nthree tons in weight, placed in the centre of the sea front of the main\npier erected on Ynys-y-Moch. Messrs. Straphan and Hall contracted for\nthe execution of the masonry.\n\nOn the 20th day of April, 1825, the first main chain was thrown across\nthe strait, in presence of an immense concourse of spectators. At half\nflood, and about half past two o\u2019clock, p.m. a raft, stationed near the\nCaernarvonshire coast, bearing a part of the chain intended to be raised,\nwas freed from its moorings, and towed by four boats, down the current of\nthe tide, to the centre of the strait between the pyramids or main piers:\nwhen the raft was placed in its proper position it was secured to buoys\nanchored in the channel for that purpose. This first operation occupied\na space of twenty-five minutes. The end of the chain, hanging from the\ntop of the pyramid on the Caernarvonshire side, was then bolted to one\nend of the chain laid upon the raft, while two powerful blocks were\nattached to the other end, for the purpose of raising it over the saddle\nof the Anglesea pier. This being completed, two capstans with\ntwenty-four men at each, and two preventive capstans, employing an equal\nnumber of hands, were set to work. To ensure equability in the rotatory\nmotion of the principal capstan, a fifer was at hand who continued to\nplay a lively tune, to which the men stepped with regularity, having been\npreviously trained to do so. At fifty minutes after four o\u2019clock the\nbolt which completed the whole line of chain was fixed, so that from the\nfirst unmooring of the raft to the uniting of those portions of the\nchain, which have their extremities made fast in the shores of the two\nopposite counties, only two hours and twenty minutes were consumed. Upon\nthe completion of this important step, upon the success of which all\nfurther advances entirely depended, the assembled crowd gave way to much\nenthusiastic expression of admiration: three of the workmen, in the\nardour of the moment, had the great good fortune to succeed in walking\nacross upon the upper surface of the chain, and a shoemaker from Bangor\nseated himself near the centre of the curve, and there drove the last\nsparable into one of those useful productions of his art, called clogs.\n\nIt is a tribute justly due to the scientific projector of this stupendous\nwork, while we admire its beauty, also to acknowledge its utility and\nentire success; and posterity will yet learn, with gratification, that\nMr. Telford has lived to see the offspring of his great genius attain an\nage of maturity, without diminution of strength or incipient decay. If,\nwhen he has placed his laurel crown upon its cushion he perceives some\nleaves are wanting, let him not regret to hear that a few were gathered\nby his \u201cfidus Achates,\u201d W. A. Provis: the winds have strewn a few more on\nthe grave of Wilson, and Hazledine grasps the others that are missing\nwith an iron hand.\n\n\n\nBEAUMARIS CASTLE.\n\n\nTHE town of Beaumaris, now a fashionable watering place, containing a\npermanent population of two thousand four hundred and ninety-seven souls,\nappears to have originated in the circumstance of a castle having been\nerected here by Edward the First, in the year 1295. It subsequently\nbecame a place of commercial importance, was erected into a borough and\nconstituted the shire-town; the first of these advantages it has been\ngradually stripped of by its enterprising little rivals, Bangor and\nCaernarvon. The situation is low, as the explanation of the name _Beau\nmarais_, the beautiful marsh, indicates, but the coup de \u0153il enjoyed from\nthe marine parade, called the Green, as well as from Baron Hill, the seat\nof Sir R. B. Williams Bulkeley, Bart., is a composition both chaste and\npicturesquely beautiful:\n\n \u201cHibernia\u2019s eastern sea here Cambria laves,\n And pours on either shore its restless waves,\n While M\u00e6nai\u2019s currents with its waters play,\n Now roll to meet or refluent fill the bay,\n And circling Priestholm shows its oval steep,\n Emerging boldly from the briny deep.\u201d\n\n LLWYD\u2019S BEAUMARIS BAY.\n\nOne broad, handsome, and spacious avenue passing up the centre of the\ntown, is finely terminated by the castle gate, an interesting contrast to\nthe many gay, graceful, modern erections which decorate each side of the\napproach.\n\nEdward the First caused three noble fortresses to be erected in North\nWales, to curb the spirit of the stubborn Welsh; and chose Conway,\nCaernarvon, and Beaumaris for their sites. Of these, Caernarvon Castle\nis by far the most majestic and spacious pile: Conway enjoys the most\npicturesque position; while the interior of Beaumaris Castle strikingly\nsuggests how perilous and uncertain must the tenure of human life have\nbeen in the feudal ages. The royal founder appointed Sir William\nPickmore, a Gascon, to be constable of the castle and captain of the\ntown, situations subsequently held, probably with emolument, but without\nconferring any military renown upon the possessors. In the reign of\nHenry the Seventh the garrison, which consisted of twenty-four men, was\nwithdrawn, during the constableship of Sir Rowland Villeville. The Earl\nof Dorset being constable of the castle in 1642, his deputy, Thomas\nChedle, furnished it with men and ammunition; but Thomas, the first Lord\nBulkeley, succeeding in 1643, his son Colonel Thomas Bulkeley, with the\ngentlemen of Anglesea, held it for the king until the year 1648, when it\nsurrendered upon honourable terms to General Mytton. The property of the\ncastle is still in the crown, but the constableship was deservedly\nrestored to the Bulkeley family, and is now vested in Sir Robert B.\nWilliams Bulkeley, Bart., the representative of that ancient and noble\nhouse. Edward is supposed to have imbibed that Asiatic style, which\npervades the architecture of his royal castles, during his expedition to\nthe Holy Land.\n\nThe site of this fortress was adopted for a twofold purpose, both as\nbeing well adapted for defensive operations, and convenient for the\nlanding of supplies, by means of a canal which communicated with the sea,\na portion of which called \u201cLlyn-y-Green\u201d was till lately perceptible. An\nouter ballium of low but massive and embattled curtains is flanked by ten\ncircular bastion towers: those which occupy the angles exceeding\nconsiderably in diameter all the intermediate ones.\n\nThe Postern gate opened to the west or land side, and was situated\nbetween two ponderous square towers, which were again flanked by turrets\nof dissimilar shape and of unequal dimensions. Several portcullises\nappear to have been lowered within the long arched-way of this entrance.\nFronting the sea there was a second entrance, protected by two vast\ncircular bastion towers, besides the additional security of successive\nportcullises. A massive square building overhangs this entrance on the\nleft, and a long embattled curtain, extending to the right, formerly\nsheltered those employed on the canal or fosse, in supplying the garrison\nwith stores. This last singular and irregular work is called \u201cthe\nGunner\u2019s Walk,\u201d and several large rings, still firmly fixed in the\nmasonry, very sufficiently show that here the supply barges of the\ngarrison were anciently moored.\n\nThe envelope is separated from the keep or citadel by a broad intermural\nambulatory, extending entirely round; a second entrance of fine\nproportion opens a communication with the inner court, beneath a spacious\ncastellated building, the ground plan of which may yet be distinctly\ntraced. This is a level area one hundred and ninety feet square, from\nthe four corners of which small triangles are cut off by the enclosing\nwall. On the north-west side of the court, projecting from the curtain\nwall, stands a stately edifice, spiritedly and gracefully designed. The\nfront consists of two stories; the upper adorned with five pointed\nwindows of large dimensions, furnished with architraves of cut stone, and\nlighting the great council hall, which measures seventy feet in length:\nthe basement is pierced by four smaller windows and the principal\nentrance door, while the whole is terminated by two beautiful round\ntowers, with tapering bases, in the style of modern architectural\npavilions. A ground plan precisely corresponding with that of the\ncouncil hall may be traced amidst the ruins on the opposite side of the\ncourt, but how far their decorations resembled each other must continue\nto be matter of conjecture. To all these ancient castles a chapel is\nuniformly found attached, a circumstance which some historians attribute\nto the superstition, others, more charitably, to the piety of our\nancestors. The little ecclesiastic edifice included within the walls of\nthis castle rather argues the possession of the latter quality, from its\nunostentatious style and circumscribed dimensions. The walls and roof\nare still entire, the former decorated with pointed recesses, and the\nlatter groined and supported by ribs springing from pilasters; while\nthree lancet-windows, or rather loop-holes, at the eastern end, appear to\nhave been the only means for the admission of light, that this modest\nlittle oratory ever possessed. From the thickness of the wall\nsurrounding the inner court a gallery is gained, by means of which\ncommunication is preserved with every part of the citadel, and several\nsquare apertures, opening into recesses in the side walls of the gallery,\nare conjectured, by Grose the antiquarian, to have been the mouths of so\nmany dungeons, yawning for their prey.\n\nPart of the inner area is desecrated into a tennis court: desecrated, for\na ruin is a sacred thing, rooted for ages in the soil, identified with\nit, and considered as a work of nature rather than of art. It is a\ndeposit, of which the very proprietor is esteemed but the guardian, for\nthe amusement, admiration, and instruction of posterity.\n\n\n\nHOLYHEAD CHURCH.\n\n\nTHIS is the principal seaport in the Island of Anglesea, as well as the\nmost important packet station for Irish communication on the western\ncoast. The arrival of the steam packet is the chief incident of each\nday, and in auspicious weather a fourth part of the inhabitants are\nfrequently assembled as spectators. The situation of the town is\nnaturally exposed and bleak, but it has attained an appearance of\nrespectability, cleanliness, and something of commerce, by the formation\nof an excellent asylum harbour, where vessels of any burden may take\nshelter, and by the completion of the Parliamentary road, which,\ncommencing at Shrewsbury, passes through the Cambrian Alps, and\nterminates its useful object at the pier of Holyhead. The town and its\nlocal circumstances do not constitute an agreeable landscape, but there\nare still many objects of deep interest here, which deserve a separate\nand individual examination. From the summit of the mountain overhanging\nthe town, a prospect extensive and gratifying may be enjoyed; the highest\napex, just seven hundred feet above the sea, commands a view of the whole\nSnowdonian chain of mountains, apparently rising from the plains of\nAnglesea, at a distance of twenty miles; while to the west the Wicklow\nmountains are seen, upon a clear day, to hang over the green waters of\nthe Irish sea. The ancient church is not without its attractions to the\ninquiring mind; it occupies the site of a monastery founded by Saint Cybi\nin the fourth century, and bore on its north wall this inscription,\n\u201cSancte Kybi ora pro nobis.\u201d Part of the churchyard wall is of Roman\narchitecture, and was pierced with small square apertures, a practice\nusual with that people in all mural enclosures. The probability of the\nRomans having advanced so far across the island, is increased by the\ndiscovery of coins and other reliques of that warlike nation in the\nvicinity of Holyhead. King George the Fourth sailed for Ireland from\nthis port in the year 1821, an event commemorated in a spirited manner by\nthe erection of a fine open colonnade thrown across the pier, near to the\nspot where his Majesty embarked.\n\n\n\n\nCAERNARVONSHIRE.\n\n\nTHIS is not only the most mountainous and picturesque of the six northern\nshires of Wales, but retains more distinct characteristics of a peculiar\npeople, and greater primitiveness of customs and manners than any of the\nremaining counties. Here the Cambrian Alps are seen in all the dignity\nand sublimity attached to space restricted only by the grand natural\nboundaries of mountain, lake, wood, and river. The district included\nbetween the mountains and the sea, as well as the whole promontory of\nLleyn, consists of fertile land, enjoys an agreeable and cheerful aspect,\nand is adorned with the seats of many wealthy landed proprietors. From\nthe highest part of this inclining plain, a surface, possessing an\nendless variety of form, swells with inconceivable rapidity, nor ceases\nuntil it attains the vast height of three thousand seven hundred and\nfifty-nine feet above the sea in its ambitious throws. This point,\ncalled \u201cY Wyddffa,\u201d the Conspicuous, is the summit of Snowdon, and the\nloftiest pinnacle in ancient Britain. Two neighbouring rivals, Carneddau\nDavid and Llewellyn, seem to dispute the lofty throne, and reach within a\nhundred feet of the ancient Cairn which crowns the hoary head of the\ngreat monarch of Snowdonia. The greatest length of Caernarvonshire, i.e.\nin a direction north and south, is forty-five miles, and its mean average\nbreadth about twenty. It is watered by several rivers, whose rocky beds\nabound in noble cataracts, as well as in scenery of the most delicate and\nfascinating character. The Conway is probably the richest in each kind\nof subject; the Llugwy, Lledder, and Ogwen, preserve their bold romantic\nnatures until their noisy spirits are \u201cdeep in the bosom of the ocean\nburied.\u201d Perhaps the placid lakes, notwithstanding the noiseless tenor\nof their lives, may find more worshippers than even the Conway\u2019s majestic\ntide. Llynnyau Gwynant and Crafuant are the most graceful, perfect\ncompositions; Llynnyau Ogwen and Idwel the most sublime.\n\n [Picture: Caernarvon Castle; Snowdon; Bangor Cathedral. London.\n Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\nThe mountainous unequal surface of this county has not militated against\nthe introduction of new and admirable lines of road. It is probable that\nthe facility of obtaining a very durable stone, at the cost of removal\nonly, has encouraged the construction of the most beautiful and\ninteresting public avenues in the kingdom. The Holyhead commissioners\nhave carried the British Simplon through the flinty rocks of Ogwen and\nalong the wind-swept valley of Franc\u00f2n. The county engineers have\ndiminished the terrors of Penmaen Mawr by descending from the beetling\ncliff to a judicious and secure path along the margin of the sea; and the\nnew road through the pass of Llanberis has rendered these scenes of\n\u201cpleasing horror\u201d accessible to the most timid and nervous, who are\nfrequently the best and truest appreciators of such mysterious and\nsublime formations.\n\n\n\nCAERNARVON CASTLE.\n\n\nCAERNARVON is an ancient borough town, a favourite watering place, and\nenjoys the benefit of a considerable export trade in slates of the best\nquality, besides the supply of the interior with wines, coal,\nearthenware, &c. It is surrounded by walls, the space enclosed\nresembling the form of a harp, the royal castle being the head or\ntermination of the upright arm, and a fine, broad, marine terrace outside\nit, now constitutes the chief promenade of inhabitants and visiters. The\nlocal position of Caernarvon is extremely beautiful,\u2014the town walls, and\nlong terrace are washed by the sea in front; the river Seiont flows round\nthe castle walls, and meets the waters of the M\u00e6nai beneath its lofty\nturrets, while Coed-Helen Mount impends over the town on the south,\nTwt-Hill on the North, and Moel Eilio and the Snowdonian range cross and\nterminate the distant view. There is a striking similitude between the\nnatural position of Algiers and that of the town of Caernarvon, as seen\nfrom the water. Twt Hill corresponds with the Jewish cemetery; there is\na mount also hanging over Algiers on the right, and the terrace of\nCaernarvon is an exact miniature of the famous thousand-gun battery of\nthe Turkish city, though happily deficient in such a supply of dread\nartillery.\n\nThe name Caernarfon is compounded of the British terms _Caer yn ar-ffon_,\nor _Mon_, the citadel in Arfon, or in the district opposite to Mon\n(Anglesea). It was the ancient Segontium of the Romans, and was the only\npost of consequence in this part of Cambria over which the imperial eagle\nflapped his wings. Some fragments of a Roman wall are still\ndistinguishable near the town, and outposts, roads, and encampments yet\nsurvive in the immediate vicinity.\n\nUpon the final subjugation of the ancient Britons, in the year 1282, King\nEdward the First commenced the building of a noble castle at Caernarvon.\nThis he designed for his royal palace; and mixing up some soothing\nartifices with the vigorous measures of a conquering prince, caused his\nfaithful and much beloved queen to be brought hither, at an interesting\nmoment of her life, where she gave birth to Edward, afterwards sirnamed\nCaernarvon. This was the second wily stratagem practised upon the\nobstinate Welshmen by King Edward. His first attempt to render their\nfetters less galling, was made by assimilating the form of the\nfortifications of Conway and Caernarvon, which were actually species of\nstate prisons, to the likeness and disposition of the arms of a harp.\n\nCaernarvon is the largest of Edward\u2019s castles, and is probably still the\nmost entire; the river Seiont and the M\u00e6nai strait washed the walls on\ntwo sides, and a deep fosse, originally crossed by a drawbridge,\ncompleted the watery circuit. The entrance possesses an air of much\ngrandeur. It is a lofty pointed arch, defended by noble flanking towers,\nand adorned with a colossal figure of the conqueror himself, standing in\na canopied niche, in the act of unsheathing his sword. The interior,\nwhich is represented in the accompanying view, is much more ruined. The\napartments for the accommodation of the garrison are quite buried in\nrubbish. Of the entrance gates, a fine ribbed archway, with the grooves\nof four successive portcullises, are still distinct; the mural gallery is\ncomplete nearly round the whole circuit of the castle, and the outer\nwalls of the royal apartments, with the enriched mullions of the windows,\nyet unbroken. From the walls of the great western towers, light delicate\nturrets, of polygonal forms, appear to spring; one of these is accessible\nby stone stairs to the summit, which is adorned with the figure of an\neagle, said to have been brought hither from Segontium by the Saxon king,\nbut more probably a species of ornament suggested to the founder by the\nproximity of the Roman citadel, and intended to be complimentary to the\ninhabitants. From the observatory, on the top of the eagle tower, there\nis an extensive prospect over the Island of Anglesea, the Bay of\nCaernarvon, and the low lands along the base of the mountains, but it is\nwholly commanded by the hills on either side of the town.\n\nThe graceful archway, called Queen Eleanor\u2019s gate, does not appear to\nhave been a portal of entrance. From this a platform may have been\nlowered, on which the queen mother appeared holding forth her royal\ninfant towards the assembled chieftains, and, after the performance of\nthis great mockery, restored to its secure fastenings in the wall; but no\nsatisfactory evidence appears of any entrance doors, except the chief one\nmentioned previously, and the water-gate at the western end of the\ncastle. The Newborough, Bulkeley, and Mostyn families have successively\nbeen vested with the government of the town and constableship of the\ncastle, cares now entrusted to the Marquis of Anglesea.\n\nThe town walls are still perfect, and interesting to the antiquary. A\nhandsome assembly room has been fitted up within the towers of the\nprincipal gate, at the expense of Sir Watkyn W. Wynne, Bart. An elegant\nchapel of ease occupies the northern angle of the walls, and includes one\nof the large rounders; and a beautiful barbacan, in advance of the\nwater-gate, is in the most entire preservation. Caernarvon is situated\nin the parish of Llanbeblig, and the parish church, an ancient edifice,\ndedicated to Saint Publicius, stands at the distance of about one mile\nfrom the castle.\n\n\n\nSNOWDON, FROM CAPEL CURIG.\n\n\nTHE Cairn, or Carnedd, on the summit of Snowdon is elevated three\nthousand seven hundred and fifty-nine feet above the level of the sea.\nThis is the highest of the north Cambrian chain, and still supposed to be\nthe loftiest hill in Great Britain. It raises its grand pinnacle above\nan extensive mountain range, constituting the ancient forest of\nSnowdonia, which was felled by the Saxon monarchs to build their navy.\nAnd, though not a tree or stem adorns its scathed brow, yet so lately as\nthe reign of Henry the Eighth, the civil list contained this item,\n\u201cAnnual Fee of the Chief Forester of Snowdon, 11_l._ 8_s._\u201d a sum by no\nmeans inconsiderable at the period alluded to.\n\nThe great mountain region, of which Snowdon constitutes the leading\nfeature, and to which it lends its Saxon epithet of Snowy, originates\nnorthward in the Penmaenmawr, and spreading over great part of\nCaernarvonshire, returns again and dips into the sea in the Reifels,\nthree beautiful conical mountains overhanging the bay of Caernarvon.\nThese hills bound a prospect from the centre of Anglesea, picturesque,\nsublime, and graceful, but, like many scenes in human life, upon a nearer\napproach, are comfortless, forlorn, and desolate. The ambition of most\ntourists is to attain the dizzy height of Snowdon, and, although the\napproaches are numerous, none are free from difficulty, and some even\nattended with danger. From the melancholy vale of Llanberis the height\nis greater in proportion as the surface of the vale is depressed. The\naccess from Llyn Cwellyn is less difficult, but more tedious than others.\nThe charms of Beddgelert compensate for the remoteness of the goal, while\nthe elevation of Capel Curig is to be subtracted from the whole absolute\nheight, leaving the inquisitive tourist a large balance of perpendicular\nascent in his favour. Snowdon from Capel Curig presents a grand\nspectacle; the vale in the foreground watered by two fine pools, and on\neach side skreens are formed of huge dark mountains, enclosing a great\nvista, leading the eye directly up against the shattered front of\nSnowdon. As the point of view approaches, the aerial complexion of the\ngreat pinnacled mass is lost, and new features, new wonders, are\nsuccessively displayed. Illusions here are ever varying. The transient\ncircumstances of a thunder cloud,\u2014the streaming of a sunbeam, casting\npartial gleams upon the precipices,\u2014the dark shadows that follow and\nfigure out unforeseen inequalities,\u2014then sweeping over the mountain\u2019s\nbrow, involving all in momentary obscurity,\u2014and, lastly, resigning all to\nthe full possession of the solar beams, all contribute in a most happy\nmanner to augment the astonishment and gratification of the spectator.\n\nThe view from the summit is inexpressibly grand, although much impeded by\nthe elevation and proximity of other mountains, Carneddau David and\nLlewellyn particularly,\u2014the former being three thousand four hundred and\ntwenty-seven feet above the sea, the latter three thousand four hundred\nand sixty-nine. It however commands an extensive prospect towards South\nWales and the sea, and displays a wonderful chart of all North Wales to\nthe spectator. The view at first is incomplete and scarce intelligible,\nbut gradually distinct and separate hills unfold themselves; the broken,\nabrupt, and intersecting outlines seem now and then to retire, as if by\nsome supreme and invisible working, and permit an oblique glimpse into a\ndeep vale below. Frequently a gigantic mass just shows itself by a\ndistant partial gleam, and after awakening the highest expectation,\nleaves the fancy \u201cto paint the forms of things unseen.\u201d The shape or\nform of Snowdon is uncommon and picturesque. Its ground plan or base, if\nsuch terms be applicable or just, is cruciformed, each arm supporting a\ngreat mural precipice, along the ridges of which lie the perilous\npathways to the highest point, and in the intervening angles sleep dark,\ncold pools. The summit ridge, when seen from a distance, appears of a\ntriple-headed form, like the impression of a vast festoon of clouds just\ndropped upon it. The points or ridges are usually called Wyddffa, Crib\ny-Distyll and Crib-Coch, or the red ridge. The passage of the last is\nhazardous, from the shortness and slippery quality of the grass at those\nseasons of the year when the mountain may be approached. It is from this\ncauseway that two stones thrown from the same spot, one to either side,\nand with a moderate force, will reach, it is said, an interval of three\nthousand feet asunder at the period of their rest from falling.\n\n\n\nBANGOR CATHEDRAL.\n\n\nTHE city of Bangor is one of the most prosperous and improving seaports\non the Welsh coast. Its position, at the embouchure of the Cegin river\nand entrance of the M\u00e6nai strait, has given it a natural commercial\nsuperiority, an advantage spiritedly and wisely improved by the principal\nproprietor in the vicinity. The city occupies a narrow piece of ground,\nbounded on the east by a precipitous hill, and on the west by the\nbishop\u2019s lands and the M\u00e6nai strait. Extension is inconvenient, from the\nnecessity of lengthening the main avenue, already one mile long, whenever\nadditional houses in a proper thoroughfare are required. Handsome\nassembly-rooms are constructed over the market hall: convenient lodging\nhouses are erected in the lower part of the city, and many elegant villas\nin the immediate neighbourhood; besides which, the numerous visiters who\nfrequent this agreeable spot, either for the benefit of sea bathing, the\nbracing influence of a mountain breeze, or the gratification of examining\nthe noble design of the M\u00e6nai Bridge, have further accommodation afforded\nthem at the spacious and elegant inns provided for their reception. H.\nD. Pennant, Esq. the heir and representative of the noble house of\nPenrhyn, is the chief proprietor and munificent patron of this place. To\nhim, and to his amiable predecessor, Lady Penrhyn, this neighbourhood is\nindebted for the stability of its trade, as well as for the rapidity of\nits growth. The slate quarries of Dolawen, whence the Bangor slates, as\nthey are generally called, are brought, are about seven miles distant\nfrom the sea-side. Here from fifteen hundred to two thousand hands are\nconstantly engaged in quarrying metal, and fashioning it into slates. In\nthe process of manufacturing the aid of machinery is embraced, and the\npowerful press of Bramah is used for crushing and splitting the metal.\nWhen formed into the classes or sizes designated by the fanciful\ndistinctions of Queens, Duchesses, Countesses, and Ladies, they are\ntransported by a rail-road of seven miles in length, (one of the earliest\nintroduced into Wales,) to the quay of Port Penrhyn, the termination and\nconsummation of the great and enterprising scheme, accomplished at\nindividual risk and expense, to promote the conveyance of the Bangor\nslates to all the markets of Europe and America. Whatever modern\nimportance Bangor possesses is attributable to the successful conduct of\nthese quarries, and its commercial value will always be found to rise and\nfall with the prosperity of this trade alone.\n\nImmediately adjoining the north-eastern extremity of the principal\nstreet, the noble demesne of Mr. Pennant originates, and spreads over a\nwooded surface of considerable area. His castle occupies the site of a\npalace, erected in the year 720, by Roderic Moelwynog, the last British\nPrince of Wales, who flourished in the eighth century. The ancient\npalace was destroyed by Meredydd ap Owain in the year 728, and not\nrebuilt until some time in the reign of Henry the Sixth, when Gwillim ap\nGryffydd raised a stately castle here. This last building endured for\nmany years, and was ultimately subjected to renovation by the hand of a\nWyatt; but even this judicious restoration was unable to render it\nsuitable to the rapidly accumulating wealth which the hills of Dolawen\npoured out upon the board of their fortunate possessor. From a noble\ndesign of Mr. Hopper, in a bold and pure Saxon style, a castle has been\nerected on the ancient site. The style is uncommon, rarely introduced in\ndomestic architecture, and applicable only where the scale is great and\nthe means ample. In this instance the materials, a beautiful dark\nmarble, contribute much to increase the dignity and grandeur of the\ndesign, upon which probably one hundred thousand pounds have already been\nexpended. A fine specimen of the Hirl\u00e2s, or ancient British drinking\nhorn, bearing the initials of Piers Gryfydd, graven upon the silver\nmounting, is preserved in the castle of Penrhyn. The castle of Bangor is\nnot to be confounded with that of Penrhyn just described. It was founded\nsome time in the reign of William Rufus, by Hugh, Earl of Chester, but,\nlittle of its history survives, and even the ground plan now is with\ndifficulty traced.\n\nThe process of quarrying, dressing, and preparing slates for public\nmarket, and the fanciful titles by which the various sizes are now\nuniformly designated, are very happily, playfully, and truly described in\nthe following irregular verses. They are the production of the late Mr.\nLeycester, who was for many years a judge on the North Wales circuit,\nwhile the old system of judicature was tolerated.\n\n It has truly been said, as we all must deplore,\n That Grenville and Pitt made peers by the score;\n But now \u2019tis asserted, unless I have blundered,\n There\u2019s a man who makes peeresses here by the hundred;\n He regards neither Grenville, nor Portland, nor Pitt,\n But creates them at once without patent or writ.\n By the stroke of the hammer, without the king\u2019s aid,\n A Lady, or Countess, or Duchess is made.\n Yet high is the station from which they are sent,\n And all their great titles are got by descent;\n And when they are seen in a palace or shop,\n Their rank they preserve, and are still at the top.\n Yet no merit they claim from their birth or connexion,\n But derive their chief worth from their native complexion.\n And all the best judges prefer, it is said,\n A Countess in blue to a Duchess in red.\n This Countess or Lady, though crowds may be present,\n Submits to be dress\u2019d by the hands of a peasant;\n And you\u2019ll see, when her Grace is but once in his clutches,\n With how little respect he will handle a Duchess.\n Close united they seem, and yet all who have tried them,\n Soon discover how easy it is to divide them.\n No spirit have they, they are thin as a lath,\n The Countess wants life and the Duchess is flat.\n No passion or warmth to the Countess is known,\n And her Grace is as cold and as hard as a stone;\n And I fear you will find, if you watch them a little,\n That the Countess is frail, and the Duchess is brittle;\n Too high for a trade, without any joke,\n Though they never are bankrupts, they often are broke.\n And though not a soul either pilfers or cozens,\n They are daily shipped off and transported by dozens.\n\n In France, jacobinical France, we have seen\n How thousands have bled by the fierce guillotine;\n But what\u2019s the French engine of death to compare\n To the engine which Greenfield and Bramah prepare,\n That democrat engine, by which we all know\n Ten thousand great Duchesses fall at a blow.\n\n And long may that engine its wonders display,\n Long level with ease all the rocks in its way,\n Till the vale of Nant Francon of slates is bereft,\n Nor a Lady, nor Countess, nor Duchess be left.\n\nThe see of Bangor extends over all Anglesea, and parts of\nCaernarvonshire, Denbigh, and Montgomery. It was most probably founded,\nor at all events a monastic establishment was formed here, in the year\n525, by St. Deiniol, who was at first abbot, and afterwards bishop. The\nname Bangor may signify \u201cthe White Choir,\u201d or the \u201cHigh Choir,\u201d and is\nfound applied to an ecclesiastic institution in Flintshire, as well as to\na famous religious house in the County of Down, in the North of Ireland.\nThe subject of this description was distinguished by the prefix \u201cFawr,\u201d\nor great, to mark its superiority. The original church existed to the\ntime of the Saxon intrusion, when it was wholly demolished by that fierce\nand relentless people. In the year 1212 it was restored in a style of\nmuch magnificence by John, King of England, but it was again much injured\nin 1247, during the contentions between Henry the Third of England and\nthe Welsh nobles. The demon of destruction once more visited this sacred\nedifice in the year 1402, when it was wholly reduced to ashes by a\nviolent conflagration. This occurred in the civil wars, kindled by the\nbrave and artful chieftain, Owain Glandwr. For ninety years there was no\nresuscitation of the embers; no pious prelate wore the wealthy mitre of\nthis see, who preferred the honour of the church to all earthly\nconsiderations, until the reign of Henry the Seventh, when the learned\nand amiable Bishop Deane commenced the reedification of the cathedral, by\nerecting the present beautiful choir at his own expense. From an\ninscription over the western entrance, it appears that the tower and nave\nwere added by Bishop Skiffington, in 1532, whose heart was deposited in\nBangor Cathedral, but his body removed to the Cistercian monastery of\nBeaulieu in Hampshire, of which he had previously been abbot. The\nconduct of Bishop Bulkeley has afforded matter of much disputation\namongst ecclesiastical writers: it is asserted, on one side, that this\nprelate dishonoured the mitre, which should have graced his brow, by\nspoliating the see of its estates, and the cathedral of its plate and\nbells; others assure us, with great earnestness, that Bulkeley did not\nalienate or abstract the property of the see, but that, on the contrary,\nhe was a benefactor of the church and diocese, and that this was a\ncalumny raised against the church by Godwin, who thought proper to direct\nhis venomous shaft against the establishment through the character of\nthis respectable prelate.\n\nDr. Warren re-edified and improved the whole structure; and during the\nlong incumbency of Dr. Majendie, still farther decorations were\naccomplished. The choir is handsome, though wanting height, and is\nlighted by a noble pointed window with stone mullions. The eastern\ntransept serves as a parish church, in which Welsh service is performed;\nand the nave has lately been converted into a place of worship, for the\ncelebration of the service in English, the choir being found\ninconveniently small during the summer season. Though several prelates\nwere interred here, no monumental honours have been paid them. Morgan\nrequires neither brass or marble to make his fame endure; he has erected\na more eternal monument, and established a more immortal name by his\nlearned and laborious translation of the Bible into his native tongue.\nAn effigiated tomb, occupying an intermural canopy in the south transept,\nis, by some unaccountable tradition, said to belong to Owain Glandwr: if\nso, it can only be a cenotaph, as that chieftain was entombed at\nMonington, in Herefordshire, where he expired. The most likely\nappropriation of this ancient monument is to Owain Gwynedd, who was\ninterred here with his brother Cadwalader, in the year 1169. The\ninvestigation of this little historic fact exposes to the light the\nunrelenting spirit of fanaticism and bigotry. Owain Gwynedd had\ndispleased the hierarchy by marrying his own cousin-german, for which\noffence his very bones were pursued with the maledictions and hatred of\nThomas \u00e0 Becket, who ordered his remains to be disinterred and removed\nfrom the chancel into the cemetery of the cathedral. His servants appear\nto have possessed a more tender and christian feeling than the great\npontiff himself, and in the execution of their pitiful task caused a\nsubterranean passage to be made from the vault into the earth without,\nthereby evading in some degree the sacrilegious charge of exhumation. In\nthe year 1831 a white marble tablet, bearing a latin inscription, written\nwith much spirit and feeling, was erected here to the memory of Goronwy\nOwen, a Welsh bard, who flourished in the last century. He was born in\nthe county of Anglesea in the year 1722, and the little story of his life\nis beautifully and briefly told in the concluding words of his epitaph.\n\n \u201cNullus eum patronus exciperet, id quod sui neg\u00e2runt,\n Apud exteros qu\u00e6rens perfugium in Transatlanticis terris,\n Obscurus vixit, ignotus obiit.\u201d\n\nWhich may be translated,\n\n At home he felt no patronising hand,\n Then sought its warmth in Transatlantic land,\n Where bowed with poverty, by years o\u2019ergrown,\n He sunk neglected, as he lived unknown.\n\n\n\nDOLWYDELLAN CASTLE.\n\n\nFEW parts of ancient Britain, so consecrated by historic recollections,\nand endowed with so many natural graces, appear to be less known than the\nvale and castle of Dolwydellan. The former is nearly a Welsh _cwm_, or\nhollow, but more expansive than that term in general implies, bounded on\nall sides by hills of fanciful and picturesque forms, and sheltered on\nthe west by the beautiful leaning pyramid of Moel Siabod, at whose base\nthe little village reposes in tranquillity. Little rocky eminences,\ncovered with copse-wood or stunted oak, decorate the enclosure of the\nvale, while a scene of simple greatness envelopes the whole.\n\nIn the centre of the valley, and on the summit of an isolated rock, on\none side precipitous and inaccessible, and on the other easily\ndefensible, stand the remains of the ancient British castle of\nDolwydellan. It was a royal residence, and a place of defence, though\nnow \u201cits walls are desolate; the gray moss whitens the stones; the fox\nlooks out from the window; and rank grass waves round its head.\u201d The\ncastle consisted of two square towers, each containing three stories,\nconnected by a centre, and enveloped by a curtain wall, enclosing the\nwhole superior surface of the rock. The style of building resembles that\ndiscoverable in Dolbadarn and the other British castles, the\ncounter-arches being pointed, and of flat shingle. The verdant area\nencompassing the ruins is usually browsed by a few head of cattle,\nforming a happy combination, and resembling the compositions of Bergham\nand other great masters of like style, in whose pictures cattle and ruins\nare made to lend their graces to each other.\n\n [Picture: Dolwyddellan Castle; Conway Castle; Beddgellert. London.\n Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\nJorwerth Drwyndwn, or Edward, sirnamed \u201cBroken Nose,\u201d son of Owen\nGwynedd, by the Lady Gwladys, was lord of Dolwydellan Castle about the\nyear 1169, and here Llewellyn ap Jorwerth, better known to the historian\nas Llewellyn the Great, was born. His father\u2019s claims to the throne of\nWales were disallowed in consequence of the deformity of his countenance,\nbut the martial daring of the son obtained for him the possession of that\ndiadem which the barbarity and folly of the times had withheld from the\nfather. Llewellyn was acknowledged sovereign prince of Wales A.D. 1184;\nand after a brilliant, glorious, and eventful reign of fifty-six years,\nembittered only by domestic calamities, was released from the cares of\nthis world, and interred with great ceremony in the abbey of Conway in\nthe year 1240. Amongst the grants made during the usurpation of the Duke\nof Glo\u2019ster, is found one of Dolwydellan Castle to Sir Ralph Berkinnet,\nof the county of Chester, knight, chamberlain of North Wales. In the\nthird year of King Henry the Seventh, an act of resumption was passed,\nwhereby all the grants of Richard the Third were recalled, except the\nlease of the (ffrydd) fryth of Dolwydellan. At this time lived Meredydd\nap Jevan ap Robert, who had been enriched by a bequest of Crug in\nCaernarvonshire, from his foster father, and who had farther augmented\nhis treasures by a marriage with the daughter of William Gryffydd ap\nRobin. This child of fortune, after a short residence on his newly\nacquired estate of Crug, removed into his native country of\nCessailgyfarch, and there purchased the lease of the castle and frydd\n{34} of Dolwydellan from the executors of Sir Ralph Berkinnett, part of\nthe castle being then in a habitable condition. After many years\nresidence in the old castle, Meredydd erected a small, but exceedingly\nsubstantial house, in the close valley or _cwm_ of Penanmen, the walls,\nstaircase, and roof of which are at this day in good preservation, and\nafford a comfortable dwelling to the tenantry of his descendants.\n\nThe state of this country at his first entering upon possession was so\nlawless, that Meredydd, although guarded by \u201ctwenty tall archers,\u201d dared\nnot make known when he went to church or elsewhere, or go or return by\nthe same way through the woods and defiles, lest he should be waylaid.\nTo protect and strengthen himself he filled his tenements with \u201ctall and\nable\u201d men, and fixed others of similar prowess in arms on the king\u2019s\nlands adjoining; one of these, William ap Robert, was placed at Pencraig\nInco, for which he paid a relief to the king of ten shillings and\nfourpence, and his posterity, the Davises of Cyffd\u00fb, are still in\npossession of this ancient estate.\n\nAs a further security against interruption in attendance upon divine\nworship, he threw down the old church, then standing upon a little\neminence called Bryn-y-beddau, about three hundred yards from the present\nchurch, and erected a new one in its stead. This site was chosen in\norder that the house of Penanmen and the church of Dolwydellan might both\nbe brought within the ken of a sentinel, to be placed upon a rock called\nCraig y Big, overhanging the narrow entrance of Penanmen Cwm, who was to\ngive the alarm, if either church or house should be assailed.\n\nIn this manner he continued to defend himself and organize the less\npowerful gentry and free-holders, until at last he counted around his\nbanner seven score tall bowmen, accoutred with an armolette, a good steel\ncap, a short sword and dirk, together with their bows and arrows. Most\nof them also were furnished with horses and hunting spears, and were\nsufficiently matched against the robbers and outlaws of the district, who\nexceeded one hundred in number, all too well mounted and arrayed.\n\nBesides the \u201cgood work,\u201d as it was called, of extirpating banditti,\nMeredydd also served his royal master abroad, and was an officer of rank\nat the siege of Tournay. On his return to his native land, he purchased\nthe seat of Gwydyr from Dafydd ap Howell Coytmor, and erected what is\ncalled the Lower House, but more properly that portion of it called the\n\u201cHall of Meredydd.\u201d Placing a tenant in his strong house of Penanmen,\nand abandoning the old castle to the owls and wolves, he settled in his\nnew house at Gwydyr, where he departed this life, in peace and honour, on\nthe eighteenth day of March, 1525, aged fifty-five: his remains were\ndeposited in the church of Dolwydellan, which he had caused to be erected\nat his own expense, and where a modest tablet of three lines epitomizes\nhis history, in the pious form of inscriptions of that day.\n\nThe church built by Meredydd is of such substantial workmanship, that it\nwill probably prove the most lasting, as well as pious, monument of his\ndeeds. A little chapel or transept was subsequently added on the south\nside by Robert Wynne, uncle of Sir John, the author of the Memoirs.\n\nThe village consists of a few cottages, unconnected and poor looking:\nriches or civilization would not harmonize with the scenery of\nDolwydellan, which is as though it existed in an age when the use of\nmoney and the various arts of life were still unknown or undiscovered.\n\n\n\nCONWAY CASTLE.\n\n\nCONWAY is an ancient fortified town, seated on the western bank of the\nnoble river from which it takes its name, and formerly called\nAber-Conway, i.e. the mouth or embouchure of the chief river. The\nposition is happily chosen, both as a strong post of defence and a key to\nthose parts of Denbigh and Caernarvon which lie remote from the sea. In\nthe arrangement and decorations of the interior the town of Conway has\nlittle to attract a mere spectator, the streets being few, narrow, and\nirregular: but the historian and the antiquary will view with much\ninterest the old Plas Mawr, erected in the year 1585, by Robert Wynne, of\nGwydyr, Esq., uncle of Sir John Wynne the historian. Over the principal\nentrance, in Greek characters, are inscribed the words \u03b1\u03bd\u03b5\u03c7\u03b8 \u03b1\u03c0\u03b5\u03c7\u03b8, i.e.\nbear and forbear; and above may be observed, in Roman capitals, J. H. S.\nX. P. S. supposed to be the initials of the words \u201cJesus Hominum Salvator\net populi salus;\u201d the interpretation of the three first letters is\nprobably correct, but of the latter three extremely questionable. The\nold college, which stands in Castle Street, is adorned with armorial\nbearings of the Stanleys, and was possibly an alms-house or charitable\ninstitution of some sort, founded or endowed by that noble family. Of\nthe old Cistercian Abbey, founded by Llewellyn ap Jorwerth in the year\n1185, no traces are now visible; Edward the First transformed the\nbuilding into a parish church, removed the monks to Maenan Abbey, on the\nDenbighshire side of the river, three miles distant from Llanrwst, and\nobliterated all traces of the monkish establishment as far as it was\npracticable.\n\nThe church is a low unarchitectural structure, built and repaired from\ntime to time from the mouldering walls of the ancient abbey, without\nhaving borrowed one happy thought from the symmetry of its proportions.\nHere is a fine baptismal font, supported by a clustered pillar of gothic\ndesign; and a tablet to the memory of Nicholas Hookes, of Conway, Gent.,\nwho was the forty-first child of William and Alice Hookes, and himself\nthe father of twenty-seven. He died on the 20th of March, 1637.\n\nThe town was incorporated and made a free borough by Edward the First,\nthe charter constituting the mayor to be governor of the castle also.\nThis politic prince erected the castles of Caernarvon, Beaumaris, and\nConway, to awe the turbulent spirit of his dearly acquired subjects; and\nwhatever merit may be due to the policy of the plan, sufficient\nadmiration can hardly be awarded to the choice of position and beauty of\ndesign. If he had not been the prince who commanded those walls to be\nerected, he might well have wished to have been their architect. The\npicturesque features of these fine ruins are quite distinct; Caernarvon\nboasts magnitude, Conway a most romantic position, and the great hall of\nBeaumaris brings back the spectator immediately into the society of other\ndays.\n\nThe embattled walls which surround the town are coeval with the castle,\nand drawn in the form of a British harp, like those encompassing\nCaernarvon. The design and style of the castle however are wholly\ndifferent, and most happily suited to its bold position. The ground plan\nis nearly in form a parallelogram. Two sides of the castle rise from a\nsteep rock, washed by the tide water of a little creek that runs up along\nthe town walls, and by the flood of the Conway river. The exterior\npresents to view eight noble circular towers, from the walls of which\nissue slender machiolated turrets, giving a singular lightness to the\nwhole design, and connected by massive embattled curtains. A long wall\nformerly extended from the southern angle of the castle into the river,\nterminated by a little water tower, used to obstruct the passage of\nenemies, and facilitate the landing of their friends. The principal\nentrance, which is tolerably perfect, was by a drawbridge thrown across a\ndeep fosse, concealed within a barbacan. The interior is divided into\ntwo distinct parts, an outer and an inner court, the entrance to the\nlatter impassable by more than one person at a time, and that by the\npermission of those within. Around the outer courtyard were the\napartments of the garrison, the chapel, great hall, &c.: the inner area\nwas encompassed by the apartments of the royal founder and his household.\nThe walls of a small chamber, still entire, with an open ornamented\ncasement, bear the name of the Queen\u2019s Oriel, and appear, from a poem of\nthe age in which it was erected, to have been the ladies\u2019 dressing-room.\nAt the south-western extremity, beyond the royal apartments, a broad\nterrace is raised above the river upon a ledge of solid rock; from this,\nas from the oriel, a view of the adjacent country is enjoyed, intersected\nby cultivated hills, between which and the castle the Conway is seen to\nroll his flood, passing beneath the broad waterway afforded by a\nbeautiful suspension bridge, which, from the appropriateness of style,\nseems an appendage of the ancient pile. A curious proof is here afforded\nof the excellence of masonry in the early ages. Although the castle\nappears identified with the rock from which it springs, a separation has\ntaken place in one instance; neither has this occurred from the\ndisintegration of the walls, which hang out beyond the base of the broken\ntower, it is the rock itself that has crumbled away.\n\nThere are many historic events of deep interest connected with the story\nof this warrior pile. Like the artist of the brazen bull, Edward was the\nfirst who was necessitated to make trial of the sufficiency of his new\nstate prison. Here he was besieged and nearly reduced by famine, and\nonly rescued from such a critical situation by the providential arrival\nof a fleet with supplies. This was also the appointed rendezvous of\nforty thousand loyalists who attached themselves to the fortunes of King\nRichard the Second, and were destined to check the career of Bolingbroke.\nHere Percy and King Richard held an interview, from which it would appear\nthat the unhappy prince mistrusted his faithful friends; for, secretly\nwithdrawing from Conway, he put himself into the hands of Northumberland,\nat Flint, by whom he was betrayed into the power of his rival. Amongst\nits different vicissitudes Conway Castle was once converted into a public\ntreasury, and discharged its trust with honour and good fortune. In the\ncivil wars of King Charles\u2019s time, being held by Dr. Williams, archbishop\nof York, for the king, the country gentlemen entrusted to his Grace\u2019s\nkeeping their title deeds, plate, and most valuable moveables. This\ntrust he cheerfully undertook and made himself entirely responsible for\ntheir value by giving to each depositor a personal receipt. In the May\nof 1645, Prince Rupert was appointed governor of the castle, and by his\norder Sir John Owen was substituted for the archbishop in the\nguardianship of the valuables lodged within. Sir John constantly evading\nthe archbishop\u2019s applications on the subject of the deposit, the prelate,\nto avoid his own ruin, and seeing no prospect of a return to regal\ngovernment, joined the Parliamentarians, assisted Mytton in the reduction\nof the castle, and having again got into possession of those treasures\nfor which he had pledged himself, restored them uninjured to the\nrespective owners. For these services parliament granted him a free\npardon and a release from all his sequestrations. The singular beauty of\nthis fortress appears to have obtained for it not only the admiration but\nthe respect of the ruin-making conquerors of the seventeenth century; but\nbeing at last granted by Charles the Second to Lord Conway, while it was\nstill roofed and perfect, that gothic personage dismantled the entire\nstructure, and sold the lead, iron, timber, and all other disposable\nmaterials which could be easily separated.\n\nThe suspension bridge at Conway is thrown from the foot of the southern\ntower to a small island in the river, the suspension piers corresponding\nin design with the rounders of the castle occasion little interruption to\nthe harmony of the whole, and reduce it to a mere question of taste,\nwhether the bridge be not an appropriate accession to the scene, and the\nvery drawbridge of the castle.\n\n\n\nBEDDGELERT.\n\n\nTHE village of Beddgelert, the Goodesberg of Cambria, is situated on a\nlittle plain reposing amidst wild and awful mountains, and adorned by the\nconflux of two bright streams, the Glaslyn and the Colwyn. The agreeable\nand fascinating character of the scene is more immediately and vividly\nimpressed upon the traveller who approaches it from the Caernarvon hills.\nAfter traversing a wild heathy district, and coasting along the banks of\nmany gloomy lakes, the little village of Beddgelert, in the centre of a\nverdant mead, with its cheerful accompaniments of inhabitation, breaks\nsuddenly on the view amidst all the horrors of untamed nature. No\nsituation could be more happily chosen for the inspiration of religious\nmeditation, or more wisely selected for the maintenance of an institution\nof human beings, in a region so savage and unproductive as this must have\nbeen when the vale was occupied by a college of monks. The village\nconsists of a few huts coarsely and substantially built, deriving all\ntheir charms from the beauty of their position, a handsome inn, embosomed\nhigh in tufted trees, and the old parish church. Moel Hebog, or the hill\nof the falcon, known in the world of elegant literature as \u201cLord\nLyttleton\u2019s Hill,\u201d hangs over the valley on the opposite side to the\nvillage, and at its base was discovered, in the year 1784, a Roman shield\nof a circular shape, and formed of thin brass.\n\nThe church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, was anciently conventual, and\nbelonged to a priory of Augustines, conjectured to be also of the class\ncalled Gilbertines. The regulations of this last order permitted the\nresidence of men and women beneath the same roof, their convents being\nseparated by a wall; and this opinion receives some support from the\ncircumstances of a tract of land adjoining the church being known to this\nday by the appellation of \u201cThe Nun\u2019s Meadow,\u201d in Welsh Dol y Lleian.\nBeddgelert is the oldest monastic establishment in North Wales, Bardsey\nexcepted. Llewellyn the Great, who commenced his reign in 1184, appears\nto have bestowed upon it certain grants of land, and David ap Llewellyn\ngranted others which were afterwards resumed, an investigation\nestablishing the property of them to have been originally in Tudor ap\nMadoc, and not in the reigning prince. Besides many granges in\nCaernarvon and Anglesea, an allowance of fifty cows and twenty-two sheep,\nthe Prior had a certain tithe or proportion of bees, or rather of their\nhoney and wax. It is extremely probable that all the preceding were not\nintended for the sustenance of the few religious of this house, but for\nthe maintenance and extension of a liberal hospitality to all persons\ntravelling this way from North to South Wales, and England to Ireland.\nMead was the favourite drink of those times, the nectar of that age,\nwhence the veneration in which bees were held of so vain a character,\nthat the priests fabled them to have been blessed by the Almighty at\ntheir departure from Paradise, and that therefore no mass ought to be\ncelebrated but by the light of wax. This conceit is mentioned in the\nlaws of Howel Dda. A farther and rather substantial testimony of the\nhospitality practised here in by-gone days, was afforded in the existence\nof a pewter drinking mug, capable of containing about two quarts, which\nremained until within a very few years in an old tenement called the\nPrior\u2019s House. Any traveller who could grasp the Beddgelert pint with\none hand, when filled with good ale (_cwrw dda_) and quaff it at a single\ndraught, was entitled to the liquor _gratis_. The tenant was to charge\nthe value to the lord of the manor, who deducted the amount from the\nensuing rent. It was also for the further continuance of such an useful\nhospitality that Edward the First munificently repaired the damages which\nthe convent had sustained by an accidental fire in 1283; and Bishop Anian\ngranted indulgences to other benefactors. At the dissolution of\nmonasteries the revenues of Beddgelert were estimated at seventy pounds,\nEdward Conway was its last Prior, and its lands in Caernarvonshire were\ngranted to the Bodvells.\n\nHere are interred two eminent bards, Rhys G\u00f4ch Eryri, who flourished\nabout the year 1420, and Dafydd Nanmor, whose death is placed in 1460.\nThe poet attributes the foundation of Beddgelert church to a later date,\nand to a different prince, and rests his proof upon the following\ntradition. Llewellyn the Great came to reside here, during the hunting\nseason, accompanied by his princess and their children; and one day while\nthe family were abroad a fierce wolf was seen to approach the palace.\nThe prince, upon his return from the chase, was met at his entrance by\nhis faithful dog Gelert all smeared with blood, though still using his\naccustomed indications of happiness upon seeing his master. Llewellyn\nalarmed ran with haste into the nursery, and there finding the cradle\noverturned and the floor stained with blood, concluded that Gelert had\nbeen the destroyer of his child, and drawing his sword instantly plunged\nit into the heart of his favourite dog. But upon restoring the cradle to\nits proper position the infant was discovered wrapped confusedly in the\nclothing, and a monstrous wolf lying dead by its side. Llewellyn, says\ntradition, immediately erected a church upon the spot, in thankfulness to\nGod, and placed a tomb over the remains of poor Gelert, who lies buried\nin the centre of the valley, called from that day Beddgelert, or Gelert\u2019s\nGrave. This interesting tale forms the subject of the following pleasing\nballad, by the Hon. W. R. Spencer\u2014\n\n The spearman heard the bugle sound,\n And cheerly smiled the morn,\n And many a brach and many a hound\n Attend Llewellyn\u2019s horn.\n\n And still he blew a louder blast,\n And gave a louder cheer,\n \u201cCome, Gelert, why art thou the last\n Llewellyn\u2019s horn to hear?\n\n \u201cOh where does faithful Gelert roam?\n The flower of all his race:\n So true, so brave, a lamb at home,\n A lion in the chase.\u201d\n\n \u2019Twas only at Llewellyn\u2019s board\n The faithful Gelert fed;\n He watch\u2019d, he served, he cheer\u2019d his lord,\n And sentinel\u2019d his bed.\n\n In sooth he was a peerless hound,\n The gift of royal John; {46}\n But now no Gelert could be found,\n And all the chase rode on.\n\n And now as over rocks and dells\n The gallant chidings rise,\n All Snowdon\u2019s craggy chaos yells\n With many mingled cries.\n\n That day Llewellyn little loved\n The chase of hart or hare,\n And scant and small the booty proved,\n For Gelert was not there.\n\n Unpleased, Llewellyn homeward hied,\n When near the royal seat,\n His truant Gelert be espied,\n Bounding his lord to greet.\n\n But when he gain\u2019d his castle door,\n Aghast the chieftain stood;\n The bound was smear\u2019d with gouts of gore,\n His lips and fangs ran blood.\n\n Llewellyn gazed with wild surprise,\n Unused such looks to meet,\n His favourite check\u2019d his joyful guise,\n And crouch\u2019d and lick\u2019d his feet.\n\n Onward in haste Llewellyn pass\u2019d,\n And on went Gelert too,\n And still where\u2019er his eyes he cast,\n Fresh blood gouts shock\u2019d his view.\n\n O\u2019erturn\u2019d his infant\u2019s bed he found,\n The blood-stain\u2019d covert rent;\n And all around the walls and ground,\n With recent blood besprent.\n\n He call\u2019d his child\u2014no voice replied:\n He search\u2019d with terror wild;\n Blood, blood, he found on every side,\n But no where found the child!\n\n \u201cHell-hound, by thee my child\u2019s devour\u2019d,\u201d\n The frantic father cried:\n And to the hilt the vengeful sword,\n He plunged in Gelert\u2019s side.\n\n His suppliant, as to earth he fell,\n No pity could impart;\n But still his Gelert\u2019s dying yell\n Pass\u2019d heavy o\u2019er his heart.\n\n Aroused by Gelert\u2019s dying yell,\n Some slumberer waken\u2019d nigh;\n What words the parent\u2019s joy can tell\n To hear his infant cry?\n\n Conceal\u2019d between a mingled heap\n His hurried search had miss\u2019d:\n All glowing from his rosy sleep,\n His cherub boy he kiss\u2019d!\n\n Nor scratch had he, nor harm, nor dread,\n But the same couch beneath\n Lay a great wolf, all torn and dead,\n Tremendous still in death!\n\n Ah, what was then Llewellyn\u2019s pain!\n For now the truth was clear,\n The gallant hound the wolf had slain,\n To save Llewellyn\u2019s heir.\n\n Vain, vain, was all Llewellyn\u2019s woe,\n Best of thy kind, adieu!\n The frantic deed which laid thee low,\n This heart shall ever rue.\n\n And now a gallant tomb they raise\n With costly sculpture deck\u2019d,\n And marbles storied with his praise\n Poor Gelert\u2019s bones protect.\n\n Here never could the spearman pass,\n Or forester, unmoved,\n Here oft the tear besprinkled grass,\n Llewellyn\u2019s sorrow proved.\n\n And here he hung his horn and spear,\n And oft as evening fell,\n In fancy\u2019s piercing sounds would hear\n Poor Gelert\u2019s dying yell!\n\n And till great Snowdon\u2019s rocks grow old,\n And cease the storm to brave,\n The consecrated spot shall hold\n The name of Gelert\u2019s grave.\n\n[Picture: Llyn Ogwen; Pont y-Pair; Llanberis lake. London. Published by\n T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\n\n\nLLYN OGWEN.\n\n\nOGWEN Lake is contained within a circumference of about three miles,\npresenting itself in rather an oval form. It is encircled by mountains,\nexcept at the eastern extremity, which fall abruptly into the water, and\nafford scenery in the highest degree romantic. On the left the broken\nshattered crags of Trifaen {48} hang over the margin of the lake, and\nthrow the surface into an everlasting shadow. The distant forms of\nFranc\u00f4n mountains are, if possible, still more grand and picturesque; but\nthe side skreen of Braich-dd\u00fb slopes down more smoothly and gradually to\nthe water\u2019s surface. Perhaps there are too many broken summits hovering\nover Ogwen; probably the mind of true taste may think the simplicity and\ngrandeur of the scene interrupted by their repetition, but this is too\nrefined a criticism. Ogwen is generally acknowledged to present the\nfinest lake scene in Caernarvonshire, the very Derwent of North Wales,\nand, like it, well described as \u201cBeauty sleeping in the lap of Horror.\u201d\nThe waters of Llyn Ogwen abound in a species of red trout, easily taken\nwith the fly, and not inferior in flavour to salmon. The surplus waters\ndischarge themselves at the western end of the pool through a chasm in\nthe rocks, and tumbling in three noble cataracts down a height of about\none hundred feet, are concentrated into a bed in the green meadows of\nNant Francon; flowing by Dolawen and Penrhyn Castle, they are lost at\nlength in the M\u00e6nai straits.\n\nThe noble line of road constructed through the Welsh mountains, under the\nsurveillance of parliamentary commissioners, is carried along the very\nmargin of Llyn Ogwen, amidst the great debris that continue annually\nfalling from the rocky sides of Trifaen. In the winter of 1831 upwards\nof one thousand tons of rock fell from the dizzy heights of Benclog, a\nlittle below the Ogwen cataracts; part rolling straight across the road\nfell into the valley and river in the bottom, while another part having\nacquired a less momentum rested on the ledge the road supplied them. The\nintercourse of travellers was for some days impeded, although one hundred\nminers were engaged in clearing and restoring the surface of the road. A\ngentleman from the vale of Llanrwst had just passed along in his phaeton,\non his way to Bangor, when the terrific sound of the dissolving mountain\nfell upon his astonished ear.\n\nAbout one mile from Llyn Ogwen, in a deep hollow of the Glyder mountains,\nlies the dark pool, called Llyn Idwal. The gloomy horrors of the\nsurrounding scene exceed even those of Ogwen; the encircling cliffs are\noverhanging, broken, and dark; in one part the whole mountain is rent\nasunder, and the chasm of \u201cTwll dd\u00fb,\u201d or the \u201cblack cleft,\u201d gapes between\nthe terrific masses. The solitude of Cwm Idwal proved favourable to the\nperpetration of a deed of blood, and it was here that young Idwal, the\ninfant heir of Prince Owen Gwynedd, was treacherously assassinated by\norder of his foster-father Nefydd, to whose care his father had consigned\nhim:\u2014\n\n And thou, O Idwal, of immortal fame,\n Dying, to the vale hath left thy name.\n\n\n\nPONT-Y-PAIR {50a}.\n\n\nTHIS curious and picturesque bridge is thrown over the rapid river\nLlugwy, {50b} at the village of Bettws-y-Coed, {50c} in the county of\nCaernarvon. Though flung high above the surface of the water it consists\nof but little masonry, the natural rock supplying piers the most solid\nand enduring. One of the arches affords an open transit for the waters\nwhich flow from the noble fall and salmon leap above the bridge, and\nproduce by their impetuous rotatory motion a deep reservoir or caldron\nbelow it, whence this graceful structure derives its appropriate name.\nFour of the arches are dry except in rainy seasons, when the torrent\nrises with such rapidity as would endanger a less substantial work, at\nwhich period these openings are found perfectly necessary.\n\nThe history of the origin of Pont-y-Pair possesses a singular though\nsimple interest. Howel, a mason, from Penllyn, having occasion to attend\nthe assizes then, A.D. 1468, held at Conway, found his passage over the\nLleder, which flows through Dolwydellan, obstructed by the violence and\ngreatness of the flood. This suggested to him the idea of removing to\nthe spot and of erecting a bridge there, at his own expense, trusting to\nthe generosity of travellers for compensation. The success of one\nproject engendered a second, and Howel next resolved upon the erection of\nthe beautiful bridge at Bettws-y Coed, called now the Pont-y-Pair; but he\ndid not live to see its final completion.\n\nTo the right of the Pont-y-Pair is the \u201cCarreg y gwalch,\u201d or rock of the\nFalcon, a beautiful hill of singular and broken forms, clothed with wood\nfor the most part, a few fine bold rocks occasionally elevating their\nfronts above the foliage, and producing a noble and great effect. In\nthis rock is a deep recess, called Ogo ap Shenkin, or the Cave of Jenkin,\nin which that famous outlaw took shelter during the Lancastrian wars. A\nlarge rock now blocks up the entrance, like the grotto of Polyphemus, and\nthere is a tradition that this was once rolled away by some inquisitive\npersons, who, advancing a few yards, discovered a huge oak chest clasped\nwith iron, on the top of which stood a monstrous goat bowing his aged\nhead, and following with his horns the direction of those who had the\ncourage to approach. The chest of course continues in this dreary\ntreasury, and the character of its guardian is hinted at by the\ndiscoverers, but never openly declared.\n\nDafydd ap Shenkin held the fastnesses of Nant-conway for fifteen years,\nduring which period he was unrelentingly pursued by the captains of\nEdward the Fourth. From their persecution, when he could no longer keep\nthe open country, he sought refuge in his mountain cave. Howel ap Jevan\nap Rhys Gethyn, a contemporary of Jenkin, and the Robin Hood of those\ntimes and this country, was also Shenkin\u2019s or Jenkin\u2019s mortal foe. Being\nexpelled from the castle of Dolwydellan, and from his strong hold at\nPenanmen, he was compelled to flee into Ireland, where he continued for a\nyear or more, and then returning appeared with his followers all clad in\ngreen, spent the residue of his life as an outlaw, seeking a fortuitous\nexistence amongst the mountains and forests of his native land. There is\na township in the parish of Bettws-y-Coed still bearing the name of\nHendre-Rhys-Gethyn; it is the estate of Dafydd D. Price, Esq., and was\nonce probably part of the possessions of the brave but unfortunate Howel,\nthe consistency of whose politics constituted his greatest offence.\n\nThe village of Bettws, an attractive and fascinating spot, is situated\nnear the meeting of the Llugwy and Conway rivers. The few cottages\ncomposing it, though poor in detail, are rich in composition, no village\nin the principality presenting a more beautiful landscape than Bettws,\nviewed from the road to Coed Cynheliar. The village church stands in a\nlittle cemetery in the centre of the vale, resembling in some degree the\nchurch of Beddgelert. It is enclosed by a few stately forest trees, and\nforms a venerable and interesting object. Within is shown a fine\neffigiated tomb of Gryffydd ap Dafydd Goch, son of Dafydd Goch, who was a\nnatural son of Dafydd, brother to the last reigning Prince of Wales. The\nfigure is recumbent, clad in armour, and the outside border of the torus\nis inscribed with these words,\n\n Hic jacet Grufud ap Davyd Coch, Agnus Dei mis\u00eare mei.\n\nAbove the village, on the stream of the Llugwy, is the famous waterfall\ncalled Rhaidar y Wennol, or the cataract of the swallow. It consists of\nthree noble falls, differing in character, though all conspicuous in\npicturesque interest; the highest consists of innumerable frothy streams,\ngliding with great velocity down a sloping rock but little broken; the\nsecond is a concentrated volume, rushing with impetuosity into a foaming\ncaldron; and in the third the whole is dashed away in spray. A huge\nperpendicular rock rises abruptly from one side to a height of five\nhundred feet and upwards, while the opposite side is formed of broken\nbanks and rocky patches, clothed with noble aged oaks. In the solemn\ndepths of the lowest fall the spirit of the turbulent Sir John Wynne, of\nGwydyr, which had haunted the glen for many years, is supposed to be laid\nat rest beneath the waters.\n\n\n\nLLANBERIS LAKE.\n\n\nTHESE lakes, though not remarkable for extent of surface, are\ndistinguished by the solemn grandeur of their rocks and mountains, that\nrise in very bold and awful characters. On the northern shore the\nmountain rises to a towering height, and with great abruptness. The\nhills on the opposite side are more rugged and sterile, but recede more\ngradually, while they aspire to an equal elevation. Between the lakes a\nbold promontory issues from the mountain and shoots into the water,\nadorned by the majesty of Dolbadarn\u2019s ruined castle, whose ivy-mantled\nwalls seem part of the very rock on which they stand. Beyond this a\nsecond expanse of waters is disclosed, enveloped in scenery yet more\nterrific and sublime than the former, the perspective being terminated by\nthe dark blue heads of innumerable mountains, projections merely of great\nSnowdon and the Glydyr, where the mountains appear to meet and shut in\nthe scene. Amidst scattered rocks, at the entrance of Bwlch y Gwyddol,\nand where fragments from the heights almost choke up the pass, stands the\nlittle church of Llanberis. If solitude and simplicity be inseparable\ncharacters of a religious edifice, then is Llanberis Church most entirely\nsuited to its pious destination. Saint Peris, to whom the church is\ndedicated, lived in the thirteenth century, and this is supposed to have\nbeen his retreat. Here he founded a church, blessed a well, which now\nbears his name, and to which miraculous qualities were ascribed. The\nmost singular circumstance however, connected with the later history of\nthis holy well is, that here a monstrous trout has continued for upwards\nof twenty years, and become so familiar, that it will take a worm from\nthe hand of a poor person, who appears to have adopted that privilege as\nher own. Peris was a legate from the church of Rome, and accompanied in\nhis mission by Saint Padarn. Our saint chose the little meadows on the\nupper lake, in Nant y Monach, or the Monk\u2019s Vale; and Padarn, his friend,\nsettled on the lower lake, which is still called after his name.\n\nDolbadarn Castle consists at this day of a single round tower or keep;\nbut traces of a greater occupation are sufficiently distinct around.\nTime has rolled its dark waves over the date of foundation and name of\nfounder, and, one incident excepted, nothing but conjecture remains as to\nits history. Padarn Beisrydd, the son of Idwal, was the supposed builder\nof this fortress, the obvious utility of which was to guard the mountain\npass behind it. The date of its erection, in that case, would be some\ntime previous to the eleventh century; a conjecture supported by the\nstyle of architecture, which is clearly Welsh. Owen Goch was imprisoned\nhere by his brother Llewellyn ap Gryffydd, last Prince of Wales, of the\nBritish line, for the term of twenty years, and his merits are celebrated\nin an ode composed by Howel-Voel, bewailing the captivity of the unhappy\nprince.\n\nThe following translation of the opening stanzas embraces the meaning,\nbut does not pretend to imitate the bold spirit of Howel\u2019s lamentation.\n\n Ye powers, that rule both earth and sea,\n Release from dark captivity,\n Snatch from an inglorious grave\n The lion-hearted, mild yet brave,\n Owen,\u2014a prince of matchless strength,\n Whose bright lance dripped, for all its length,\n With the best blood of the bravest men\n That dared to foray his mountain glen.\n \u2019Twas his to succour,\u2014relieve distress,\n The proud to humble, the foe to oppress.\n His charity measureless, his bounty great,\n His gifts well suited such wide estate.\n But now these vales seem dark and dreary,\n No hall to shelter the weak, the weary,\n Since Owen has changed his lordly bower\n For the darksome dungeon of Padarn\u2019s tower:\n Its dark gray walls their prince now sever\n From those who have lost their glory for ever.\n Their pride, their honour, their fame is fled,\n Their light is extinguished, their hopes are dead.\n Oh! Owen, dauntless, valiant and bright,\n Chieftain of Cambria,\u2014warrior knight, &c. &c.\n\nThe seclusion of Llanberis has been broken by the formation of a new line\nof road along Llyn Padarn to the town of Caernarvon, and the charms of\nits solitude dissipated by the erection of two spacious inns in the\nimmediate vicinity of the ancient castle.\n\nTo scenes like these, a tale of wonder is a welcome introduction; it\nawakes the mind, and adds new interest to every rock and precipice. The\nmelancholy fate of little John Closs, who was overtaken by a mist, and\nperished in the snows upon Moel Eilio, calls forth a tear, but excites no\nwonder. The _feats_ of Margaret uch Evan, though very singular, are as\ncertainly well attested: she dwelt near the margin of the lower lake, and\nwas the last specimen of the strength and spirit of the ancient Briton.\nHer biographer asserts that \u201cshe was the greatest hunter, fisher, shooter\nof her time: she kept a dozen of dogs, terriers, greyhounds, and\nspaniels, all excellent in their kind. She killed more foxes in one year\nthan all the confederate hunts did in ten: rowed stoutly, and was queen\nof the lakes: fiddled excellently, and was acquainted with all the old\nBritish music: was also a good joiner: and at the age of seventy years,\nwas so expert a wrestler, that few young men dared try a fall with her.\nShe was a blacksmith, shoemaker, and manufacturer of harps. She shod her\nown horses, made her own shoes, and built her own boats while under\ncontract to convey the copper ore down the lakes. Contemporary bards\ncelebrated her praises in strains purely British. She gave her hand, at\nlength, to the most effeminate of her suitors, as if determined to exert\nthat physical superiority which nature had bestowed on her even in the\nmarried state. Foulk Jones, of Ty D\u00fb, was also a person of singular\npowers; the tales related of his prowess recall the poet\u2019s character of\nEntellus.\n\n \u2014\u201che then confronts the bull,\n And on his ample forehead, aiming fall,\n The deadly stroke descending, pierced the skull.\u201d\n\n \u00c6NEID, v. 666.\n\nThe pass of Nant Peris is entered by a gap called Bwlch y Gwyddol; {58a}\ntremendous rocks impend on either side in masses of gray crag, the long\nshattered ridge of Snowdon on the one hand, and the broken forms of\nGlydyr fawr on the other. These rocks are overlooked again by still more\nawful mountains, that fall in abrupt lines and close up the vista, except\nwhere they are commanded by some peak of Snowdon or its opposing rival.\nImages of desolation and of stupendous greatness compose the scene. A\nsolitary cottage disturbs the retirement; and sometimes the shepherd\u2019s\nshrill call, in \u201cthe office of his mountain watch,\u201d is heard repeated\namong the rocks of the \u201cBlue Vale.\u201d {58b} Some distance up the pass a\nhuge stone, which does not appear to have been an appendage of the\nmountain, but rather an independent erection, lies across the centre of\nthe defile. A hollow beneath it was once converted by a poor woman into\na summer habitation, for the convenience of tending her little flock. It\nexceeds the dimensions of the Boother stone {59} in Westmoreland; and the\nspot on which it rests is called, from the story of the poor herdswoman,\n\u201cYnys Hettys,\u201d or Betty\u2019s Island. The scenery decreases in magnificence\nas the highest point or resting-place (Gorphwysffa) is attained, where\nnew and different beauties burst upon the sight, in the view down the\nBwlch Eisteddffau into the enchanting vale of Gwynant.\n\nAccomplishing the passage of the \u201cBlue Vale\u201d was amongst the great boasts\nof Cambrian tourists: if the reward was great, so were the difficulties\nof the task.\n\n \u201cIf the path be dangerous known,\n The danger\u2019s self is lure alone,\u201d\n\nmight then have been the adopted motto of the inquisitive tourist, but\nnow the wheels of a stage-coach, in mimickry of the revolutions of time\nand of events, roll rapidly over the Gorphwysffa itself, that spot where\nthe way-worn traveller paused to take a congratulating retrospect of the\ndifficulties he had passed.\n\n\n\nDENBIGHSHIRE.\n\n\nTHE largest, most wealthy, and populous shire in North Wales. Its form\nis irregular; the greatest length from north to south extends forty\nmiles, and the mean breadth is calculated at twenty-three. The area\noccupies a surface exceeding four hundred thousand acres. It presents a\nfront of a few miles length to the Irish sea. Parts of Flint, Cheshire,\nand Shropshire form the eastern boundary; Merioneth and Montgomeryshires\nthe south; and it is joined on the west by the county of Caernarvon. The\nsurface presents an endless variety, and may be illustrated by the idea\nof an island whose shores are peopled and cultivated, while the interior\nis comparatively in a state of natural wildness. The vales of Llanrwst,\nthe Abergelle line of coast, the fertile vale of Clwyd, represent the\nfringe of cultivation which surrounds an elevated though improvable\ndistrict of many thousand acres. With the exception of the Dee and\nConway, which form natural county bounds on the east and west, the rivers\nof Denbigh are inconsiderable. The mean elevation of the interior\ndistrict, extending from Bettws-Abergele to Derwen, and from Denbigh to\nthe Gwytherin hills; is about eight hundred feet above sea level.\nSeveral small pools are found amongst the hills, possessing neither great\nextent nor much natural beauty; and, being collected in the highest\nregions, they are devoid of those accompaniments which give such\npicturesque effects to those lakes that are deposited in deep and hollow\nvalleys. Cairn y Brain, between Llangollen and Llandegle, is the highest\npoint in Denbighshire, reaching one thousand eight hundred and\nfifty-eight feet above the sea; and Llyn Conway is the largest assemblage\nof waters. The county of Denbigh, under the late Reform Bill, sends two\nmembers to parliament; the united boroughs of Denbigh, Rhuthyn, Holt, and\nWrexham return one.\n\n [Picture: Denbigh; Aber waterfall; Llyn Gwynant. London. Published by\n T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\n\n\nDENBIGH TOWN.\n\n\nTHE borough town of Denbigh occupies the sides of a steep hill, rising\nabruptly from the level of the beautiful vale of Clwyd, and bearing on\nits towering crest the venerable ruins of an ancient castle, a proud\nmemorial of the bravery of the inhabitants in those days, when love of\nanarchy was mistaken for independence, and loyalty and fidelity were\nterms of reproach. The principal street approaches the market-place from\nthe foot of the hill, and contains several very elegant and handsome\nprivate residences. The Town Hall possesses no architectural beauties,\nits sole merit is utility. Many excellent private houses are scattered\nthrough the town, which terminates at the other side of the hill in a\nmiserable approach called Henllan Street. Denbigh, in conjunction with\nRhuthyn and Holt, has for many years returned a member to parliament, but\nWrexham has been admitted to a participation in the privilege, by a\nclause in the new Reform Bill. The corporation derived its last charter\nfrom King Charles the Second, and consists of two aldermen, a recorder,\ntwo bailiffs, and two coroners. Whitchurch, where the old parish church\nof St. Marcellus is situated, lies in the open valley one mile from the\ntown. It is no longer used as a place of worship, but resembles a chapel\nor oratory, in which the remains of chiefs and men of learning are\ndeposited. Their blazoned arms and sumptuous tombs are rapidly yielding\nto the decay incident on damp and negligence. In the porch is a brass\nplate, engraven with figures of Richard Myddleton, governor of Denbigh\nCastle in the reigns of Edward the Sixth, Mary and Elizabeth, with the\nLady Jane, his wife. Behind him are represented his nine sons and seven\ndaughters in the attitude of prayer. Many of his sons rendered\nthemselves conspicuous in public life, and even \u201cdid the state some\nservice.\u201d William Myddleton, his third son, was a post captain in the\nBritish navy, and behaved with great coolness and wisdom when sent to\nreconnoitre the Spanish fleet off the Azores in 1591. He was one of the\nfirst persons who smoked tobacco publicly in England, and was a poet of\neminence in his day. Thomas, the fourth son, was Lord Mayor of London,\nand founder of the Chirk Castle family in this county. And, Sir Hugh\nMyddleton, the sixth son, was a person whose useful life would impart a\nlustre to the greatest family. This was the enterprising individual who\n\u201csmote the rock\u201d and brought the waters of the New River into London.\n\nA mural monument vainly attempts to perpetuate the fame of Humphrey\nLlwyd, the scholar and antiquary. This remarkable person is celebrated\nas a master of eloquence, an excellent rhetorician, and a sound\nphilosopher. In the art of medicine and study of antiquities his\nknowledge appears to have been unconfined. Camden eulogises his memory.\nHis friend, Ortelius, owes to him his map of England; and some of the\nmost rare and valuable works in the British Museum were collected by\nLlwyd for his brother-in-law, Lord Lumley. He was born in the town of\nDenbigh in the year 1527, and died at the early age of forty-one. The\naltar tomb of Sir John Salisbury is a rich specimen of monumental\narchitecture. In the cemetery surrounding the church is a slab to the\nmemory of Twm y Nant, the Cambrian Shakspeare, who died in the year 1810,\nat the age of seventy-one years. (See account of Denbigh Castle, p. 72.)\n\n\n\nABER WATERFALL.\n\n\nTHE little village of Aber is situated on the coast of Caernarvonshire,\nat the foot of a steep green hill, against which the tower of the little\nchurch appears relieved, and forms a useful landmark to travellers who\nventure to cross the Lavan sands and ferry from Beaumaris. In foggy\nweather they are directed in their dangerous journey by the tolling of\nthe church bell. The church and inn constitute nearly the whole of the\nbuildings, public and private, in this sequestered spot. At a little\ndistance from the village, and in the bwlch or entrance of a grand\ndefile, stands an artificial mount, anciently the site of a palace\nbelonging to Llewellyn ap Gryffydd. William de Breos, a powerful lord in\nthe reign of Henry the Third, happening to fall into the hands of\nLlewellyn, at the siege of Montgomery, was conducted by him to his castle\nat Aber, and detained there a state prisoner for a considerable time.\nAfter his liberation suspicions of jealousy began to haunt the prince\u2019s\nmind, and with a baseness which nothing but that hateful passion could\ncreate, invited De Breos to return to Aber as a guest; and, under the\nguise of friendship, violated all laws of princely honour and hospitality\nby hanging up his guest at the palace gate. While the luckless lord was\nsuspended from the tree, Llewellyn is said to have asked his princess, in\na taunting manner, what would she give to see her lover; and leading her\nto the window, pointed out to her the lifeless body of De Breos.\nTradition preserves this tale in a few bardic lines, thus translated:\n\n Lovely princess, said Llewellyn,\n What will you give to see your Gwillim?\n Wales and England and Llewellyn\n I\u2019d freely give to see my Gwillim, &c.\n\nIn a field now called Caer y Gwillim Dd\u00fb, or the field of Black William,\na cave is shown in which De Breos is believed to have been interred. The\nlife of the Princess Joan, both before and after this cruel tragedy,\ncontradicts the unworthy suspicions of her lord.\n\nAber was also the favourite residence of Dafydd ap Llewellyn, who,\nsinking beneath a weight of afflictions, expired here in the year 1246,\nand was interred in the abbey of Conway. The royal palace occupied the\nsite of an ancient fort, auxiliary to the castle of Caer-Hun, in\nprotecting the pass of Bwlch y ddau ffaen.\n\nA noble glen at right angles, nearly with the line of coast, opens\ntowards the Rhaidar mawr, or Great Cataract of Aber. Precipitous hills\nclose in on either side, and all egress seems denied in the remote\ndistance. Down the front of Maes y Gaer, a height of one hundred feet\nand upwards, the waters are thrown with vast impetuosity, and dashed from\nthe lower part of the fall with a wonderful horizontal projection. The\nsuddenness of the break, over which the cascade tumbles, leads many an\ninnocent victim to a painful termination of its existence, and the gloomy\ncharacter of the picture is generally increased by the shattered remains\nof some poor animal numbered amongst the rocks at the foot of the great\nfall.\n\n \u2014\u201cthe roused up river pours along,\n Resistless, roaring dreadful, down it comes\n From the rude mountain and the mossy wild,\n Tumbling through rocks abrupt, and sounding far.\u201d\n\n THOMSON.\n\n\n\nLLYN GWYNANT.\n\n\nTHIS is one of two fine lakes occupying the beautiful vale between\nBeddgelert and Dyffryn Mymbre, or Capel Curig. It washes the lowest\nvisible part of Snowdon\u2019s base, and is supplied by a noble cataract\nissuing from Ffynnon las, {66} one of the pools in the dark recesses of\nthe great mountain. The hills around it, though picturesque and lofty,\nare not sufficiently broken for sublimity. On the southern extremity of\nthe lake some fragments of a building are still discernible, confidently\nbelieved to be the ruins of a chapel erected by Madoc, the son of Owen\nGwynedd, who dwelt here previous to his emigration to South America. The\nvale here contracts, and the grand mountain masses rapidly close in,\nforming the hollow of \u201cCwn Llan,\u201d where Snowdon is observed to tower with\ngreater majesty than in any other position. Beneath his darkening front,\nand encompassed by a noble amphitheatre of mountains, is Plas Gwynant,\nthe truly romantic seat of Mr. Vaudrey. At this precise spot the beauty\nof the scenery increases wonderfully, and the spectator is lost in an\nendless variety of rock, and wood, and flood, and mountain. Llanberis\nVale may be more sublime, no valley in Wales is equally beautiful. Nor\nis the accompaniment of lake wanting here. Lyn Dinas now opens to the\nview, with its dark brown surface and verdant banks. At its extremity\nrises a remarkable hill commanding the whole vale, whose rough, bold\nsides are in unison with the surrounding objects. Here are the ramparts\nof a fortress, which frowned, from its precipices, over the dark waters\nof the lake, and commanded the narrow avenues of the valley. This is the\nDinas Emrys, where\n\n Prophetic Merlyn sat, when to the British king\n The changes long to come auspiciously he told.\n\nHere Vortigern retired, disgusted with the treachery of his Saxon allies;\nand being frustrated in his first essays to raise a fortress, by some\ninvisible hand, consulted all the wise men of the age, who assured him,\nthat his palace would always want stability until sprinkled with the\nblood of one \u201cwithout a father born.\u201d In the town of Caermarthen the\nchild Merlin was found, the circumstances of whose life corresponded with\nthe advice of the elders. The harmless boy was ordered to be sacrificed,\nbut his questions so confounded the base advisers of his death, that he\nobtained both life and liberty. The legend is thus embodied in poetic\ntranslation by Drayton:\n\n \u201cTo that mighty king, which rashly undertook\n A strong walled tower to rear, those earthly spirits that shook\n The great foundation still, in dragon\u2019s horrid shape,\n That dreaming wizard told, making the mountain gape\n With his most powerful charms, to view those caverns deep.\n And from the top of Bridd, so high and wondrous steep,\n Where Dinas Emrys stood, shew\u2019d where the serpents fought,\n The _white_ that tore the _red_; from whence the prophet wrought\n The Briton\u2019s sad decay, then shortly to ensue.\u201d\n\n\n\nLLANGOLLEN. {68}\n\n\nTHE character of Llangollen Vale is peculiar. The hills on either side\nare steep and lofty, and descend abruptly, though in verdant lawns, to\nthe channel of the Dee. Although it may be considered to extend a length\nof ten or twelve miles, yet such is the extraordinary sinuosity of its\nform, that it hardly admits a prospect of half that extent or distance.\nThe village has partaken largely of the benefits resulting from good\npublic roads, and has progressed with much rapidity. It is more visited\nby tourists than any other part of the principality. The church, a\nhandsome structure, is dedicated to Saint Collen, and from the cemetery\nis seen the much admired view of the old bridge across the Dee, with rich\naccompaniments of wood and rock, and the fine back-ground of Dinas Bran.\nAbout four miles from the village the vale expands, and discloses a scene\nof inexpressible beauty. Here the noble aqueduct of Pont-y-Cysyllte, on\na scale so vast as to approach the character of a natural creation, is\nthrown from mountain to mountain. It extends a length of nine hundred\nand eighty feet, and is sustained by twenty piers one hundred and sixteen\nfeet in height from the bed of the river Dee, the span of the intervening\narches being forty-five feet. At each end are spacious embankments, now\nclothed with the richest foliage; and the old bridge across the river has\nnot only lent its name to the great work, but has made a sacrifice of its\nbeauty and publicity, being concealed and quite eclipsed by the towering\nstructure above it. The object of its construction, as well as the\nmeritorious exertions of its originators, are fully set forth in the\nfollowing inscription graven on the central pier:\n\n The Nobility and Gentry of the adjacent counties\n having united their efforts with the great commercial\n interests of this country, in creating an intercourse and\n union between England and Wales, by a navigable\n communication of the three rivers, Severn, Dee, and Mersey,\n for the mutual benefit of agriculture and trade, caused\n the first stone of this Aqueduct of Pont-y-cysyllty to\n be laid on the 25th day of July, 1795; when Richard Myddleton,\n of Chirk, Esq. M.P. one of the original patrons of the Ellesmere\n Canal,\n was Lord of the Manor, and in the reign of our sovereign George III.\n When the equity of the laws and security of property promoted the\n general welfare of the nation; while the arts and sciences flourished\n by his patronage, and the conduct of civil life was improved by his\n example.\n\nThis inscription is doubtless true, and conveys a rational moral; but the\nwriter forgot that artists and men of science deserve, as a reward for\ntheir great services, at least, the introduction of their names upon such\ncommemorative tables. Mr. Telford furnished the design, and the contract\nfor its erection was fulfilled by Wilson.\n\n [Picture: Llangollen vale & aqueduct; Plas Newydd; Denbigh Castle.\n London. Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\n\n\nPLAS-NEWYDD, LLANGOLLEN.\n\n\nTHE history of the late occupants of this beautiful little cottage is at\nvariance with the censure of the poet\u2019s Angelina on the quality of\nfriendship. Lady Eleanor Butler, daughter of the Earl of Ormond, was\nborn in Dublin, and almost from her cradle had been an orphan. Wealthy,\nbeautiful, and nobly sprung, her hand was sought by persons of rank and\nfortune equal to her own; but to all addresses of that description she\nexpressed at once her disinclination. Although she openly avowed this\ntaste for independence, no woman was ever more distinguished for\nmildness, modesty, and all those feminine graces which adorn and give\ninterest to the sex. Miss Ponsonby, a member of the noble family of\nBesborough, had been an early associate of Lady Eleanor; and, possibly,\nit may have contributed in some degree to cement their growing\nfriendship, the incidental circumstance of both having been born in the\nsame city, upon the same day and year, and being both bereaved of their\nparents at precisely the same period. Minds of so much sensibility soon\nmistook their fancies for realities, and rapidly concluding that they\nwere destined for a life of independence, at the early age of seventeen\nvowed eternal friendship and devotion to each other for the residue of\ntheir lives. At the age of twenty-one, when the arm of the law rescued\nthem from the friendly detention of their relatives, they withdrew to the\nsolitary little cottage of Plas-Newydd, never to return again to the gay,\nglittering world of fashion, or the country which gave them birth.\nHaving enlarged and decorated their rural dwelling, laid out and planted\ntheir grounds, the selection of a library became an early care. Here\nmuch time was spent; and the glowing language of Miss Seward, a friend\nand frequent guest at Plas-Newydd, bears a high testimony to the\nphilosophic quality of their minds. \u201cAll that is grateful, all that is\nattached, will be ever warm from my heart towards each honoured and\naccomplished friend, whose virtues and talents diffuse intellectual\nsunshine that adorns and cheers the loveliest of the Cambrian\nvales.\u201d\u2014Letter 38.\n\nThe habits and manners of the \u201cLlangollen ladies\u201d were frank and open,\nand their hospitality of the most liberal kind. They visited and\nreceived the neighbouring gentry until the \u201cweight of years pressed heavy\non them.\u201d Madame de Genlis and the Mademoiselle D\u2019Orleans, are to be\nnumbered amongst their visiters; and it was here that intellectual being\nfirst heard the wild notes of our \u00c6olian harp, of which she remarks, \u201cit\nis natural for such an instrument to have originated in a country of\nstorms and tempests, of which it softens the manners.\u201d\n\nUpwards of half a century these amiable companions graced the valley of\nLlangollen, extending a cheerful hospitality to their numerous guests,\nand exercising a benevolence the most unlimited towards the most\nfriendless of their neighbours. At length they were called before the\nthrone of brightness and purity, at the advanced ages of seventy-two and\nseventy-seven. Their remains are deposited in a vault in Llangollen\ncemetery, where the body of Mrs. Mary Carroll, their faithful servant,\nhad been laid at rest before them.\n\n\n\nDENBIGH CASTLE.\n\n\nTHE castle of Denbigh (_Dinbach_, the little fort) occupies the crown of\na rocky eminence on the south side of the noble vale of Clwyd, and\ncommanding an extensive prospect over that rich and beautiful vein of\ncountry. This impregnable fortress, with one thousand pounds in lands,\nwas granted by Edward the First to Davydd, the brother of Llewellyn, as a\nmarriage portion with the Earl of Derby\u2019s widow, whom he espoused at the\nking\u2019s request. Davydd forfeited these grants by his rebellion, which\nenabled Edward to reward one of his English followers with this noble\nestate. The fortunate grantee was Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and of\nDenbigh, who had married the daughter and sole heiress of Long-sword,\nEarl of Salisbury, by whom he had two sons, Edmund and John, who both\ndied young, one of them by a fall into a very deep well within the castle\nof Denbigh; and a daughter named Alicia, espoused by Thomas Plantagenet,\nEarl of Lancaster, who, in right of this lady, became Earl of Lincoln and\nof Sarum, Lord of Denbigh, Halton, Pomfret, and constable of Chester\nCastle. The melancholy death of his son Edmund so afflicted the earl,\nthat Leland assures us it caused him to desert his proud castle without\ncompleting its great design. Upon the attainder of Thomas of Lancaster,\nson-in-law of Lacy, the lordship of Denbigh was conferred upon Hugh\nD\u2019Espencer, a favourite of Edward the Second; but this unpopular person\nbeing also cut off by violence, Roger Mortimer obtained a grant of his\nestates, in fulfilment of a promise made to his mother by Edward the\nThird, before he ascended the throne, \u201cthat he would bestow one thousand\npounds upon her son if ever he should succeed to the crown of England.\u201d\nThe proprietorship of this impregnable rock seems to have inspired its\nlords with ideas of independence, uniformly growing up into rebellion.\nMortimer was infected with the same anti monarchical notions, and met\nwith a similar fate. The succession of tragedies was at length arrested\nby a Sir William Montacute, afterwards Earl of Salisbury, who continued a\ngrateful and zealous adherent of the crown. Salisbury dying without\nissue, and the attainder of Mortimer being reversed, Denbigh was\nrestored, by marriage, to the house of York, and, consequently, to the\ncrown once more.\n\nQueen Elizabeth bestowed the lordship of Denbigh upon her favourite\nLeicester, who did not conciliate the affections of the Welsh people with\nthe same zeal he did those of his royal mistress, and an insurrection of\nthe tenantry was the consequence of his tyrannical government. In the\nyear 1696 a similar unpopular grant was made of the lordships of Denbigh,\nBromfield, and Yale to the Earl of Portland; but the resistance given to\nthe investment of the grantee by the Welsh gentry was so decided, that\nparliament petitioned the crown to reverse the grant.\n\nEdward the Fourth, while Duke of York, sustained a siege here from the\narmy of Henry the Sixth, and ultimately effected his escape. Charles the\nFirst lodged in the castle for a short period after his retreat from\nChester; and the Siambr y Brennin, or king\u2019s apartments, though totally\nruined, are still pointed out. The Welsh, however, have greater cause of\nself-gratulation, and may point to this monument of departed power with\nmore pride, from the gallant defence which they made from its walls,\nunder the conduct of the brave William Salisbury, against the\nparliamentary forces, than from any adventitious circumstance involved in\nits sad and eventful history.\n\nThe ruins are of great extent, and the grand portal is nearly entire; but\nfrom the mode of its erection, as well as the means of its destruction,\nthey afford but little that is picturesque in their appearance. The\nground plan was at first surrounded by double walls, parallel to each\nother, and distant only by six or eight feet, the intermural space was\nthen filled up with rubble stone and hot mortar, which on cooling became\na solid conglomerate. Upon the barbarous dismantling of the castle,\nafter the Restoration, which was done by springing a mine of gunpowder\nbeneath it, the walls separated and fell from the grouting, exposing a\nmass of shattered fragments, without the advantage of a single tree or\nany impending object to throw a relieving shadow over the melancholy\nheap.\n\nNear to the grand entrance of the castle stand the side walls of an\nunfinished church, one hundred and seventy feet in length, and pierced by\nmany spacious windows. These were raised by the Earl of Leicester, and\ndestined for the celebration of the reformed service; but he did not\nlike, or, as others say, did not live to visit his oppressed Welsh\ntenantry, and left this pious work unfinished. A subscription was some\nyears afterwards set on foot, and ample funds obtained for roofing over\nthe walls, but the Earl of Essex, on his way to Ireland, procured a loan\nof the sum collected, and no effort was ever after made to save the whole\nfrom falling to decay.\n\nAn interesting and national spectacle was exhibited on the bowling-green\nunder the castle walls of Denbigh, in the autumn of 1828; it is called in\nWelsh an Eistedfodd, and means a meeting of the bards. This is an\ninstitution of ancient origin, and was formerly held under a precept or\ncommission from the crown, directed to the principal inhabitants in the\ndistrict where the meeting was intended to be held. The latest royal\nmandate for the holding of an Eistedfodd was issued by Queen Elizabeth,\nand directed to the ancestors of some of the most respectable families\nnow resident in Flint and Denbigh shires. The bardic assemblage of 1828\nwas accompanied by circumstances of a very peculiar and gratifying\ncharacter, and the remembrance of it will long be cherished by all\nCambrians who witnessed it, with feelings of the deepest and warmest\nenthusiasm. The verdant platform of the bowling-green commands one of\nthe richest and happiest prospects in nature; the eye sweeps down the\ngreen hills on the south, and passing over the noble and broad valley of\nthe Clwyd, climbs rapidly the Clwydian hills, where it finds an index to\na brighter prospect in the national monument on Moel Ffammau. Here a\nhandsome obelisk on the highest of the hills commemorates the fiftieth\nyear of the eventful reign of King George the Third. This accidental\ncircumstance gave an additional interest to this bardic meeting, for, by\na singular coincidence, Sir E. Mostyn, a descendant of Sir Piers, one of\nthe persons named in the precept of Elizabeth, was president of the\nEistedfodd. A noble individual, the representative of the brave William\nSalisbury, the defender of the castle, graced the assemblage by his\npresence. A dignitary of the church, who embodied those gallant actions\nin a valuable history, judged some of the bardic effusions, and a royal\nprince looked gratefully over the heads of an innocent and happy people\ntowards the monument which their loyalty and affection had raised to his\nvenerable father.\n\n [Picture: Valle Crucis Abbey; Ruthin Castle; Wynnstay. London.\n Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\n\n\nVALLE CRUCIS ABBEY.\n\n\nTHE Vale of Crucis opens into the beautiful scenery of Llangollen, about\ntwo miles from the little village. Fancy cannot paint a scene more\nsuited to the indulgence of solemn thought. It is the spot which a\nrecluse, enamoured of the great scenes of nature, where the eye is\ncontinually presented with sublime ideas, where every object contributes\nto soothe, but not transport the mind, would select as an habitation of\ncheerful solitude. In the days of its greatness it must have been a\nplace consecrated to retirement, but now how much is the solitude of the\nscene heightened by the accompaniment of a ruined abbey shrouded in\nforest trees that wave over its mouldering towers,\u2014\n\n Say, ivy\u2019d Valle Crucis; time decay\u2019d\n Dim on the brink of Deva\u2019s wandering floods,\n Your ivy\u2019d arch glittering through the tangled shade,\n Your gray hills towering o\u2019er your night of woods;\n Deep in the vale recesses as you stand,\n And, desolately great, the rising sigh command:\n Say, lonely ruin\u2019d pile, when former years\n Saw your pale train at midnight altars bow,\n Saw superstition frown upon the tears\n That mourn\u2019d the rash, irrevocable vow,\n Were one young lip gay Eleanora\u2019s {77} smile?\n Did \u201cZara\u2019s look serene one tedious hour beguile?\u201d\n\nThe foundation of the Cistercian Abbey of Valle Crucis is attributed to\nGryffydd ap Madoc Maelor, Lord of Bromfield and Yale, about the year\n1200; considerable parts of both church and abbey still remain. The\nformer was cruciformed, and exhibits several styles of architecture. The\neastern end is the most ancient; it is adorned by three lancet slips,\nforming one grand window. The entrance was in the west beneath a broad\nand beautifully ornamented window, above which is a smaller one of a\nmarigold form, decorated with tracery and fret work, and under it may be\ndiscovered the following inscription:\n\n A.D.A.M. D.N.S.\u2014fecit hoc opus, pace beat\u00e2 quiescat. Amen.\n\nThe abbey and cloisters are more imperfect, the latter evidently built in\na rich and ornamental style of architecture, well calculated to shed a\n\u201cdim religious light,\u201d but now desecrated into a farm house and offices.\n\n\n\nRHUTHIN CASTLE.\n\n\nRHUTHYN, or (Rhudd-Din, the red fort), is placed upon a gentle eminence\non the south side of the vale of Clwyd, backed by wooded hills, and is\none of the best and most agreeable towns in North Wales. It has\nundergone much modern improvement, and is possessed of several ancient\nendowments and privileges. The great sessions for the county are held\nhere in a very elegant modern hall, faced with cut stone, and accurately\nfinished in the interior. The church is spacious and architectural,\ndesigned and finished in an excellent style. A range of alms houses\nsurround the churchyard, and represent the ancient hospital; and adjacent\nto the mansion of the warden is the free school, richly endowed by\nGabriel Goodman, D.D. whose monument is set up against the north wall of\nthe church.\n\nSome doubt appears to exist as to the foundation of a castle here\nanciently, the Welsh name \u201cCastell g\u00f4ch yn gwernfor,\u201d indicating a\nfortress of earlier date than any erected by the Saxons. The general\nbelief, however, is, that Reginald de Grey, second son of Lord Grey de\nWilton, had a grant of the lordship of Rhuthyn, then embracing nearly the\nwhole vale of Clwyd, as a reward for his services in reducing the ancient\nBritons. This great captain built the noble castle and enclosed the\ntown, and, to secure the quiet enjoyment of his grant, did homage to\nEdward the Second at Chester in the year 1301. A drawing preserved\namongst the manuscripts in the British Museum exhibits the magnitude and\nstateliness of De Grey\u2019s castle, and fully justifies the wordy\ndescription of the honest Churchyard:\n\n \u201cThis castle stands on rocke much like red bricke,\n The dykes are cut with toole through stonie cragge,\n The towers are hye, the walles are large and thicke,\n The worke itself would shake a subject\u2019s bagge.\u201d\n\nBoth castle and lordship continued in the posterity of De Grey until the\nreign of Henry the Seventh, when, by a special compact, George Grey, Earl\nof Kent, and Lord of Rhuthyn, assigned them to the crown. From this\nperiod until the reign of Elizabeth this stately fabric was suffered to\ndecay, but was then new roofed and entirely restored by Ambrose, Earl of\nWarwick, on whom the queen bestowed it. From the Warwick family it\npassed to the Myddletons of Chirk Castle, by the marriage of Charlotte,\ndaughter of Sir Thomas Myddleton, who had for her first husband an Earl\nof Warwick. The lordship has since continued in this family, and the\nrights are exercised by one of the coheiresses of the late Richard\nMyddleton, Esq.\n\nA modern castle has arisen from the ruins, the ancient ground plan being\npursued with the assistance of the drawing before alluded to. The\nrestoration does not extend over the entire area, yet forms a truly\nlordly residence. A reference to the original plan indicated the\nexistence of a well in the centre of the rocky citadel, where, after a\ncareful examination, it was at length discovered, built around with\nstone, and having a depth of nearly one hundred feet.\n\n\n\nWYNNSTAY.\n\n\nTHE noble demesne of Wynnstay, the seat of Sir Watkyn Williams Wynne,\nBart. is situated at the eastern extremity of the vale of Llangollen, in\nan open and level, though elevated district. The grounds owe much to the\ntaste and magnificent ideas of its successive proprietors, and the\nembellishments, that have been added year after year present now a\nwonderful and beautiful association, their grandeur being accompanied, as\nthe scenery of all private parks usually is, with an air of melancholy.\nThe Hall is a spacious but not a regular building. It consists of an\nancient mansion, to which a part only of a new and extensive design has\nbeen attached. The old house stands upon the site of a British palace,\nonce the residence of Gryffydd ap Madoc Maelor, Lord of Bromfield and\nYale, and founder of the abbey of Valle Crucis. The new house, part of a\ngreater design, by Cockenell, was built by the first Sir Watkyn; it is a\nsimple regular elevation, possessing the great merit of capaciousness, a\nquality indispensably requisite in the Hall of a family conspicuous\nthrough generations for the exercise of a liberal hospitality. The\nprincipal apartment or state drawing-room is seventy feet in length by\nthirty in breadth, lighted by six spacious windows, the piers being\noccupied by richly ornamented cabinets filled with curiosities of various\ndescriptions. The ceiling, which is separated into sunk panels and\nbeautifully finished with stucco and gilding, is sustained by pillars of\nporphyry corresponding with the elegant pilasters which adorn the side\nwalls. In this splendid apartment are a few portraits by Sir Godfrey\nKneller, Vandyck, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Dahl, with a bust of the\n_Great_ Sir Watkyn, as he is sometimes styled, by Rysbach; and two\nadmirable busts by Nollekens, one of the present baronet, the other of\nLord Grenville. A few good landscapes are hung in the different\napartments, a portrait of Wilson by himself is a masterly performance,\nand an original three-quarter portrait of Flora Macdonald is both\ninteresting and clever. The library contains the remains of a choice\ncollection of manuscripts, the rest having unhappily been destroyed by an\naccidental fire; those that were preserved are chiefly biographical. In\nthe dining-room stands a large silver font about three feet in length,\nsupported by a pillar of the same height. This tribute of public merit\nwas presented to the present Sir Watkyn by the gentry of his native\ncounty, Denbigh.\n\nThe extent, elegance, and beauty of the demesne are more than\nproportionate to the arrangements of the mansion. A spacious park well\nstocked with red and fallow deer surrounds the house, it is adorned with\nnoble forest trees, and varied by well disposed artificial pieces of\nwater. The quarter of the demesne, called the \u201cBath Grounds,\u201d is a most\ngratifying specimen of landscape gardening. These delightful pleasure\ngrounds, laid out by Mr. Evans, consist of shrubberies, walks, and\nbowers, disposed with admirable taste. A noble sheet of water occupies\nthe centre of the wood; it is formed by the expansion of a little brook,\nartfully conducted over a rocky precipice at the extremity, where it is\nthrown into a pleasing and picturesque cascade. The Bath, which lends a\ndistinguishing name to this part of the demesne, is a limpid fountain\nconfined by an enclosure of cut stone. A beautiful Grecian temple,\nadorned with a portico of four columns, supporting an entablature and\npediment, stands close by it, and is beautifully reflected in its smooth\nwaters at the approach of evening. Near the entrance to the Bath Grounds\na fluted column of one hundred feet in height, surmounted by a funeral\nurn, presents an interesting memorial of maternal affection, and a\nbeautiful specimen of columnar architecture: it was designed by Mr.\nWyatt. The entablature is surrounded by a gallery approached by steps\nconcealed within the shaft, and the plinth is adorned with wreaths of oak\nleaves descending from the beaks of eagles. On the cenotaph is graven\nthis brief but feeling epitaph\u2014\n\n Filio optimo, Mater, eheu! superstes.\n\nIn a demesne of such extent, the creation and combination of so many\npersons, years, events, &c. many beautiful and romantic rides may\nnaturally be supposed to have been formed. The new approach, opened by\nthe present Sir Watkyn, and commencing at the iron bridge, leads to the\nHall by an avenue of three miles in length, through an amazing variety of\nsylvan scenery. But this is not the great boast of Wynnstay; the\nconsummation of all its wonders and its beauties is reserved for the vale\nof Nant y Belan. {83} Here nature has profusely displayed her charms.\nTwo steep banks, richly clothed with woods that dip into the torrent\u2019s\nbed and wave upon either side, form a long vista of inexpressible\ngrandeur. The winding Dee here pours her rapid flood along with awful\nmurmurings and at a fearful depth, then throwing herself headlong into a\ndeep dark pool, seems to rest, as if exhausted with the violence of the\nefforts by which it was attained. This grand picture forms but the\nforeground of an extensive landscape, wherein the middle distance is\noccupied by the happy scenery of Llangollen, and the remotest filled by\nthe British Alps. Upon the rock from whence this panorama is beheld, Sir\nWatkyn has erected a circular temple, to the memory of his brave\nassociates, his army of ancient Britons, who fell in the unhappy Irish\nrebellion of 1798.\n\nThe whole of this spacious demesne is enclosed by a stone wall nine miles\nin extent, and the principal entrance is through a straight avenue, one\nmile in length, overshadowed by aged oaks. Wattstay was the original\nname of this estate, so called from its situation upon Watt\u2019s Dyke, but\nexchanged for Wynnstay by Sir John, when it became his property by\nmarriage with Jane, daughter and heiress of Eyton Evans of Wattstay, Esq.\n\n [Picture: Chirk Castle; Llanrwst Church; Flint Castle. London.\n Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\nSir Watkyn is of the ancient Gwydyr stock, and traces his descent to Owen\nGwynedd, Prince of Wales. The Wynnstay branch has been united with some\nof the noblest families of England; the present baronet is married to the\nLady Harriet, daughter of the Earl of Powis, and sister of the Duchess of\nNorthumberland.\n\nThe manufacturing village of Ruabon, or Rhiwabon, lies immediately\noutside the demesne wall, and is inhabited by persons connected with the\niron foundries and coal pits of this mineral district. On a conspicuous\nheight above it, commanding a view of the vale of Llangollen, stands a\nhandsome square embattled tower of two stories, erected by the present\nowner of Wynnstay to commemorate the event of the field of Waterloo.\n\nThe posthumous honours paid to this ancient family have employed the\nchisels of the ablest sculptors, and adorn a temple which their\nmunificence has erected. The first Sir John of Wynnstay, who was the\ngrandson of Sir John of Gwydyr, is interred in Rhiwabon church, beneath,\nas Mr. York calls it, perhaps for the exercise of a pleasant\nalliteration, \u201ca mass and massacre of marble.\u201d The monument of Lady\nHarriet Somerset, first wife of Sir Watkyn, who died in 1769, is one of\n_Nollekens\u2019_ happiest designs; and on one side of the altar is a noble\nmonument, by Rysbach, of the first Sir Watkyn, who was killed by a fall\nfrom his horse, on the 26th of September, 1749. The image of this\neminent person\u2019s mind has been as feelingly pourtrayed by the classic Dr.\nKing, as the graces of his person are truly expressed by the chisel of\nthe artist.\n\nAn elegant baptismal font, of white marble, and resting on a tripod of\ndistinguished grace, was presented to the church and parish, along with\nthe excellent organ in the gallery, by the second Sir Watkyn, in the year\n1772.\n\n\n\nCHIRK CASTLE,\n\n\nTHE seat of Mrs. Myddleton Biddulph, stands in a spacious and noble\ndemesne, spreading over the sides and summit of a finely situated and\nisolated hill. It is an ancient building, uniting the castle with the\nmansion, in which strength and solidity have been consulted to the\nneglect or prejudice of grace and beauty. Its form is quadrangular,\nstrengthened by a massive flanking tower at each corner, and a fifth\nprojects from the principal front, through which a lofty archway passes,\ngiving admission to a court within. The dimensions of the court yard are\none hundred and sixty-five feet in length by one hundred in breadth,\nsurrounded on all sides by various apartments, the windows of which, for\nthe most part, open towards the enclosed area. A handsome arcade, which\nformerly occupied the basement on the east side, has been closed up and\nconverted into habitable rooms. The dungeon said to be as deep towards\nTartarus as the castle walls were reared towards Heaven, is still entire,\nstill furnished with its dread machinery, and its floor is reached by a\ndescent of two-and-forty steps. The great entrance of the castle was\noriginally protected by handsome and lofty iron palisades, having statues\nof Hercules and Mars on either side; but the former have been removed,\nand set up at the western entrance to the park, and the statues are\nprobably committed to the dungeon.\n\nThe principal apartments are both comfortable and elegant. The picture\ngallery, one hundred feet in length by twenty-two in breadth, is adorned\nwith portraits of illustrious persons, and of different members of the\nMyddleton family; amongst them are those of the great Duke of Ormond and\nof his son the Earl of Ossory. This was the virtuous stoic who censured\nthe corrupt age and court in which he moved by exclaiming on the early\ndecease of his favourite son, \u201cI would not exchange my dead son for any\nliving one in Europe.\u201d Besides portraits of Sir Thomas Myddleton, and\nhis daughter the Countess of Warwick, there are some rare landscapes in\nthe state rooms, painted by Wilson, and coloured on the spot from nature.\nThey are chiefly views in Chirk-Castle Park, and are very reflections of\nthe grayish tone of colouring so peculiar to Wales. Here is also a view\nof Pystil Rhaidar, in which the cataract appears falling into the _sea_,\nwhile a few _ships_ are seen sailing past it. The cause of this singular\nmisrepresentation is explained in this way: a foreign artist, not very\nfamiliar with the English language, was engaged to execute a painting of\nthis noble waterfall; but, when his work was completed, one of the first\npersons to whom he exhibited it observed, that a few _sheep_ at the foot\nof the fall would give animation to the whole. Willing to accept the\nadvice, but mistaking the adviser, the artist immediately introduced a\nfew _ships_ (sheeps) with the natural and necessary accompaniment of the\n_sea_.\n\nCastel Crogen, the original name of Chirk, was an ancient British\nfortress, and fell into the hands of Roger Mortimer, Justice of North\nWales, in the following manner. John Earl of Warren and Roger Mortimer\nEarl of Wigmore, being appointed guardians over the sons of Gryffydd ap\nMadoc, a partisan of Henry the Third and Edward the First, put their\nwards to death and seized upon their estates, Mortimer taking Nanheuddwy\nand Chirk, the portion of the younger child, and Warren possessing\nhimself of Bromfield, Yale, and Dinas Bran. A property held by so base a\ntitle required to be protected by powerful measures, and Mortimer thought\nit expedient to erect a strong castle at Chirk, on the site of the\nBritish fortress. The building was commenced in the year 1011, and\ncompleted in 1013. The crimes of Mortimer were punished by an\nignominious death in the Tower of London, but Chirkland continuing in his\nfamily, was sold by his grandson, John, to Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of\nArundel, whose son was appointed governor of the castle with a\ncontinuation of the grant, whereby Chirkland was again annexed to\nBromfield and Yale. Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, having espoused a\nsister of Lord Arundel, the estate passed over to him, but was\ntransferred to the Earl of Abergavenny, who had married another of the\nsisters of Lord Arundel, upon the Duke of Norfolk\u2019s disgrace and\nbanishment in 1397. By the marriage of Edward Nevil with the\ngranddaughter of the last proprietor it passed into his family, in the\nreign of Henry the Sixth. Sir William Stanley appears to have been the\nnext proprietor, upon whose untimely death it escheated to the crown.\nElizabeth bestowed it upon the Earl of Leicester, at whose death it\npassed into the possession of Lord Bletso, from whose son it was\npurchased by Sir Thomas Myddleton, Knt. in 1595, and is now possessed by\nhis descendant, Mrs. Myddleton Biddulph.\n\nPrevious to the year 1506 the castle was regularly garrisoned: during the\nusurpation it was besieged, and three of the towers battered down by\nCromwell\u2019s artillery. Sir Thomas Myddleton, the owner, defended himself\ngallantly, and was reimbursed by Charles the Second for his losses,\namounting to thirty thousand pounds, accompanied by an offer of elevation\nto a peerage, which honour he very modestly declined.\n\nThe view from the high grounds of the park is amazingly extensive,\ncommanding a prospect over seventeen different counties. A part of the\ngrounds, distinguished by the name of the \u201cBlack Park,\u201d derives its\nepithet from the death of a keeper, who, coming to the assistance of a\nyoung woman who was attacked by a stag, was himself gored to death by the\nferocious animal. The village of Chirk lies at the foot of the hill on\nwhich the castle stands. It consists of a few cottages built from\nagreeable rustic designs, and presents a neat and cheerful appearance.\nThe church is handsome, spacious, and adorned with a noble tower. The\ninterior is ornamented with monuments of the Chirk-Castle family; the\nbest and most interesting of which is erected to the memory of the famous\nSir Thomas Myddleton.\n\nThe little river Ceiriog, which separates England from Wales, flows\nthrough the valley of Chirk, and is crossed by a handsome aqueduct\nconveying the waters of the Ellesmere canal. This extremity of the\naqueduct is met by a tunnel passing under the hill, and carrying the line\nof navigation towards the aqueduct at Llangollen. A singular mound may\nbe observed on the brow of the hill hanging over the Ceiriog, and at a\nlittle distance from the church, it is obviously artificial, and is\ndoubtless a sepulchral barrow, such as are frequently found in other\nparts of the principality.\n\n\n\nLLANRWST CHURCH.\n\n\nTHE town of Llanrwst is situated on the eastern bank of the river Conway,\nin the beautiful and luxuriant vale to which it lends its name. The\nriver is broad, smooth, and shallow, except when swollen by the mountain\nfloods, which rise and fall with wonderful rapidity. One of the most\ncelebrated objects here is the famous shaking bridge, built from a design\nof Inigo Jones. It consists of three arches, the centre sixty feet span,\nand, if the crowns of the arches were not too high, would be a light,\nbeautiful, and ingenious work. The ceremony of shaking is performed by\ntwo persons upon the crown of the centre arch, first rocking themselves\nsufficiently to acquire a gentle momentum, and then falling back against\nthe great centre stone of the battlements; a person leaning against the\nopposite battlement will feel the tremulous motion communicated through\nthe whole masonry of the bridge. The view of Llanrwst vale from the\nbridge, and from the road leading to it on the Denbighshire side of the\nriver is of unexampled beauty. The Gwydyr woods clothe a precipitous\nmountain on the west, for a length of five miles, through which a bold\ncrag here and there is seen protruding with a fine effect. The opposite\nside is also finely wooded, and variegated with mansions, parks, meadow,\ncorn-land, and all that enriches a landscape. This perspective of the\nvale presents a composition embracing grandeur and magnificence in a high\ndegree, combined with scenes of great pastoral beauty.\n\nThe town possesses no architectural or other peculiar attractions, and\nfrom the lowness of its situation does not participate in the exquisite\nscenery with which it is surrounded. Its recommendations are of a less\nromantic though not less useful character, consisting in the excellence\nof its fairs and markets, and its convenient position for the conduct of\na profitable inland trade. The town and market-hall, the free school,\nand the almshouses {91} are its most ancient institutions of a public\nclass. The church is picturesquely placed on the bank of the river; and\nthe view of the valley, with the famous bridge in the foreground, enjoyed\nfrom the churchyard, is eminently beautiful. The church is dedicated to\nSaint Rystyd or Rwst, archbishop of London in the year 361, and one of\nthose who were present at the council of Arles. The ground on which it\nis built was given by Rhun ap Nefydd, in expiation of the foul murder of\nPrince Idwal, who was slain in Cwm Idwal, by order of his foster-father\nNefydd Haradd. The chief object of interest here is the Gwydyr chapel,\nadjoining the church, of which Inigo Jones was the architect, A.D. 1663,\nthe expense being defrayed by Sir Richard Wynne. The design is much\nadmired, and its restitution by Lord Willoughby D\u2019Eresby, representative\nof the ancient house of Gwydyr, is characteristic of a happy exertion of\nmunificence and taste. The carved roof is not part of Jones\u2019s design, it\nwas brought hither from the dissolved abbey of Maenan, three miles from\nLlanrwst. In this mausoleum of the Wynnes are some curious monuments,\nillustrative of history, and no mean specimens of the progress of the\narts at the period of their execution. A white marble tablet contains a\npedigree of the family from the time of Edward the First down to the year\nin which the chapel was erected. Underneath this pedigree is an\nexquisite portrait, engraved on brass, of Dame Sarah Wynne, daughter of\nSir Thomas Myddleton, of Chirk Castle, executed in a masterly style by\nWilliam Vaughan in the year 1671. On the south side are two pyramidal\ncolumns of variegated marble adorned with military insignia, one to the\nmemory of Meredyth; the other of Sir John Wynne, and his consort the Lady\nSidney, daughter of Sir William Gerard, chancellor of Ireland; and\nbetween the columnar monuments is a simple tablet to John ap Meredydd who\ndied in 1559.\n\nA fine effigiated tomb, sunk in the floor, represents Howel Coetmore ap\nGryffydd Vychan ap Dafydd Gam, in complete armour, his feet resting on a\nlion couchant. He was grandson of Gryffydd, {93} who lies interred in\nthe church of Bettws-y-coed, and proprietor of the Gwydyr estates, which\nwere purchased from one of his descendants by the Wynnes.\n\nHere also is preserved the stone coffin in which the remains of Llewellyn\nthe Great were deposited in the abbey of Conway; upon the dissolution of\nreligious houses in Wales it was removed here. A singular Latin\ninscription, of which the following is a translation, appears on a\nmonument in the pew belonging to the Davises of Cyffdd\u00fb; it is dedicated\nto the memory of Gryffydd Lloyd of Bryniog, and is supposed to have been\nwritten by himself,\n\n \u201cOnce the undeserving schoolmaster,\n Then the more undeserving lecturer,\n And last of all the most undeserving rector of this parish.\n Do not think, speak, or write any thing evil of the dead.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nFLINTSHIRE,\n\n\nTHE smallest of the six shires included within North Wales. It occupies\nan area of one hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty\nacres, and extends thirty-three miles in length and ten at its mean or\naverage breadth. The estuary of the river Dee and the waves of the Irish\nsea lave its shores on the east and north. Denbighshire joins it on the\nwest and south, and Cheshire on the east. A range of hills, the loftiest\nof which, Moel y Gaer, attains a height of one thousand and twenty feet\nabove the sea-level, extends from Prestatyn to Hawarden, and bisects the\nsurface of the county longitudinally. The section on the sea side is the\nrichest mineralogical district in the principality, and that on the land\nside yields an abundant agricultural return. The coal field occupies the\nparishes of Whitford, Holywell, Flint, Northop, and part of Hawarden; and\nconsiderable quantities are exported from Mostyn quay for the consumption\nof the principality. Pure limestone exists along the sea coast, and\nconstitutes a valuable export. Lead ore, lapis calaminaris, zinc,\npseudo-galena, petro-silex, and other valuable minerals are found in the\nHolywell and Mold districts. Many of these are wrought at the towns\nalong the coast, the supply of fuel being abundant, from which\ncircumstance this small county has acquired considerable wealth. The\nMarquis of Westminster, Lord Mostyn, Lord Dinorben, and Sir Edward Mostyn\nare amongst the wealthy mineral proprietors. The scenery here is less\ninteresting than in the adjoining shires; it possesses less variety of\nsurface, less plantation, fewer rivers, and there is a partial denudation\nof the surface from the mine waste, which completely poisons vegetation.\nThe termination of the beautiful vale of Clwyd, and the embouchure of its\nmeandering river, lie within the county boundaries, and the Allen makes a\ncircuitous, but not picturesque, course through the south-eastern\nhundreds. Flintshire includes the respectable manufacturing towns of\nHolywell, Mold, and Hawarden, and returns one member to the imperial\nparliament. The boroughs of Flint, Caergwrle, St. Asaph, and Holywell,\nenjoy the privilege of electing a second; the two last mentioned places\nderiving that advantage from a clause in the Reform Bill of 1832.\n\n\n\nFLINT CASTLE.\n\n\nFLINT, an ancient borough town and the capital of the shire, is situated\nupon the banks of the navigable estuary of the river Dee, and was\nanciently an important military position and valuable maritime situation.\nIt was probably a Roman citadel or encampment, afterwards adopted by the\nancient British as being happily circumstanced both for commerce and\nsecure habitation; and, lastly, selected by the conqueror of Wales,\nEdward the First, as an appropriate site for the erection and\nestablishment of a vast military dep\u00f4t. The borough was erected in the\nyear 1283, and is contributory with Holywell, Rhuddlan, Caerwys,\nCaergwrle, and St. Asaph in returning one member to parliament. The\ndecay of trade here, and the vast increase of commercial prosperity in\nthe vicinity of Mold, in addition to its more central position, have\noccasioned the transfer of the great sessions from Flint to that town.\nHere, however, all prisoners are confined, and the county jail, an\nadmired and clever design by Turner, stands in a healthy elevated\nposition within the courtyard, of the ancient castle. Provision has been\nmade in the interior for the infliction of that most cruel of all species\nof earthly punishments, solitary confinement; but the habitual morality\nof the Cambrians has superseded the necessity of its operation, and the\nconstitution of Britain, which disclaims all species of torture, must\nassuredly shrink from this, the most merciless of all. The following\ninscription, which is engraven on a tablet above the principal gate, was\nwritten by the learned and accomplished Mr. Pennant:\u2014\n\n \u201cIn the twenty-fifth year of his Majesty, George the Third, in the\n Sheriffalty of Thomas Hanmer, Bart. this prison was erected, instead\n of the ancient loathsome place of confinement, in pity to the misery\n of even the most guilty, to alleviate the sufferings of lesser\n offenders, or of the innocent themselves, whom the chances of human\n life may bring within these walls. Done at the expense of the\n country: aided by the subscriptions of several of the gentry, who, in\n the midst of most distressful days, voluntarily took upon themselves\n part of the burden, in compassion to such of their countrymen on whom\n fortune had been less bounteous of her favours.\u201d\n\nThe castle, build by Edward the First, and the outer walls of which are\nstill entire, is placed upon a freestone rock jutting into the river Dee,\nin a north-east direction from the town, with which it was originally\nconnected by a drawbridge falling against the barbacan, a fine remain of\nthe Norman style, but now nearly demolished. The first design consisted\nof a square building, flanked at three corners by massive towers, with a\nkeep or citadel, called the double tower, removed a little distance from\nthe remaining angle of the square. This must have been an inaccessible\nprison before the invention of gunpowder; it was approached from the\ncastle court by a drawbridge, and was formed by concentric walls six feet\nin thickness, the intermural gallery being eight feet wide, and\nencircling a central apartment of about twenty feet in diameter.\n\nThe foundation of Flint Castle is attributed by all chroniclers to Edward\nthe First, and dated in 1275. About six years after its completion it\nwas surprised, and nearly wrested from Edward, in a sudden insurrection\nof the Welsh, and was only relieved by the greatest activity and courage\non the part of the English king. The reception of Piers Gaveston, in the\nyear 1302, was the next historic event of consequence that occurred here,\nthis was followed by the appointment of the Black Prince as governor,\nA.D. 1335. In the year 1385 Flint Castle, with some lands of the Lord\nAudley, were granted, by Richard the Second, to De Vere, Earl of Oxford,\nwhom he farther honoured by creating Earl of Dublin and Lord Chief\nJustice of Chester. On the attainder of De Vere, Percy, Earl of\nNorthumberland, extorted a grant of this castle from his unsuspecting\nmonarch, where he afterwards basely betrayed him into the hands of his\nrival Bolingbroke.\n\nRichard was in Ireland when he received an invitation from the\ntreacherous Percy to meet his rival, who professed his only objects to be\nthe restoration of his property, inquiry into the death of his uncle, and\nthat the kingdom should be allowed a parliament. To all which reasonable\nrequests the king consented; and passing over to Conway, and thence, at\nthe pressing solicitation of the false Northumberland who accompanied\nhim, advancing towards Flint, he met, in the recesses of the hills at\nPenmaen Rh\u00f4s, a party of soldiers assembled. At length, perceiving that\ntreachery was meant, he attempted to turn his horse round, but Percy\nspringing forward, grasped the bridle, and in this forcible manner\nconducted him to Rhuddlan Castle, where they dined, and thence to Flint.\nStowe details the interview at Flint between Richard and Lancaster in the\nfollowing circumstantial manner: \u201cThe Duke of Lancaster entered the\ncastle all armed, his helmet excepted; King Richard came down to meet\nhim, and the Duke, as soon as he saw the king, fell on his knees, and\ncoming nearer unto him, he kneeled a second time, with his hat in his\nhand; and the king then put off his hoode, and spoke first. \u2018Fair cousin\nof Lancaster, you are right wellcome.\u2019 The duke, bowing low to the\nground, answered, \u2018My lord, I am come before you sent for me, the reason\nwhy I will shewe you. The common fame among your people is such, that ye\nhave for the space of twenty, or two and twenty, years ruled them very\nrigorously: but, if it please our lord, I will helpe you to govern\nbetter.\u2019 The king answered, \u2018Fair cousin of Lancaster, sith it pleaseth\nyou, it pleaseth me well!\u2019 The duke then, with a high sharp voyce, bad\nbring forth the king\u2019s horses, and two little naggs, not worth fourtie\nfranks, were brought forthe; the king was set on the one, and the Earl of\nSalisbury on the other; and thus the duke brought them from Flint to\nChester; from whence, after one night\u2019s rest, they were conveyed to\nLondon.\u201d\n\nIn the civil wars of Charles the First\u2019s reign this fortress was\ngarrisoned for the king, having been repaired at the expense of Sir Roger\nMostyn, the governor. It was closely invested in 1643, by Colonel\nBrereton and Sir Thomas Myddleton, and held out until compelled to\nsurrender from want of food and ammunition, having obtained from the\nenemy the most honourable conditions. The royalists a second time crept\ninto possession, and defended themselves for a while, but yielded at last\nto the disciplined forces of General Mytton. In the month of December,\n1646, the castles of Flint, Hawarden, and several others in the\nprincipality, were dismantled by the orders of parliament.\n\n\n\nRHUDDLAN CASTLE.\n\n\nTHE time-decayed honours of Rhuddlan frown over the fragments of monastic\ngreatness, and throw the little dwellings of the village into an\ninsignificant obscurity by the effect of contrast. The lofty and\nsubstantial towers of this military relic are rendered more conspicuous\nby the remarkable flatness of the circumjacent district, and as its\naccompaniments are devoid of any picturesque attractions, it relies\nwholly on historic and classic recollections for the interest it\nuniformly excites. The little place itself, though an ancient\ncontributary borough, retains nothing of wealth or comfort in its\nexterior. It boasts but one tolerable street, a range of warehouses for\nthe storage of goods landed at the quays, and a handsome bridge of one\nlarge arch, and one auxiliary, erected in 1598. The Clwyd, which flows\nbelow the castle walls, and passes by the town, is navigable by vessels\nof small burden up to the wharfs of Rhuddlan, to which fortunate\ncircumstance the continuance of a modern settlement here is probably to\nbe attributed.\n\nNear the centre of the town, and on the north side of the high street,\nare situated the scanty remains of the hall in which King Edward once\nconvoked a parliament. They are now incorporated with the gabel of a\ncottage; one small doorway and the architrave of a pointed window forming\nall the witnesses that can be produced to identify the court in which the\nnever to be forgotten statute of Rhuddlan was enacted. The late Dean of\nSt. Asaph caused a tablet to be inserted in the only remaining wall of\nthe Rhuddlan Council Hall bearing this inscription: \u201cThis fragment is the\nremains of the building where King Edward the First held his parliament,\nin 1283, {101} in which was passed the statute of Rhuddlan, securing to\nthe principality of Wales its judicial rights and independence.\u201d\n\nThe abbey belonged to a monastery of black friars, and was founded about\nthe year 1268, it stood a little to the south-east of the castle, and its\nremains form part of the enclosure of a farmyard. Two pointed arches are\nstill entire, and an effigy in alto relievo, but much effaced, occupies a\nniche in one of the walls. An eminence, called Twt Hill, rises between\nthe castle and the site of the old abbey. It appears to have been\noriginally fortified and surrounded by a deep fosse, which embraced the\nabbey in its circuit. There is a tradition that it was from this mount\nthe castle was battered.\n\n [Picture: Rhuddlan Castle; Mostyn; St. Winifred\u2019s Well. London.\n Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\nThe castle of Rhuddlan, its sole surviving monument of grandeur, stands\non a rock overhanging the river Clwyd, and within a short distance of an\nancient British fortress, built by Llewellyn ap Sitsylt, who chose this\nas his chief place of residence, at the commencement of the eleventh\ncentury. In the year 1063, when Gryffydd ap Llewellyn was Prince of\nNorth Wales, this fortress was attacked and burned by Harold (afterwards\nKing of England), son of Godwin, Earl of Kent, in retaliation for\ninjuries committed by the Welsh upon some of the Saxon borderers. The\nBritons soon repaired a hold of so much consequence; it was their asylum\nwhenever they desired to avoid a conflict with the Saxons, and the\ndepository of spoils probably courageously, but not honourably, carried\noff from the borders. Robert, sirnamed De Rhuddlan from the event, the\nnephew and lieutenant of Hugh, Earl of Chester, unable to endure any\nlonger the incursions of the Rhuddlan men, took a signal vengeance upon\nthem, and even wrested the fortress out of their hands. He enlarged,\nstrengthened, and garrisoned the old castle; and having made this his\nprincipal quarters, here received the solicitations and importunities of\nGryffydd ap Cynan for aid against some of his own countrymen. Robert\ngranted Gryffydd\u2019s request, but learned too late that the interference of\nthe stranger in allaying domestic quarrels is not only thankless, but\noften even multiplies the number of our enemies. The Welsh, who had just\nbefore been at variance with each other, combining all their efforts,\ndirected their united power against Robert, burned his castle to the\nground, slew numbers of his men, and compelled him to consult his safety\nby flight.\n\nThe great fortress of Rhuddlan, which still exhibits the powerful\nresources of the founder, was erected by Henry the Second, from the very\nfoundation, and is completely Norman in its character. It is built of\nred stone, in a quadrangular form: the curtain walls are flanked by six\nenormous rounders, the walls of which are nine feet in thickness, having\nbut few loops or arrow slits. One of these, distinguished by the name of\nthe king\u2019s tower, is still entire, as well as three of the others. In\nfact, such is the amazing strength and thickness of the walls, the\ntenacity of the mortar with which they are cemented so great, the freedom\nfrom doors, windows, or any weakening aperture so complete, that the\nruins will not probably present a farther appearance of decay for\ncenturies to come. It is even a matter of uncertainty where the\nprincipal entrance was situated, the aperture between the two\nnorth-western turrets resembling, at this day, an accidental breach of\nsmall extent, more than the entrance of so vast a pile. Security alone\nappears to have been consulted by the founder; a sortie from the castle\nwas impracticable; the intromission of light was even jealously\npermitted, and the design seems to express a great prison erected to\nimmure some royal captive for the residue of his life.\n\nHugh Beauchamp was either grantee or governor, in the year 1169, when\nOwen Gwynedd and his brother Cadwalader, assisted by Rhys ap Gryffydd,\nsat down before the walls, and after a close blockade of two months\ncontinuance, compelled the famished garrison to surrender. It reverted\nagain in some peaceful moment to the English; but the Welsh having driven\nKing John almost wholly from the principality, compelled this, his last\nfortress in their country, to give way to the vigorous assaults of\nLlewellyn ap Jorwerth in the year 1214.\n\nFrom the expulsion of King John the Welsh continued in quiet possession\nof this border castle, until Llewellyn ap Gryffydd, declining to do\nhomage to Edward the First at Chester, called down the vengeance of that\ngreat king upon his fellow countrymen. Edward, at the head of a powerful\narmy immediately directed a march into Wales, when he laid the country\nwaste, and seizing Rhuddlan, amongst other places of strength, placed a\nstrong garrison within it. Here Edward resided for some time, and during\nhis sojourn taught the too credulous Welsh that candour is not always a\nquality inseparable from the character of princes. He here again\nperformed the conjurer who was to call up a prince of British birth,\ntheir fellow countryman, to preside over the Welsh. Here he enacted his\npolitic statute, and here his queen gave birth to a princess, the second\nof the royal race then born in Wales. {104} The possession of Rhuddlan\nwas included in the grant extorted from Richard the Second by the\nfaithless Percy, who detained the injured monarch here to dine, while he\nwas conveying him to Flint to deliver to his rival.\n\nIn the civil wars Rhuddlan held out for the king with that zeal which\ncharacterized the loyalty of the ancient Britons, through all that\nunnatural and bloody conflict. And the Cromwelians, as a further\nsecurity to their usurpation, dismantled every castle that had rendered\nitself conspicuous in the royal cause. In this general devastation the\ncastle of Rhuddlan shared, being dismantled in the month of December,\n1646.\n\nMorfa Rhuddlan, or Rhuddlan Marsh, is an extensive tract lying between\nthe town and the sea, and possessing a melancholy notoriety in the\nhistory of Wales. Here a most desperate and bloody battle was fought\nbetween the ancient Britons, headed by Caradoc, and the Saxons under\nOffa, King of Mercia, in which the former were defeated with frightful\nloss, and their king and general slain upon the field. The Saxons gave\nno quarter to those that fell into their hands after the battle, and even\ncarried their barbarous revenge still farther, by the cowardly\nassassination of all the children of their enemies who were so\nunfortunate as to become their captives. There is a pathetic air,\npreserved in the relics of Welsh poetry, which was composed by the bards\nupon the death of the brave Caradoc. It possesses a remarkable\nsolemnity, simplicity, and plaintive harmony. The custom of celebrating\nthe fame of heroes, who fell in defence of their country, is of very\nancient date in other nations as well as in Cambria. \u201cCelt\u00e6 Hymnorum\nsuorum argumentum faciunt, viros qui in pr\u00e6liis fortiter pugnantes\noccubuerunt.\u201d \u00c6lian.\n\n\n\nMOSTYN HALL, FLINTSHIRE,\n\n\nA VERY ancient seat belonging to the Honourable Edward Mostyn Lloyd\nMostyn, eldest son of the Right Honourable the Lord Mostyn, of Pengwern.\nIt is situated near the sea-shore, in the parish of Whiteford and county\nof Flint. How long the Mostyn (formerly written Moston) family have been\nseated here is uncertain, and the date of the first ancestorial chivalry\nat this place is involved in equal doubt. To the exertions of the\naccomplished and ingenious Thomas Pennant, of Downing, the nearest\nneighbour of Mostyn, the public are indebted for the interesting little\nhistory of this curious mansion, which is every year removing farther\nfrom its primitive character by repairs or annexations. The principal\napproach to Mostyn is from the hamlet of Rhewl, through a long vista of\nvenerable forest trees. A sudden right-angled turn, into a shorter\navenue, discloses a view of the oldest part of the hall. The grounds\naround the house undulate gracefully, and are beautifully broken. Noble\noaks are scattered every where; magnificent beeches, clothed to the\nground, adorn the verdant slopes, that fall gently towards the sea in a\nnorth-easterly direction. It is somewhat singular that in such an aspect\nvegetation should be found so luxuriant; yet here, close to the water\u2019s\nedge, trees of various sorts possess an appearance of the greatest\nvigour.\n\nThe front,\n\n \u201cIf front it might be call\u2019d, that shape has none\n Distinguishable,\u201d\n\nconsists of the most ancient part of the hall. A lesser building is\nattached, designed as a symposium for the servants and retainers; and on\nthe outside, again, is annexed, in an irregular manner, the ancient\nchapel, now desecrated into sleeping apartments. The porch appears to\nhave been rebuilt in 1623, and is ornamented with the arms of four great\nalliances of the family, rudely cut in stone, and copied from the\nheraldic designs over the chimney-piece in the great hall. The most\nancient part of the house is certainly earlier than Henry the Sixth\u2019s\nreign, for Bolton Hall, in Yorkshire (the most antique seat we know of),\nis a mansion on a less scale, but exactly similar to this, and in that\nhouse, it is well known, the unfortunate prince concealed himself for a\nlength of time.\n\nThe great banqueting hall of the interior is a solemn gloomy apartment,\nfurnished with a dais or elevated stage at the upper end, with its long\ntable for the lord and his jovial company, and another on one side, where\nthe more humble participators of the good cheer were seated. The upper\nservants took their dinner on the dais, but the inferior at the\nside-table. The roof is lofty, and crossed by long beams. The _nen\nbren_, or top beam, was a frequent toast when the master\u2019s health was\nintended to be given, and \u201c_Jached y nen bren y Ty_\u201d {108} was the\ncordial phrase. The spacious chimney-piece is adorned with the arms of\nthe family and its alliances, properly emblazoned. The first coat\nbelongs to Jeuan Vychan, of Llys Pengwern, in Llangollen, who espoused\nAngharad, daughter and sole heiress of Howel ap Tudor, of Mostyn, in the\nreign of Richard the Second. It appears that Jeuan had farmed the estate\nof Mostyn, and wisely determined to turn his lease into a perpetuity, by\ngaining the affections of the heiress.\n\n Connubio junxit stabili, propriamque dicavit.\n\nThe arms of the Lady Angharad, who was directly descended from the Lords\nof Tegengle, occupy the next shield. The third is filled with the arms\nof Gloddaeth, adopted on the marriage of Howel ap Evan Vychan with the\ndaughter of Gryffydd, of Cryddyn. Gryffydd Lloyd\u2019s arms are emblazoned\non a fourth. The walls are decorated in a style suitable to the manners\nand customs of the age. Guns, swords, pikes, helmets, and breastplates\nare disposed in the military quarter; spoils of the chase and funeral\nachievements in their allotted places. Against the wall at the upper end\nis nailed a falcon, having two bells, a greater and a less, suspended\nfrom its feet. On two of the silver rings are inscribed the name of the\nowner, Mc. Kinloch, of Kulrie, in the county of Angus, in Scotland. With\nthese incumbrances it flew from home on the morning of the 21st of\nSeptember, 1772, and was killed at Mostyn on the morning of the 26th. As\nthe precise time when it reached Wales is unknown, the exact velocity of\nits flight cannot be ascertained. Sir Thomas Brown, in his Miscellaneous\nTracts, mentions two instances, of a somewhat dubious kind, of a hawk\nthat flew thirty miles an hour in pursuit of a woodcock, and a second\nthat passed from Westphalia into Prussia in one day.\n\nThe magnitude and proportions of the kitchen are in every way\ncorrespondent to the hospitality that reigns in the hall. A gallery,\ncrossing the side wall, leads to the apartments of the lady of the house,\nand affords an opportunity of overlooking the culinary arrangements\nwhenever she passes to her dressing-room or chamber.\n\nAt one end of the gallery is an apartment in which the Earl of Richmond\nwas concealed, when engaged in planning with his Welsh friends the\noverthrow of the house of York. While he lodged at Mostyn, a party\nattached to the usurper arrived there to apprehend him. He was just\nsitting down to dinner when the alarm was given, and had barely time to\nleap through a back window, to this day called King Henry\u2019s, and make his\nescape.\n\nThe library contains a valuable collection; the most rare works are those\ncomprehending the Medallic History. Amongst the antiques and curiosities\nare a torques, found at Harlech, in Merionethshire, and a silver harp,\nwhich has been for time immemorial in the possession of this ancient\nfamily. This badge of honour is five inches in length, and furnished\nwith strings equal in number to the Muses. The Mostyn family have for\nages exercised the privilege of presenting this harp to the most skilful\nbard at the Eisteddfoddau, formerly held by a royal commission in North\nWales. (See Denbigh Castle.)\n\nRichard ap Howel, then Lord of Mostyn, joined Henry in Bosworth field,\nand after the battle was presented, by the grateful monarch, with the\nbelt and sword he wore that day. To King Henry\u2019s invitation to follow\nhim to court, the Welshman modestly replied, \u201cSire, I dwell among mine\nown people.\u201d\n\nThe square tower is part of the most ancient hall; it is still in\npreservation, but its battlements are concealed beneath an unsightly,\nawkward dome. From a little summer-house in the garden there is a most\nsatisfactory view of the original plan, as well as of the additions\nsubsequently made from the necessities of an increased establishment. In\n1631 Sir Roger annexed a handsome addition, containing, besides many\nchambers, a withdrawing and a dining-room. In the latter apartment are\nthe arms of the Wynnes and D\u2019Arcies emblazoned on glass. Sir Roger\nmarried Mary, daughter of the famous Sir John Wynne, of Gwydyr, and the\nD\u2019Arcie arms came from D\u2019Arcie Savage, of Leighton, in Cheshire.\n\n\n\nST. WINIFRED\u2019S WELL, HOLYWELL.\n\n\nHOLYWELL, the largest and most prosperous town in Flintshire, occupies\nthe brow and summit of an eminence near the coast of the Chester channel,\nor estuary of the Dee. It is a respectable, busy place, possessing some\ncommercial importance, and has been made contributory with Flint, and the\nother ancient boroughs, in returning one member to the imperial\nparliament. Its manufactures consist in the smelting and forging of ores\nand metals raised in the mineral districts of the county; and very\nextensive works are conducted here of copper, lead, brass, and\ncalamine,\u2014to which have lately been annexed factories of cotton and silk.\nThe parish church is situated at the foot of the steep hill on which the\nprincipal streets are erected, and so overhung, that the toll of a bell,\nif suspended in the tower, would be inaudible in the town. This singular\nand accidental inconvenience is remedied in the following manner:\u2014A\nperson employed for the purpose carries a good heavy bell, suspended by a\nstrap passing across his shoulders, and falling against a cushion that\ncovers over one of his knees. At every advance of the cushioned knee the\nbell tolls, and in this way the parishioners are noticed, the length of\nthe bell-toller\u2019s tour being equal to the usual time allowed for\nsummoning a congregation in the accustomed manner.\n\nThe English name Holywell, and the Welsh \u201cTre-ffynnon,\u201d are derived from\nthe celebrated well of Winifred, a saint and martyr, who flourished some\ntime in the seventh century. The fabulous biography of this religious\nperson is extremely singular, and entirely identified with the history of\nthe well. Like the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, or the mythology of\nancient Greece and Rome, the story of St. Winifred undoubtedly possesses\nsome more rational interpretation; but it is a labyrinth from which a\nclue is yet wanting to enable those involved to effect their escape.\n\nThe legendary history assures us that Winifred was the daughter of\nThewith, a powerful lord of this country in the seventh century, and\nniece to the pious St. Beuno. Her uncle having obtained permission from\nher father to build a church here, took Winifred, who is represented as\n\u201cdevout, young, and beautiful,\u201d under his protection, to assist him in\nhis religious exercises. In this district there lived at the same period\nCradocus, the son of King Alen, who, becoming enamoured of the charms of\nthis beautiful young lady, determined to obtain her hand in marriage. It\nwas on a Sunday morning that the young prince first declared the ardour\nof his affection to Winifred, while her father and his retinue were\nattending church; but the lady, making a modest excuse for her abrupt\nretirement, escaped from his presence and ran towards the church.\nCradocus, enraged at the rejection of his suit, pursued her to the brow\nof the bill, and there, drawing his sword, severed her head from her\nbody. The head immediately rolled down the hill, and up to the altar in\nthe church around which her father and her relatives were assembled; and\nfrom the spot where it rested a clear and rapid fountain instantly gushed\nup. St. Beuno hastily caught up the bleeding head, and placing it upon\nthe body they forthwith reunited, no trace of separation remaining but a\nlittle white line encircling the neck. As for the assassin, he instantly\ndropped down dead upon the spot; but the legend does not decide whether\nthe earth swallowed him up, or his Satanic majesty bore his impious\ncorpse away. The waters of the spring, notwithstanding the reunion of\nthe head and trunk, continued to issue with unabated rapidity; the sides\nof the well became clothed with a delicious scented moss, and the pebbles\nat the bottom were tinctured with a few drops of the martyr\u2019s blood.\nWinifred survived her decapitation fifteen years, and retiring to the\nmonastery of Gwytherin, in Denbighshire, there accepted the veil from the\nhands of St. Elerius, and died abbess of that religious house.\nEcclesiastic historians acknowledge that she was interred there; and four\nupright stones, forming a continued right line, on one of which the name\nWinifred is graven in ancient characters, are still shown in the\nchurchyard at Gwytherin as the grave of this celebrated virgin martyr.\nAccording to Dugdale, a sober author, the bones of St. Winifred were\nexhumed and translated from Gwytherin to the abbey of Shrewsbury in 1136,\nby Robertus Salopiensis, who was abbot there, and who wrote an account of\nher life and miracles.\n\nThe well, as it now appears, is enclosed in a polygonal basin. It is\ncovered by a temple, built by Margaret, the mother of Henry the Seventh,\nin that profuse style of ornament which prevailed amongst the\necclesiastic edifices of that age. The roof is of stone, richly carved\nand groined, the legend of the saint being represented in the different\ncompartments between the ribs. From the angles of the curb-stone,\nenclosing the water, light clustered columns rise, supporting a beautiful\ncanopy adorned with tracery, suspended exactly over the well. The arms\nof the Stanleys, and of other noble families allied to them, were\ninserted in different panels, but all these devices are now indistinct,\nthough the little temple itself is in excellent preservation. An image\nof the Virgin Mary occupied a niche opposite the side entrance, but this\nhas long since disappeared. The water appears to gush up with all the\nrapidity the legend would insinuate, and to possess all the transparency\nthere implied. The sweet scented moss is called by botanists jungermania\nasplenoides, and the drops of blood upon the pebbles below are also a\nvegetable production, called byssus jolithus. To every visiter who\nenters, the water certainly presents an appearance of great freshness, as\nif the fountain had only just gushed forth that moment; and the rapidity\nof its ebullition must necessarily be extraordinary, one hundred tons of\nwater being ejected every minute. The overflow passes through an arch,\nbeneath the front wall of the temple, into an oblong bath, surrounded by\nan ambulatory, and protected by an iron balustrade. Here pilgrims were\nformerly suffered to immerse themselves, in expectation of miraculous\nresults; and, that credulity has some sincere votaries, is testified by\nthe barrows of the impotent and the crutches of the lame, which hang as\nvotive offerings from the temple\u2019s roof. In a second story is a small\nchapel, now desecrated into a poor school. This part of the building has\nbeen decided, by a decree in chancery, to be private property, but the\nwell and its interesting enclosures are free to the public.\n\nThe benefits derived by the infirm pilgrims, who formerly visited this\nholy well, may be problematical; but the commercial advantages conferred\nupon the town and neighbourhood by their proximity to the fountain are\ncertain and distinct. The quantity of water which issues at the moment\nof its escape from the enclosure, is found sufficient to set in motion\nthe wheel of a corn mill: immediately after, four cotton factories are\nerected on its stream, followed in quick succession by a copper smelting\nhouse and brass foundry, coppersmithy, wire mill, a calamine calcinary,\nand other factories: all established on the current of this useful river,\nwhose course does not exceed a mile in length from the fountain to the\nsea, and whose only supply is the holy well of St. Winifred.\n\n\n\nHAWARDEN CASTLE, FLINTSHIRE.\n\n\nHAWARDEN, commonly pronounced Harden, is a small manufacturing town,\nseated near the estuary of the river Dee, and on the mail coach road from\nChester to Holyhead. Tiles and coarse earthen wares are made here, and\nmanufactories are established of Glauber\u2019s salts, sal ammoniac, and ivory\nblack, besides which it possesses an extensive iron foundery. A rail\nroad extending to the water\u2019s edge enables the manufacturer to export his\ngoods with facility. In the legendary history of this place its\ninhabitants are styled \u201cHarden Jews,\u201d the origin of which epithet is\nexplained by the following curious tale. In the year 946, Cynan ap Ellis\nap Anarawd, being king of Gwynedd or North Wales, there stood a christian\ntemple here, to which a rood-loft was attached, containing an image of\nthe Virgin bearing a large cross in the hands and called the Holy Rood.\nThe summer of this year proving unaccountably hot and dry, the Hardeners\nprayed to the Holy Rood for rain, and Lady Trawst, the wife of Sytsylt,\ngovernor of the castle, was one of the most constant in her supplications\nto the image. One day, when this devout lady was on her knees before the\nfigure, the large cross fell down, and killed her on the spot. The\nHardeners, previously chagrined at the indifference of the Holy Rood to\ntheir fervent entreaties, the weather continuing as warm as before,\ndetermined to bring the image to trial for the murder of the unfortunate\nLady Trawst. This ceremony was solemnly performed, and the criminal\nbeing brought in guilty, was, by the majority, sentenced to be _hanged_.\nSpar of Mancot, one of the jurymen, thought _drowning_ would be the most\nsuitable mode of destruction, as their prayers were offered on a watery\nsubject. Another, Corbin, suggested that it would be sufficient to lay\nthe image down upon the beach and leave the rest to fate. The latter\nsuggestion was embraced, and the Holy Rood being placed upon the sands\nwas carried, by the flow of the tide, gently up to the walls of Chester,\nas the legend has it, _drowned_ and dead. The citizens of Chester\nimmediately took it up, interred it on the spot, and set up a monument\nwith this inscription:\n\n The Jews their God did crucify,\n The Hardeners theirs did drown,\n Because their wants she\u2019d not supply,\n And lies under this cold stone.\n\nA farther honour was paid to the insulted image by the inhabitants of\nChester, whose river, formerly called the Usk, was henceforward\ndenominated Rood Die, or Dee.\n\n [Picture: Hawarden Castle; Aberglasslynn; St. Asaph. London. Published\n by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\nHarden Castle was occupied by Fitzvarlin, a Norman adventurer, soon after\nthe conquest; it was next the seat of the Barons Mont-Alt, stewards of\nthe palatinate of Chester; and, upon the extinction of that title in\n1237, was resumed by the crown. In the year 1267 it was restored to the\nMont-Alt family by Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, with an injunction\nrestraining them from erecting a fortress here for the space of thirty\nyears. David, the brother of Llewellyn, violating that allegiance which\nhe had so often sworn, surprised and took the castle, upon Palm Sunday,\nin the year 1281, and cruelly butchered the brave little garrison. From\nthe death of David the Mont-Alt family retained the possession for\nupwards of fifty years, when Robert, the last baron, conveyed it to\nIsabella, the queen of Edward the Second, and upon her disgrace it again\nbecame crown property.\n\nIn 1336 it was granted, by Edward the Third to Montacute, Earl of\nSalisbury, in which noble house it continued till 1400, when John, making\nan insurrectionary movement in favour of his deposed master Richard the\nSecond, was beheaded by the townspeople of Leicester. The crown once\nmore resumed possession of this fortress upon John of Salisbury\u2019s\nattainder.\n\nThomas, Duke of Clarence, who fell at the battle of Baugy in 1420, had a\ngrant of Harden Castle, and was succeeded in the tenure by Sir Thomas\nStanley, who held it until the year 1420, when it was again resumed by\nthe crown, and granted to Edward, Prince of Wales.\n\nAbout this time also an inquisition was held, when it was found that\nJohn, Earl of Salisbury, having alienated this estate previous to his\nattainder, his surviving feoffee was legally entitled to enter, and\nrepossess the same. A few years after the Stanley family appear to have\nbeen the proprietors, and it was also at one time the property of\nMargaret, mother of Henry the Seventh. Upon the execution of the Earl of\nDerby in 1601, this, together with his other possessions were\nsequestrated, and sold by the agents of the sequestration to Mr. Serjeant\nGlynn, in whose family it still continues. The ruins of the castle are\ninconsiderable, it was dismantled in the general destruction of\nfortresses by the Parliamentarians, and was further dilapidated by one of\nits proprietors. The present owner allows it the enjoyment of that\nrespect which is generally felt towards a venerable ruin, and is himself\na constant resident in a stately family mansion erected at a little\ndistance from the remnants of the ancient castle. The family of Maude\ntake the title of viscounts from this parish.\n\n\n\nABERGLASLYN, CAERNARVONSHIRE.\n\n\nTHE pass of Aberglaslyn {119} is one of the most romantic mountain scenes\nin Wales. It is a subject of inexpressible grandeur, and quite unique in\ncharacter. Those who have crossed the mountains of St. Gothard may form\nan idea of its sublime character by calling to mind the passage of the\n_Pont du Diable_. The mountains embracing the little valley of\nBeddgelert, approaching still nearer to each other at the south of the\nvale, contract the space below so much, as to afford room for nothing\nmore than the river and a narrow road, while the rocks on each side rise\nwith such perpendicularity, that the interval between their summits\nscarce exceeds the distance of their bases. Here the traveller finds\nhimself immured within a chasm of rifted rocks for a length of about a\nmile, the waters of the Glaslyn tumbling and foaming over ledges of\nbroken rock, and forming a succession of cascades which make a final\nplunge beneath the Devil\u2019s Bridge, and swell the waters of the great dark\npool beyond it. This is just a landscape suited to the pencil of\nSalvator, it is incomplete without a group of banditti, and the\nimagination of the spectator can scarce avoid conjuring up, in the mind\u2019s\neye, a band of robbers lurking under shelter of some projecting rock, or\nconcealed in one of the dark caverns that yawn over the roadway. It is a\nscene adapted to the perpetration of some great or desperate deed, just\nsuch a pass as our Wellington would choose to display his Spartan\nbravery. Here the few could obstruct the many; here, in the language of\nthe Wellington, of ancient Rome, \u201cMons altissimus impendebat, ut facil\u00e8\nperpauci transitum prohibere possent.\u201d Pont Aberglaslyn has been\nconfounded with another Devil\u2019s Bridge in Cardiganshire. This connects\nthe counties of Caernarvon and Merioneth, and is thrown from rock to\nrock, over a narrow passage of the river, and from its battlements enjoys\na majestic view of the dark and broken cliffs that tower over the pass,\nas well as of the waters falling in numerous cataracts, the nearest to\nthe bridge being of such a height as to cause a temporary obstruction to\nthe passage of the salmon. There was anciently a royal wear, in the\nreign of Henry the Fourth, erected here by Robert ap Meredydd. Near the\nBridge is shown a stone, called \u201cthe chair of Rhys g\u00f4ch o Eryri,\u201d a\ncelebrated bard, in which he is believed to have sat while composing some\nof his national poems.\n\n\n\nST. ASAPH.\n\n\nThe city of St. Asaph stands on the declivity of a hill on the western\nbank of the river Elwy, whence its ancient name \u201cLlan Elwy,\u201d and one mile\nabove the confluence of that river with the Clwyd. It consists of one\ncheerful looking avenue climbing the brow of the hill, and is perhaps the\nsmallest city in Great Britain. The landscape of which it forms a part,\nthough not exactly suited to the pencil, is gratifying and beautiful.\nEmbowered in woods of luxuriant growth, adorning a pastoral scene of\nexquisite beauty, the city peeps forth beneath the massive tower of its\nsacred temple. At the foot of the little eminence the Elwy rolls its\ncrystal waters over a broad and pebbly bed, and passing beneath a bridge\nof five elliptic arches, hastens to its union with the Clwyd and the sea.\nThe background is composed of lofty, undulating hills, broken by wooded\nglens, and forming a beautiful termination to this happy, healthy,\narcadian prospect.\n\nCentigern, Bishop of Glasgow and Primate of Scotland, being driven from\nhis home by persecution, fled into Wales, and obtained the protection of\nPrince Cadwallon, who assigned Llan Elwy to him as a place of residence.\nHere he built a monastery, and established an episcopal seat, which he\nwas the first to occupy, about the year 560. Soon after, being recalled\nto Scotland, he appointed Asaph, or Asa, to succeed him, from whom the\nchurch and city have derived their present names. Asaph was eminent for\nhis piety and learning, nine hundred monks were at one period congregated\nin his college here, and his reputation for sanctity led to the invention\nof those fabulous tales of miracles and cures, said to have been\nperformed by him.\n\nUntil within very few years a black stone was shown in the pavement of\nthe street, bearing the impression of a horse\u2019s shoe. The indenture was\ngravely said to have been caused by the hoof of St. Asaph\u2019s horse when he\nleaped, with his pious master on his back, from Onen-Assa {122} to this\nspot, the moderate distance of two miles. In the year 1247 the Bishop of\nSt. Asaph was driven from his see, and supported by benevolent\ncontributions. The cathedral was consumed by fire after this period,\nand, being rebuilt, was again destroyed in 1404, by Owain Glandwr. For\nseventy years it continued a heap of ruins until restored by the zeal and\nactivity of Bishop Redman. During the protectorate the puritans\ndispossessed the bishop, and the post-office was kept in the episcopal\npalace, while the baptismal font in the cathedral was desecrated into a\nwatering trough, and calves were fed in the pulpit by the _sacrilegious_\npostmaster. The cathedral consists of a choir, two lateral aisles, and a\ntransept. The great eastern window possesses much architectural beauty,\nand the design of it was borrowed from the great window of Tintern Abbey.\nIt is now adorned with stained glass, executed by Eggington, the expense\nof which was defrayed by Bishop Bagot and several gentlemen of the\nprincipality, whose arms are emblazoned thereon. The same amiable\nprelate re-edified the palace, and rendered it suitable to the opulence\nof this antient see. In the cemetery, adjacent to the west door, is a\nmarble monument to the memory of Bishop Isaac Barrow, who died in 1680.\nFew prelates have been more eminent for piety or conspicuous by good\nworks. When bishop of the Isle of Man he bought up all the\nimpropriations, and bestowed them on the church. He expended large sums\nin educating the youth of that island, and founded three scholarships for\nthem in the university of Dublin. When translated to St. Asaph\u2019s he\nrepaired the cathedral and the mill, founded almshouses for eight poor\nwidows, and performed many other works of benevolence and liberality.\nPerhaps it was neither his least public service or least fortunate\nexertion, to have been the instructor of Dr. Isaac Barrow, a man who had\nhe lived in any other age but that of Newton, his own pupil, would have\nbeen honoured as the most solid mathematician, sound divine, and profound\ngeneral scholar, that had ever adorned the literature of his country, and\nnow decidedly occupies the next pedestal to his immortal scholar, in all\nthe great galleries of intellectual men throughout the civilized world.\nDr. William Beveridge, a learned and amiable prelate, was consecrated to\nthis see in the year 1704.\n\n [Picture: South Stack Lighthouse (Holyhead); Corwen; Barmouth. London.\n Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\n\n\nSOUTH STACK LIGHTHOUSE.\n\n\nHOLYHEAD has been rendered a tolerably safe asylum for shipping at a vast\nexpenditure of money and great exertion of scientific men. It possesses\nfew natural advantages for a packet station or floating dock, the\nconvenience of its position with regard to Dublin excepted; and for this\npure reason it must continue an important position, until some other on\nthe Welsh coast, possessing superior claims, be discovered and adopted by\nthe legislature. Amongst the auxiliaries which art has contributed to\ngive interest to Holyhead, the most picturesque and not the least\nimportant is the lighthouse, erected upon the South Stack. This singular\nPharos stands upon a rocky island, the surface of which is elevated one\nhundred and twenty feet above the sea. It is separated from the mainland\nby a deep chasm, across which a chain suspension foot-bridge is thrown,\nfrom the mural cliff on the land side to the island. The descent from\nthe top of the cliff to the bridge is effected by many flights of steps,\ncut in the front of the rock. The transit of the bridge is rather a\nnervous ceremony, and the fine craggs of serpentine rock, which overhang\nthe gulf, are unequalled in the mineral kingdom, for variety of pattern\nand brilliancy of colouring. Beneath the island is a dark cave,\nexcavated by the waves which dash into the narrow chasm with the utmost\nviolence, and used in the milder seasons as a boat-house. On the highest\npoint of the islet stands the lighthouse, a lofty hollow shaft surmounted\nby a lantern placed at a height of about two hundred feet above the sea,\nand exhibiting a bright revolving light, which bears upon the Skerries\nlight south-west, half west nearly, eight miles. The light is produced\nby Argand lamps placed in the foci of metallic reflectors ground to the\nparabolic form. The sea cliffs of Holyhead mountain, presented to the\nSouth Stack Island, are beautifully bold, precipitous, and finely tinted\nwith a variety of colours. Here innumerable sea birds, trusting to the\ndizzy and dangerous position of their dwellings for protection against\nhuman invasion, build their nests. But the ingenuity of man is only to\nbe equalled by his courage, an assertion very fully substantiated by the\ntrade of nest hunting pursued along these dangerous cliffs.\n\nTwo hardy and adventurous persons set out together on this perilous\noccupation. One remains on the top to provide for the secure tenure of a\nstrong stake driven deep into the ground at a little distance from the\nedge of the precipice; the other, fastening round his waist a rope, which\nhas previously been wound round the stake, with the remainder of the coil\nupon his arm, literally throws himself over the edge of the cliff,\nsetting his feet against its front, to preserve and regulate a free\ndescent, and lowers himself until he arrives at the habitations of the\nobjects of his pursuit. In this manner be spoliates all the nests within\nhis range, carrying the eggs in a basket suspended from his shoulders.\nThe havoc being completed, he raises himself, by the same system of\nmachinery, to the verge of the precipice, when his partner, laying\nhimself flat upon the ground, assists him to double over the edge of the\ncliff, the most perilous part of this desperate undertaking, and one\nwhich could not be effected, without aid. The species of birds that\nbuild their aeries in these steep rocks are various,\u2014wild pigeons, gulls,\nrazor-bills, guillemots, cormorants, and herons. The pregrine falcon was\nformerly found lurking here, and the estimation in which its eggs were\nheld, encouraged the prosecution of this adventurous trade.\n\n\n\n\nMERIONETHSHIRE,\n\n\nA MARITIME county of North Wales, extending thirty-five miles in length\nby thirty-four in breadth, and spreading over an area of four hundred and\nthirty thousand acres. This was the Roman Mervinia, and derives its name\nfrom Merion, a British prince and distinguished general, who expelled the\nIrish from this district, some time in the fifth century. A Roman\noccupancy of Merioneth, and one of some duration, is abundantly evident\nfrom the encampments and roads still remaining, as well as from the coins\nand medals frequently dug up here. The surface of the country is a\ncontinuation of the mountain chain which rises on the coast of\nCaernarvonshire, and traversing the principality dips into the Bristol\nChannel. The loftiest of the Merioneth hills \u201cCader Idris,\u201d or the Chair\nof Idris, is elevated two thousand nine hundred and fourteen feet above\nthe sea, a height inferior to that of Snowdon; but its position as a\nnatural observatory, a purpose to which tradition states it was applied\nby Idris the astronomer, is infinitely superior to that of the monarch of\nthe Caernarvon hills. The beauty of the scenery of mountain, valley,\nlake, and river, is not exceeded by those of similar and rival character\nin the adjoining counties, and its seclusion and primitiveness are less\ninterrupted and more complete. In cataracts and delicious passages of\nriver scenery it is superior to any other shire in Wales. To the want of\nroads may be traced the retirement in which the inhabitants live, to many\npossibly this may be a subject of envy rather than regret. The\npopulation are engaged chiefly in agriculture, that is in the rearing of\nsheep, black cattle, and the care of wool; the slate quarries also\ncontributing a large revenue towards their more easy and comfortable\nsubsistence. Bark and oak timber, next to the trade in slates,\nconstitute their most important articles of commerce.\n\n\n\nCORWEN.\n\n\nTHIS picturesque village is situated upon the great road from Shrewsbury\nto Holyhead, and about a quarter of a mile from the banks of the river\nDee, in the county of Merioneth. It is seated art the base of a bold\nrock, a projection of the Berwyn mountains, against which the white tower\nof its church is well relieved, and forms an imposing feature in the\nbeautiful landscape which the valley of the Dee presents at this place.\nIt is an inland town, possessing the advantages of a market and good inn,\nbut without any trade or manufacture; it has grown up into its present\nneat and cheerful aspect since the construction of the noble road which\npasses through it, and the traveller has here the gratification of\nobserving, that whatever portion of his viaticum is expended at Corwen,\nis carefully husbanded and judiciously employed by its inhabitants. The\nchurch, a conspicuous feature in the distant view, is on a large scale in\nproportion to the extent of the town. In the cemetery surrounding it is\nthe shaft of an ancient cross of excellent workmanship; and at the\nfarther side stands a range of buildings two stories in height, called\nthe College of Corwen. The following inscription, graven on a tablet\nplaced over the entrance, explains its benevolent object:\n\n \u201cCorwen College for Six Widows of Clergymen of the Church of England,\n who died possessed of cure of souls, in the county of Merioneth, A.D.\n M.D.CCL. By the legacy of William Eyton, Esq. of Plas Warren.\u201d\n\nCorwen is the country of Owen Glandwr. The head inn is adorned by his\ngigantic portrait: in the church wall is shown the private doorway,\nthrough which he entered his pew whenever he attended worship, and in the\nrock impending over the church yard is a recess, called \u201chis chair.\u201d\nFrom this rude seat Glandwr is said to have thrown a dagger with such\nstrength that it left an impression of its form in a hard stone below,\nfull half an inch in depth, which stone now forms the lintel of the\ndoorway leading to his pew within the church.\n\nOn the sloping brow of a lofty hill, having a western aspect, is a\ncircular enclosure, formed by loose stones but arranged in a systematic\nway, and measuring rather more than half a mile in circumference. Some\nscattered heaps within it are supposed to have been habitations, but\nnothing now appears to justify the notion. This curious circus is called\nCaer Drewyn, and Owen Gwynedd is said to have been encamped within it\nwhile the army of Henry the Second lay on the opposite side of the vale.\nA situation so commanding could not have escaped the notice of the\nprudent Glandwr, who frequently took shelter within this rude fortress,\nfrom which he had a free and uninterrupted view of his native vale of\nGlan-Dwrdwy. About one mile from Corwen is R\u00fbg, the beautiful seat of\nColonel Vaughan.\n\n\n\nBARMOUTH.\n\n\nA SEAPORT town in the county of Merioneth, is situated at the embouchure\nof the river Maw or Mawddach, which is obstructed at its entrance by a\nbar, and hence the origin of the Welsh name Abermaw, and the English\nBarmouth. The old town almost hangs over the sands, being built in\nparallel rows along the front of a steep rock, and upon so inconvenient a\nplan that the windows of all the houses, except those in the lowest\nstreet, are annoyed by the smoke ascending from the chimneys of those\nbelow. This formal arrangement has occasioned its comparison by tourists\nto the rock of Gibraltar, and seen from the sea it certainly does present\na warlike front. The new town stands upon the sands at the base of the\nrock, and though free from the smoky imputation which blackens the\ncharacter of its elder brother, is scarcely safe from the attacks of\nNeptune, who is only kept at a respectful distance by the intervention of\na few mounts of sand shifting with every storm. The beach is level,\nhard, and smooth; a great convenience to those whose health requires the\nstimulus of cold immersion, and an agreeable ride for the fashionable\nvisiters who come hither in the summer season for sociability and\nrecreation. The panorama around the estuary is inconceivably grand; the\nriver, expanding into a bay, is embraced by mountains assuming all forms\nas they aspire above each other, shooting into denuded cliffs that hang\nover the water, or clothed with forests retiring into deep glens, whither\nfancy alone can pursue them.\n\nBarmouth has become now a very popular place, arising from various\ncauses, its established character for courtesy and hospitality to\nstrangers, the beauty of the surrounding scenery, and the excellence of\nthe avenues communicating with the most fascinating landscapes in the\nprincipality. All the various modes of amusement and recreation provided\nat fashionable watering places are supplied here. The morning may be\npassed in riding over the sands, or exploring the wonders of the\nmountains and the beauty of the vales. Dancing, cards, billiards, and\nsocial meetings, occupy the evenings, at which the lyre of old Cambria is\noften heard pouring forth its plaintive melody. There are no public\nbuildings of any architectural claims here. Baths, lodging-houses,\nspacious inns, and assembly rooms, are well adapted to their various\nends, but present nothing interesting in the exterior. The new church,\nerected close to the water\u2019s edge, is a very agreeable object, happily\ndesigned and creditably executed.\n\nThe Friar\u2019s Island stands precisely in the mouth of the river, and\nferries are established at the channels on each side; these once passed,\na ride of one mile over the firm sands reaches the road to Towyn, which\nis carried along the front of a bold headland hanging over the sea, less\nbeautiful, but equally bold as the old road round the brow of Penmaen\nMawr.\n\n [Picture: Tre Madoc; Harlech Castle; Castel Goch or Welch Pool. London.\n Published by T. T. & J. Tegg, Cheapside, Oct. 1st 1832]\n\nThere was a military station on the summit of Dinas Gortin, and close to\nthe town stood a tower, in which the Earl of Richmond used to conceal\nhimself, upon his visits to his confederates in this part of Wales. Its\nstrength is celebrated in a poem, written at that period, in which it is\nalso compared with Reinault\u2019s tower near Mold.\n\n\n\nTRE-MADOC.\n\n\nA VILLAGE on the western side of the estuary called the Traeth Mawr, in\nthe promontory of Llyn and county of Caernarvon. It stands on a surface\nthree feet lower than the level of the sea, from the invasion of which it\nis protected by a substantial embankment. A handsome church ornamented\nwith a tower and spire, and approached through an arched way of exquisite\nworkmanship; a spacious market-house, with assembly rooms in the upper\nstory; a large inn and several good houses, all placed in well chosen and\nregular positions, indicate the taste of the founder, and excite a\nfeeling of regret that his well directed exertions in excluding the sea\nwere not ultimately better rewarded. The place derives its name from the\nlate W. A. Madocks, Esq., a man of the most courtly, popular manners, and\npossessed of a penetrating and clear discernment. His first design of\nenclosing the ground on which the town is built proving successful, led\nhim on to the greater but less happy attempt, that of embanking some\nthousand acres of the Traeth Mawr, by a sea wall from Caernarvon to\nMerionethshire. To secure, and place the validity of his title beyond\nfuture question, he obtained a grant from the crown in 1807 of all the\nsands from Pont Aberglaslyn to the point of G\u00east. Across the sea-end of\nthis space, and where the breadth was about one mile, he carried an\nembankment, in deep water, having a breadth of one hundred feet at the\nbase and of thirty at the top. The material of which it is formed is\nrubble stone, formerly imbedded in loose earth, which was readily\ndetached by the water and entirely carried away, leaving innumerable\napertures for the ebb and flow of the tide. This unfortunate error might\nhave been corrected by puddling or some other means; but the breadth of\nthe embankment is still too trifling for the depth and force of the sea.\nThe tide pours in rapidly through every part of this expensive work,\npresenting a calamitous picture of the projector\u2019s losses, while the dam\nthat secures the town will probably see generations rise and fall on one\nside, like the fluctuation of the waters from which it protects them on\nthe other.\n\nThe idea of rescuing the Traeth Mawr from the sea is as old as the days\nof Sir John Wynne, of Gwydyr, A.D. 1625. This busy, pompous, but clever\nman, perceived the practicability of reclaiming both traeths, and\nsolicited the assistance of his ingenious countryman, Sir Hugh Myddleton,\nbut this eminent person declined the invitation, being then engaged in\nthe vast scheme of leading the New River to London. What events are\nconcealed in the arcana of fate! Sir Hugh died nearly broken-hearted, at\nthe apparent failure of a scheme which subsequently proved eminently\nsuccessful. Mr. Madocks\u2019 life was embittered by the termination of a\nspeculation which was at first apparently successful, then suddenly fell\nto hopelessness.\n\n\n\nHARLECH CASTLE.\n\n\nHARLECH, now a poor village, deriving its only tenure in the memory of\ntravellers from a noble castle, was formerly the capital of the county,\nand erected into a free borough by King Edward the First. But the great\nsessions have been removed to Dolgelly and Bala, and the privilege of\nsending a burgess to parliament was forfeited by neglect. The\ncorporation consisted of a mayor, recorder, bailiffs, and burgesses, and\ntheir register is now in possession of a blacksmith in the village. The\ncharter was stolen by the captain of a merchant vessel, who desired to\nsee the authority upon which he was required to pay toll at G\u00east Point;\nwhen the ancient deed was put into his hand, he dishonestly and\nvillanously refused to return it, and put out to sea. Ormsby Gore, of\nPorkington, Esq. the representative of the house of Cleneny, has restored\nthe little county hall, in which the member for Merionethshire continues\nto be elected, and at other times it is appropriated to the charitable\npurpose of a poor school. A few years back even tourists were content\nwith the history of Harlech, particularly if it happened to be\naccompanied by an illustration of the fine castle. The singular\nruggedness of the way, and the wretchedness of the lodgings, threw a damp\non the ardour of even the most inquisitive. These objections are happily\nno longer applicable, a new road is formed between Maes y Neuadd and\nGlyn, and Sir Robert Vaughan has erected a spacious and handsome inn at\nHarlech, where admirable accommodations are afforded upon singularly\nmoderate terms.\n\nThe great attraction of Harlech is the magnificent castle,\u2014formerly\nremarkable for its strength, now only celebrated for its beauty,\u2014once the\nterror, but now the pride of the scene. It stands on the summit of a\nbold perpendicular rock, projecting from a range of hills which stretches\nalong the coast, and frowning over an extensive marsh, which is scarcely\nhigher than the level of the sea that skirts it. On the side next the\nsea it must originally have been utterly inaccessible, the castle walls\nbeing scarce distinguishable from the rock on which they rest, but rather\nresembling a continued surface of dark gray masonry. The other sides\nwere protected by a fosse of great breadth and depth, cut in the solid\nrock. The only entrance was beneath a barbacan, within which a\ndrawbridge fell across the fosse, and opened within a ballium which\nenveloped the citadel. The plan resembles a square, each angle of which\nis strengthened by a large circular tower, the entrance being also\nprotected by two noble flankers. On the entrance side of the inner court\nare the chief apartments; and a beautiful elevation, of three stories in\nheight, with cut stone architraves to each window, the whole terminated\nby graceful circular pavilions, rising far above the ballium, and\ncommanding one of the grandest imaginable prospects, is still entire. It\nresembles in style and position the council hall in the castle of\nBeaumaris. The banqueting hall is on the opposite side, and its windows\nlook, from a dizzy height, down upon the green waters of the sea. On the\nright of the court may be traced the ruins of a small chapel, the pointed\nwindow of which is still entire.\n\n No more the banners o\u2019er the ramparts wave,\n Or lead their chieftains onward to the fight,\n Where die the vanquish\u2019d, or exult the brave,\n For victory, basking in its worship\u2019d light.\n The Cambrian chiefs of Rheinog Fawr\n Are mingled in the dust with common clay.\n\nNo view, in the northern shires, is superior in grandeur to the prospect\nfrom the light turrets of Harlech Castle. The Marsh and Traeth are seen\nspread out at a frightful depth, and from the margin of their wide level\nstupendous rocks and cliffs suddenly start up, tufted and embossed with\nwood. A great mass of air seems to float in the void behind this scene,\nseparating a world of mountains, the grandeur of whose features the\npencil only can express. A stupendous vista of broken bills forms a\nnoble perspective, crossed by ranges that open to farther glimpses\u2014summit\nsucceeds to summit in endless train, leading the fancy into regions of\nsolitary obscurity.\n\nBronwen, the fair necked, sister to Bren ap Lyr, Duke of Cornwall, and\nafterwards King of England, had a castle on this rock called \u201cTwr y\nBronwen.\u201d She flourished in the third century, and was married to\nMatholwch, an Irish chieftain. The highest turret of the present\nfortress is still called, by the Welsh, after the name of the\nfair-bosomed princess, who once kept her court at Harlech. Colwyn ap\nTango, Lord of Effionydd and Ardudwy, repaired and fortified the castle\nof Bronwen, and changed its name to Caer Collwyn. Upon the ruins of the\nBritish castle King Edward the First raised the beautiful and impregnable\nfortress of Harlech (the fair rock), and the union of the old and new\nmasonry is still distinguishable in the walls. Owen Glandwr seized this\nfortress in the year 1404, but resigned it shortly after upon the\napproach of Henry\u2019s army. Here the wretched Margaret of Anjou took\nrefuge after the defeat of her friends at Northampton, but being pursued\nand discovered, she fled from Harlech also, leaving her jewels and\nbaggage behind, which were afterwards seized by the Lord Stanley. Dafydd\nap Ivan ap Einion, an adherent of the house of Lancaster held out, in\nHarlech Castle, for nine years after the accession of Edward the Fourth\nto the throne of England. His determined obstinacy, a quality for which\nhis countrymen have always been remarkable in war, compelled the king to\nsend a powerful army to dislodge him, under the leadership of William,\nEarl of Pembroke. After a march, both tedious and difficult, across an\nAlpine country, Pembroke sat down before the castle walls, and summoned\nthe brave Welshman to surrender, but only received from him this singular\nanswer: \u201cSome years ago I held a castle in France against its besiegers\nso long, that all the old women in Wales talked of me; tell your\ncommander that I intend to defend this Welsh castle now, until all the\nold women in France shall hear of it.\u201d Sir Richard Herbert, who had the\nimmediate conduct of the siege, finding the impregnable nature of the\ncastle, and stubborn quality of its governor, accepted the surrender upon\nconditions honourable to Dafydd, guaranteeing to him and to his\nfollowers, fifty in number, their lives and estates. Being all persons\nof consideration, they were at first committed to the Tower, the king\ndesigning to put them all to death, notwithstanding the conditions of the\nsurrender. Against Edward\u2019s cruel and dishonourable conduct Sir Richard\nremonstrated, urging, that the Welsh hero might have held the castle\nlonger for any thing the king\u2019s army could have done to expel him; but\nthe king still continuing in his base resolve, \u201cthen, sire,\u201d said Sir\nRichard, \u201cyou may take my life, if you please, instead of that of the\nWelsh captain; for, if you do not, I shall most assuredly replace him in\nhis castle, and your highness may send whom you please to take him out.\u201d\nThe king was too sensible of Sir Richard\u2019s utility to persevere in his\niniquitous determination, so yielded to expediency, and pardoned the\ncaptives; but he never became sensible of the value of honour, and\ndismissed his own brave general without farther reward.\n\nIn the civil wars of Charles the First\u2019s time this was the last fortress\nin Wales held for the king. William Owen, the governor, with about\ntwenty followers, surrendered to General Mytton on the 9th of March,\n1647.\n\n\n\n\nMONTGOMERYSHIRE.\n\n\nTHIS is an extensive, fertile, and manufacturing county. It partakes\nboth of Welsh and English in its soil and inhabitants; presenting the\nmost sublime and sequestered scenes, as well as the most primitive and\ndistinct race of people, in the recesses of the mountains; while rich\npastoral landscapes, adorned with waving woods, shelter the assembled\ndwellings of a manufacturing population that occupy the campaign country.\nThe great Plinlimmon, fruitful in springs, the parent of the Severn, the\nWye, and the Rheidol, hangs over the southern boundary, and aspires to\nthe height of two thousand four hundred and sixty-three feet. The Berwyn\nhills rise between this county and Merioneth, and the central district is\nvaried and adorned with the pleasing forms of the Breddyn hills.\nMontgomeryshire extends about thirty miles in length, by the same in\nbreadth, and occupies a surface of four hundred and ninety-one thousand\nacres. The counties of Denbigh and Merioneth form a northern boundary;\nShropshire joins it on the east; Radnor and Cardiganshires bound it on\nthe south; and it touches both Cardigan and Merionethshires on the west.\nIn this county the manufacture of Welsh flannel is established on a\npermanent basis and extensive scale. Valuable minerals abound in the\ninterior regions; and traffic in these, as well as in agricultural\nproduce, is greatly promoted by a line of inland navigation, which\ncarried through the country.\n\nMontgomery, the capital and assizes town, is by no means the largest or\nmost prosperous. It is a place of no trade, possess no advantages from\nposition, and is totally eclipsed by Newtown, the Leeds of Wales, and by\nWelsh Pool, a large, flourishing, and handsome town.\n\n\n\nCASTELL G\u00d4CH (WELSH POOL).\n\n\nTHE town of Welsh Pool, the ancient Trellwng, is situated in a rich, open\ncountry, near to a small black pool, from whence it is supposed to derive\nits name. This \u201cLlyn-d\u00fb\u201d is included within the spacious demesne of Lord\nPowys, and is of such a contemptible area, that it seems a\ndissatisfactory origin of the name of the adjacent town. There is an old\nprophecy that it will at some period overflow and inundate the\nsettlement; but for this no reason is assigned, and its distance, as well\nas the great elevation of some of the streets above its surface, render\nthe prediction stupid and uninteresting. The town consists of a spacious\navenue, commencing at the bridge which spans the canal, and ascending to\nthe crown of a gentle eminence nearly one mile removed. The county\ncourt, market house, and flannel hall stand in the main street, and the\nchurch, a handsome gothic structure, is in one of the bystreets, at the\nfoot of a steep bank, which nearly obscures the light on that side, and\nforms a most inconvenient place of burial. There is a chalice of pure\ngold, preserved in the plate chest of this parish, capable of holding one\nquart, and valued at one hundred and seventy pounds. It was presented to\nthe church by Thomas Davies, governor of our African colonies, in\ngrateful thankfulness to the Almighty for his safe return from that early\ngrave of Europeans. The inscription sets forth the name and object of\nthe donor, adding, that the gold was brought from Guinea. The houses are\nmostly built of brick, and the streets present a neat and respectable\nappearance. The long established trade in flannels has given this place\nthe means of making an opulent display, which does not frequently fall to\nthe lot of the inland towns of Wales. This was an ancient borough,\ncontributory with Montgomery in choosing a representative, but was\ndeprived of its franchise in the year 1728. The government is committed\nto two bailiffs, a recorder, and town clerk. The first are magistrates,\nwhose jurisdiction extends over parts of several adjacent parishes.\n\nPowys Castle, or the Castle of Powisland, was first chosen as a military\nposition, and an appropriate site for the palace of a chieftain, by\nCadwgan ap Bleddyn, a prince of British extraction, who signalised\nhimself in the reign of Henry the First. He commenced his castle here\nabout the year 1110, but being assassinated by his own kinsman, left his\ndesign unfinished. It is rather probable that the assassin took\npossession of the place, and completed the building of the castle; for in\nthe year 1191, various depredations being committed in the marshes,\nHubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the absence of Richard the First,\nwho was engaged in the Crusades, marched into Wales at the head of a\npowerful force, and laid siege to the castle, which was then in a state\nof defence and occupied by the Welsh. It was now fortified anew, and a\ngarrison placed in it, which was very soon after dispossessed by\nGwenwynwyn, whose name the fortress then bore. Llewellyn ap Jorwerth\nnext reduced this apparently untenable position, in the year 1223, when\nit received the newer title of Castell G\u00f4ch, or Red Castle, from the\ncolour of the stone in the outer walls. The grandson of Gwenwynwyn\ncontinued in possession, and left it to his only daughter, Hawys Gadarn,\nor Hawys the Hardy. Her uncles being disposed to question the legality\nof her father\u2019s will, she wisely attached herself to Edward the Second,\nwho bestowed her in marriage on John de Charlton, of Wellington, in\nShropshire, in 1268. By the marriage of Sir John Grey, of\nNorthumberland, with Jane, eldest daughter of Lord Powys, the barony and\ncastle passed into that family, and continued with the Greys until the\nreign of Henry the Eighth, when the title became extinct. Sir William\nHerbert, second son of the Earl of Pembroke, appears the next occupant,\nhis title being derived by a purchase, effected some time in the reign of\nQueen Elisabeth. This person was ancestor to the Marquises of Powys. In\nthe year 1644 the castle was taken by Sir Thomas Myddleton, who suffered\nit to be plundered, and compelled Lord Powys to compound with parliament\nfor his estates. The title became extinct, by failure of issue, in the\nyear 1800, and was revived in the person of Edward, Lord Clive, now Earl\nof Powys, brother-in-law to the last earl of the former line.\n\nThe approach to the castle is through a barbacan, advanced some distance\nfrom the citadel, but connected with it by long curtain walls. There is\nless of the castle than the palace in the character of the defensive\nworks. On the left of the great court is a detached building, of later\ndate than the castle, containing a picture gallery one hundred and\nseventeen feet in length, hung with choice paintings by the ancient\nmasters, a painting in fresco, found in the ruins of Pompeii, and a\nportrait of Lord Clive, Governor General of India, executed by Dance. In\nan adjoining apartment there is a model of an elephant, wearing a coat of\nmail, and supporting two Indians on its back. This curious piece of\nworkmanship was brought from the East Indies by Lord Clive. The\nprincipal apartments are entered by a doorway, communicating with an\ninner court. The grand staircase is adorned with allegorical paintings,\ncomplimentary to Queen Anne, by Lanscroon. The rooms in general possess\nan air of gloom and heaviness, which is increased by the great thickness\nof the masonry, by the painted railings; and the tapestried walls. A\ngallery of statuary and antiques runs through the second story, and is\nfurnished also with some family portraits. The state bedroom is only\nremarkable for the royal fashion here illustrated of enclosing the\nbedstead by a railing, which could be opened at pleasure, and admit the\ncourtiers to a conversation. It was considered a mark of great respect\npaid by Louis the Fourteenth to the Earl of Portland, our ambassador,\nthat he was admitted to an audience not only in the king\u2019s chamber, but\nwithin the railing.\n\nAmongst the portraits of remarkable persons suspended here, is one of\nRoger Palmer, Earl of Castlemain, who obtained his peerage in Charles the\nSecond\u2019s reign, through the influence of his wife, the notorious Duchess\nof Cleveland. This extraordinary person was sent to Rome, by King James\nthe Second, to procure a pardon for heresy, and a reconciliation between\nthe dissevered churches. But his holiness, knowing the futility of such\nan attempt, whenever the ambassador approached was always seized with a\nviolent fit of coughing. Palmer at length grew weary of delay, and\nthreatening to take his departure, his holiness observed, \u201cthat, since he\nhad come to the resolution of travelling, he would recommend him to set\nout early in the morning, lest, by over fatigue and the effects of heat,\nhe might endanger his health.\u201d In an allegorical painting on one of the\nceilings the daughters of William, second Marquis of Powys, are\nrepresented, one as Truth, a second as Virtue, and the third as Wisdom.\nThis picture would not be worth selection from amongst so many works of\nconspicuous merit, if it were not for the portrait of Lady Mary, who\nappears as Minerva, or the Goddess of Wisdom. Few females have acted\nmore singular parts on the great arena of life, for some centuries, than\nthis noble lady. At first she engaged deeply in the Mississippi\nspeculation: a marriage with the Pretender was next the object of her\nambition: and lastly, she passed into Asturias in search of gold,\naccompanied by another nobly born adventurer.\n\nThe gardens consist of parallel terraces, ranged one below the other for\na considerable depth, connected by broad flights of steps, and protected\nby balustrades decorated with vases and statues. The water-works and\nsome other antiquated embellishments, copied from St. Germain en Large,\nhave been totally obliterated. The library and the terraces of the\nhanging gardens command an extensive and delightful prospect,\u2014the valley\nof Pool, a rich country watered by the Severn, is spread out in front,\nstretching away to the beautiful chain of the Breiddyn hills, where the\nlast remnant of British liberty was rent asunder by the surrender of the\nbrave Caractacus.\n\nThe summit of the same hill is now adorned by an obelisk, commemorative\nof the glorious victory of Admiral Rodney over the French fleet in the\nWest Indies, on the 12th day of April, 1782.\n\nSince the visit of Mr. Pennant to the demesne of Welsh Pool, the castle\nhas not only been put into a habitable condition, but even revived with\nall that reverence for antiquity which the amiable nationality of that\nelegant scholar and antiquary could desire. The park, now furnished with\nmany and full grown forest trees, sweeps down the verdant brow of the\nfine hill below the castle, to the very suburbs of the town; and from the\nhighest apex of the hill, at a spot marked out by an index, that is\nscreened by embowering woods in the approach, a scene commensurate to the\ngreatness of the whole is unfolded to the eye, comprehending distant\nviews of Snowdon, Cader-Idris, and the huge Plinlimmon.\n\n\n\n\nCUSTOMS AND MANNERS\nOF\nTHE WELSH.\n\n\nANCIENT manners are less obliterated by time and the varying modes of\nlife in North Wales, than in most of the other provinces of Britain. In\nthis age of communication and intelligence, few will be credulously eager\nto imagine that the inhabitants of any one part of our island are\nmaterially distinguished in their characters from those of another: yet\nnone can immerge themselves in this romantic country, without being\nstruck by the superior modesty and simplicity of its inhabitants.\nRemoved from active scenes of commercial life, and from corrupting\nexamples of selfish splendour, their minds seem sufficiently occupied in\nthe limited transactions of their own little world, without experiencing\ninterruption from any envious feeling at the triumphs of the greater or\nmore wealthy. It is from the peasantry, the national character of an\nagricultural district is naturally to be deduced; and those of Cambria\nundoubtedly present an illustration of the happiest description. The\npoverty of the soil, scantiness of population, and great distance from\npopulous towns, render Wales a residence unsuited to the agricultural\ncapitalist. The land is subdivided into small portions, and amongst a\nconsiderable number of yeomen. Hence it arises, that the children of\npoverty are not frowned on by contempt, and the humbler classes do not\nacquire those envious and disreputable habits, by which, in other\ncountries, they are too often tempted to resist the ostentations of the\nrich. Their manners are obliging without servility, and plain without\nrusticity; their familiarity springs from kindness, not from disrespect;\nand they exhibit an independence the more to be admired in proportion to\nits obviously natural growth.\n\nOur earliest annals inform us that the Cambrians \u201cwere a people light and\nactive, and more fierce than strong:\u201d all classes, from the prince to the\npeasant, were devoted to arms, and prepared to give a ready service at\nthe first summons of the trumpet. Their military spirit was unconfined,\nand love of their country boundless. The profession of arms was held in\nso much estimation, that to die in one\u2019s bed was deemed disgraceful, and\nthe field of battle held to be the only honourable grave.\n\n \u201cWithout a sign, his sword the brave man draws,\n And asks no omen but his country\u2019s cause.\u201d\n\n ILIAD xii.\n\nTheir armour consisted of a short coat of mail, a light shield, and iron\ngreaves: sometimes only of those desiring to be free from all unnecessary\nincumbrances in accomplishing forced marches through trackless deserts.\nTheir only defensive weapons were the sword, the spear, and the arrow.\nTheir bows were sometimes formed of interwoven twigs, and though of\nslight materials, and rude workmanship, when bent by a sinewy arm dealt a\ndeadly wound. The men of North Wales were more dexterous in the\nmanagement of the spear, with which they pierced the closest iron mail:\ntheir brethren of South Wales more conspicuous for their great skill in\narchery.\n\nThe dress in time of peace was simple and uncostly. The men wore a\nwoollen garment or _cota_ around the body, kept their hair cut short over\nthe ears and eyes, and rounded every where so as not to obstruct their\nagile movements in the woods and thickets. It is not improbable that\nthey retained a thick covering of hair on the top of the head, like the\nglibe of the ancient Irish, as a protection against weather. The beard\nwas shaven off, a mustachio on the upper lip only being preserved. The\nwomen wore a turban folded round the head, and rising in a coronul or\ntuft. Both sexes paid little respect to the protection of the feet,\nbeing seldom supplied with slippers or buskins, the men only in the field\nof battle. The shoes, worn on these occasions were made of the dried\nskins of animals of the chase, with the hair turned inward, and\nsubsequently of half-tanned leather, attached to the foot by a thong or\nlatchet of the same material, after the manner of a sandal. Both sexes\nare represented as paying a singular regard to the beauty and whiteness\nof their teeth, which they cleaned by the application of the leaves and\nbark of the hazel, and afterwards rubbed with a woollen cloth.\n\nMany of these customs belong to the military character of the ancient\ninhabitants, and disappeared with the extinction of the feudal system;\nwhite others may still be distinctly traced in the existing state of\nsociety. The flannel cota (_crys gwlanen_) is worn by miners during\nworking hours, and by the peasantry of the high districts in the rainy\nseasons. The females retain the ancient cap, which they now surmount\nwith a hat, in a manner both pleasing and peculiar. Their principal\ngarment consists of a short bed-gown, fastened round the waist with a\ngirdle, in a smart and rather graceful style; and their stockings are\nafter the olden fashion, that is, without feet, and held down by a loop\nthat passes round one of the toes; these however are only worn on working\ndays; entire hose of excellent manufacture succeed them upon holidays and\noccasions of dress. The _tout ensemble_ of a Welsh peasant girl, while\nit conveys an idea of primitiveness, and appears wisely calculated to\nresist a cold and fickle climate, is neat, pleasing, and picturesque,\nresembling much the costume of the female peasants of the Tyrol.\n\nHospitality has always been classed amongst the characteristics of an\nancient Briton, and its genius is acknowledged to hold uninterrupted\npossession to the present day. Here young Fleance found a secure asylum\nfrom the murderous designs of the usurper Macbeth, and here his son, born\nof a Cambrian princess, dwelt, until a desire to visit the land of his\nfathers led him to the Scottish court, where he attained the highest\ntank, and became the ancestor of the royal line of Stuart.\n\nThe Earl of Richmond (afterwards Henry the Seventh) found a chair at\nevery festive board, and a couch in every hall in Wales, while he was a\nwanderer, and a fugitive; nor did these kindnesses originate in any\ninordinate prospect of honour or of gain, most of the gentlemen from\nWales, who subsequently fought under his banner, having declined the\ngrateful monarch\u2019s offers of reward. This domestic virtue is still\nfondly cherished here, and practised with all its pristine beauty. There\nis less peculiarity in the mode of living than in other circumstances\nconnected with the national character. The peasant seldom partakes of\nanimal food, cattle being reared for the landlord\u2019s benefit exclusively.\nOaten bread, milk, cheese, cords, and butter constitute the principal\ndiet of the working classes.\n\nThe ancient Welsh castles have been spoken of elsewhere, and a few\nmansions of the days gone by described; it remains still to say something\nof the cottages of the humble. Less architectural externally than those\nin England, but superior to the hut of the Irish labourer, the cottages\nof the poor are inferior to none in internal neatness and comfort. They\nare supplied with a variety of furniture, amongst which a clock, oak\ndresser, and _settle_ (settee), or pannelled sofa, are always to be\nfound. The spinning wheel has disappeared since the introduction of\nmachinery into the little woollen factories erected on the rills amidst\nthe mountains; and the brass pan for brewing \u201ccwrw dd\u00e2,\u201d presents its\nbroad bright disk beneath the dresser of every respectable farm-house.\n\nThe Welsh are remarkable for an extreme sagacity, shrewdness, and cunning\nin their little commercial transactions. They actually estimate genius\nby the number of successful efforts to overreach, and esteem the\nindividual who exhibits the greatest dexterity in this way, to be what\nthe world usually term \u201ca man of ability.\u201d This property does not extend\nto the middle or higher classes, who are no longer distinguished from the\ninhabitants of the adjacent counties by any peculiarity, but is a quality\nusually belonging to the peasantry of all remote and separated societies.\nIn the early ages of Welsh history many singular instances occurred of\nthe quick and acute repartee of chieftains, and distinguished men, both\nin the camp and at the court.\n\nAt the battle of Agincourt Dafydd Gam, the brother-in-law of Owen\nGlandwr, was despatched by King Henry to reconnoitre and ascertain the\nprobable number of the enemy previous to the action. Upon his return,\nthe king inquired whether these were not so many? \u201cSire,\u201d replied Gam,\n\u201cthere are enough to kill, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to\nrun away.\u201d The graceful rejection of a peerage (an honour recently\nconferred upon his descendants), by the loyal ancestor of the house of\nMostyn, the reader will find introduced in the description of the\nvenerable hall of that ancient family. There is yet another brave\nCambrian, whose humour and intrepidity in the eleventh hour, saved his\nlife. Sir John Owen, of Cleneny, together with the Lords Goring,\nLoughborough, Capel, and Holland, being condemned to exile by the\nparliament, were shut up at first in Windsor Castle; but, after the\nexecution of their royal master, sanguinary measures were resolved upon.\nHolland, Capel, Goring, and Sir John being again put upon their trial,\nthe brave loyalist evinced a courage worthy of his country. He told his\njudges \u201cthat he was a plain gentleman of Wales, who had been always\ntaught to obey the king; that he had served him honestly during the war,\nand finding many honest men endeavour to raise forces, whereby they might\nget him out of prison, he did the like;\u201d and concluded by signifying\n\u201cthat he did not care much what they resolved concerning him.\u201d\nUltimately he was condemned to lose his head: for which, with much humour\nand singular boldness, he made the court a low reverence, and gave it his\nhumble thanks. Being asked the meaning of such acknowledgement, he\nreplied, in a loud voice, \u201cthat he considered it a great honour to a poor\ngentleman in Wales to _loss his head_ in company with such noble lords;\nfor,\u201d said he, with an oath, \u201cI was afraid they would have _hanged_ me.\u201d\nThis extraordinary and dauntless reply procured for the brave loyalist\nthe continuance of his head in its original position, until it reclined\non its last pillow in an honourable old age; for, Ireton forthwith became\nhis advocate with the parliament, saying, \u201cthat there was one person for\nwhom no one spoke a word; and therefore requested that he might be saved\nby the sole motive and goodness of the house.\u201d Mercy was, in\nconsequence, extended to him, and after a few months imprisonment, he was\nrestored to that liberty of which he had proved himself so deserving.\n\nCambrensis represents his countrymen as persons of acute and subtle\ngenius. In every species of litigation they exerted all their powers of\nrhetoric, and in these their talents for invention were conspicuously\ndisplayed. This spirit is still too widely diffused through the\nprincipality, it unhappily calls the worst feelings into operation, and\nopens a door to vice, at which some are found unblushingly to enter. But\nthe Roman character is not to be impeached because the nation produced a\nCatiline, his fellows are to be found in every clime. The same\nhistorian, who regrets the consequences of a litigious disposition, adds,\nthat \u201cas there were not any baser than the worst of his countrymen, so\nneither were there any better than the best.\u201d\n\nThe genius of the Welsh was at an early period directed into a rational\nchannel. The most eminent for natural ability were induced to adopt the\nprofession of bard or poetic historian, and this order of men exercised\nan influence over the destinies of the nation for many ages. Their\ntalents were employed in preserving the genealogies of illustrious\nfamilies, celebrating the praises of heroes, and recording remarkable and\nglorious events.\n\nThe institution of bardism is coeval with the origin of poetry. The\nGreek, Roman, and Celtic nations had their poets and troubadours, and the\nScandinavians imported into Europe a species of bard called Scalds, or\npolishers of language. These were held in the highest estimation in all\ncountries: they received liberal rewards for their poetic compositions,\nattended the festivals of heroic chieftains, accompanied them to the\nfield of battle, and sang their victorious praises, or mourned over their\nuntimely fall. The British bards were originally a constitutional\nappendage of the Druidical hierarchy, and upon the extinction of that\ndetestable worship, were preserved, in a new and civil form, from the\nlove of poetry and music then prevailing; predilections increased,\nprobably, by an intercourse with the Scandinavian scalds.\n\nWelsh poetry abounds in alliteration, which is also a characteristic of\nIcelandic song, and obviously insinuates a northern origin. The person\nof a bard was held sacred, and the laws of Howel Dda enacted, \u201cthat\nwhoever even slightly injured a bard was to pay an eric or fine of six\ncows, and one hundred and twenty pence. The murderer of a bard was to\npay one hundred and twenty-six cows.\u201d These bardic laws resembled those\nrelating to a similar class of persons in Ireland, where it was deemed an\nact of sacrilege to seize on the estate of a bard, even for the public\nservice, and in times of national distress. The officers of the royal\nhousehold, both in Wales and Ireland, at this period, consisted of a\n_bard_, musician, smith, physician, and huntsman. To an intercourse with\nthe Irish nation is traceable the introduction of the harp into Cambria.\nThe Welsh, so late as in the eleventh century, were accustomed to pass\nover into that kingdom, and there receive instruction in the bardic\nprofession. Gryffydd ap Cynan, king of Wales, in 1078, \u201cbrought over\nfrom Ireland divers cunning musicians into Wales, from whom is derived in\na manner all the instrumental music that is now there used; as appeareth\nas well by the bookes written of the same, as also by the names of the\ntunes and measures used among them to this daie.\u201d\n\nAn election of bards took place annually, at an assembly of the princes\nand chieftains of the nation. Precedence, emolument, and honours,\nsuitable to their respective merits were then assigned to each. The most\nmeritorious was solemnly crowned on the Bardic throne, and presented, as\na token of his preeminent genius, with a silver chair. This congress was\nusually held at one of the three royal residences of the princes of\nWales, the sovereign himself presiding on the occasion.\n\nUpon the introduction of the harp, Gryffydd determined to restrain the\ninordinate vanity of the bards, and to remodel the order. He enacted\nlaws for their future government, the severity of which is a sufficient\nindication of the necessity of their institution. Amongst the penalties\nwas one of much apparent hardship,\u2014\u201cIf a minstrel offended in any of the\nrecited instances, \u2018_every man_\u2019 was appointed an officer of justice, in\nsuch case, with liberty to arrest and inflict discretional punishment,\nand authority to seize upon whatever property the offender had about his\nperson.\u201d Under these regulations, and the auspices of an enlightened\nprince, respect for the order was reestablished, and eminent minstrels\nagain flourished both in North and South Wales.\n\nIn the year 1176 the merits and genius of the bards of North and South\nWales were displayed in the Hall of Rhys ap Gryffydd, a prince of South\nWales, at the castle of Aberteivi. This hospitable lord held a Christmas\nrevel here in this year, to which he invited some hundred persons,\nincluding the Norman and Saxon nobility. These he entertained with much\nhonour and courtesy, and amused by feats of arms, field sports, and other\ndiversions suited to the magnificence of the occasion. To these was\nadded a contest between the bards from all parts of ancient Britain. The\nguests being assembled in the great Hall, and the bards being introduced,\nthe prince directed them to give proof of their skill by answering each\nother in extemporaneous rhythmic effusions, proposing rich rewards to\nsuch as should be adjudged deserving of them by the noble assemblage of\njudges. In this contest the bards of North Wales obtained the victory,\nwith the applause of all: and amongst the harpers or musicians, between\nwhom a similar contention took place, the prince\u2019s own retainers were\nacknowledged the most skilful.\n\nThe fascinating occupations of bard and minstrel continued in the highest\nadmiration with their countrymen, soothing their wild spirit in days of\npeace, and awaking their ardour in moments of danger. One of the wisest\nof the ancient Greeks thought that poetry effeminated the state, and\nadvised the expulsion of its votaries; King Edward on the other hand\nbelieved that it aroused and inspired a love of liberty, and adopted, in\nconsequence, the cruel policy of cutting off its professors. The\ntradition current in Wales is that he ordered every bard who fell into\nhis power to be immediately assassinated, an event, whether true or\nfalse, now immortalized in the exquisite ode by Gray commencing with\nthese bold Pindaric lines:\n\n \u201cRuin seize thee, ruthless king,\n Confusion on thy banners wait.\u201d\n\nWhether the bards were actually assassinated in this cold blooded manner,\nor only suppressed with circumstances of aggravated cruelty, the order\nappears to have been totally dissolved, and the muse of Cambria to have\ntaken shelter in the mountain caves for ages subsequent. During the\nsuccessful insurrection of Glandwr poetry once more descended from the\nhills and basked in the few sunny rays that for a short while beamed upon\nfreedom. Amongst the minstrels who sang in the halls of Glandurdwy was\nIolo G\u00f4ch, who celebrated in lofty strains the prudence and patriotism of\nhis master. The storm that excited a martial spirit in the followers of\nthe houses of York and Lancaster, laid the genius of Cambrian poetry. If\nat any time its voice was heard, it was either in sorrow at the miseries\nof the present, or in obscure prophecy of what was yet to come.\n\nThe reign of Henry the Seventh, as might naturally have been expected,\nwas one of brighter hopes and more unrestricted freedom, than any Wales\nhad witnessed since the extinction of her native princes. A new\ndescription of bard now arose, less venerated, less connected with that\nmysterious origin to which their predecessors were referred, and\nundistinguished, except by their effusions, from other classes of\nsociety. Of this new class of minstrels, the days of chivalry over, the\nchief duties were to celebrate the hospitality and private virtues of\ntheir patrons, in whose halls they were maintained, and upon whose\ndecease it became their melancholy task to compose a funeral song, to be\nrecited in the presence of the surviving relatives by a _Datceiniad_.\n\nRegular bardic assemblies, convened by royal authority, were discontinued\nafter the reign of Elizabeth. This illustrious queen issued a precept\nfor holding a royal Eisteddfod on the 26th May, 1568. The document is\nstill preserved in the family of Mostyn, whose ancestors are named\ntherein, with other gentlemen of rank and property in the principality.\nThe objects of such meetings, as well as the distinctive character\nattached to the bardic order, may be easily collected from the following\npassage extracted from the royal commission.\n\n\u201cWhereas it is come to the knowledge of the Lorde president and other our\ncounsell in the Marches of Wales, that vagrant and idle persons naming\nthemselves minstrels, rithmirs, and barthes, are lately grown to such an\nintolerable multitude within the Principality of North Wales, that not\nonly gentlemen and others, by their shameless disorders, are oftentimes\ndisquieted in their habitations, but also the expert minstrels and\nmusicians in town and country thereby much discouraged to travail in the\nexercise and practise of their knowledge; and also not a little hindered\nin their living and preferments,\u201d &c. At the assemblage called by\ndirection of this precept seventeen poetical bards were present and\nthirty-eight of their musical brethren; William Llyn was admitted to the\ndegree of Pencerdd or doctor, and three others to the rank of masters of\nthe art of poetry. The prize was awarded to Sion ap William ap Sion.\nCaerwys, in Flintshire, was the place chosen for the celebration of\nEisteddfodau in later years, having once been the royal residence of\nLlewellyn, but the more ancient bardic assemblies were convened at\nAberffraw, in the palace of the princes of Gwynedd; Dinefawr, the noble\ncastle of the lords of South Wales; and Mathrafel, the royal palace of\nthe chiefs of Powisland.\n\nThere is reason to believe, that an Eisteddfod was also held between the\nyears 1569 and 1580, but the place of assemblage and other circumstances\nrespecting it are unknown. In South Wales, however, meetings of this\ndescription continued to be called under the auspices of the Earl of\nPembroke and Sir Richard Neville, to which must be added the most\nmemorable of all at Bewpyr Castle, A.D. 1681, under the patronage of Sir\nRichard Bassett.\n\nFrom these last mentioned dates poetry, music, and every species of\nCambrian literature hastened rapidly to decay, nor were any efforts made\nto arrest their decline, and re-string the lyre, until the year 1771. At\nthis period societies were formed in London for the restoration of the\nWelsh language to its former purity, and the encouragement of Welsh\nliterature generally. The Gwyneddigion society extend their patronage to\nthe inhabitants of North Wales. The Cymrodorion to Powys, and those of\nDyffed and Gwent to South Wales. Under this national patronage\nEisteddfodau were again restored on the 18th of July, 1819, at\nCaermarthen, when the Bishop of St. David\u2019s presided. In the following\nyear a meeting was held at Wrexham under the presidency of Sir W. W.\nWynne, and bardic festivals and literary contests were held at the\nrespective places of assemblage of the other societies. These meetings,\nhowever, are inferior in splendour of attractions and public interest to\nthe triennial assemblies now permanently established in the principality.\nThe first of these was held at Brecon in 1826, Lord Rodney president; the\nsecond at Denbigh in the year 1828, where Sir B. Mostyn, Bart. presided,\nand the third at Beaumaris in 1832, under the auspices of Sir R. B. W.\nBulkley, Bart.\n\nThe religion of North Wales is that of the established church, but the\ninhabitants manifest a remarkable independence in this respect as well as\nin many other, and pursue those views of religious subjects which each\none\u2019s conscience dictates. The parish church is not deserted, but a\nchapel, built by contributors of the humblest class, is found in every\nhamlet, and the quick succession of itinerant preachers appears to\nattract a more lively attention to the solemn warnings of the pulpit,\nthan the instruction of any one pastor urged with ever so much ability\nand zeal. The dissenters are divided into many classes, Methodists and\nCalvinists are the most numerous; amongst the others the sect called\n\u201cJumpers,\u201d whose peculiar tenets had once too strong a hold on the\nfeelings of the people, have decreased in numbers, and abandoned those\nwild speculations which the rational portion of society are still\nincredulous as to their ever having practised. Laying aside the\nconsideration of sects, all classes of the Welsh are deeply imbued with a\nreligious feeling. Churches and meeting-houses are well attended; every\nadult can read his bible in the native tongue, and when a public place of\nworship is either wholly wanting, or too remote, prayer meetings are held\nwith regularity in each other\u2019s cottages, where, after the solemn reading\nof the liturgy, the little congregation conclude their act of adoration\nwith a sacred hymn to God, in which all present, both old and young,\nunite their voices.\n\nIt is a matter of some surprise that a people of so much sincerity in\nreligion should still be slaves to superstition. But probably the\nsolitude and silence of the glens they dwell in contribute to increase a\nfeeling which is uniformly found diffused through all remote and\nmountainous countries. Amongst the most interesting of these relics of\nancient times, connected with religion is the remarkable care and\nattention paid to the grave-stones and funeral honours of their deceased\nconnexions. The cemetery is the public walk of every hamlet, and the\naffection borne to a brother when living seems to render even a bright\nverdure on his grave a grateful prospect. In the custom of strewing the\ngraves of departed friends with flowers and evergreens these is something\nwhich touches the feeling heart. It is a tribute of affection, a\nposthumous recollection of a most impressive character. To live in the\nremembrance of those we loved \u201cwhen we go hence, and are no more seen,\u201d\nis a natural wish; a wish implanted in our souls by that Being, who\nwilled that we should be social creatures, and gave us all the kind\naffections of our nature. This custom boasts a high antiquity, it is\nfound among the superstitions of pagan Rome, where, during the month of\nFebruary; the _feralia_ or honours paid to the manes of departed souls\nwere performed. Scattering of flowers and odoriferous plants constituted\na chief part of the ceremony. The custom is now confined to a few parts\nof Europe, Ireland, Wales, and the Catholic cantons of Switzerland. In\nthe last of these an iron cross is placed upright, from which a bowl,\ncontaining holy water, is suspended, with which the passers-by sprinkle\nthe graves of the deceased on their way to church.\n\nA belief in the existence and mischievous propensities of the fairy tribe\nwas formerly amongst the chief superstitions. These troublesome elves\nwere supposed to milk the cows at night, to check them from yielding milk\nat morn, and prevent the butter from forming in the churn. They changed\nthe infant left in the cradle, during the sleep or absence of its nurse,\nand performed many other acts peevish, envious, and wicked. But the\nexploits of this pigmy race are not peculiar to Wales, nor was their\nexistence as confidently believed here at any period as it still is in\nother countries. One species peculiarly Welsh, are called _knockers_,\nfrom their continued knocking or hammering under ground. This noise is\noften heard by miners, and is invariably said to discover to the miner a\nrich _load_ of ore. There is also a deep roaring of the sea, which is\nbelieved to be a forewarning of some dire calamity. The inhabitants of\nLlandudno heard this strange noise immediately previous to the melancholy\nwreck of the Hornby Castle, and many other instances of remoter dates\ncould be adduced in support of this superstitious notion. Sometimes also\na _warning_ light is seen to shine out before a traveller, and conduct\nhim in the precise direction of his journey, distinguished from\njack-o\u2019-the-lanthorn in this respect, that the latter cruelly \u201clures us\nto our doom.\u201d\n\nHowever vain and obsolete most of these phantoms may now be considered,\nsome curious fancies are still entertained by the simpler part of the\npopulation. A story is often propagated through the parish of a funeral\nprocession having passed along in a particular direction, without the aid\nof horses or bearers. Carriages, without horses, are said to have been\nseen and heard rolling along the road or round the village cross, the\ncoachman, passengers, and all other circumstances being disposed as\nusual; and, many similar tales, obtain a ready credence amongst the\npeasantry in several parts of North Wales even at the present period.\n\nIn the festivities of the wedding-day much gaiety and mirth prevail. The\nbridegroom having the bridesmaid on his arm, and the bride leaning upon\nthe bridesman, followed by a number of bidden guests, present themselves\nat the church door, where the order of the procession is reversed before\nproceeding to the altar. After the ceremony the whole party, in rank and\nfile, and headed by the happy pair, _walk_, as it is called, in\nprocession through the village, until the hour of dinner. This\nentertainment is usually provided at the home of the bride\u2019s family, and\nif the parties be sufficiently wealthy, is supplied at their expense,\nbut, if otherwise, each guest contributes a subscription proportionate to\nhis means. A fortnight afterwards an evening party assembles at the\nhouse of some friend of the husband; amongst the poorer peasantry, it is\nusual for every neighbour to attend, and upon entering lay down his\ncontribution on the tea-table. The night is then prolonged in mirth and\ngood humour, the merry dance being generally kept up till daylight to the\nsoft and gentle measures of the national lyre.\n\nFairs, which are very numerous, are attended by both sexes. Cattle are\nbought and sold in the early part of the day, pedlery, hardware, &c.\ncontinue to be exhibited during the remainder, and in the afternoon every\ncottage for miles around sends forth some happy, well dressed votary of\nmirth to participate in the festivities of the evening. The partiality\nfor attending fairs is very remarkable, even the necessitous postpone the\nreception of little sums, to which by labour they have become entitled,\nto the succeeding fair-day, contemplating the pleasure of meeting their\nfriends, from whom they were separated by occupation or inconvenience of\ndistance. The frequency of these fairs, so many scenes of cheerful\nassociation\u2014the number of annual, quarterly, and even weekly meetings\namongst the religious of different sects\u2014the amusements enjoyed at\nallotted festivals common to other countries\u2014afford such frequent\nopportunities of an intercourse tending to alleviate anxiety and care,\nas, coupled with the agricultural distribution already adverted to, will\nsustain the justice of the conclusion, that the Welsh peasantry may be\nesteemed the most comfortable, happy, and independent in the British\nislands.\n\n * * * * *\n\n THE END.\n\n * * * * *\n\n CHISWICK:\n PRINTED BY C WHITTINGHAM.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n\n{1} _Sir Ffon_, is the name still applied to this county by the Welsh,\nas well in their conversational as in their written communications.\n\n{3} _Porth-aeth-hwy_, means the passage which had been crossed before.\n\n{34} Frydd, pronounced frith, means an enclosure gained from a common.\n\n{46} Llewellyn was married to the Princess Joan, daughter of King John.\n\n{48} Trifaen signifies the three summits. Benclog, the head of the\nrock,\u2014Braich-ddu, the black arm,\u2014Nant Franc\u00f4n, the valley of beavers.\n\n{50a} The bridge of the caldron.\n\n{50b} The swift river.\n\n{50c} The station in the wood.\n\n{58a} The gap of the Irishman.\n\n{58b} This part of the defile is called \u201cCwm Gl\u00e2s,\u201d i.e. the Blue Vale.\n\n{59} Tent stone.\n\n{66} The blue well.\n\n{68} Pronounced Thlangothlan, the church of Saint Collen.\n\n{77} Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Ponsonby.\n\n{83} The glen of the Marten.\n\n{91} In the introduction, by the Hon. Daines Barrington, to the memoirs\nof the Gwydyr family, is the following passage relating to this\nfoundation:\u2014\u201cIn 1610, Sir John Wynne erected at Llanrwst some almshouses\n(to which he gave the name of Jesus Hospital) for the reception of twelve\npoor men, and drew up regulations for the management of his benefaction.\nHe also endowed this charity very liberally with the rectorial tithes of\nEglwys Fach, which are now valued at two hundred pounds per annum.\u201d\n\n{93} See Pont-y-Pair.\n\n{101} 1281 this should have been.\n\n{104} See Caernarvon Castle.\n\n{108} A health to the top beam of the house.\n\n{119} Aber gl\u00e2s lyn, the mouth or embouchure of the blue lake.\n\n{122} The ash of St. Asaph.","title":"Scenes in North Wales: With Historical Illustrations, Legends, and Biographical Notices","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":42023}