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<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wild Wales, by George Borrow</div>
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<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Wild Wales<br />
Its People, Language and Scenery</div>
<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: George Borrow</div>
<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September, 1996 [eBook #648]<br />
[Most recently updated: August 16, 2021]</div>
<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Price and Jane Gamie</div>
<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD WALES ***</div>

<h1>WILD WALES</h1>
<p style="text-align: center">ITS PEOPLE, LANGUAGE<br />
AND SCENERY</p>
<p style="text-align: center">BY GEORGE BORROW</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Their Lord they shall praise,<br />
Their language they shall keep,<br />
Their land they shall lose,<br />
Except Wild Wales.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Taliesin</span>:
<i>Destiny of the Britons</i></p>
</blockquote>

<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>

<p style="text-align: center">LONDON<br />
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET<br />
1907</p>

<table>
<tr>
<td><p><span class="smcap">First Edition</span></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center">&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">1862</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><span class="smcap">Second Edition</span></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center">&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">1865</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><span class="smcap">Third Edition</span></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center">&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">1888</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><span class="smcap">Fourth Edition</span></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center">&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">1896</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><span class="smcap">Fifth (Definitive) Edition</span></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center">6/-</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>March</i>, 1901</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><i>Reprinted</i></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center">Thin Paper</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>July</i>, 1905</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><i>Reprinted</i></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center">6/-</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>Sept.</i>, 1907</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><i>Reprinted</i></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center">2/6 net.</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>Sept.</i>, 1907</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

<h2>NOTE</h2>

<p>This edition of <i>Wild Wales</i> has been carefully collated
with the first edition, in order to ensure that the spelling of
proper names shall be precisely as Borrow left it, and the
running headings on the right-hand pages as nearly as possible
those which Borrow himself wrote.</p>

<p><i>January</i> 1901.</p>

<div class="chapter">

<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>

<p><i>All the Plates in this volumes are from drawings by</i> Mr.
<span class="smcap">A. S. Hartrick</span> <a
name="citation0"></a><a href="#footnote0"
class="citation">[0]</a></p>

<table>
<tr>
<td><p>Above Capel Curig on the road to Bangor
(<i>Photogravure</i>)</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>Frontispiece</i></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Llangollen and Dinas Bran</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>to face page</i> 32</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>The Wilds of Snowdown</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">200</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>In Anglessey. Redwharf Bay (Treath Coch), and the
Country of Gronwy Owen</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">212</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>The Wondrous Valley of Gelert</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">312</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Cascade on the Moor between Festiniog and Balla</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">328</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Balla Lake in the Fifties, showing the Aran Mountain and
Cader Idris. (<i>Drawn from an old print</i>)</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">346</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Chirk (Castell y Waen)</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">366</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Twilight after a Storm. Dinas Mawddwy</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">494</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Eastern Street, Machynlleth, showing part of Owen
Glendower&rsquo;s Parliament House</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">512</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>The Devil&rsquo;s Bridge</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">558</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>The Remains of Strata Florida Abbey from the
Churchyard</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">596</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>&ldquo;Pump Saint&rdquo;</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right">632</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Map of Wales showing Borrow&rsquo;s Route</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right"><i>to face page</i> 1</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>INTRODUCTORY</h2>

<p>Wales is a country interesting in many respects, and deserving
of more attention than it has hitherto met with. Though not
very extensive, it is one of the most picturesque countries in
the world, a country in which Nature displays herself in her
wildest, boldest, and occasionally loveliest forms. The
inhabitants, who speak an ancient and peculiar language, do not
call this region Wales, nor themselves Welsh. They call
themselves Cymry or Cumry, and their country Cymru, or the land
of the Cumry. Wales or Wallia, however, is the true,
proper, and without doubt original name, as it relates not to any
particular race, which at present inhabits it, or may have
sojourned in it at any long bygone period, but to the country
itself. Wales signifies a land of mountains, of vales, of
dingles, chasms, and springs. It is connected with the
Cumbric bal, a protuberance, a springing forth; with the Celtic
beul or beal, a mouth; with the old English welle, a fountain;
with the original name of Italy, still called by the Germans
Welschland; with Balkan and Vulcan, both of which signify a
casting out, an eruption; with Welint or Wayland, the name of the
Anglo-Saxon god of the forge; with the Chaldee val, a forest, and
the German wald; with the English bluff, and the Sanscrit
palava&mdash;startling assertions, no doubt, at least to some;
which are, however, quite true, and which at some future time
will be universally acknowledged so to be.</p>

<p>But it is not for its scenery alone that Wales is deserving of
being visited; scenery soon palls unless it is associated with
remarkable events, and the names of remarkable men. Perhaps
there is no country in the whole world which has been the scene
of events more stirring and remarkable than those recorded in the
history of Wales. What other country has been the scene of
a struggle so deadly, so embittered, and protracted as that
between the Cumro and the Saxon?&mdash;A struggle which did not
terminate at Caernarvon, when Edward Longshanks foisted his young
son upon the Welsh chieftains as Prince of Wales; but was kept up
till the battle of Bosworth Field, when a prince of Cumric blood
won the crown of fair Britain, verifying the olden word which had
cheered the hearts of the Ancient Britons for at least a thousand
years, even in times of the darkest distress and
gloom:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;But
after long pain<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Repose we shall obtain,<br />
When sway barbaric has purg&rsquo;d us clean;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And Britons shall regain<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Their crown and their domain,<br
/>
And the foreign oppressor be no more seen.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Of remarkable men Wales has assuredly produced its full
share. First, to speak of men of action:&mdash;there was
Madoc, the son of Owain Gwynedd, who discovered America,
centuries before Columbus was born; then there was &ldquo;the
irregular and wild Glendower,&rdquo; who turned rebel at the age
of sixty, was crowned King of Wales at Machynlleth, and for
fourteen years contrived to hold his own against the whole power
of England; then there was Ryce Ap Thomas, the best soldier of
his time, whose hands placed the British crown on the brow of
Henry the Seventh, and whom bluff Henry the Eighth delighted to
call Father Preece; then there was&mdash;who?&mdash;why Harry
Morgan, who led those tremendous fellows the Buccaneers across
the Isthmus of Darien to the sack and burning of
Panamá.</p>

<p>What, a buccaneer in the list? Ay! and why not?
Morgan was a scourge, it is true, but he was a scourge of God on
the cruel Spaniards of the New World, the merciless task-masters
and butchers of the Indian race: on which account God favoured
and prospered him, permitting him to attain the noble age of
ninety, and to die peacefully and tranquilly at Jamaica, whilst
smoking his pipe in his shady arbour, with his smiling plantation
of sugar-canes full in view. How unlike the fate of Harry
Morgan to that of Lolonois, a being as daring and enterprising as
the Welshman, but a monster without ruth or discrimination,
terrible to friend and foe, who perished by the hands, not of the
Spaniards, but of the Indians, who tore him limb from limb,
burning his members, yet quivering, in the fire&mdash;which very
Indians Morgan contrived to make his own firm friends, and whose
difficult language he spoke with the same facility as English,
Spanish, and his own South Welsh.</p>

<p>For men of genius Wales during a long period was particularly
celebrated.&mdash;Who has not heard of the Welsh Bards? though it
is true that, beyond the borders of Wales, only a very few are
acquainted with their songs, owing to the language, by no means
an easy one, in which they were composed. Honour to them
all! everlasting glory to the three greatest&mdash;Taliesin, Ab
Gwilym and Gronwy Owen: the first a professed Christian, but in
reality a Druid, whose poems fling great light on the doctrines
of the primitive priesthood of Europe, which correspond
remarkably with the philosophy of the Hindus, before the time of
Brahma: the second the grand poet of Nature, the contemporary of
Chaucer, but worth half a dozen of the accomplished word-master,
the ingenious versifier of Norman and Italian tales: the third a
learned and irreproachable minister of the Church of England, and
one of the greatest poets of the last century, who after several
narrow escapes from starvation both in England and Wales, died
master of a paltry school at New Brunswick, in North America,
sometime about the year 1780.</p>

<p>But Wales has something besides its wonderful scenery, its
eventful history, and its illustrious men of yore to interest the
visitor. Wales has a population, and a remarkable
one. There are countries, besides Wales, abounding with
noble scenery, rich in eventful histories, and which are not
sparingly dotted with the birthplaces of heroes and poets, in
which at the present day there is either no population at all, or
one of a character which is anything but attractive. Of a
country in the first predicament, the Scottish Highlands afford
an example: What a country is that Highland region! What
scenery! and what associations! If Wales has its Snowdon
and Cader Idris, the Highlands have their Hill of the Water Dogs,
and that of the Swarthy Swine: If Wales has a history, so have
the Highlands&mdash;not indeed so remarkable as that of Wales,
but eventful enough: If Wales has had its heroes, its Glendower
and Father Pryce, the Highlands have had their Evan Cameron and
Ranald of Moydart; If Wales has had its romantic characters, its
Griffith Ap Nicholas and Harry Morgan, the Highlands have had Rob
Roy and that strange fellow Donald Macleod, the man of the
broadsword, the leader of the Freacadan Dhu, who at Fontenoy
caused, the Lord only knows, how many Frenchmen&rsquo;s heads to
fly off their shoulders, who lived to the age of one hundred and
seven, and at seventy-one performed gallant service on the
Heights of Abraham: wrapped in whose plaid the dying Wolfe was
carried from the hill of victory.&mdash;If Wales has been a land
of song, have not the Highlands also?&mdash;If Wales can boast of
Ab Gwilym and Gronwy, the Highlands can boast of Ossian and
MacIntyre. In many respects the two regions are equals or
nearly so;&mdash;In one respect, however, a matter of the present
day, and a very important matter too, they are anything but
equals: Wales has a population&mdash;but where is that of the
Highlands?&mdash;Plenty of noble scene; Plenty of delightful
associations, historical, poetical, and romantic&mdash;but, but,
where is the population?</p>

<p>The population of Wales has not departed across the Atlantic,
like that of the Highlands; it remains at home, and a remarkable
population it is&mdash;very different from the present
inhabitants of several beautiful lands of olden fame, who have
strangely degenerated from their forefathers. Wales has not
only a population, but a highly interesting one&mdash;hardy and
frugal, yet kind and hospitable&mdash;a bit crazed, it is true,
on the subject of religion, but still retaining plenty of old
Celtic peculiarities, and still speaking Diolch i Duw!&mdash;the
language of Glendower and the Bards.</p>

<p>The present is a book about Wales and Welsh matters. He
who does me the honour of perusing it will be conducted to many a
spot not only remarkable for picturesqueness, but for having been
the scene of some extraordinary event, or the birth-place or
residence of a hero or a man of genius; he will likewise be not
unfrequently introduced to the genuine Welsh, and made acquainted
with what they have to say about Cumro and Saxon, buying and
selling, fattening hogs and poultry, Methodism and baptism, and
the poor, persecuted Church of England.</p>

<p>An account of the language of Wales will be found in the last
chapter. It has many features and words in common with the
Sanscrit, and many which seem peculiar to itself, or rather to
the family of languages, generally called the Celtic, to which it
belongs. Though not an original tongue, for indeed no
original tongue, or anything approximating to one, at present
exists, it is certainly of immense antiquity, indeed almost
entitled in that respect to dispute the palm with the grand
tongue of India, on which in some respects it flings nearly as
much elucidation as it itself receives in others. Amongst
the words quoted in the chapter alluded to I wish particularly to
direct the reader&rsquo;s attention to gwr, a man, and gwres,
heat; to which may be added gwreichionen, a spark. Does not
the striking similarity between these words warrant the
supposition that the ancient Cumry entertained the idea that man
and fire were one and the same, even like the ancient Hindus, who
believed that man sprang from fire, and whose word vira, <a
name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1"
class="citation">[1]</a> which signifies a strong man, a hero,
signifies also fire?</p>

<p>There are of course faults and inaccuracies in the work; but I
have reason to believe that they are neither numerous nor
important: I may have occasionally given a wrong name to a hill
or a brook; or may have overstated or understated, by a furlong,
the distance between one hamlet and another; or even committed
the blunder of saying that Mr Jones Ap Jenkins lived in this or
that homestead, whereas in reality Mr Jenkins Ap Jones honoured
it with his residence: I may be chargeable with such
inaccuracies; in which case I beg to express due sorrow for them,
and at the same time a hope that I have afforded information
about matters relating to Wales which more than atones for
them. It would be as well if those who exhibit eagerness to
expose the faults of a book would occasionally have the candour
to say a word or two about its merits; such a wish, however, is
not likely to be gratified, unless indeed they wisely take a hint
from the following lines, translated from a cywydd of the last of
the great poets of Wales:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;All can perceive a fault, where there is
one&mdash;<br />
A dirty scamp will find one, where there&rsquo;s none.&rdquo; <a
name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2"
class="citation">[2]</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p style="text-align: center">
<a href="images/p1b.jpg">
<img alt=
"Map of Wales showing Borrow&rsquo;s route"
title=
"Map of Wales showing Borrow&rsquo;s route"
src="images/p1s.jpg" />
</a></p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>

<p class="letter">Proposed Excursion&mdash;Knowledge of
Welsh&mdash;Singular Groom&mdash;Harmonious Distich&mdash;Welsh
Pronunciation&mdash;Dafydd Ab Gwilym.</p>

<p>In the summer of the year 1854 myself, wife, and daughter
determined upon going into Wales, to pass a few months
there. We are country people of a corner of East Anglia,
and, at the time of which I am speaking, had been residing so
long on our own little estate, that we had become tired of the
objects around us, and conceived that we should be all the better
for changing the scene for a short period. We were
undetermined for some time with respect to where we should
go. I proposed Wales from the first, but my wife and
daughter, who have always had rather a hankering after what is
fashionable, said they thought it would be more advisable to go
to Harrowgate, or Leamington. On my observing that those
were terrible places for expense, they replied that, though the
price of corn had of late been shamefully low, we had a spare
hundred pounds or two in our pockets, and could afford to pay for
a little insight into fashionable life. I told them that
there was nothing I so much hated as fashionable life, but that,
as I was anything but a selfish person, I would endeavour to
stifle my abhorrence of it for a time, and attend them either to
Leamington or Harrowgate. By this speech I obtained my
wish, even as I knew I should, for my wife and daughter instantly
observed, that, after all, they thought we had better go into
Wales, which, though not so fashionable as either Leamington or
Harrowgate, was a very nice picturesque country, where, they had
no doubt, they should get on very well, more especially as I was
acquainted with the Welsh language.</p>

<p>It was my knowledge of Welsh, such as it was, that made me
desirous that we should go to Wales, where there was a chance
that I might turn it to some little account. In my boyhood
I had been something of a philologist; had picked up some Latin
and Greek at school; some Irish in Ireland, where I had been with
my father, who was in the army; and subsequently whilst an
articled clerk to the first solicitor in East Anglia&mdash;indeed
I may say the prince of all English solicitors&mdash;for he was a
gentleman, had learnt some Welsh, partly from books and partly
from a Welsh groom, whose acquaintance I made. A queer
groom he was, and well deserving of having his portrait
drawn. He might be about forty-seven years of age, and
about five feet eight inches in height; his body was spare and
wiry; his chest rather broad, and his arms remarkably long; his
legs were of the kind generally known as spindle-shanks, but
vigorous withal, for they carried his body with great agility;
neck he had none, at least that I ever observed; and his head was
anything but high, not measuring, I should think, more than four
inches from the bottom of the chin to the top of the forehead;
his cheek-bones were high, his eyes grey and deeply sunken in his
face, with an expression in them, partly sullen, and partly
irascible; his complexion was indescribable; the little hair
which he had, which was almost entirely on the sides and the back
part of his head, was of an iron-grey hue. He wore a
leather hat on ordinary days, low at the crown, and with the side
eaves turned up. A dirty pepper and salt coat, a waistcoat
which had once been red, but which had lost its pristine colour,
and looked brown; dirty yellow leather breeches, grey worsted
stockings, and high-lows. Surely I was right when I said he
was a very different groom to those of the present day, whether
Welsh or English? What say you, Sir Watkin? What say
you, my Lord of Exeter? He looked after the horses, and
occasionally assisted in the house of a person who lived at the
end of an alley, in which the office of the gentleman to whom I
was articled was situated, and having to pass by the door of the
office half-a-dozen times in the day, he did not fail to attract
the notice of the clerks, who, sometimes individually, sometimes
by twos, sometimes by threes, or even more, not unfrequently
stood at the door, bareheaded&mdash;mis-spending the time which
was not legally their own. Sundry observations, none of
them very flattering, did the clerks and, amongst them, myself,
make upon the groom, as he passed and repassed, some of them
direct, others somewhat oblique. To these he made no reply
save by looks, which had in them something dangerous and
menacing, and clenching without raising his fists, which looked
singularly hard and horny. At length a whisper ran about
the alley that the groom was a Welshman; this whisper much
increased the malice of my brother clerks against him, who were
now whenever he passed the door, and they happened to be there by
twos or threes, in the habit of saying something, as if by
accident, against Wales and Welshmen, and, individually or
together, were in the habit of shouting out &ldquo;Taffy,&rdquo;
when he was at some distance from them, and his back was turned,
or regaling his ears with the harmonious and well-known distich
of &ldquo;Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief: Taffy came to
my house and stole a piece of beef.&rdquo; It had, however,
a very different effect upon me. I was trying to learn
Welsh, and the idea occurring to me that the groom might be able
to assist me in my pursuit, I instantly lost all desire to
torment him, and determined to do my best to scrape acquaintance
with him, and persuade him to give me what assistance he could in
Welsh. I succeeded; how I will not trouble the reader with
describing: he and I became great friends, and he taught me what
Welsh he could. In return for his instructions I persuaded
my brother clerks to leave off holloing after him, and to do
nothing further to hurt his feelings, which had been very deeply
wounded, so much so, that after the first two or three lessons he
told me in confidence that on the morning of the very day I first
began to conciliate him he had come to the resolution of doing
one of two things, namely, either to hang himself from the balk
of the hayloft, or to give his master warning, both of which
things he told me he should have been very unwilling to do, more
particularly as he had a wife and family. He gave me
lessons on Sunday afternoons, at my father&rsquo;s house, where
he made his appearance very respectably dressed, in a beaver hat,
blue surtout, whitish waistcoat, black trowsers and Wellingtons,
all with a somewhat ancient look&mdash;the Wellingtons I remember
were slightly pieced at the sides&mdash;but all upon the whole
very respectable. I wished at first to persuade him to give
me lessons in the office, but could not succeed: &ldquo;No, no,
lad;&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;catch me going in there: I would just
as soon venture into a nest of porcupines.&rdquo; To
translate from books I had already, to a certain degree, taught
myself, and at his first visit I discovered, and he himself
acknowledged, that at book Welsh I was stronger than himself, but
I learnt Welsh pronunciation from him, and to discourse a little
in the Welsh tongue. &ldquo;Had you much difficulty in
acquiring the sound of the ll?&rdquo; I think I hear the reader
inquire. None whatever: the double l of the Welsh is by no
means the terrible guttural which English people generally
suppose it to be, being in reality a pretty liquid, exactly
resembling in sound the Spanish ll, the sound of which I had
mastered before commencing Welsh, and which is equivalent to the
English lh; so being able to pronounce llano I had of course no
difficulty in pronouncing Lluyd, which by-the-bye was the name of
the groom.</p>

<p>I remember that I found the pronunciation of the Welsh far
less difficult than I had found the grammar, the most remarkable
feature of which is the mutation, under certain circumstances, of
particular consonants, when forming the initials of words.
This feature I had observed in the Irish, which I had then only
learnt by ear.</p>

<p>But to return to the groom. He was really a remarkable
character, and taught me two or three things besides Welsh
pronunciation; and to discourse a little in Cumraeg. He had
been a soldier in his youth, and had served under Moore and
Wellington in the Peninsular campaigns, and from him I learnt the
details of many a bloody field and bloodier storm, of the
sufferings of poor British soldiers, and the tyranny of haughty
British officers; more especially of the two commanders just
mentioned, the first of whom he swore was shot by his own
soldiers, and the second more frequently shot at by British than
French. But it is not deemed a matter of good taste to
write about such low people as grooms, I shall therefore dismiss
him with no observation further than that after he had visited me
on Sunday afternoons for about a year he departed for his own
country with his wife, who was an Englishwoman, and his children,
in consequence of having been left a small freehold there by a
distant relation, and that I neither saw nor heard of him
again.</p>

<p>But though I had lost my oral instructor I had still my silent
ones, namely, the Welsh books, and of these I made such use that
before the expiration of my clerkship I was able to read not only
Welsh prose, but, what was infinitely more difficult, Welsh
poetry in any of the four-and-twenty measures, and was well
versed in the compositions of various of the old Welsh bards,
especially those of Dafydd ab Gwilym, whom, since the time when I
first became acquainted with his works, I have always considered
as the greatest poetical genius that has appeared in Europe since
the revival of literature.</p>

<p>After this exordium I think I may proceed to narrate the
journey of myself and family into Wales. As perhaps,
however, it will be thought that, though I have said quite enough
about myself and a certain groom, I have not said quite enough
about my wife and daughter, I will add a little more about
them. Of my wife I will merely say that she is a perfect
paragon of wives&mdash;can make puddings and sweets and treacle
posset, and is the best woman of business in Eastern
Anglia&mdash;of my step-daughter&mdash;for such she is, though I
generally call her daughter, and with good reason, seeing that
she has always shown herself a daughter to me&mdash;that she has
all kinds of good qualities, and several accomplishments, knowing
something of conchology, more of botany, drawing capitally in the
Dutch style, and playing remarkably well on the guitar&mdash;not
the trumpery German thing so-called&mdash;but the real Spanish
guitar.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>

<p class="letter">The Starting&mdash;Peterborough
Cathedral&mdash;Anglo-Saxon Names&mdash;Kæmpe
Viser&mdash;Steam&mdash;Norman Barons&mdash;Chester
Ale&mdash;Sion Tudor&mdash;Pretty Welsh Tongue.</p>

<p>So our little family, consisting of myself, my wife Mary, and
my daughter Henrietta, for daughter I shall persist in calling
her, started for Wales in the afternoon of the 27th July,
1854. We flew through part of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire in
a train which we left at Ely, and getting into another, which did
not fly quite so fast as the one we had quieted, reached the
Peterborough station at about six o&rsquo;clock of a delightful
evening. We proceeded no farther on our journey that day,
in order that we might have an opportunity of seeing the
cathedral.</p>

<p>Sallying arm in arm from the Station Hotel, where we had
determined to take up our quarters for the night, we crossed a
bridge over the deep quiet Nen, on the southern bank of which
stands the station, and soon arrived at the
cathedral&mdash;unfortunately we were too late to procure
admission into the interior, and had to content ourselves with
walking round it and surveying its outside.</p>

<p>It is named after, and occupies the site, or part of the site
of an immense monastery, founded by the Mercian King Peda, in the
year 665, and destroyed by fire in the year 1116, which
monastery, though originally termed Medeshamsted, or the
homestead on the meads, was subsequently termed Peterborough,
from the circumstance of its having been reared by the old Saxon
monarch for the love of God and the honour of Saint Peter, as the
Saxon Chronicle says, a book which I went through carefully in my
younger days, when I studied Saxon, for, as I have already told
the reader, I was in those days a bit of a philologist.
Like the first, the second edifice was originally a monastery,
and continued so till the time of the Reformation; both were
abodes of learning; for if the Saxon Chronicle was commenced in
the monkish cells of the first, it was completed in those of the
second. What is at present called Peterborough Cathedral is
a noble venerable pile, equal upon the whole in external
appearance to the cathedrals of Toledo, Burgos and Leon, all of
which I have seen. Nothing in architecture can be conceived
more beautiful than the principal entrance, which fronts the
west, and which, at the time we saw it, was gilded with the rays
of the setting sun.</p>

<p>After having strolled about the edifice surveying it until we
were weary, we returned to our inn, and after taking an excellent
supper retired to rest.</p>

<p>At ten o&rsquo;clock next morning we left the capital of the
meads. With dragon speed, and dragon noise, fire, smoke,
and fury, the train dashed along its road through beautiful
meadows, garnished here and there with pollard sallows; over
pretty streams, whose waters stole along imperceptibly; by
venerable old churches, which I vowed I would take the first
opportunity of visiting: stopping now and then to recruit its
energies at places, whose old Anglo-Saxon names stared me in the
eyes from station boards, as specimens of which, let me only dot
down Willy Thorpe, Ringsted, and Yrthling Boro. Quite
forgetting everything Welsh, I was enthusiastically Saxon the
whole way from Medeshamsted to Blissworth, so thoroughly Saxon
was the country, with its rich meads, its old churches and its
names. After leaving Blissworth, a thoroughly Saxon place
by-the-bye, as its name shows, signifying the stronghold or
possession of Bligh or Blee, I became less Saxon; the country was
rather less Saxon, and I caught occasionally the word
&ldquo;by&rdquo; on a board, the Danish for a town; which
&ldquo;by&rdquo; waked in me a considerable portion of Danish
enthusiasm, of which I have plenty, and with reason, having
translated the glorious Kæmpe Viser over the desk of my
ancient master, the gentleman solicitor of East Anglia. At
length we drew near the great workshop of England, called by
some, Brummagem or Bromwicham, by others Birmingham, and I fell
into a philological reverie, wondering which was the right
name. Before, however, we came to the station, I decided
that both names were right enough, but that Bromwicham was the
original name; signifying the home on the broomie moor, which
name it lost in polite parlance for Birmingham, or the home of
the son of Biarmer, when a certain man of Danish blood, called
Biarming, or the son of Biarmer, got possession of it, whether by
force, fraud, or marriage&mdash;the latter, by-the-bye, is by far
the best way of getting possession of an estate&mdash;this
deponent neither knoweth nor careth. At Birmingham station
I became a modern Englishman, enthusiastically proud of modern
England&rsquo;s science and energy; that station alone is enough
to make one proud of being a modern Englishman. Oh, what an
idea does that station, with its thousand trains dashing off in
all directions, or arriving from all quarters, give of modern
English science and energy. My modern English pride
accompanied me all the way to Tipton; for all along the route
there were wonderful evidences of English skill and enterprise;
in chimneys high as cathedral spires, vomiting forth smoke,
furnaces emitting flame and lava, and in the sound of gigantic
hammers, wielded by steam, the Englishman&rsquo;s slave.
After passing Tipton, at which place one leaves the great working
district behind; I became for a considerable time a yawning,
listless Englishman, without pride, enthusiasm, or feeling of any
kind, from which state I was suddenly roused by the sight of
ruined edifices on the tops of hills. They were remains of
castles built by Norman Barons. Here, perhaps, the reader
will expect from me a burst of Norman enthusiasm: if so he will
be mistaken; I have no Norman enthusiasm, and hate and abominate
the name of Norman, for I have always associated that name with
the deflowering of helpless Englishwomen, the plundering of
English homesteads, and the tearing out of poor
Englishmen&rsquo;s eyes. The sight of those edifices, now
in ruins, but which were once the strongholds of plunder,
violence, and lust, made me almost ashamed of being an
Englishman, for they brought to my mind the indignities to which
poor English blood has been subjected. I sat silent and
melancholy, till looking from the window I caught sight of a long
line of hills, which I guessed to be the Welsh hills, as indeed
they proved, which sight causing me to remember that I was bound
for Wales, the land of the bard, made me cast all gloomy thoughts
aside and glow with all the Welsh enthusiasm with which I glowed
when I first started in the direction of Wales.</p>

<p>On arriving at Chester, at which place we intended to spend
two or three days, we put up at an old-fashioned inn in Northgate
Street, to which we had been recommended; my wife and daughter
ordered tea and its accompaniments, and I ordered ale, and that
which always should accompany it, cheese. &ldquo;The ale I
shall find bad,&rdquo; said I; Chester ale had a villainous
character in the time of old Sion Tudor, who made a first-rate
englyn upon it, and it has scarcely improved since; &ldquo;but I
shall have a treat in the cheese, Cheshire cheese has always been
reckoned excellent, and now that I am in the capital of the
cheese country, of course I shall have some of the very
prime.&rdquo; Well, the tea, loaf and butter made their
appearance, and with them my cheese and ale. To my horror
the cheese had much the appearance of soap of the commonest kind,
which indeed I found it much resembled in taste, on putting a
small portion into my mouth. &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said I,
after I had opened the window and ejected the half-masticated
morsel into the street, &ldquo;those who wish to regale on good
Cheshire cheese must not come to Chester, no more than those who
wish to drink first-rate coffee must go to Mocha.
I&rsquo;ll now see whether the ale is drinkable;&rdquo; so I took
a little of the ale into my mouth, and instantly going to the
window, spirted it out after the cheese. &ldquo;Of a
surety,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;Chester ale must be of much the
same quality as it was in the time of Sion Tudor, who spoke of it
to the following effect:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Chester ale, Chester ale! I could
ne&rsquo;er get it down,<br />
&nbsp; &rsquo;Tis made of ground-ivy, of dirt, and of
bran,<br />
&rsquo;Tis as thick as a river below a huge town!<br />
&nbsp; &rsquo;Tis not lap for a dog, far less drink for a
man.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Well! if I have been deceived in the cheese, I have at any
rate not been deceived in the ale, which I expected to find
execrable. Patience! I shall not fall into a passion, more
especially as there are things I can fall back upon. Wife!
I will trouble you for a cup of tea. Henrietta! have the
kindness to cut me a slice of bread and butter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Upon the whole we found ourselves very comfortable in the
old-fashioned inn, which was kept by a nice old-fashioned
gentlewoman, with the assistance of three servants, namely, a
&ldquo;boots&rdquo; and two strapping chambermaids, one of which
was a Welsh girl, with whom I soon scraped acquaintance, not, I
assure the reader, for the sake of the pretty Welsh eyes which
she carried in her head, but for the sake of the pretty Welsh
tongue which she carried in her mouth, from which I confess
occasionally proceeded sounds which, however pretty, I was quite
unable to understand.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>

<p class="letter">Chester&mdash;The Rows&mdash;Lewis Glyn
Cothi&mdash;Tragedy of Mold&mdash;Native of Antigua&mdash;Slavery
and the Americans&mdash;The Tents&mdash;Saturday Night.</p>

<p>On the morning after our arrival we went out together, and
walked up and down several streets; my wife and daughter,
however, soon leaving me to go into a shop, I strolled about by
myself. Chester is an ancient town with walls and gates, a
prison called a castle, built on the site of an ancient keep, an
unpretending-looking red sandstone cathedral, two or three
handsome churches, several good streets, and certain curious
places called rows. The Chester row is a broad arched stone
gallery running parallel with the street within the
fa&ccedil;ades of the houses; it is partly open on the side of
the street, and just one story above it. Within the rows,
of which there are three or four, are shops, every shop being on
that side which is farthest from the street. All the best
shops in Chester are to be found in the rows. These rows,
to which you ascend by stairs up narrow passages, were originally
built for the security of the wares of the principal merchants
against the Welsh. Should the mountaineers break into the
town, as they frequently did, they might rifle some of the common
shops, where their booty would be slight, but those which
contained the more costly articles would be beyond their reach;
for at the first alarm the doors of the passages, up which the
stairs led, would be closed, and all access to the upper streets
cut off, from the open arches of which missiles of all kinds,
kept ready for such occasions, could be discharged upon the
intruders, who would be soon glad to beat a retreat. These
rows and the walls are certainly the most remarkable memorials of
old times which Chester has to boast of.</p>

<p>Upon the walls it is possible to make the whole compass of the
city, there being a good but narrow walk upon them. The
northern wall abuts upon a frightful ravine, at the bottom of
which is a canal. From the western one there is a noble
view of the Welsh hills.</p>

<p>As I stood gazing upon the hills from the wall a ragged man
came up and asked for charity.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you tell me the name of that tall hill?&rdquo; said
I, pointing in the direction of the south-west. &ldquo;That
hill, sir,&rdquo; said the beggar, &ldquo;is called Moel Vamagh;
I ought to know something about it as I was born at its
foot.&rdquo; &ldquo;Moel,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;a bald
hill; Vamagh, maternal or motherly. Moel Vamagh, the Mother
Moel.&rdquo; &ldquo;Just so, sir,&rdquo; said the beggar;
&ldquo;I see you are a Welshman, like myself, though I suppose
you come from the South&mdash;Moel Vamagh is the Mother Moel, and
is called so because it is the highest of all the
Moels.&rdquo; &ldquo;Did you ever hear of a place called
Mold?&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Oh, yes, your honour,&rdquo;
said the beggar; &ldquo;many a time; and many&rsquo;s the time I
have been there.&rdquo; &ldquo;In which direction does it
lie?&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Towards Moel Vamagh, your
honour,&rdquo; said the beggar, &ldquo;which is a few miles
beyond it; you can&rsquo;t see it from here, but look towards
Moel Vamagh and you will see over it.&rdquo; &ldquo;Thank
you,&rdquo; said I, and gave something to the beggar, who
departed, after first taking off his hat. Long and fixedly
did I gaze in the direction of Mold. The reason which
induced me to do so was the knowledge of an appalling tragedy
transacted there in the old time, in which there is every reason
to suppose a certain Welsh bard, called Lewis Glyn Cothi, had a
share.</p>

<p>This man, who was a native of South Wales, flourished during
the wars of the Roses. Besides being a poetical he was
something of a military genius, and had a command of foot in the
army of the Lancastrian Jasper Earl of Pembroke, the son of Owen
Tudor, and half-brother of Henry the Sixth. After the
battle of Mortimer&rsquo;s Cross, in which the Earl&rsquo;s
forces were defeated, the warrior bard found his way to Chester,
where he married the widow of a citizen and opened a shop,
without asking the permission of the mayor, who with the officers
of justice came and seized all his goods, which, according to his
own account, filled nine sacks, and then drove him out of the
town. The bard in a great fury indited an awdl, in which he
invites Reinallt ap Grufydd ap Bleddyn, a kind of predatory
chieftain, who resided a little way off in Flintshire, to come
and set the town on fire, and slaughter the inhabitants, in
revenge for the wrongs he had suffered, and then proceeds to vent
all kinds of imprecations against the mayor and people of
Chester, wishing, amongst other things, that they might soon hear
that the Dee had become too shallow to bear their
ships&mdash;that a certain cutaneous disorder might attack the
wrists of great and small, old and young, laity and
clergy&mdash;that grass might grow in their streets&mdash;that
Ilar and Cyveilach, Welsh saints, might slay them&mdash;that dogs
might snarl at them&mdash;and that the king of heaven, with the
saints Brynach and Non, might afflict them with
blindness&mdash;which piece, however ineffectual in inducing God
and the saints to visit the Chester people with the curses with
which the furious bard wished them to be afflicted, seems to have
produced somewhat of its intended effect on the chieftain, who
shortly afterwards, on learning that the mayor and many of the
Chester people were present at the fair of Mold, near which place
he resided, set upon them at the head of his forces, and after a
desperate combat, in which many lives were lost, took the mayor
prisoner, and drove those of his people who survived into a
tower, which he set on fire and burnt, with all the unhappy
wretches which it contained, completing the horrors of the day by
hanging the unfortunate mayor.</p>

<p>Conversant as I was with all this strange history, is it
wonderful that I looked with great interest from the wall of
Chester in the direction of Mold?</p>

<p>Once did I make the compass of the city upon the walls, and
was beginning to do the same a second time, when I stumbled
against a black, who, with his arms leaning upon the wall, was
spitting over it, in the direction of the river. I
apologised, and contrived to enter into conversation with
him. He was tolerably well dressed, had a hairy cap on his
head, was about forty years of age, and brutishly ugly, his
features scarcely resembling those of a human being. He
told me he was a native of Antigua, a blacksmith by trade, and
had been a slave. I asked him if he could speak any
language besides English, and received for answer that besides
English, he could speak Spanish and French. Forthwith I
spoke to him in Spanish, but he did not understand me. I
then asked him to speak to me in Spanish, but he could not.
&ldquo;Surely you can tell me the word for water in
Spanish,&rdquo; said I; he, however, was not able.
&ldquo;How is it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that, pretending to be
acquainted with Spanish, you do not even know the word for
water?&rdquo; He said he could not tell, but supposed that
he had forgotten the Spanish language, adding however, that he
could speak French perfectly. I spoke to him in
French&mdash;he did not understand me: I told him to speak to me
in French, but he did not. I then asked him the word for
bread in French, but he could not tell me. I made no
observations on his ignorance, but inquired how he liked being a
slave? He said not at all; that it was very bad to be a
slave, as a slave was forced to work. I asked him if he did
not work now that he was free? He said very seldom; that he
did not like work, and that it did not agree with him. I
asked how he came into England, and he said that wishing to see
England, he had come over with a gentleman as his servant, but
that as soon as he got there, he had left his master, as he did
not like work. I asked him how he contrived to live in
England without working? He said that any black might live
in England without working; that all he had to do was to attend
religious meetings, and speak against slavery and the
Americans. I asked him if he had done so. He said he
had, and that the religious people were very kind to him, and
gave him money, and that a religious lady was going to marry
him. I asked him if he knew anything about the
Americans? He said he did, and that they were very bad
people, who kept slaves and flogged them. &ldquo;And quite
right too,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if they are lazy rascals like
yourself, who want to eat without working. What a pretty
set of knaves or fools must they be, who encourage a fellow like
you to speak against negro slavery, of the necessity for which
you yourself are a living instance, and against a people of whom
you know as much as of French or Spanish.&rdquo; Then
leaving the black, who made no other answer to what I said, than
by spitting with considerable force in the direction of the
river, I continued making my second compass of the city upon the
wall.</p>

<p>Having walked round the city for the second time, I returned
to the inn. In the evening I went out again, passed over
the bridge, and then turned to the right in the direction of the
hills. Near the river, on my right, on a kind of green, I
observed two or three tents resembling those of gypsies.
Some ragged children were playing near them, who, however, had
nothing of the appearance of the children of the Egyptian race,
their locks being not dark, but either of a flaxen or red hue,
and their features not delicate and regular, but coarse and
uncouth, and their complexions not olive, but rather inclining to
be fair. I did not go up to them, but continued my course
till I arrived near a large factory. I then turned and
retraced my steps into the town. It was Saturday night, and
the streets were crowded with people, many of whom must have been
Welsh, as I heard the Cambrian language spoken on every side.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>

<p class="letter">Sunday Morning&mdash;Tares and
Wheat&mdash;Teetotalism&mdash;Hearsay&mdash;Irish
Family&mdash;What Profession?&mdash;Sabbath Evening&mdash;Priest
or Minister&mdash;Give us God.</p>

<p>On the Sunday morning, as we sat at breakfast, we heard the
noise of singing in the street; running to the window, we saw a
number of people, bareheaded, from whose mouths the singing or
psalmody proceeded. These, on inquiry, we were informed,
were Methodists, going about to raise recruits for a grand
camp-meeting, which was to be held a little way out of the
town. We finished our breakfast, and at eleven attended
divine service at the Cathedral. The interior of this holy
edifice was smooth and neat, strangely contrasting with its
exterior, which was rough and weather-beaten. We had decent
places found us by a civil verger, who probably took us for what
we were&mdash;decent country people. We heard much fine
chanting by the choir, and an admirable sermon, preached by a
venerable prebend, on &ldquo;Tares and Wheat.&rdquo; The
congregation was numerous and attentive. After service we
returned to our inn, and at two o&rsquo;clock dined. During
dinner our conversation ran almost entirely on the sermon, which
we all agreed was one of the best sermons we had ever heard, and
most singularly adapted to country people like ourselves, being
on &ldquo;Wheat and Tares.&rdquo; When dinner was over my
wife and daughter repaired to the neighbouring church, and I went
in quest of the camp-meeting, having a mighty desire to know what
kind of a thing Methodism at Chester was.</p>

<p>I found about two thousand people gathered together in a field
near the railroad station; a waggon stood under some green elms
at one end of the field, in which were ten or a dozen men with
the look of Methodist preachers; one of these was holding forth
to the multitude when I arrived, but he presently sat down, I
having, as I suppose, only come in time to hear the fag-end of
his sermon. Another succeeded him, who, after speaking for
about half an hour, was succeeded by another. All the
discourses were vulgar and fanatical, and in some instances
unintelligible at least to my ears. There was plenty of
vociferation, but not one single burst of eloquence. Some
of the assembly appeared to take considerable interest in what
was said, and every now and then showed they did by devout hums
and groans; but the generality evidently took little or none,
staring about listlessly, or talking to one another.
Sometimes, when anything particularly low escaped from the mouth
of the speaker, I heard exclamations of &ldquo;how low! well, I
think I could preach better than that,&rdquo; and the like.
At length a man of about fifty, pock-broken and somewhat bald,
began to speak: unlike the others who screamed, shouted, and
seemed in earnest, he spoke in a dry, waggish style, which had
all the coarseness and nothing of the cleverness of that of old
Rowland Hill, whom I once heard. After a great many jokes,
some of them very poor, and others exceedingly thread-bare, on
the folly of those who sell themselves to the Devil for a little
temporary enjoyment, he introduced the subject of drunkenness, or
rather drinking fermented liquors, which he seemed to consider
the same thing; and many a sorry joke on the folly of drinking
them did he crack, which some half-dozen amidst the concourse
applauded. At length he said:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;After all, brethren, such drinking is no joking matter,
for it is the root of all evil. Now, brethren, if you would
all get to heaven, and cheat the enemy of your souls, never go
into a public-house to drink, and never fetch any drink from a
public-house. Let nothing pass your lips, in the shape of
drink, stronger than water or tea. Brethren, if you would
cheat the Devil, take the pledge and become teetotalers. I
am a teetotaller myself, thank God&mdash;though once I was a
regular lushington.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here ensued a burst of laughter in which I joined, though not
at the wretched joke, but at the absurdity of the argument; for,
according to that argument, I thought my old friends the
Spaniards and Portuguese must be the most moral people in the
world, being almost all water-drinkers. As the speaker was
proceeding with his nonsense, I heard some one say behind
me&mdash;&ldquo;a pretty fellow that, to speak against drinking
and public-houses: he pretends to be reformed, but he is still as
fond of the lush as ever. It was only the other day I saw
him reeling out of a gin-shop.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Now that speech I did not like, for I saw at once that it
could not be true, so I turned quickly round and
said&mdash;&ldquo;Old chap, I can scarcely credit
that!&rdquo;</p>

<p>The man, whom I addressed, a rough-and-ready-looking fellow of
the lower class, seemed half disposed to return me a savage
answer; but an Englishman of the lower class, though you call his
word in question, is never savage with you, provided you call him
old chap, and he considers you by your dress to be his superior
in station. Now I, who had called the word of this man in
question, had called him old chap, and was considerably better
dressed than himself; so, after a little hesitation, he became
quite gentle, and something more, for he said in a
half-apologetic tone&mdash;&ldquo;Well, sir, I did not exactly
see him myself, but a particular friend of mine heer&rsquo;d a
man say, that he heer&rsquo;d another man say, that he was told
that a man heer&rsquo;d that that fellow&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come, come!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;a man must not be
convicted on evidence like that; no man has more contempt for the
doctrine which that man endeavours to inculcate than myself, for
I consider it to have been got up partly for fanatical, partly
for political purposes; but I will never believe that he was
lately seen coming out of a gin-shop; he is too wise, or rather
too cunning, for that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I stayed listening to these people till evening was at
hand. I then left them, and without returning to the inn
strolled over the bridge to the green, where the tents
stood. I went up to them: two women sat at the entrance of
one; a man stood by them, and the children, whom I had before
seen, were gambolling near at hand. One of the women was
about forty, the other some twenty years younger; both were
ugly. The younger was a rude, stupid-looking creature, with
red cheeks and redder hair, but there was a dash of intelligence
and likewise of wildness in the countenance of the elder female,
whose complexion and hair were rather dark. The man was
about the same age as the elder woman; he had rather a sharp
look, and was dressed in hat, white frock-coat, corduroy
breeches, long stockings and shoes. I gave them the seal of
the evening.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good evening to your haner,&rdquo; said the
man&mdash;&ldquo;Good evening to you, sir,&rdquo; said the woman;
whilst the younger mumbled something, probably to the same
effect, but which I did not catch.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Fine weather,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very, sir,&rdquo; said the elder female.
&ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you please to sit down?&rdquo; and reaching
back into the tent, she pulled out a stool which she placed near
me.</p>

<p>I sat down on the stool. &ldquo;You are not from these
parts?&rdquo; said I, addressing myself to the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are not, your haner,&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;we
are from Ireland.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And this lady,&rdquo; said I, motioning with my head to
the elder female, &ldquo;is, I suppose, your wife.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;She is, your haner, and the children which your haner
sees are my children.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who is this young lady?&rdquo; said I, motioning to
the uncouth-looking girl.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The young lady, as your haner is pleased to call her,
is a daughter of a sister of mine who is now dead, along with her
husband. We have her with us, your haner, because if we did
not she would be alone in the world.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what trade or profession do you follow?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We do a bit in the tinkering line, your
haner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you find tinkering a very profitable
profession?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not very, your haner; but we contrive to get a crust
and a drink by it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s more than I ever could,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has your haner then ever followed tinkering?&rdquo;
said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I soon left
off.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And became a minister,&rdquo; said the elder female,
&ldquo;Well, your honour is not the first indifferent tinker
that&rsquo;s turned out a shining minister.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why do you think me a minister?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because your honour has the very look and voice of
one. Oh, it was kind in your honour to come to us here in
the Sabbath evening, in order that you might bring us
God.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you mean by bringing you God?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Talking to us about good things, sir, and instructing
us out of the Holy Book.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am no minister,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you are a priest; I am sure you are either a
minister or a priest; and now that I look on you, sir, I think
you look more like a priest than a minister. Yes, I see you
are a priest. Oh, your Reverence, give us God! Pull
out the crucifix from your bosom, and let us kiss the face of
God!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what religion are you?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Catholics, your Reverence, Catholics are we
all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am no priest.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you are a minister; I am sure you are either a
priest or a minister. Oh sir, pull out the Holy Book, and
instruct us from it this blessed Sabbath evening. Give us
God, sir, give us God!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And would you, who are Catholics, listen to the voice
of a minister?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That would we, sir; at least I would. If you are
a minister, and a good minister, I would as soon listen to your
words as those of Father Toban himself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who is Father Toban?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A powerful priest in these parts, sir, who has more
than once eased me of my sins, and given me God upon the
cross. Oh, a powerful and comfortable priest is Father
Toban.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what would he say if he were to know that you asked
for God from a minister?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not know, and do not much care; if I get God, I do
not care whether I get Him from a minister or a priest; both have
Him, no doubt, only give Him in different ways. Oh sir, do
give us God; we need Him sir, for we are sinful people; we call
ourselves tinkers, but many is the sinful thing&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Bi-do-hosd;&rdquo; said the man: Irish words tantamount
to &ldquo;Be silent!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will not be hushed,&rdquo; said the woman, speaking
English. &ldquo;The man is a good man, and he will do us no
harm. We are tinkers, sir; but we do many things besides
tinkering, many sinful things, especially in Wales, whither we
are soon going again. Oh, I want to be eased of some of my
sins before I go into Wales again, and so do you, Tourlough, for
you know how you are sometimes haunted by devils at night in
those dreary Welsh hills. Oh sir, give us comfort in some
shape or other, either as priest or minister; give us God!
Give us God!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am neither priest nor minister,&rdquo; said, I,
&ldquo;and can only say: Lord have mercy upon you!&rdquo;
Then getting up I flung the children some money and departed.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We do not want your money, sir,&rdquo; screamed the
woman after me; &ldquo;we have plenty of money. Give us
God! Give us God!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, your haner,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;give us
God! we do not want money;&rdquo; and the uncouth girl said
something, which sounded much like Give us God! but I hastened
across the meadow, which was now quite dusky, and was presently
in the inn with my wife and daughter.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>

<p class="letter">Welsh Book Stall&mdash;Wit and
Poetry&mdash;Welsh of Chester&mdash;Beautiful Morning&mdash;Noble
Fellow&mdash;The Coiling Serpent&mdash;Wrexham Church&mdash;Welsh
or English?&mdash;Codiad yr Ehedydd.</p>

<p>On the afternoon of Monday I sent my family off by the train
to Llangollen, which place we had determined to make our
head-quarters during our stay in Wales. I intended to
follow them next day, not in train, but on foot, as by walking I
should be better able to see the country, between Chester and
Llangollen, than by making the journey by the flying
vehicle. As I returned to the inn from the train I took
refuge from a shower in one of the rows or covered streets, to
which, as I have already said, one ascends by flights of steps;
stopping at a book-stall I took up a book which chanced to be a
Welsh one. The proprietor, a short red-faced man, observing
me reading the book, asked me if I could understand it. I
told him that I could.</p>

<p>&ldquo;If so,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;let me hear you translate
the two lines on the title-page.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you a Welshman?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am!&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good!&rdquo; said I, and I translated into English the
two lines which were a couplet by Edmund Price, an old archdeacon
of Merion, celebrated in his day for wit and poetry.</p>

<p>The man then asked me from what part of Wales I came, and when
I told him that I was an Englishman was evidently offended,
either because he did not believe me, or, as I more incline to
think, did not approve of an Englishman&rsquo;s understanding
Welsh.</p>

<p>The book was the life of the Rev. Richards, and was published
at Caerlleon, or the city of the legion, the appropriate ancient
British name for the place now called Chester, a legion having
been kept stationed there during the occupation of Britain by the
Romans.</p>

<p>I returned to the inn and dined, and then yearning for
society, descended into the kitchen and had some conversation
with the Welsh maid. She told me that there were a great
many Welsh in Chester from all parts of Wales, but chiefly from
Denbighshire and Flintshire, which latter was her own
country. That a great many children were born in Chester of
Welsh parents, and brought up in the fear of God and love of the
Welsh tongue. That there were some who had never been in
Wales, who spoke as good Welsh as herself, or better. That
the Welsh of Chester were of various religious persuasions; that
some were Baptists, some Independents, but that the greater part
were Calvinistic-Methodists; that she herself was a
Calvinistic-Methodist; that the different persuasions had their
different chapels, in which God was prayed to in Welsh; that
there were very few Welsh in Chester who belonged to the Church
of England, and that the Welsh in general do not like Church of
England worship, as I should soon find if I went into Wales.</p>

<p>Late in the evening I directed my steps across the bridge to
the green, where I had discoursed with the Irish
itinerants. I wished to have some more conversation with
them respecting their way of life, and, likewise, as they had so
strongly desired it, to give them a little Christian comfort, for
my conscience reproached me for my abrupt departure on the
preceding evening. On arriving at the green, however, I
found them gone, and no traces of them but the mark of their fire
and a little dirty straw. I returned, disappointed and
vexed, to my inn.</p>

<p>Early the next morning I departed from Chester for Llangollen,
distant about twenty miles; I passed over the noble bridge and
proceeded along a broad and excellent road, leading in a
direction almost due south through pleasant meadows. I felt
very happy&mdash;and no wonder; the morning was beautiful, the
birds sang merrily, and a sweet smell proceeded from the new-cut
hay in the fields, and I was bound for Wales. I passed over
the river Allan and through two villages called, as I was told,
Pulford and Marford, and ascended a hill; from the top of this
hill the view is very fine. To the east are the high lands
of Cheshire, to the west the bold hills of Wales, and below, on
all sides a fair variety of wood and water, green meads and
arable fields.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You may well look around, Measter,&rdquo; said a
waggoner, who, coming from the direction in which I was bound,
stopped to breathe his team on the top of the hill; &ldquo;you
may well look around&mdash;there isn&rsquo;t such a place to see
the country from, far and near, as where we stand. Many
come to this place to look about them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I looked at the man, and thought I had never seen a more
powerful-looking fellow; he was about six feet two inches high,
immensely broad in the shoulders, and could hardly have weighed
less than sixteen stone. I gave him the seal of the
morning, and asked whether he was Welsh or English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;English, Measter, English; born t&rsquo;other side of
Beeston, pure Cheshire, Measter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;there are few Welshmen
such big fellows as yourself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, Measter,&rdquo; said the fellow, with a grin,
&ldquo;there are few Welshmen so big as I, or yourself either;
they are small men mostly, Measter, them Welshers, very small
men&mdash;and yet the fellows can use their hands. I am a
bit of a fighter, Measter, at least I was before my wife made me
join the Methodist connection, and I once fit with a Welshman at
Wrexham, he came from the hills, and was a real Welshman, and
shorter than myself by a whole head and shoulder, but he stood up
against me, and gave me more than play for my money, till I
gripped him, flung him down and myself upon him, and then of
course t&rsquo;was all over with him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are a noble fellow,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and a
credit to Cheshire. Will you have sixpence to
drink?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you, Measter, I shall stop at Pulford, and shall
be glad to drink your health in a jug of ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I gave him sixpence, and descended the hill on one side, while
he, with his team, descended it on the other.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A genuine Saxon,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I daresay just
like many of those who, under Hengist, subdued the plains of
Lloegr and Britain. Taliesin called the Saxon race the
Coiling Serpent. He had better have called it the Big
Bull. He was a noble poet, however: what wonderful lines,
upon the whole, are those in his prophecy, in which he speaks of
the Saxons and Britons, and of the result of their
struggle&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;A serpent which coils,<br
/>
&nbsp; And with fury boils,<br />
From Germany coming with arm&rsquo;d wings spread,<br />
&nbsp; Shall subdue and shall enthrall<br />
&nbsp; The broad Britain all,<br />
From the Lochlin ocean to Severn&rsquo;s bed.</p>

<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;And British men<br />
&nbsp; Shall be captives then<br />
To strangers from Saxonia&rsquo;s strand;<br />
&nbsp; They shall praise their God, and hold<br />
&nbsp; Their language as of old,<br />
But except wild Wales they shall lose their land.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I arrived at Wrexham, and having taken a very hearty breakfast
at the principal inn, for I felt rather hungry after a
morning&rsquo;s walk of ten miles, I walked about the town.
The town is reckoned a Welsh town, but its appearance is not
Welsh&mdash;its inhabitants have neither the look nor language of
Welshmen, and its name shows that it was founded by some Saxon
adventurer, Wrexham being a Saxon compound, signifying the home
or habitation of Rex or Rag, and identical, or nearly so, with
the Wroxham of East Anglia. It is a stirring bustling
place, of much traffic, and of several thousand
inhabitants. Its most remarkable object is its church,
which stands at the south-western side. To this church,
after wandering for some time about the streets, I
repaired. The tower is quadrangular, and is at least one
hundred feet high; it has on its summit four little turrets, one
at each corner, between each of which are three spirelets, the
middlemost of the three the highest. The nave of the church
is to the east; it is of two stories, both crenulated at the
top. I wished to see the interior of the church, but found
the gate locked. Observing a group of idlers close at hand
with their backs against a wall, I went up to them, and,
addressing myself to one, inquired whether I could see the
church. &ldquo;Oh yes, sir,&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;the
clerk who has the key lives close at hand; one of us shall go and
fetch him&mdash;by-the-bye, I may as well go myself.&rdquo;
He moved slowly away. He was a large bulky man of about the
middle age, and his companions were about the same age and size
as himself. I asked them if they were Welsh.
&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said one, &ldquo;I suppose we are, for
they call us Welsh.&rdquo; I asked if any of them could
speak Welsh. &ldquo;No, sir,&rdquo; said the man,
&ldquo;all the Welsh that any of us know, or indeed wish to know,
is &lsquo;Cwrw da.&rsquo;&rdquo; Here there was a general
laugh. Cwrw da signifies good ale. I at first thought
that the words might be intended as a hint for a treat, but was
soon convinced of the contrary. There was no greedy
expectation in his eyes, nor, indeed, in those of his companions,
though they all looked as if they were fond of good ale. I
inquired whether much Welsh was spoken in the town, and was told
very little. When the man returned with the clerk I thanked
him. He told me I was welcome, and then went and leaned
with his back against the wall. He and his mates were
probably a set of boon companions enjoying the air after a
night&rsquo;s bout at drinking. I was subsequently told
that all the people of Wrexham are fond of good ale. The
clerk unlocked the church door, and conducted me in. The
interior was modern, but in no respects remarkable. The
clerk informed me that there was a Welsh service every Sunday
afternoon in the church, but that few people attended, and those
few were almost entirely from the country. He said that
neither he nor the clergyman were natives of Wrexham. He
showed me the Welsh Church Bible, and at my request read a few
verses from the sacred volume. He seemed a highly
intelligent man. I gave him something, which appeared to be
more than he expected, and departed, after inquiring of him the
road to Llangollen.</p>

<p>I crossed a bridge, for there is a bridge and a stream too at
Wrexham. The road at first bore due west, but speedily took
a southerly direction. I moved rapidly over an undulating
country; a region of hills, or rather of mountains lay on my
right hand. At the entrance of a small village a poor,
sickly-looking woman asked me for charity.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you Welsh or English?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Welsh,&rdquo; she replied; &ldquo;but I speak both
languages, as do all the people here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I gave her a halfpenny; she wished me luck, and I
proceeded. I passed some huge black buildings which a man
told me were collieries, and several carts laden with coal, and
soon came to Rhiwabon&mdash;a large village about half way
between Wrexham and Llangollen. I observed in this place
nothing remarkable, but an ancient church. My way from
hence lay nearly west. I ascended a hill, from the top of
which I looked down into a smoky valley. I descended,
passing by a great many collieries, in which I observed grimy men
working amidst smoke and flame. At the bottom of the hill
near a bridge I turned round. A ridge to the east
particularly struck my attention; it was covered with dusky
edifices, from which proceeded thundering sounds, and puffs of
smoke. A woman passed me going towards Rhiwabon; I pointed
to the ridge and asked its name; I spoke English. The woman
shook her head and replied &ldquo;Dim Saesneg.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;This is as it should be,&rdquo; said I to myself;
&ldquo;I now feel I am in Wales.&rdquo; I repeated the
question in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Cefn Bach,&rdquo; she replied&mdash;which signifies the
little ridge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Diolch iti,&rdquo; I replied, and proceeded on my
way.</p>

<p>I was now in a wild valley&mdash;enormous hills were on my
right. The road was good, and above it, in the side of a
steep bank, was a causeway intended for foot passengers. It
was overhung with hazel bushes. I walked along it to its
termination which was at Llangollen. I found my wife and
daughter at the principal inn. They had already taken a
house. We dined together at the inn; during the dinner we
had music, for a Welsh harper stationed in the passage played
upon his instrument &ldquo;Codiad yr ehedydd.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Of a surety,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am in
Wales!&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>

<p class="letter">Llangollen&mdash;Wyn Ab Nudd&mdash;The
Dee&mdash;Dinas Bran.</p>

<p>The northern side of the vale of Llangollen is formed by
certain enormous rocks called the Eglwysig rocks, which extend
from east to west, a distance of about two miles. The
southern side is formed by the Berwyn hills. The valley is
intersected by the River Dee, the origin of which is a deep lake
near Bala, about twenty miles to the west. Between the Dee
and the Eglwysig rises a lofty hill, on the top of which are the
ruins of Dinas Bran, which bear no slight resemblance to a
crown. The upper part of the hill is bare with the
exception of what is covered by the ruins; on the lower part
there are inclosures and trees, with, here and there, a grove or
farm-house. On the other side of the valley, to the east of
Llangollen, is a hill called Pen y Coed, beautifully covered with
trees of various kinds; it stands between the river and the
Berwyn, even as the hill of Dinas Bran stands between the river
and the Eglwysig rocks&mdash;it does not, however, confront Dinas
Bran, which stands more to the west.</p>

<p>Llangollen is a small town or large village of white houses
with slate roofs, it contains about two thousand inhabitants, and
is situated principally on the southern side of the Dee. At
its western end it has an ancient bridge and a modest
unpretending church nearly in its centre, in the chancel of which
rest the mortal remains of an old bard called Gryffydd
Hiraethog. From some of the houses on the southern side
there is a noble view&mdash;Dinas Bran and its mighty hill
forming the principal objects. The view from the northern
part of the town, which is indeed little more than a suburb, is
not quite so grand, but is nevertheless highly interesting.
The eastern entrance of the vale of Llangollen is much wider than
the western, which is overhung by bulky hills. There are
many pleasant villas on both sides of the river, some of which
stand a considerable way up the hill; of the villas the most
noted is Plas Newydd at the foot of the Berwyn, built by two
Irish ladies of high rank, who resided in it for nearly half a
century, and were celebrated throughout Europe by the name of the
Ladies of Llangollen.</p>

<p>The view of the hill of Dinas Bran, from the southern side of
Llangollen, would be much more complete were it not for a bulky
excrescence, towards its base, which prevents the gazer from
obtaining a complete view. The name of Llangollen signifies
the church of Collen, and the vale and village take their name
from the church, which was originally dedicated to Saint Collen,
though some, especially the neighbouring peasantry, suppose that
Llangollen is a compound of Llan, a church, and Collen, a
hazel-wood, and that the church was called the church of the
hazel-wood from the number of hazels in the neighbourhood.
Collen, according to a legendary life, which exists of him in
Welsh, was a Briton by birth, and of illustrious ancestry.
He served for some time abroad as a soldier against Julian the
Apostate, and slew a Pagan champion who challenged the best man
amongst the Christians. Returning to his own country he
devoted himself to religion, and became Abbot of Glastonbury, but
subsequently retired to a cave on the side of a mountain, where
he lived a life of great austerity. Once as he was lying in
his cell he heard two men out abroad discoursing about Wyn Ab
Nudd, and saying that he was king of the Tylwyth or Teg Fairies,
and lord of Unknown, whereupon Collen thrusting his head out of
his cave told them to hold their tongues, for that Wyn Ab Nudd
and his host were merely devils. At dead of night he heard
a knocking at the door, and on his asking who was there, a voice
said: &ldquo;I am a messenger from Wyn Ab Nudd, king of Unknown,
and I am come to summon thee to appear before my master
to-morrow, at mid-day, on the top of the hill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Collen did not go&mdash;the next night there was the same
knocking and the same message. Still Collen did not
go. The third night the messenger came again and repeated
his summons, adding that if he did not go it would be the worse
for him. The next day Collen made some holy water, put it
into a pitcher and repaired to the top of the hill, where he saw
a wonderfully fine castle, attendants in magnificent liveries,
youths and damsels dancing with nimble feet, and a man of
honourable presence before the gate, who told him that the king
was expecting him to dinner. Collen followed the man into
the castle, and beheld the king on a throne of gold, and a table
magnificently spread before him. The king welcomed Collen,
and begged him to taste of the dainties on the table, adding that
he hoped that in future he would reside with him. &ldquo;I
will not eat of the leaves of the forest,&rdquo; said Collen.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever see men better dressed?&rdquo; said the
king, &ldquo;than my attendants here in red and blue?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Their dress is good enough,&rdquo; said Collen,
&ldquo;considering what kind of dress it is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What kind of dress is it?&rdquo; said the king.</p>

<p>Collen replied: &ldquo;The red on the one side denotes
burning, and the blue on the other side denotes
freezing.&rdquo; Then drawing forth his sprinkler, he flung
the holy water in the faces of the king and his people, whereupon
the whole vision disappeared, so that there was neither castle
nor attendants, nor youth nor damsel, nor musician with his
music, nor banquet, nor anything to be seen save the green
bushes.</p>

<p>The valley of the Dee, of which the Llangollen district forms
part, is called in the British tongue Glyndyfrdwy&mdash;that is,
the valley of the Dwy or Dee. The celebrated Welsh
chieftain, generally known as Owen Glendower, was surnamed after
this valley, the whole of which belonged to him, and in which he
had two or three places of strength, though his general abode was
a castle in Sycharth, a valley to the south-east of the Berwyn,
and distant about twelve miles from Llangollen.</p>

<p>Connected with the Dee there is a wonderful Druidical legend
to the following effect. The Dee springs from two
fountains, high up in Merionethshire, called Dwy Fawr and Dwy
Fach, or the great and little Dwy, whose waters pass through
those of the lake of Bala without mingling with them, and come
out at its northern extremity. These fountains had their
names from two individuals, Dwy Fawr and Dwy Fach, who escaped
from the Deluge, when all the rest of the human race were
drowned, and the passing of the waters of the two fountains
through the lake, without being confounded with its flood, is
emblematic of the salvation of the two individuals from the
Deluge, of which the lake is a type.</p>

<p>Dinas Bran, which crowns the top of the mighty hill on the
northern side of the valley, is a ruined stronghold of unknown
antiquity. The name is generally supposed to signify Crow
Castle, bran being the British word for crow, and flocks of crows
being frequently seen hovering over it. It may, however,
mean the castle of Bran or Brennus, or the castle above the Bran,
a brook which flows at its foot.</p>

<p>Dinas Bran was a place quite impregnable in the old time, and
served as a retreat to Gruffydd, son of Madawg from the rage of
his countrymen, who were incensed against him because, having
married Emma, the daughter of James Lord Audley, he had, at the
instigation of his wife and father-in-law, sided with Edward the
First against his own native sovereign. But though it could
shield him from his foes, it could not preserve him from remorse
and the stings of conscience, of which he speedily died.</p>

<p>At present the place consists only of a few ruined walls, and
probably consisted of little more two or three hundred years ago:
Roger Cyffyn a Welsh bard, who flourished at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, wrote an englyn upon it, of which the
following is a translation:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Gone, gone are thy gates, Dinas Bran on the
height!<br />
&nbsp; Thy warders are blood-crows and ravens, I trow;<br
/>
Now no one will wend from the field of the fight<br />
&nbsp; To the fortress on high, save the raven and
crow.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>

<p class="letter">Poor Black
Cat&mdash;Dissenters&mdash;Persecution&mdash;What Impudence!</p>

<p>The house or cottage, for it was called a cottage though it
consisted of two stories, in which my wife had procured lodgings
for us, was situated in the Northern suburb. Its front was
towards a large perllan or orchard, which sloped down gently to
the banks of the Dee; its back was towards the road leading from
Wrexham, behind which was a high bank, on the top of which was a
canal called in Welsh the Camlas, whose commencement was up the
valley about two miles west. A little way up the road,
towards Wrexham, was the vicarage and a little way down was a
flannel factory, beyond which was a small inn, with pleasure
grounds, kept by an individual who had once been a
gentleman&rsquo;s servant. The mistress of the house was a
highly respectable widow, who, with a servant maid was to wait
upon us. It was as agreeable a place in all respects as
people like ourselves could desire.</p>

<p>As I and my family sat at tea in our parlour, an hour or two
after we had taken possession of our lodgings, the door of the
room and that of the entrance to the house being open, on account
of the fineness of the weather, a poor black cat entered hastily,
sat down on the carpet by the table, looked up towards us, and
mewed piteously. I never had seen so wretched a looking
creature. It was dreadfully attenuated, being little more
than skin and bone, and was sorely afflicted with an eruptive
malady. And here I may as well relate the history of this
cat previous to our arrival which I subsequently learned by bits
and snatches. It had belonged to a previous vicar of
Llangollen, and had been left behind at his departure. His
successor brought with him dogs and cats, who, conceiving that
the late vicar&rsquo;s cat had no business at the vicarage, drove
it forth to seek another home, which, however, it could not
find. Almost all the people of the suburb were dissenters,
as indeed were the generality of the people of Llangollen, and
knowing the cat to be a church cat, not only would not harbour
it, but did all they could to make it miserable; whilst the few
who were not dissenters, would not receive it into their houses,
either because they had cats of their own, or dogs, or did not
want a cat, so that the cat had no home and was dreadfully
persecuted by nine-tenths of the suburb. Oh, there never
was a cat so persecuted as that poor Church of England animal,
and solely on account of the opinions which it was supposed to
have imbibed in the house of its late master, for I never could
learn that the dissenters of the suburb, nor indeed of Llangollen
in general, were in the habit of persecuting other cats; the cat
was a Church of England cat, and that was enough: stone it, hang
it, drown it! were the cries of almost everybody. If the
workmen of the flannel factory, all of whom were
Calvinistic-Methodists, chanced to get a glimpse of it in the
road from the windows of the building, they would sally forth in
a body, and with sticks, stones, or for want of other weapons,
with clots of horse dung, of which there was always plenty on the
road, would chase it up the high bank or perhaps over the Camlas;
the inhabitants of a small street between our house and the
factory leading from the road to the river, all of whom were
dissenters, if they saw it moving about the perllan, into which
their back windows looked, would shriek and hoot at it, and fling
anything of no value, which came easily to hand, at the head or
body of the ecclesiastical cat. The good woman of the
house, who though a very excellent person, was a bitter
dissenter, whenever she saw it upon her ground or heard it was
there, would make after it, frequently attended by her maid
Margaret, and her young son, a boy about nine years of age, both
of whom hated the cat, and were always ready to attack it, either
alone or in company, and no wonder, the maid being not only a
dissenter, but a class teacher, and the boy not only a dissenter,
but intended for the dissenting ministry. Where it got its
food, and food it sometimes must have got, for even a cat, an
animal known to have nine lives, cannot live without food, was
only known to itself, as was the place where it lay, for even a
cat must lie down sometimes; though a labouring man who
occasionally dug in the garden told me he believed that in the
springtime it ate freshets, and the woman of the house once said
that she believed it sometimes slept in the hedge, which hedge,
by-the-bye, divided our perllan from the vicarage grounds, which
were very extensive. Well might the cat after having led
this kind of life for better than two years look mere skin and
bone when it made its appearance in our apartment, and have an
eruptive malady, and also a bronchitic cough, for I remember it
had both. How it came to make its appearance there is a
mystery, for it had never entered the house before, even when
there were lodgers; that it should not visit the woman, who was
its declared enemy, was natural enough, but why if it did not
visit her other lodgers, did it visit us? Did instinct keep
it aloof from them? Did instinct draw it towards us?
We gave it some bread-and-butter, and a little tea with milk and
sugar. It ate and drank and soon began to purr. The
good woman of the house was horrified when on coming in to remove
the things she saw the church cat on her carpet.
&ldquo;What impudence!&rdquo; she exclaimed, and made towards it,
but on our telling her that we did not expect that it should be
disturbed, she let it alone. A very remarkable circumstance
was, that though the cat had hitherto been in the habit of
flying, not only from her face, but the very echo of her voice,
it now looked her in the face with perfect composure, as much as
to say, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t fear you, for I know that I am now
safe and with my own people.&rdquo; It stayed with us two
hours and then went away. The next morning it
returned. To be short, though it went away every night, it
became our own cat, and one of our family. I gave it
something which cured it of its eruption, and through good
treatment it soon lost its other ailments and began to look sleek
and bonny.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>

<p class="letter">The Mowers&mdash;Deep Welsh&mdash;Extensive
View&mdash;Old Celtic Hatred&mdash;Fish
Preserving&mdash;Smollet&rsquo;s Morgan.</p>

<p>Next morning I set out to ascend Dinas Bran, a number of
children, almost entirely girls, followed me. I asked them
why they came after me. &ldquo;In the hope that you will
give us something,&rdquo; said one in very good English. I
told them that I should give them nothing, but they still
followed me. A little way up the hill I saw some men
cutting hay. I made an observation to one of them
respecting the fineness of the weather; he answered civilly, and
rested on his scythe, whilst the others pursued their work.
I asked him whether he was a farming man; he told me that he was
not; that he generally worked at the flannel manufactory, but
that for some days past he had not been employed there, work
being slack, and had on that account joined the mowers in order
to earn a few shillings. I asked him how it was he knew how
to handle a scythe, not being bred up a farming man; he smiled,
and said that, somehow or other, he had learnt to do so.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You speak very good English,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;have
you much Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;I am a real
Welshman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you read Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes!&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What books have you read?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have read the Bible, sir, and one or two other
books.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever read the Bardd Cwsg?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>He looked at me with some surprise. &ldquo;No,&rdquo;
said he, after a moment or two, &ldquo;I have never read
it. I have seen it, but it was far too deep Welsh for
me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have read it,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you a Welshman?&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I am an
Englishman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how is it,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that you can read
Welsh without being a Welshman?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I learned to do so,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;even as you
learned to mow, without being bred up to farming work.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but it is easier to learn to
mow than to read the Bardd Cwsg.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I have
taken up a scythe a hundred times but I cannot mow.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Will your honour take mine now, and try again?&rdquo;
said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for if I take your scythe in
hand I must give you a shilling, you know, by mowers&rsquo;
law.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He gave a broad grin, and I proceeded up the hill. When
he rejoined his companions he said something to them in Welsh, at
which they all laughed. I reached the top of the hill, the
children still attending me.</p>

<p>The view over the vale is very beautiful; but on no side,
except in the direction of the west, is it very extensive; Dinas
Bran being on all other sides overtopped by other hills: in that
direction, indeed, the view is extensive enough, reaching on a
fine day even to the Wyddfa or peak of Snowdon, a distance of
sixty miles, at least as some say, who perhaps ought to add to
very good eyes, which mine are not. The day that I made my
first ascent of Dinas Bran was very clear, but I do not think I
saw the Wyddfa then from the top of Dinas Bran. It is true
I might see it without knowing it, being utterly unacquainted
with it, except by name; but I repeat I do not think I saw it,
and I am quite sure that I did not see it from the top of Dinas
Bran on a subsequent ascent, on a day equally clear, when if I
had seen the Wyddfa I must have recognised it, having been at its
top. As I stood gazing around, the children danced about
upon the grass, and sang a song. The song was
English. I descended the hill; they followed me to its
foot, and then left me. The children of the lower class of
Llangollen are great pests to visitors. The best way to get
rid of them is to give them nothing: I followed that plan, and
was not long troubled with them.</p>

<p>Arrived at the foot of the hill, I walked along the bank of
the canal to the west. Presently I came to a barge lying by
the bank; the boatman was in it. I entered into
conversation with him. He told me that the canal and its
branches extended over a great part of England. That the
boats carried slates&mdash;that he had frequently gone as far as
Paddington by the canal&mdash;that he was generally three weeks
on the journey&mdash;that the boatmen and their families lived in
the little cabins aft&mdash;that the boatmen were all
Welsh&mdash;that they could read English, but little or no
Welsh&mdash;that English was a much more easy language to read
than Welsh&mdash;that they passed by many towns, among others
Northampton, and that he liked no place so much as
Llangollen. I proceeded till I came to a place where some
people were putting huge slates into a canal boat. It was
near a bridge which crossed the Dee, which was on the left.
I stopped and entered into conversation with one, who appeared to
be the principal man. He told me amongst other things that
he was a blacksmith from the neighbourhood of Rhiwabon, and that
the flags were intended for the flooring of his premises.
In the boat was an old bareheaded, bare-armed fellow, who
presently joined in the conversation in very broken
English. He told me that his name was Joseph Hughes, and
that he was a real Welshman and was proud of being so; he
expressed a great dislike for the English, who he said were in
the habit of making fun of him and ridiculing his language; he
said that all the fools that he had known were Englishmen.
I told him that all Englishmen were not fools; &ldquo;but the
greater part are,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Look how they
work,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he,
&ldquo;some of them are good at breaking stones for the road, but
not more than one in a hundred.&rdquo; &ldquo;There seems
to be something of the old Celtic hatred to the Saxon in this old
fellow,&rdquo; said I to myself, as I walked away.</p>

<p>I proceeded till I came to the head of the canal, where the
navigation first commences. It is close to a weir over
which the Dee falls. Here there is a little floodgate,
through which water rushes from an oblong pond or reservoir, fed
by water from a corner of the upper part of the weir. On
the left, or south-west side, is a mound of earth fenced with
stones which is the commencement of the bank of the canal.
The pond or reservoir above the floodgate is separated from the
weir by a stone wall on the left, or south-west side. This
pond has two floodgates, the one already mentioned, which opens
into the canal, and another, on the other side of the stone
mound, opening to the lower part of the weir. Whenever, as
a man told me who was standing near, it is necessary to lay the
bed of the canal dry, in the immediate neighbourhood for the
purpose of making repairs, the floodgate to the canal is closed,
and the one to the lower part of the weir is opened, and then the
water from the pond flows into the Dee, whilst a sluice, near the
first lock, lets out the water of the canal into the river.
The head of the canal is situated in a very beautiful spot.
To the left or south is a lofty hill covered with wood. To
the right is a beautiful slope or lawn on the top of which is a
pretty villa, to which you can get by a little wooden bridge over
the floodgate of the canal, and indeed forming part of it.
Few things are so beautiful in their origin as this canal, which,
be it known, with its locks and its aqueducts, the grandest of
which last is the stupendous erection near Stockport, which
by-the-bye filled my mind when a boy with wonder, constitutes the
grand work of England, and yields to nothing in the world of the
kind, with the exception of the great canal of China.</p>

<p>Retracing my steps some way I got upon the river&rsquo;s bank
and then again proceeded in the direction of the west. I
soon came to a cottage nearly opposite a bridge, which led over
the river, not the bridge which I have already mentioned, but one
much smaller, and considerably higher up the valley. The
cottage had several dusky outbuildings attached to it, and a
paling before it. Leaning over the paling in his
shirt-sleeves was a dark-faced, short, thickset man, who saluted
me in English. I returned his salutation, stopped, and was
soon in conversation with him. I praised the beauty of the
river and its banks: he said that both were beautiful and
delightful in summer, but not at all in winter, for then the
trees and bushes on the banks were stripped of their leaves, and
the river was a frightful torrent. He asked me if I had
been to see the place called the Robber&rsquo;s Leap, as
strangers generally went to see it. I inquired where it
was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yonder,&rdquo; said he, pointing to some distance down
the river.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why is it called the Robber&rsquo;s Leap?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is called the Robber&rsquo;s Leap, or Llam y
Lleidyr,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;because a thief pursued by
justice once leaped across the river there and escaped. It
was an awful leap, and he well deserved to escape after taking
it.&rdquo; I told him that I should go and look at it on
some future opportunity, and then asked if there were many fish
in the river. He said there were plenty of salmon and
trout, and that owing to the river being tolerably high, a good
many had been caught during the last few days. I asked him
who enjoyed the right of fishing in the river. He said that
in these parts the fishing belonged to two or three proprietors,
who either preserved the fishing for themselves, as they best
could by means of keepers, or let it out to other people; and
that many individuals came not only from England, but from France
and Germany and even Russia for the purpose of fishing, and that
the keepers of the proprietors from whom they purchased
permission to fish, went with them, to show them the best places,
and to teach them how to fish. He added that there was a
report that the river would shortly be rhydd or free and open to
any one. I said that it would be a bad thing to fling the
river open, as in that event the fish would be killed at all
times and seasons, and eventually all destroyed. He replied
that he questioned whether more fish would be taken then than
now, and that I must not imagine that the fish were much
protected by what was called preserving; that the people to whom
the lands in the neighbourhood belonged, and those who paid for
fishing did not catch a hundredth part of the fish which were
caught in the river: that the proprietors went with their
keepers, and perhaps caught two or three stone of fish, or that
strangers went with the keepers, whom they paid for teaching them
how to fish, and perhaps caught half-a-dozen fish, and that
shortly after the keepers would return and catch on their own
account sixty stone of fish from the very spot where the
proprietors or strangers had great difficulty in catching two or
three stone or the half-dozen fish, or the poachers would go and
catch a yet greater quantity. He added that gentry did not
understand how to catch fish, and that to attempt to preserve was
nonsense. I told him that if the river was flung open
everybody would fish; he said that I was much mistaken, that
hundreds who were now poachers, would then keep at home, mind
their proper trades, and never use line or spear; that folks
always longed to do what they were forbidden, and that Shimei
would never have crossed the brook provided he had not been told
he should be hanged if he did. That he himself had
permission to fish in the river whenever he pleased, but never
availed himself of it, though in his young time, when he had no
leave, he had been an arrant poacher.</p>

<p>The manners and way of speaking of this old personage put me
very much in mind of those of Morgan, described by Smollett in
his immortal novel of &ldquo;Roderick Random.&rdquo; I had
more discourse with him: I asked him in what line of business he
was, he told me that he sold coals. From his complexion,
and the hue of his shirt, I had already concluded that he was in
some grimy trade. I then inquired of what religion he was,
and received for answer that he was a Baptist. I thought
that both himself and part of his apparel would look all the
better for a good immersion. We talked of the war then
raging&mdash;he said it was between the false prophet and the
Dragon. I asked him who the Dragon was&mdash;he said the
Turk. I told him that the Pope was far worse than either
the Turk or the Russian, that his religion was the vilest
idolatry, and that he would let no one alone. That it was
the Pope who drove his fellow religionists the Anabaptists out of
the Netherlands. He asked me how long ago that was.
Between two and three hundred years I replied. He asked me
the meaning of the word Anabaptist; I told him; whereupon he
expressed great admiration for my understanding, and said that he
hoped he should see me again.</p>

<p>I inquired of him to what place the bridge led; he told me
that if I passed over it, and ascended a high bank beyond, I
should find myself on the road from Llangollen to Corwen and that
if I wanted to go to Llangollen I must turn to the left. I
thanked him, and passing over the bridge, and ascending the bank,
found myself upon a broad road. I turned to the left, and
walking briskly in about half an hour reached our cottage in the
northern suburb, where I found my family and dinner awaiting
me.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>

<p class="letter">The Dinner&mdash;English
Foibles&mdash;Pengwern&mdash;The
Yew-Tree&mdash;Carn-Lleidyr&mdash;Applications of a Term.</p>

<p>For dinner we had salmon and leg of mutton; the salmon from
the Dee, the leg from the neighbouring Berwyn. The salmon
was good enough, but I had eaten better; and here it will not be
amiss to say, that the best salmon in the world is caught in the
Suir, a river that flows past the beautiful town of Clonmel in
Ireland. As for the leg of mutton it was truly wonderful;
nothing so good had I ever tasted in the shape of a leg of
mutton. The leg of mutton of Wales beats the leg of mutton
of any other country, and I had never tasted a Welsh leg of
mutton before. Certainly I shall never forget that first
Welsh leg of mutton which I tasted, rich but delicate, replete
with juices derived from the aromatic herbs of the noble Berwyn,
cooked to a turn, and weighing just four pounds.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;O its savoury smell was great,<br />
Such as well might tempt, I trow,<br />
One that&rsquo;s dead to lift his brow.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Let any one who wishes to eat leg of mutton in perfection go
to Wales, but mind you to eat leg of mutton only. Welsh leg
of mutton is superlative; but with the exception of the leg, the
mutton of Wales is decidedly inferior to that of many other parts
of Britain.</p>

<p>Here, perhaps, as I have told the reader what we ate for
dinner, it will be as well to tell him what we drank at
dinner. Let him know then, that with our salmon we drank
water, and with our mutton ale, even ale of Llangollen; but not
the best ale of Llangollen; it was very fair; but I subsequently
drank far better Llangollen ale than that which I drank at our
first dinner in our cottage at Llangollen.</p>

<p>In the evening I went across the bridge and strolled along in
a south-east direction. Just as I had cleared the suburb a
man joined me from a cottage, on the top of a high bank, whom I
recognised as the mower with whom I had held discourse in the
morning. He saluted me and asked me if I were taking a
walk, I told him I was, whereupon he said that if I were not too
proud to wish to be seen walking with a poor man like himself, he
should wish to join me. I told him I should be glad of his
company, and that I was not ashamed to be seen walking with any
person, however poor, who conducted himself with propriety.
He replied that I must be very different from my countrymen in
general, who were ashamed to be seen walking with any people, who
were not, at least, as well-dressed as themselves. I said
that my country-folk in general had a great many admirable
qualities, but at the same time a great many foibles, foremost
amongst which last was a crazy admiration for what they called
gentility, which made them sycophantic to their superiors in
station, and extremely insolent to those whom they considered
below them. He said that I had spoken his very thoughts,
and then asked me whether I wished to be taken the most agreeable
walk near Llangollen.</p>

<p>On my replying by all means, he led me along the road to the
south-east. A pleasant road it proved: on our right at some
distance was the mighty Berwyn; close on our left the hill called
Pen y Coed. I asked him what was beyond the Berwyn?</p>

<p>&ldquo;A very wild country, indeed,&rdquo; he replied,
&ldquo;consisting of wood, rock, and river; in fact, an
anialwch.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then asked if I knew the meaning of anialwch.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A wilderness,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;you will find
the word in the Welsh Bible.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very true, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it was there I
met it, but I did not know the meaning of it, till it was
explained to me by one of our teachers.&rdquo;</p>

<p>On my inquiring of what religion he was, he told me he was a
Calvinistic-Methodist.</p>

<p>We passed an ancient building which stood on our right.
I turned round to look at it. Its back was to the road: at
its eastern end was a fine arched window like the oriel window of
a church.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That building,&rdquo; said my companion, &ldquo;is
called Pengwern Hall. It was once a convent of nuns; a
little time ago a farm-house, but is now used as a barn, and a
place of stowage. Till lately it belonged to the Mostyn
family, but they disposed of it, with the farm on which it stood,
together with several other farms, to certain people from
Liverpool, who now live yonder,&rdquo; pointing to a house a
little way farther on. I still looked at the edifice.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You seem to admire the old building,&rdquo; said my
companion.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was not admiring it,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I was
thinking of the difference between its present and former
state. Formerly it was a place devoted to gorgeous idolatry
and obscene lust; now it is a quiet old barn in which hay and
straw are placed, and broken tumbrels stowed away: surely the
hand of God is visible here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is so, sir,&rdquo; said the man in a respectful
tone, &ldquo;and so it is in another place in this
neighbourhood. About three miles from here, in the
north-west part of the valley, is an old edifice. It is now
a farm-house, but was once a splendid abbey, and was
called&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The abbey of the vale of the cross,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;I have read a deal about it. Iolo Goch, the bard of
your celebrated hero, Owen Glendower, was buried somewhere in its
precincts.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We went on: my companion took me over a stile behind the house
which he had pointed out, and along a path through hazel
coppices. After a little time I inquired whether there were
any Papists in Llangollen.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;there is not one of that
family at Llangollen, but I believe there are some in Flintshire,
at a place called Holywell, where there is a pool or fountain,
the waters of which it is said they worship.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And so they do,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;true to the old
Indian superstition, of which their religion is nothing but a
modification. The Indians and sepoys worship stocks and
stones, and the river Ganges, and our Papists worship stocks and
stones, holy wells and fountains.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He put some questions to me about the origin of nuns and
friars. I told him they originated in India, and made him
laugh heartily by showing him the original identity of nuns and
nautch-girls, begging priests and begging Brahmins. We
passed by a small house with an enormous yew-tree before it; I
asked him who lived there.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No one,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;it is to let.
It was originally a cottage, but the proprietors have furbished
it up a little, and call it Yew-tree Villa.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose they would let it cheap,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;By no means,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;they ask eighty
pounds a year for it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What could have induced them to set such a rent upon
it?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The yew-tree, sir, which is said to be the largest in
Wales. They hope that some of the grand gentry will take
the house for the romance of the yew-tree, but somehow or other
nobody has taken it, though it has been to let for three
seasons.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We soon came to a road leading east and west.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This way,&rdquo; said he, pointing in the direction of
the west, &ldquo;leads back to Llangollen, the other to
Offa&rsquo;s Dyke and England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We turned to the west. He inquired if I had ever heard
before of Offa&rsquo;s Dyke.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;it was built by an old
Saxon king called Offa, against the incursions of the
Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There was a time,&rdquo; said my companion, &ldquo;when
it was customary for the English to cut off the ears of every
Welshman who was found to the east of the dyke, and for the Welsh
to hang every Englishman whom they found to the west of it.
Let us be thankful that we are now more humane to each
other. We are now on the north side of Pen y Coed. Do
you know the meaning of Pen y Coed, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pen y Coed,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;means the head of the
wood. I suppose that in the old time the mountain looked
over some extensive forest, even as the nunnery of Pengwern
looked originally over an alder-swamp, for Pengwern means the
head of the alder-swamp.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So it does, sir, I shouldn&rsquo;t wonder if you could
tell me the real meaning of a word, about which I have thought a
good deal, and about which I was puzzling my head last night as I
lay in bed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What may it be?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Carn-lleidyr,&rdquo; he replied: &ldquo;now, sir, do
you know the meaning of that word?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I think I do,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What may it be, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;First let me hear what you conceive its meaning to
be,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, sir, I should say that Carn-lleidyr is an
out-and-out thief&mdash;one worse than a thief of the common
sort. Now, if I steal a matrass I am a lleidyr, that is a
thief of the common sort; but if I carry it to a person, and he
buys it, knowing it to be stolen, I conceive he is a far worse
thief than I; in fact, a carn-lleidyr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The word is a double word,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;compounded of carn and lleidyr. The original meaning
of carn is a heap of stones, and carn-lleidyr means properly a
thief without house or home, and with no place on which to rest
his head, save the carn or heap of stones on the bleak top of the
mountain. For a long time the word was only applied to a
thief of that description, who, being without house and home, was
more desperate than other thieves, and as savage and brutish as
the wolves and foxes with whom he occasionally shared his pillow,
the carn. In course of time, however, the original meaning
was lost or disregarded, and the term carn-lleidyr was applied to
any particularly dishonest person. At present there can be
no impropriety in calling a person who receives a matrass,
knowing it to be stolen, a carn-lleidyr, seeing that he is worse
than the thief who stole it, or in calling a knavish attorney a
carn-lleidyr, seeing that he does far more harm than a common
pick-pocket; or in calling the Pope so, seeing that he gets huge
sums of money out of people by pretending to be able to admit
their souls to heaven, or to hurl them to the other place,
knowing all the time that he has no such power; perhaps, indeed,
at the present day the term carn-lleidyr is more applicable to
the Pope than to any one else, for he is certainly the arch thief
of the world. So much for Carn-lleidyr. But I must
here tell you that the term carn may be applied to any who is
particularly bad or disagreeable in any respect, and now I
remember, has been applied for centuries both in prose and
poetry. One Lewis Glyn Cothi, a poet, who lived more than
three hundred years ago, uses the word carn in the sense of
arrant or exceedingly bad, for in his abusive ode to the town of
Chester, he says that the women of London itself were never more
carn strumpets than those of Chester, by which he means that
there were never more arrant harlots in the world than those of
the cheese capital. And the last of your great poets,
Gronwy Owen, who flourished about the middle of the last century,
complains in a letter to a friend, whilst living in a village of
Lancashire, that he was amongst Carn Saeson. He found all
English disagreeable enough, but those of Lancashire particularly
so&mdash;savage, brutish louts, out-and-out John Bulls, and
therefore he called them Carn Saeson.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir,&rdquo; said my companion; &ldquo;I now
thoroughly understand the meaning of carn. Whenever I go to
Chester, and a dressed-up madam jostles against me, I shall call
her carn-butein. The Pope of Rome I shall in future term
carn-lleidyr y byd, or the arch thief of the world. And
whenever I see a stupid, brutal Englishman swaggering about
Llangollen, and looking down upon us poor Welsh, I shall say to
myself Get home, you carn Sais! Well, sir, we are now near
Llangollen; I must turn to the left. You go straight
forward. I never had such an agreeable walk in my
life. May I ask your name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>I told him my name, and asked him for his.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Edward Jones,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>

<p class="letter">The Berwyn&mdash;Mountain Cottage&mdash;The
Barber&rsquo;s Pole.</p>

<p>On the following morning I strolled up the Berwyn on the
south-west of the town, by a broad winding path, which was at
first very steep, but by degrees became less so. When I had
accomplished about three parts of the ascent I came to a place
where the road, or path, divided into two. I took the one
to the left, which seemingly led to the top of the mountain, and
presently came to a cottage from which a dog rushed barking
towards me; an old woman, however, coming to the door called him
back. I said a few words to her in Welsh, whereupon in
broken English she asked me to enter the cottage and take a glass
of milk. I went in and sat down on a chair which a
sickly-looking young woman handed to me. I asked her in
English who she was, but she made no answer, whereupon the old
woman told me that she was her daughter and had no English.
I then asked her in Welsh what was the matter with her, she
replied that she had the cryd or ague. The old woman now
brought me a glass of milk, and said in the Welsh language that
she hoped I should like it. What further conversation we
had was in the Cambrian tongue. I asked the name of the
dog, who was now fondling upon me, and was told that his name was
Pharaoh. I inquired if they had any books, and was shown
two, one a common Bible printed by the Bible Society, and the
other a volume in which the book of prayer of the Church of
England was bound up with the Bible, both printed at Oxford,
about the middle of the last century. I found that both
mother and daughter were Calvinistic-Methodists. After a
little further discourse I got up and gave the old woman twopence
for the milk; she accepted it, but with great reluctance. I
inquired whether by following the road I could get to the Pen y
bryn or the top of the hill. They shook their heads, and
the young woman said that I could not, as the road presently took
a turn and went down. I asked her how I could get to the
top of the hill. &ldquo;Which part of the top?&rdquo; said
she. &ldquo;I&rsquo;r goruchaf,&rdquo; I replied.
&ldquo;That must be where the barber&rsquo;s pole stands,&rdquo;
said she. &ldquo;Why does the barber&rsquo;s pole stand
there?&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;A barber was hanged there a
long time ago,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and the pole was placed to
show the spot.&rdquo; &ldquo;Why was he hanged?&rdquo; said
I. &ldquo;For murdering his wife,&rdquo; said she. I
asked her some questions about the murder, but the only
information she could give me was, that it was a very bad murder
and occurred a long time ago. I had observed the pole from
our garden, at Llangollen, but had concluded that it was a common
flagstaff. I inquired the way to it. It was not
visible from the cottage, but they gave me directions how to
reach it. I bade them farewell, and in about a quarter of
an hour reached the pole on the top of the hill. I imagined
that I should have a glorious view of the vale of Llangollen from
the spot where it stood; the view, however, did not answer my
expectations. I returned to Llangollen by nearly the same
way by which I had come.</p>

<p>The remainder of the day I spent entirely with my family, whom
at their particular request I took in the evening to see Plas
Newydd, once the villa of the two ladies of Llangollen. It
lies on the farther side of the bridge, at a little distance from
the back part of the church. There is a thoroughfare
through the grounds, which are not extensive. Plas Newydd
or the New Place is a small gloomy mansion, with a curious dairy
on the right-hand side, as you go up to it, and a remarkable
stone pump. An old man whom we met in the grounds, and with
whom I entered into conversation, said that he remembered the
building of the house, and that the place where it now stands was
called before its erection Pen y maes, or the head of the
field.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>

<p class="letter">Welsh Farm-House&mdash;A Poet&rsquo;s
Grandson&mdash;Hospitality&mdash;Mountain
Village&mdash;Madoc&mdash;The Native Valley&mdash;Corpse
Candles&mdash;The Midnight Call.</p>

<p>My curiosity having been rather excited with respect to the
country beyond the Berwyn, by what my friend, the intelligent
flannel-worker, had told me about it, I determined to go and see
it. Accordingly on Friday morning I set out. Having
passed by Pengwern Hall I turned up a lane in the direction of
the south, with a brook on the right running amongst hazels, I
presently arrived at a small farm-house standing on the left with
a little yard before it. Seeing a woman at the door I asked
her in English if the road in which I was would take me across
the mountain&mdash;she said it would, and forthwith cried to a
man working in a field who left his work and came towards
us. &ldquo;That is my husband,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;he
has more English than I.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The man came up and addressed me in very good English: he had
a brisk, intelligent look, and was about sixty. I repeated
the question, which I had put to his wife, and he also said that
by following the road I could get across the mountain. We
soon got into conversation. He told me that the little farm
in which he lived belonged to the person who had bought Pengwern
Hall. He said that he was a good kind of gentleman, but did
not like the Welsh. I asked him, if the gentleman in
question did not like the Welsh, why he came to live among
them. He smiled, and I then said that I liked the Welsh
very much, and was particularly fond of their language. He
asked me whether I could read Welsh, and on my telling him I
could, he said that if I would walk in he would show me a Welsh
book. I went with him and his wife into a neat kind of
kitchen, flagged with stone, where were several young people,
their children. I spoke some Welsh to them which appeared
to give them great satisfaction. The man went to a shelf
and taking down a book put it into my hand. It was a Welsh
book, and the title of it in English was &ldquo;Evening Work of
the Welsh.&rdquo; It contained the lives of illustrious
Welshmen, commencing with that of Cadwalader. I read a page
of it aloud, while the family stood round and wondered to hear a
Saxon read their language. I entered into discourse with
the man about Welsh poetry and repeated the famous prophecy of
Taliesin about the Coiling Serpent. I asked him if the
Welsh had any poets at the present day.
&ldquo;Plenty,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and good ones&mdash;Wales
can never be without a poet.&rdquo; Then after a pause he
said, that he was the grandson of a great poet.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you bear his name?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What may it be?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hughes,&rdquo; he answered.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Two of the name of Hughes have been poets,&rdquo; said
I&mdash;&ldquo;one was Huw Hughes, generally termed the Bardd
Coch, or red bard; he was an Anglesea man, and the friend of
Lewis Morris and Gronwy Owen&mdash;the other was Jonathan Hughes,
where he lived I know not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He lived here, in this very house,&rdquo; said the
man. &ldquo;Jonathan Hughes was my grandfather!&rdquo; and
as he spoke his eyes flashed fire.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I read some of his
pieces thirty-two years ago when I was a lad in England. I
think I can repeat some of the lines.&rdquo; I then
repeated a quartet which I chanced to remember.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;I see you know his
poetry. Come into the next room and I will show you his
chair.&rdquo; He led me into a sleeping-room on the right
hand, where in a corner he showed me an antique three-cornered
arm-chair. &ldquo;That chair,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;my
grandsire won at Llangollen, at an Eisteddfod of Bards.
Various bards recited their poetry, but my grandfather won the
prize. Ah, he was a good poet. He also won a prize of
fifteen guineas at a meeting of bards in London.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We returned to the kitchen, where I found the good woman of
the house waiting with a plate of bread-and-butter in one hand,
and a glass of buttermilk in the other&mdash;she pressed me to
partake of both&mdash;I drank some of the buttermilk, which was
excellent, and after a little more discourse shook the kind
people by the hand and thanked them for their hospitality.
As I was about to depart the man said that I should find the lane
farther up very wet, and that I had better mount through a field
at the back of the house. He took me to a gate, which he
opened, and then pointed out the way which I must pursue.
As I went away he said that both he and his family should be
always happy to see me at Ty yn y Pistyll, which words,
interpreted, are the house by the spout of water.</p>

<p>I went up the field with the lane on my right, down which ran
a runnel of water, from which doubtless the house derived its
name. I soon came to an unenclosed part of the mountain
covered with gorse and whin, and still proceeding upward reached
a road, which I subsequently learned was the main road from
Llangollen over the hill. I was not long in gaining the top
which was nearly level. Here I stood for some time looking
about me, having the vale of Llangollen to the north of me, and a
deep valley abounding with woods and rocks to the south.</p>

<p>Following the road to the south, which gradually descended, I
soon came to a place where a road diverged from the straight one
to the left. As the left-hand road appeared to lead down a
romantic valley I followed it. The scenery was
beautiful&mdash;steep hills on each side. On the right was
a deep ravine, down which ran a brook; the hill beyond it was
covered towards the top with a wood, apparently of oak, between
which and the ravine were small green fields. Both sides of
the ravine were fringed with trees, chiefly ash. I
descended the road which was zigzag and steep, and at last
arrived at the bottom of the valley, where there was a small
hamlet. On the further side of the valley to the east was a
steep hill on which were a few houses&mdash;at the foot of the
hill was a brook crossed by an antique bridge of a single
arch. I directed my course to the bridge, and after looking
over the parapet for a minute or two upon the water below, which
was shallow and noisy, ascended a road which led up the hill: a
few scattered houses were on each side. I soon reached the
top of the hill, where were some more houses, those which I had
seen from the valley below. I was in a Welsh mountain
village, which put me much in mind of the villages which I had
strolled through of old in Castile and La Mancha; there were the
same silence and desolation here as yonder away&mdash;the houses
were built of the same material, namely stone. I should
perhaps have fancied myself for a moment in a Castilian or
Manchegan mountain pueblicito, but for the abundance of trees
which met my eye on every side.</p>

<p>In walking up this mountain village I saw no one, and heard no
sound but the echo of my steps amongst the houses. As I
returned, however, I saw a man standing at a door&mdash;he was a
short figure, about fifty. He had an old hat on his head, a
stick in his hand, and was dressed in a duffel greatcoat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good-day, friend,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;what be the
name of this place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pont Fadog, sir, is its name, for want of a
better.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a fine name,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;it
signifies in English the bridge of Madoc.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just so, sir; I see you know Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And I see you know English,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very little, sir; I can read English much better than I
can speak it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So can I Welsh,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I suppose
the village is named after the bridge.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No doubt it is, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And why was the bridge called the bridge of
Madoc?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because one Madoc built it, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Was he the son of Owain Gwynedd?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, I see you know all about Wales, sir. Yes,
sir; he built it, or I daresay he built it, Madawg ap Owain
Gwynedd. I have read much about him&mdash;he was a great
sailor, sir, and was the first to discover Tir y Gorllewin or
America. Not many years ago his tomb was discovered there
with an inscription in old Welsh&mdash;saying who he was, and how
he loved the sea. I have seen the lines which were found on
the tomb.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So have I,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;or at least those
which were said to be found on a tomb: they run thus in
English:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Here, after sailing far I Madoc
lie,<br />
Of Owain Gwynedd lawful progeny:<br />
The verdant land had little charms for me;<br />
From earliest youth I loved the dark-blue sea.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, sir,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;I see you know all
about the son of Owain Gwynedd. Well, sir, those lines, or
something like them, were found upon the tomb of Madoc in
America.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That I doubt,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you doubt, sir, that Madoc discovered
America?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not in the least,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but I doubt
very much that his tomb was ever discovered with the inscription
which you allude to upon it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But it was, sir, I do assure you, and the descendants
of Madoc and his people are still to be found in a part of
America speaking the pure iaith Cymraeg better Welsh than we of
Wales do.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That I doubt,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;However, the
idea is a pretty one; therefore cherish it. This is a
beautiful country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A very beautiful country, sir; there is none more
beautiful in all Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of the river, which runs beneath the
bridge?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Ceiriog, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Ceiriog,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;the
Ceiriog!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear the name before, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have heard of the Eos Ceiriog,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;the Nightingale of Ceiriog.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That was Huw Morris, sir; he was called the Nightingale
of Ceiriog.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did he live hereabout?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no, sir; he lived far away up towards the head of
the valley, at a place called Pont y Meibion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you acquainted with his works?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, sir, at least with some of them. I have
read the Marwnad on Barbara Middleton; and likewise the piece on
Oliver and his men. Ah, it is a funny piece that&mdash;he
did not like Oliver nor his men.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what profession are you?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;are
you a schoolmaster or apothecary?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Neither, sir, neither; I am merely a poor
shoemaker.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You know a great deal for a shoemaker,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, sir; there are many shoemakers in Wales who know
much more than I.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But not in England,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Well,
farewell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farewell, sir. When you have any boots to mend or
shoes, sir&mdash;I shall be happy to serve you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not live in these parts,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir; but you are coming to live here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How do you know that?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know it very well, sir; you left these parts very
young, and went far away&mdash;to the East Indies, sir, where you
made a large fortune in the medical line, sir; you are now coming
back to your own valley, where you will buy a property, and
settle down, and try to recover your language, sir, and your
health, sir; for you are not the person you pretend to be, sir: I
know you very well, and shall be happy to work for
you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if I ever settle down here,
I shall be happy to employ you. Farewell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I went back the way I had come, till I reached the little
hamlet. Seeing a small public-house, I entered it. A
good-looking woman, who met me in the passage, ushered me into a
neat sanded kitchen, handed me a chair and inquired my commands;
I sat down, and told her to bring me some ale; she brought it,
and then seated herself by a bench close by the door.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rather a quiet place this,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I have
seen but two faces since I came over the hill, and yours is
one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rather too quiet, sir,&rdquo; said the good woman,
&ldquo;one would wish to have more visitors.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;people from Llangollen
occasionally come to visit you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sometimes, sir, for curiosity&rsquo;s sake; but very
rarely&mdash;the way is very steep.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do the Tylwyth Teg ever pay you visits?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Tylwyth Teg, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes; the fairies. Do they never come to have a
dance on the green sward in this neighbourhood?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very rarely, sir; indeed, I do not know how long it is
since they have been seen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You have never seen them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have not, sir; but I believe there are people living
who have.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are corpse candles ever seen on the bank of that
river?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have never heard of more than one being seen, sir,
and that was at a place where a tinker was drowned a few nights
after&mdash;there came down a flood; and the tinker in trying to
cross by the usual ford was drowned.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And did the candle prognosticate, I mean foreshow his
death?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It did, sir. When a person is to die his candle
is seen a few nights before the time of his death.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you ever seen a corpse candle?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have, sir; and as you seem to be a respectable
gentleman, I will tell you all about it. When I was a girl
I lived with my parents a little way from here. I had a
cousin, a very good young man, who lived with his parents in the
neighbourhood of our house. He was an exemplary young man,
sir, and having a considerable gift of prayer, was intended for
the ministry; but he fell sick, and shortly became very ill
indeed. One evening when he was lying in this state, as I
was returning home from milking, I saw a candle proceeding from
my cousin&rsquo;s house. I stood still and looked at
it. It moved slowly forward for a little way, and then
mounted high in the air above the wood, which stood not far in
front of the house, and disappeared. Just three nights
after that my cousin died.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And you think that what you saw was his corpse
candle?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do, sir! what else should it be?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are deaths prognosticated by any other means than
corpse candles?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are, sir; by the knockers, and by a supernatural
voice heard at night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you ever heard the knockers, or the supernatural
voice?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have not, sir; but my father and mother, who are now
dead, heard once a supernatural voice, and knocking. My
mother had a sister who was married like herself, and expected to
be confined. Day after day, however, passed away, without
her confinement taking place. My mother expected every
moment to be summoned to her assistance, and was so anxious about
her that she could not rest at night. One night, as she lay
in bed, by the side of her husband, between sleeping and waking,
she heard of a sudden a horse coming stump, stump, up to the
door. Then there was a pause&mdash;she expected every
moment to hear some one cry out, and tell her to come to her
sister, but she heard no farther sound, neither voice nor stump
of horse. She thought she had been deceived, so, without
awakening her husband, she tried to go to sleep, but sleep she
could not. The next night, at about the same time, she
again heard a horse&rsquo;s feet come stump, stump, up to the
door. She now waked her husband and told him to
listen. He did so, and both heard the stumping.
Presently, the stumping ceased, and then there was a loud
&ldquo;Hey!&rdquo; as if somebody wished to wake them.
&ldquo;Hey!&rdquo; said my father, and they both lay for a minute
expecting to hear something more, but they heard nothing.
My father then sprang out of bed, and looked out of the window;
it was bright moonlight, but he saw nothing. The next
night, as they lay in bed both asleep, they were suddenly aroused
by a loud and terrible knocking. Out sprang my father from
the bed, flung open the window, and looked out, but there was no
one at the door. The next morning, however, a messenger
arrived with the intelligence that my aunt had had a dreadful
confinement with twins in the night, and that both she and the
babes were dead.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said I; and paying for my ale, I
returned to Llangollen.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>

<p class="letter">A Calvinistic-Methodist&mdash;Turn for
Saxon&mdash;Our Congregation&mdash;Pont y
Cyssyltau&mdash;Catherine Lingo.</p>

<p>I had inquired of the good woman of the house, in which we
lived, whether she could not procure a person to accompany me
occasionally in my walks, who was well acquainted with the
strange nooks and corners of the country, and who could speak no
language but Welsh; as I wished to increase my knowledge of
colloquial Welsh by having a companion who would be obliged, in
all he had to say to me, to address me in Welsh, and to whom I
should perforce have to reply in that tongue. The good lady
had told me that there was a tenant of hers who lived in one of
the cottages, which looked into the perllan, who, she believed,
would be glad to go with me, and was just the kind of man I was
in quest of. The day after I had met with the adventures,
which I have related in the preceding chapter, she informed me
that the person in question was awaiting my orders in the
kitchen. I told her to let me see him. He presently
made his appearance. He was about forty-five years of age,
of middle stature, and had a good-natured open countenance.
His dress was poor, but clean.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I to him in Welsh, &ldquo;are you the
Cumro who can speak no Saxon?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, I am.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you sure that you know no Saxon?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir! I may know a few words, but I cannot
converse in Saxon, nor understand a conversation in that
tongue.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you read Cumraeg?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, I can.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What have you read in it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have read, sir, the Ysgrythyr-lan, till I have it
nearly at the ends of my fingers.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you read anything else besides the holy
Scripture?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I read the newspaper, sir, when kind friends lend it to
me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In Cumraeg?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, in Cumraeg. I can read Saxon a little
but not sufficient to understand a Saxon newspaper.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What newspaper do you read?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I read, sir, Yr Amserau.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is that a good newspaper?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir, it is written by good men.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who are they?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are our ministers, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what religion are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A Calvinistic Methodist, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why are you of the Methodist religion?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because it is the true religion, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You should not be bigoted. If I had more Cumraeg
than I have, I would prove to you that the only true religion is
that of the Lloegrian Church.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, you could not do that; had you all the
Cumraeg in Cumru you could not do that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What are you by trade?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am a gwehydd, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you earn by weaving?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About five shillings a week, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you a wife?</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does she earn anything?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very seldom, sir; she is a good wife, but is generally
sick.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you children?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have three, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do they earn anything?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My eldest son, sir, sometimes earns a few pence, the
others are very small.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Will you sometimes walk with me, if I pay
you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I shall be always glad to walk with you, sir, whether
you pay me or not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you think it lawful to walk with one of the
Lloegrian Church?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps, sir, I ought to ask the gentleman of the
Lloegrian Church whether he thinks it lawful to walk with the
poor Methodist weaver.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I think we may venture to walk with one
another. What is your name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;John Jones, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Jones! Jones! I was walking with a man of that
name the other night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The man with whom you walked the other night is my
brother, sir, and what he said to me about you made me wish to
walk with you also.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But he spoke very good English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My brother had a turn for Saxon, sir; I had not.
Some people have a turn for the Saxon, others have not. I
have no Saxon, sir, my wife has digon iawn&mdash;my two youngest
children speak good Saxon, sir, my eldest son not a
word.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well; shall we set out?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If you please, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To what place shall we go?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shall we go to the Pont y Cyssylltau, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A mighty bridge, sir, which carries the Camlas over a
valley on its back.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good! let us go and see the bridge of the junction, for
that I think is the meaning in Saxon of Pont y
Cyssylltau.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We set out; my guide conducted me along the bank of the Camlas
in the direction of Rhiwabon, that is towards the east. On
the way we discoursed on various subjects, and understood each
other tolerably well. I asked if he had been anything
besides a weaver. He told me that when a boy he kept sheep
on the mountain. &ldquo;Why did you not go on keeping
sheep?&rdquo; said &ldquo;I would rather keep sheep than
weave.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My parents wanted me at home, sir,&rdquo; said he;
&ldquo;and I was not sorry to go home; I earned little, and lived
badly.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A shepherd,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;can earn more than
five shillings a week.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was never a regular shepherd, sir,&rdquo; said
he. &ldquo;But, sir, I would rather be a weaver with five
shillings a week in Llangollen, than a shepherd with fifteen on
the mountain. The life of a shepherd, sir, is perhaps not
exactly what you and some other gentlefolks think. The
shepherd bears much cold and wet, sir, and he is very lonely; no
society save his sheep and dog. Then, sir, he has no
privileges. I mean gospel privileges. He does not
look forward to Dydd Sul, as a day of llawenydd, of joy and
triumph, as the weaver does; that is if he is religiously
disposed. The shepherd has no chapel, sir, like the
weaver. Oh, sir, I say again that I would rather be a
weaver in Llangollen with five shillings a week, than a shepherd
on the hill with fifteen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you mean to say,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that you live
with your family on five shillings a week?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir. I frequently do little commissions by
which I earn something. Then, sir, I have friends, very
good friends. A good lady of our congregation sent me this
morning half-a-pound of butter. The people of our
congregation are very kind to each other, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is more,&rdquo; thought I to myself, &ldquo;than
the people of my congregation are; they are always cutting each
other&rsquo;s throats.&rdquo; I next asked if he had been
much about Wales.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not much, sir. However, I have been to Pen Caer
Gybi, which you call Holy Head, and to Beth Gelert,
sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What took you to those places?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was sent to those places on business, sir; as I told
you before, sir, I sometimes execute commissions. At Beth
Gelert I stayed some time. It was there I married, sir; my
wife comes from a place called Dol Gellyn near Beth
Gelert.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What was her name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Her name was Jones, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What, before she married?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, before she married. You need not be
surprised, sir; there are plenty of the name of Jones in
Wales. The name of my brother&rsquo;s wife, before she
married, was also Jones.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your brother is a clever man,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, for a Cumro he is clebber enough.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;For a Cumro?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, he is not a Saxon, you know.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are Saxons then so very clever?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, sir; who so clebber? The clebberest
people in Llangollen are Saxons; that is, at carnal
things&mdash;for at spiritual things I do not think them at all
clebber. Look at Mr A., sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who is he?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you not know him, sir? I thought everybody
knew Mr A. He is a Saxon, sir, and keeps the inn on the
road a little way below where you live. He is the
clebberest man in Llangollen, sir. He can do
everything. He is a great cook, and can wash clothes better
than any woman. Oh, sir, for carnal things, who so clebber
as your countrymen!&rdquo;</p>

<p>After walking about four miles by the side of the canal we
left it, and bearing to the right presently came to the aqueduct,
which strode over a deep and narrow valley, at the bottom of
which ran the Dee. &ldquo;This is the Pont y Cysswllt,
sir,&rdquo; said my guide; &ldquo;it&rsquo;s the finest bridge in
the world, and no wonder, if what the common people say be true,
namely that every stone cost a golden sovereign.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We went along it; the height was awful. My guide, though
he had been a mountain shepherd, confessed that he was somewhat
afraid. &ldquo;It gives me the pendro, sir,&rdquo; said he,
&ldquo;to look down.&rdquo; I too felt somewhat dizzy, as I
looked over the parapet into the glen. The canal which this
mighty bridge carries across the gulf is about nine feet wide,
and occupies about two-thirds of the width of the bridge and the
entire western side. The footway is towards the east.
From about the middle of the bridge there is a fine view of the
forges on the Cefn Bach and also of a huge hill near it called
the Cefn Mawr. We reached the termination, and presently
crossing the canal by a little wooden bridge we came to a
village. My guide then said, &ldquo;If you please, sir, we
will return by the old bridge, which leads across the Dee in the
bottom of the vale.&rdquo; He then led me by a romantic
road to a bridge on the west of the aqueduct, and far
below. It seemed very ancient. &ldquo;This is the old
bridge, sir,&rdquo; said my guide; &ldquo;it was built a hundred
years before the Pont y Cysswllt was dreamt of.&rdquo; We
now walked to the west, in the direction of Llangollen, along the
bank of the river. Presently we arrived where the river,
after making a bend, formed a pool. It was shaded by lofty
trees, and to all appearance was exceedingly deep. I
stopped to look at it, for I was struck with its gloomy
horror. &ldquo;That pool, sir,&rdquo; said John Jones,
&ldquo;is called Llyn y Meddwyn, the drunkard&rsquo;s pool.
It is called so, sir, because a drunken man once fell into it,
and was drowned. There is no deeper pool in the Dee, sir,
save one, a little below Llangollen, which is called the pool of
Catherine Lingo. A girl of that name fell into it, whilst
gathering sticks on the high bank above it. She was
drowned, and the pool was named after her. I never look at
either without shuddering, thinking how certainly I should be
drowned if I fell in, for I cannot swim, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You should have learnt to swim when you were
young,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and to dive too. I know one
who has brought up stones from the bottom, I daresay, of deeper
pools than either, but he was a Saxon, and at carnal things, you
know, none so clebber as the Saxons.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I found my guide a first-rate walker and a good botanist,
knowing the names of all the plants and trees in Welsh. By
the time we returned to Llangollen I had formed a very high
opinion of him, in which I was subsequently confirmed by what I
saw of him during the period of our acquaintance, which was of
some duration. He was very honest, disinterested, and
exceedingly good-humoured. It is true, he had his little
skits occasionally at the Church, and showed some marks of
hostility to the church cat, more especially when he saw it
mounted on my shoulders; for the creature soon began to take
liberties, and in less than a week after my arrival at the
cottage, generally mounted on my back, when it saw me reading or
writing, for the sake of the warmth. But setting aside
those same skits at the Church, and that dislike of the church
cat, venial trifles after all, and easily to be accounted for, on
the score of his religious education, I found nothing to blame,
and much to admire, in John Jones, the Calvinistic Methodist of
Llangollen.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Divine Service&mdash;Llangollen
Bells&mdash;Iolo Goch&mdash;The Abbey&mdash;Twm o&rsquo;r
Nant&mdash;Holy Well&mdash;Thomas Edwards</p>

<p>Sunday arrived&mdash;a Sunday of unclouded sunshine. We
attended Divine service at church in the morning. The
congregation was very numerous, but to all appearance consisted
almost entirely of English visitors, like ourselves. There
were two officiating clergymen, father and son. They both
sat in a kind of oblong pulpit on the southern side of the
church, at a little distance below the altar. The service
was in English, and the elder gentleman preached; there was good
singing and chanting.</p>

<p>After dinner I sat in an arbour in the perllan, thinking of
many things, amongst others, spiritual. Whilst thus
engaged, the sound of the church bells calling people to
afternoon service came upon my ears. I listened, and
thought I had never heard bells with so sweet a sound. I
had heard them in the morning, but without paying much attention
to them, but as I now sat in the umbrageous arbour, I was
particularly struck with them. Oh how sweetly their voice
mingled with the low rush of the river, at the bottom of the
perllan. I subsequently found that the bells of Llangollen
were celebrated for their sweetness. Their merit indeed has
even been admitted by an enemy; for a poet of the Calvinistic
Methodist persuasion, one who calls himself Einion Du, in a very
beautiful ode, commencing with&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Tangnefedd i Llangollen,&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>says that in no part of the world do bells call people so
sweetly to church as those of Llangollen town.</p>

<p>In the evening, at about half-past six, I attended service
again, but without my family. This time the congregation
was not numerous, and was composed principally of poor
people. The service and sermon were now in Welsh, the
sermon was preached by the younger gentleman, and was on the
building of the second temple, and, as far as I understood it,
appeared to me to be exceedingly good.</p>

<p>On the Monday evening, myself and family took a walk to the
abbey. My wife and daughter, who are fond of architecture
and ruins, were very anxious to see the old place. I too
was anxious enough to see it, less from love of ruins and ancient
architecture, than from knowing that a certain illustrious bard
was buried in its precincts, of whom perhaps a short account will
not be unacceptable to the reader.</p>

<p>This man, whose poetical appellation was Iolo Goch, but whose
real name was Llwyd, was of a distinguished family, and Lord of
Llechryd. He was born and generally resided at a place
called Coed y Pantwn, in the upper part of the Vale of
Clwyd. He was a warm friend and partisan of Owen Glendower,
with whom he lived, at Sycharth, for some years before the great
Welsh insurrection, and whom he survived, dying at an extreme old
age beneath his own roof-tree at Coed y Pantwn. He composed
pieces of great excellence on various subjects; but the most
remarkable of his compositions are decidedly certain ones
connected with Owen Glendower. Amongst these is one in
which he describes the Welsh chieftain&rsquo;s mansion at
Sycharth, and his hospitable way of living at that his favourite
residence; and another in which he hails the advent of the comet,
which made its appearance in the month of March, fourteen hundred
and two, as of good augury to his darling hero.</p>

<p>It was from knowing that this distinguished man lay buried in
the precincts of the old edifice, that I felt so anxious to see
it. After walking about two miles we perceived it on our
right hand.</p>

<p>The abbey of the vale of the cross stands in a green meadow,
in a corner near the north-west end of the valley of
Llangollen. The vale or glen, in which the abbey stands,
takes its name from a certain ancient pillar or cross, called the
pillar of Eliseg, and which is believed to have been raised over
the body of an ancient British chieftain of that name, who
perished in battle against the Saxons, about the middle of the
tenth century. In the Papist times the abbey was a place of
great pseudo-sanctity, wealth and consequence. The
territory belonging to it was very extensive, comprising, amongst
other districts, the vale of Llangollen and the mountain region
to the north of it, called the Eglwysig Rocks, which region
derived its name Eglwysig, or ecclesiastical, from the
circumstance of its pertaining to the abbey of the vale of the
cross.</p>

<p>We first reached that part of the building which had once been
the church, having previously to pass through a farmyard, in
which was abundance of dirt and mire.</p>

<p>The church fronts the west and contains the remains of a noble
window, beneath which is a gate, which we found locked.
Passing on we came to that part where the monks had lived, but
which now served as a farmhouse; an open doorway exhibited to us
an ancient gloomy hall, where was some curious old-fashioned
furniture, particularly an ancient rack, in which stood a goodly
range of pewter trenchers. A respectable dame kindly
welcomed us and invited us to sit down. We entered into
conversation with her, and asked her name, which she said was
Evans. I spoke some Welsh to her, which pleased her.
She said that Welsh people at the present day were so full of
fine airs that they were above speaking the old
language&mdash;but that such was not the case formerly, and that
she had known a Mrs Price, who was housekeeper to the Countess of
Mornington, who lived in London upwards of forty years, and at
the end of that time prided herself upon speaking as good Welsh
as she did when a girl. I spoke to her about the abbey, and
asked if she had ever heard of Iolo Goch. She inquired who
he was. I told her he was a great bard, and was buried in
the abbey. She said she had never heard of him, but that
she could show me the portrait of a great poet, and going away,
presently returned with a print in a frame.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;is the portrait of Twm
o&rsquo;r Nant, generally called the Welsh
Shakespeare.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I looked at it. The Welsh Shakespeare was represented
sitting at a table with a pen in his hand; a cottage-latticed
window was behind him, on his left hand; a shelf with plates, and
trenchers behind him, on his right. His features were rude,
but full of wild, strange expression; below the picture was the
following couplet:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Llun Gwr yw llawn gwir Awen;<br />
Y Byd a lanwodd o&rsquo;i Ben.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear of Twm o&rsquo;r Nant?&rdquo; said
the old dame.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I never heard of him by word of mouth,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;but I know all about him&mdash;I have read his life in
Welsh, written by himself, and a curious life it is. His
name was Thomas Edwards, but he generally called himself Twm
o&rsquo;r Nant, or Tom of the Dingle, because he was born in a
dingle, at a place called Pen Porchell, in the vale of
Clwyd&mdash;which, by the bye, was on the estate which once
belonged to Iolo Goch, the poet I was speaking to you about just
now. Tom was a carter by trade, but once kept a toll-bar in
South Wales, which, however, he was obliged to leave at the end
of two years, owing to the annoyance which he experienced from
ghosts and goblins, and unearthly things, particularly phantom
hearses, which used to pass through his gate at midnight without
paying, when the gate was shut.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said the dame, &ldquo;you know more about
Tom o&rsquo;r Nant than I do; and was he not a great
poet?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I daresay he was,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for the pieces
which he wrote, and which he called Interludes, had a great run,
and he got a great deal of money by them, but I should say the
lines beneath the portrait are more applicable to the real
Shakespeare than to him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do the lines mean?&rdquo; said the old lady;
&ldquo;they are Welsh, I know, but they are far beyond my
understanding.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They may be thus translated,&rdquo; said I:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;God in his head the Muse
instill&rsquo;d,<br />
And from his head the world he fill&rsquo;d.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir,&rdquo; said the old lady.
&ldquo;I never found any one before who could translate
them.&rdquo; She then said she would show me some English
lines written on the daughter of a friend of hers who was lately
dead, and put some printed lines in a frame into my hand.
They were an Elegy to Mary, and were very beautiful, I read them
aloud, and when I had finished she thanked me and said she had no
doubt that if I pleased I could put them into Welsh&mdash;she
then sighed and wiped her eyes.</p>

<p>On our enquiring whether we could see the interior of the
abbey she said we could, and that if we rang a bell at the gate a
woman would come to us, who was in the habit of showing the
place. We then got up and bade her farewell&mdash;but she
begged that we would stay and taste the dwr santaidd of the holy
well.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What holy well is that?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A well,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;by the road&rsquo;s
side, which in the time of the popes was said to perform
wonderful cures.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let us taste it by all means,&rdquo; said I; whereupon
she went out, and presently returned with a tray on which were a
jug and tumbler, the jug filled with the water of the holy well;
we drank some of the dwr santaidd, which tasted like any other
water, and then after shaking her by the hand, we went to the
gate, and rang at the bell.</p>

<p>Presently a woman made her appearance at the gate&mdash;she
was genteelly drest, about the middle age, rather tall, and
bearing in her countenance the traces of beauty. When we
told her the object of our coming she admitted us, and after
locking the gate conducted us into the church. It was
roofless, and had nothing remarkable about it, save the western
window, which we had seen from without. Our attendant
pointed out to us some tombs, and told us the names of certain
great people whose dust they contained. &ldquo;Can you tell
us where Iolo Goch lies interred?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;indeed I never heard of
such a person.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He was the bard of Owen Glendower,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and assisted his cause wonderfully by the fiery odes, in
which he incited the Welsh to rise against the
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Indeed!&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;well, I am sorry to say
that I never heard of him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am,&rdquo; she replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear of Thomas Edwards?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;I have frequently
heard of him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How odd,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that the name of a great
poet should be unknown in the very place where he is buried,
whilst that of one certainly not his superior, should be well
known in that same place, though he is not buried
there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;the reason is that the
poet, whom you mentioned, wrote in the old measures and language
which few people now understand, whilst Thomas Edwards wrote in
common verse and in the language of the present day.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I daresay it is so,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>From the church she led us to other parts of the ruin&mdash;at
first she had spoken to us rather cross and loftily, but she now
became kind and communicative. She said that she resided
near the ruins, which she was permitted to show, that she lived
alone, and wished to be alone; there was something singular about
her, and I believe that she had a history of her own. After
showing us the ruins she conducted us to a cottage in which she
lived; it stood behind the ruins by a fish-pond, in a beautiful
and romantic place enough; she said that in the winter she went
away, but to what place she did not say. She asked us
whether we came walking, and on our telling her that we did, she
said that she would point out to us a near way home. She
then pointed to a path up a hill, telling us we must follow
it. After making her a present we bade her farewell, and
passing through a meadow crossed a brook by a rustic bridge,
formed of the stem of a tree, and ascending the hill by the path
which she had pointed out, we went through a cornfield or two on
its top, and at last found ourselves on the Llangollen road,
after a most beautiful walk.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>

<p class="letter">Expedition to Ruthyn&mdash;The
Column&mdash;Slate Quarries&mdash;The Gwyddelod&mdash;Nocturnal
Adventure.</p>

<p>Nothing worthy of commemoration took place during the two
following days, save that myself and family took an evening walk
on the Wednesday up the side of the Berwyn, for the purpose of
botanizing, in which we were attended by John Jones. There,
amongst other plants, we found a curious moss which our good
friend said was called in Welsh, Corn Carw, or deer&rsquo;s horn,
and which he said the deer were very fond of. On the
Thursday he and I started on an expedition on foot to Ruthyn,
distant about fourteen miles, proposing to return in the
evening.</p>

<p>The town and castle of Ruthyn possessed great interest for me
from being connected with the affairs of Owen Glendower. It
was at Ruthyn that the first and not the least remarkable scene
of the Welsh insurrection took place by Owen making his
appearance at the fair held there in fourteen hundred, plundering
the English who had come with their goods, slaying many of them,
sacking the town and concluding his day&rsquo;s work by firing
it; and it was at the castle of Ruthyn that Lord Grey dwelt, a
minion of Henry the Fourth and Glendower&rsquo;s deadliest enemy,
and who was the principal cause of the chieftain&rsquo;s entering
into rebellion, having, in the hope of obtaining his estates in
the vale of Clwyd, poisoned the mind of Harry against him, who
proclaimed him a traitor, before he had committed any act of
treason, and confiscated his estates, bestowing that part of them
upon his favourite, which the latter was desirous of
obtaining.</p>

<p>We started on our expedition at about seven o&rsquo;clock of a
brilliant morning. We passed by the abbey and presently
came to a small fountain with a little stone edifice, with a
sharp top above it. &ldquo;That is the holy well,&rdquo;
said my guide: &ldquo;Llawer iawn o barch yn yr amser yr
Pabyddion yr oedd i&rsquo;r fynnon hwn&mdash;much respect in the
times of the Papists there was to this fountain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I heard of it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and tasted of its
water the other evening at the abbey;&rdquo; shortly after we saw
a tall stone standing in a field on our right hand at about a
hundred yards&rsquo; distance from the road. &ldquo;That is
the pillar of Eliseg, sir,&rdquo; said my guide. &ldquo;Let
us go and see it,&rdquo; said I. We soon reached the
stone. It is a fine upright column about seven feet high,
and stands on a quadrate base. &ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said my
guide, &ldquo;a dead king lies buried beneath this stone.
He was a mighty man of valour and founded the abbey. He was
called Eliseg.&rdquo; &ldquo;Perhaps Ellis,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and if his name was Ellis the stone was very properly
called Colofn Eliseg, in Saxon the Ellisian column.&rdquo;
The view from the column is very beautiful, below on the
south-east is the venerable abbey, slumbering in its green
meadow. Beyond it runs a stream, descending from the top of
a glen, at the bottom of which the old pile is situated; beyond
the stream is a lofty hill. The glen on the north is
bounded by a noble mountain, covered with wood. Struck with
its beauty I inquired its name. &ldquo;Moel Eglwysig,
sir,&rdquo; said my guide. &ldquo;The Moel of the
Church,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;That is hardly a good name
for it, for the hill is not bald (moel).&rdquo;
&ldquo;True, sir,&rdquo; said John Jones. &ldquo;At present
its name is good for nothing, but estalom (of old) before the
hill was planted with trees its name was good enough. Our
fathers were not fools when they named their hills.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I daresay not,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;nor in many other
things which they did, for which we laugh at them, because we do
not know the reasons they had for doing them.&rdquo; We
regained the road; the road tended to the north up a steep
ascent. I asked John Jones the name of a beautiful village,
which lay far away on our right, over the glen, and near its
top. &ldquo;Pentref y dwr, sir&rdquo; (the village of the
water). It is called the village of the water, because the
river below comes down through part of it. I next asked the
name of the hill up which we were going, and he told me Allt
Bwlch; that is, the high place of the hollow road.</p>

<p>This bwlch, or hollow way, was a regular pass, which put me
wonderfully in mind of the passes of Spain. It took us a
long time to get to the top. After resting a minute on the
summit we began to descend. My guide pointed out to me some
slate-works, at some distance on our left. &ldquo;There is
a great deal of work going on there, sir,&rdquo; said he:
&ldquo;all the slates that you see descending the canal at
Llangollen came from there.&rdquo; The next moment we heard
a blast, and then a thundering sound: &ldquo;Llais craig yn
syrthiaw; the voice of the rock in falling, sir,&rdquo; said John
Jones; &ldquo;blasting is dangerous and awful work.&rdquo;
We reached the bottom of the descent, and proceeded for two or
three miles up and down a rough and narrow road; I then turned
round and looked at the hills which we had passed over.
They looked bulky and huge.</p>

<p>We continued our way, and presently saw marks of a fire in
some grass by the side of the road. &ldquo;Have the
Gipsiaid been there?&rdquo; said I to my guide.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hardly, sir; I should rather think that the Gwyddelaid
(Irish) have been camping there lately.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Gwyddeliad?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, the vagabond Gwyddeliad, who at present
infest these parts much, and do much more harm than the Gipsiaid
ever did.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you mean by the Gipsiaid?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dark, handsome people, sir, who occasionally used to
come about in vans and carts, the men buying and selling horses,
and sometimes tinkering, whilst the women told
fortunes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And they have ceased to come about?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nearly so, sir; I believe they have been frightened
away by the Gwyddelod.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What kind of people are these Gwyddelod?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Savage, brutish people, sir; in general without shoes
and stockings, with coarse features and heads of hair like
mops.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How do they live?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The men tinker a little, sir, but more frequently
plunder. The women tell fortunes, and steal whenever they
can.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They live something like the Gipsiaid.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Something, sir; but the hen Gipsiaid were gentlefolks
in comparison.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You think the Gipsiaid have been frightened away by the
Gwyddelians?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do, sir; the Gwyddelod made their appearance in these
parts about twenty years ago, and since then the Gipsiaid have
been rarely seen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are these Gwyddelod poor?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;By no means, sir; they make large sums by plundering
and other means, with which, &rsquo;tis said, they retire at last
to their own country or America, where they buy land and settle
down.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What language do they speak?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;English, sir; they pride themselves on speaking good
English, that is to the Welsh. Amongst themselves they
discourse in their own Paddy Gwyddel.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have they no Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only a few words, sir; I never heard one of them
speaking Welsh, save a young girl&mdash;she fell sick by the
roadside as she was wandering by herself&mdash;some people at a
farmhouse took her in, and tended her till she was well.
During her sickness she took a fancy to their quiet way of life,
and when she was recovered she begged to stay with them and serve
them. They consented; she became a very good servant, and
hearing nothing but Welsh spoken, soon picked up the
tongue.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you know what became of her?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do, sir; her own people found her out, and wished to
take her away with them, but she refused to let them, for by that
time she was perfectly reclaimed, had been to chapel, renounced
her heathen crefydd, and formed an acquaintance with a young
Methodist who had a great gift of prayer, whom she afterwards
married&mdash;she and her husband live at present not far from
Mineira.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I almost wonder that her own people did not kill
her.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They threatened to do so, sir, and would doubtless have
put their threat into execution, had they not been prevented by
the Man on High.&rdquo;</p>

<p>And here my guide pointed with his finger reverently
upward.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it a long time since you have seen any of these
Gwyddeliaid?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About two months, sir, and then a terrible fright they
caused me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How was that?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will tell you, sir; I had been across the Berwyn to
carry home a piece of weaving work to a person who employs
me. It was night as I returned, and when I was about
halfway down the hill, at a place which is called Allt Paddy,
because the Gwyddelod are in the habit of taking up their
quarters there, I came upon a gang of them, who had come there
and camped and lighted their fire, whilst I was on the other side
of the hill. There were nearly twenty of them, men and
women, and amongst the rest was a man standing naked in a tub of
water with two women stroking him down with clouts. He was
a large fierce-looking fellow and his body, on which the flame of
the fire glittered, was nearly covered with red hair. I
never saw such a sight. As I passed they glared at me and
talked violently in their Paddy Gwyddel, but did not offer to
molest me. I hastened down the hill, and right glad I was
when I found myself safe and sound at my house in Llangollen,
with my money in my pocket, for I had several shillings there,
which the man across the hill had paid me for the work which I
had done.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>

<p class="letter">The Turf Tavern&mdash;Don&rsquo;t
Understand&mdash;The Best Welsh&mdash;The Maids of
Merion&mdash;Old and New&mdash;Ruthyn&mdash;The Ash
Yggdrasill.</p>

<p>We now emerged from the rough and narrow way which we had
followed for some miles, upon one much wider, and more
commodious, which my guide told me was the coach road from
Wrexham to Ruthyn, and going on a little farther we came to an
avenue of trees which shaded the road. It was chiefly
composed of ash, sycamore and birch, and looked delightfully cool
and shady. I asked my guide if it belonged to any
gentleman&rsquo;s house. He told me that it did not, but to
a public-house, called Tafarn Tywarch, which stood near the end,
a little way off the road. &ldquo;Why is it called
Tafarn Tywarch?&rdquo; said I, struck by the name which signifies
&ldquo;the tavern of turf.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It was called so, sir,&rdquo; said John, &ldquo;because
it was originally merely a turf hovel, though at present it
consists of good brick and mortar.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can we breakfast there,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for I
feel both hungry and thirsty?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, sir,&rdquo; said John, &ldquo;I have heard
there is good cheese and cwrw there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We turned off to the &ldquo;tafarn,&rdquo; which was a decent
public-house of rather an antiquated appearance. We entered
a sanded kitchen, and sat down by a large oaken table.
&ldquo;Please to bring us some bread, cheese and ale,&rdquo; said
I in Welsh to an elderly woman, who was moving about.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sar?&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Bring us some bread, cheese and ale,&rdquo; I repeated
in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not understand you, sar,&rdquo; said she in
English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you Welsh?&rdquo; said I in English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, I am Welsh!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And can you speak Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, and the best.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then why did you not bring what I asked for?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because I did not understand you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Tell her,&rdquo; said I to John Jones, &ldquo;to bring
us some bread, cheese and ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come, aunt,&rdquo; said John, &ldquo;bring us bread and
cheese and a quart of the best ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The woman looked as if she was going to reply in the tongue in
which he addressed her, then faltered, and at last said in
English that she did not understand.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you are fairly caught: this
man is a Welshman, and moreover understands no language but
Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then how can he understand you?&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because I speak Welsh,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you are a Welshman?&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No I am not,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So I thought,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and on that
account I could not understand you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You mean that you would not,&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;Now do you choose to bring what you are bidden?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come, aunt,&rdquo; said John, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t be
silly and cenfigenus, but bring the breakfast.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The woman stood still for a moment or two, and then biting her
lips went away.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What made the woman behave in this manner?&rdquo; said
I to my companion.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, she was cenfigenus, sir,&rdquo; he replied;
&ldquo;she did not like that an English gentleman should
understand Welsh; she was envious; you will find a dozen or two
like her in Wales; but let us hope not more.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Presently the woman returned with the bread, cheese and ale,
which she placed on the table.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you have brought what was
bidden, though it was never mentioned to you in English, which
shows that your pretending not to understand was all a
sham. What made you behave so?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why I thought,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;that no
Englishman could speak Welsh, that his tongue was too
short.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your having thought so,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;should
not have made you tell a falsehood, saying that you did not
understand, when you knew that you understood very well.
See what a disgraceful figure you cut.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I cut no disgraced figure,&rdquo; said the woman:
&ldquo;after all, what right have the English to come here
speaking Welsh, which belongs to the Welsh alone, who in fact are
the only people that understand it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you sure that you understand Welsh?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I should think so,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;for I
come from the Vale of Clwyd, where they speak the best Welsh in
the world, the Welsh of the Bible.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do they call a salmon in the Vale of Clwyd?&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do they call a salmon?&rdquo; said the
woman. &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;when they speak
Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They call it&mdash;they call it&mdash;why a
salmon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pretty Welsh!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I thought you
did not understand Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, what do you call it?&rdquo; said the woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Eawg,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that is the word for a
salmon in general&mdash;but there are words also to show the
sex&mdash;when you speak of a male salmon you should say cemyw,
when of a female hwyfell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I never heard the words before,&rdquo; said the woman,
&ldquo;nor do I believe them to be Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You say so,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;because you do not
understand Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I not understand Welsh!&rdquo; said she.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll soon show you that I do. Come, you have
asked me the word for salmon in Welsh, I will now ask you the
word for salmon-trout. Now tell me that, and I will say you
know something of the matter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A tinker of my country can tell you that,&rdquo; said
I. &ldquo;The word for salmon-trout is gleisiad.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The countenance of the woman fell.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I see you know something about the matter,&rdquo; said
she; &ldquo;there are very few hereabouts, though so near to the
Vale of Clwyd, who know the word for salmon-trout in Welsh, I
shouldn&rsquo;t have known the word myself, but for the song
which says:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Glân yw&rsquo;r gleisiad yn y
llyn.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;And who wrote that song?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said the woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;But I do,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;one Lewis Morris wrote
it.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I have heard all about Huw
Morris.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was not talking of Huw Morris,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;but Lewis Morris, who lived long after Huw Morris.
He was a native of Anglesea, but resided for some time in
Merionethshire, and whilst there composed a song about the
Morwynion bro Meirionydd or the lasses of County Merion of a
great many stanzas, in one of which the gleisiad is
mentioned. Here it is in English:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Full fair the gleisiad in the
flood,<br />
&nbsp; Which sparkles &rsquo;neath the summer&rsquo;s
sun,<br />
And fair the thrush in green abode<br />
&nbsp; Spreading his wings in sportive fun,<br />
But fairer look if truth be spoke,<br />
The maids of County Merion.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The woman was about to reply, but I interrupted her.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;pray leave us to our
breakfast, and the next time you feel inclined to talk nonsense
about no Englishman&rsquo;s understanding Welsh, or knowing
anything of Welsh matters, remember that it was an Englishman who
told you the Welsh word for salmon, and likewise the name of the
Welshman who wrote the song in which the gleisiad is
mentioned.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The ale was very good and so were the bread and cheese.
The ale indeed was so good that I ordered a second jug.
Observing a large antique portrait over the mantel-piece I got up
to examine it. It was that of a gentleman in a long wig,
and underneath it was painted in red letters &ldquo;Sir Watkin
Wynn: 1742.&rdquo; It was doubtless the portrait of the Sir
Watkin who, in 1745 was committed to the tower under suspicion of
being suspected of holding Jacobite opinions, and favouring the
Pretender. The portrait was a very poor daub, but I looked
at it long and attentively as a memorial of Wales at a critical
and long past time.</p>

<p>When we had dispatched the second jug of ale, and I had paid
the reckoning, we departed and soon came to where stood a
turnpike house at a junction of two roads, to each of which was a
gate.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Now, sir,&rdquo; said John Jones, &ldquo;the way
straight forward is the ffordd newydd, and the one on our right
hand is the hen ffordd. Which shall we follow, the new or
the old?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is a proverb in the Gerniweg,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;which was the language of my forefathers, saying,
&lsquo;ne&rsquo;er leave the old way for the new,&rsquo; we will
therefore go by the hen ffordd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; said my guide, &ldquo;that is
the path I always go, for it is the shortest.&rdquo; So we
turned to the right and followed the old road. Perhaps,
however, it would have been well had we gone by the new, for the
hen ffordd was a very dull and uninteresting road, whereas the
ffordd newydd, as I long subsequently found, is one of the
grandest passes in Wales. After we had walked a short
distance my guide said, &ldquo;Now, sir, if you will turn a
little way to the left hand I will show you a house, built in the
old style, such a house, sir, as I daresay the original turf
tavern was.&rdquo; Then leading me a little way from the
road he showed me, under a hollow bank, a small cottage covered
with flags.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is a house, sir, built yn yr hen dull in the old
fashion, of earth, flags and wattles and in one night. It
was the custom of old when a house was to be built, for the
people to assemble, and to build it in one night of common
materials, close at hand. The custom is not quite
dead. I was at the building of this myself, and a merry
building it was. The cwrw da passed quickly about among the
builders, I assure you.&rdquo; We returned to the road, and
when we had ascended a hill, my companion told me that if I
looked to the left I should see the Vale of Clwyd.</p>

<p>I looked and perceived an extensive valley pleasantly dotted
with trees and farm-houses, and bounded on the west by a range of
hills.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is a fine valley, sir,&rdquo; said my guide,
&ldquo;four miles wide and twenty long, and contains the richest
land in all Wales. Cheese made in that valley, sir, fetches
a penny a pound more than cheese made in any other
valley.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who owns it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Various are the people who own it, sir, but Sir Watkin
owns the greater part.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We went on, passed by a village called Craig Vychan, where we
saw a number of women washing at a fountain, and by a gentle
descent soon reached the Vale of Clwyd.</p>

<p>After walking about a mile we left the road and proceeded by a
footpath across some meadows. The meadows were green and
delightful and were intersected by a beautiful stream.
Trees in abundance were growing about, some of which were
oaks. We passed by a little white chapel with a small
graveyard before it, which my guide told me belonged to the
Baptists, and shortly afterwards reached Ruthyn.</p>

<p>We went to an inn called the Crossed Foxes, where we refreshed
ourselves with ale. We then sallied forth to look about,
after I had ordered a duck to be got ready for dinner, at three
o&rsquo;clock. Ruthyn stands on a hill above the Clwyd,
which in the summer is a mere brook, but in the winter a
considerable stream, being then fed with the watery tribute of a
hundred hills. About three miles to the north is a range of
lofty mountains, dividing the shire of Denbigh from that of
Flint, amongst which, almost parallel with the town, and lifting
its head high above the rest, is the mighty Moel Vamagh, the
mother heap, which I had seen from Chester. Ruthyn is a
dull town, but it possessed plenty of interest to me, for as I
strolled with my guide about the streets I remembered that I was
treading the ground which the wild bands of Glendower had trod,
and where the great struggle commenced, which for fourteen years
convulsed Wales, and for some time shook England to its
centre. After I had satisfied myself with wandering about
the town we proceeded to the castle.</p>

<p>The original castle suffered terribly in the civil wars; it
was held for wretched Charles, and was nearly demolished by the
cannon of Cromwell, which were planted on a hill about half a
mile distant. The present castle is partly modern and
partly ancient. It belongs to a family of the name of W---
who reside in the modern part, and who have the character of
being kind, hospitable and intellectual people. We only
visited the ancient part, over which we were shown by a woman,
who hearing us speaking Welsh, spoke Welsh herself during the
whole time she was showing us about. She showed us dark
passages, a gloomy apartment in which Welsh kings and great
people had been occasionally confined, that strange memorial of
the good old times, a drowning pit, and a large prison room, in
the middle of which stood a singular-looking column, scrawled
with odd characters, which had of yore been used for a
whipping-post, another memorial of the good old baronial times,
so dear to romance readers and minds of sensibility.
Amongst other things which our conductor showed us was an immense
onen or ash; it stood in one of the courts and measured, as she
said, pedwar y haner o ladd yn ei gwmpas, or four yards and a
half in girth. As I gazed on the mighty tree I thought of
the Ash Yggdrasill mentioned in the Voluspa, or prophecy of Vola,
that venerable poem which contains so much relating to the
mythology of the ancient Norse.</p>

<p>We returned to the inn and dined. The duck was capital,
and I asked John Jones if he had ever tasted a better.
&ldquo;Never, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for to tell you the
truth, I never tasted a duck before.&rdquo; &ldquo;Rather
singular,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;What, that I should not
have tasted duck? Oh, sir, the singularity is, that I
should now be tasting duck. Duck in Wales, sir, is not fare
for poor weavers. This is the first duck I ever tasted, and
though I never taste another, as I probably never shall, I may
consider myself a fortunate weaver, for I can now say I have
tasted duck once in my life. Few weavers in Wales are ever
able to say as much.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>

<p class="letter">Baptist Tomb-Stone&mdash;The
Toll-Bar&mdash;Rebecca&mdash;The Guitar.</p>

<p>The sun was fast declining as we left Ruthyn. We
retraced our steps across the fields. When we came to the
Baptist Chapel I got over the wall of the little yard to look at
the grave-stones. There were only three. The
inscriptions upon them were all in Welsh. The following
stanza was on the stone of Jane, the daughter of Elizabeth
Williams, who died on the second of May, 1843:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Er myn&rsquo;d i&rsquo;r oerllyd annedd<br
/>
Dros dymher hir i orwedd,<br />
Cwyd i&rsquo;r lan o&rsquo;r gwely bridd<br />
Ac hyfryd fydd ei hagwedd.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>which is</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Though thou art gone to dwelling cold<br />
&nbsp; To lie in mould for many a year,<br />
Thou shalt, at length, from earthy bed,<br />
&nbsp; Uplift thy head to blissful sphere.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As we went along I stopped to gaze at a singular-looking hill
forming part of the mountain range on the east. I asked
John Jones what its name was, but he did not know. As we
were standing talking about it, a lady came up from the direction
in which our course lay. John Jones, touching his hat to
her, said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Madam, this gwr boneddig wishes to know the name of
that moel, perhaps you can tell him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Its name is Moel Agrik,&rdquo; said the lady,
addressing me in English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does that mean Agricola&rsquo;s hill?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It does,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and there is a
tradition that the Roman General Agricola, when he invaded these
parts, pitched his camp on that moel. The hill is spoken of
by Pennant.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you, madam,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;perhaps you can
tell me the name of the delightful grounds in which we stand,
supposing they have a name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are called Oaklands,&rdquo; said the lady.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A very proper name,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for there is
plenty of oaks growing about. But why are they called by a
Saxon name, for Oaklands is Saxon?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because,&rdquo; said the lady, &ldquo;when the grounds
were first planted with trees they belonged to an English
family.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said I, and, taking off my hat, I
departed with my guide. I asked him her name, but he could
not tell me. Before she was out of sight, however, we met a
labourer of whom John Jones enquired her name.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Her name is W---s,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;and a
good lady she is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is she Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pure Welsh, master,&rdquo; said the man.
&ldquo;Purer Welsh flesh and blood need not be.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Nothing farther worth relating occurred till we reached the
toll-bar at the head of the hen ffordd, by which time the sun was
almost gone down. We found the master of the gate, his wife
and son seated on a bench before the door. The woman had a
large book on her lap, in which she was reading by the last light
of the departing orb. I gave the group the sele of the
evening in English, which they all returned, the woman looking up
from her book.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is that volume the Bible?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is, sir,&rdquo; said the woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;May I look at it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; said the woman, and placed the book
in my hand. It was a magnificent Welsh Bible, but without
the title-page.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That book must be a great comfort to you,&rdquo; said I
to her.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very great,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;I know not
what we should do without it in the long winter
evenings.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what faith are you?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are Methodists,&rdquo; she replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you are of the same faith as my friend
here,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;we are aware of
that. We all know honest John Jones.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After we had left the gate I asked John Jones whether he had
ever heard of Rebecca of the toll-gates.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;I have heard of that
chieftainess.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who was she?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I cannot say, sir; I never saw her, nor any one who had
seen her. Some say that there were a hundred Rebeccas, and
all of them men dressed in women&rsquo;s clothes, who went about
at night, at the head of bands to break the gates. Ah, sir,
something of the kind was almost necessary at that time. I
am a friend of peace, sir, no head-breaker, house-breaker, nor
gate-breaker, but I can hardly blame what was done at that time,
under the name of Rebecca. You have no idea how the poor
Welsh were oppressed by those gates, aye, and the rich too.
The little people and farmers could not carry their produce to
market owing to the exactions at the gates, which devoured all
the profit and sometimes more. So that the markets were not
half supplied, and people with money could frequently not get
what they wanted. Complaints were made to government, which
not being attended to, Rebecca and her byddinion made their
appearance at night, and broke the gates to pieces with
sledge-hammers, and everybody said it was gallant work, everybody
save the keepers of the gates and the proprietors. Not only
the poor but the rich, said so. Aye, and I have heard that
many a fine young gentleman had a hand in the work, and went
about at night at the head of a band dressed as Rebecca.
Well, sir, those breakings were acts of violence, I don&rsquo;t
deny, but they did good, for the system is altered; such
impositions are no longer practised at gates as were before the
time of Rebecca.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Were any people ever taken up and punished for those
nocturnal breakings?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir; and I have heard say that nobody&rsquo;s being
taken up was a proof that the rich approved of the work and had a
hand in it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Night had come on by the time we reached the foot of the huge
hills we had crossed in the morning. We toiled up the
ascent, and after crossing the level ground on the top, plunged
down the bwlch between walking and running, occasionally
stumbling, for we were nearly in complete darkness, and the bwlch
was steep and stony. We more than once passed people who
gave us the n&rsquo;s da, the hissing night salutation of the
Welsh. At length I saw the Abbey looming amidst the
darkness, and John Jones said that, we were just above the
fountain. We descended, and putting my head down I drank
greedily of the dwr santaidd, my guide following my
example. We then proceeded on our way, and in about
half-an-hour reached Llangollen. I took John Jones home
with me. We had a cheerful cup of tea. Henrietta
played on the guitar, and sang a Spanish song, to the great
delight of John Jones, who at about ten o&rsquo;clock departed
contented and happy to his own dwelling.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>

<p class="letter">John Jones and his Bundle&mdash;A Good
Lady&mdash;The Irishman&rsquo;s Dingle&mdash;Ab Gwilym and the
Mist&mdash;The Kitchen&mdash;The Two Individuals&mdash;The
Horse-Dealer&mdash;I can manage him&mdash;The Mist Again.</p>

<p>The following day was gloomy. In the evening John Jones
made his appearance with a bundle under his arm, and an umbrella
in his hand.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I am going across the
mountain with it piece of weaving work, for the man on the other
side, who employs me. Perhaps you would like to go with me,
as you are fond of walking.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you wish to have my
company for fear of meeting Gwyddelians on the hill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>John smiled.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;if I do meet them I
would sooner be with company than without. But I dare
venture by myself, trusting in the Man on High, and perhaps I do
wrong to ask you to go, as you must be tired with your walk of
yesterday.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hardly more than yourself,&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;Come; I shall be glad to go. What I said about the
Gwyddelians was only in jest.&rdquo;</p>

<p>As we were about to depart John said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;It does not rain at present, sir, but I think it
will. You had better take an umbrella.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I did so, and away we went. We passed over the bridge,
and turning to the right went by the back of the town through a
field. As we passed by the Plas Newydd John Jones said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;No one lives there now, sir; all dark and dreary; very
different from the state of things when the ladies lived
there&mdash;all gay then and cheerful. I remember the
ladies, sir, particularly the last, who lived by herself after
her companion died. She was a good lady, and very kind to
the poor; when they came to her gate they were never sent away
without something to cheer them. She was a grand lady
too&mdash;kept grand company, and used to be drawn about in a
coach by four horses. But she too is gone, and the house is
cold and empty; no fire in it, sir; no furniture. There was
an auction after her death; and a grand auction it was and lasted
four days. Oh, what a throng of people there was, some of
whom came from a great distance to buy the curious things, of
which there were plenty.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We passed over a bridge, which crosses a torrent, which
descends from the mountain on the south side of Llangollen, which
bridge John Jones told me was called the bridge of the Melin Bac,
or mill of the nook, from a mill of that name close by.
Continuing our way we came to a glen, down which the torrent
comes which passes under the bridge. There was little water
in the bed of the torrent, and we crossed easily enough by
stepping-stones. I looked up the glen; a wild place enough,
its sides overgrown with trees. Dreary and dismal it looked
in the gloom of the closing evening. John Jones said that
there was no regular path up it, and that one could only get
along by jumping from stone to stone, at the hazard of breaking
one&rsquo;s legs. Having passed over the bed of the
torrent, we came to a path, which led up the mountain. The
path was very steep and stony; the glen with its trees and
darkness on our right. We proceeded some way. At
length John Jones pointed to a hollow lane on our right,
seemingly leading into the glen.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That place, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is called Pant
y Gwyddel&mdash;the Irishman&rsquo;s dingle, and sometimes Pant
Paddy, from the Irish being fond of taking up their quarters
there. It was just here, at the entrance of the pant, that
the tribe were encamped, when I passed two months ago at night,
in returning from the other side of the hill with ten shillings
in my pocket, which I had been paid for a piece of my work, which
I had carried over the mountain to the very place where I am now
carrying this. I shall never forget the fright I was in,
both on account of my life, and my ten shillings. I ran
down what remained of the hill as fast as I could, not minding
the stones. Should I meet a tribe now on my return I shall
not run; you will be with me, and I shall not fear for my life
nor for my money, which will be now more than ten shillings,
provided the man over the hills pays me, as I have no doubt he
will.&rdquo;</p>

<p>As we ascended higher we gradually diverged from the glen,
though we did not lose sight of it till we reached the top of the
mountain. The top was nearly level. On our right were
a few fields enclosed with stone walls. On our left was an
open space where whin, furze and heath were growing. We
passed over the summit, and began to descend by a tolerably good,
though steep road. But for the darkness of evening and a
drizzling mist, which, for some time past, had been coming on, we
should have enjoyed a glorious prospect down into the valley, or
perhaps I should say that I should have enjoyed a glorious
prospect, for John Jones, like a true mountaineer, cared not a
brass farthing for prospects. Even as it was, noble
glimpses of wood and rock were occasionally to be obtained.
The mist soon wetted us to the skin notwithstanding that we put
up our umbrellas. It was a regular Welsh mist, a niwl, like
that in which the great poet Ab Gwilym lost his way, whilst
trying to keep an assignation with his beloved Morfydd, and which
he abuses in the following manner:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;O ho! thou villain mist, O ho!<br />
What plea hast thou to plague me so?<br />
I scarcely know a scurril name,<br />
But dearly thou deserv&rsquo;st the same;<br />
Thou exhalation from the deep<br />
Unknown, where ugly spirits keep!<br />
Thou smoke from hellish stews uphurl&rsquo;d<br />
To mock and mortify the world!<br />
Thou spider-web of giant race,<br />
Spun out and spread through airy space!<br />
Avaunt, thou filthy, clammy thing,<br />
Of sorry rain the source and spring!<br />
Moist blanket dripping misery down,<br />
Loathed alike by land and town!<br />
Thou watery monster, wan to see,<br />
Intruding &rsquo;twixt the sun and me,<br />
To rob me of my blessed right,<br />
To turn my day to dismal night.<br />
Parent of thieves and patron best,<br />
They brave pursuit within thy breast!<br />
Mostly from thee its merciless snow<br />
Grim January doth glean, I trow.<br />
Pass off with speed, thou prowler pale,<br />
Holding along o&rsquo;er hill and dale,<br />
Spilling a noxious spittle round,<br />
Spoiling the fairies&rsquo; sporting ground!<br />
Move off to hell, mysterious haze;<br />
Wherein deceitful meteors blaze;<br />
Thou wild of vapour, vast, o&rsquo;ergrown,<br />
Huge as the ocean of unknown.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As we descended, the path became more steep; it was
particularly so at a part where it was overshadowed with trees on
both sides. Here, finding walking very uncomfortable, my
knees suffering much, I determined to run. So shouting to
John Jones, &ldquo;Nis gallav gerdded rhaid rhedeg,&rdquo; I set
off running down the pass. My companion followed close
behind, and luckily meeting no mischance, we presently found
ourselves on level ground, amongst a collection of small
houses. On our turning a corner a church appeared on our
left hand on the slope of the hill. In the churchyard, and
close to the road, grew a large yew-tree which flung its boughs
far on every side. John Jones stopping by the tree said,
that if I looked over the wall of the yard I should see the tomb
of a Lord Dungannon, who had been a great benefactor to the
village. I looked, and through the lower branches of the
yew, which hung over part of the churchyard, I saw what appeared
to be a mausoleum. Jones told me that in the church also
there was the tomb of a great person of the name of Tyrwhitt.</p>

<p>We passed on by various houses till we came nearly to the
bottom of the valley. Jones then pointing to a large house,
at a little distance on the right, told me that it was a good
gwesty, and advised me to go and refresh myself in it, whilst he
went and carried home his work to the man who employed him, who
he said lived in a farm-house a few hundred yards off. I
asked him where we were.</p>

<p>&ldquo;At Llyn Ceiriog,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>I then asked if we were near Pont Fadog; and received for
answer that Pont Fadog was a good way down the valley, to the
north-east, and that we could not see it owing to a hill which
intervened.</p>

<p>Jones went his way and I proceeded to the gwestfa, the door of
which stood invitingly open. I entered a large kitchen, at
one end of which a good fire was burning in a grate, in front of
which was a long table, and a high settle on either side.
Everything looked very comfortable. There was nobody in the
kitchen: on my calling, however, a girl came, whom I bade in
Welsh to bring me a pint of the best ale. The girl stared,
but went away apparently to fetch it&mdash;presently came the
landlady, a good-looking middle-aged woman. I saluted her
in Welsh and then asked her if she could speak English. She
replied &ldquo;Tipyn bach,&rdquo; which interpreted, is, a little
bit. I soon, however, found that she could speak it very
passably, for two men coming in from the rear of the house she
conversed with them in English. These two individuals
seated themselves on chairs near the door, and called for
beer. The girl brought in the ale, and I sat down by the
fire, poured myself out a glass, and made myself
comfortable. Presently a gig drove up to the door, and in
came a couple of dogs, one a tall black grey-hound, the other a
large female setter, the coat of the latter dripping with rain,
and shortly after two men from the gig entered; one who appeared
to be the principal was a stout bluff-looking person between
fifty and sixty, dressed in a grey stuff coat and with a slouched
hat on his head. This man bustled much about, and in a
broad Yorkshire dialect ordered a fire to be lighted in another
room, and a chamber to be prepared for him and his companion; the
landlady, who appeared to know him, and to treat him with a kind
of deference, asked if she should prepare two beds; whereupon he
answered &ldquo;No! As we came together and shall start
together, so shall we sleep together; it will not be for the
first time.&rdquo;</p>

<p>His companion was a small mean-looking man, dressed in a black
coat, and behaved to him with no little respect. Not only
the landlady, but the two men, of whom I have previously spoken,
appeared to know him and to treat him with deference. He
and his companion presently went out to see after the
horse. After a little time they returned, and the stout man
called lustily for two fourpennyworths of brandy and
water&mdash;&ldquo;Take it into the other room!&rdquo; said he,
and went into a side room with his companion, but almost
immediately came out saying that the room smoked and was cold,
and that he preferred sitting in the kitchen. He then took
his seat near me, and when the brandy was brought drank to my
health. I said thank you, but nothing farther. He
then began talking to the men and his companion upon indifferent
subjects. After a little time John Jones came in, called
for a glass of ale, and at my invitation seated himself between
me and the stout personage. The latter addressed him
roughly in English, but receiving no answer said, &ldquo;Ah, you
no understand. You have no English and I no
Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You have not mastered Welsh yet Mr ---&rdquo; said one
of the men to him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No!&rdquo; said he: &ldquo;I have been doing business
with the Welsh forty years, but can&rsquo;t speak a word of their
language. I sometimes guess at a word, spoken in the course
of business, but am never sure.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Presently John Jones began talking to me, saying that he had
been to the river, that the water was very low, and that there
was little but stones in the bed of the stream.</p>

<p>I told him if its name was Ceiriog no wonder there were plenty
of stones in it, Ceiriog being derived from Cerrig, a rock.
The men stared to hear me speak Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the gentleman a Welshman?&rdquo; said one of the
men, near the door, to his companion; &ldquo;he seems to speak
Welsh very well.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How should I know?&rdquo; said the other, who appeared
to be a low working man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who are those people?&rdquo; said I to John Jones.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The smaller man is a workman at a flannel
manufactory,&rdquo; said Jones. &ldquo;The other I do not
exactly know.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who is the man on the other side of you?&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe he is an English dealer in gigs and
horses,&rdquo; replied Jones, &ldquo;and that he is come here
either to buy or sell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The man, however, soon put me out of all doubt with respect to
his profession.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was at Chirk,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;and Mr So-and-so
asked me to have a look at his new gig and horse, and have a
ride. I consented. They were both brought
out&mdash;everything new; gig new, harness new, and horse
new. Mr So-and-so asked me what I thought of his
turn-out. I gave a look and said, &lsquo;I like the car
very well, harness very well, but I don&rsquo;t like the horse at
all; a regular bolter, rearer and kicker, or I&rsquo;m no judge;
moreover, he&rsquo;s pigeon-toed.&rsquo; However, we all
got on the car&mdash;four of us, and I was of course complimented
with the ribbons. Well, we hadn&rsquo;t gone fifty yards
before the horse, to make my words partly good, began to kick
like a new &rsquo;un. However, I managed him, and he went
on for a couple of miles till we got to the top of the hill, just
above the descent with the precipice on the right hand.
Here he began to rear like a very devil.</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Oh dear me!&rsquo; says Mr So-and-so; &lsquo;let
me get out!&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Keep where you are,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;I can
manage him.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;However, Mr So-and-so would not be ruled, and got out;
coming down, not on his legs, but his hands and knees. And
then the two others said&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Let us get out!&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Keep where you are,&rsquo; said I, &lsquo;I can
manage him.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But they must needs get out, or rather tumble out, for
they both came down on the road, hard on their backs.</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Get out yourself,&rsquo; said they all,
&lsquo;and let the devil go, or you are a done man.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Getting out may do for you young hands,&rsquo;
says I, &lsquo;but it won&rsquo;t do for I; neither my back nor
bones will stand the hard road.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mr So-and-so ran to the horse&rsquo;s head.</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Are you mad?&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;if you try to
hold him he&rsquo;ll be over the pree-si-pice in a twinkling, and
then where am I? Give him head; I can manage
him.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So Mr So-and-so got out of the way, and down flew the
horse right down the descent, as fast as he could gallop. I
tell you what, I didn&rsquo;t half like it! A pree-si-pice
on my right, the rock on my left, and a devil before me, going,
like a cannon-ball, right down the hill. However, I
contrived, as I said I would, to manage him; kept the car from
the rock and from the edge of the gulf too. Well, just when
we had come to the bottom of the hill out comes the people
running from the inn, almost covering the road.</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Now get out of the way,&rsquo; I shouts,
&lsquo;if you don&rsquo;t wish to see your brains knocked out,
and what would be worse, mine too.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So they gets out of the way, and on I spun, I and my
devil. But by this time I had nearly taken the devil out of
him. Well, he hadn&rsquo;t gone fifty yards on the level
ground, when, what do you think he did? why, went regularly over,
tumbled down regularly on the road, even as I knew he would some
time or other, because why? he was pigeon-toed. Well, I
gets out of the gig, and no sooner did Mr So-and-so come up than
I says&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;I likes your car very well, and I likes your
harness, but&mdash;me if I likes your horse, and it will be some
time before you persuade me to drive him again.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>I am a great lover of horses, and an admirer of good driving,
and should have wished to have some conversation with this worthy
person about horses and their management. I should also
have wished to ask him some questions about Wales and the Welsh,
as he must have picked up a great deal of curious information
about both in his forty years&rsquo; traffic, notwithstanding he
did not know a word of Welsh, but John Jones prevented my further
tarrying by saying, that it would be as well to get over the
mountain before it was entirely dark. So I got up, paid for
my ale, vainly endeavoured to pay for that of my companion, who
insisted upon paying for what he had ordered, made a general bow
and departed from the house, leaving the horse-dealer and the
rest staring at each other and wondering who we were, or at least
who I was. We were about to ascend the hill when John Jones
asked me whether I should not like to see the bridge and the
river. I told him I should. The bridge and the river
presented nothing remarkable. The former was of a single
arch; and the latter anything but abundant in its flow.</p>

<p>We now began to retrace our steps over the mountain. At
first the mist appeared to be nearly cleared away. As we
proceeded, however, large sheets began to roll up the mountain
sides, and by the time we reached the summit were completely
shrouded in vapour. The night, however, was not very dark,
and we found our way tolerably well, though once in descending I
had nearly tumbled into the nant or dingle, now on our left
hand. The bushes and trees, seen indistinctly through the
mist, had something the look of goblins, and brought to my mind
the elves, which Ab Gwilym of old saw, or thought he saw, in a
somewhat similar situation:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;In every hollow dingle stood<br />
Of wry-mouth&rsquo;d elves a wrathful brood.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Drenched to the skin, but uninjured in body and limb, we at
length reached Llangollen.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Venerable Old Gentleman&mdash;Surnames in
Wales&mdash;Russia and Britain&mdash;Church of
England&mdash;Yriarte&mdash;The Eagle and his Young&mdash;Poets
of the Gael&mdash;The Oxonian&mdash;Master Salisburie.</p>

<p>My wife had told me that she had had some conversation upon
the Welsh language and literature with a venerable old man, who
kept a shop in the town, that she had informed him that I was
very fond of both, and that he had expressed a great desire to
see me. One afternoon I said: &ldquo;Let us go and pay a
visit to your old friend of the shop. I think from two or
three things which you have told me about him, that he must be
worth knowing.&rdquo; We set out. She conducted me
across the bridge a little way; then presently turning to the
left into the principal street, she entered the door of a shop on
the left-hand side, over the top of which was written:
&ldquo;Jones; Provision Dealer and General Merchant.&rdquo;
The shop was small, with two little counters, one on each
side. Behind one was a young woman, and behind the other a
venerable-looking old man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have brought my husband to visit you,&rdquo; said my
wife, addressing herself to him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am most happy to see him,&rdquo; said the old
gentleman, making me a polite bow.</p>

<p>He then begged that we would do him the honour to walk into
his parlour, and led us into a little back room, the window of
which looked out upon the Dee a few yards below the bridge.
On the left side of the room was a large case, well stored with
books. He offered us chairs, and we all sat down. I
was much struck with the old man. He was rather tall, and
somewhat inclined to corpulency. His hair was grey; his
forehead high; his nose aquiline; his eyes full of intelligence;
whilst his manners were those of a perfect gentleman.</p>

<p>I entered into conversation by saying that I supposed his name
was Jones, as I had observed that name over the door.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Jones is the name I bear at your service, sir,&rdquo;
he replied.</p>

<p>I said that it was a very common name in Wales, as I knew
several people who bore it, and observed that most of the
surnames in Wales appeared to be modifications of Christian
names; for example Jones, Roberts, Edwards, Humphreys, and
likewise Pugh, Powel, and Probert, which were nothing more than
the son of Hugh, the son of Howel, and the son of Robert.
He said I was right, that there were very few real surnames in
Wales; that the three great families, however, had real surnames;
for that Wynn, Morgan and Bulkley were all real surnames. I
asked him whether the Bulkleys of Anglesea were not originally an
English family. He said they were, and that they settled
down in Anglesea in the time of Elizabeth.</p>

<p>After some minutes my wife got up and left us. The old
gentleman and I had then some discourse in Welsh; we soon,
however, resumed speaking English. We got on the subject of
Welsh bards, and after a good deal of discourse the old gentleman
said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;You seem to know something about Welsh poetry; can you
tell me who wrote the following line?</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;There will be great doings in
Britain, and<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I shall have no concern in
them.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;I will not be positive,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I
think from its tone and tenor that it was composed by Merddyn,
whom my countrymen call Merlin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe you are right,&rdquo; said the old gentleman,
&ldquo;I see you know something of Welsh poetry. I met the
line, a long time ago, in a Welsh grammar. It then made a
great impression upon me, and of late it has always been ringing
in my ears. I love Britain. Britain has just engaged
in a war with a mighty country, and I am apprehensive of the
consequences. I am old, upwards of four-score, and shall
probably not live to see the evil, if evil happens, as I fear it
will&mdash;&lsquo;There will be strange doings in Britain, but
they will not concern me.&rsquo; I cannot get the line out
of my head.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I told him that the line probably related to the progress of
the Saxons in Britain, but that I did not wonder that it made an
impression upon him at the present moment. I said, however,
that we ran no risk from Russia; that the only power at all
dangerous to Britain was France, which though at present leagued
with her against Russia, would eventually go to war with and
strive to subdue her, and then of course Britain could expect no
help from Russia, her old friend and ally, who, if Britain had
not outraged her, would have assisted her, in any quarrel or
danger, with four or five hundred thousand men. I said that
I hoped neither he nor I should see a French invasion, but I had
no doubt one would eventually take place, and that then Britain
must fight stoutly, as she had no one to expect help from but
herself; that I wished she might be able to hold her own,
but&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Strange things will happen in Britain, though they will
concern me nothing,&rdquo; said the old gentleman with a
sigh.</p>

<p>On my expressing a desire to know something of his history, he
told me that he was the son of a small farmer, who resided at
some distance from Llangollen; that he lost his father at an
early age, and was obliged to work hard, even when a child, in
order to assist his mother who had some difficulty, after the
death of his father, in keeping things together; that though he
was obliged to work hard he had been fond of study, and used to
pore over Welsh and English books by the glimmering light of the
turf fire at night, for that his mother could not afford to allow
him anything in the shape of a candle to read by; that at his
mother&rsquo;s death he left rural labour, and coming to
Llangollen, commenced business in the little shop in which he was
at present; that he had been married, and had children, but that
his wife and family were dead; that the young woman whom I had
seen in the shop, and who took care of his house, was a relation
of his wife; that though he had always been attentive to
business, he had never abandoned study; that he had mastered his
own language, of which he was passionately fond, and had acquired
a good knowledge of English and of some other languages.
That his fondness for literature had shortly after his arrival at
Llangollen attracted the notice of some of the people, who
encouraged him in his studies, and assisted him by giving him
books; that the two celebrated ladies of Llangollen had
particularly noticed him; that he held the situation of church
clerk for upwards of forty years, and that it was chiefly owing
to the recommendation of the &ldquo;great ladies&rdquo; that he
had obtained it. He then added with a sigh, that about ten
years ago he was obliged to give it up, owing to something the
matter with his eyesight, which prevented him from reading, and,
that his being obliged to give it up was a source of bitter grief
to him, as he had always considered it a high honour to be
permitted to assist in the service of the Church of England, in
the principles of which he had been bred, and in whose doctrines
he firmly believed.</p>

<p>Here shaking him by the hand, I said that I too had been bred
up in the principles of the Church of England; that I too firmly
believed in its doctrines, and would maintain with my blood, if
necessary, that there was not such another church in the
world.</p>

<p>&ldquo;So would I,&rdquo; said the old gentleman; &ldquo;where
is there a church in whose liturgy there is so much Scripture as
in that of the Church of England?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pity,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that so many traitors have
lately sprung up in its ministry.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If it be so,&rdquo; said the old church clerk,
&ldquo;they have not yet shown themselves in the pulpit at
Llangollen. All the clergymen who have held the living in
my time have been excellent. The present incumbent is a
model of a Church-of-England clergyman. Oh, how I regret
that the state of my eyes prevents me from officiating as clerk
beneath him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I told him that I should never from the appearance of his eyes
have imagined that they were not excellent ones.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can see to walk about with them, and to distinguish
objects,&rdquo; said the old gentleman; &ldquo;but see to read
with them I cannot. Even with the help of the most powerful
glasses I cannot distinguish a letter. I believe I strained
my eyes at a very early age, when striving to read at night by
the glimmer of the turf fire in my poor mother&rsquo;s chimney
corner. Oh what an affliction is this state of my
eyes! I can&rsquo;t turn my books to any account, nor read
the newspapers; but I repeat that I chiefly lament it because it
prevents me from officiating as under-preacher.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He showed me his books. Seeing amongst them &ldquo;The
Fables of Yriarte&rdquo; in Spanish, I asked how they came into
his possession.</p>

<p>&ldquo;They were presented to me,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;by
one of the ladies of Llangollen, Lady Eleanor Butler.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you ever read them?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;I do not understand a
word of Spanish; but I suppose her ladyship, knowing I was fond
of languages, thought that I might one day set about learning
Spanish, and that then they might be useful to me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then asked me if I knew Spanish, and on my telling him that
I had some knowledge of that language, he asked me to translate
some of the fables. I translated two of them, which pleased
him much.</p>

<p>I then asked if he had ever heard of a collection of Welsh
fables compiled about the year thirteen hundred. He said
that he had not, and inquired whether they had ever been
printed. I told him that some had appeared in the old Welsh
magazine called &ldquo;The Greal.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish you would repeat one of them,&rdquo; said the
old clerk.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here is one,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;which particularly
struck me:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is the custom of the eagle, when his young are
sufficiently old, to raise them up above his nest in the
direction of the sun; and the bird which has strength enough of
eye to look right in the direction of the sun, he keeps and
nourishes, but the one which has not, he casts down into the gulf
to its destruction. So does the Lord deal with His children
in the Catholic Church Militant: those whom He sees worthy to
serve Him in godliness and spiritual goodness He keeps with Him
and nourishes, but those who are not worthy from being addicted
to earthly things, He casts out into utter darkness, where there
is weeping and gnashing of teeth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The old gentleman, after a moment&rsquo;s reflection, said it
was a clever fable, but an unpleasant one. It was hard for
poor birds to be flung into a gulf, for not having power of eye
sufficient to look full in the face of the sun, and likewise hard
that poor human creatures should be lost for ever, for not doing
that which they had no power to do.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the eagle does not deal
with his chicks, or the Lord with His creatures as the fable
represents.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let us hope at any rate,&rdquo; said the old gentleman,
&ldquo;that the Lord does not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you ever seen this book?&rdquo; said he, and put
Smith&rsquo;s &ldquo;Sean Dana&rdquo; into my hand.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and have gone through
it. It contains poems in the Gaelic language by Oisin and
others, collected in the Highlands. I went through it a
long time ago with great attention. Some of the poems are
wonderfully beautiful.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are so,&rdquo; said the old clerk. &ldquo;I
too have gone through the book; it was presented to me a great
many years ago by a lady to whom I gave some lessons in the Welsh
language. I went through it with the assistance of a Gaelic
grammar and dictionary, which she also presented to me, and I was
struck with the high tone of the poetry.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;This collection is valuable indeed,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;it contains poems, which not only possess the highest
merit, but serve to confirm the authenticity of the poems of
Ossian, published by Macpherson, so often called in
question. All the pieces here attributed to Ossian are
written in the same metre, tone, and spirit, as those attributed
to him in the other collection, so if Macpherson&rsquo;s Ossianic
poems, which he said were collected by him in the Highlands, are
forgeries, Smith&rsquo;s Ossianic poems, which, according to his
account, were also collected in the Highlands, must be also
forged, and have been imitated from those published by the
other. Now as it is well known that Smith did not possess
sufficient poetic power to produce any imitation of
Macpherson&rsquo;s Ossian, with a tenth part the merit which the
&ldquo;Sean Dana&rdquo; possess, and that even if he had
possessed it, his principles would not have allowed him to
attempt to deceive the world by imposing forgeries upon it, as
the authentic poems of another, he being a highly respectable
clergyman, the necessary conclusion is that the Ossianic poems
which both published are genuine, and collected in the manner in
which both stated they were.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After a little more discourse about Ossian, the old gentleman
asked me if there was any good modern Gaelic poetry.
&ldquo;None very modern,&rdquo; said I: &ldquo;the last great
poets of the Gael were Macintyre and Buchanan, who flourished
about the middle of the last century. The first sang of
love and of Highland scenery; the latter was a religious
poet. The best piece of Macintyre is an ode to Ben Dourain,
or the Hill of the Water-dogs&mdash;a mountain in the
Highlands. The master-piece of Buchanan is his La
Breitheanas or Day of Judgment, which is equal in merit, or
nearly so, to the Cywydd y Farn, or Judgment Day of your own
immortal Gronwy Owen. Singular that the two best pieces on
the Day of Judgment should have been written in two Celtic
dialects, and much about the same time; but such is the
fact.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Really,&rdquo; said the old church clerk, &ldquo;you
seem to know something of Celtic literature.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A little,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I am a bit of a
philologist; and when studying languages dip a little into the
literature which they contain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>As I had heard him say that he had occasionally given lessons
in the Welsh language, I inquired whether any of his pupils had
made much progress in it. &ldquo;The generality,&rdquo;
said he, &ldquo;soon became tired of its difficulties, and gave
it up without making any progress at all. Two or three got
on tolerably well. One, however, acquired it in a time so
short that it might be deemed marvellous. He was an
Oxonian, and came down with another in the vacation in order to
study hard against the yearly collegiate examination. He
and his friend took lodgings at Pengwern Hall, then a farm-house,
and studied and walked about for some time, as other young men
from college, who come down here, are in the habit of
doing. One day he and his friend came to me, who was then
clerk, and desired to see the interior of the church. So I
took the key and went with them into the church. When he
came to the altar he took up the large Welsh Common Prayer-Book,
which was lying there, and looked into it. &lsquo;A curious
language this Welsh,&rsquo; said he; &lsquo;I should like to
learn it.&rsquo; &lsquo;Many have wished to learn it,
without being able,&rsquo; said I; &lsquo;it is no easy
language.&rsquo; &lsquo;I should like to try,&rsquo; he
replied; &lsquo;I wish I could find some one who would give me a
few lessons.&rsquo; &lsquo;I have occasionally given
instructions in Welsh,&rsquo; said I, &lsquo;and shall be happy
to oblige you.&rsquo; Well, it was agreed that he should
take lessons of me; and to my house he came every evening, and I
gave him what instructions I could. I was astonished at his
progress. He acquired the pronunciation in a lesson, and
within a week was able to construe and converse. By the
time he left Llangollen, and he was not here in all more than two
months, he understood the Welsh Bible as well as I did, and could
speak Welsh so well that the Welsh, who did not know him, took
him to be one of themselves, for he spoke the language with the
very tone and manner of a native. Oh, he was the cleverest
man for language that I ever knew; not a word that he heard did
he ever forget.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just like Mezzofanti,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the great
cardinal philologist. But whilst learning Welsh, did he not
neglect his collegiate studies?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I was rather apprehensive on that point,&rdquo;
said the old gentleman, &ldquo;but mark the event. At the
examination he came off most brilliantly in Latin, Greek,
mathematics, and other things too; in fact, a double first-class
man, as I think they call it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have never heard of so extraordinary an
individual,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I could no more have done
what you say he did, than I could have taken wings and
flown. Pray, what was his name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;His name,&rdquo; said the old gentleman, &ldquo;was
Earl.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I was much delighted with my new acquaintance, and paid him
frequent visits; the more I saw him the more he interested
me. He was kind and benevolent, a good old Church of
England Christian, was well versed in several dialects of the
Celtic, and possessed an astonishing deal of Welsh heraldic and
antiquarian lore. Often whilst discoursing with him I
almost fancied that I was with Master Salisburie, Vaughan of
Hengwrt, or some other worthy of old, deeply skilled in
everything remarkable connected with wild &ldquo;Camber&rsquo;s
Lande.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>

<p class="letter">The Vicar and his Family&mdash;Evan
Evans&mdash;Foaming Ale&mdash;Llam y
Lleidyr&mdash;Baptism&mdash;Joost Van Vondel&mdash;Over to
Rome&mdash;The Miller&rsquo;s Man&mdash;Welsh and English.</p>

<p>We had received a call from the Vicar of Llangollen and his
lady; we had returned it, and they had done us the kindness to
invite us to take tea with them. On the appointed evening
we went, myself, wife, and Henrietta, and took tea with the vicar
and his wife, their sons and daughters, all delightful and
amiable beings&mdash;the eldest son a fine intelligent young man
from Oxford, lately admitted into the Church, and now assisting
his father in his sacred office. A delightful residence was
the vicarage, situated amongst trees in the neighbourhood of the
Dee. A large open window in the room, in which our party
sat, afforded us a view of a green plat on the top of a bank
running down to the Dee, part of the river, the steep farther
bank covered with umbrageous trees, and a high mountain beyond,
even that of Pen y Coed clad with wood. During tea Mr E.
and I had a great deal of discourse. I found him to be a
first-rate Greek and Latin scholar, and also a proficient in the
poetical literature of his own country. In the course of
discourse he repeated some noble lines of Evan Evans, the
unfortunate and eccentric Prydydd Hir, or tall poet, the friend
and correspondent of Gray, for whom he made literal translations
from the Welsh, which the great English genius afterwards wrought
into immortal verse.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have a great regard for poor Evan Evans,&rdquo; said
Mr E., after he had finished repeating the lines, &ldquo;for two
reasons: first, because he was an illustrious genius, and second,
because he was a South-Wallian like myself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And I,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;because he was a great
poet, and like myself fond of a glass of cwrw da.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Some time after tea the younger Mr E. and myself took a walk
in an eastern direction along a path cut in the bank, just above
the stream. After proceeding a little way amongst most
romantic scenery, I asked my companion if he had ever heard of
the pool of Catherine Lingo&mdash;the deep pool, as the reader
will please to remember, of which John Jones had spoken.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said young Mr E.: &ldquo;my brothers and
myself are in the habit of bathing there almost every
morning. We will go to it if you please.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We proceeded, and soon came to the pool. The pool is a
beautiful sheet of water, seemingly about one hundred and fifty
yards in length, by about seventy in width. It is bounded
on the east by a low ridge of rocks forming a weir. The
banks on both sides are high and precipitous, and covered with
trees, some of which shoot their arms for some way above the face
of the pool. This is said to be the deepest pool in the
whole course of the Dee, varying in depth from twenty to thirty
feet. Enormous pike, called in Welsh penhwiaid, or
ducks-heads, from the similarity which the head of a pike bears
to that of a duck, are said to be tenants of this pool.</p>

<p>We returned to the vicarage, and at about ten we all sat down
to supper. On the supper-table was a mighty pitcher full of
foaming ale.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There,&rdquo; said my excellent host, as he poured me
out a glass, &ldquo;there is a glass of cwrw, which Evan Evans
himself might have drunk.&rdquo;</p>

<p>One evening my wife, Henrietta, and myself, attended by John
Jones, went upon the Berwyn, a little to the east of the Geraint
or Barber&rsquo;s Hill, to botanize. Here we found a fern
which John Jones called Coed llus y Brân, or the plant of
the Crow&rsquo;s berry. There was a hard kind of berry upon
it, of which he said the crows were exceedingly fond. We
also discovered two or three other strange plants, the Welsh
names of which our guide told us, and which were curious and
descriptive enough. He took us home by a romantic path
which we had never before seen, and on our way pointed out to us
a small house in which he said he was born.</p>

<p>The day after, finding myself on the banks of the Dee in the
upper part of the valley, I determined to examine the Llam
Lleidyr or Robber&rsquo;s Leap, which I had heard spoken of on a
former occasion. A man passing near me with a cart I asked
him where the Robber&rsquo;s Leap was. I spoke in English,
and with a shake of his head he replied &ldquo;Dim
Saesneg.&rdquo; On my putting the question to him in Welsh,
however, his countenance brightened up.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dyna Llam Lleidyr, sir!&rdquo; said he, pointing to a
very narrow part of the stream a little way down.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And did the thief take it from this side?&rdquo; I
demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, from this side,&rdquo; replied the man.</p>

<p>I thanked him, and passing over the dry part of the
river&rsquo;s bed, came to the Llam Lleidyr. The whole
water of the Dee in the dry season gurgles here through a passage
not more than four feet across, which, however, is evidently
profoundly deep, as the water is as dark as pitch. If the
thief ever took the leap he must have taken it in the dry season,
for in the wet the Dee is a wide and roaring torrent. Yet
even in the dry season it is difficult to conceive how anybody
could take this leap, for on the other side is a rock rising high
above the dark gurgling stream. On observing the opposite
side, however, narrowly, I perceived that there was a small hole
a little way up the rock, in which it seemed possible to rest
one&rsquo;s foot for a moment. So I supposed that if the
leap was ever taken, the individual who took it darted the tip of
his foot into the hole, then springing up seized the top of the
rock with his hands, and scrambled up. From either side the
leap must have been a highly dangerous one&mdash;from the farther
side the leaper would incur the almost certain risk of breaking
his legs on a ledge of hard rock, from this of falling back into
the deep horrible stream, which would probably suck him down in a
moment.</p>

<p>From the Llam y Lleidyr I went to the canal and walked along
it till I came to the house of the old man who sold coals, and
who had put me in mind of Smollett&rsquo;s Morgan; he was now
standing in his little coal-yard, leaning over the pales. I
had spoken to him on two or three occasions subsequent to the one
on which I made his acquaintance, and had been every time more
and more struck with the resemblance which his ways and manners
bore to those of Smollett&rsquo;s character, on which account I
shall call him Morgan, though such was not his name. He now
told me that he expected that I should build a villa and settle
down in the neighbourhood, as I seemed so fond of it. After
a little discourse, induced either by my questions or from a
desire to talk about himself, he related to me his history,
which, though not one of the most wonderful, I shall
repeat. He was born near Aberdarron in Caernarvonshire, and
in order to make me understand the position of the place, and its
bearing with regard to some other places, he drew marks in the
coal-dust on the earth. His father was a Baptist minister,
who when Morgan was about six years of age, went to live at Canol
Lyn, a place at some little distance from Port Heli. With
his father he continued till he was old enough to gain his own
maintenance, when he went to serve a farmer in the
neighbourhood. Having saved some money young Morgan
departed to the foundries at Cefn Mawr, at which he worked thirty
years with an interval of four, which he had passed partly in
working in slate quarries, and partly upon the canal. About
four years before the present time he came to where he now lived,
where he commenced selling coals, at first on his own account and
subsequently for some other person. He concluded his
narration by saying that he was now sixty-two years of age, was
afflicted with various disorders, and believed that he was
breaking up.</p>

<p>Such was Morgan&rsquo;s history; certainly not a very
remarkable one. Yet Morgan was a most remarkable
individual, as I shall presently make appear.</p>

<p>Rather affected at the bad account he gave me of his health I
asked him if he felt easy in his mind? He replied perfectly
so, and when I inquired how he came to feel so comfortable, he
said that his feeling so was owing to his baptism into the faith
of Christ Jesus. On my telling him that I too had been
baptized, he asked me if I had been dipped; and on learning that
I had not, but only been sprinkled, according to the practice of
my church, he gave me to understand that my baptism was not worth
three halfpence. Feeling rather nettled at hearing the
baptism of my church so undervalued, I stood up for it, and we
were soon in a dispute, in which I got rather the worst, for
though he spuffled and sputtered in a most extraordinary manner,
and spoke in a dialect which was neither Welsh, English nor
Cheshire, but a mixture of all three, he said two or three things
rather difficult to be got over. Finding that he had nearly
silenced me, he observed that he did not deny that I had a good
deal of book learning, but that in matters of baptism I was as
ignorant as the rest of the people of the church were, and had
always been. He then said that many church people had
entered into argument with him on the subject of baptism, but
that he had got the better of them all; that Mr P., the minister
of the parish of L., in which we then were, had frequently
entered into argument with him, but quite unsuccessfully, and had
at last given up the matter, as a bad job. He added that a
little time before, as Mr P. was walking close to the canal with
his wife and daughter and a spaniel dog, Mr P. suddenly took up
the dog and flung it in, giving it a good ducking, whereupon he,
Morgan, cried out: &ldquo;Dyna y gwir vedydd! That is the
right baptism, sir! I thought I should bring you to it at
last!&rdquo; at which words Mr P. laughed heartily, but made no
particular reply.</p>

<p>After a little time he began to talk about the great men who
had risen up amongst the Baptists, and mentioned two or three
distinguished individuals.</p>

<p>I said that he had not mentioned the greatest man who had been
born amongst the Baptists.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What was his name?&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;His name was Joost Van Vondel,&rdquo; I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I never heard of him before,&rdquo; said Morgan.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very probably,&rdquo; said I: &ldquo;he was born, bred,
and died in Holland.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has he been dead long?&rdquo; said Morgan.</p>

<p>&ldquo;About two hundred years,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a long time,&rdquo; said Morgan,
&ldquo;and maybe is the reason that I never heard of him.
So he was a great man?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He was indeed,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;He was not
only the greatest man that ever sprang up amongst the Baptists,
but the greatest, and by far the greatest, that Holland ever
produced, though Holland has produced a great many illustrious
men.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh I daresay he was a great man if he was a
Baptist,&rdquo; said Morgan. &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s
strange I never read of him. I thought I had read the lives
of all the eminent people who lived and died in our
communion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He did not die in the Baptist communion,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, he didn&rsquo;t die in it,&rdquo; said Morgan;
&ldquo;What, did he go over to the Church of England? a pretty
fellow!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He did not go over to the Church of England,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;for the Church of England does not exist in
Holland; he went over to the Church of Rome.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, that&rsquo;s not quite so bad,&rdquo; said
Morgan; &ldquo;however, it&rsquo;s bad enough. I daresay he
was a pretty blackguard.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I: &ldquo;he was a pure virtuous
character, and perhaps the only pure and virtuous character that
ever went over to Rome. The only wonder is that so good a
man could ever have gone over to so detestable a church; but he
appears to have been deluded.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Deluded indeed!&rdquo; said Morgan.
&ldquo;However, I suppose he went over for advancement&rsquo;s
sake.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;he lost every prospect of
advancement by going over to Rome: nine-tenths of his countrymen
were of the reformed religion, and he endured much poverty and
contempt by the step he took.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How did he support himself?&rdquo; said Morgan.</p>

<p>&ldquo;He obtained a livelihood,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;by
writing poems and plays, some of which are wonderfully
fine.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What,&rdquo; said Morgan, &ldquo;a writer of
Interludes? One of Twm o&rsquo;r Nant&rsquo;s gang! I
thought he would turn out a pretty fellow.&rdquo; I told
him that the person in question certainly did write Interludes,
for example Noah, and Joseph at Goshen, but that he was a highly
respectable, nay venerable character.</p>

<p>&ldquo;If he was a writer of Interludes,&rdquo; said Morgan,
&ldquo;he was a blackguard; there never yet was a writer of
Interludes, or a person who went about playing them, that was not
a scamp. He might be a clever man, I don&rsquo;t say he was
not. Who was a cleverer man than Twm o&rsquo;r Nant with
his Pleasure and Care, and Riches and Poverty, but where was
there a greater blackguard? Why, not in all Wales.
And if you knew this other fellow&mdash;what&rsquo;s his
name&mdash;Fondle&rsquo;s history, you would find that he was not
a bit more respectable than Twm o&rsquo;r Nant, and not half so
clever. As for his leaving the Baptists I don&rsquo;t
believe a word of it; he was turned out of the connection, and
then went about the country saying he left it. No Baptist
connection would ever have a writer of Interludes in it, not Twm
o&rsquo;r Nant himself, unless he left his ales and Interludes
and wanton hussies, for the three things are sure to go
together. You say he went over to the Church of Rome; of
course he did, if the Church of England were not at hand to
receive him, where should he go but to Rome? No respectable
church like the Methodist or the Independent would have received
him. There are only two churches in the world that will
take in anybody without asking questions, and will never turn
them out however bad they may behave; the one is the Church of
Rome, and the other the Church of Canterbury; and if you look
into the matter you will find that every rogue, rascal and hanged
person since the world began, has belonged to one or other of
those communions.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In the evening I took a walk with my wife and daughter past
the Plas Newydd. Coming to the little mill called the Melyn
Bac, at the bottom of the gorge, we went into the yard to observe
the water-wheel. We found that it was turned by a very
little water, which was conveyed to it by artificial means.
Seeing the miller&rsquo;s man, a short dusty figure, standing in
the yard, I entered into conversation with him, and found to my
great surprise that he had a considerable acquaintance with the
ancient language. On my repeating to him verses from
Taliesin he understood them, and to show me that he did,
translated some of the lines into English. Two or three
respectable-looking lads, probably the miller&rsquo;s sons, came
out, and listened to us. One of them said we were both good
Welshmen. After a little time the man asked me if I had
heard of Huw Morris, I told him that I was well acquainted with
his writings, and enquired whether the place in which he had
lived was not somewhere in the neighbourhood. He said it
was; and that it was over the mountains not far from Llan
Sanfraid. I asked whether it was not called Pont y
Meibion. He answered in the affirmative, and added that he
had himself been there, and had sat in Huw Morris&rsquo;s stone
chair which was still to be seen by the road&rsquo;s side.
I told him that I hoped to visit the place in a few days.
He replied that I should be quite right in doing so, and that no
one should come to these parts without visiting Pont y Meibion,
for that Huw Morris was one of the columns of the Cumry.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What a difference,&rdquo; said I to my wife, after we
had departed, &ldquo;between a Welshman and an Englishman of the
lower class. What would a Suffolk miller&rsquo;s swain have
said if I had repeated to him verses out of Beowulf or even
Chaucer, and had asked him about the residence of
Skelton.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>

<p class="letter">Huw Morris&mdash;Immortal Elegy&mdash;The
Valley of Ceiriog&mdash;Tangled
Wilderness&mdash;Perplexity&mdash;Chair of Huw Morris&mdash;The
Walking Stick&mdash;Huw&rsquo;s Descendant&mdash;Pont y
Meibion.</p>

<p>Two days after the last adventure I set off, over the Berwyn,
to visit the birth-place of Huw Morris under the guidance of John
Jones, who was well acquainted with the spot.</p>

<p>Huw Morus or Morris, was born in the year 1622 on the banks of
the Ceiriog. His life was a long one, for he died at the
age of eighty-four, after living in six reigns. He was the
second son of a farmer, and was apprenticed to a tanner, with
whom, however, he did not stay till the expiration of the term of
his apprenticeship, for not liking the tanning art, he speedily
returned to the house of his father, whom he assisted in
husbandry till death called the old man away. He then
assisted his elder brother, and on his elder brother&rsquo;s
death, lived with his son. He did not distinguish himself
as a husbandman, and appears never to have been fond of manual
labour. At an early period, however, he applied himself
most assiduously to poetry, and before he had attained the age of
thirty was celebrated, throughout Wales, as the best poet of his
time. When the war broke out between Charles and his
parliament, Huw espoused the part of the king, not as soldier,
for he appears to have liked fighting little better than tanning
or husbandry, but as a poet, and probably did the king more
service in that capacity than he would if he had raised him a
troop of horse, or a regiment of foot, for he wrote songs
breathing loyalty to Charles, and fraught with pungent satire
against his foes, which ran like wild-fire through Wales, and had
a great influence on the minds of the people. Even when the
royal cause was lost in the field, he still carried on a poetical
war against the successful party, but not so openly as before,
dealing chiefly in allegories, which, however, were easy to be
understood. Strange to say the Independents, when they had
the upper hand, never interfered with him though they persecuted
certain Royalist poets of far inferior note. On the
accession of Charles the Second he celebrated the event by a most
singular piece called the Lamentation of Oliver&rsquo;s men, in
which he assails the Roundheads with the most bitter irony.
He was loyal to James the Second, till that monarch attempted to
overthrow the Church of England, when Huw, much to his credit,
turned against him, and wrote songs in the interest of the
glorious Prince of Orange. He died in the reign of good
Queen Anne. In his youth his conduct was rather dissolute,
but irreproachable and almost holy in his latter days&mdash;a
kind of halo surrounded his old brow. It was the custom in
those days in North Wales for the congregation to leave the
church in a row with the clergyman at their head, but so great
was the estimation in which old Huw was universally held, for the
purity of his life and his poetical gift, that the clergyman of
the parish abandoning his claim to precedence, always insisted on
the good and inspired old man&rsquo;s leading the file, himself
following immediately in his rear. Huw wrote on various
subjects, mostly in common and easily understood measures.
He was great in satire, great in humour, but when he pleased
could be greater in pathos than in either; for his best piece is
an elegy on Barbara Middleton, the sweetest song of the kind ever
written. From his being born on the banks of the brook
Ceiriog, and from the flowing melody of his awen or muse, his
countrymen were in the habit of calling him Eos Ceiriog, or the
Ceiriog Nightingale.</p>

<p>So John Jones and myself set off across the Berwyn to visit
the birthplace of the great poet Huw Morris. We ascended
the mountain by Allt Paddy. The morning was lowering and
before we had half got to the top it began to rain. John
Jones was in his usual good spirits. Suddenly taking me by
the arm he told me to look to the right across the gorge to a
white house, which he pointed out.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is there in that house?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;An aunt of mine lives there,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>Having frequently heard him call old women his aunts, I said,
&ldquo;Every poor old woman in the neighbourhood seems to be your
aunt.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;This is no poor old woman,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;she
is cyfoethawg iawn, and only last week she sent me and my family
a pound of bacon, which would have cost me sixpence-halfpenny,
and about a month ago a measure of wheat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We passed over the top of the mountain, and descending the
other side reached Llansanfraid, and stopped at the public-house
where we had been before, and called for two glasses of
ale. Whilst drinking our ale Jones asked some questions
about Huw Morris of the woman who served us; she said that he was
a famous poet, and that people of his blood were yet living upon
the lands which had belonged to him at Pont y Meibion.
Jones told her that his companion, the gwr boneddig, meaning
myself, had come in order to see the birth-place of Huw Morris,
and that I was well acquainted with his works, having gotten them
by heart in Lloegr, when a boy. The woman said that nothing
would give her greater pleasure than to hear a Sais recite poetry
of Huw Morris, whereupon I recited a number of his lines
addressed to the Gôf Du, or blacksmith. The woman
held up her hands, and a carter who was in the kitchen somewhat
the worse for liquor, shouted applause. After asking a few
questions as to the road we were to take, we left the house, and
in a little time entered the valley of Ceiriog. The valley
is very narrow, huge hills overhanging it on both sides, those on
the east side lumpy and bare, those on the west precipitous, and
partially clad with wood; the torrent Ceiriog runs down it,
clinging to the east side; the road is tolerably good, and is to
the west of the stream. Shortly after we had entered the
gorge, we passed by a small farm-house on our right hand, with a
hawthorn hedge before it, upon which seems to stand a peacock,
curiously cut out of thorn. Passing on we came to a place
called Pandy uchaf, or the higher Fulling mill. The place
so called is a collection of ruinous houses, which put me in mind
of the Fulling mills mentioned in &ldquo;Don
Quixote.&rdquo; It is called the Pandy because there was
formerly a fulling mill here, said to have been the first
established in Wales; which is still to be seen, but which is no
longer worked. Just above the old mill there is a meeting
of streams, the Tarw from the west rolls down a dark valley into
the Ceiriog.</p>

<p>At the entrance of this valley and just before you reach the
Pandy, which it nearly overhangs, is an enormous crag.
After I had looked at the place for some time with considerable
interest we proceeded towards the south, and in about twenty
minutes reached a neat kind of house, on our right hand, which
John Jones told me stood on the ground of Huw Morris.
Telling me to wait, he went to the house, and asked some
questions. After a little time I followed him and found him
discoursing at the door with a stout dame about fifty-five years
of age, and a stout buxom damsel of about seventeen, very short
of stature.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This is the gentleman,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;who
wishes to see anything there may be here connected with Huw
Morris.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The old dame made me a curtsey, and said in very distinct
Welsh, &ldquo;We have some things in the house which belonged to
him, and we will show them to the gentleman willingly.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We first of all wish to see his chair,&rdquo; said John
Jones.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The chair is in a wall in what is called the hen ffordd
(old road),&rdquo; said the old gentlewoman; &ldquo;it is cut out
of the stone wall, you will have maybe some difficulty in getting
to it, but the girl shall show it to you.&rdquo; The girl
now motioned to us to follow her, and conducted us across the
road to some stone steps, over a wall to a place which looked
like a plantation.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This was the old road,&rdquo; said Jones; &ldquo;but
the place has been enclosed. The new road is above us on
our right hand beyond the wall.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We were in a maze of tangled shrubs, the boughs of which, very
wet from the rain which was still falling, struck our faces, as
we attempted to make our way between them; the girl led the way,
bare-headed and bare-armed, and soon brought us to the wall, the
boundary of the new road. Along this she went with
considerable difficulty, owing to the tangled shrubs, and the
nature of the ground, which was very precipitous, shelving down
to the other side of the enclosure. In a little time we
were wet to the skin, and covered with the dirt of birds, which
they had left while roosting in the trees; on went the girl,
sometimes creeping, and trying to keep herself from falling by
holding against the young trees; once or twice she fell and we
after her, for there was no path, and the ground, as I have said
before very shelvy; still as she went her eyes were directed
towards the wall, which was not always very easy to be seen, for
thorns, tall nettles and shrubs, were growing up against
it. Here and there she stopped, and said something, which I
could not always make out, for her Welsh was anything but clear;
at length I heard her say that she was afraid we had passed the
chair, and indeed presently we came to a place where the
enclosure terminated in a sharp corner.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let us go back,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;we must have
passed it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I now went first, breaking down with my weight the shrubs
nearest to the wall.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is not this the place?&rdquo; said I, pointing to a
kind of hollow in the wall, which looked something like the shape
of a chair.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hardly,&rdquo; said the girl, &ldquo;for there should
be a slab on the back, with letters, but there&rsquo;s neither
slab nor letters here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The girl now again went forward, and we retraced our way,
doing the best we could to discover the chair, but all to no
purpose; no chair was to be found. We had now been, as I
imagined, half-an-hour in the enclosure, and had nearly got back
to the place from which we had set out, when we suddenly heard
the voice of the old lady exclaiming, &ldquo;What are ye doing
there, the chair is on the other side of the field; wait a bit,
and I will come and show it you;&rdquo; getting over the stone
stile, which led into the wilderness, she came to us, and we now
went along the wall at the lower end; we had quite as much
difficulty here as on the other side, and in some places more,
for the nettles were higher, the shrubs more tangled, and the
thorns more terrible. The ground, however, was rather more
level. I pitied the poor girl who led the way, and whose
fat naked arms were both stung and torn. She at last
stopped amidst a huge grove of nettles, doing the best she could
to shelter her arms from the stinging leaves.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I never was in such a wilderness in my life,&rdquo;
said I to John Jones, &ldquo;is it possible that the chair of the
mighty Huw is in a place like this; which seems never to have
been trodden by human foot. Well does the Scripture say
&lsquo;Dim prophwyd yw yn cael barch yn ei dir ei
hunan.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>This last sentence tickled the fancy of my worthy friend, the
Calvinistic-Methodist, he laughed aloud and repeated it over and
over again to the females, with amplifications.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the chair really here,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;or has
it been destroyed? if such a thing has been done it is a disgrace
to Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The chair is really here,&rdquo; said the old lady,
&ldquo;and though Huw Morus was no prophet, we love and reverence
everything belonging to him. Get on Llances, the chair
can&rsquo;t be far off;&rdquo; the girl moved on, and presently
the old lady exclaimed, &ldquo;There&rsquo;s the chair, Diolch i
Duw!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I was the last of the file, but I now rushed past John Jones,
who was before me, and next to the old lady, and sure enough
there was the chair, in the wall, of him who was called in his
day, and still is called by the mountaineers of Wales, though his
body has been below the earth in the quiet church-yard one
hundred and forty years, Eos Ceiriog, the Nightingale of Ceiriog,
the sweet caroller Huw Morus, the enthusiastic partizan of
Charles and the Church of England, and the never-tiring lampooner
of Oliver and the Independents. There it was, a kind of
hollow in the stone wall, in the hen ffordd, fronting to the
west, just above the gorge at the bottom of which murmurs the
brook Ceiriog, there it was, something like a half barrel chair
in a garden, a mouldering stone slab forming the seat, and a
large slate stone, the back, on which were cut these
letters&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center">H. M. B.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>signifying Huw Morus Bard.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sit down in the chair, Gwr Boneddig,&rdquo; said John
Jones, &ldquo;you have taken trouble enough to get to
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do, gentleman,&rdquo; said the old lady; &ldquo;but
first let me wipe it with my apron, for it is very wet and
dirty.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let it be,&rdquo; said I; then taking off my hat I
stood uncovered before the chair, and said in the best Welsh I
could command, &ldquo;Shade of Huw Morus, supposing your shade
haunts the place which you loved so well when alive&mdash;a
Saxon, one of the seed of the Coiling Serpent, has come to this
place to pay that respect to true genius, the Dawn Duw, which he
is ever ready to pay. He read the songs of the Nightingale
of Ceiriog in the most distant part of Lloegr, when he was a
brown-haired boy, and now that he is a grey-haired man he is come
to say in this place that they frequently made his eyes overflow
with tears of rapture.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I then sat down in the chair, and commenced repeating verses
of Huw Morris. All which I did in the presence of the stout
old lady, the short, buxom and bare-armed damsel, and of John
Jones the Calvinistic weaver of Llangollen, all of whom listened
patiently and approvingly, though the rain was pouring down upon
them, and the branches of the trees and the tops of the tall
nettles, agitated by the gusts from the mountain hollows, were
beating in their faces, for enthusiasm is never scoffed at by the
noble simple-minded, genuine Welsh, whatever treatment it may
receive from the coarse-hearted, sensual, selfish Saxon.</p>

<p>After some time, our party returned to the house&mdash;which
put me very much in mind of the farm-houses of the substantial
yeomen of Cornwall, particularly that of my friends at Penquite;
a comfortable fire blazed in the kitchen grate, the floor was
composed of large flags of slate. In the kitchen the old
lady pointed to me the ffon, or walking-stick, of Huw Morris; it
was supported against a beam by three hooks; I took it down and
walked about the kitchen with it; it was a thin polished black
stick, with a crome cut in the shape of an eagle&rsquo;s head; at
the end was a brass fence. The kind creature then produced
a sword without a scabbard; this sword was found by Huw Morris on
the mountain&mdash;it belonged to one of Oliver&rsquo;s officers
who was killed there. I took the sword, which was a thin
two-edged one, and seemed to be made of very good steel; it put
me in mind of the blades which I had seen at Toledo&mdash;the
guard was very slight like those of all rapiers, and the hilt the
common old-fashioned English officer&rsquo;s hilt&mdash;there was
no rust on the blade, and it still looked a dangerous
sword. A man like Thistlewood would have whipped it through
his adversary in a twinkling. I asked the old lady if Huw
Morris was born in this house; she said no, but a little farther
on at Pont y Meibion; she said, however, that the ground had
belonged to him, and that they had some of his blood in their
veins. I shook her by the hand, and gave the chubby
bare-armed damsel a shilling, pointing to the marks of the nettle
stings on her fat bacon-like arms. She laughed, made me a
curtsey, and said: &ldquo;Llawer iawn o diolch.&rdquo;</p>

<p>John Jones and I then proceeded to the house at Pont y
Meibion, where we saw two men, one turning a grind-stone, and the
other holding an adze to it. We asked if we were at the
house of Huw Morris, and whether they could tell us anything
about him; they made us no answer but proceeded with their
occupation; John Jones then said that the Gwr Boneddig was very
fond of the verses of Huw Morris, and had come a great way to see
the place where he was born. The wheel now ceased turning,
and the man with the adze turned his face full upon me&mdash;he
was a stern-looking, dark man, with black hair, of about forty;
after a moment or two he said that if I chose to walk into the
house I should be welcome. He then conducted us into the
house, a common-looking stone tenement, and bade us be
seated. I asked him if he was a descendant of Huw Morus; he
said he was; I asked him his name, which he said was
Huw&mdash;. &ldquo;Have you any of the manuscripts of Huw
Morus?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;None,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but I have one of the
printed copies of his works.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then went to a drawer, and taking out a book, put it into
my hand, and seated himself in a blunt, careless manner.
The book was the first volume of the common Wrexham edition of
Huw&rsquo;s works; it was much thumbed&mdash;I commenced reading
aloud a piece which I had much admired in my boyhood. I
went on for some time, my mind quite occupied with my reading; at
last lifting my eyes I saw the man standing bolt upright before
me, like a soldier of the days of my childhood, during the time
that the adjutant read prayers; his hat was no longer upon his
head, but on the ground, and his eyes were reverently inclined to
the book. After all what a beautiful thing it is, not to
be, but to have been a genius. Closing the book, I asked
him whether Huw Morris was born in the house where we were, and
received for answer that he was born about where we stood, but
that the old house had been pulled down, and that of all the
premises only a small out-house was coeval with Huw Morris.
I asked him the name of the house, and he said Pont y
Meibion.</p>

<p>&ldquo;But where is the bridge?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The bridge,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;is close by, over
the Ceiriog. If you wish to see it, you must go down yon
field, the house is called after the bridge.&rdquo; Bidding
him farewell, we crossed the road and going down the field
speedily arrived at Pont y Meibion. The bridge is a small
bridge of one arch which crosses the brook Ceiriog&mdash;it is
built of rough moor stone; it is mossy, broken, and looks almost
inconceivably old; there is a little parapet to it about two feet
high. On the right-hand side it is shaded by an ash.
The brook when we viewed it, though at times a roaring torrent,
was stealing along gently, on both sides it is overgrown with
alders, noble hills rise above it to the east and west, John
Jones told me that it abounded with trout. I asked him why
the bridge was called Pont y Meibion, which signifies the bridge
of the children. &ldquo;It was built originally by
children,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for the purpose of crossing the
brook.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That bridge,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;was never built by
children.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The first bridge,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;was of wood,
and was built by the children of the houses above.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Not quite satisfied with his explanation, I asked him to what
place the little bridge led, and was told that he believed it led
to an upland farm. After taking a long and wistful view of
the bridge and the scenery around it, I turned my head in the
direction of Llangollen. The adventures of the day were,
however, not finished.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>

<p class="letter">The Gloomy Valley&mdash;The Lonely
Cottage&mdash;Happy Comparison&mdash;Clogs&mdash;The Alder
Swamp&mdash;The Wooden Leg&mdash;The Militiaman&mdash;Death-bed
Verses.</p>

<p>On reaching the ruined village where the Pandy stood I
stopped, and looked up the gloomy valley to the west, down which
the brook which joins the Ceiriog at this place, descends,
whereupon John Jones said, that if I wished to go up it a little
way he should have great pleasure in attending me, and that he
should show me a cottage built in the hen ddull, or old fashion,
to which he frequently went to ask for the rent; he being
employed by various individuals in the capacity of
rent-gatherer. I said that I was afraid that if he was a
rent-collector, both he and I should have a sorry welcome.
&ldquo;No fear,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;the people are very
good people, and pay their rent very regularly,&rdquo; and
without saying another word he led the way up the valley.
At the end of the village, seeing a woman standing at the door of
one of the ruinous cottages, I asked her the name of the brook,
or torrent, which came down the valley. &ldquo;The
Tarw,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and this village is called Pandy
Teirw.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why is the streamlet called the bull?&rdquo; said
I. &ldquo;Is it because it comes in winter weather roaring
down the glen and butting at the Ceiriog?&rdquo;</p>

<p>The woman laughed, and replied that perhaps it was. The
valley was wild and solitary to an extraordinary degree, the
brook or torrent running in the middle of it covered with alder
trees. After we had proceeded about a furlong we reached
the house of the old fashion&mdash;it was a rude stone cottage
standing a little above the road on a kind of platform on the
right-hand side of the glen; there was a paling before it with a
gate, at which a pig was screaming, as if anxious to get
in. &ldquo;It wants its dinner,&rdquo; said John Jones, and
opened the gate for me to pass, taking precautions that the
screamer did not enter at the same time. We entered the
cottage, very glad to get into it, a storm of wind and rain
having just come on. Nobody was in the kitchen when we
entered, it looked comfortable enough, however, there was an
excellent fire of wood and coals, and a very snug chimney
corner. John Jones called aloud, but for some time no one
answered; at last a rather good-looking woman, seemingly about
thirty, made her appearance at a door at the farther end of the
kitchen. &ldquo;Is the mistress at home,&rdquo; said Jones,
&ldquo;or the master?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are neither at home,&rdquo; said the woman,
&ldquo;the master is abroad at his work, and the mistress is at
the farm-house of&mdash;three miles off to pick feathers (trwsio
plu).&rdquo; She asked us to sit down.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who are you?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am only a lodger,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I lodge
here with my husband who is a clog-maker.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you speak English?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I lived eleven years in
England, at a place called Bolton, where I married my husband,
who is an Englishman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can he speak Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not a word,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;We always
speak English together.&rdquo;</p>

<p>John Jones sat down, and I looked about the room. It
exhibited no appearance of poverty; there was plenty of rude but
good furniture in it; several pewter plates and trenchers in a
rack, two or three prints in frames against the wall, one of
which was the likeness of no less a person than the Rev. Joseph
Sanders, on the table was a newspaper. &ldquo;Is that in
Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; replied the woman, &ldquo;it is the
<i>Bolton Chronicle</i>, my husband reads it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I sat down in the chimney-corner. The wind was now
howling abroad, and the rain was beating against the cottage
panes&mdash;presently a gust of wind came down the chimney,
scattering sparks all about. &ldquo;A cataract of
sparks!&rdquo; said I, using the word Rhaiadr.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is Rhaiadr?&rdquo; said the woman; &ldquo;I never
heard the word before.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rhaiadr means water tumbling over a rock,&rdquo; said
John Jones&mdash;&ldquo;did you never see water tumble over the
top of a rock?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Frequently,&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;even as the water with its
froth tumbles over the rock, so did sparks and fire tumble over
the front of that grate when the wind blew down the
chimney. It was a happy comparison of the Gwr Boneddig, and
with respect to Rhaiadr it is a good old word, though not a
common one; some of the Saxons who have read the old writings,
though they cannot speak the language as fast as we, understand
many words and things which we do not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I forgot much of my Welsh in the land of the
Saxons,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;and so have many others;
there are plenty of Welsh at Bolton, but their Welsh is sadly
corrupted.&rdquo;</p>

<p>She then went out and presently returned with an infant in her
arms and sat down. &ldquo;Was that child born in
Wales?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;he was born at Bolton,
about eighteen months ago&mdash;we have been here only a
year.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do many English,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;marry Welsh
wives?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A great many,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;Plenty of
Welsh girls are married to Englishmen at Bolton.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do the Englishmen make good husbands?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>The woman smiled and presently sighed.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Her husband,&rdquo; said Jones, &ldquo;is fond of a
glass of ale and is often at the public-house.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I make no complaint,&rdquo; said the woman, looking
somewhat angrily at John Jones.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is your husband a tall bulky man?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just so,&rdquo; said the woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The largest of the two men we saw the other night at
the public-house at Llansanfraid,&rdquo; said I to John
Jones.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know him,&rdquo; said Jones,
&ldquo;though I have heard of him, but I have no doubt that was
he.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I asked the woman how her husband could carry on the trade of
a clog-maker in such a remote place&mdash;and also whether he
hawked his clogs about the country.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We call him a clog-maker,&rdquo; said the woman,
&ldquo;but the truth is that he merely cuts down the wood and
fashions it into squares, these are taken by an under-master who
sends them to the manufacturer at Bolton, who employs hands, who
make them into clogs.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Some of the English,&rdquo; said Jones, &ldquo;are so
poor that they cannot afford to buy shoes; a pair of shoes cost
ten or twelve shillings, whereas a pair of clogs only cost
two.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that what you call
clogs are wooden shoes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just so,&rdquo; said Jones&mdash;&ldquo;they are
principally used in the neighbourhood of Manchester.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have seen them at Huddersfield,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;when I was a boy at school there; of what wood are they
made?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of the gwern, or alder tree,&rdquo; said the woman,
&ldquo;of which there is plenty on both sides of the
brook.&rdquo;</p>

<p>John Jones now asked her if she could give him a tamaid of
bread; she said she could, &ldquo;and some butter with
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>She then went out and presently returned with a loaf and some
butter.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Had you not better wait,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;till we
get to the inn at Llansanfraid?&rdquo;</p>

<p>The woman, however, begged him to eat some bread and butter
where he was, and cutting a plateful, placed it before him,
having first offered me some which I declined.</p>

<p>&ldquo;But you have nothing to drink with it,&rdquo; said I to
him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;If you please,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;I will go
for a pint of ale to the public-house at the Pandy, there is
better ale there than at the inn at Llansanfraid. When my
husband goes to Llansanfraid he goes less for the ale than for
the conversation, because there is little English spoken at the
Pandy however good the ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>John Jones said he wanted no ale&mdash;and attacking the bread
and butter speedily made an end of it; by the time he had done
the storm was over, and getting up I gave the child twopence, and
left the cottage with Jones. We proceeded some way farther
up the valley, till we came to a place where the ground descended
a little. Here Jones touching me on the shoulder pointed
across the stream. Following with my eye the direction of
his finger, I saw two or three small sheds with a number of small
reddish blocks in regular piles beneath them. Several trees
felled from the side of the torrent were lying near, some of them
stripped of their arms and bark. A small tree formed a
bridge across the brook to the sheds.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is there,&rdquo; said John Jones, &ldquo;that the
husband of the woman with whom we have been speaking works,
felling trees from the alder swamp and cutting them up into
blocks. I see there is no work going on at present or we
would go over&mdash;the woman told me that her husband was at
Llangollen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What a strange place to come to work at,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;out of crowded England. Here is nothing to be heard
but the murmuring of waters and the rushing of wind down the
gulleys. If the man&rsquo;s head is not full of poetical
fancies, which I suppose it is not, as in that case he would be
unfit for any useful employment, I don&rsquo;t wonder at his
occasionally going to the public-house.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After going a little further up the glen and observing nothing
more remarkable than we had seen already, we turned back.
Being overtaken by another violent shower just as we reached the
Pandy I thought that we could do no better than shelter ourselves
within the public-house, and taste the ale, which the wife of the
clog-maker had praised. We entered the little hostelry
which was one of two or three shabby-looking houses, standing in
contact, close by the Ceiriog. In a kind of little back
room, lighted by a good fire and a window which looked up the
Ceiriog valley, we found the landlady, a gentlewoman with a
wooden leg, who on perceiving me got up from a chair, and made me
the best curtsey that I ever saw made by a female with such a
substitute for a leg of flesh and bone. There were three
men, sitting with jugs of ale near them on a table by the fire,
two were seated on a bench by the wall, and the other on a settle
with a high back, which ran from the wall just by the door, and
shielded those by the fire from the draughts of the
doorway. He of the settle no sooner beheld me than he
sprang up, and placing a chair for me by the fire bade me in
English be seated, and then resumed his own seat. John
Jones soon finding a chair came and sat down by me, when I
forthwith called for a quart of cwrw da. The landlady
bustled about on her wooden leg and presently brought us the ale
with two glasses, which I filled, and taking one drank to the
health of the company who returned us thanks, the man of the
settle in English rather broken. Presently one of his
companions getting up paid his reckoning and departed, the other
remained, a stout young fellow dressed something like a
stone-mason, which indeed I soon discovered that he was&mdash;he
was far advanced towards a state of intoxication and talked very
incoherently about the war, saying that he hoped it would soon
terminate, for that if it continued he was afraid he might stand
a chance of being shot, as he was a private in the Denbighshire
Militia. I told him that it was the duty of every gentleman
in the militia to be willing at all times to lay down his life in
the service of the Queen. The answer which he made I could
not exactly understand, his utterance being very indistinct and
broken; it was, however, made with some degree of violence, with
two or three Myn Diawls, and a blow on the table with his
clenched fist. He then asked me whether I thought the
militia would be again called out. &ldquo;Nothing more
probable,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And where would they be sent to?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps to Ireland,&rdquo; was my answer, whereupon he
started up with another Myn Diawl, expressing the greatest dread
of being sent to Iwerddon.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You ought to rejoice in your chance of going
there,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;Iwerddon is a beautiful country, and
abounds with whisky.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And the Irish?&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hearty, jolly fellows,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if you
know how to manage them, and all gentlemen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here he became very violent, saying that I did not speak
truth, for that he had seen plenty of Irish camping amidst the
hills, that the men were half naked and the women were three
parts so, and that they carried their children on their
backs. He then said that he hoped somebody would speedily
kill Nicholas, in order that the war might be at an end and
himself not sent to Iwerddon. He then asked if I thought
Cronstadt could be taken. I said I believed it could,
provided the hearts of those who were sent to take it were in the
right place.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where do you think the hearts of those are who are gone
against it?&rdquo; said he&mdash;speaking with great
vehemence.</p>

<p>I made no other answer than by taking my glass and
drinking.</p>

<p>His companion now looking at our habiliments which were in
rather a dripping condition asked John Jones if we had come from
far.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We have been to Pont y Meibion,&rdquo; said Jones,
&ldquo;to see the chair of Huw Morris,&rdquo; adding that the Gwr
Boneddig was a great admirer of the songs of the Eos Ceiriog.</p>

<p>He had no sooner said these words than the intoxicated
militiaman started up, and striking the table with his fist said:
&ldquo;I am a poor stone-cutter&mdash;this is a rainy day and I
have come here to pass it in the best way I can. I am
somewhat drunk, but though I am a poor stone-mason, a private in
the militia, and not so sober as I should be, I can repeat more
of the songs of the Eos than any man alive, however great a
gentleman, however sober&mdash;more than Sir Watkin, more than
Colonel Biddulph himself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then began to repeat what appeared to be poetry, for I
could distinguish the rhymes occasionally, though owing to his
broken utterance it was impossible for me to make out the sense
of the words. Feeling a great desire to know what verses of
Huw Morris the intoxicated youth would repeat, I took out my
pocket-book and requested Jones, who was much better acquainted
with Welsh pronunciation, under any circumstances, than myself,
to endeavour to write down from the mouth of the young fellow any
verses uppermost in his mind. Jones took the pocket-book
and pencil and went to the window, followed by the young man
scarcely able to support himself. Here a curious scene took
place, the drinker hiccuping up verses, and Jones dotting them
down, in the best manner he could, though he had evidently great
difficulty to distinguish what was said to him. At last,
methought, the young man said&mdash;&ldquo;There they are, the
verses of the Nightingale, on his death-bed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I took the book and read aloud the following lines beautifully
descriptive of the eagerness of a Christian soul to leave its
perishing tabernacle, and get to Paradise and its
Creator:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Myn&rsquo;d i&rsquo;r wyl ar redeg,<br />
I&rsquo;r byd a beryi chwaneg,<br />
I Beradwys, y ber wiw deg,<br />
Yn Enw Duw yn union deg.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Do you understand those verses?&rdquo; said the man on
the settle, a dark swarthy fellow with an oblique kind of vision,
and dressed in a pepper-and-salt coat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will translate them,&rdquo; said I; and forthwith put
them into English&mdash;first into prose and then into rhyme, the
rhymed version running thus:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Now to my rest I hurry away,<br />
To the world which lasts for ever and aye,<br />
To Paradise, the beautiful place,<br />
Trusting alone in the Lord of Grace&rdquo;&mdash;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he of the pepper-and-salt, &ldquo;if
that isn&rsquo;t capital I don&rsquo;t know what is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>A scene in a public-house, yes! but in a Welsh
public-house. Only think of a Suffolk toper repeating the
death-bed verses of a poet; surely there is a considerable
difference between the Celt and the Saxon.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>

<p class="letter">Llangollen Fair&mdash;Buyers and
Sellers&mdash;The Jockey&mdash;The Greek Cap.</p>

<p>On the twenty-first was held Llangollen Fair. The day
was dull with occasional showers. I went to see the fair
about noon. It was held in and near a little square in the
south-east quarter of the town, of which square the
police-station is the principal feature on the side of the west,
and an inn, bearing the sign of the Grapes, on the east.
The fair was a little bustling fair, attended by plenty of people
from the country, and from the English border, and by some who
appeared to come from a greater distance than the border. A
dense row of carts extended from the police-station half across
the space, these carts were filled with pigs, and had stout
cord-nettings drawn over them, to prevent the animals
escaping. By the sides of these carts the principal
business of the fair appeared to be going on&mdash;there stood
the owners male and female, higgling with Llangollen men and
women, who came to buy. The pigs were all small, and the
price given seemed to vary from eighteen to twenty-five
shillings. Those who bought pigs generally carried them
away in their arms; and then there was no little diversion; dire
was the screaming of the porkers, yet the purchaser invariably
appeared to know how to manage his bargain, keeping the left arm
round the body of the swine and with the right hand fast gripping
the ear&mdash;some few were led away by strings. There were
some Welsh cattle, small of course, and the purchasers of these
seemed to be Englishmen, tall burly fellows in general, far
exceeding the Welsh in height and size.</p>

<p>Much business in the cattle-line did not seem, however, to be
going on. Now and then a big fellow made an offer, and held
out his hand for a little Pictish grazier to give it a
slap&mdash;a cattle bargain being concluded by a slap of the
hand&mdash;but the Welshman generally turned away, with a half
resentful exclamation. There were a few horses and ponies
in the street leading into the fair from the south.</p>

<p>I saw none sold, however. A tall athletic figure was
striding amongst them, evidently a jockey and a stranger, looking
at them and occasionally asking a slight question of one or
another of their proprietors, but he did not buy. He might
in age be about eight-and-twenty, and about six feet and
three-quarters of an inch in height; in build he was perfection
itself, a better built man I never saw. He wore a cap and a
brown jockey coat, trowsers, leggings and high-lows, and sported
a single spur. He had whiskers&mdash;all jockeys should
have whiskers&mdash;but he had what I did not like, and what no
genuine jockey should have, a moustache, which looks coxcombical
and Frenchified&mdash;but most things have terribly changed since
I was young. Three or four hardy-looking fellows,
policemen, were gliding about in their blue coats and leather
hats, holding their thin walking-sticks behind them; conspicuous
amongst whom was the leader, a tall lathy North Briton with a
keen eye and hard features. Now if I add there was much
gabbling of Welsh round about, and here and there some slight
sawing of English&mdash;that in the street leading from the north
there were some stalls of gingerbread and a table at which a
queer-looking being with a red Greek-looking cap on his head,
sold rhubarb, herbs, and phials containing the Lord knows what,
and who spoke a low vulgar English dialect&mdash;I repeat, if I
add this, I think I have said all that is necessary about
Llangollen Fair.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>

<p class="letter">An Expedition&mdash;Pont y Pandy&mdash;The
Sabbath&mdash;Glendower&rsquo;s Mount&mdash;Burial Place of
Old&mdash;Corwen&mdash;The Deep Glen&mdash;The
Grandmother&mdash;The Roadside Chapel.</p>

<p>I was now about to leave Llangollen, for a short time, and to
set out on an expedition to Bangor, Snowdon, and one or two
places in Anglesea. I had determined to make the journey on
foot, in order that I might have perfect liberty of action, and
enjoy the best opportunities of seeing the country. My wife
and daughter were to meet me at Bangor, to which place they would
repair by the railroad, and from which, after seeing some of the
mountain districts, they would return to Llangollen by the way
they came, where I proposed to join them, returning, however, by
a different way from the one I went, that I might traverse new
districts. About eleven o&rsquo;clock of a brilliant Sunday
morning I left Llangollen, after reading the morning-service of
the Church to my family. I set out on a Sunday because I
was anxious to observe the general demeanour of the people, in
the interior of the country, on the Sabbath.</p>

<p>I directed my course towards the west, to the head of the
valley. My wife and daughter after walking with me about a
mile bade me farewell, and returned. Quickening my pace I
soon left Llangollen valley behind me and entered another vale,
along which the road which I was following, and which led to
Corwen and other places, might be seen extending for miles.
Lumpy hills were close upon my left, the Dee running noisily
between steep banks, fringed with trees, was on my right; beyond
it rose hills which form part of the wall of the Vale of Clwyd;
their tops bare, but their sides pleasantly coloured with yellow
corn-fields and woods of dark verdure. About an
hour&rsquo;s walking, from the time when I entered the valley,
brought me to a bridge over a gorge, down which water ran to the
Dee. I stopped and looked over the side of the bridge
nearest to the hill. A huge rock about forty feet long by
twenty broad, occupied the entire bed of the gorge, just above
the bridge, with the exception of a little gullet to the right,
down which between the rock and a high bank, on which stood a
cottage, a run of water purled and brawled. The rock looked
exactly like a huge whale lying on its side, with its back turned
towards the runnel. Above it was a glen of trees.
After I had been gazing a little time a man making his appearance
at the door of the cottage just beyond the bridge I passed on,
and drawing nigh to him, after a slight salutation, asked him in
English the name of the bridge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The name of the bridge, sir,&rdquo; said the man, in
very good English, &ldquo;is Pont y Pandy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does not that mean the bridge of the fulling
mill?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe it does, sir,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there a fulling mill near?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, there was one some time ago, but it is now a
sawing mill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here a woman, coming out, looked at me steadfastly.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is that gentlewoman your wife?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;She is no gentlewoman, sir, but she is my
wife.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what religion are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are Calvinistic-Methodists, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been to chapel?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are just returned, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here the woman said something to her husband, which I did not
hear, but the purport of which I guessed from the following
question which he immediately put.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been to chapel, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not go to chapel; I belong to the
Church.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been to church, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have not&mdash;I said my prayers at home, and then
walked out.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not right to walk out on the Sabbath-day, except
to go to church or chapel.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who told you so?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The law of God, which says you shall keep holy the
Sabbath-day.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not keeping it unholy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are walking about, and in Wales when we see a
person walking idly about, on the Sabbath-day, we are in the
habit of saying, Sabbath-breaker, where are you going?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Son of Man walked through the fields on the
Sabbath-day, why should I not walk along the roads?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He who called Himself the Son of Man was God and could
do what He pleased, but you are not God.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But He came in the shape of a man to set an
example. Had there been anything wrong in walking about on
the Sabbath-day, He would not have done it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here the wife exclaimed, &ldquo;How worldly-wise these English
are!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You do not like the English,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We do not dislike them,&rdquo; said the woman;
&ldquo;at present they do us no harm, whatever they did of
old.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But you still consider them,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the
seed of Y Sarfes cadwynog, the coiling serpent.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I should be loth to call any people the seed of the
serpent,&rdquo; said the woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;But one of your great bards did,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;He must have belonged to the Church, and not to the
chapel then,&rdquo; said the woman. &ldquo;No person who
went to chapel would have used such bad words.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He lived,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;before people were
separated into those of the Church and the chapel; did you ever
hear of Taliesin Ben Beirdd?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I never did,&rdquo; said the woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;But I have,&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;and of Owain
Glendower too.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do people talk much of Owen Glendower in these
parts?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;and no wonder, for
when he was alive he was much about here&mdash;some way farther
on there is a mount, on the bank of the Dee, called the mount of
Owen Glendower, where it is said he used to stand and look out
after his enemies.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it easy to find?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very easy,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;it stands right
upon the Dee and is covered with trees; there is no mistaking
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I bade the man and his wife farewell, and proceeded on my
way. After walking about a mile, I perceived a kind of
elevation which answered to the description of Glendower&rsquo;s
mount, which the man by the bridge had given me. It stood
on the right hand, at some distance from the road, across a
field. As I was standing looking at it a man came up from
the direction in which I myself had come. He was a
middle-aged man, plainly but decently dressed, and had something
of the appearance of a farmer.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What hill may that be?&rdquo; said I in English,
pointing to the elevation.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dim Saesneg, sir,&rdquo; said the man, looking rather
sheepish, &ldquo;Dim gair o Saesneg.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Rather surprised that a person of his appearance should not
have a word of English, I repeated my question in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, you speak Cumraeg, sir;&rdquo; said the man
evidently surprised that a person of my English appearance should
speak Welsh. &ldquo;I am glad of it! What hill is
that, you ask&mdash;Dyna Mont Owain Glyndwr, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it easy to get to?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Quite easy, sir,&rdquo; said the man. &ldquo;If
you please I will go with you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I thanked him, and opening a gate he conducted me across the
field to the mount of the Welsh hero.</p>

<p>The mount of Owen Glendower stands close upon the southern
bank of the Dee, and is nearly covered with trees of various
kinds. It is about thirty feet high from the plain, and
about the same diameter at the top. A deep black pool of
the river which here runs far beneath the surface of the field,
purls and twists under the northern side, which is very steep,
though several large oaks spring out of it. The hill is
evidently the work of art, and appeared to me to be some
burying-place of old.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And this is the hill of Owain Glyndwr?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dyma Mont Owain Glyndwr, sir, lle yr oedd yn sefyll i
edrych am ei elvnion yn dyfod o Gaer Lleon. This is the
hill of Owain Glendower, sir, where he was in the habit of
standing to look out for his enemies coming from
Chester.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose it was not covered with trees then?&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir; it has not been long planted with trees.
They say, however, that the oaks which hang over the river are
very old.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do they say who raised this hill?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Some say that God raised it, sir; others that Owain
Glendower raised it. Who do you think raised it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe that it was raised by man, but not by Owen
Glendower. He may have stood upon it, to watch for the
coming of his enemies, but I believe it was here long before his
time, and that it was raised over some old dead king by the
people whom he had governed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do they bury kings by the side of rivers,
sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In the old time they did, and on the tops of mountains;
they burnt their bodies to ashes, placed them in pots and raised
heaps of earth or stones over them. Heaps like this have
frequently been opened, and found to contain pots with ashes and
bones.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish all English could speak Welsh, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because then we poor Welsh who can speak no English
could learn much which we do not know.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Descending the monticle we walked along the road
together. After a little time I asked my companion of what
occupation he was and where he lived.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am a small farmer, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and
live at Llansanfraid Glyn Dyfrdwy across the river.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How comes it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that you do not
know English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;When I was young,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and could have
easily learnt it, I cared nothing about it, and now that I am old
and see its use, it is too late to acquire it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what religion are you?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am of the Church,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>I was about to ask him if there were many people of his
persuasion in these parts; before, however, I could do so he
turned down a road to the right which led towards a small bridge,
and saying that was his way home, bade me farewell and
departed.</p>

<p>I arrived at Corwen which is just ten miles from Llangollen
and which stands beneath a vast range of rocks at the head of the
valley up which I had been coming, and which is called
Glyndyfrdwy, or the valley of the Dee water. It was now
about two o&rsquo;clock, and feeling rather thirsty I went to an
inn very appropriately called the Owen Glendower, being the
principal inn in the principal town of what was once the domain
of the great Owen. Here I stopped for about an hour
refreshing myself and occasionally looking into a newspaper in
which was an excellent article on the case of poor Lieutenant
P. I then started for Cerrig-y-Drudion, distant about ten
miles, where I proposed to pass the night. Directing my
course to the north-west, I crossed a bridge over the Dee water
and then proceeded rapidly along the road, which for some way lay
between corn-fields, in many of which sheaves were piled up,
showing that the Welsh harvest was begun. I soon passed
over a little stream, the name of which I was told was
Alowan. &ldquo;Oh, what a blessing it is to be able to
speak Welsh!&rdquo; said I, finding that not a person to whom I
addressed myself had a word of English to bestow upon me.
After walking for about five miles I came to a beautiful but wild
country of mountain and wood with here and there a few
cottages. The road at length making an abrupt turn to the
north, I found myself with a low stone wall on my left, on the
verge of a profound ravine, and a high bank covered with trees on
my right. Projecting out over the ravine was a kind of
looking place, protected by a wall, forming a half-circle,
doubtless made by the proprietor of the domain for the use of the
admirers of scenery. There I stationed myself, and for some
time enjoyed one of the wildest and most beautiful scenes
imaginable. Below me was the deep narrow glen or ravine,
down which a mountain torrent roared and foamed. Beyond it
was a mountain rising steeply, its nearer side, which was in deep
shade, the sun having long sunk below its top, hirsute with all
kinds of trees, from the highest pinnacle down to the
torrent&rsquo;s brink. Cut on the top surface of the wall,
which was of slate, and therefore easily impressible by the
knife, were several names, doubtless those of tourists, who had
gazed from the look-out on the prospect, amongst which I observed
in remarkably bold letters that of T . . . .</p>

<p>&ldquo;Eager for immortality, Mr T.,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but
you are no H. M., no Huw Morris.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Leaving the looking place I proceeded, and, after one or two
turnings, came to another, which afforded a view if possible yet
more grand, beautiful and wild, the most prominent objects of
which were a kind of devil&rsquo;s bridge flung over the deep
glen and its foaming water, and a strange-looking hill beyond it,
below which, with a wood on either side, stood a white
farm-house&mdash;sending from a tall chimney a thin misty reek up
to the sky. I crossed the bridge, which, however
diabolically fantastical it looked at a distance, seemed when one
was upon it, capable of bearing any weight, and soon found myself
by the farm-house past which the way led. An aged woman sat
on a stool by the door.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A fine evening,&rdquo; said I in English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dim Saesneg;&rdquo; said the aged woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, the blessing of being able to speak Welsh,&rdquo;
said I; and then repeated in that language what I had said to her
in the other tongue.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I daresay,&rdquo; said the aged woman, &ldquo;to those
who can see.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you not see?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very little. I am almost blind.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you not see me?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can see something tall and dark before me; that is
all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you tell me the name of the bridge?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pont y Glyn bin&mdash;the bridge of the glen of
trouble.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of this place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pen y bont&mdash;the head of the bridge.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is your own name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Catherine Hughes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How old are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Fifteen after three twenties.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have a mother three after four twenties; that is
eight years older than yourself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can she see?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Better than I&mdash;she can read the smallest
letters.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;May she long be a comfort to you!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you&mdash;are you the mistress of the
house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am the grandmother.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are the people in the house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are not&mdash;they are at the chapel.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And they left you alone?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They left me with my God.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the chapel far from here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About a mile.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;On the road to Cerrig y Drudion?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;On the road to Cerrig y Drudion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I bade her farewell, and pushed on&mdash;the road was good,
with high rocky banks on each side. After walking about the
distance indicated by the old lady, I reached a building, which
stood on the right-hand side of the road, and which I had no
doubt was the chapel, from a half-groaning, half-singing noise
which proceeded from it. The door being open, I entered,
and stood just within it, bare-headed. A rather singular
scene presented itself. Within a large dimly-lighted room,
a number of people were assembled, partly seated in rude pews,
and partly on benches. Beneath a kind of altar, a few yards
from the door, stood three men&mdash;the middlemost was praying
in Welsh in a singular kind of chant, with his arms stretched
out. I could distinguish the words, &ldquo;Jesus descend
among us! sweet Jesus descend among
us&mdash;quickly.&rdquo; He spoke very slowly, and towards
the end of every sentence dropped his voice, so that what he said
was anything but distinct. As I stood within the door, a
man dressed in coarse garments came up to me from the interior of
the building, and courteously, and in excellent Welsh, asked me
to come with him and take a seat. With equal courtesy, but
far inferior Welsh, I assured him that I meant no harm, but
wished to be permitted to remain near the door, whereupon with a
low bow he left me. When the man had concluded his prayer,
the whole of the congregation began singing a hymn, many of the
voices were gruff and discordant, two or three, however, were of
great power, and some of the female ones of surprising
sweetness. At the conclusion of the hymn, another of the
three men by the altar began to pray, just in the same manner as
his comrade had done, and seemingly using much the same
words. When he had done, there was another hymn, after
which, seeing that the congregation was about to break up, I
bowed my head towards the interior of the building, and
departed.</p>

<p>Emerging from the hollow way, I found myself on a moor, over
which the road lay in the direction of the north. Towards
the west, at an immense distance, rose a range of stupendous
hills, which I subsequently learned were those of
Snowdon&mdash;about ten minutes&rsquo; walking brought me to
Cerrig y Drudion, a small village near a rocky elevation, from
which, no doubt, the place takes its name, which interpreted, is
the Rock of Heroes.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>

<p class="letter">Cerrig y Drudion&mdash;The
Landlady&mdash;Doctor Jones&mdash;Coll Gwynfa&mdash;The
Italian&mdash;Men of
Como&mdash;Disappointment&mdash;Weather&mdash;Glasses&mdash;Southey.</p>

<p>The inn at Cerrig y Drudion was called the Lion&mdash;whether
the white, black, red or green Lion, I do not know, though I am
certain that it was a lion of some colour or other. It
seemed as decent and respectable a hostelry as any traveller
could wish, to refresh and repose himself in, after a walk of
twenty miles. I entered a well-lighted passage, and from
thence a well-lighted bar room, on the right hand, in which sat a
stout, comely, elderly lady, dressed in silks and satins, with a
cambric coif on her head, in company with a thin, elderly man
with a hat on his head, dressed in a rather prim and precise
manner. &ldquo;Madam!&rdquo; said I, bowing to the lady,
&ldquo;as I suppose you are the mistress of this establishment, I
beg leave to inform you that I am an Englishman, walking through
these regions, in order fully to enjoy their beauties and
wonders. I have this day come from Llangollen, and being
somewhat hungry and fatigued, hope I can be accommodated here
with a dinner and a bed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir!&rdquo; said the lady, getting up and making me a
profound curtsey, &ldquo;I am, as you suppose, the mistress of
this establishment, and am happy to say that I shall be able to
accommodate you&mdash;pray sit down, sir;&rdquo; she continued,
handing me a chair, &ldquo;you must indeed be tired, for
Llangollen is a great way from here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I took the seat with thanks, and she resumed her own.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rather hot weather for walking, sir!&rdquo; said the
precise-looking gentleman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but as I can&rsquo;t
observe the country well without walking through it, I put up
with the heat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You exhibit a philosophic mind, sir,&rdquo; said the
precise-looking gentleman&mdash;&ldquo;and a philosophic mind I
hold in reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray, sir,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;have I the honour of
addressing a member of the medical profession?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the precise-looking gentleman, getting
up and making me a bow, &ldquo;your question does honour to your
powers of discrimination&mdash;a member of the medical profession
I am, though an unworthy one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nay, nay, doctor,&rdquo; said the landlady briskly;
&ldquo;say not so&mdash;every one knows that you are a credit to
your profession&mdash;well would it be if there were many in it
like you&mdash;unworthy? marry come up! I won&rsquo;t hear
such an expression.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I see,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that I have not only the
honour of addressing a medical gentleman, but a doctor of
medicine&mdash;however, I might have known as much by your
language and deportment.&rdquo;</p>

<p>With a yet lower bow than before he replied with something of
a sigh, &ldquo;No, sir, no, our kind landlady and the
neighbourhood are in the habit of placing doctor before my name,
but I have no title to it&mdash;I am not Doctor Jones, sir, but
plain Geffery Jones at your service,&rdquo; and thereupon with
another bow he sat down.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you reside here?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, I reside here in the place of my
birth&mdash;I have not always resided here&mdash;and I did not
always expect to spend my latter days in a place of such
obscurity, but, sir, misfortunes&mdash;misfortunes . .
.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;misfortunes! they pursue
every one, more especially those whose virtues should exempt them
from them. Well, sir, the consciousness of not having
deserved them should be your consolation.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the doctor, taking off his hat,
&ldquo;you are infinitely kind.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You call this an obscure place,&rdquo; said
I&mdash;&ldquo;can that be an obscure place which has produced a
poet? I have long had a respect for Cerrig y Drudion
because it gave birth to, and was the residence of a poet of
considerable merit.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was not aware of that fact,&rdquo; said the doctor,
&ldquo;pray what was his name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Peter Lewis,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;he was a clergyman
of Cerrig y Drudion about the middle of the last century, and
amongst other things wrote a beautiful song called Cathl y Gair
Mwys, or the melody of the ambiguous word.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Surely you do not understand Welsh?&rdquo; said the
doctor.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I understand a little of it,&rdquo; I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Will you allow me to speak to you in Welsh?&rdquo; said
the doctor.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>He spoke to me in Welsh, and I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ha, ha,&rdquo; said the landlady in English;
&ldquo;only think, doctor, of the gentleman understanding
Welsh&mdash;we must mind what we say before him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And are you an Englishman?&rdquo; said the doctor.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am,&rdquo; I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how came you to learn it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am fond of languages,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and
studied Welsh at an early period.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And you read Welsh poetry?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How were you enabled to master its
difficulties?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Chiefly by going through Owen Pugh&rsquo;s version of
&lsquo;Paradise Lost&rsquo; twice, with the original by my
side. He has introduced into that translation so many of
the poetic terms of the old bards, that after twice going through
it, there was little in Welsh poetry that I could not make out
with a little pondering.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You pursued a very excellent plan, sir,&rdquo; said the
doctor, &ldquo;a very excellent plan indeed. Owen
Pugh!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Owen Pugh! The last of your very great
men,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You say right, sir,&rdquo; said the doctor.
&ldquo;He was indeed our last great man&mdash;Ultimus
Romanorum. I have myself read his work, which he called
Coll Gwynfa, the Loss of the place of Bliss&mdash;an admirable
translation, sir; highly poetical, and at the same time
correct.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you know him?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I had not the honour of his acquaintance,&rdquo; said
the doctor&mdash;&ldquo;but, sir, I am happy to say that I have
made yours.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The landlady now began to talk to me about dinner, and
presently went out to make preparations for that very important
meal. I had a great deal of conversation with the doctor,
whom I found a person of great and varied information, and one
who had seen a vast deal of the world. He was giving me an
account of an island in the West Indies, which he had visited,
when a boy coming in, whispered into his ear; whereupon, getting
up he said: &ldquo;Sir, I am called away. I am a country
surgeon, and of course an accoucheur. There is a lady who
lives at some distance requiring my assistance. It is with
grief I leave you so abruptly, but I hope that some time or other
we shall meet again.&rdquo; Then making me an exceedingly
profound bow, he left the room, followed by the boy.</p>

<p>I dined upstairs in a very handsome drawing-room,
communicating with a sleeping apartment. During dinner I
was waited upon by the daughter of the landlady, a good-looking
merry girl of twenty. After dinner I sat for some time
thinking over the adventures of the day, then feeling rather
lonely and not inclined to retire to rest, I went down to the
bar, where I found the landlady seated with her daughter. I
sat down with them and we were soon in conversation. We
spoke of Doctor Jones&mdash;the landlady said that he had his
little eccentricities, but was an excellent and learned
man. Speaking of herself she said that she had three
daughters, that the youngest was with her and that the two eldest
kept the principal inn at Ruthyn. We occasionally spoke a
little Welsh. At length the landlady said, &ldquo;There is
an Italian in the kitchen who can speak Welsh too.
It&rsquo;s odd the only two people not Welshmen I have ever known
who could speak Welsh, for such you and he are, should be in my
house at the same time.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I should like to see
him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That you can easily do,&rdquo; said the girl; &ldquo;I
daresay he will be glad enough to come in if you invite
him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray take my compliments to him,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and tell him that I shall be glad of his
company.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The girl went out and presently returned with the
Italian. He was a short, thick, strongly-built fellow of
about thirty-seven, with a swarthy face, raven-black hair, high
forehead, and dark deep eyes, full of intelligence and great
determination. He was dressed in a velveteen coat, with
broad lappets, red waistcoat, velveteen breeches, buttoning a
little way below the knee; white stockings apparently of
lamb&rsquo;s-wool and high-lows.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Buona sera?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Buona sera, signore!&rdquo; said the Italian.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Will you have a glass of brandy and water?&rdquo; said
I in English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I never refuse a good offer,&rdquo; said the
Italian.</p>

<p>He sat down, and I ordered a glass of brandy and water for him
and another for myself.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray speak a little Italian to him,&rdquo; said the
good landlady to me. &ldquo;I have heard a great deal about
the beauty of that language, and should like to hear it
spoken.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From the Lago di Como?&rdquo; said I, trying to speak
Italian.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Si, signore! but how came you to think that I was from
the Lake of Como?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;when I was a ragazzo I
knew many from the Lake of Como, who dressed much like
yourself. They wandered about the country with boxes on
their backs and weather-glasses in their hands, but had their
head-quarters at N. where I lived.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you remember any of their names?&rdquo; said the
Italian.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Giovanni Gestra and Luigi Pozzi,&rdquo; I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have seen Giovanni Gestra myself,&rdquo; said the
Italian, &ldquo;and I have heard of Luigi Pozzi. Giovanni
Gestra returned to the Lago&mdash;but no one knows what is become
of Luigi Pozzi.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The last time I saw him,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;was
about eighteen years ago at Coru&ntilde;a in Spain; he was then
in a sad drooping condition, and said he bitterly repented ever
quitting N.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;E con ragione,&rdquo; said the Italian, &ldquo;for
there is no place like N. for doing business in the whole
world. I myself have sold seventy pounds&rsquo; worth of
weather-glasses at N. in one day. One of our people is
living there now, who has done bene, molto bene.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s Rossi,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;how is it
that I did not mention him first? He is my excellent
friend, and a finer, cleverer fellow never lived, nor a more
honourable man. You may well say he has done well, for he
is now the first jeweller in the place. The last time I was
there I bought a diamond of him for my daughter Henrietta.
Let us drink his health!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Willingly!&rdquo; said the Italian. &ldquo;He is
the prince of the Milanese of England&mdash;the most successful
of all, but I acknowledge the most deserving. Che
viva.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish he would write his life,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;a
singular life it would be&mdash;he has been something besides a
travelling merchant, and a jeweller. He was one of
Buonaparte&rsquo;s soldiers, and served in Spain, under Soult,
along with John Gestra. He once told me that Soult was an
old rascal, and stole all the fine pictures from the convents, at
Salamanca. I believe he spoke with some degree of envy, for
he is himself fond of pictures, and has dealt in them, and made
hundreds by them. I question whether if in Soult&rsquo;s
place he would not have done the same. Well, however that
may be, che viva.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here the landlady interposed, observing that she wished we
would now speak English, for that she had quite enough of
Italian, which she did not find near so pretty a language as she
had expected.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You must not judge of the sound of Italian from what
proceeds from my mouth,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;It is not my
native language. I have had little practice in it, and only
speak it very imperfectly.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nor must you judge of Italian from what you have heard
me speak,&rdquo; said the man of Como; &ldquo;I am not good at
Italian, for the Milanese speak amongst themselves a kind of
jargon, composed of many languages, and can only express
themselves with difficulty in Italian. I have been doing my
best to speak Italian, but should be glad now to speak English,
which comes to me much more glibly.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are there any books in your dialect, or jergo, as I
believe you call it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe there are a few,&rdquo; said the Italian.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you know the word slandra?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who taught you that word?&rdquo; said the Italian.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Giovanni Gestra,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;he was always
using it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Giovanni Gestra was a vulgar illiterate man,&rdquo;
said the Italian; &ldquo;had he not been so he would not have
used it. It is a vulgar word; Rossi would not have used
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the meaning of it?&rdquo; said the landlady
eagerly.</p>

<p>&ldquo;To roam about in a dissipated manner,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Something more,&rdquo; said the Italian.
&ldquo;It is considered a vulgar word even in jergo.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You speak English remarkably well,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;have you been long in Britain?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I came over about four years ago,&rdquo; said the
Italian.</p>

<p>&ldquo;On your own account?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not exactly, signore; my brother, who was in business
in Liverpool, wrote to me to come over and assist him. I
did so, but soon left him, and took a shop for myself at Denbigh,
where, however, I did not stay long. At present I travel
for an Italian house in London, spending the summer in Wales, and
the winter in England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what do you sell?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Weather-glasses, signore&mdash;pictures and little
trinkets, such as the country people like.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you sell many weather-glasses in Wales?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not, signore. The Welsh care not for
weather-glasses; my principal customers for weather-glasses are
the farmers of England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am told that you can speak Welsh,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;is that true?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have picked up a little of it, signore.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He can speak it very well,&rdquo; said the landlady;
&ldquo;and glad should I be, sir, to hear you and him speak Welsh
together.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So should I,&rdquo; said the daughter who was seated
nigh us, &ldquo;nothing would give me greater pleasure than to
hear two who are not Welshmen speaking Welsh together.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I would rather speak English,&rdquo; said the Italian;
&ldquo;I speak a little Welsh, when my business leads me amongst
people who speak no other language, but I see no necessity for
speaking Welsh here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is a pity,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that so beautiful a
country as Italy should not be better governed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is, signore,&rdquo; said the Italian; &ldquo;but let
us hope that a time will speedily come when she will be
so.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see any chance of it,&rdquo; said
I. &ldquo;How will you proceed in order to bring about so
desirable a result as the good government of Italy?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, signore, in the first place we must get rid of the
Austrians.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You will not find it an easy matter,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;to get rid of the Austrians; you tried to do so a little
time ago, but miserably failed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;True, signore; but the next time we try perhaps the
French will help us.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If the French help you to drive the Austrians from
Italy,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you must become their
servants. It is true you had better be the servants of the
polished and chivalrous French, than of the brutal and barbarous
Germans, but it is not pleasant to be a servant to anybody.
However, I do not believe that you will ever get rid of the
Austrians, even if the French assist you. The Pope for
certain reasons of his own favours the Austrians, and will exert
all the powers of priestcraft to keep them in Italy. Alas,
alas, there is no hope for Italy! Italy, the most beautiful
country in the world, the birth-place of the cleverest people,
whose very pedlars can learn to speak Welsh, is not only
enslaved, but destined always to remain enslaved.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do not say so, signore,&rdquo; said the Italian, with a
kind of groan.</p>

<p>&ldquo;But I do say so,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and what is
more, one whose shoe-strings, were he alive, I should not he
worthy to untie, one of your mighty ones, has said so. Did
you ever hear of Vincenzio Filicaia?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe I have, signore; did he not write a sonnet on
Italy?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He did,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;would you like to hear
it?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very much, signore.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I repeated Filicaia&rsquo;s glorious sonnet on Italy, and then
asked him if he understood it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only in part, signore; for it is composed in old
Tuscan, in which I am not much versed. I believe I should
comprehend it better if you were to say it in English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do say it in English,&rdquo; said the landlady and her
daughter: &ldquo;we should so like to hear it in
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will repeat a translation,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;which I made when a boy, which though far from good, has,
I believe, in it something of the spirit of the
original:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;O Italy! on whom dark Destiny<br />
The dangerous gift of beauty did bestow,<br />
From whence thou hast that ample dower of wo,<br />
Which on thy front thou bear&rsquo;st so visibly.<br />
Would thou hadst beauty less or strength more high,<br />
That more of fear, and less of love might show,<br />
He who now blasts him in thy beauty&rsquo;s glow,<br />
Or woos thee with a zeal that makes thee die;<br />
Then down from Alp no more would torrents rage<br />
Of armed men, nor Gallic coursers hot<br />
In Po&rsquo;s ensanguin&rsquo;d tide their thirst assuage;<br />
Nor girt with iron, not thine own, I wot,<br />
Wouldst thou the fight by hands of strangers wage<br />
Victress or vanquish&rsquo;d slavery still thy lot.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2>

<p class="letter">Lacing-up High-lows&mdash;The Native
Village&mdash;Game Leg&mdash;Croppies Lie Down&mdash;Keeping
Faith&mdash;Processions&mdash;Croppies Get Up&mdash;Daniel
O&rsquo;Connell.</p>

<p>I slept in the chamber communicating with the room in which I
had dined. The chamber was spacious and airy, the bed
first-rate, and myself rather tired, so that no one will be
surprised when I say that I had excellent rest. I got up,
and after dressing myself went down. The morning was
exceedingly brilliant. Going out I saw the Italian lacing
up his high-lows against a step. I saluted him, and asked
him if he was about to depart.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, signore; I shall presently start for
Denbigh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;After breakfast I shall start for Bangor,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you propose to reach Bangor to-night,
signore?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Walking, signore?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I always walk in
Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you will have rather a long walk, signore; for
Bangor is thirty-four miles from here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I asked him if he was married.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, signore; but my brother in Liverpool is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To an Italian?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, signore; to a Welsh girl.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you will follow
his example by marrying one; perhaps that good-looking girl the
landlady&rsquo;s daughter we were seated with last
night?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, signore; I shall not follow my brother&rsquo;s
example. If ever I take a wife she shall be of my own
village, in Como, whither I hope to return, as soon as I have
picked up a few more pounds.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Whether the Austrians are driven away or not?&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Whether the Austrians are driven away or not&mdash;for
to my mind there is no country like Como, signore.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I ordered breakfast; whilst taking it in the room above I saw
through the open window the Italian trudging forth on his
journey, a huge box on his back, and a weather-glass in his
hand&mdash;looking the exact image of one of those men, his
country people, whom forty years before I had known at
N---. I thought of the course of time, sighed and felt a
tear gather in my eye.</p>

<p>My breakfast concluded, I paid my bill, and after inquiring
the way to Bangor, and bidding adieu to the kind landlady and her
daughter, set out from Cerrig y Drudion. My course lay
west, across a flat country, bounded in the far distance by the
mighty hills I had seen on the preceding evening. After
walking about a mile I overtook a man with a game leg, that is a
leg which, either by nature or accident not being so long as its
brother leg, had a patten attached to it, about five inches high,
to enable it to do duty with the other&mdash;he was a fellow with
red shock hair and very red features, and was dressed in ragged
coat and breeches and a hat which had lost part of its crown, and
all its rim, so that even without a game leg he would have looked
rather a queer figure. In his hand he carried a fiddle.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good morning to you,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A good morning to your hanner, a merry afternoon and a
roaring, joyous evening&mdash;that is the worst luck I wish to
ye.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you a native of these parts?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not exactly, your hanner&mdash;I am a native of the
city of Dublin, or, what&rsquo;s all the same thing, of the
village of Donnybrook, which is close by it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A celebrated place,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your hanner may say that; all the world has heard of
Donnybrook, owing to the humours of its fair. Many is the
merry tune I have played to the boys at that fair.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are a professor of music, I suppose?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And not a very bad one, as your hanner will say, if you
allow me to play you a tune.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you play Croppies Lie Down?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I cannot, your hanner, my fingers never learnt to play
such a blackguard tune; but if you wish to hear Croppies Get Up I
can oblige ye.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are a Roman Catholic, I suppose?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not, your hanner&mdash;I am a Catholic to the
back-bone, just like my father before me. Come, your
hanner, shall I play ye Croppies Get Up?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a tune that
doesn&rsquo;t please my ears. If, however, you choose to
play Croppies Lie Down, I&rsquo;ll give you a
shilling.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your hanner will give me a shilling?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;if you play Croppies Lie
Down; but you know you cannot play it, your fingers never learned
the tune.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They never did, your hanner; but they have heard it
played of ould by the blackguard Orange fiddlers of Dublin on the
first of July, when the Protestant boys used to walk round
Willie&rsquo;s statue on College Green&mdash;so if your hanner
gives me the shilling, they may perhaps bring out something like
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very good,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;begin!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But, your hanner, what shall we do for the words?
though my fingers may remember the tune my tongue does not
remember the words&mdash;that is unless . . .&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I give another shilling,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but
never mind you the words; I know the words, and will repeat
them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And your hanner will give me a shilling?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If you play the tune,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hanner bright, your hanner?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Honour bright,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>Thereupon the fiddler taking his bow and shouldering his
fiddle, struck up in first-rate style the glorious tune, which I
had so often heard with rapture in the days of my boyhood in the
barrack-yard of Clonmel; whilst I, walking by his side as he
stumped along, caused the welkin to resound with the words, which
were the delight of the young gentlemen of the Protestant academy
of that beautiful old town.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I never heard those words before,&rdquo; said the
fiddler, after I had finished the first stanza.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Get on with you,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Regular Orange words!&rdquo; said the fiddler, on my
finishing the second stanza.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you choose to get on?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;More blackguard Orange words I never heard!&rdquo;
cried the fiddler, on my coming to the conclusion of the third
stanza. &ldquo;Divil a bit farther will I play; at any rate
till I get the shilling.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here it is for you,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;the song is
ended, and, of course, the tune.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank your hanner,&rdquo; said the fiddler, taking the
money, &ldquo;your hanner has kept your word with me, which is
more than I thought your hanner would. And now your hanner
let me ask you why did your hanner wish for that tune, which is
not only a blackguard one but quite out of date; and where did
your hanner get the words?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I used to hear the tune in my boyish days,&rdquo; said
I, &ldquo;and wished to hear it again, for though you call it a
blackguard tune, it is the sweetest and most noble air that
Ireland, the land of music, has ever produced. As for the
words, never mind where I got them; they are violent enough, but
not half so violent as the words of some of the songs made
against the Irish Protestants by the priests.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your hanner is an Orange man, I see. Well, your
hanner, the Orange is now in the kennel, and the Croppies have it
all their own way.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And perhaps,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;before I die, the
Orange will be out of the kennel and the Croppies in, even as
they were in my young days.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who knows, your hanner? and who knows that I may not
play the old tune round Willie&rsquo;s image in College Green,
even as I used some twenty-seven years ago?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh then you have been an Orange fiddler?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have, your hanner. And now as your hanner has
behaved like a gentleman to me I will tell ye all my
history. I was born in the city of Dublin, that is in the
village of Donnybrook, as I tould your hanner before. It
was to the trade of bricklaying I was bred, and bricklaying I
followed till at last, getting my leg smashed, not by falling off
the ladder, but by a row in the fair, I was obliged to give it
up, for how could I run up the ladder with a patten on my foot,
which they put on to make my broken leg as long as the
other. Well your hanner, being obliged to give up my
bricklaying, I took to fiddling, to which I had always a natural
inclination, and played about the streets, and at fairs, and
wakes, and weddings. At length some Orange men getting
acquainted with me, and liking my style of playing, invited me to
their lodge, where they gave me to drink and tould me that if I
would change my religion, and join them, and play their tunes,
they would make it answer my purpose. Well, your hanner,
without much stickling I gave up my Popery, joined the Orange
lodge, learned the Orange tunes, and became a regular Protestant
boy, and truly the Orange men kept their word, and made it answer
my purpose. Oh the meat and drink I got, and the money I
made by playing at the Orange lodges and before the processions
when the Orange men paraded the streets with their Orange
colours. And oh, what a day for me was the glorious
first of July when with my whole body covered with Orange
ribbons, I fiddled Croppies Lie Down, Boyne Water, and the
Protestant Boys before the procession which walked round
Willie&rsquo;s figure on horseback in College Green, the man and
horse all ablaze with Orange colours. But nothing lasts
under the sun, as your hanner knows; Orangeism began to go down;
the Government scowled at it, and at last passed a law preventing
the Protestant boys dressing up the figure on the first of July,
and walking round it. That was the death-blow of the Orange
party, your hanner; they never recovered it, but began to despond
and dwindle, and I with them; for there was scarcely any demand
for Orange tunes. Then Dan O&rsquo;Connell arose with his
emancipation and repale cries, and then instead of Orange
processions and walkings, there were Papist processions and mobs,
which made me afraid to stir out, lest knowing me for an Orange
fiddler, they should break my head, as the boys broke my leg at
Donnybrook fair. At length some of the repalers and
emancipators knowing that I was a first-rate hand at fiddling
came to me and tould me, that if I would give over playing
Croppies Lie Down and other Orange tunes, and would play Croppies
Get Up, and what not, and become a Catholic and a repaler, and an
emancipator, they would make a man of me&mdash;so as my Orange
trade was gone, and I was half-starved, I consinted, not however
till they had introduced me to Daniel O&rsquo;Connell, who called
me a cridit to my country, and the Irish Horpheus, and promised
me a sovereign if I would consint to join the cause, as he called
it. Well, your hanner, I joined with the cause and became a
Papist, I mane a Catholic once more, and went at the head of
processions covered all over with green ribbons, playing Croppies
Get Up, Granny Whale, and the like. But, your hanner,
though I went the whole hog with the repalers and emancipators,
they did not make their words good by making a man of me.
Scant and sparing were they in the mate and drink, and yet more
sparing in the money, and Daniel O&rsquo;Connell never gave me
the sovereign which he promised me. No, your hanner, though
I played Croppies Get Up, till my fingers ached, as I stumped
before him and his mobs and processions, he never gave me the
sovereign: unlike your hanner who gave me the shilling ye
promised me for playing Croppies Lie Down, Daniel O&rsquo;Connell
never gave me the sovereign he promised me for playing Croppies
Get Up. Och, your hanner, I often wished the ould Orange
days were back again. However as I could do no better I
continued going the whole hog with the emancipators and repalers
and Dan O&rsquo;Connell; I went the whole animal with them till
they had got emancipation; and I went the whole animal with them
till they had nearly got repale&mdash;when all of a sudden they
let the whole thing drop&mdash;Dan and his party having frighted
the Government out of its seven senses, and gotten all they could
get, in money and places, which was all they wanted, let the
whole hullabaloo drop, and of course myself, who formed part of
it. I went to those who had persuaded me to give up my
Orange tunes, and to play Papist ones, begging them to give me
work; but they tould me very civilly that they had no further
occasion for my services. I went to Daniel O&rsquo;Connell
reminding him of the sovereign he had promised me, and offering
if he gave it me to play Croppies Get Up under the nose of the
lord-lieutenant himself; but he tould me that he had not time to
attend to me, and when I persisted, bade me go to the Divil and
shake myself. Well, your hanner, seeing no prospect for
myself in my own country, and having incurred some little debts,
for which I feared to be arrested, I came over to England and
Wales, where with little content and satisfaction I have passed
seven years.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;thank you for your
history&mdash;farewell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Stap, your hanner; does your hanner think that the
Orange will ever be out of the kennel, and that the Orange boys
will ever walk round the brass man and horse in College Green as
they did of ould?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who knows?&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;But suppose all
that were to happen, what would it signify to you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why then divil be in my patten if I would not go back
to Donnybrook and Dublin, hoist the Orange cockade, and become as
good an Orange boy as ever.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and give up Popery for the
second time?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I would, your hanner; and why not? for in spite of what
I have heard Father Toban say, I am by no means certain that all
Protestants will be damned.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farewell,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farewell, your hanner, and long life and prosperity to
you! God bless your hanner and your Orange face. Ah,
the Orange boys are the boys for keeping faith. They never
served me as Dan O&rsquo;Connell and his dirty gang of repalers
and emancipators did. Farewell, your hanner, once more; and
here&rsquo;s another scratch of the illigant tune your hanner is
so fond of, to cheer up your hanner&rsquo;s ears upon your
way.&rdquo;</p>

<p>And long after I had left him I could hear him playing on his
fiddle in first-rate style the beautiful tune of &ldquo;Down,
down, Croppies Lie Down.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>

<p class="letter">Ceiniog Mawr&mdash;Pentre Voelas&mdash;The Old
Conway&mdash;Stupendous Pass&mdash;The Gwedir Family&mdash;Capel
Curig&mdash;The Two Children&mdash;Bread&mdash;Wonderful
Echo&mdash;Tremendous Walker.</p>

<p>I walked on briskly over a flat uninteresting country, and in
about an hour&rsquo;s time came in front of a large stone
house. It stood near the road, on the left-hand side, with
a pond and pleasant trees before it, and a number of corn-stacks
behind. It had something the appearance of an inn, but
displayed no sign. As I was standing looking at it, a man
with the look of a labourer, and with a dog by his side, came out
of the house and advanced towards me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of this place?&rdquo; said I to him in
English as he drew nigh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;the name of the house
is Ceiniog Mawr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it an inn?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not now, sir; but some years ago it was an inn, and a
very large one, at which coaches used to stop; at present it is
occupied by an amaethwr&mdash;that is a farmer, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ceiniog Mawr means a great penny,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;why is it called by that name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have heard, sir, that before it was an inn it was a
very considerable place, namely a royal mint, at which pennies
were made, and on that account it was called Ceiniog
Mawr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I was subsequently told that the name of this place was
Cernioge Mawr. If such be the real name the legend about
the mint falls to the ground, Cernioge having nothing to do with
pence. Cern in Welsh means a jaw. Perhaps the true
name of the house is Corniawg, which interpreted is a place with
plenty of turrets or chimneys. A mile or two further the
ground began to rise, and I came to a small village at the
entrance of which was a water-wheel&mdash;near the village was a
gentleman&rsquo;s seat almost surrounded by groves. After I
had passed through the village, seeing a woman seated by the
roadside knitting, I asked her in English its name. Finding
she had no Saesneg I repeated the question in Welsh, whereupon
she told me that it was called Pentre Voelas.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And whom does the &lsquo;Plas&rsquo; belong to yonder
amongst the groves?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It belongs to Mr Wynn, sir, and so does the village and
a great deal of the land about here. A very good gentleman
is Mr Wynn, sir; he is very kind to his tenants and a very good
lady is Mrs Wynn, sir; in the winter she gives much soup to the
poor.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After leaving the village of Pentre Voelas I soon found myself
in a wild hilly region. I crossed a bridge over a river,
which, brawling and tumbling amidst rocks, shaped its course to
the north-east. As I proceeded, the country became more and
more wild; there were dingles and hollows in abundance, and
fantastic-looking hills, some of which were bare, and others clad
with trees of various kinds. Came to a little well in a
cavity, dug in a high bank on the left-hand side of the road, and
fenced by rude stone work on either side; the well was about ten
inches in diameter, and as many deep. Water oozing from the
bank upon a slanting tile fastened into the earth fell into
it. After damming up the end of the tile with my hand, and
drinking some delicious water, I passed on and presently arrived
at a cottage, just inside the door of which sat a good-looking
middle-aged woman engaged in knitting, the general occupation of
Welsh females.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good-day,&rdquo; said I to her in Welsh.
&ldquo;Fine weather.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, it is fine weather for the
harvest.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you alone in the house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am, sir, my husband has gone to his
labour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any children?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Two, sir; but they are out at service.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of this place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pant Paddock, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you get your water from the little well
yonder?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We do, sir, and good water it is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have drunk of it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Much good may what you have drunk do you,
sir!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of the river near here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is called the Conway, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me; is that river the Conway?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You have heard of it, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Heard of it! it is one of the famous rivers of the
world. The poets are very fond of it&mdash;one of the great
poets of my country calls it the old Conway.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is one river older than another, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a shrewd question. Can you
read?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any books?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have the Bible, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Will you show it me?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Willingly, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then getting up she took a book from a shelf and handed it to
me, at the same time begging me to enter the house and sit
down. I declined, and she again took her seat and resumed
her occupation. On opening the book the first words which
met my eye were: &ldquo;Gad i mi fyned trwy dy dir!&mdash;Let me
go through your country&rdquo; (Numb. <span
class="smcap">xx.</span> 22).</p>

<p>&ldquo;I may say these words,&rdquo; said I, pointing to the
passage. &ldquo;Let me go through your country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No one will hinder you, sir, for you seem a civil
gentleman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No one has hindered me hitherto. Wherever I have
been in Wales I have experienced nothing but kindness and
hospitality, and when I return to my own country I will say
so.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What country is yours, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;England. Did you not know that by my
tongue?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I did not, sir. I knew by your tongue that you
were not from our parts&mdash;but I did not know that you were an
Englishman. I took you for a Cumro of the south
country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Returning the kind woman her book, and bidding her farewell I
departed, and proceeded some miles through a truly magnificent
country of wood, rock, and mountain. At length I came to a
steep mountain gorge, down which the road ran nearly due north,
the Conway to the left running with great noise parallel with the
road, amongst broken rocks, which chafed it into foam. I
was now amidst stupendous hills, whose paps, peaks, and pinnacles
seemed to rise to the very heaven. An immense mountain on
the right side of the road particularly struck my attention, and
on inquiring of a man breaking stones by the roadside I learned
that it was called Dinas Mawr, or the large citadel, perhaps from
a fort having been built upon it to defend the pass in the old
British times. Coming to the bottom of the pass I crossed
over by an ancient bridge, and, passing through a small town,
found myself in a beautiful valley with majestic hills on either
side. This was the Dyffryn Conway, the celebrated Vale of
Conway, to which in the summer time fashionable gentry from all
parts of Britain resort for shade and relaxation. When
about midway down the valley I turned to the west, up one of the
grandest passes in the world, having two immense door-posts of
rock at the entrance, the northern one probably rising to the
altitude of nine hundred feet. On the southern side of this
pass near the entrance were neat dwellings for the accommodation
of visitors with cool apartments on the ground floor, with large
windows, looking towards the precipitous side of the mighty
northern hill; within them I observed tables, and books, and
young men, probably English collegians, seated at study.</p>

<p>After I had proceeded some way up the pass, down which a small
river ran, a woman who was standing on the right-hand side of the
way, seemingly on the look-out, begged me in broken English to
step aside and look at the fall.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You mean a waterfall, I suppose?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how do you call it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Fall of the Swallow, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And in Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rhaiadr y Wennol, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of the river?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We call the river the Lygwy, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I told the woman I would go, whereupon she conducted me
through a gate on the right-hand side and down a path overhung
with trees to a rock projecting into the river. The Fall of
the Swallow is not a majestic single fall, but a succession of
small ones. First there are a number of little foaming
torrents, bursting through rocks about twenty yards above the
promontory on which I stood. Then come two beautiful rolls
of white water, dashing into a pool a little way above the
promontory; then there is a swirl of water round its corner into
a pool below on its right, black as death, and seemingly of great
depth; then a rush through a very narrow outlet into another
pool, from which the water clamours away down the glen.
Such is the Rhaiadr y Wennol, or Swallow Fall; called so from the
rapidity with which the waters rush and skip along.</p>

<p>On asking the woman on whose property the fall was, she
informed me that it was on the property of the Gwedir
family. The name of Gwedir brought to my mind the
&ldquo;History of the Gwedir Family,&rdquo; a rare and curious
book which I had read in my boyhood, and which was written by the
representative of that family, a certain Sir John Wynne, about
the beginning of the seventeenth century. It gives an
account of the fortunes of the family, from its earliest rise;
but more particularly after it had emigrated, in order to avoid
bad neighbours, from a fair and fertile district into rugged
Snowdonia, where it found anything but the repose it came in
quest of. The book which is written in bold graphic
English, flings considerable light on the state of society in
Wales, in the time of the Tudors, a truly deplorable state, as
the book is full of accounts of feuds, petty but desperate
skirmishes, and revengeful murders. To many of the domestic
sagas, or histories of ancient Icelandic families, from the
character of the events which it describes and also from the
manner in which it describes them, the &ldquo;History of the
Gwedir Family,&rdquo; by Sir John Wynne, bears a striking
resemblance.</p>

<p>After giving the woman sixpence I left the fall, and proceeded
on my way. I presently crossed a bridge under which ran the
river of the fall, and was soon in a wide valley on each side of
which were lofty hills dotted with wood, and at the top of which
stood a mighty mountain, bare and precipitous, with two paps like
those of Pindus opposite Janina, but somewhat sharper. It
was a region of fairy beauty and of wild grandeur. Meeting
an old bleared-eyed farmer I inquired the name of the mountain
and learned that it was called Moel Siabod or Shabod.
Shortly after leaving him, I turned from the road to inspect a
monticle which appeared to me to have something of the appearance
of a burial heap. It stood in a green meadow by the river
which ran down the valley on the left. Whether it was a
grave hill or a natural monticle, I will not say; but standing in
the fair meadow, the rivulet murmuring beside it, and the old
mountain looking down upon it, I thought it looked a very meet
resting-place for an old Celtic king.</p>

<p>Turning round the northern side of the mighty Siabod I soon
reached the village of Capel Curig, standing in a valley between
two hills, the easternmost of which is the aforesaid Moel
Siabod. Having walked now twenty miles in a broiling day I
thought it high time to take some refreshment, and inquired the
way to the inn. The inn, or rather the hotel, for it was a
very magnificent edifice, stood at the entrance of a pass leading
to Snowdon, on the southern side of the valley, in a totally
different direction from the road leading to Bangor, to which
place I was bound. There I dined in a grand saloon amidst a
great deal of fashionable company, who, probably conceiving from
my heated and dusty appearance that I was some poor fellow
travelling on foot from motives of economy, surveyed me with
looks of the most supercilious disdain, which, however, neither
deprived me of my appetite nor operated uncomfortably on my
feelings.</p>

<p>My dinner finished, I paid my bill, and having sauntered a
little about the hotel garden, which is situated on the border of
a small lake and from which, through the vista of the pass,
Snowdon may be seen towering in majesty at the distance of about
six miles, I started for Bangor, which is fourteen miles from
Capel Curig.</p>

<p>The road to Bangor from Capel Curig is almost due west.
An hour&rsquo;s walking brought me to a bleak moor, extending for
a long way amidst wild sterile hills.</p>

<p>The first of a chain on the left, was a huge lumpy hill with a
precipice towards the road probably three hundred feet
high. When I had come nearly parallel with the commencement
of this precipice, I saw on the left-hand side of the road two
children looking over a low wall behind which at a little
distance stood a wretched hovel. On coming up I stopped and
looked at them; they were a boy and girl; the first about twelve,
the latter a year or two younger; both wretchedly dressed and
looking very sickly.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any English?&rdquo; said I, addressing the boy
in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dim gair,&rdquo; said the boy; &ldquo;not a word; there
is no Saesneg near here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of this place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The name of our house is Helyg.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of that hill?&rdquo; said I,
pointing to the hill of the precipice.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Allt y Gôg&mdash;the high place of the
cuckoo.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you a father and mother?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We have.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are they in the house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are gone to Capel Curig.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And they left you alone?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They did. With the cat and the
trin-wire.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do your father and mother make wire-work?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They do. They live by making it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the wire-work for?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is for hedges to fence the fields with.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you help your father and mother?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We do; as far as we can.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You both look unwell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We have lately had the cryd&rdquo; (ague).</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there much cryd about here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you live well?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;When we have bread we live well.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If I give you a penny will you bring me some
water?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We will, whether you give us a penny or not.
Come, sister, let us go and fetch the gentleman water.&rdquo;</p>

<p>They ran into the house and presently returned, the girl
bearing a pan of water. After I had drunk I gave each of
the children a penny, and received in return from each a diolch
or thanks.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can either of you read?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Neither one nor the other.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can your father and mother read?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My father cannot, my mother can a little.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are there books in the house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There are not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No Bible?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is no book at all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you go to church?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We do not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To chapel?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In fine weather.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you happy?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;When there is bread in the house and no cryd we are all
happy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farewell to you, children.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farewell to you, gentleman!&rdquo; exclaimed both.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have learnt something,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;of Welsh
cottage life and feeling from that poor sickly child.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I had passed the first and second of the hills which stood on
the left, and a huge long mountain on the right which confronted
both, when a young man came down from a gully on my left hand,
and proceeded in the same direction as myself. He was
dressed in a blue coat and corduroy trowsers, and appeared to be
of a condition a little above that of a labourer. He shook
his head and scowled when I spoke to him in English, but smiled
on my speaking Welsh, and said: &ldquo;Ah, you speak Cumraeg: I
thought no Sais could speak Cumraeg.&rdquo; I asked him if
he was going far.</p>

<p>&ldquo;About four miles,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;On the Bangor road?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;down the Bangor
road.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I learned that he was a carpenter, and that he had been up the
gully to see an acquaintance&mdash;perhaps a sweetheart. We
passed a lake on our right which he told me was called Llyn
Ogwen, and that it abounded with fish. He was very amusing,
and expressed great delight at having found an Englishman who
could speak Welsh; &ldquo;it will be a thing to talk of,&rdquo;
said he, &ldquo;for the rest of my life.&rdquo; He entered
two or three cottages by the side of the road, and each time he
came out I heard him say: &ldquo;I am with a Sais who can speak
Cumraeg.&rdquo; At length we came to a gloomy-looking
valley trending due north; down this valley the road ran, having
an enormous wall of rocks on its right and a precipitous hollow
on the left, beyond which was a wall equally high as the other
one. When we had proceeded some way down the road my guide
said. &ldquo;You shall now hear a wonderful echo,&rdquo;
and shouting &ldquo;taw, taw,&rdquo; the rocks replied in a
manner something like the baying of hounds. &ldquo;Hark to
the dogs!&rdquo; exclaimed my companion. &ldquo;This pass
is called Nant yr ieuanc gwn, the pass of the young dogs, because
when one shouts it answers with a noise resembling the crying of
hounds.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The sun was setting when we came to a small village at the
bottom of the pass. I asked my companion its name.
&ldquo;Ty yn y maes,&rdquo; he replied, adding as he stopped
before a small cottage that he was going no farther, as he dwelt
there.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there a public-house here?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;you will find one a
little farther up on the right hand.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come, and take some ale,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am a teetotaler,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said I, and having shaken him by the
hand, thanked him for his company and bidding him farewell, went
on. He was the first person I had ever met of the
fraternity to which he belonged, who did not endeavour to make a
parade of his abstinence and self-denial.</p>

<p>After drinking some tolerably good ale in the public house I
again started. As I left the village a clock struck
eight. The evening was delightfully cool; but it soon
became nearly dark. I passed under high rocks, by houses
and by groves, in which nightingales were singing, to listen to
whose entrancing melody I more than once stopped. On coming
to a town, lighted up and thronged with people, I asked one of a
group of young fellows its name.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Bethesda,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A scriptural name,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it?&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;well, if its name is
scriptural the manners of its people are by no means
so.&rdquo;</p>

<p>A little way beyond the town a man came out of a cottage and
walked beside me. He had a basket in his hand. I
quickened my pace; but he was a tremendous walker, and kept up
with me. On we went side by side for more than a mile
without speaking a word. At length, putting out my legs in
genuine Barclay fashion, I got before him about ten yards, then
turning round laughed and spoke to him in English. He too
laughed and spoke, but in Welsh. We now went on like
brothers, conversing, but always walking at great speed. I
learned from him that he was a market-gardener living at Bangor,
and that Bangor was three miles off. On the stars shining
out we began to talk about them.</p>

<p>Pointing to Charles&rsquo;s Wain I said, &ldquo;A good star
for travellers.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Whereupon pointing to the North star, he said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;I forwyr da iawn&mdash;a good star for
mariners.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We passed a large house on our left.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who lives there?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mr Smith,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;It is called
Plas Newydd; milltir genom etto&mdash;we have yet another
mile.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In ten minutes we were at Bangor. I asked him where the
Albion Hotel was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will show it you,&rdquo; said he, and so he did.</p>

<p>As we came under it I heard the voice of my wife, for she,
standing on a balcony and distinguishing me by the lamplight,
called out. I shook hands with the kind six-mile-an-hour
market-gardener, and going into the inn found my wife and
daughter, who rejoiced to see me. We presently had tea.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>

<p class="letter">Bangor&mdash;Edmund Price&mdash;The
Bridges&mdash;Bookselling&mdash;Future Pope&mdash;Wild
Irish&mdash;Southey.</p>

<p>Bangor is seated on the spurs of certain high hills near the
Menai, a strait separating Mona or Anglesey from
Caernarvonshire. It was once a place of Druidical worship,
of which fact, even without the testimony of history and
tradition, the name which signifies &ldquo;upper circle&rdquo;
would be sufficient evidence. On the decay of Druidism a
town sprang up on the site and in the neighbourhood of the
&ldquo;upper circle,&rdquo; in which in the sixth century a
convent or university was founded by Deiniol, who eventually
became Bishop of Bangor. This Deiniol was the son of
Deiniol Vawr, a zealous Christian prince who founded the convent
of Bangor Is Coed, or Bangor beneath the wood in Flintshire,
which was destroyed, and its inmates almost to a man put to the
sword by Ethelbert, a Saxon king, and his barbarian followers at
the instigation of the monk Austin, who hated the brethren
because they refused to acknowledge the authority of the Pope,
whose delegate he was in Britain. There were in all three
Bangors; the one at Is Coed, another in Powis, and this
Caernarvonshire Bangor, which was generally termed Bangor Vawr or
Bangor the great. The two first Bangors have fallen into
utter decay, but Bangor Vawr is still a bishop&rsquo;s see,
boasts of a small but venerable cathedral, and contains a
population of above eight thousand souls.</p>

<p>Two very remarkable men have at different periods conferred a
kind of lustre upon Bangor by residing in it, Taliesin in the
old, and Edmund Price in comparatively modern time. Both of
them were poets. Taliesin flourished about the end of the
fifth century, and for the sublimity of his verses was for many
centuries called by his countrymen the Bardic King. Amongst
his pieces is one generally termed &ldquo;The Prophecy of
Taliesin,&rdquo; which announced long before it happened the
entire subjugation of Britain by the Saxons, and which is perhaps
one of the most stirring pieces of poetry ever produced.
Edmund Price flourished during the time of Elizabeth. He
was archdeacon of Merionethshire, but occasionally resided at
Bangor for the benefit of his health. Besides being one of
the best Welsh poets of his age he was a man of extraordinary
learning, possessing a thorough knowledge of no less than eight
languages.</p>

<p>The greater part of his compositions, however clever and
elegant, are, it must be confessed, such as do little credit to
the pen of an ecclesiastic, being bitter poignant satires, which
were the cause of much pain and misery to individuals; one of his
works, however, is not only of a kind quite consistent with his
sacred calling, but has been a source of considerable
blessing. To him the Cambrian Church is indebted for the
version of the Psalms, which for the last two centuries it has
been in the habit of using. Previous to the version of the
Archdeacon a translation of the Psalms had been made into Welsh
by William Middleton, an officer in the naval service of Queen
Elizabeth, in the four-and-twenty alliterative measures of the
ancients bards. It was elegant and even faithful, but far
beyond the comprehension of people in general, and consequently
by no means fitted for the use of churches, though intended for
that purpose by the author, a sincere Christian, though a
warrior. Avoiding the error into which his predecessor had
fallen, the Archdeacon made use of a measure intelligible to
people of every degree, in which alliteration is not observed,
and which is called by the Welsh y mesur cyffredin, or the common
measure. His opinion of the four-and-twenty measures the
Archdeacon has given to the world in four cowydd lines to the
following effect:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve read the master-pieces great<br
/>
Of languages no less than eight,<br />
But ne&rsquo;er have found a woof of song<br />
So strict as that of Cambria&rsquo;s tongue.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>After breakfast on the morning subsequent to my arrival,
Henrietta and I roamed about the town, and then proceeded to view
the bridges which lead over the strait to Anglesey. One,
for common traffic, is a most beautiful suspension bridge
completed in 1820, the result of the mental and manual labours of
the ingenious Telford; the other is a tubular railroad bridge, a
wonderful structure, no doubt, but anything but graceful.
We remained for some time on the first bridge, admiring the
scenery, and were not a little delighted, as we stood leaning
over the principal arch, to see a proud vessel pass beneath us in
full sail.</p>

<p>Satiated with gazing we passed into Anglesey, and making our
way to the tubular bridge, which is to the west of the suspension
one, entered one of its passages and returned to the main
land.</p>

<p>The air was exceedingly hot and sultry, and on coming to a
stone bench, beneath a shady wall, we both sat down, panting, on
one end of it; as we were resting ourselves, a shabby-looking man
with a bundle of books came and seated himself at the other end,
placing his bundle beside him; then taking out from his pocket a
dirty red handkerchief, he wiped his face, which was bathed in
perspiration, and ejaculated: &ldquo;By Jasus, it is blazing
hot!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very hot, my friend,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;have you
travelled far to-day?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have not, your hanner; I have been just walking about
the dirty town trying to sell my books.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been successful?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have not, your hanner; only three pence have I taken
this blessed day.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do your books treat of?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, that is more than I can tell your hanner; my trade
is to sell the books not to read them. Would your hanner
like to look at them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh dear no,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I have long been
tired of books; I have had enough of them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I daresay, your hanner; from the state of your
hanner&rsquo;s eyes I should say as much; they look so
weak&mdash;picking up learning has ruined your hanner&rsquo;s
sight.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;May I ask,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;from what country you
are?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sure your hanner may; and it is a civil answer you will
get from Michael Sullivan. It is from ould Ireland I am,
from Castlebar in the county Mayo.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how came you into Wales?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From the hope of bettering my condition, your hanner,
and a foolish hope it was.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You have not bettered your condition, then?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have not, your hanner; for I suffer quite as much
hunger and thirst as ever I did in ould Ireland.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you sell books in Ireland?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I did nat, yer hanner; I made buttons and
clothes&mdash;that is I pieced them. I was several trades
in ould Ireland, your hanner; but none of them answering, I came
over here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where you commenced book-selling?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I did nat, your hanner. I first sold laces, and
then I sold loocifers, and then something else; I have followed
several trades in Wales, your hanner; at last I got into the
book-selling trade, in which I now am.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And it answers, I suppose, as badly as the
others?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just as badly, your hanner; divil a bit
better.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you never beg?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your hanner may say that; I was always too proud to
beg. It is begging I laves to the wife I have.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you have a wife?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have, your hanner; and a daughter, too; and a good
wife and daughter they are. What would become of me without
them I do not know.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been long in Wales?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not very long, your hanner; only about twenty
years.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you travel much about?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;All over North Wales, your hanner; to say nothing of
the southern country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you speak Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not a word, your hanner. The Welsh speak their
language so fast, that divil a word could I ever contrive to pick
up.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you speak Irish?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do, yer hanner; that is when people spake to me in
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I spoke to him in Irish; after a little discourse he said in
English:</p>

<p>&ldquo;I see your hanner is a Munster man. Ah! all the
learned men comes from Munster. Father Toban comes from
Munster.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have heard of him once or twice before,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I daresay your hanner has. Every one has heard of
Father Toban; the greatest scholar in the world, who they, say
stands a better chance of being made Pope, some day or other,
than any saggart in Ireland.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Will you take sixpence?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will, your hanner; if your hanner offers it; but I
never beg; I leave that kind of work to my wife and daughter as I
said before.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After giving him the sixpence, which he received with a lazy
&ldquo;thank your hanner,&rdquo; I got up, and followed by my
daughter returned to the town.</p>

<p>Henrietta went to the inn, and I again strolled about the
town. As I was standing in the middle of one of the
business streets I suddenly heard a loud and dissonant gabbling,
and glancing around beheld a number of wild-looking people, male
and female. Wild looked the men, yet wilder the
women. The men were very lightly clad, and were all
barefooted and bareheaded; they carried stout sticks in their
hands. The women were barefooted too, but had for the most
part head-dresses; their garments consisted of blue cloaks and
striped gingham gowns. All the females had common tin
articles in their hands which they offered for sale with violent
gestures to the people in the streets, as they walked along,
occasionally darting into the shops, from which, however, they
were almost invariably speedily ejected by the startled
proprietors, with looks of disgust and almost horror. Two
ragged, red-haired lads led a gaunt pony, drawing a creaking
cart, stored with the same kind of articles of tin, which the
women bore. Poorly clad, dusty and soiled as they were,
they all walked with a free, independent, and almost graceful
carriage.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are those people from Ireland?&rdquo; said I to a
decent-looking man, seemingly a mechanic, who stood near me, and
was also looking at them, but with anything but admiration.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am sorry to say they are, sir;&rdquo; said the man,
who from his accent was evidently an Irishman, &ldquo;for they
are a disgrace to their country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I did not exactly think so. I thought that in many
respects they were fine specimens of humanity.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Every one of those wild fellows,&rdquo; said I to
myself, &ldquo;is worth a dozen of the poor mean-spirited
book-tramper I have lately been discoursing with.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In the afternoon I again passed over into Anglesey, but this
time not by the bridge but by the ferry on the north-east of
Bangor, intending to go to Beaumaris, about two or three miles
distant: an excellent road, on the left side of which is a high
bank fringed with dwarf oaks, and on the right the Menai strait,
leads to it. Beaumaris is at present a
watering-place. On one side of it, close upon the sea,
stand the ruins of an immense castle, once a Norman stronghold,
but built on the site of a palace belonging to the ancient kings
of North Wales, and a favourite residence of the celebrated Owain
Gwynedd, the father of the yet more celebrated Madoc, the
original discoverer of America. I proceeded at once to the
castle, and clambering to the top of one of the turrets, looked
upon Beaumaris Bay, and the noble rocky coast of the mainland to
the south-east beyond it, the most remarkable object of which is
the gigantic Penman Mawr, which interpreted is &ldquo;the great
head-stone,&rdquo; the termination of a range of craggy hills
descending from the Snowdon mountains.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What a bay!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for beauty it is
superior to the far-famed one of Naples. A proper place for
the keels to start from, which, unguided by the compass, found
their way over the mighty and mysterious Western
Ocean.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I repeated all the Bardic lines I could remember connected
with Madoc&rsquo;s expedition, and likewise many from the Madoc
of Southey, not the least of Britain&rsquo;s four great latter
poets, decidedly her best prose writer, and probably the purest
and most noble character to which she has ever given birth; and
then, after a long, lingering look, descended from my altitude,
and returned, not by the ferry, but by the suspension bridge to
the mainland.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Robert Lleiaf&mdash;Prophetic Englyn&mdash;The
Second Sight&mdash;Duncan Campbell&mdash;Nial&rsquo;s
Saga&mdash;Family of Nial&mdash;Gunnar&mdash;The Avenger.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Av i dir Môn, cr dwr Menai,<br />
Tros y traeth, ond aros trai.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will go to the land of Mona, notwithstanding the
water of the Menai, across the sand, without waiting for the
ebb.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So sang a bard about two hundred and forty years ago, who
styled himself Robert Lleiaf, or the least of the Roberts.
The meaning of the couplet has always been considered to be, and
doubtless is, that a time would come when a bridge would be built
across the Menai, over which one might pass with safety and
comfort, without waiting till the ebb was sufficiently low to
permit people to pass over the traeth, or sand, which, from ages
the most remote, had been used as the means of communication
between the mainland and the Isle of Mona or Anglesey.
Grounding their hopes upon that couplet, people were continually
expecting to see a bridge across the Menai: more than two hundred
years, however, elapsed before the expectation was fulfilled by
the mighty Telford flinging over the strait an iron suspension
bridge, which, for grace and beauty, has perhaps no rival in
Europe.</p>

<p>The couplet is a remarkable one. In the time of its
author there was nobody in Britain capable of building a bridge,
which could have stood against the tremendous surges which
occasionally vex the Menai; yet the couplet gives intimation that
a bridge over the Menai there would be, which clearly argues a
remarkable foresight in the author, a feeling that a time would
at length arrive when the power of science would be so far
advanced, that men would be able to bridge over the terrible
strait. The length of time which intervened between the
composition of the couplet and the fulfilment of the promise,
shows that a bridge over the Menai was no pont y meibion, no
children&rsquo;s bridge, nor a work for common men. Oh,
surely Lleiaf was a man of great foresight!</p>

<p>A man of great foresight, but nothing more; he foretold a
bridge over the Menai, when no one could have built one, a bridge
over which people could pass, aye, and carts and horses; we will
allow him the credit of foretelling such a bridge; and when
Telford&rsquo;s bridge was flung over the Menai, Lleiaf&rsquo;s
couplet was verified. But since Telford&rsquo;s another
bridge has been built over the Menai, which enables things to
pass which the bard certainly never dreamt of. He never
hinted at a bridge over which thundering trains would dash, if
required, at the rate of fifty miles an hour; he never hinted at
steam travelling, or a railroad bridge, and the second bridge
over the Menai is one.</p>

<p>That Lleiaf was a man of remarkable foresight, cannot be
denied, but there are no grounds which entitle him to be
considered a possessor of the second sight. He foretold a
bridge, but not a railroad bridge; had he foretold a railroad
bridge, or hinted at the marvels of steam, his claim to the
second sight would have been incontestable.</p>

<p>What a triumph for Wales; what a triumph for bardism, if
Lleiaf had ever written an englyn, or couplet, in which not a
bridge for common traffic, but a railroad bridge over the Menai
was hinted at, and steam travelling distinctly foretold!
Well, though Lleiaf did not write it, there exists in the Welsh
language an englyn, almost as old as Lleiaf&rsquo;s time, in
which steam travelling in Wales and Anglesea is foretold, and in
which, though the railroad bridge over the Menai is not exactly
mentioned, it may be considered to be included; so that Wales and
bardism have equal reason to be proud. This is the englyn
alluded to:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Codais, ymolchais yn Môn, cyn naw
awr<br />
Ciniewa&rsquo;n Nghaer Lleon,<br />
Pryd gosber yn y Werddon,<br />
Prydnawn wrth dan mawn yn Môn.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The above englyn was printed in the Greal, 1792, p. 316; the
language shows it to be a production of about the middle of the
seventeenth century. The following is nearly a literal
translation:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;I got up in Mona as soon as &rsquo;twas
light,<br />
At nine in old Chester my breakfast I took;<br />
In Ireland I dined, and in Mona, ere night,<br />
By the turf fire sat, in my own ingle nook.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Now, as sure as the couplet by Robert Lleiaf foretells that a
bridge would eventually be built over the strait, by which people
would pass, and traffic be carried on, so surely does the above
englyn foreshadow the speed by which people would travel by
steam, a speed by which distance is already all but
annihilated. At present it is easy enough to get up at dawn
at Holyhead, the point of Anglesey the most distant from Chester,
and to breakfast at that old town by nine; and though the feat
has never yet been accomplished, it would be quite possible,
provided proper preparations were made, to start from Holyhead at
daybreak, breakfast at Chester at nine, or before, dine in
Ireland at two, and get back again to Holyhead ere the sun of the
longest day has set. And as surely as the couplet about the
bridge argues great foresight in the man that wrote it, so surely
does the englyn prove that its author must have been possessed of
the faculty of second sight, as nobody without it could, in the
middle of the seventeenth century, when the powers of steam were
unknown, have written anything in which travelling by steam is so
distinctly alluded to.</p>

<p>Truly some old bard of the seventeenth century must in a
vision of the second sight have seen the railroad bridge across
the Menai, the Chester train dashing across it, at high railroad
speed, and a figure exactly like his own seated comfortably in a
third-class carriage.</p>

<p>And now a few words on the second sight, a few calm, quiet
words, in which there is not the slightest wish to display either
eccentricity or book-learning.</p>

<p>The second sight is the power of seeing events before they
happen, or of seeing events which are happening far beyond the
reach of the common sight, or between which and the common sight
barriers intervene, which it cannot pierce. The number of
those who possess this gift or power is limited, and perhaps no
person ever possessed it in a perfect degree: some more
frequently see coming events, or what is happening at a distance,
than others; some see things dimly, others with great
distinctness. The events seen are sometimes of great
importance, sometimes highly nonsensical and trivial; sometimes
they relate to the person who sees them, sometimes to other
people. This is all that can be said with anything like
certainty with respect to the nature of the second sight, a
faculty for which there is no accounting, which, were it better
developed, might be termed the sixth sense.</p>

<p>The second sight is confined to no particular country, and has
at all times existed. Particular nations have obtained a
celebrity for it for a time, which they have afterwards lost, the
celebrity being transferred to other nations, who were previously
not noted for the faculty. The Jews were at one time
particularly celebrated for the possession of the second sight;
they are no longer so. The power was at one time very
common amongst the Icelanders and the inhabitants of the
Hebrides, but it is so no longer. Many and extraordinary
instances of the second sight have lately occurred in that part
of England generally termed East Anglia, where in former times
the power of the second sight seldom manifested itself.</p>

<p>There are various books in existence in which the second sight
is treated of or mentioned. Amongst others there is one
called &ldquo;Martin&rsquo;s Description of the Western Isles of
Scotland,&rdquo; published in the year 1703, which is indeed the
book from which most writers in English, who have treated of the
second sight, have derived their information. The author
gives various anecdotes of the second sight, which he had picked
up during his visits to those remote islands, which until the
publication of his tour were almost unknown to the world.
It will not be amiss to observe here that the term second sight
is of Lowland Scotch origin, and first made its appearance in
print in Martin&rsquo;s book. The Gaelic term for the
faculty is taibhsearachd, the literal meaning of which is what is
connected with a spectral appearance, the root of the word being
taibhse, a spectral appearance or vision.</p>

<p>Then there is the History of Duncan Campbell. The father
of this person was a native of Shetland, who, being shipwrecked
on the coast of Swedish Lapland, and hospitably received by the
natives, married a woman of the country, by whom he had Duncan,
who was born deaf and dumb. On the death of his mother the
child was removed by his father to Scotland, where he was
educated and taught the use of the finger alphabet, by means of
which people are enabled to hold discourse with each other,
without moving the lips or tongue. This alphabet was
originally invented in Scotland, and at the present day is much
in use there, not only amongst dumb people, but many others, who
employ it as a silent means of communication. Nothing is
more usual than to see passengers in a common conveyance in
Scotland discoursing with their fingers. Duncan at an early
period gave indications of possessing the second sight.
After various adventures he came to London, where for many years
he practised as a fortune-teller, pretending to answer all
questions, whether relating to the past or the future, by means
of the second sight. There can be no doubt that this man
was to a certain extent an impostor; no person exists having a
thorough knowledge either of the past or future by means of the
second sight, which only visits particular people by fits and
starts, and which is quite independent of individual will; but it
is equally certain that he disclosed things which no person could
have been acquainted with without visitations of the second
sight. His papers fell into the hands of Defoe, who wrought
them up in his own peculiar manner, and gave them to the world
under the title of the Life of Mr Duncan Campbell, the Deaf and
Dumb Gentleman: with an appendix containing many anecdotes of the
second sight from Martin&rsquo;s tour.</p>

<p>But by far the most remarkable book in existence, connected
with the second sight, is one in the ancient Norse language
entitled &ldquo;Nial&rsquo;s Saga.&rdquo; <a
name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3"
class="citation">[3]</a> It was written in Iceland about
the year 1200, and contains the history of a certain Nial and his
family, and likewise notices of various other people. This
Nial was what was called a spámadr, that is, a spaeman or
a person capable of foretelling events. He was originally a
heathen&mdash;when, however, Christianity was introduced into
Iceland, he was amongst the first to embrace it, and persuaded
his family and various people of his acquaintance to do the same,
declaring that a new faith was necessary, the old religion of
Odin, Thor, and Frey, being quite unsuited to the times.
The book is no romance, but a domestic history compiled from
tradition about two hundred years after the events which it
narrates had taken place. Of its style, which is
wonderfully terse, the following translated account of Nial and
his family will perhaps convey some idea:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There was a man called Nial, who was the son of
Thorgeir Gelling, the son of Thorolf. The mother of Nial
was called Asgerdr; she was the daughter of Ar, the Silent, the
Lord of a district in Norway. She had come over to Iceland
and settled down on land to the west of Markarfliot, between
Oldustein and Selialandsmul. Holtathorir was her son,
father of Thorlief Krak, from whom the Skogverjars are come, and
likewise of Thorgrim the big and Skorargeir. Nial dwelt at
Bergthorshvâl in Landey, but had another house at
Thorolfell. Nial was very rich in property, and handsome to
look at, but had no beard. He was so great a lawyer, that
it was impossible to find his equal, he was very wise, and had
the gift of foretelling events, he was good at counsel, and of a
good disposition, and whatever counsel he gave people was for
their best; he was gentle and humane, and got every man out of
trouble who came to him in his need. His wife was called
Bergthora; she was the daughter of Skarphethin. She was a
bold-spirited woman who feared nobody, and was rather rough of
temper. They had six children, three daughters and three
sons, all of whom will be frequently mentioned in this
saga.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In the history many instances are given of Nial&rsquo;s skill
in giving good advice and his power of seeing events before they
happened. Nial lived in Iceland during most singular times,
in which though there were laws provided for every possible case,
no man could have redress for any injury unless he took it
himself, or his friends took it for him, simply because there
were no ministers of justice supported by the State, authorised
and empowered to carry the sentence of the law into effect.
For example, if a man were slain, his death would remain
unpunished, unless he had a son or a brother, or some other
relation to slay the slayer, or to force him to pay
&ldquo;bod,&rdquo; that is, amends in money, to be determined by
the position of the man who was slain. Provided the man who
was slain had relations, his death was generally avenged, as it
was considered the height of infamy in Iceland to permit
one&rsquo;s relations to be murdered, without slaying their
murderers, or obtaining bod from them. The right, however,
permitted to relations of taking with their own hands the lives
of those who had slain their friends, produced incalculable
mischiefs; for if the original slayer had friends, they, in the
event of his being slain in retaliation for what he had done,
made it a point of honour to avenge his death, so that by the lex
talionis feuds were perpetuated. Nial was a great
benefactor to his countrymen, by arranging matters between
people, at variance in which he was much helped by his knowledge
of the law, and by giving wholesome advice to people in
precarious situations, in which he was frequently helped by the
power which he possessed of the second sight. On several
occasions he settled the disputes in which his friend Gunnar was
involved, a noble, generous character, and the champion of
Iceland, but who had a host of foes, envious of his renown; and
it was not his fault if Gunnar was eventually slain, for if the
advice which he gave had been followed, the champion would have
died an old man; and if his own sons had followed his advice, and
not been over fond of taking vengeance on people who had wronged
them, they would have escaped a horrible death, in which he
himself was involved, as he had always foreseen he should be.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dost thou know by what death thou thyself wilt
die?&rdquo; said Gunnar to Nial, after the latter had been
warning him that if he followed a certain course he would die by
a violent death.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do,&rdquo; said Nial.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; said Gunnar.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What people would think the least probable,&rdquo;
replied Nial.</p>

<p>He meant that he should die by fire. The kind generous
Nial, who tried to get everybody out of difficulty, perished by
fire. His sons by their violent conduct had incensed
numerous people against them. The house in which they lived
with their father was beset at night by an armed party, who,
unable to break into it owing to the desperate resistance which
they met with from the sons of Nial, Skarphethin, Helgi, and
Grimmr and a comrade of theirs called Kari, <a
name="citation4"></a><a href="#footnote4"
class="citation">[4]</a> set it in a blaze, in which perished
Nial, the lawyer and man of the second sight, his wife Bergthora,
and two of their sons, the third, Helgi, having been previously
slain, and Kari, who was destined to be the avenger of the
ill-fated family, having made his escape, after performing deeds
of heroism which for centuries after were the themes of song and
tale in the ice-bound isle.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>

<p class="letter">Snowdon&mdash;Caernarvon&mdash;Maxen
Wledig&mdash;Moel y Cynghorion&mdash;The Wyddfa&mdash;Snow of
Snowdon&mdash;Rare Plant.</p>

<p>On the third morning after our arrival at Bangor we set out
for Snowdon.</p>

<p>Snowdon or Eryri is no single hill, but a mountainous region,
the loftiest part of which, called Y Wyddfa, nearly four thousand
feet above the level of the sea, is generally considered to be
the highest point of Southern Britain. The name Snowdon was
bestowed upon this region by the early English on account of its
snowy appearance in winter; Eryri by the Britons, because in the
old time it abounded with eagles, Eryri <a
name="citation5"></a><a href="#footnote5"
class="citation">[5]</a> in the ancient British language
signifying an eyrie or breeding-place of eagles.</p>

<p>Snowdon is interesting on various accounts. It is
interesting for its picturesque beauty. Perhaps in the
whole world there is no region more picturesquely beautiful than
Snowdon, a region of mountains, lakes, cataracts, and, groves in
which nature shows herself in her most grand and beautiful
forms.</p>

<p>It is interesting from its connection with history: it was to
Snowdon that Vortigern retired from the fury of his own subjects,
caused by the favour which he showed to the detested
Saxons. It was there that he called to his counsels Merlin,
said to be begotten on a hag by an incubus, but who was in
reality the son of a Roman consul by a British woman. It
was in Snowdon that he built the castle, which he fondly deemed
would prove impregnable, but which his enemies destroyed by
flinging wild-fire over its walls; and it was in a wind-beaten
valley of Snowdon, near the sea, that his dead body decked in
green armour had a mound of earth and stones raised over
it. It was on the heights of Snowdon that the brave but
unfortunate Llywelin ap Griffith made his last stand for Cambrian
independence; and it was to Snowdon that that very remarkable
man, Owen Glendower, retired with his irregular bands before
Harry the Fourth and his numerous and disciplined armies, soon
however, to emerge from its defiles and follow the foe,
retreating less from the Welsh arrows from the crags, than from
the cold, rain and starvation of the Welsh hills.</p>

<p>But it is from its connection with romance that Snowdon
derives its chief interest. Who when he thinks of Snowdon
does not associate it with the heroes of romance, Arthur and his
knights? whose fictitious adventures, the splendid dreams of
Welsh and Breton minstrels, many of the scenes of which are the
valleys and passes of Snowdon, are the origin of romance, before
which what is classic has for more than half a century been
waning, and is perhaps eventually destined to disappear.
Yes, to romance Snowdon is indebted for its interest and
consequently for its celebrity; but for romance Snowdon would
assuredly not be what it at present is, one of the very
celebrated hills of the world, and to the poets of modern Europe
almost what Parnassus was to those of old.</p>

<p>To the Welsh, besides being the hill of the Awen or Muse, it
has always been the hill of hills, the loftiest of all mountains,
the one whose snow is the coldest, to climb to whose peak is the
most difficult of all feats; and the one whose fall will be the
most astounding catastrophe of the last day.</p>

<p>To view this mountain I and my little family set off in a
calèche on the third morning after our arrival at
Bangor.</p>

<p>Our first stage was to Caernarvon. As I subsequently
made a journey to Caernarvon on foot, I shall say nothing about
the road till I give an account of that expedition, save that it
lies for the most part in the neighbourhood of the sea. We
reached Caernarvon, which is distant ten miles from Bangor, about
eleven o&rsquo;clock, and put up at an inn to refresh ourselves
and the horses. It is a beautiful little town situated on
the southern side of the Menai Strait at nearly its western
extremity. It is called Caernarvon, because it is opposite
Mona or Anglesey: Caernarvon signifying the town or castle
opposite Mona. Its principal feature is its grand old
castle, fronting the north, and partly surrounded by the
sea. This castle was built by Edward the First after the
fall of his brave adversary Llewelyn, and in it was born his son
Edward whom, when an infant, he induced the Welsh chieftains to
accept as their prince without seeing, by saying that the person
whom he proposed to be their sovereign was one who was not only
born in Wales, but could not speak a word of the English
language. The town Caernarvon, however, existed long before
Edward&rsquo;s time, and was probably originally a Roman
station. According to Welsh tradition it was built by Maxen
Wledig or Maxentius, in honour of his wife Ellen who was born in
the neighbourhood. Maxentius, who was a Briton by birth,
and partly by origin contested unsuccessfully the purple with
Gratian and Valentinian, and to support his claim led over to the
Continent an immense army of Britons, who never returned, but on
the fall of their leader settled down in that part of Gaul
generally termed Armorica, which means a maritime region, but
which the Welsh call Llydaw, or Lithuania, which was the name, or
something like the name, which the region bore when Maxen&rsquo;s
army took possession of it, owing, doubtless, to its having been
the quarters of a legion composed of barbarians from the country
of Leth or Lithuania.</p>

<p>After staying about an hour at Caernarvon we started for
Llanberis, a few miles to the east. Llanberis is a small
village situated in a valley, and takes its name from Peris, a
British saint of the sixth century, son of Helig ab Glanog.
The valley extends from west to east, having the great mountain
of Snowdon on its south, and a range of immense hills on its
northern side. We entered this valley by a pass called Nant
y Glo or the ravine of the coal, and passing a lake on our left,
on which I observed a solitary corracle, with a fisherman in it,
were presently at the village. Here we got down at a small
inn, and having engaged a young lad to serve as guide, I set out
with Henrietta to ascend the hill, my wife remaining behind, not
deeming herself sufficiently strong to encounter the fatigue of
the expedition.</p>

<p>Pointing with my finger to the head of Snowdon towering a long
way from us in the direction of the east, I said to
Henrietta:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dacw Eryri, yonder is Snowdon. Let us try to get
to the top. The Welsh have a proverb: &lsquo;It is easy to
say yonder is Snowdon; but not so easy to ascend it.&rsquo;
Therefore I would advise you to brace up your nerves and sinews
for the attempt.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We then commenced the ascent, arm-in-arm, followed by the lad,
I singing at the stretch of my voice a celebrated Welsh stanza,
in which the proverb about Snowdon is given, embellished with a
fine moral, and which may thus be rendered:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Easy to say, &lsquo;Behold Eryri,&rsquo;<br
/>
But difficult to reach its head;<br />
Easy for him whose hopes are cheery<br />
To bid the wretch be comforted.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We were far from being the only visitors to the hill this day;
groups of people, or single individuals, might be seen going up
or descending the path as far as the eye could reach. The
path was remarkably good, and for some way the ascent was
anything but steep. On our left was the Vale of Llanberis,
and on our other side a broad hollow, or valley of Snowdon,
beyond which were two huge hills forming part of the body of the
grand mountain, the lowermost of which our guide told me was
called Moel Elia, and the uppermost Moel y Cynghorion. On
we went until we had passed both these hills, and come to the
neighbourhood of a great wall of rocks constituting the upper
region of Snowdon, and where the real difficulty of the ascent
commences. Feeling now rather out of breath we sat down on
a little knoll with our faces to the south, having a small lake
near us, on our left hand, which lay dark and deep, just under
the great wall.</p>

<p>Here we sat for some time resting and surveying the scene
which presented itself to us, the principal object of which was
the north-eastern side of the mighty Moel y Cynghorion, across
the wide hollow or valley, which it overhangs in the shape of a
sheer precipice some five hundred feet in depth. Struck by
the name of Moel y Cynghorion, which in English signifies the
hill of the counsellors, I enquired of our guide why the hill was
so called, but as he could afford me no information on the point
I presumed that it was either called the hill of the counsellors
from the Druids having held high consultation on its top, in time
of old, or from the unfortunate Llewelyn having consulted there
with his chieftains, whilst his army lay encamped in the vale
below.</p>

<p>Getting up we set about surmounting what remained of the
ascent. The path was now winding and much more steep than
it had hitherto been. I was at one time apprehensive that
my gentle companion would be obliged to give over the attempt;
the gallant girl, however, persevered, and in little more than
twenty minutes from the time when we arose from our resting-place
under the crags, we stood, safe and sound, though panting, upon
the very top of Snowdon, the far-famed Wyddfa.</p>

<p>The Wyddfa is about thirty feet in diameter and is surrounded
on three sides by a low wall. In the middle of it is a rude
cabin, in which refreshments are sold, and in which a person
resides through the year, though there are few or no visitors to
the hill&rsquo;s top, except during the months of summer.
Below on all sides are frightful precipices except on the side of
the west. Towards the east it looks perpendicularly into
the dyffrin or vale, nearly a mile below, from which to the gazer
it is at all times an object of admiration, of wonder and almost
of fear.</p>

<p>There we stood on the Wyddfa, in a cold bracing atmosphere,
though the day was almost stiflingly hot in the regions from
which we had ascended. There we stood enjoying a scene
inexpressibly grand, comprehending a considerable part of the
mainland of Wales, the whole of Anglesey, a faint glimpse of part
of Cumberland; the Irish Channel, and what might be either a
misty creation or the shadowy outline of the hills of
Ireland. Peaks and pinnacles and huge moels stood up here
and there, about us and below us, partly in glorious light,
partly in deep shade. Manifold were the objects which we
saw from the brow of Snowdon, but of all the objects which we
saw, those which filled us with delight and admiration, were
numerous lakes and lagoons, which, like sheets of ice or polished
silver, lay reflecting the rays of the sun in the deep valleys at
his feet.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said I to Henrietta, &ldquo;you are on the
top crag of Snowdon, which the Welsh consider, and perhaps with
justice, to be the most remarkable crag in the world; which is
mentioned in many of their old wild romantic tales, and some of
the noblest of their poems, amongst others in the &lsquo;Day of
Judgment,&rsquo; by the illustrious Goronwy Owen, where it is
brought forward in the following manner:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Ail i&rsquo;r ar ael Eryri,<br />
Cyfartal hoewal a hi.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;The brow of Snowdon shall be levelled with the
ground, and the eddying waters shall murmur round it.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;You are now on the top crag of Snowdon, generally
termed Y Wyddfa, <a name="citation6"></a><a href="#footnote6"
class="citation">[6]</a> which means a conspicuous place or
tumulus, and which is generally in winter covered with snow;
about which snow there are in the Welsh language two curious
englynion or stanzas consisting entirely of vowels with the
exception of one consonant, namely the letter R.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Oer yw&rsquo;r Eira ar
Eryri,&mdash;o&rsquo;ryw<br />
Ar awyr i rewi;<br />
Oer yw&rsquo;r ia ar riw &rsquo;r ri,<br />
A&rsquo;r Eira oer yw &rsquo;Ryri.</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;O Ri y&rsquo;Ryri yw&rsquo;r
oera,&mdash;o&rsquo;r âr,<br />
Ar oror wir arwa;<br />
O&rsquo;r awyr a yr Eira,<br />
O&rsquo;i ryw i roi rew a&rsquo;r ia.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Cold is the snow on Snowdon&rsquo;s brow<br />
It makes the air so chill;<br />
For cold, I trow, there is no snow<br />
Like that of Snowdon&rsquo;s hill.</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;A hill most chill is Snowdon&rsquo;s hill,<br />
And wintry is his brow;<br />
From Snowdon&rsquo;s hill the breezes chill<br />
Can freeze the very snow.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Such was the harangue which I uttered on the top of Snowdon;
to which Henrietta listened with attention; three or four
English, who stood nigh, with grinning scorn, and a Welsh
gentleman with considerable interest. The latter coming
forward shook me by the hand exclaiming&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Wyt ti Lydaueg?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not a Llydauan,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I wish I
was, or anything but what I am, one of a nation amongst whom any
knowledge save what relates to money-making and over-reaching is
looked upon as a disgrace. I am ashamed to say that I am an
Englishman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I then returned his shake of the hand; and bidding Henrietta
and the guide follow me, went into the cabin, where Henrietta had
some excellent coffee and myself and the guide a bottle of
tolerable ale; very much refreshed we set out on our return.</p>

<p>A little way from the top, on the right-hand side as you
descend, there is a very steep path running down in a zigzag
manner to the pass which leads to Capel Curig. Up this path
it is indeed a task of difficulty to ascend to the Wyddfa, the
one by which we mounted being comparatively easy. On
Henrietta&rsquo;s pointing out to me a plant, which grew on a
crag by the side of this path some way down, I was about to
descend in order to procure it for her, when our guide springing
forward darted down the path with the agility of a young goat, in
less than a minute returned with it in his hand and presented it
gracefully to the dear girl, who on examining it said it belonged
to a species of which she had long been desirous of possessing a
specimen. Nothing material occurred in our descent to
Llanberis, where my wife was anxiously awaiting us. The
ascent and descent occupied four hours. About ten
o&rsquo;clock at night we again found ourselves at Bangor.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2>

<p class="letter">Gronwy Owen&mdash;Struggles of
Genius&mdash;The Stipend.</p>

<p>The day after our expedition to Snowdon I and my family
parted; they returning by railroad to Chester and Llangollen
whilst I took a trip into Anglesey to visit the birth-place of
the great poet Goronwy Owen, whose works I had read with
enthusiasm in my early years.</p>

<p>Goronwy or Gronwy Owen, was born in the year 1722, at a place
called Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf in Anglesey. He was the
eldest of three children. His parents were peasants and so
exceedingly poor that they were unable to send him to
school. Even, however, when an unlettered child he gave
indications that he was visited by the awen or muse. At
length the celebrated Lewis Morris chancing to be at Llanfair
became acquainted with the boy, and struck with his natural
talents, determined that he should have all the benefit which
education could bestow. He accordingly, at his own expense
sent him to school at Beaumaris, where he displayed a remarkable
aptitude for the acquisition of learning. He subsequently
sent him to Jesus College, Oxford, and supported him there whilst
studying for the church. Whilst at Jesus, Gronwy
distinguished himself as a Greek and Latin scholar, and gave such
proofs of poetical talent in his native language, that he was
looked upon by his countrymen of that Welsh college as the rising
Bard of the age. After completing his collegiate course he
returned to Wales, where he was ordained a minister of the Church
in the year 1745. The next seven years of his life were a
series of cruel disappointments and pecuniary
embarrassments. The grand wish of his heart was to obtain a
curacy and to settle down in Wales. Certainly a very
reasonable wish. To say nothing of his being a great
genius, he was eloquent, highly learned, modest, meek and of
irreproachable morals, yet Gronwy Owen could obtain no Welsh
curacy, nor could his friend Lewis Morris, though he exerted
himself to the utmost, procure one for him. It is true that
he was told that he might go to Llanfair, his native place, and
officiate there at a time when the curacy happened to be vacant,
and thither he went, glad at heart to get back amongst his old
friends, who enthusiastically welcomed him; yet scarcely had he
been there three weeks when he received notice from the Chaplain
of the Bishop of Bangor that he must vacate Llanfair in order to
make room for a Mr John Ellis, a young clergyman of large
independent fortune, who was wishing for a curacy under the
Bishop of Bangor, Doctor Hutton&mdash;so poor Gronwy the
eloquent, the learned, the meek, was obliged to vacate the pulpit
of his native place to make room for the rich young clergyman,
who wished to be within dining distance of the palace of
Bangor. Truly in this world the full shall be crammed, and
those who have little, shall have the little which they have
taken away from them. Unable to obtain employment in Wales
Gronwy sought for it in England, and after some time procured the
curacy of Oswestry in Shropshire, where he married a respectable
young woman, who eventually brought him two sons and a
daughter.</p>

<p>From Oswestry he went to Donnington near Shrewsbury, where
under a certain Scotchman named Douglas, who was an absentee, and
who died Bishop of Salisbury, he officiated as curate and master
of a grammar school for a stipend&mdash;always grudgingly and
contumeliously paid&mdash;of three-and-twenty pounds a
year. From Donnington he removed to Walton in Cheshire,
where he lost his daughter who was carried off by a fever.
His next removal was to Northolt, a pleasant village in the
neighbourhood of London.</p>

<p>He held none of his curacies long, either losing them from the
caprice of his principals, or being compelled to resign them from
the parsimony which they practised towards him. In the year
1756 he was living in a garret in London vainly soliciting
employment in his sacred calling, and undergoing with his family
the greatest privations. At length his friend Lewis Morris,
who had always assisted him to the utmost of his ability,
procured him the mastership of a government school at New
Brunswick in North America with a salary of three hundred pounds
a year. Thither he went with his wife and family, and there
he died sometime about the year 1780.</p>

<p>He was the last of the great poets of Cambria and, with the
exception of Ab Gwilym, the greatest which she has
produced. His poems which for a long time had circulated
through Wales in manuscript were first printed in the year
1819. They are composed in the ancient Bardic measures, and
were with one exception, namely an elegy on the death of his
benefactor Lewis Morris, which was transmitted from the New
World, written before he had attained the age of
thirty-five. All his pieces are excellent, but his
masterwork is decidedly the Cywydd y Farn or &ldquo;Day of
Judgment.&rdquo; This poem which is generally considered by
the Welsh as the brightest ornament of their ancient language,
was composed at Donnington, a small hamlet in Shropshire on the
north-west spur of the Wrekin, at which place, as has been
already said, Gronwy toiled as schoolmaster and curate under
Douglas the Scot, for a stipend of three-and-twenty pounds a
year.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>

<p class="letter">Start for Anglesey&mdash;The
Post-Master&mdash;Asking Questions&mdash;Mynydd Lydiart&mdash;Mr
Pritchard&mdash;Way to Llanfair.</p>

<p>When I started from Bangor, to visit the birth-place of Gronwy
Owen, I by no means saw my way clearly before me. I knew
that he was born in Anglesey in a parish called Llanfair
Mathafarn eithaf, that is St Mary&rsquo;s of farther
Mathafarn&mdash;but as to where this Mathafarn lay, north or
south, near or far, I knew positively nothing. Passing
through the northern suburb of Bangor I saw a small house in
front of which was written &ldquo;post-office&rdquo; in white
letters; before this house underneath a shrub in a little garden
sat an old man reading. Thinking that from this person,
whom I judged to be the post-master, I was as likely to obtain
information with respect to the place of my destination as from
any one, I stopped, and taking off my hat for a moment, inquired
whether he could tell me anything about the direction of a place
called Llanfair Mathafarn eithaf. He did not seem to
understand my question, for getting up he came towards me and
asked what I wanted: I repeated what I had said, whereupon his
face became animated.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Llanfair Mathafarn eithaf!&rdquo; said he.
&ldquo;Yes, I can tell you about it, and with good reason, for it
lies not far from the place where I was born.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The above was the substance of what he said, and nothing more,
for he spoke in English somewhat broken.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how far is Llanfair from here?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;About ten miles,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s nothing,&rdquo; said I: &ldquo;I was
afraid it was much farther.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you call ten miles nothing,&rdquo; said he,
&ldquo;in a burning day like this? I think you will be both
tired and thirsty before you get to Llanfair, supposing you go
there on foot. But what may your business be at
Llanfair?&rdquo; said he, looking at me inquisitively.
&ldquo;It is a strange place to go to, unless you go to buy hogs
or cattle.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I go to buy neither hogs nor cattle,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;though I am somewhat of a judge of both; I go on a more
important errand, namely to see the birth-place of the great
Gronwy Owen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you any relation of Gronwy Owen?&rdquo; said the
old man, looking at me more inquisitively than before, through a
large pair of spectacles which he wore.</p>

<p>&ldquo;None whatever,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then why do you go to see his parish, it is a very poor
one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From respect to his genius,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I
read his works long ago, and was delighted with them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you a Welshman?&rdquo; said the old man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am no Welshman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you speak Welsh?&rdquo; said he, addressing me in
that language.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A little,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but not so well as I
can read it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;I have lived here
a great many years, but never before did a Saxon call upon me,
asking questions about Gronwy Owen, or his birth-place.
Immortality to his memory! I owe much to him, for reading
his writings taught me to be a poet!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;are you a
poet?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I trust I am,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;though the
humblest of Ynys Fon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>A flash of proud fire, methought, illumined his features as he
pronounced these last words.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am most happy to have met you,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;but tell me how am I to get to Llanfair?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You must go first,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;to Traeth
Coch which in Saxon is called the &lsquo;Red Sand.&rsquo;
In the village called the Pentraeth which lies above that sand, I
was born; through the village and over the bridge you must pass,
and after walking four miles due north you will find yourself in
Llanfair eithaf, at the northern extremity of Mon.
Farewell! That ever Saxon should ask me about Gronwy Owen,
and his birth-place! I scarcely believe you to be a Saxon,
but whether you be or not, I repeat farewell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Coming to the Menai Bridge I asked the man who took the penny
toll at the entrance, the way to Pentraeth Coch.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You see that white house by the wood,&rdquo; said he,
pointing some distance into Anglesey; &ldquo;you must make
towards it till you come to a place where there are four cross
roads and then you must take the road to the right.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Passing over the bridge I made my way towards the house by the
wood which stood on the hill till I came where the four roads
met, when I turned to the right as directed.</p>

<p>The country through which I passed seemed tolerably well
cultivated, the hedge-rows were very high, seeming to spring out
of low stone walls. I met two or three gangs of reapers
proceeding to their work with scythes in their hands.</p>

<p>In about half-an-hour I passed by a farm-house partly
surrounded with walnut trees. Still the same high hedges on
both sides of the road: are these hedges relics of the
sacrificial groves of Mona? thought I to myself. Then I
came to a wretched village through which I hurried at the rate of
six miles an hour. I then saw a long, lofty, craggy hill on
my right hand towards the east.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What mountain is that?&rdquo; said I to an urchin
playing in the hot dust of the road.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mynydd Lydiart!&rdquo; said the urchin, tossing up a
handful of the hot dust into the air, part of which in descending
fell into my eyes.</p>

<p>I shortly afterwards passed by a handsome lodge. I then
saw groves, mountain Lydiart forming a noble background.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who owns this wood?&rdquo; said I in Welsh to two men
who were limbing a felled tree by the road-side.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Lord Vivian,&rdquo; answered one, touching his hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The gentleman is our countryman,&rdquo; said he to the
other after I had passed.</p>

<p>I was now descending the side of a pretty valley, and soon
found myself at Pentraeth Coch. The part of the Pentraeth
where I now was consisted of a few houses and a church, or
something which I judged to be a church, for there was no
steeple; the houses and church stood about a little open spot or
square, the church on the east, and on the west a neat little inn
or public-house over the door of which was written &ldquo;The
White Horse. Hugh Pritchard.&rdquo; By this time I
had verified in part the prediction of the old Welsh poet of the
post-office. Though I was not yet arrived at Llanfair, I
was, if not tired, very thirsty, owing to the burning heat of the
weather, so I determined to go in and have some ale. On
entering the house I was greeted in English by Mr Hugh Pritchard
himself, a tall bulky man with a weather-beaten countenance,
dressed in a brown jerkin and corduroy trowsers, with a broad
low-crowned buff-coloured hat on his head, and what might be
called half shoes and half high-lows on his feet. He had a
short pipe in his mouth, which when he greeted me he took out,
but replaced as soon as the greeting was over, which consisted of
&ldquo;Good-day, sir,&rdquo; delivered in a frank, hearty
tone. I looked Mr Hugh Pritchard in the face and thought I
had never seen a more honest countenance. On my telling Mr
Pritchard that I wanted a pint of ale, a buxom damsel came
forward and led me into a nice cool parlour on the right-hand
side of the door, and then went to fetch the ale.</p>

<p>Mr Pritchard meanwhile went into a kind of tap-room, fronting
the parlour, where I heard him talking in Welsh about pigs and
cattle to some of his customers. I observed that he spoke
with some hesitation; which circumstance I mention as rather
curious, he being the only Welshman I have ever known who, when
speaking his native language, appeared to be at a loss for
words. The damsel presently brought me the ale, which I
tasted and found excellent; she was going away when I asked her
whether Mr Pritchard was her father; on her replying in the
affirmative I inquired whether she was born in that house.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No!&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;I was born in Liverpool; my
father was born in this house, which belonged to his fathers
before him, but he left it at an early age and married my mother
in Liverpool, who was an Anglesey woman, and so I was born in
Liverpool.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what did you do in Liverpool?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;My mother kept a little shop,&rdquo; said the girl,
&ldquo;whilst my father followed various occupations.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how long have you been here?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Since the death of my grandfather,&rdquo; said the
girl, &ldquo;which happened about a year ago. When he died
my father came here and took possession of his
birth-right.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You speak very good English,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;have
you any Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, plenty,&rdquo; said the girl; &ldquo;we always
speak Welsh together, but being born at Liverpool, I of course
have plenty of English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And which language do you prefer?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I think I like English best,&rdquo; said the girl,
&ldquo;it is the most useful language.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not in Anglesey,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the girl, &ldquo;it is the most
genteel.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Gentility,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;will be the ruin of
Welsh, as it has been of many other things&mdash;what have I to
pay for the ale?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Three pence,&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>I paid the money and the girl went out. I finished my
ale, and getting up made for the door; at the door I was met by
Mr Hugh Pritchard, who came out of the tap-room to thank me for
my custom, and to bid me farewell. I asked him whether I
should have any difficulty in finding the way to Llanfair.</p>

<p>&ldquo;None whatever,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you have only to
pass over the bridge of the Traeth, and to go due north for about
four miles, and you will find yourself in Llanfair.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What kind of place is it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A poor straggling village,&rdquo; said Mr
Pritchard.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shall I be able to obtain a lodging there for the
night?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Scarcely one such as you would like,&rdquo; said
Hugh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And where had I best pass the night?&rdquo; I
demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We can accommodate you comfortably here,&rdquo; said Mr
Pritchard, &ldquo;provided you have no objection to come
back.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I told him that I should be only too happy, and forthwith
departed, glad at heart that I had secured a comfortable lodging
for the night.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>

<p class="letter">Leave Pentraeth&mdash;Tranquil Scene&mdash;The
Knoll&mdash;The Miller and his Wife&mdash;Poetry of
Gronwy&mdash;Kind Offer&mdash;Church of Llanfair&mdash;No
English&mdash;Confusion of Ideas&mdash;The Gronwy&mdash;Notable
Little Girl&mdash;The Sycamore Leaf&mdash;Home from
California.</p>

<p>The village of Pentraeth Goch occupies two sides of a romantic
dell&mdash;that part of it which stands on the southern side, and
which comprises the church and the little inn, is by far the
prettiest, that which occupies the northern is a poor assemblage
of huts, a brook rolls at the bottom of the dell, over which
there is a little bridge: coming to the bridge I stopped, and
looked over the side into the water running briskly below.
An aged man who looked like a beggar, but who did not beg of me,
stood by.</p>

<p>&ldquo;To what place does this water run?&rdquo; said I in
English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know no Saxon,&rdquo; said he in trembling
accents.</p>

<p>I repeated my question in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;To the sea,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;which is not far
off, indeed it is so near, that when there are high tides, the
salt water comes up to this bridge.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You seem feeble?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am so,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for I am
old.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How old are you?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sixteen after sixty,&rdquo; said the old man with a
sigh; &ldquo;and I have nearly lost my sight and my
hearing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you poor?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very,&rdquo; said the old man.</p>

<p>I gave him a trifle which he accepted with thanks.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why is this sand called the red sand?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I cannot tell you,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;I
wish I could, for you have been kind to me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Bidding him farewell I passed through the northern part of the
village to the top of the hill. I walked a little way
forward and then stopped, as I had done at the bridge in the
dale, and looked to the east, over a low stone wall.</p>

<p>Before me lay the sea or rather the northern entrance of the
Menai Straits. To my right was mountain Lidiart projecting
some way into the sea; to my left, that is to the north, was a
high hill, with a few white houses near its base, forming a small
village, which a woman who passed by knitting told me was called
Llan Peder Goch or the Church of Red Saint Peter. Mountain
Lidiart and the Northern Hill formed the headlands of a beautiful
bay into which the waters of the Traeth dell, from which I had
come, were discharged. A sandbank, probably covered with
the sea at high tide, seemed to stretch from mountain Lidiart a
considerable way towards the northern hill. Mountain, bay
and sandbank were bathed in sunshine; the water was perfectly
calm; nothing was moving upon it, nor upon the shore, and I
thought I had never beheld a more beautiful and tranquil
scene.</p>

<p>I went on. The country which had hitherto been very
beautiful, abounding with yellow corn-fields, became sterile and
rocky; there were stone walls, but no hedges. I passed by a
moor on my left, then a moory hillock on my right; the way was
broken and stony; all traces of the good roads of Wales had
disappeared; the habitations which I saw by the way were
miserable hovels into and out of which large sows were stalking,
attended by their farrows.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Am I far from Llanfair?&rdquo; said I to a child.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are in Llanfair, gentleman,&rdquo; said the
child.</p>

<p>A desolate place was Llanfair. The sea in the
neighbourhood to the south, limekilns with their stifling smoke
not far from me. I sat down on a little green knoll on the
right-hand side of the road; a small house was near me, and a
desolate-looking mill at about a furlong&rsquo;s distance, to the
south. Hogs came about me grunting and sniffing. I
felt quite melancholy.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is this the neighbourhood of the birth-place of Gronwy
Owen?&rdquo; said I to myself. &ldquo;No wonder that he was
unfortunate through life, springing from such a region of
wretchedness.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Wretched as the region seemed, however, I soon found there
were kindly hearts close by me.</p>

<p>As I sat on the knoll I heard some one slightly cough very
near me, and looking to the left saw a man dressed like a miller
looking at me from the garden of the little house, which I have
already mentioned.</p>

<p>I got up and gave him the sele of the day in English. He
was a man about thirty, rather tall than otherwise, with a very
prepossessing countenance. He shook his head at my
English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What,&rdquo; said I, addressing him in the language of
the country, &ldquo;have you no English? Perhaps you have
Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty,&rdquo; said he, laughing &ldquo;there is no
lack of Welsh amongst any of us here. Are you a
Welshman?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;an Englishman from the far
east of Lloegr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what brings you here?&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A strange errand,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;to look at
the birth-place of a man who has long been dead.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you come to seek for an inheritance?&rdquo; said the
man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Besides the man whose
birth-place I came to see, died poor, leaving nothing behind him
but immortality.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who was he?&rdquo; said the miller.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear a sound of Gronwy Owen?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Frequently,&rdquo; said the miller; &ldquo;I have
frequently heard a sound of him. He was born close by in a
house yonder,&rdquo; pointing to the south.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, gentleman,&rdquo; said a nice-looking woman,
who holding a little child by the hand was come to the
house-door, and was eagerly listening, &ldquo;we have frequently
heard speak of Gronwy Owen; there is much talk of him in these
parts.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am glad to hear it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for I have
feared that his name would not be known here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray, gentleman, walk in!&rdquo; said the miller;
&ldquo;we are going to have our afternoon&rsquo;s meal, and shall
be rejoiced if you will join us.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, do, gentleman,&rdquo; said the miller&rsquo;s
wife, for such the good woman was; &ldquo;and many a welcome
shall you have.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I hesitated, and was about to excuse myself.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t refuse, gentleman!&rdquo; said both,
&ldquo;surely you are not too proud to sit down with
us?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am afraid I shall only cause you trouble,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dim blinder, no trouble,&rdquo; exclaimed both at once;
&ldquo;pray do walk in!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I entered the house, and the kitchen, parlour, or whatever it
was, a nice little room with a slate floor. They made me
sit down at a table by the window, which was already laid for a
meal. There was a clean cloth upon it, a tea-pot, cups and
saucers, a large plate of bread-and-butter, and a plate, on which
were a few very thin slices of brown, watery cheese.</p>

<p>My good friends took their seats, the wife poured out tea for
the stranger and her husband, helped us both to bread-and-butter
and the watery cheese, then took care of herself. Before,
however, I could taste the tea, the wife, seeming to recollect
herself, started up, and hurrying to a cupboard, produced a basin
full of snow-white lump sugar, and taking the spoon out of my
hand, placed two of the largest lumps in my cup, though she
helped neither her husband nor herself; the sugar-basin being
probably only kept for grand occasions.</p>

<p>My eyes filled with tears; for in the whole course of my life
I had never experienced so much genuine hospitality. Honour
to the miller of Mona and his wife; and honour to the kind
hospitable Celts in general! How different is the reception
of this despised race of the wandering stranger from that of
---. However, I am a Saxon myself, and the Saxons have no
doubt their virtues; a pity that they should be all uncouth and
ungracious ones!</p>

<p>I asked my kind host his name.</p>

<p>&ldquo;John Jones,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;Melinydd of
Llanfair.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the mill which you work your own property?&rdquo; I
inquired.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;I rent it of a person
who lives close by.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how happens it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that you
speak no English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How should it happen,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that I
should speak any? I have never been far from here; my wife
who has lived at service at Liverpool can speak some.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you read poetry?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can read the psalms and hymns that they sing at our
chapel,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you are not of the Church?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not,&rdquo; said the miller; &ldquo;I am a
Methodist.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you read the poetry of Gronwy Owen?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I cannot,&rdquo; said the miller, &ldquo;that is with
any comfort; his poetry is in the ancient Welsh measures, which
make poetry so difficult that few can understand it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can understand poetry in those measures,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how much time did you spend,&rdquo; said the
miller, &ldquo;before you could understand the poetry of the
measures?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Three years,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>The miller laughed.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I could not have afforded all that time,&rdquo; said
he, &ldquo;to study the songs of Gronwy. However, it is
well that some people should have time to study them. He
was a great poet as I have been told, and is the glory of our
land&mdash;but he was unfortunate; I have read his life in Welsh
and part of his letters; and in doing so have shed
tears.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has his house any particular name?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is called sometimes Ty Gronwy,&rdquo; said the
miller; &ldquo;but more frequently Tafarn Goch.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Red Tavern?&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;How is it
that so many of your places are called Goch? there is Pentraeth
Goch; there is Saint Pedair Goch, and here at Llanfair is Tafarn
Goch.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The miller laughed.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It will take a wiser man than I,&rdquo; said he,
&ldquo;to answer that question.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The repast over I rose up, gave my host thanks, and said,
&ldquo;I will now leave you, and hunt up things connected with
Gronwy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And where will you find a lletty for night,
gentleman?&rdquo; said the miller&rsquo;s wife. &ldquo;This
is a poor place, but if you will make use of our home you are
welcome.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I need not trouble you,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I return
this night to Pentraeth Goch where I shall sleep.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the miller, &ldquo;whilst you are at
Llanfair I will accompany you about. Where shall we go to
first?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where is the church?&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I
should like to see the church where Gronwy worshipped God as a
boy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The church is at some distance,&rdquo; said the man;
&ldquo;it is past my mill, and as I want to go to the mill for a
moment, it will be perhaps well to go and see the church, before
we go to the house of Gronwy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I shook the miller&rsquo;s wife by the hand, patted a little
yellow-haired girl of about two years old on the head, who during
the whole time of the meal had sat on the slate floor looking up
into my face, and left the house with honest Jones.</p>

<p>We directed our course to the mill, which lay some way down a
declivity, towards the sea. Near the mill was a
comfortable-looking house, which my friend told me belonged to
the proprietor of the mill. A rustic-looking man stood in
the mill-yard, who he said was the proprietor. The honest
miller went into the mill, and the rustic-looking proprietor
greeted me in Welsh, and asked me if I was come to buy hogs.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I am come to see the
birth-place of Gronwy Owen;&rdquo; he stared at me for a moment,
then seemed to muse, and at last walked away saying, &ldquo;Ah! a
great man.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The miller presently joined me, and we proceeded farther down
the hill. Our way lay between stone walls, and sometimes
over them. The land was moory and rocky, with nothing grand
about it, and the miller described it well when he said it was
tîr gwael&mdash;mean land. In about a quarter of an
hour we came to the churchyard into which we got, the gate being
locked, by clambering over the wall.</p>

<p>The church stands low down the descent, not far distant from
the sea. A little brook, called in the language of the
country a frwd, washes its yard-wall on the south. It is a
small edifice with no spire, but to the south-west there is a
little stone erection rising from the roof, in which hangs a
bell&mdash;there is a small porch looking to the south.
With respect to its interior I can say nothing, the door being
locked. It is probably like the outside, simple
enough. It seemed to be about two hundred and fifty years
old, and to be kept in tolerable repair. Simple as the
edifice was, I looked with great emotion upon it; and could I do
else, when I reflected that the greatest British poet of the last
century had worshipped God within it, with his poor father and
mother, when a boy?</p>

<p>I asked the miller whether he could point out to me any tombs
or grave-stones of Gronwy&rsquo;s family, but he told me that he
was not aware of any. On looking about I found the name of
Owen in the inscription on the slate slab of a
respectable-looking modern tomb, on the north-east side of the
church. The inscription was as follows:</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center">Er cof am <span
class="smcap">Jane Owen</span><br />
Gwraig Edward Owen,<br />
Monachlog Llanfair Mathafam eithaf,<br />
A fu farw Chwefror 28 1842<br />
Yn 51 Oed.</p>

<p><i>i.e.</i> &ldquo;To the memory of <span class="smcap">Jane
Owen</span> Wife of Edward Owen, of the monastery of St Mary of
farther Mathafarn, who died February 28, 1842, aged
fifty-one.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Whether the Edward Owen mentioned here was any relation to the
great Gronwy, I had no opportunity of learning. I asked the
miller what was meant by the monastery, and he told that it was
the name of a building to the north-east near the sea, which had
once been a monastery but had been converted into a farm-house,
though it still retained its original name. &ldquo;May all
monasteries be converted into farm-houses,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and may they still retain their original names in mockery
of popery!&rdquo;</p>

<p>Having seen all I could well see of the church and its
precincts I departed with my kind guide. After we had
retraced our steps some way, we came to some stepping-stones on
the side of a wall, and the miller pointing to them said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;The nearest way to the house of Gronwy will be over the
llamfa.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I was now become ashamed of keeping the worthy fellow from his
business, and begged him to return to his mill. He refused
to leave me, at first, but on my pressing him to do so, and on my
telling him that I could find the way to the house of Gronwy very
well by myself, he consented. We shook hands, the miller
wished me luck, and betook himself to his mill, whilst I crossed
the llamfa. I soon, however, repented having left the path
by which I had come. I was presently in a maze of little
fields with stone walls over which I had to clamber. At
last I got into a lane with a stone wall on each side. A
man came towards me and was about to pass me&mdash;his look was
averted, and he was evidently one of those who have &ldquo;no
English.&rdquo; A Welshman of his description always
averting his look when he sees a stranger who he thinks has
&ldquo;no Welsh,&rdquo; lest the stranger should ask him a
question and he be obliged to confess that he has &ldquo;no
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is this the way to Llanfair?&rdquo; said I to the
man. The man made a kind of rush in order to get past
me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any Welsh?&rdquo; I shouted as loud as I could
bawl.</p>

<p>The man stopped, and turning a dark sullen countenance half
upon me said, &ldquo;Yes, I have Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Which is the way to Llanfair?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Llanfair, Llanfair?&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;what do
you mean?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I want to get there,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you not there already?&rdquo; said the fellow
stamping on the ground, &ldquo;are you not in Llanfair?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, but I want to get to the town.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Town, town! Oh, I have no English,&rdquo; said
the man; and off he started like a frighted bullock. The
poor fellow was probably at first terrified at seeing an
Englishman, then confused at hearing an Englishman speak Welsh, a
language which the Welsh in general imagine no Englishman can
speak, the tongue of an Englishman as they say not being long
enough to pronounce Welsh; and lastly utterly deprived of what
reasoning faculties he had still remaining by my asking him for
the town of Llanfair, there being properly no town.</p>

<p>I went on, and at last getting out of the lane, found myself
upon the road, along which I had come about two hours before; the
house of the miller was at some distance on my right. Near
me were two or three houses and part of the skeleton of one, on
which some men, in the dress of masons, seemed to be
occupied. Going up to these men I said in Welsh to one,
whom I judged to be the principal, and who was rather a tall
fine-looking fellow:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you heard a sound of Gronwy Owain?&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here occurred another instance of the strange things people do
when their ideas are confused. The man stood for a moment
or two, as if transfixed, a trowel motionless in one of his
hands, and a brick in the other; at last giving a kind of gasp,
he answered in very tolerable Spanish:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Si, se&ntilde;or! he oido.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is his house far from here?&rdquo; said I in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, se&ntilde;or!&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;no esta
muy lejos.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am a stranger here, friend, can anybody show me the
way?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Si se&ntilde;or! este mozo
luego&mdash;acompa&ntilde;ara usted.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then turning to a lad of about eighteen, also dressed as a
mason, he said in Welsh:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Show this gentleman instantly the way to Tafarn
Goch.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The lad flinging a hod down, which he had on his shoulder,
instantly set off, making me a motion with his head to follow
him. I did so, wondering what the man could mean by
speaking to me in Spanish. The lad walked by my side in
silence for about two furlongs till we came to a range of trees,
seemingly sycamores, behind which was a little garden, in which
stood a long low house with three chimneys. The lad
stopping flung open a gate which led into the garden, then crying
to a child which he saw within: &ldquo;Gad roi
tro&rdquo;&mdash;let the man take a turn; he was about to leave
me, when I stopped him to put sixpence into his hand. He
received the money with a gruff &ldquo;Diolch!&rdquo; and
instantly set off at a quick pace. Passing the child who
stared at me, I walked to the back part of the house, which
seemed to be a long mud cottage. After examining the back
part I went in front, where I saw an aged woman with several
children, one of whom was the child I had first seen. She
smiled and asked me what I wanted.</p>

<p>I said that I had come to see the house of Gronwy. She
did not understand me, for shaking her head she said that she had
no English, and was rather deaf. Raising my voice to a very
high tone I said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ty Gronwy!&rdquo;</p>

<p>A gleam of intelligence flashed now in her eyes.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ty Gronwy,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;ah! I
understand. Come in sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>There were three doors to the house; she led me in by the
midmost into a common cottage room, with no other ceiling,
seemingly, than the roof. She bade me sit down by the
window by a little table, and asked me whether I would have a cup
of milk and some bread-and-butter; I declined both, but said I
should be thankful for a little water.</p>

<p>This she presently brought me in a teacup, I drank it, the
children amounting to five standing a little way from me staring
at me. I asked her if this was the house in which Gronwy
was born. She said it was, but that it had been altered
very much since his time&mdash;that three families had lived in
it, but that she believed he was born about where we were
now.</p>

<p>A man now coming in who lived at the next door, she said I had
better speak to him and tell him what I wanted to know, which he
could then communicate to her, as she could understand his way of
speaking much better than mine. Through the man I asked her
whether there was any one of the blood of Gronwy Owen living in
the house. She pointed to the children and said they had
all some of his blood. I asked in what relationship they
stood to Gronwy. She said she could hardly tell, that tri
priodas, three marriages stood between, and that the relationship
was on the mother&rsquo;s side. I gathered from her that
the children had lost their mother, that their name was Jones,
and that their father was her son. I asked if the house in
which they lived was their own; she said no, that it belonged to
a man who lived at some distance. I asked if the children
were poor.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very,&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>I gave them each a trifle, and the poor old lady thanked me
with tears in her eyes.</p>

<p>I asked whether the children could read; she said they all
could, with the exception of the two youngest. The eldest
she said could read anything, whether Welsh or English; she then
took from the window-sill a book, which she put into my hand,
saying the child could read it and understand it. I opened
the book; it was an English school-book treating on all the
sciences.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you write?&rdquo; said I to the child, a little
stubby girl of about eight, with a broad flat red face and grey
eyes, dressed in a chintz gown, a little bonnet on her head, and
looking the image of notableness.</p>

<p>The little maiden, who had never taken her eyes off of me for
a moment during the whole time I had been in the room, at first
made no answer; being, however, bid by her grandmother to speak,
she at length answered in a soft voice, &ldquo;Medraf, I
can.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then write your name in this book,&rdquo; said I,
taking out a pocket-book and a pencil, &ldquo;and write likewise
that you are related to Gronwy Owen&mdash;and be sure you write
in Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The little maiden very demurely took the book and pencil, and
placing the former on the table wrote as follows:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ellen Jones yn perthyn o bell i gronow owen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>That is, &ldquo;Ellen Jones belonging from afar to Gronwy
Owen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>When I saw the name of Ellen I had no doubt that the children
were related to the illustrious Gronwy. Ellen is a very
uncommon Welsh name, but it seems to have been a family name of
the Owens; it was borne by an infant daughter of the poet whom he
tenderly loved, and who died whilst he was toiling at Walton in
Cheshire,&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Ellen, my darling,<br />
Who liest in the Churchyard at Walton.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>says poor Gronwy in one of the most affecting elegies ever
written.</p>

<p>After a little farther conversation I bade the family farewell
and left the house. After going down the road a hundred
yards I turned back in order to ask permission to gather a leaf
from one of the sycamores. Seeing the man who had helped me
in my conversation with the old woman standing at the gate, I
told him what I wanted, whereupon he instantly tore down a
handful of leaves and gave them to me. Thrusting them into
my coat-pocket I thanked him kindly and departed.</p>

<p>Coming to the half-erected house, I again saw the man to whom
I had addressed myself for information. I stopped, and
speaking Spanish to him, asked how he had acquired the Spanish
language.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have been in Chili, sir,&rdquo; said he in the same
tongue, &ldquo;and in California, and in those places I learned
Spanish.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What did you go to Chili for?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I
need not ask you on what account you went to
California.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I went there as a mariner,&rdquo; said the man;
&ldquo;I sailed out of Liverpool for Chili.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how is it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that being a
mariner and sailing in a Liverpool ship you do not speak
English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I speak English, se&ntilde;or,&rdquo; said the man,
&ldquo;perfectly well.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then how in the name of wonder,&rdquo; said I, speaking
English, &ldquo;came you to answer me in Spanish? I am an
Englishman thorough bred.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can scarcely tell you how it was, sir,&rdquo; said
the man scratching his head, &ldquo;but I thought I would speak
to you in Spanish.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And why not English?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I heard you speaking Welsh,&rdquo; said the man;
&ldquo;and as for an Englishman speaking Welsh&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But why not answer me in Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I saw it was not your language, sir,&rdquo; said
the man, &ldquo;and as I had picked up some Spanish I thought it
would be but fair to answer you in it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But how did you know that I could speak Spanish?&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know indeed, sir,&rdquo; said the man;
&ldquo;but I looked at you, and something seemed to tell me that
you could speak Spanish. I can&rsquo;t tell you how it was
sir,&rdquo; said he, looking me very innocently in the face,
&ldquo;but I was forced to speak Spanish to you. I was
indeed!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The long and the short of it was,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;that you took me for a foreigner, and thought that it
would be but polite to answer me in a foreign
language.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I daresay it was so, sir,&rdquo; said the man.
&ldquo;I daresay it was just as you say.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How did you fare in California?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very fairly indeed, sir,&rdquo; said the man.
&ldquo;I made some money there, and brought it home, and with
part of it I am building this house.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am very happy to hear it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you
are really a remarkable man&mdash;few return from California
speaking Spanish as you do, and still fewer with money in their
pockets.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The poor fellow looked pleased at what I said, more especially
at that part of the sentence which touched upon his speaking
Spanish well. Wishing him many years of health and
happiness in the house he was building, I left him, and proceeded
on my path towards Pentraeth Goch.</p>

<p>After walking some way, I turned round in order to take a last
look of the place which had so much interest for me. The
mill may be seen from a considerable distance; so may some of the
scattered houses, and also the wood which surrounds the house of
the illustrious Gronwy. Prosperity to Llanfair! and may
many a pilgrimage be made to it of the same character as my
own.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Boxing Harry&mdash;Mr Bos&mdash;Black
Robin&mdash;Drovers&mdash;Commercial Travellers.</p>

<p>I arrived at the hostelry of Mr Pritchard without meeting any
adventure worthy of being marked down. I went into the
little parlour, and, ringing the bell, was presently waited upon
by Mrs Pritchard, a nice matronly woman, whom I had not before
seen, of whom I inquired what I could have for dinner.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This is no great place for meat,&rdquo; said Mrs
Pritchard, &ldquo;that is fresh meat, for sometimes a fortnight
passes without anything being killed in the neighbourhood.
I am afraid at present there is not a bit of fresh meat to be
had. What we can get you for dinner I do not know, unless
you are willing to make shift with bacon and eggs.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what I&rsquo;ll do,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;I will have the bacon and eggs with tea and
bread-and-butter, not forgetting a pint of ale&mdash;in a word, I
will box Harry.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you are a commercial gent,&rdquo; said Mrs
Pritchard.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why do you suppose me a commercial gent?&rdquo; said
I. &ldquo;Do I look one?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t say you do much,&rdquo; said Mrs Pritchard;
&ldquo;you have no rings on your fingers, nor a gilt chain at
your waistcoat-pocket, but when you said &lsquo;box Harry,&rsquo;
I naturally took you to be one of the commercial gents, for when
I was at Liverpool I was told that that was a word of
theirs.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe the word properly belongs to them,&rdquo;
said I. &ldquo;I am not one of them; but I learnt it from
them, a great many years ago, when I was much amongst them.
Those whose employers were in a small way of business, or allowed
them insufficient salaries, frequently used to &lsquo;box
Harry,&rsquo; that is, have a beaf-steak, or mutton-chop, or
perhaps bacon and eggs, as I am going to have, along with tea and
ale, instead of the regular dinner of a commercial gentleman,
namely, fish, hot joint, and fowl, pint of sherry, tart, ale and
cheese, and bottle of old port, at the end of all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Having made arrangements for &ldquo;boxing Harry&rdquo; I went
into the tap-room, from which I had heard the voice of Mr
Pritchard proceeding during the whole of my conversation with his
wife. Here I found the worthy landlord seated with a single
customer; both were smoking. The customer instantly
arrested my attention. He was a man, seemingly about forty
years of age with a broad red face, with certain somethings,
looking very much like incipient carbuncles, here and there, upon
it. His eyes were grey and looked rather as if they
squinted; his mouth was very wide, and when it opened displayed a
set of strong, white, uneven teeth. He was dressed in a
pepper-and-salt coat of the Newmarket cut, breeches of corduroy
and brown top boots, and had on his head a broad, black, coarse,
low-crowned hat. In his left hand he held a heavy
whale-bone whip with a brass head. I sat down on a bench
nearly opposite to him and the landlord.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Mr Pritchard; &ldquo;did you find
your way to Llanfair?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And did you execute the business satisfactorily which
led you there?&rdquo; said Mr Pritchard.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, what did you give a stone for your live
pork?&rdquo; said his companion glancing up at me, and speaking
in a gruff voice.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I did not buy any live pork,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;do
you take me for a pig-jobber?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said the man, in pepper-and-salt;
&ldquo;who but a pig jobber could have business at
Llanfair?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does Llanfair produce nothing but pigs?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nothing at all,&rdquo; said the man in the
pepper-and-salt, &ldquo;that is, nothing worth mentioning.
You wouldn&rsquo;t go there for runts, that is, if you were in
your right senses; if you were in want of runts you would have
gone to my parish and have applied to me, Mr Bos; that is if you
were in your senses. Wouldn&rsquo;t he, John
Pritchard?&rdquo;</p>

<p>Mr Pritchard thus appealed to took the pipe out of his mouth,
and with some hesitations said that he believed the gentleman
neither went to Llanfair for pigs nor black cattle but upon some
particular business.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Mr Bos, &ldquo;it may be so, but I
can&rsquo;t conceive how any person, either gentle or simple,
could have any business in Anglesey save that business was pigs
or cattle.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The truth is,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I went to Llanfair
to see the birth-place of a great man&mdash;the cleverest
Anglesey ever produced.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you went wrong,&rdquo; said Mr Bos, &ldquo;you
went to the wrong parish, you should have gone to Penmynnydd; the
clebber man of Anglesey was born and buried at Penmynnydd, you
may see his tomb in the church.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are alluding to Black Robin,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;who wrote the ode in praise of Anglesey&mdash;yes, he was
a very clever young fellow, but excuse me, he was not half such a
poet as Gronwy Owen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Black Robin,&rdquo; said Mr Bos, &ldquo;and Gronow
Owen, who the Devil were they? I never heard of
either. I wasn&rsquo;t talking of them, but of the
clebberest man the world ever saw. Did you never hear of
Owen Tiddir? If you didn&rsquo;t, where did you get your
education?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have heard of Owen Tudor,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but
never understood that he was particularly clever; handsome he
undoubtedly was&mdash;but clever&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How not clebber?&rdquo; interrupted Mr Bos.
&ldquo;If he wasn&rsquo;t clebber, who was clebber?
Didn&rsquo;t he marry a great queen, and was not Harry the Eighth
his great grandson?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Really,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you know a great deal of
history.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I should hope I do,&rdquo; said Mr Bos.
&ldquo;Oh, I wasn&rsquo;t at school at Blewmaris for six months
for nothing; and I haven&rsquo;t been in Northampton, and in
every town in England, without learning something of
history. With regard to history I may say that
few&mdash;Won&rsquo;t you drink?&rdquo; said he, patronizingly,
as he pushed a jug of ale which stood before him on a little
table towards me.</p>

<p>Begging politely to be excused on the plea that I was just
about to take tea, I asked him in what capacity he had travelled
all over England.</p>

<p>&ldquo;As a drover to be sure,&rdquo; said Mr Bos, &ldquo;and
I may say that there are not many in Anglesey better known in
England than myself&mdash;at any rate I may say that there is not
a public-house between here and Worcester at which I am not
known.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray excuse me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but is not
droving rather a low-lifed occupation?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not half so much as pig-jobbing,&rdquo; said Bos,
&ldquo;and that that&rsquo;s your trade I am certain, or you
would never have gone to Llanfair.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am no pig-jobber,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and when I
asked you that question about droving, I merely did so because
one Ellis Wynn, in a book he wrote, gives the drovers a very bad
character, and puts them in Hell for their
mal-practices.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, he does,&rdquo; said Mr Bos, &ldquo;well, the next
time I meet him at Corwen I&rsquo;ll crack his head for saying
so. Mal-practices&mdash;he had better look at his own, for
he is a pig-jobber too. Written a book has he? then I
suppose he has been left a legacy, and gone to school after
middle-age, for when I last saw him, which is four years ago, he
could neither read nor write.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I was about to tell Mr Bos that the Ellis Wynn that I meant
was no more a pig-jobber than myself, but a respectable
clergyman, who had been dead considerably upwards of a hundred
years, and that also, notwithstanding my respect for Mr
Bos&rsquo;s knowledge of history, I did not believe that Owen
Tudor was buried at Penmynnydd, when I was prevented by the
entrance of Mrs Pritchard, who came to inform me that my repast
was ready in the other room, whereupon I got up and went into the
parlour to &ldquo;box Harry.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Having dispatched my bacon and eggs, tea and ale, I fell into
deep meditation. My mind reverted to a long past period of
my life, when I was to a certain extent fixed up with commercial
travellers, and had plenty of opportunities of observing their
habits, and the terms employed by them in conversation. I
called up several individuals of the two classes into which they
used to be divided, for commercial travellers in my time were
divided into two classes, those who ate dinners and drank their
bottle of port, and those who &ldquo;boxed Harry.&rdquo;
What glorious fellows the first seemed! What airs they gave
themselves! What oaths they swore! and what influence they
had with hostlers and chambermaids! and what a sneaking-looking
set the others were! shabby in their apparel; no fine ferocity in
their countenances; no oaths in their mouths, except such a
trumpery apology for an oath as an occasional &ldquo;confounded
hard;&rdquo; with little or no influence at inns, scowled at by
hostlers, and never smiled at by chambermaids&mdash;and then I
remembered how often I had bothered my head in vain to account
for the origin of the term &ldquo;box Harry,&rdquo; and how often
I had in vain applied both to those who did box and to those who
did not &ldquo;box Harry,&rdquo; for a clear and satisfactory
elucidation of the expression&mdash;and at last found myself
again bothering my head as of old in a vain attempt to account
for the origin of the term &ldquo;boxing Harry.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>

<p class="letter">Northampton&mdash;Horse&mdash;Breaking&mdash;Snoring.</p>

<p>Tired at length with my vain efforts to account for the term
which in my time was so much in vogue amongst commercial
gentlemen I left the little parlour, and repaired to the common
room. Mr Pritchard and Mr Bos were still there smoking and
drinking, but there was now a candle on the table before them,
for night was fast coming on. Mr Bos was giving an account
of his travels in England, sometimes in Welsh, sometimes in
English, to which Mr Pritchard was listening with the greatest
attention, occasionally putting in a &ldquo;see there now,&rdquo;
and &ldquo;what a fine thing it is to have gone
about.&rdquo; After some time Mr Bos exclaimed:</p>

<p>&ldquo;I think, upon the whole, of all the places I have seen
in England I like Northampton best.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you found the men of
Northampton good-tempered, jovial fellows?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t say I did,&rdquo; said Mr Bos; &ldquo;they
are all shoe-makers, and of course quarrelsome and contradictory,
for where was there ever a shoemaker who was not conceited and
easily riled? No, I have little to say in favour of
Northampton as far as the men are concerned. It&rsquo;s not
the men but the women that make me speak in praise of
Northampton. The men all are ill-tempered, but the women
quite the contrary. I never saw such a place for merched
anladd as Northampton. I was a great favourite with them,
and could tell you such tales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>And then Mr Bos, putting his hat rather on one side of his
head, told us two or three tales of his adventures with the
merched anladd of Northampton, which brought powerfully to my
mind part of what Ellis Wynn had said with respect to the
practices of drovers in his day, detestation for which had
induced him to put the whole tribe into Hell.</p>

<p>All of a sudden I heard a galloping down the road, and
presently a mighty plunging, seemingly of a horse, before the
door of the inn. I rushed out followed by my companions,
and lo, on the open space before the inn was a young horse,
rearing and kicking, with a young man on his back. The
horse had neither bridle nor saddle, and the young fellow merely
rode him with a rope passed about his head&mdash;presently the
horse became tolerably quiet, and his rider jumping off led him
into the stable, where he made him fast to the rack and then came
and joined us, whereupon we all went into the room from which I
and the others had come on hearing the noise of the struggle.</p>

<p>&ldquo;How came you on the colt&rsquo;s back, Jenkins?&rdquo;
said Mr Pritchard, after we had all sat down and Jenkins had
called for some cwrw. &ldquo;I did not know that he was
broke in.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am breaking him in myself,&rdquo; said Jenkins
speaking Welsh. &ldquo;I began with him
to-night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you mean to say,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that you have
begun breaking him in by mounting his back?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do,&rdquo; said the other.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then depend upon it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that it will
not be long before he will either break his neck or knees or he
will break your neck or crown. You are not going the right
way to work.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, myn Diawl!&rdquo; said Jenkins, &ldquo;I know
better. In a day or two I shall have made him quite tame,
and have got him into excellent paces and shall have saved the
money I must have paid away, had I put him into a jockey&rsquo;s
hands.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Time passed, night came on, and other guests came in.
There was much talking of first-rate Welsh and very indifferent
English, Mr Bos being the principal speaker in both languages;
his discourse was chiefly on the comparative merits of Anglesey
runts and Scotch bullocks, and those of the merched anladd of
Northampton and the lasses of Wrexham. He preferred his own
country runts to the Scotch kine, but said upon the whole, though
a Welshman, he must give the preference to the merched of
Northampton over those of Wrexham, for free and easy demeanour,
notwithstanding that in that point which he said was the most
desirable point in females, the lasses of Wrexham were generally
considered out-and-outers.</p>

<p>Fond as I am of listening to public-house conversation, from
which I generally contrive to extract both amusement and
edification, I became rather tired of this, and getting up,
strolled about the little village by moonlight till I felt
disposed to retire to rest, when returning to the inn, I begged
to be shown the room in which I was to sleep. Mrs Pritchard
forthwith taking a candle conducted me to a small room
upstairs. There were two beds in it. The good lady
pointing to one, next the window, in which there were nice clean
sheets, told me that was the one which I was to occupy, and
bidding me good-night, and leaving the candle, departed.
Putting out the light I got into bed, but instantly found that
the bed was not long enough by at least a foot. &ldquo;I
shall pass an uncomfortable night,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for I
never yet could sleep comfortably in a bed too short.
However, as I am on my travels, I must endeavour to accommodate
myself to circumstances.&rdquo; So I endeavoured to compose
myself to sleep; before, however, I could succeed, I heard the
sound of stumping steps coming upstairs, and perceived a beam of
light through the crevices of the door, and in a moment more the
door opened and in came two loutish farming lads whom I had
observed below, one of them bearing a rushlight stuck into an old
blacking-bottle. Without saying a word they flung off part
of their clothes, and one of them having blown out the rushlight,
they both tumbled into bed, and in a moment were snoring most
sonorously. &ldquo;I am in a short bed,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and have snorers close by me; I fear I shall have a sorry
night of it.&rdquo; I determined, however, to adhere to my
resolution of making the best of circumstances, and lay perfectly
quiet, listening to the snorings as they rose and fell; at last
they became more gentle and I fell asleep, notwithstanding my
feet were projecting some way from the bed. I might have
lain ten minutes or a quarter of an hour when I suddenly started
up in the bed broad awake. There was a great noise below
the window of plunging and struggling interspersed with Welsh
oaths. Then there was a sound as if of a heavy fall, and
presently a groan. &ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t wonder,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;if that fellow with the horse has verified my
words, and has either broken his horse&rsquo;s neck or his
own. However, if he has, he has no one to blame but
himself. I gave him fair warning, and shall give myself no
further trouble about the matter, but go to sleep,&rdquo; and so
I did.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXV</h2>

<p class="letter">Brilliant Morning&mdash;Travelling with
Edification&mdash;A Good Clergyman&mdash;Gybi.</p>

<p>I awoke about six o&rsquo;clock in the morning, having passed
the night much better than I anticipated. The sun was
shining bright and gloriously into the apartment. On
looking into the other bed I found that my chums, the young
farm-labourers, had deserted it. They were probably already
in the field busy at labour. After lying a little time
longer I arose, dressed myself and went down. I found my
friend honest Pritchard smoking his morning pipe at the front
door, and after giving him the sele of the day, I inquired of him
the cause of the disturbance beneath my window the night before,
and learned that the man of the horse had been thrown by the
animal off its back, that the horse almost immediately after had
slipped down, and both had been led home very much hurt. We
then talked about farming and the crops, and at length got into a
discourse about Liverpool. I asked him how he liked that
mighty seaport; he said very well, but that he did not know much
about it&mdash;for though he had a house there where his family
had resided, he had not lived much at Liverpool himself, his
absences from that place having been many and long.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you travelled then much about England?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;When I have
travelled it has chiefly been across the sea to foreign
places.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But what foreign places have you visited?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have visited,&rdquo; said Pritchard,
&ldquo;Constantinople, Alexandria, and some other cities in the
south latitudes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you have seen some of
the most celebrated places in the world&mdash;and yet you were
silent, and said nothing about your travels whilst that fellow
Bos was pluming himself at having been at such places as
Northampton and Worcester, the haunts of shoe-makers and
pig-jobbers.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said Pritchard, &ldquo;but Mr Bos has
travelled with edification; it is a fine thing to have travelled
when one has done so with edification, but I have not.
There is a vast deal of difference between me and him&mdash;he is
considered the &rsquo;cutest man in these parts, and is much
looked up to.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are really,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the most modest
person I have ever known and the least addicted to envy.
Let me see whether you have travelled without
edification.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I then questioned him about the places which he had mentioned,
and found he knew a great deal about them, amongst other things
he described Cleopatra&rsquo;s needle, and the At Maidan at
Constantinople with surprising exactness.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You put me out,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;you consider
yourself inferior to that droving fellow Bos, and to have
travelled without edification, whereas you know a thousand times
more than he, and indeed much more than many a person who makes
his five hundred a year by going about lecturing on foreign
places, but as I am no flatterer I will tell you that you have a
fault which will always prevent your rising in this world, you
have modesty; those who have modesty shall have no advancement,
whilst those who can blow their own horn lustily, shall be made
governors. But allow me to ask you in what capacity you
went abroad?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;As engineer to various steamships,&rdquo; said
Pritchard.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A director of the power of steam,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and an explorer of the wonders of Iscander&rsquo;s city
willing to hold the candle to Mr Bos. I will tell you what,
you are too good for this world, let us hope you will have your
reward in the next.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I breakfasted and asked for my bill; the bill amounted to
little or nothing&mdash;half-a-crown I think for tea-dinner,
sundry jugs of ale, bed and breakfast. I defrayed it, and
then inquired whether it would be possible for me to see the
inside of the church.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said Pritchard. &ldquo;I can let
you in, for I am churchwarden and have the key.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The church was a little edifice of some antiquity, with a
little wing and without a spire; it was situated amidst a grove
of trees. As we stood with our hats off in the sacred
edifice, I asked Pritchard if there were many Methodists in those
parts.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not so many as there were,&rdquo; said Pritchard,
&ldquo;they are rapidly decreasing, and indeed dissenters in
general. The cause of their decrease is that a good
clergyman has lately come here, who visits the sick and preaches
Christ, and in fact does his duty. If all our clergymen
were like him there would not be many dissenters in Ynis
Fon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Outside the church, in the wall, I observed a tablet with the
following inscription in English.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Here lieth interred the body of Ann, wife of
Robert Paston, who deceased the sixth day of October, Anno
Domini.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">1671.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">P.<br />
R. A.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;You seem struck with that writing?&rdquo; said
Pritchard, observing that I stood motionless, staring at the
tablet.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The name of Paston,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;struck me; it
is the name of a village in my own native district, from which an
old family, now almost extinct, derived its name. How came
a Paston into Ynys Fon? Are there any people bearing that
name at present in these parts?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not that I am aware,&rdquo; said Pritchard,</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wonder who his wife Ann was?&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;from the style of that tablet she must have been a
considerable person.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps she was the daughter of the Lewis family of
Llan Dyfnant,&rdquo; said Pritchard; &ldquo;that&rsquo;s an old
family and a rich one. Perhaps he came from a distance and
saw and married a daughter of the Lewis of Dyfnant&mdash;more
than one stranger has done so. Lord Vivian came from a
distance and saw and married a daughter of the rich Lewis of
Dyfnant.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I shook honest Pritchard by the hand, thanked him for his
kindness and wished him farewell, whereupon he gave mine a hearty
squeeze, thanking me for my custom.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Which is my way,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;to Pen Caer
Gybi?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You must go about a mile on the Bangor road, and then
turning to the right pass through Penmynnydd, but what takes you
to Holyhead?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish to see,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the place where
Cybi the tawny saint preached and worshipped. He was called
tawny because from his frequent walks in the blaze of the sun his
face had become much sun-burnt. This is a furiously hot
day, and perhaps by the time I get to Holyhead, I may be so
sun-burnt as to be able to pass for Cybi himself.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2>

<p class="letter">Moelfre&mdash;Owain Gwynedd&mdash;Church of
Penmynnydd&mdash;The Rose of Mona.</p>

<p>Leaving Pentraeth Coch I retraced my way along the Bangor road
till I came to the turning on the right. Here I diverged
from the aforesaid road, and proceeded along one which led nearly
due west; after travelling about a mile I stopped, on the top of
a little hill; cornfields were on either side, and in one an aged
man was reaping close to the road; I looked south, west, north
and east; to the south was the Snowdon range far away, with the
Wyddfa just discernible; to the west and north was nothing very
remarkable, but to the east or rather north-east, was mountain
Lidiart and the tall hill confronting it across the bay.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you tell me,&rdquo; said I to the old reaper,
&ldquo;the name of that bald hill, which looks towards
Lidiart?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We call that hill Moelfre,&rdquo; said the old man
desisting from his labour, and touching his hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;Moelfre,
Moelfre!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there anything wonderful in the name, sir?&rdquo;
said the old man smiling.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is nothing wonderful in the name,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;which merely means the bald hill, but it brings wonderful
recollections to my mind. I little thought when I was
looking from the road near Pentraeth Coch yesterday on that hill,
and the bay and strand below it, and admiring the tranquillity
which reigned over all, that I was gazing upon the scene of one
of the most tremendous conflicts recorded in history or
poetry.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said the old reaper; &ldquo;and whom
may it have been between? the French and English, I
suppose.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;it was fought between one of
your Welsh kings, the great Owain Gwynedd, and certain northern
and Irish enemies of his.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only think,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;and it was
a fierce battle, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It was, indeed,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;according to the
words of a poet, who described it, the Menai could not ebb on
account of the torrent of blood which flowed into it, slaughter
was heaped upon slaughter, shout followed shout, and around
Moelfre a thousand war flags waved.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;I never
before heard anything about it, indeed I don&rsquo;t trouble my
head with histories, unless they be Bible histories.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you a Churchman?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the old man, shortly; &ldquo;I am a
Methodist.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I belong to the Church,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;So I should have guessed, sir, by your being so well
acquainted with pennillion and histories. Ah, the Church. .
. . .&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;This is dreadfully hot weather,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and I should like to offer you sixpence for ale, but as I
am a Churchman I suppose you would not accept it from my
hands.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Lord forbid, sir,&rdquo; said the old man,
&ldquo;that I should be so uncharitable! If your honour
chooses to give me sixpence, I will receive it willingly.
Thank your honour! Well, I have often said there is a great
deal of good in the Church of England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I once more looked at the hill which overlooked the scene of
Owen Gwynedd&rsquo;s triumph over the united forces of the Irish
Lochlanders and Normans, and then after inquiring of the old man
whether I was in the right direction for Penmynnydd, and finding
that I was, I set off at a great pace, singing occasionally
snatches of Black Robin&rsquo;s ode in praise of Anglesey,
amongst others the following stanza:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Bread of the wholesomest is found<br />
In my mother-land of Anglesey;<br />
Friendly bounteous men abound<br />
In Penmynnydd of Anglesey.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I reached Penmynnydd, a small village consisting of a few
white houses and a mill. The meaning of Penmynnydd is
literally the top of a hill. The village does not stand on
a hill, but the church which is at some distance, stands on one,
or rather on a hillock. And it is probable from the
circumstance of the church standing on a hillock, that the parish
derives its name. Towards the church after a slight glance
at the village, I proceeded with hasty steps, and was soon at the
foot of the hillock. A house, that of the clergyman, stands
near the church, on the top of the hill. I opened a gate,
and entered a lane which seemed to lead up to the church.</p>

<p>As I was passing some low buildings, probably offices
pertaining to the house, a head was thrust from a doorway, which
stared at me. It was a strange hirsute head, and probably
looked more strange and hirsute than it naturally was, owing to
its having a hairy cap upon it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good day,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good day, sar,&rdquo; said the head, and in a moment
more a man of middle stature, about fifty, in hairy cap,
shirt-sleeves, and green apron round his waist, stood before
me. He looked the beau-ideal of a servant of all work.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can I see the church?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, you want to see the church,&rdquo; said honest
Scrub. &ldquo;Yes, sar! you shall see the church. You
go up road there past church&mdash;come to house, knock at
door&mdash;say what you want&mdash;and nice little girl show you
church. Ah, you quite right to come and see
church&mdash;fine tomb there and clebber man sleeping in it with
his wife, clebber man that&mdash;Owen Tiddir; married great
queen&mdash;dyn clebber iawn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Following the suggestions of the man of the hairy cap I went
round the church and knocked at the door of the house, a handsome
parsonage. A nice little servant-girl presently made her
appearance at the door, of whom I inquired whether I could see
the church.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Certainly, sir,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;I will go for
the key and accompany you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>She fetched the key and away we went to the church. It
is a venerable chapel-like edifice, with a belfry towards the
west; the roof sinking by two gradations, is lower at the eastern
or altar end, than at the other. The girl, unlocking the
door, ushered me into the interior.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Which is the tomb of Tudor?&rdquo; said I to the pretty
damsel.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There it is, sir,&rdquo; said she, pointing to the
north side of the church; &ldquo;there is the tomb of Owen
Tudor.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Beneath a low-roofed arch lay sculptured in stone on an altar
tomb, the figures of a man and woman; that of the man in armour;
that of the woman in graceful drapery. The male figure lay
next the wall.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And you think,&rdquo; said I to the girl; &ldquo;that
yonder figure is that of Owen Tudor?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said the girl; &ldquo;yon figure is
that of Owen Tudor; the other is that of his wife, the great
queen; both their bodies rest below.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I forbore to say that the figures were not those of Owen Tudor
and the great queen, his wife; and I forbore to say that their
bodies did not rest in that church, nor anywhere in the
neighbourhood, for I was unwilling to dispel a pleasing
delusion. The tomb is doubtless a tomb of one of the Tudor
race, and of a gentle partner of his, but not of the Rose of Mona
and Catherine of France. Her bones rest in some corner of
Westminster&rsquo;s noble abbey; his moulder amongst those of
thousands of others, Yorkists and Lancastrians, under the surface
of the plain, where Mortimer&rsquo;s Cross once stood, that plain
on the eastern side of which meanders the murmuring Lug; that
noble plain, where one of the hardest battles which ever blooded
English soil was fought; where beautiful young Edward gained a
crown, and old Owen lost a head, which when young had been the
most beautiful of heads, which had gained for him the appellation
of the Rose of Anglesey, and which had captivated the glances of
the fair daughter of France, the widow of Monmouth&rsquo;s Harry,
the immortal victor of Agincourt.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, long did I stare at that tomb which though not
that of the Rose of Mona and his queen, is certainly the tomb of
some mighty one of the mighty race of Theodore. Then saying
something in Welsh to the pretty damsel, at which she started,
and putting something into her hand, at which she curtseyed, I
hurried out of the church.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2>

<p class="letter">Mental Excitation&mdash;Land of
Poets&mdash;The Man in Grey&mdash;Drinking Healths&mdash;The
Greatest Prydydd&mdash;Envy&mdash;Welshmen not
Hogs&mdash;Gentlemanly Feeling&mdash;What Pursuit?&mdash;Tell him
to Walk Up&mdash;Editor of the <i>Times</i>&mdash;Careful
Wife&mdash;Departure.</p>

<p>I regained the high road by a short cut, which I discovered,
across a field. I proceeded rapidly along for some
time. My mind was very much excited: I was in the
birthplace of the mighty Tudors&mdash;I had just seen the tomb of
one of them; I was also in the land of the bard; a country which
had produced Gwalchmai who sang the triumphs of Owain, and him
who had sung the Cowydd of Judgment, Gronwy Owen. So no
wonder I was excited. On I went reciting bardic snatches
connected with Anglesey. At length I began repeating Black
Robin&rsquo;s ode in praise of the island, or rather my own
translation of it, executed more than thirty years before, which
amongst others, contains the following lines:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Twelve sober men the muses woo,<br />
Twelve sober men in Anglesey,<br />
Dwelling at home, like patriots true,<br />
In reverence for Anglesey.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said I, after I had recited that stanza,
&ldquo;what would I not give to see one of those sober patriotic
bards, or at least one of their legitimate successors, for by
this time no doubt, the sober poets, mentioned by Black Robin,
are dead. That they left legitimate successors who can
doubt? for Anglesey is never to be without bards. Have we
not the words, not of Robin the Black, but Huw the Red to that
effect?</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Brodir, gnawd ynddi prydydd;<br />
Heb ganu ni bu ni bydd.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;That is: a hospitable country, in which a poet is a
thing of course. It has never been and will never be
without song.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here I became silent, and presently arrived at the side of a
little dell or ravine, down which the road led, from east to
west. The northern and southern sides of this dell were
precipitous. Beneath the southern one stood a small
cottage. Just as I began to descend the eastern side, two
men began to descend the opposite one, and it so happened that we
met at the bottom of the dingle, just before the house, which
bore a sign, and over the door of which was an inscription to the
effect that ale was sold within. They saluted me; I
returned their salutation, and then we all three stood still,
looking at one another. One of the men was rather a tall
figure, about forty, dressed in grey, or pepper-and-salt, with a
cap of some kind on his head, his face was long and rather
good-looking, though slightly pock-broken. There was a
peculiar gravity upon it. The other person was somewhat
about sixty&mdash;he was much shorter than his companion, and
much worse dressed&mdash;he wore a hat that had several holes in
it, a dusty rusty black coat, much too large for him; ragged
yellow velveteen breeches, indifferent fustian gaiters, and
shoes, cobbled here and there, one of which had rather an ugly
bulge by the side near the toes. His mouth was exceedingly
wide, and his nose remarkably long; its extremity of a deep
purple; upon his features was a half-simple smile or leer; in his
hand was a long stick. After we had all taken a full view
of one another I said in Welsh, addressing myself to the man in
grey, &ldquo;Pray may I take the liberty of asking the name of
this place.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe you are an Englishman, sir,&rdquo; said the
man in grey, speaking English, &ldquo;I will therefore take the
liberty of answering your question in the English tongue.
The name of this place is Dyffryn Gaint.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;you are quite right
with regard to my being an Englishman, perhaps you are one
yourself?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;I have not the
honour to be so. I am a native of the small island in which
we are.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Small,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but famous, particularly
for producing illustrious men.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s very true indeed, sir,&rdquo; said the man
in grey, drawing himself up; &ldquo;it is particularly famous for
producing illustrious men.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There was Owen Tudor?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very true,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;his tomb
is in the church a little way from hence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;there was Gronwy Owen, one
of the greatest bards that ever lived. Out of reverence to
his genius I went yesterday to see the place of his
birth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;I should be
sorry to leave you without enjoying your conversation at some
length. In yonder house they sell good ale, perhaps you
will not be offended if I ask you to drink some with me and my
friend?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are very kind,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am fond of
good ale and fonder still of good company&mdash;suppose we go
in?&rdquo;</p>

<p>We went into the cottage, which was kept by a man and his
wife, both of whom seemed to be perfectly well acquainted with my
two new friends. We sat down on stools, by a clean white
table in a little apartment with a clay
floor&mdash;notwithstanding the heat of the weather, the little
room was very cool and pleasant owing to the cottage being much
protected from the sun by its situation. The man in grey
called for a jug of ale, which was presently placed before us
along with three glasses. The man in grey having filled the
glasses from the jug which might contain three pints, handed one
to me, another to his companion, and then taking the third drank
to my health. I drank to his and that of his companion; the
latter, after nodding to us both, emptied his at a draught, and
then with a kind of half-fatuous leer, exclaimed, &ldquo;Da iawn,
very good.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The ale, though not very good, was cool and neither sour nor
bitter; we then sat for a moment or two in silence, my companions
on one side of the table, and I on the other. After a
little time the man in grey looking at me said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Travelling I suppose in Anglesey for
pleasure?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To a certain extent,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but my chief
object in visiting Anglesey was to view the birth-place of Gronwy
Owen; I saw it yesterday, and am now going to Holyhead chiefly
with a view to see the country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how came you, an Englishman, to know anything of
Gronwy Owen?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I studied Welsh literature when young,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and was much struck with the verses of Gronwy: he was one
of the great bards of Wales, and certainly the most illustrious
genius that Anglesey ever produced.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A great genius, I admit,&rdquo; said the man in grey,
&ldquo;but pardon me, not exactly the greatest Ynis Fon has
produced. The race of the bards is not quite extinct in the
island, sir. I could name one or two&mdash;however, I leave
others to do so&mdash;but I assure you the race of bards is not
quite extinct here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am delighted to hear you say so,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and make no doubt that you speak correctly, for the Red
Bard has said that Mona is never to be without a poet&mdash;but
where am I to find one? just before I saw you I was wishing to
see a poet; I would willingly give a quart of ale to see a
genuine Anglesey poet.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You would, sir, would you?&rdquo; said the man in grey,
lifting his head on high, and curling his upper lip.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I would, indeed,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;my greatest
desire at present is to see an Anglesey poet, but where am I to
find one?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where is he to find one?&rdquo; said he of the tattered
hat; &ldquo;where&rsquo;s the gwr boneddig to find a
prydydd? No occasion to go far, he, he,
he.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but where is he?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where is he? why, there,&rdquo; said he, pointing to
the man in grey&mdash;&ldquo;the greatest prydydd in tîr
Fon or the whole world.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Tut, tut, hold your tongue,&rdquo; said the man in
grey.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hold my tongue, myn Diawl, not I&mdash;I speak the
truth,&rdquo; then filling his glass he emptied it exclaiming,
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll not hold, my tongue. The greatest prydydd
in the whole world.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then I have the honour to be seated with a bard of
Anglesey?&rdquo; said I, addressing the man in grey.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Tut, tut,&rdquo; said he of the grey suit.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The greatest prydydd in the whole world,&rdquo;
iterated he of the bulged shoe, with a slight hiccup, as he again
filled his glass.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am truly
fortunate.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;I had no
intention of discovering myself, but as my friend here has
betrayed my secret, I confess that I am a bard of
Anglesey&mdash;my friend is an excellent individual but
indiscreet, highly indiscreet, as I have frequently told
him,&rdquo; and here he looked most benignantly reproachful at
him of the tattered hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The greatest prydydd,&rdquo; said the latter,
&ldquo;the greatest prydydd that&mdash;&rdquo; and leaving his
sentence incomplete he drank off the ale which he had poured into
his glass.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I cannot sufficiently
congratulate myself for having met an Anglesey bard&mdash;no
doubt a graduate one. Anglesey, was always famous for
graduate bards, for what says Black Robin?</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Though Arvon graduate bards can
boast,<br />
Yet more canst thou, O Anglesey.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose by graduate bard you mean one who has gained
the chair at an eisteddfod?&rdquo; said the man in grey.
&ldquo;No, I have never gained the silver chair&mdash;I have
never had an opportunity. I have been kept out of the
eisteddfodau. There is such a thing as envy, sir&mdash;but
there is one comfort, that envy will not always
prevail.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;envy will not always
prevail&mdash;envious scoundrels may chuckle for a time at the
seemingly complete success of the dastardly arts to which they
have recourse, in order to crush merit&mdash;but Providence is
not asleep. All of a sudden they see their supposed victim
on a pinnacle far above their reach. Then there is weeping,
and gnashing of teeth with a vengeance, and the long, melancholy
howl. Oh, there is nothing in this world which gives one so
perfect an idea of retribution as the long melancholy howl of the
disappointed envious scoundrel when he sees his supposed victim
smiling on an altitude far above his reach.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;I am delighted
to hear you. Give me your hand, your honourable hand.
Sir, you have now felt the hand-grasp of a Welshman, to say
nothing of an Anglesey bard, and I have felt that of a Briton,
perhaps a bard, a brother, sir? Oh, when I first saw your
face out there in the dyffryn, I at once recognised in it that of
a kindred spirit, and I felt compelled to ask you to drink.
Drink, sir! but how is this? the jug is empty&mdash;how is
this?&mdash;Oh, I see&mdash;my friend sir, though an excellent
individual, is indiscreet, sir&mdash;very indiscreet.
Landlord, bring this moment another jug of ale!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The greatest prydydd,&rdquo; stuttered he of bulged
shoe&mdash;&ldquo;the greatest prydydd&mdash;Oh&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Tut, tut,&rdquo; said the man in grey.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I speak the truth and care for no one,&rdquo; said he
of the tattered hat. &ldquo;I say the greatest
prydydd. If any one wishes to gainsay me let him show his
face and Myn Diawl&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>The landlord brought the ale, placed it on the table, and then
stood as if waiting for something.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you are waiting to be paid,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;what is your demand?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sixpence for this jug, and sixpence for the
other,&rdquo; said the landlord.</p>

<p>I took out a shilling and said: &ldquo;It is but right that I
should pay half of the reckoning, and as the whole affair is
merely a shilling matter, I should feel obliged in being
permitted to pay the whole, so, landlord, take the shilling and
remember you are paid.&rdquo; I then delivered the shilling
to the landlord, but had no sooner done so than the man in grey,
starting up in violent agitation, wrested the money from the
other, and flung it down on the table before me
saying:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, no, that will never do. I invited you in here
to drink, and now you would pay for the liquor which I
ordered. You English are free with your money, but you are
sometimes free with it at the expense of people&rsquo;s
feelings. I am a Welshman, and I know Englishmen consider
all Welshmen hogs. But we are not hogs, mind you! for we
have little feelings which hogs have not. Moreover, I would
have you know that we have money, though perhaps not so much as
the Saxon.&rdquo; Then putting his hand into his pocket, he
pulled out a shilling, and giving it to the landlord, said in
Welsh: &ldquo;Now thou art paid, and mayst go thy ways till thou
art again called for. I do not know why thou didst stay
after thou hadst put down the ale. Thou didst know enough
of me to know that thou didst run no risk of not being
paid.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But,&rdquo; said I, after the landlord had departed,
&ldquo;I must insist on being my share. Did you not hear me
say that I would give a quart of ale to see a poet?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A poet&rsquo;s face,&rdquo; said the man in grey,
&ldquo;should be common to all, even like that of the sun.
He is no true poet, who would keep his face from the
world.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the sun frequently hides his
head from the world, behind a cloud.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not so,&rdquo; said the man in grey. &ldquo;The
sun does not hide his face, it is the cloud that hides it.
The sun is always glad enough to be seen, and so is the
poet. If both are occasionally hid, trust me it is no fault
of theirs. Bear that in mind; and now pray take up your
money.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The man is a gentleman,&rdquo; thought I to myself,
&ldquo;whether a poet or not; but I really believe him to be a
poet; were he not he could hardly talk in the manner I have just
heard him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The man in grey now filled my glass, his own, and that of his
companion. The latter emptied his in a minute, not
forgetting first to say &ldquo;the best prydydd in all the
world!&rdquo; the man in grey was also not slow to empty his
own. The jug now passed rapidly between my two friends, for
the poet seemed determined to have his full share of the
beverage. I allowed the ale in my glass to remain untasted,
and began to talk about the bards, and to quote from their
works. I soon found that the man in grey knew quite as much
of the old bards and their works as myself. In one instance
he convicted me of a mistake.</p>

<p>I had quoted those remarkable lines in which an old bard,
doubtless seeing the Menai Bridge by means of second sight,
says:&mdash;&ldquo;I will pass to the land of Mona
notwithstanding the waters of the Menai, without waiting for the
ebb&rdquo;&mdash;and was feeling not a little proud of my
erudition, when the man in grey after looking at me for a moment
fixedly, asked me the name of the bard who composed them.
&ldquo;Sion Tudor,&rdquo; I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There you are wrong,&rdquo; said the man in grey;
&ldquo;his name was not Sion Tudor but Robert Vychan, in English,
Little Bob. Sion Tudor wrote an englyn on the Skerries
whirlpool in the Menai; but it was Little Bob who wrote the
stanza in which the future bridge over the Menai is hinted
at.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you are
right. Well, I am glad that all song and learning are not
dead in Ynis Fon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dead,&rdquo; said the man in grey, whose features began
to be rather flushed, &ldquo;they are neither dead nor ever will
be. There are plenty of poets in Anglesey&mdash;why, I can
mention twelve, and amongst them and not the least&mdash;pooh,
what was I going to say? twelve there are, genuine Anglesey
poets, born there, and living there for the love they bear their
native land. When I say they all live in Anglesey, perhaps
I am not quite accurate, for one of the dozen does not exactly
live in Anglesey, but just over the bridge. He is an
elderly man, but his awen, I assure you, is as young and vigorous
as ever.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t be at all surprised,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;if he was a certain ancient gentleman, from whom I
obtained information yesterday, with respect to the birth-place
of Gronwy Owen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very likely,&rdquo; said the man in grey; &ldquo;well,
if you have seen him consider yourself fortunate, for he is a
genuine bard, and a genuine son of Anglesey, notwithstanding he
lives across the water.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If he is the person I allude to,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;I am doubly fortunate, for I have seen two bards of
Anglesey.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;I consider
myself quite as fortunate, in having met such a Saxon as
yourself, as it is possible for you to do, in having seen two
bards of Ynis Fon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you follow some pursuit besides
bardism?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I suppose you farm?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not farm,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;I
keep an inn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Keep an inn?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the man in grey. &ldquo;The ---
Arms at L---.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;inn-keeping and bardism are
not very cognate pursuits?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are wrong,&rdquo; said the man in grey; &ldquo;I
believe the awen, or inspiration, is quite as much at home in the
bar as in the barn, perhaps more. It is that belief which
makes me tolerably satisfied with my position and prevents me
from asking Sir Richard to give me a farm instead of an
inn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that Sir Richard is
your landlord?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He is,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;and a right
noble landlord too.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that he is right proud
of his tenant?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He is,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;and I am
proud of my landlord, and will here drink his health. I
have often said that if I were not what I am, I should wish to be
Sir Richard.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You consider yourself his superior?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; said the man in grey&mdash;&ldquo;a
baronet is a baronet; but a bard, is a bard you know&mdash;I
never forget what I am, and the respect due to my sublime
calling. About a month ago I was seated in an upper
apartment in a fit of rapture. There was a pen in my hand,
and paper before me on the table, and likewise a jug of good ale,
for I always find that the awen is most prodigal of her favours
when a jug of good ale is before me. All of a sudden my
wife came running up, and told me that Sir Richard was below, and
wanted to speak to me. &lsquo;Tell him to walk up,&rsquo;
said I. &lsquo;Are you mad?&rsquo; said my wife.
&lsquo;Don&rsquo;t you know who Sir Richard is?&rsquo;
&lsquo;I do,&rsquo; said I, &lsquo;a baronet is a baronet, but a
bard is a bard. Tell him to walk up.&rsquo; Well, my
wife went and told Sir Richard that I was writing, and could not
come down, and that she hoped he would not object to walk
up. &lsquo;Certainly not; certainly not,&rsquo; said Sir
Richard. &lsquo;I shall be only too happy to ascend to a
genius on his hill. You may be proud of such a husband, Mrs
W.&rsquo; And here it will be as well to tell you that my
name is W.&mdash;J. W. of ---. Sir Richard then came up,
and I received him with gravity and politeness. I did not
rise of course, for I never forget myself a moment, but I told
him to sit down, and added, that after I had finished the pennill
I was engaged upon, I would speak to him. Well, Sir Richard
smiled and sat down, and begged me not to hurry myself, for that
he could wait. So I finished the pennill, deliberately,
mind you, for I did not forget who I was, and then turning to Sir
Richard entered upon business with him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose Sir Richard is a very good-tempered
man?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said the man in grey.
&ldquo;I have seen Sir Richard in a devil of a passion, but never
with me&mdash;no, no! Trust Sir Richard for not riding the
high horse with me&mdash;a baronet is a baronet, but a bard is a
bard; and that Sir Richard knows.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The greatest prydydd,&rdquo; said the man of the
tattered hat, emptying the last contents of the jug into his
glass, &ldquo;the greatest prydydd that&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you appear to enjoy very
great consideration, and yet you were talking just now of being
ill-used.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So I have been,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;I
have been kept out of the eisteddfoddau&mdash;and then&mdash;what
do you think? That fellow, the editor of the
<i>Times</i>&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if you have anything to do
with the editor of the <i>Times</i> you may, of course, expect
nothing but shabby treatment, but what business could you have
with him?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why I sent him some pennillion for insertion, and he
did not insert them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Were they in Welsh or English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In Welsh, of course.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, then the man had some excuse for disregarding
them&mdash;because you know the <i>Times</i> is written in
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, you mean the London <i>Times</i>,&rdquo; said the
man in grey. &ldquo;Pooh! I did not allude to that
trumpery journal, but the Liverpool <i>Times</i>, the
Amserau. I sent some pennillion to the editor for insertion
and he did not insert them. Peth a clwir cenfigen yn
Saesneg?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We call cenfigen in English envy,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;but as I told you before, envy will not always
prevail.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You cannot imagine how pleased I am with your
company,&rdquo; said the man in grey. &ldquo;Landlord,
landlord!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The greatest prydydd,&rdquo; said the man of the
tattered hat, &ldquo;the greatest prydydd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray don&rsquo;t order any more on my account,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;as you see my glass is still full. I am
about to start for Caer Gybi. Pray, where are you bound
for?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;For Bangor,&rdquo; said the man in grey. &ldquo;I
am going to the market.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then I would advise you to lose no time,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;or you will infallibly be too late; it must now be one
o&rsquo;clock.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is no market to-day,&rdquo; said the man in grey,
&ldquo;the market is to-morrow, which is Saturday. I like
to take things leisurely, on which account, when I go to market,
I generally set out the day before, in order that I may enjoy
myself upon the road. I feel myself so happy here that I
shall not stir till the evening. Now pray stay with me and
my friend till then.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I cannot,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if I stay longer here I
shall never reach Caer Gybi to-night. But allow me to ask
whether your business at L--- will not suffer by your spending so
much time on the road to market?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My wife takes care of the business whilst I am
away,&rdquo; said the man in grey, &ldquo;so it won&rsquo;t
suffer much. Indeed it is she who chiefly conducts the
business of the inn. I spend a good deal of time from home,
for besides being a bard and inn-keeper, I must tell you I am a
horse-dealer and a jobber, and if I go to Bangor it is in the
hope of purchasing a horse or pig worth the money.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And is your friend going to market too?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;My friend goes with me to assist me and bear me
company. If I buy a pig he will help me to drive it home;
if a horse, he will get up upon its back behind me. I might
perhaps do without him, but I enjoy his company highly. He
is sometimes rather indiscreet, but I do assure you he is
exceedingly clever.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The greatest prydydd,&rdquo; said the man of the bulged
shoe, &ldquo;the greatest prydydd in the world.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I have no doubt of his cleverness,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;from what I have observed of him. Now before I go
allow me to pay for your next jug of ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will do no such thing,&rdquo; said the man in
grey. &ldquo;No farthing do you pay here for me or my
friend either. But I will tell you what you may do. I
am, as I have told you, an inn-keeper as well as a bard. By
the time you get to L--- you will be hot and hungry and in need
of refreshment, and if you think proper to patronise my house,
the --- Arms, by taking your chop and pint there, you will oblige
me. Landlord, some more ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The greatest prydydd,&rdquo; said he of the bulged
shoe, &ldquo;the greatest prydydd&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will most certainly patronise your house,&rdquo; said
I to the man in grey, and shaking him heartily by the hand I
departed.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Inn at L---&mdash;The Handmaid&mdash;The
Decanter&mdash;Religious Gentleman&mdash;Truly
Distressing&mdash;Sententiousness&mdash;Way to Pay Bills.</p>

<p>I proceeded on my way in high spirits indeed, having now seen
not only the tomb of the Tudors, but one of those sober poets for
which Anglesey has always been so famous. The country was
pretty, with here and there a hill, a harvest-field, a clump of
trees or a grove.</p>

<p>I soon reached L---, a small but neat town. &ldquo;Where
is the --- Arms?&rdquo; said I to a man whom I met.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yonder, sir, yonder,&rdquo; said he, pointing to a
magnificent structure on the left.</p>

<p>I went in and found myself in a spacious hall. A
good-looking young woman in a white dress with a profusion of
pink ribbons confronted me with a curtsey. &ldquo;A pint
and a chop!&rdquo; I exclaimed, with a flourish of my hand and at
the top of my voice. The damsel gave a kind of start, and
then, with something like a toss of the head, led the way into a
very large room, on the left, in which were many tables, covered
with snowy-white cloths, on which were plates, knives and forks,
the latter seemingly of silver, tumblers, and wine-glasses.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I think you asked for a pint and a chop, sir?&rdquo;
said the damsel, motioning me to sit down at one of the
tables.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I did,&rdquo; said I, as I sat down, &ldquo;let them be
brought with all convenient speed, for I am in something of a
hurry.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very well, sir,&rdquo; said the damsel, and then with
another kind of toss of the head, she went away, not forgetting
to turn half round, to take a furtive glance at me, before she
went out of the door.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, as I looked at the tables, with
their snowy-white cloths, tumblers, wine-glasses and what not,
and at the walls of the room glittering with mirrors,
&ldquo;surely a poet never kept so magnificent an inn before;
there must be something in this fellow besides the awen, or his
house would never exhibit such marks of prosperity and good
taste&mdash;there must be something in this fellow; though he
pretends to be a wild erratic son of Parnassus, he must have an
eye to the main chance, a genius for turning the penny, or rather
the sovereign, for the accommodation here is no penny
accommodation, as I shall probably find. Perhaps, however,
like myself, he has an exceedingly clever wife who, whilst he is
making verses, or running about the country swigging ale with
people in bulged shoes, or buying pigs or glandered horses, looks
after matters at home, drives a swinging trade, and keeps not
only herself, but him respectable&mdash;but even in that event he
must have a good deal of common-sense in him, even like myself,
who always allows my wife to buy and sell, carry money to the
bank, draw cheques, inspect and pay tradesmen&rsquo;s bills, and
transact all my real business, whilst I myself pore over old
books, walk about shires, discoursing with gypsies, under
hedgerows, or with sober bards&mdash;in hedge
ale-houses.&rdquo; I continued musing in this manner until
the handmaid made her appearance with a tray, on which were
covers and a decanter, which she placed before me.
&ldquo;What is that?&rdquo; said I, pointing to a decanter.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only a pint of sherry, sir,&rdquo; said she of the
white dress and ribbons.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I ordered no sherry, I
wanted some ale&mdash;a pint of ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You called for a pint, sir,&rdquo; said the handmaid,
&ldquo;but you mentioned no ale, and I naturally supposed that a
gentleman of your appearance&rdquo;&mdash;here she glanced at my
dusty coat&mdash;&ldquo;and speaking in the tone you did, would
not condescend to drink ale with his chop; however, as it seems I
have been mistaken, I can take away the sherry and bring you the
ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you can let the
sherry remain; I do not like sherry, and am very fond of ale, but
you can let the wine remain; upon the whole I am glad you brought
it&mdash;indeed I merely came to do a good turn to the master of
the house.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you, sir,&rdquo; said the handmaid.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you his daughter?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no, sir,&rdquo; said the handmaid reverently;
&ldquo;only his waiter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You may be proud to wait on him,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am, sir,&rdquo; said the handmaid, casting down her
eyes.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose he is much respected in the
neighbourhood?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very much so, sir,&rdquo; said the damsel,
&ldquo;especially amidst the connection.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The connection,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Ah, I see,
he has extensive consanguinity, most Welsh have.
But,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;there is such a thing as envy in
the world, and there are a great many malicious people in the
world, who speak against him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A great many, sir, but we take what they say from
whence it comes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You do quite right,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Has
your master written any poetry lately?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir!&rdquo; said the damsel staring at me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Any poetry,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;any
pennillion?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir,&rdquo; said the damsel; &ldquo;my master is a
respectable man, and would scorn to do anything of the
kind.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is not your master a bard as
well as an innkeeper?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My master, sir, is an innkeeper,&rdquo; said the
damsel; &ldquo;but as for the other, I don&rsquo;t know what you
mean.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A bard,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is a prydydd, a person
who makes verses&mdash;pennillion; does not your master make
them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My master make them? No, sir; my master is a
religious gentleman, and would scorn to make such profane
stuff.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;he told me he did within
the last two hours. I met him at Dyffrin Gaint, along with
another man, and he took me into the public-house, where we had a
deal of discourse.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You met my master at Dyffryn Gaint?&rdquo; said the
damsel.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and he treated me with ale,
told me that he was a poet, and that he was going to Bangor to
buy a horse or a pig.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see how that could be, sir,&rdquo; said
the damsel; &ldquo;my master is at present in the house, rather
unwell, and has not been out for the last three days&mdash;there
must be some mistake.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mistake,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t this
the --- Arms?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, it is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And isn&rsquo;t your master&rsquo;s name
W---?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, my master&rsquo;s name is H---, and a more
respectable man&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I interrupting her&mdash;&ldquo;all I
can say is that I met a man in Dyffryn Gaint, who treated me with
ale, told me that his name was W---, that he was a prydydd and
kept the --- Arms at L---.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the damsel, &ldquo;now I remember,
there is a person of that name in L---, and he also keeps a house
which he calls the --- Arms, but it is only a
public-house.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is he not a prydydd, an
illustrious poet; does he not write pennillion which everybody
admires?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the damsel, &ldquo;I believe he does
write things which he calls pennillions, but everybody laughs at
them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come, come,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I will not hear the
productions of a man who treated me with ale, spoken of with
disrespect. I am afraid that you are one of his envious
maligners, of which he gave me to understand that he had a great
many.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Envious, sir! not I indeed; and if I were disposed to
be envious of anybody it would not be of him; oh dear, why he
is&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A bard of Anglesey,&rdquo; said I, interrupting her,
&ldquo;such a person as Gronwy Owen describes in the following
lines, which by-the-bye were written upon himself:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Where&rsquo;er he goes he&rsquo;s
sure to find<br />
Respectful looks and greetings kind.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;I tell you that it was out of respect to that man that
I came to this house. Had I not thought that he kept it, I
should not have entered it and called for a pint and
chop&mdash;how distressing! how truly distressing!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; said the damsel, &ldquo;if there is
anything distressing you have only to thank your acquaintance who
chooses to call his mug-house by the name of a respectable hotel,
for I would have you know that this is an hotel, and kept by a
respectable and a religious man, and not kept by&mdash;However, I
scorn to say more, especially as I might be misinterpreted.
Sir, there&rsquo;s your pint and chop, and if you wish for
anything else you can ring. Envious, indeed, of
such&mdash;Marry come up!&rdquo; and with a toss of her head,
higher than any she had hitherto given, she bounced out of the
room.</p>

<p>Here was a pretty affair! I had entered the house and
ordered the chop and pint in the belief that by so doing I was
patronising the poet, and lo, I was not in the poet&rsquo;s
house, and my order would benefit a person for whom, however
respectable and religious, I cared not one rush. Moreover,
the pint which I had ordered appeared in the guise not of ale,
which I am fond of, but of sherry, for which I have always
entertained a sovereign contempt, as a silly, sickly compound,
the use of which will transform a nation, however bold and
warlike by nature, into a race of sketchers, scribblers, and
punsters, in fact into what Englishmen are at the present
day. But who was to blame? Why, who but the poet and
myself? The poet ought to have told me that there were two
houses in L--- bearing the sign of the --- Arms, and that I must
fight shy of the hotel and steer for the pot-house, and when I
gave the order I certainly ought to have been a little more
explicit; when I said a pint I ought to have added&mdash;of
ale. Sententiousness is a fine thing sometimes, but not
always. By being sententious here, I got sherry, which I
dislike, instead of ale which I like, and should have to pay more
for what was disagreeable, than I should have had to pay for what
was agreeable. Yet I had merely echoed the poet&rsquo;s
words in calling for a pint and chop, so after all the poet was
to blame for both mistakes. But perhaps he meant that I
should drink sherry at his house, and when he advised me to call
for a pint, he meant a pint of sherry. But the maid had
said he kept a pot-house, and no pot-houses have wine-licences;
but the maid after all might be an envious baggage, and no better
than she should be. But what was now to be done? Why,
clearly make the best of the matter, eat the chop and leave the
sherry. So I commenced eating the chop, which was by this
time nearly cold. After eating a few morsels I looked at
the sherry: &ldquo;I may as well take a glass,&rdquo; said
I. So with a wry face I poured myself out a glass.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What detestable stuff!&rdquo; said I, after I had drunk
it. &ldquo;However, as I shall have to pay for it I may as
well go through with it.&rdquo; So I poured myself out
another glass, and by the time I had finished the chop I had
finished the sherry also.</p>

<p>And now what was I to do next? Why, my best advice
seemed to be to pay my bill and depart. But I had promised
the poet to patronize his house, and had by mistake ordered and
despatched a pint and chop in a house which was not the
poet&rsquo;s. Should I now go to his house and order a pint
and chop there? Decidedly not! I had patronised a
house which I believed to be the poet&rsquo;s; if I patronised
the wrong one, the fault was his, not mine&mdash;he should have
been more explicit. I had performed my promise, at least in
intention.</p>

<p>Perfectly satisfied with the conclusion I had come to, I rang
the bell. &ldquo;The bill?&rdquo; said I to the
handmaid.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here it is!&rdquo; said she, placing a strip of paper
in my hand.</p>

<p>I looked at the bill, and, whether moderate or immoderate,
paid it with a smiling countenance, commanded the entertainment
highly, and gave the damsel something handsome for her trouble in
waiting on me.</p>

<p>Reader, please to bear in mind that as all bills must be paid,
it is much more comfortable to pay them with a smile than with a
frown, and that it is much better by giving sixpence, or a
shilling to a poor servant, which you will never miss at the
year&rsquo;s end, to be followed from the door of an inn by good
wishes, than by giving nothing to be pursued by cutting silence,
or the yet more cutting Hm!</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; said the good-looking, well-ribboned
damsel, &ldquo;I wish you a pleasant journey, and whenever you
please again to honour our establishment with your presence, both
my master and myself shall be infinitely obliged to
you.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX</h2>

<p class="letter">Oats and Methodism&mdash;The Little
Girl&mdash;Ty Gwyn&mdash;Bird of the Roof&mdash;Purest
English&mdash;Railroads&mdash;Inconsistency&mdash;The Boots.</p>

<p>It might be about four in the afternoon when I left L--- bound
for Pen Caer Gybi, or Holyhead, seventeen miles distant. I
reached the top of the hill on the west of the little town, and
then walked briskly forward. The country looked poor and
mean&mdash;on my right was a field of oats, on my left a
Methodist chapel&mdash;oats and Methodism! what better symbols of
poverty and meanness?</p>

<p>I went onward a long way, the weather was broiling hot, and I
felt thirsty. On the top of a long ascent stood a house by
the roadside. I went to the door and knocked&mdash;no
answer&mdash;&ldquo;Oes neb yn y ty?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oes!&rdquo; said an infantine voice.</p>

<p>I opened the door and saw a little girl. &ldquo;Have you
any water?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the child, &ldquo;but I have
this,&rdquo; and she brought me some butter-milk in a
basin. I just tasted it, gave the child a penny and blessed
her.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oes genoch tad?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;but I have a
mam.&rdquo; Tad in mam; blessed sounds; in all languages
expressing the same blessed things.</p>

<p>After walking for some hours I saw a tall blue hill in the far
distance before me. &ldquo;What is the name of that
hill?&rdquo; said I to a woman whom I met.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pen Caer Gybi,&rdquo; she replied.</p>

<p>Soon after I came to a village near to a rocky gully. On
inquiring the name of the village, I was told it was Llan yr
Afon, or the church of the river. I passed on; the country
was neither grand nor pretty&mdash;it exhibited a kind of
wildness, however, which did not fail to interest me&mdash;there
were stones, rocks and furze in abundance. Turning round
the corner of a hill, I observed through the mists of evening,
which began to gather about me, what seemed to be rather a
genteel house on the roadside; on my left, and a little way
behind it a strange kind of monticle, on which I thought I
observed tall upright stones. Quickening my pace, I soon
came parallel with the house, which as I drew nigh, ceased to
look like a genteel house, and exhibited an appearance of great
desolation. It was a white, or rather grey structure of
some antiquity. It was evidently used as a farm-house, for
there was a yard adjoining to it, in which were stacks and
agricultural implements. Observing two men in the yard, I
went in. They were respectable, farm-looking men, between
forty and fifty; one had on a coat and hat, the other a cap and
jacket. &ldquo;Good evening,&rdquo; I said in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good evening,&rdquo; they replied in the same language,
looking inquiringly at me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of this place?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is called Ty gwyn,&rdquo; said the man of the
hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;On account of its colour, I suppose?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just so,&rdquo; said the man of the hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It looks old,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And it is old,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;In the
time of the Papists it was one of their chapels.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does it belong to you?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no, it belongs to one Mr Sparrow from
Liverpool. I am his bailiff, and this man is a carpenter
who is here doing a job for him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here ensued a pause, which was broken by the man of the hat
saying in English, to the man of the cap:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who can this strange fellow be? he has not a word of
English, and though he speaks Welsh his Welsh sounds very
different from ours. Who can he be?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am sure I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said the
other.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know who he is,&rdquo; said the first, &ldquo;he
comes from Llydaw, or Armorica, which was peopled from Britain
estalom, and where I am told the real old Welsh language is still
spoken.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I think I heard you mention the word Llydaw?&rdquo;
said I, to the man of the hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said the man of the hat, speaking Welsh,
&ldquo;I was right after all; oh, I could have sworn you were
Llydaweg. Well, how are the descendants of the ancient
Britons getting on in Llydaw?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are getting on tolerably well,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;when I last saw them, though all things do not go exactly
as they could wish.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of course not,&rdquo; said he of the hat.
&ldquo;We too have much to complain of here; the lands are almost
entirely taken possession of by Saxons, wherever you go you will
find them settled, and a Saxon bird of the roof must build its
nest in Gwyn dy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You call a sparrow in your Welsh a bird of the roof, do
you not?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We do,&rdquo; said he of the hat. &ldquo;You
speak Welsh very well considering you were not born in
Wales. It is really surprising that the men of Llydaw
should speak the iaith so pure as they do.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Welsh when they went over there,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;took effectual means that their descendants should speak
good Welsh, if all tales be true.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What means?&rdquo; said he of the hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;after conquering the country
they put all the men to death, and married the women, but before
a child was born they cut out all the women&rsquo;s tongues, so
that the only language the children heard when they were born was
pure Cumraeg. What do you think of that?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, that it was a cute trick,&rdquo; said he of the
hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A more clever trick I never heard,&rdquo; said the man
of the cap.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any memorials in the neighbourhood of the old
Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; said the man of the hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Any altars of the Druids?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;any
stone tables?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;None,&rdquo; said the man of the hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What may those stones be?&rdquo; said I, pointing to
the stones which had struck my attention.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mere common rocks,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;May I go and examine them?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes!&rdquo; said he of the hat, &ldquo;and we will
go with you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We went to the stones, which were indeed common rocks, and
which when I reached them presented quite a different appearance
from that which they presented to my eye when I viewed them from
afar.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are there many altars of the Druids in Llydaw?&rdquo;
said the man of the hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but those altars are
older than the time of the Welsh colonists, and were erected by
the old Gauls.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the man of the cap, &ldquo;I am glad
I have seen the man of Llydaw.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Whom do you call a man of Llydaw?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Whom but yourself?&rdquo; said he of the hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not a man of Llydaw,&rdquo; said I in English,
&ldquo;but Norfolk, where the people eat the best dumplings in
the world, and speak the purest English. Now a thousand
thanks for your civility. I would have some more chat with
you, but night is coming on, and I am bound to
Holyhead.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then leaving the men staring after me, I bent my steps towards
Holyhead.</p>

<p>I passed by a place called Llan something, standing lonely on
its hill. The country round looked sad and desolate.
It is true night had come on when I saw it.</p>

<p>On I hurried. The voices of children sounded sweetly at
a distance across the wild champaign on my left.</p>

<p>It grew darker and darker. On I hurried along the road;
at last I came to lone, lordly groves. On my right was an
open gate and a lodge. I went up to the lodge. The
door was open, and in a little room I beheld a nice-looking old
lady sitting by a table, on which stood a lighted candle, with
her eyes fixed on a large book.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Excuse me,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but who owns this
property?&rdquo;</p>

<p>The old lady looked up from her book, which appeared to be a
Bible, without the slightest surprise, though I certainly came
upon her unawares, and answered:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mr John Wynn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I shortly passed through a large village, or rather town, the
name of which I did not learn. I then went on for a mile or
two, and saw a red light at some distance. The road led
nearly up to it, and then diverged towards the north.
Leaving the road I made towards the light by a lane, and soon
came to a railroad station.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t have long to wait, sir,&rdquo; said a
man, &ldquo;the train to Holyhead will be here
presently.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How far is it to Holyhead?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Two miles, sir, and the fare is only
sixpence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I despise railroads,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and those
who travel by them,&rdquo; and without waiting for an answer
returned to the road. Presently I heard the train&mdash;it
stopped for a minute at the station, and then continuing its
course passed me on my left hand, voiding fierce sparks, and
making a terrible noise&mdash;the road was a melancholy one; my
footsteps sounded hollow upon it. I seemed to be its only
traveller&mdash;a wall extended for a long, long way on my
left. At length I came to a turnpike. I felt desolate
and wished to speak to somebody. I tapped at the window, at
which there was a light; a woman opened it. &ldquo;How far
to Holyhead?&rdquo; said I in English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dim Saesneg,&rdquo; said the woman.</p>

<p>I repeated my question in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Two miles,&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Still two miles to Holyhead by the road,&rdquo; thought
I. &ldquo;Nos da,&rdquo; said I to the woman and sped
along. At length I saw water on my right, seemingly a kind
of bay, and presently a melancholy ship. I doubled my pace,
which was before tolerably quick, and soon saw a noble-looking
edifice on my left, brilliantly lighted up. &ldquo;What a
capital inn that would make,&rdquo; said I, looking at it
wistfully, as I passed it. Presently I found myself in the
midst of a poor, dull, ill-lighted town.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where is the inn?&rdquo; said I to a man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The inn, sir; you have passed it. The inn is
yonder,&rdquo; he continued, pointing towards the noble-looking
edifice.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What, is that the inn?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, the railroad hotel&mdash;and a first-rate
hotel it is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And are there no other inns?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, but they are all poor places. No gent puts
up at them&mdash;all the gents by the railroad put up at the
railroad hotel.&rdquo;</p>

<p>What was I to do? after turning up my nose at the railroad,
was I to put up at its hotel? Surely to do so would be
hardly acting with consistency. &ldquo;Ought I not rather
to go to some public-house, frequented by captains of fishing
smacks, and be put in a bed a foot too short for me,&rdquo; said
I, as I reflected on my last night&rsquo;s couch at Mr
Pritchard&rsquo;s. &ldquo;No, that won&rsquo;t do&mdash;I
shall go to the hotel, I have money in my pocket, and a person
with money in his pocket has surely a right to be inconsistent if
he pleases.&rdquo;</p>

<p>So I turned back and entered the railroad hotel with lofty
port and with sounding step, for I had twelve sovereigns in my
pocket, besides a half one, and some loose silver, and feared not
to encounter the gaze of any waiter or landlord in the
land. &ldquo;Send boots!&rdquo; I roared to the waiter, as
I flung myself down in an arm-chair in a magnificent
coffee-room. &ldquo;What the deuce are you staring at? send
boots can&rsquo;t you, and ask what I can have for
dinner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said the waiter, and with a low bow
departed.</p>

<p>&ldquo;These boots are rather dusty,&rdquo; said the boots, a
grey-haired, venerable-looking man, after he had taken off my
thick, solid, square-toed boots. &ldquo;I suppose you came
walking from the railroad?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Confound the railroad!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I
came walking from Bangor. I would have you know that I have
money in my pocket, and can afford to walk. I am fond of
the beauties of nature; now it is impossible to see much of the
beauties of nature unless you walk. I am likewise fond of
poetry, and take especial delight in inspecting the birth-places
and haunts of poets. It is because I am fond of poetry,
poets and their haunts, that I am come to Anglesey.
Anglesey does not abound in the beauties of nature, but there
never was such a place for poets; you meet a poet, or the
birth-place of a poet, everywhere.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did your honour ever hear of Gronwy Owen?&rdquo; said
the old man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;and yesterday I
visited his birth-place; so you have heard of Gronwy
Owen?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Heard of him, your honour; yes, and read his
works. That &lsquo;Cowydd y Farn&rsquo; of his is a
wonderful poem.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You say right,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;the &lsquo;Cowydd
of Judgment&rsquo; contains some of the finest things ever
written&mdash;that description of the toppling down of the top
crag of Snowdon, at the day of Judgment, beats anything in
Homer.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then there was Lewis Morris, your honour,&rdquo; said
the old man, &ldquo;who gave Gronwy his education and wrote
&lsquo;The Lasses of Meirion&rsquo;&mdash;and&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And &lsquo;The Cowydd to the Snail,&rsquo;&rdquo; said
I, interrupting him&mdash;&ldquo;a wonderful man he
was.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am rejoiced to see your honour in our house,&rdquo;
said boots; &ldquo;I never saw an English gentleman before who
knew so much about Welsh poetry, nor a Welsh one either.
Ah, if your honour is fond of poets and their places you did
right to come to Anglesey&mdash;and your honour was right in
saying that you can&rsquo;t stir a step without meeting one; you
have an example of the truth of that in me&mdash;for to tell your
honour the truth, I am a poet myself, and no bad one
either.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then tucking the dusty boots under his arm, the old man with a
low congee, and a &ldquo;Good-night, your honour!&rdquo; shuffled
out of the room.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XL</h2>

<p class="letter">Caer Gyby&mdash;Lewis Morris&mdash;Noble
Character.</p>

<p>I dined or rather supped well at the Railroad Inn&mdash;I beg
its pardon, Hotel, for the word Inn at the present day is
decidedly vulgar. I likewise slept well; how could I do
otherwise, passing the night, as I did, in an excellent bed in a
large, cool, quiet room? I arose rather late, went down to
the coffee-room and took my breakfast leisurely, after which I
paid my bill and strolled forth to observe the wonders of the
place.</p>

<p>Caer Gybi or Cybi&rsquo;s town is situated on the southern
side of a bay on the north-western side of Anglesey. Close
to it on the south-west is a very high headland called in Welsh
Pen Caer Gybi, or the head of Cybi&rsquo;s city, and in English
Holy Head. On the north, across the bay, is another
mountain of equal altitude, which if I am not mistaken bears in
Welsh the name of Mynydd Llanfair, or Saint Mary&rsquo;s
Mount. It is called Cybi&rsquo;s town from one Cybi, who
about the year 500 built a college here to which youths noble and
ignoble resorted from far and near. He was a native of
Dyfed or Pembrokeshire, and was a friend and for a long time a
fellow-labourer of Saint David. Besides being learned,
according to the standard of the time, he was a great walker, and
from bronzing his countenance by frequent walking in the sun was
generally called Cybi Velin, which means tawny or yellow
Cybi.</p>

<p>So much for Cybi, and his town! And now something about
one whose memory haunted me much more than that of Cybi during my
stay at Holyhead.</p>

<p>Lewis Morris was born at a place called Tref y Beirdd, in
Anglesey, in the year 1700. Anglesey, or Mona, has given
birth to many illustrious men, but few, upon the whole, entitled
to more honourable mention than himself. From a humble
situation in life, for he served an apprenticeship to a cooper at
Holyhead, he raised himself by his industry and talents to
affluence and distinction, became a landed proprietor in the
county of Cardigan, and inspector of the royal domains and mines
in Wales. Perhaps a man more generally accomplished never
existed; he was a first-rate mechanic, an expert navigator, a
great musician, both in theory and practice, and a poet of
singular excellence. Of him it was said, and with truth,
that he could build a ship and sail it, frame a harp and make it
speak, write an ode and set it to music. Yet that saying,
eulogistic as it is, is far from expressing all the vast powers
and acquirements of Lewis Morris. Though self-taught, he
was confessedly the best Welsh scholar of his age, and was
well-versed in those cognate dialects of the Welsh&mdash;the
Cornish, Armoric, Highland Gaelic and Irish. He was
likewise well acquainted with Hebrew, Greek and Latin, had
studied Anglo-Saxon with some success, and was a writer of bold
and vigorous English. He was besides a good general
antiquary, and for knowledge of ancient Welsh customs,
traditions, and superstitions, had no equal. Yet all has
not been said which can be uttered in his praise; he had
qualities of mind which entitled him to higher esteem than any
accomplishment connected with intellect or skill. Amongst
these were his noble generosity and sacrifice of self for the
benefit of others. Weeks and months he was in the habit of
devoting to the superintendence of the affairs of the widow and
fatherless: one of his principal delights was to assist merit, to
bring it before the world and to procure for it its proper
estimation: it was he who first discovered the tuneful genius of
blind Parry; it was he who first put the harp into his hand; it
was he who first gave him scientific instruction; it was he who
cheered him with encouragement and assisted him with gold.
It was he who instructed the celebrated Evan Evans in the ancient
language of Wales, enabling that talented but eccentric
individual to read the pages of the Red Book of Hergest as easily
as those of the Welsh Bible; it was he who corrected his verses
with matchless skill, refining and polishing them till they
became well worthy of being read by posterity; it was he who gave
him advice, which, had it been followed, would have made the
Prydydd Hir, as he called himself, one of the most illustrious
Welshmen of the last century; and it was he who first told his
countrymen that there was a youth of Anglesey whose genius, if
properly encouraged, promised fair to rival that of Milton: one
of the most eloquent letters ever written is one by him, in which
he descants upon the beauties of certain poems of Gronwy Owen,
the latent genius of whose early boyhood he had observed, whom he
had clothed, educated and assisted up to the period when he was
ordained a minister of the Church, and whom he finally rescued
from a state bordering on starvation in London, procuring for him
an honourable appointment in the New World. Immortality to
Lewis Morris! But immortality he has won, even as his
illustrious pupil has said, who in his elegy upon his benefactor,
written in America, in the four-and-twenty measures, at a time
when Gronwy had not heard the Welsh language spoken for more than
twenty years, has words to the following effect:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;As long as Bardic lore shall last, science
and learning be cherished, the language and blood of the Britons
undefiled, song be heard on Parnassus, heaven and earth be in
existence, foam be on the surge, and water in the river, the name
of Lewis of Mon shall be held in grateful remembrance.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLI</h2>

<p class="letter">The Pier&mdash;Irish Reapers&mdash;Wild Irish
Face&mdash;Father Toban&mdash;The Herd of Swine&mdash;Latin
Blessing.</p>

<p>The day was as hot as the preceding one. I walked slowly
towards the west, and presently found myself upon a pier, or
breakwater, at the mouth of the harbour. A large steamer
lay at a little distance within the pier. There were
fishing-boats on both sides, the greater number on the outer
side, which lies towards the hill of Holy Head. On the
shady side of the breakwater under the wall were two or three
dozen of Irish reapers; some were lying asleep, others in parties
of two or three were seated with their backs against the wall,
and were talking Irish; these last all appeared to be well-made
middle-sized young fellows, with rather a ruffianly look; they
stared at me as I passed. The whole party had shillealahs
either in their hands or by their sides. I went to the
extremity of the pier, where was a little lighthouse, and then
turned back. As I again drew near the Irish, I heard a
hubbub and observed a great commotion amongst them. All,
whether those whom I had seen sitting, or those whom I had seen
reclining, had got, or were getting on their legs. As I
passed them they were all standing up, and their eyes were fixed
upon me with a strange kind of expression, partly of wonder,
methought, partly of respect. &ldquo;Yes, &rsquo;tis he,
sure enough,&rdquo; I heard one whisper. On I went, and at
about thirty yards from the last I stopped, turned round and
leaned against the wall. All the Irish were looking at
me&mdash;presently they formed into knots and began to discourse
very eagerly in Irish, though in an undertone. At length I
observed a fellow going from one knot to the other, exchanging a
few words with each. After he had held communication with
all he nodded his head, and came towards me with a quick step;
the rest stood silent and motionless with their eyes turned in
the direction in which I was, and in which he was
advancing. He stopped within a yard of me and took off his
hat. He was an athletic fellow of about twenty-eight,
dressed in brown frieze. His features were swarthy, and his
eyes black; in every lineament of his countenance was a jumble of
savagery and roguishness. I never saw a more genuine wild
Irish face&mdash;there he stood looking at me full in the face,
his hat in one hand and his shillealah in the other.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, what do you want?&rdquo; said I, after we had
stared at each other about half a minute.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;m just come on the part of the boys and
myself to beg a bit of a favour of your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Reverence,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;what do you mean by
styling me reverence?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och sure, because to be styled your reverence is the
right of your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray what do you take me for?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och sure, we knows your reverence very well.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, who am I?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, why Father Toban to be sure.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who knows me to be Father Toban?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, a boy here knows your reverence to be Father
Toban.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where is that boy?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here he stands, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you that boy?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And you told the rest that I was Father
Toban?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I did, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And you know me to be Father Toban?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How do you know me to be Father Toban?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, why because many&rsquo;s the good time that I have
heard your reverence, Father Toban, say mass.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is it you want me to do?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, see here, your reverence, we are going to embark
in the dirty steamer yonder for ould Ireland, which starts as
soon as the tide serves, and we want your reverence to bless us
before we goes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You want me to bless you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We do, your reverence, we want you to spit out a little
bit of a blessing upon us before we goes on board.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what good would my blessing do you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;All kinds of good, your reverence; it would prevent the
dirty steamer from catching fire, your reverence, or from going
down, your reverence, or from running against the blackguard Hill
of Howth in the mist, provided there should be one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And suppose I were to tell you that I am not Father
Toban?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, your reverence, will never think of doing
that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Would you believe me if I did?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We would not, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If I were to swear that I am not Father
Toban?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We would not, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;On the evangiles?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We would not, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;On the Cross?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We would not, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And suppose I were to refuse to give you a
blessing?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, your reverence will never refuse to bless the poor
boys.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But suppose I were to refuse?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, in such a case, which by-the-bye is altogether
impossible, we should just make bould to give your reverence a
good big bating.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You would break my head?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We would, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Kill me?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We would, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You would really put me to death?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We would not, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what&rsquo;s the difference between killing and
putting to death?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, sure there&rsquo;s all the difference in the
world. Killing manes only a good big bating, such as every
Irishman is used to, and which your reverence would get over long
before matins, whereas putting your reverence to death would
prevent your reverence from saying mass for ever and a
day.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And you are determined on having a blessing?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;By hook or by crook?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;By crook or by hook, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Before I bless you, will you answer me a question or
two?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you not a set of great big blackguards?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Without one good quality?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Would it not be quite right to saddle and bridle you
all, and ride you violently down Holyhead or the Giant&rsquo;s
Causeway into the waters, causing you to perish there, like the
herd of swine of old?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It would, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And knowing and confessing all this, you have the cheek
to come and ask me for a blessing?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We have, your reverence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, how shall I give the blessing?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, sure your reverence knows very well how to give
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shall I give it in Irish?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, no, your reverence&mdash;a blessing in Irish is no
blessing at all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och, murder, no, your reverence, God preserve us all
from an English blessing!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In Latin?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sure, your reverence; in what else should you
bless us but in holy Latin?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well then prepare yourselves.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We will, your reverence&mdash;stay one moment whilst I
whisper to the boys that your reverence is about to bestow your
blessing upon us.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then turning to the rest who all this time had kept their eyes
fixed intently upon us, he bellowed with the voice of a bull:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Down on your marrow bones, ye sinners, for his
reverence Toban is about to bless us all in holy
Latin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then flung himself on his knees on the pier, and all his
countrymen, baring their heads, followed his example&mdash;yes,
there knelt thirty bare-headed Eirionaich on the pier of Caer
Gybi beneath the broiling sun. I gave them the best Latin
blessing I could remember, out of two or three which I had got by
memory out of an old Popish book of devotion, which I bought in
my boyhood at a stall. Then turning to the deputy I said,
&ldquo;Well, now are you satisfied?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sure, I have a right to be satisfied, your reverence;
and so have we all&mdash;sure we can now all go on board the
dirty steamer, without fear of fire or water, or the blackguard
Hill of Howth either.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then get up, and tell the rest to get up, and please to
know and let the rest know, that I do not choose to receive
farther trouble, either by word or look, from any of ye, as long
as I remain here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your reverence shall be obeyed in all things,&rdquo;
said the fellow, getting up. Then walking away to his
companions he cried, &ldquo;Get up, boys, and plase to know that
his reverence Toban is not to be farther troubled by being looked
at or spoken to by any one of us as long as he remains upon this
dirty pier.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Divil a bit farther trouble shall he have from
us!&rdquo; exclaimed many a voice, as the rest of the party arose
from their knees.</p>

<p>In half a minute they disposed themselves in much the same
manner as that in which they were when I first saw
them&mdash;some flung themselves again to sleep under the wall,
some seated themselves with their backs against it, and laughed
and chatted, but without taking any notice of me; those who sat
and chatted took, or appeared to take, as little notice as those
who lay and slept of his reverence Father Toban.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLII</h2>

<p class="letter">Gage of Suffolk&mdash;Fellow in a
Turban&mdash;Town of Holyhead&mdash;Father Boots&mdash;An
Expedition&mdash;Holy Head and Finisterrae&mdash;Gryffith ab
Cynan&mdash;The Fairies&rsquo; Well.</p>

<p>Leaving the pier I turned up a street to the south, and was
not long before I arrived at a kind of market-place, where were
carts and stalls, and on the ground, on cloths, apples and plums,
and abundance of greengages,&mdash;the latter, when good,
decidedly the finest fruit in the world, a fruit, for the
introduction of which into England, the English have to thank one
Gage of an ancient Suffolk family, at present extinct, after
whose name the fruit derives the latter part of its
appellation. Strolling about the market-place I came in
contact with a fellow dressed in a turban and dirty blue linen
robes and trowsers. He bore a bundle of papers in his hand,
one of which he offered to me. I asked him who he was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Arap,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>He had a dark, cunning, roguish countenance, with small eyes,
and had all the appearance of a Jew. I spoke to him in what
Arabic I could command on a sudden, and he jabbered to me in a
corrupt dialect, giving me a confused account of a captivity
which he had undergone amidst savage Mahometans. At last I
asked him what religion he was of.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Christian,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you ever been of the Jewish?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>He returned no answer save by a grin.</p>

<p>I took the paper, gave him a penny, and then walked
away. The paper contained an account in English of how the
bearer, the son of Christian parents, had been carried into
captivity by two Mahometan merchants, a father and son, from whom
he had escaped with the greatest difficulty.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pretty fools,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;must any people
have been who ever stole you; but oh what fools if they wished to
keep you after they had got you!&rdquo;</p>

<p>The paper was stuffed with religious and anti-slavery cant,
and merely wanted a little of the teetotal nonsense to be a
perfect specimen of humbug.</p>

<p>I strolled forward, encountering more carts and more heaps of
greengages; presently I turned to the right by a street, which
led some way up the hill. The houses were tolerably large
and all white. The town, with its white houses placed by
the seaside, on the skirt of a mountain, beneath a blue sky and a
broiling sun, put me something in mind of a Moorish piratical
town, in which I had once been. Becoming soon tired of
walking about, without any particular aim, in so great a heat, I
determined to return to the inn, call for ale, and deliberate on
what I had best next do. So I returned and called for
ale. The ale which was brought was not ale which I am
particularly fond of. The ale which I am fond of is ale
about nine or ten months old, somewhat hard, tasting well of malt
and little of the hop&mdash;ale such as farmers, and noblemen
too, of the good old time, when farmers&rsquo; daughters did not
play on pianos and noblemen did not sell their game, were in the
habit of offering to both high and low, and drinking
themselves. The ale which was brought me was thin washy
stuff, which though it did not taste much of hop, tasted still
less of malt, made and sold by one Allsopp, who I am told calls
himself a squire and a gentleman&mdash;as he certainly may with
quite as much right as many a lord calls himself a nobleman and a
gentleman; for surely it is not a fraction more trumpery to make
and sell ale than to fatten and sell game. The ale of the
Saxon squire, for Allsopp is decidedly an old Saxon name, however
unakin to the practice of old Saxon squires the selling of ale
may be, was drinkable for it was fresh, and the day, as I have
said before, exceedingly hot; so I took frequent draughts out of
the shining metal tankard in which it was brought, deliberating
both whilst drinking, and in the intervals of drinking, on what I
had next best do. I had some thoughts of crossing to the
northern side of the bay, then, bearing the north-east, wend my
way to Amlwch, follow the windings of the sea-shore to Mathafarn
eithaf and Pentraeth Coch, and then return to Bangor, after which
I could boast that I had walked round the whole of Anglesey, and
indeed trodden no inconsiderable part of the way twice.
Before coming, however, to any resolution, I determined to ask
the advice of my friend the boots on the subject. So I
finished my ale, and sent word by the waiter that I wished to
speak to him; he came forthwith, and after communicating my
deliberations to him in a few words I craved his counsel.
The old man, after rubbing his right forefinger behind his right
ear for about a quarter of a minute, inquired if I meant to
return to Bangor, and on my telling him that it would be
necessary for me to do so, as I intended to walk back to
Llangollen by Caernarvon and Beth Gelert, strongly advised me to
return to Bangor by the railroad train, which would start at
seven in the evening, and would convey me thither in an hour and
a half. I told him that I hated railroads, and received for
answer that he had no particular liking for them himself, but
that he occasionally made use of them on a pinch, and supposed
that I likewise did the same. I then observed, that if I
followed his advice I should not see the north side of the island
nor its principal town Amlwch, and received for answer that if I
never did, the loss would not be great&mdash;that as for Amlwch
it was a poor poverty-stricken place&mdash;the inn a shabby
affair&mdash;the master a very so-so individual, and the boots a
fellow without either wit or literature. That upon the
whole he thought I might be satisfied with what I had seen for
after having visited Owen Tudor&rsquo;s tomb, Caer Gybi and his
hotel, I had in fact seen the cream of Mona. I then said
that I had one objection to make, which was that I really did not
know how to employ the time till seven o&rsquo;clock, for that I
had seen all about the town.</p>

<p>&ldquo;But has your honour ascended the Head?&rdquo; demanded
Father Boots.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I have not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I will soon find your
honour ways and means to spend the time agreeably till the
starting of the train. Your honour shall ascend the Head
under the guidance of my nephew, a nice intelligent lad, your
honour, and always glad to earn a shilling or two. By the
time your honour has seen all the wonders of the Head and
returned, it will be five o&rsquo;clock. Your honour can
then dine, and after dinner trifle away the minutes over your
wine or brandy-and-water till seven, when your honour can step
into a first-class for Bangor.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I was struck with the happy manner in which he had removed the
difficulty in question, and informed him that I was determined to
follow his advice. He hurried away, and presently returned
with his nephew, to whom I offered half-a-crown provided he would
show me all about Pen Caer Gyby. He accepted my offer with
evident satisfaction, and we lost no time in setting out upon our
expedition.</p>

<p>We had to pass over a great deal of broken ground, sometimes
ascending, sometimes descending, before we found ourselves upon
the side of what may actually be called the headland.
Shaping our course westward we came to the vicinity of a
lighthouse standing on the verge of a precipice, the foot of
which was washed by the sea.</p>

<p>Leaving the lighthouse on our right we followed a steep
winding path which at last brought us to the top of the pen or
summit, rising, according to the judgment which I formed, about
six hundred feet from the surface of the sea. Here was a
level spot some twenty yards across, in the middle of which stood
a heap of stones or cairn. I asked the lad whether this
cairn bore a name, and received for answer that it was generally
called Bar-cluder y Cawr Glâs, words which seem to signify
the top heap of the Grey Giant.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Some king, giant, or man of old renown lies buried
beneath this cairn,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Whoever he may
be, I trust he will excuse me for mounting it, seeing that I do
so with no disrespectful spirit.&rdquo; I then mounted the
cairn, exclaiming:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Who lies &rsquo;neath the cairn on the
headland hoar,<br />
His hand yet holding his broad claymore,<br />
Is it Beli, the son of Benlli Gawr?&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There stood I on the cairn of the Grey Giant, looking around
me. The prospect, on every side, was noble: the blue
interminable sea to the west and north; the whole stretch of Mona
to the east; and far away to the south the mountainous region of
Eryri, comprising some of the most romantic hills in the
world. In some respects this Pen Santaidd, this holy
headland, reminded me of Finisterrae, the Gallegan promontory
which I had ascended some seventeen years before, whilst engaged
in battling the Pope with the sword of the gospel in his
favourite territory. Both are bold, bluff headlands looking
to the west, both have huge rocks in their vicinity, rising from
the bosom of the brine. For a time, as I stood on the
cairn, I almost imagined myself on the Gallegan hill; much the
same scenery presented itself as there, and a sun equally fierce
struck upon my head as that which assailed it on the Gallegan
hill. For a time all my thoughts were of Spain. It
was not long, however, before I bethought me that my lot was now
in a different region, that I had done with Spain for ever, after
doing for her all that lay in the power of a lone man, who had
never in this world anything to depend upon, but God and his own
slight strength. Yes, I had done with Spain, and was now in
Wales; and, after a slight sigh, my thoughts became all intensely
Welsh. I thought on the old times when Mona was the grand
seat of Druidical superstition, when adoration was paid to Dwy
Fawr, and Dwy Fach, the sole survivors of the apocryphal Deluge;
to Hu the Mighty and his plough; to Ceridwen and her cauldron; to
András the Horrible; to Wyn ab Nudd, Lord of Unknown, and
to Beli, Emperor of the Sun. I thought on the times when
the Beal fire blazed on this height, on the neighbouring
promontory, on the cope-stone of Eryri, and on every high hill
throughout Britain on the eve of the first of May. I
thought on the day when the bands of Suetonius crossed the Menai
strait in their broad-bottomed boats, fell upon the Druids and
their followers, who with wild looks and brandished torches lined
the shore, slew hundreds with merciless butchery upon the plains,
and pursued the remainder to the remotest fastnesses of the
isle. I figured to myself long-bearded men with white
vestments toiling up the rocks, followed by fierce warriors with
glittering helms and short broad two-edged swords; I thought I
heard groans, cries of rage, and the dull, awful sound of bodies
precipitated down rocks. Then as I looked towards the sea I
thought I saw the fleet of Gryffith Ab Cynan steering from
Ireland to Aber Menai, Gryffith, the son of a fugitive king, born
in Ireland, in the Commot of Columbcille, Gryffith the frequently
baffled, the often victorious; once a manacled prisoner sweating
in the sun, in the market-place of Chester, eventually king of
North Wales; Gryffith, who &ldquo;though he loved well the
trumpet&rsquo;s clang loved the sound of the harp better&rdquo;;
who led on his warriors to twenty-four battles, and presided over
the composition of the twenty-four measures of Cambrian
song. Then I thought&mdash;. But I should tire the
reader were I to detail all the intensely Welsh thoughts which
crowded into my head as I stood on the Cairn of the Grey
Giant.</p>

<p>Satiated with looking about and thinking, I sprang from the
cairn and rejoined my guide. We now descended the eastern
side of the hill till we came to a singular looking stone, which
had much the appearance of a Druid&rsquo;s stone. I
inquired of my guide whether there was any tale connected with
this stone.</p>

<p>&ldquo;None,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;but I have heard people
say that it was a strange stone, and on that account I brought
you to look at it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>A little farther down he showed me part of a ruined wall.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What name does this bear?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Clawdd yr Afalon,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;The
dyke of the orchard.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A strange place for an orchard,&rdquo; I replied.
&ldquo;If there was ever an orchard on this bleak hill, the
apples must have been very sour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Over rocks and stones we descended till we found ourselves on
a road, not very far from the shore, on the south-east side of
the hill.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am very thirsty,&rdquo; said I, as I wiped the
perspiration from my face; &ldquo;how I should like now to drink
my fill of cool spring water.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If your honour is inclined for water,&rdquo; said my
guide, &ldquo;I can take you to the finest spring in all
Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray do so,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for I really am dying
of thirst.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is on our way to the town,&rdquo; said the lad,
&ldquo;and is scarcely a hundred yards off.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then led me to the fountain. It was a little well
under a stone wall, on the left side of the way. It might
be about two feet deep, was fenced with rude stones, and had a
bottom of sand.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There,&rdquo; said the lad, &ldquo;is the
fountain. It is called the Fairies&rsquo; Well, and
contains the best water in Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I lay down and drank. Oh, what water was that of the
Fairies&rsquo; Well! I drank and drank, and thought I could
never drink enough of that delicious water; the lad all the time
saying that I need not be afraid to drink, as the water of the
Fairies&rsquo; Well had never done harm to anybody. At
length I got up, and standing by the fountain repeated the lines
of a bard on a spring, not of a Welsh but a Gaelic bard, which
are perhaps the finest lines ever composed on the theme.
Yet MacIntyre, for such was his name, was like myself an admirer
of good ale, to say nothing of whiskey, and loved to indulge in
it at a proper time and place. But there is a time and
place for everything, and sometimes the warmest admirer of ale
would prefer the lymph of the hill-side fountain to the choicest
ale that ever foamed in tankard from the cellars of
Holkham. Here are the lines most faithfully
rendered:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The wild wine of nature,<br />
Honey-like in its taste,<br />
The genial, fair, thin element<br />
Filtering through the sands,<br />
Which is sweeter than cinnamon,<br />
And is well known to us hunters.<br />
O, that eternal, healing draught,<br />
Which comes from under the earth,<br />
Which contains abundance of good<br />
And costs no money!&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Returning to the hotel I satisfied my guide and dined.
After dinner I trifled agreeably with my brandy-and-water till it
was near seven o&rsquo;clock, when I paid my bill, thought of the
waiter and did not forget Father Boots. I then took my
departure, receiving and returning bows, and walking to the
station got into a first-class carriage and soon found myself at
Bangor.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLIII</h2>

<p class="letter">The Inn at Bangor&mdash;Port Dyn
Norwig&mdash;Sea Serpent&mdash;Thoroughly Welsh
Place&mdash;Blessing of Health.</p>

<p>I went to the same inn at Bangor at which I had been
before. It was Saturday night and the house was thronged
with people who had arrived by train from Manchester and
Liverpool, with the intention of passing the Sunday in the Welsh
town. I took tea in an immense dining or ball-room, which
was, however, so crowded with guests that its walls literally
sweated. Amidst the multitude I felt quite
solitary&mdash;my beloved ones had departed for Llangollen, and
there was no one with whom I could exchange a thought or a word
of kindness. I addressed several individuals, and in every
instance repented; from some I got no answers, from others what
was worse than no answers at all&mdash;in every countenance near
me suspicion, brutality, or conceit, was most legibly
imprinted&mdash;I was not amongst Welsh, but the scum of
manufacturing England.</p>

<p>Every bed in the house was engaged&mdash;the people of the
house, however, provided me a bed at a place which they called
the cottage, on the side of a hill in the outskirts of the
town. There I passed the night comfortably enough. At
about eight in the morning I arose, returned to the inn,
breakfasted, and departed for Beth Gelert by way of
Caernarvon.</p>

<p>It was Sunday, and I had originally intended to pass the day
at Bangor, and to attend divine service twice at the Cathedral,
but I found myself so very uncomfortable, owing to the crowd of
interlopers, that I determined to proceed on my journey without
delay; making up my mind, however, to enter the first church I
should meet in which service was being performed; for it is
really not good to travel on the Sunday without going into a
place of worship.</p>

<p>The day was sunny and fiercely hot, as all the days had lately
been. In about an hour I arrived at Port Dyn Norwig: it
stood on the right side of the road. The name of this
place, which I had heard from the coachman who drove my family
and me to Caernarvon and Llanberis a few days before, had excited
my curiosity with respect to it, as it signifies the Port of the
Norway man, so I now turned aside to examine it. &ldquo;No
doubt,&rdquo; said I to myself, &ldquo;the place derives its name
from the piratical Danes and Norse having resorted to it in the
old time.&rdquo; Port Dyn Norwig seems to consist of a
creek, a staithe, and about a hundred houses: a few small vessels
were lying at the staithe. I stood about ten minutes upon
it staring about, and then feeling rather oppressed by the heat
of the sun, I bent my way to a small house which bore a sign, and
from which a loud noise of voices proceeded. &ldquo;Have
you good ale?&rdquo; said I in English to a good-looking buxom
dame of about forty, whom I saw in the passage.</p>

<p>She looked at me but returned no answer.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oes genoch cwrw da?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oes!&rdquo; she replied with a smile, and opening the
door of a room on the left-hand bade me walk in.</p>

<p>I entered the room; six or seven men, seemingly sea-faring
people, were seated drinking and talking vociferously in
Welsh. Their conversation was about the sea-serpent: some
believed in the existence of such a thing, others did not.
After a little time one said, &ldquo;Let us ask this gentleman
for his opinion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what would be the use of asking him?&rdquo; said
another, &ldquo;we have only Cumraeg, and he has only
Saesneg.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have a little broken Cumraeg, at the service of this
good company,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;With respect to the
snake of the sea I beg leave to say that I believe in the
existence of such a creature; and am surprised that any people in
these parts should not believe in it: why, the sea-serpent has
been seen in these parts.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;When was that, Gwr Boneddig?&rdquo; said one of the
company.</p>

<p>&ldquo;About fifty years ago,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Once
in October, in the year 1805, as a small vessel of the Traeth was
upon the Menai, sailing very slowly, the weather being very calm,
the people on board saw a strange creature like an immense worm
swimming after them. It soon overtook them, climbed on
board through the tiller-hole, and coiled itself on the deck
under the mast&mdash;the people at first were dreadfully
frightened, but taking courage they attacked it with an oar and
drove it overboard; it followed the vessel for some time, but a
breeze springing up they lost sight of it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how did you learn this?&rdquo; said the last who
had addressed me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I read the story,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;in a pure Welsh
book called the Greal.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I now remember hearing the same thing,&rdquo; said an
old man, &ldquo;when I was a boy; it had slipt out of my memory,
but now I remember all about it. The ship was called the
<i>Robert Ellis</i>. Are you of these parts,
gentleman?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am not of these
parts.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you are of South Wales&mdash;indeed your Welsh is
very different from ours.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not of South Wales,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am the
seed not of the sea-snake but of the coiling serpent, for so one
of the old Welsh poets called the Saxons.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But how did you learn Welsh?&rdquo; said the old
man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I learned it by the grammar,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;a
long time ago.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, you learnt it by the grammar,&rdquo; said the old
man; &ldquo;that accounts for your Welsh being different from
ours. We did not learn our Welsh by the grammar&mdash;your
Welsh is different from ours, and of course better, being the
Welsh of the grammar. Ah, it is a fine thing to be a
grammarian.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, it is a fine thing to be a grammarian,&rdquo;
cried the rest of the company, and I observed that everybody now
regarded me with a kind of respect.</p>

<p>A jug of ale which the hostess had brought me had been
standing before me some time. I now tasted it and found it
very good. Whilst despatching it, I asked various questions
about the old Danes, the reason why the place was called the port
of the Norwegian, and about its trade. The good folks knew
nothing about the old Danes, and as little as to the reason of
its being called the port of the Norwegian&mdash;but they said
that besides that name it bore that of Melin Heli, or the mill of
the salt pool, and that slates were exported from thence, which
came from quarries close by.</p>

<p>Having finished my ale, I bade the company adieu and quitted
Port Dyn Norwig, one of the most thoroughly Welsh places I had
seen, for during the whole time I was in it, I heard no words of
English uttered, except the two or three spoken by myself.
In about an hour I reached Caernarvon.</p>

<p>The road from Bangor to Caernarvon is very good and the
scenery interesting&mdash;fine hills border it on the left, or
south-east, and on the right at some distance is the Menai with
Anglesey beyond it. Not far from Caernarvon a sandbank
commences, extending for miles up the Menai, towards Bangor, and
dividing the strait into two.</p>

<p>I went to the Castle Inn which fronts the square or
market-place, and being shown into a room ordered some
brandy-and-water, and sat down. Two young men were seated
in the room. I spoke to them and received civil answers, at
which I was rather astonished, as I found by the tone of their
voices that they were English. The air of one was far
superior to that of the other, and with him I was soon in
conversation. In the course of discourse he informed me
that being a martyr to ill-health he had come from London to
Wales, hoping that change of air, and exercise on the Welsh
hills, would afford him relief, and that his friend had been kind
enough to accompany him. That he had been about three weeks
in Wales, had taken all the exercise that he could, but that he
was still very unwell, slept little and had no appetite. I
told him not to be discouraged, but to proceed in the course
which he had adopted till the end of summer, by which time I
thought it very probable that he would be restored to his health,
as he was still young. At these words of mine a beam of
hope brightened his countenance, and he said that he had no other
wish than to regain his health, and that if he did he should be
the happiest of men. The intense wish of the poor young man
for health caused me to think how insensible I had hitherto been
to the possession of the greatest of all terrestrial
blessings. I had always had the health of an elephant, but
I never remembered to have been sensible to the magnitude of the
blessing or in the slightest degree grateful to God who gave
it. I shuddered to think how I should feel if suddenly
deprived of my health. Far worse, no doubt, than that poor
invalid. He was young, and in youth there is hope&mdash;but
I was no longer young. At last, however, I thought that if
God took away my health He might so far alter my mind that I
might be happy even without health, or the prospect of it; and
that reflection made me quite comfortable.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLIV</h2>

<p class="letter">National School&mdash;The Young
Preacher&mdash;Pont Bettws&mdash;Spanish Words&mdash;Two Tongues,
Two Faces&mdash;The Elephant&rsquo;s Snout&mdash;Llyn
Cwellyn&mdash;The Snowdon Ranger&mdash;My House&mdash;Castell y
Cidwm&mdash;Descent to Beth Gelert.</p>

<p>It might be about three o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon when I
left Caernarvon for Beth Gelert, distant about thirteen
miles. I journeyed through a beautiful country of hill and
dale, woods and meadows, the whole gilded by abundance of
sunshine. After walking about an hour without intermission
I reached a village, and asked a man the name of it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Llan&mdash;something,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>As he was standing before a long building, through the open
door of which a sound proceeded like that of preaching, I asked
him what place it was, and what was going on in it, and received
for answer that it was the National School, and that there was a
clergyman preaching in it. I then asked if the clergyman
was of the Church, and on learning that he was, I forthwith
entered the building, where in one end of a long room I saw a
young man in a white surplice preaching from a desk to about
thirty or forty people, who were seated on benches before
him. I sat down and listened. The young man preached
with great zeal and fluency. The sermon was a very
seasonable one, being about the harvest, and in it things
temporal and spiritual were very happily blended. The part
of the sermon which I heard&mdash;I regretted that I did not hear
the whole&mdash;lasted about five-and-twenty minutes: a hymn
followed, and then the congregation broke up. I inquired
the name of the young man who preached, and was told that it was
Edwards, and that he came from Caernarvon. The name of the
incumbent of the parish was Thomas.</p>

<p>Leaving the village of the harvest sermon I proceeded on my
way which lay to the south-east. I was now drawing nigh to
the mountainous district of Eryri; a noble hill called Mount
Eilio appeared before me to the north; an immense mountain called
Pen Drws Coed lay over against it on the south, just like a
couchant elephant with its head lower than the top of its
back. After a time I entered a most beautiful sunny valley,
and presently came to a bridge over a pleasant stream running in
the direction of the south. As I stood upon that bridge I
almost fancied myself in Paradise; everything looked so beautiful
or grand&mdash;green, sunny meadows lay all around me,
intersected by the brook, the waters of which ran with tinkling
laughter over a shingly bottom. Noble Eilio to the north;
enormous Pen Drws Coed to the south; a tall mountain far beyond
them to the east. &ldquo;I never was in such a lovely
spot!&rdquo; I cried to myself in a perfect rapture.
&ldquo;Oh, how glad I should be to learn the name of this bridge,
standing on which I have had &lsquo;Heaven opened to me,&rsquo;
as my old friends the Spaniards used to say.&rdquo;
Scarcely had I said these words when I observed a man and a woman
coming towards the bridge in the direction in which I was
bound. I hastened to meet them in the hope of obtaining
information. They were both rather young, and were probably
a couple of sweethearts taking a walk or returning from
meeting. The woman was a few steps in advance of the man;
seeing that I was about to address her, she averted her head and
quickened her steps, and before I had completed the question,
which I put to her in Welsh, she had bolted past me screaming
&ldquo;Ah Dim Seasneg,&rdquo; and was several yards distant.</p>

<p>I then addressed myself to the man who had stopped, asking him
the name of the bridge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pont Bettws,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what may be the name of the river?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Afon&mdash;something,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>And on my thanking him he went forward to the woman who was
waiting for him by the bridge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is that man Welsh or English?&rdquo; I heard her say
when he had rejoined her.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said the man&mdash;&ldquo;he
was civil enough; why were you such a fool?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I thought he would speak to me in English,&rdquo;
said the woman, &ldquo;and the thought of that horrid English
puts me into such a flutter; you know I can&rsquo;t speak a word
of it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>They proceeded on their way and I proceeded on mine, and
presently coming to a little inn on the left side of the way, at
the entrance of a village, I went in.</p>

<p>A respectable-looking man and woman were seated at tea at a
table in a nice clean kitchen. I sat down on a chair near
the table, and called for ale&mdash;the ale was brought me in a
jug&mdash;I drank some, put the jug on the table, and began to
discourse with the people in Welsh. A handsome dog was
seated on the ground; suddenly it laid one of its paws on its
master&rsquo;s knee.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Down, Perro,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perro!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;why do you call the dog
Perro?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We call him Perro,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;because
his name is Perro.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But how came you to give him that name?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We did not give it to him,&rdquo; said the
man&mdash;&ldquo;he bore that name when he came into our hands; a
farmer gave him to us when he was very young, and told us his
name was Perro.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how came the farmer to call him Perro?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said the
man&mdash;&ldquo;why do you ask?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perro,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is a Spanish word, and
signifies a dog in general. I am rather surprised that a
dog in the mountains of Wales should be called by the Spanish
word for dog.&rdquo; I fell into a fit of musing.
&ldquo;How Spanish words are diffused! Wherever you go you
will find some Spanish word or other in use. I have heard
Spanish words used by Russian mujiks and Turkish
fig-gatherers&mdash;I have this day heard a Spanish word in the
mountains of Wales, and I have no doubt that were I to go to
Iceland I should find Spanish words used there. How can I
doubt it; when I reflect that more than six hundred years ago,
one of the words to denote a bad woman was Spanish. In the
oldest of Icelandic domestic Sagas, Skarphedin, the son of Nial
the seer, called Hallgerdr, widow of Gunnar, a puta&mdash;and
that word so maddened Hallgerdr that she never rested till she
had brought about his destruction. Now, why this preference
everywhere for Spanish words over those of every other
language? I never heard French words or German words used
by Russian mujiks and Turkish fig-gatherers. I question
whether I should find any in Iceland forming part of the
vernacular. I certainly never found a French or even a
German word in an old Icelandic Saga. Why this partiality
everywhere for Spanish words? the question is puzzling; at any
rate it puts me out&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, it puts me out!&rdquo; I exclaimed aloud, striking
my fist on the table with a vehemence which caused the good folks
to start half up from their seats. Before they could say
anything, however, a vehicle drove up to the door, and a man
getting out came into the room. He had a glazed hat on his
head, and was dressed something like the guard of a mail.
He touched his hat to me, and called for a glass of
whiskey. I gave him the sele of the evening and entered
into conversation with him in English. In the course of
discourse I learned that he was the postman, and was going his
rounds in his cart&mdash;he was more than respectful to me, he
was fawning and sycophantic. The whiskey was brought, and
he stood with the glass in his hand. Suddenly he began
speaking Welsh to the people; before, however, he had uttered two
sentences the woman lifted her hand with an alarmed air, crying
&ldquo;Hush! he understands.&rdquo; The fellow was turning
me to ridicule. I flung my head back, closed my eyes,
opened my mouth and laughed aloud. The fellow stood aghast;
his hand trembled, and he spilt the greater part of the whiskey
upon the ground. At the end of about half a minute I got
up, asked what I had to pay, and on being told twopence, I put
down the money. Then going up to the man I put my right
forefinger very near to his nose, and said &ldquo;Dwy o iaith dwy
o wyneb, two languages, two faces, friend!&rdquo; Then
after leering at him for a moment I wished the people of the
house good-evening and departed.</p>

<p>Walking rapidly on towards the east I soon drew near the
termination of the valley. The valley terminates in a deep
gorge or pass between Mount Eilio&mdash;which by-the-bye is part
of the chine of Snowdon&mdash;and Pen Drws Coed. The
latter, that couchant elephant with its head turned to the
north-east, seems as if it wished to bar the pass with its trunk;
by its trunk I mean a kind of jaggy ridge which descends down to
the road. I entered the gorge, passing near a little
waterfall which with much noise runs down the precipitous side of
Mount Eilio; presently I came to a little mill by the side of a
brook running towards the east. I asked the miller-woman,
who was standing near the mill, with her head turned towards the
setting sun, the name of the mill and the stream.
&ldquo;The mill is called &lsquo;The mill of the river of Lake
Cwellyn,&rsquo;&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;and the river is called
the river of Lake Cwellyn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who owns the land?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir Richard,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;I Sir
Richard yw yn perthyn y tîr. Mr Williams, however,
possesses some part of Mount Eilio.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who is Mr Williams?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who is Mr Williams?&rdquo; said the miller&rsquo;s
wife. &ldquo;Ho, ho! what a stranger you must be to ask me
who is Mr Williams.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I smiled and passed on. The mill was below the level of
the road, and its wheel was turned by the water of a little
conduit supplied by the brook at some distance above the
mill. I had observed similar conduits employed for similar
purposes in Cornwall. A little below the mill was a weir,
and a little below the weir the river ran frothing past the
extreme end of the elephant&rsquo;s snout. Following the
course of the river I at last emerged with it from the pass into
a valley surrounded by enormous mountains. Extending along
it from west to east, and occupying its entire southern part lay
an oblong piece of water, into which the streamlet of the pass
discharged itself. This was one of the many beautiful
lakes, which a few days before I had seen from the Wyddfa.
As for the Wyddfa I now beheld it high above me in the north-east
looking very grand indeed, shining like a silver helmet whilst
catching the glories of the setting sun.</p>

<p>I proceeded slowly along the road, the lake below me on my
right hand, whilst the shelvy side of Snowdon rose above me on
the left. The evening was calm and still, and no noise came
upon my ear save the sound of a cascade falling into the lake
from a black mountain, which frowned above it on the south, and
cast a gloomy shadow far over it.</p>

<p>This cataract was in the neighbourhood of a singular-looking
rock, projecting above the lake from the mountain&rsquo;s
side. I wandered a considerable way without meeting or
seeing a single human being. At last when I had nearly
gained the eastern end of the valley I saw two men seated on the
side of the hill, on the verge of the road, in the vicinity of a
house which stood a little way up the hill. The lake here
was much wider than I had hitherto seen it, for the huge mountain
on the south had terminated and the lake expanded considerably in
that quarter, having instead of the black mountain a beautiful
hill beyond it.</p>

<p>I quickened my steps and soon came up to the two
individuals. One was an elderly man, dressed in a smock
frock and with a hairy cap on his head. The other was much
younger, wore a hat, and was dressed in a coarse suit of blue
nearly new, and doubtless his Sunday&rsquo;s best. He was
smoking a pipe. I greeted them in English and sat down near
them. They responded in the same language, the younger man
with considerable civility and briskness, the other in a tone of
voice denoting some reserve.</p>

<p>&ldquo;May I ask the name of this lake?&rdquo; said I,
addressing myself to the young man who sat between me and the
elderly one.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Its name is Llyn Cwellyn, sir,&rdquo; said he, taking
the pipe out of his mouth. &ldquo;And a fine lake it
is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty of fish in it?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty, sir; plenty of trout and pike and
char.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it deep?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Near the shore it is shallow, sir, but in the middle
and near the other side it is deep, so deep that no one knows how
deep it is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;of the great
black mountain there on the other side?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is called Mynydd Mawr or the Great Mountain.
Yonder rock, which bulks out from it, down the lake yonder, and
which you passed as you came along, is called Castell Cidwm,
which means Wolf&rsquo;s rock or castle.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did a wolf ever live there?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps so,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;for I have
heard say that there were wolves of old in Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of the beautiful hill yonder,
before us across the water?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That, sir, is called Cairn Drws y Coed,&rdquo; said the
man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The stone heap of the gate of the wood,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you Welsh, sir?&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I know something of the
language of Wales. I suppose you live in that
house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not exactly, sir, my father-in-law here lives in that
house, and my wife with him. I am a miner, and spend six
days in the week at my mine, but every Sunday I come here and
pass the day with my wife and him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what profession does he follow?&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;is he a fisherman?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Fisherman!&rdquo; said the elderly man contemptuously,
&ldquo;not I. I am the Snowdon Ranger.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is that?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>The elderly man tossed his head proudly, and made no
reply.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A ranger means a guide, sir,&rdquo; said the younger
man; &ldquo;my father-in-law is generally termed the Snowdon
Ranger because he is a tip-top guide, and he has named the house
after him the Snowdon Ranger. He entertains gentlemen in it
who put themselves under his guidance in order to ascend Snowdon
and to see the country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is some difference in your professions,&rdquo;
said &ldquo;he deals in heights, you in depths, both, however,
are break-necky trades.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I run more risk from gunpowder than anything
else,&rdquo; said the younger man. &ldquo;I am a
slate-miner, and am continually blasting. I have, however,
had my falls. Are you going far to-night, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am going to Beth Gelert,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A good six miles, sir, from here. Do you come
from Caernarvon?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farther than that,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I come
from Bangor.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To-day, sir, and walking?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To-day, and walking.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You must be rather tired, sir, you came along the
valley very slowly.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not in the slightest degree tired,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;when I start from here, I shall put on my best pace, and
soon get to Beth Gelert.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Anybody can get along over level ground,&rdquo; said
the old man, laconically.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not with equal swiftness,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;I
do assure you, friend, to be able to move at a good swinging pace
over level ground is something not to be sneezed at.
Not,&rdquo; said I, lifting up my voice, &ldquo;that I would for
a moment compare walking on the level ground to mountain ranging,
pacing along the road to springing up crags like a mountain goat,
or assert that even Powell himself, the first of all road
walkers, was entitled to so bright a wreath of fame as the
Snowdon Ranger.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you walk in, sir?&rdquo; said the elderly
man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, I thank you,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I prefer sitting
out here gazing on the lake and the noble mountains.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish you would, sir,&rdquo; said the elderly man,
&ldquo;and take a glass of something; I will charge you
nothing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am in want of
nothing, and shall presently start. Do many people ascend
Snowdon from your house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not so many as I could wish,&rdquo; said the ranger;
&ldquo;people in general prefer ascending Snowdon from that
trumpery place Beth Gelert; but those who do are
fools&mdash;begging your honour&rsquo;s pardon. The place
to ascend Snowdon from is my house. The way from my house
up Snowdon is wonderful for the romantic scenery which it
affords; that from Beth Gelert can&rsquo;t be named in the same
day with it for scenery; moreover, from my house you may have the
best guide in Wales; whereas the guides of Beth Gelert&mdash;but
I say nothing. If your honour is bound for the Wyddfa, as I
suppose you are, you had better start from my house to-morrow
under my guidance.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have already been up the Wyddfa from
Llanberis,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and am now going through Beth
Gelert to Llangollen, where my family are; were I going up
Snowdon again I should most certainly start from your house under
your guidance, and were I not in a hurry at present, I would
certainly take up my quarters here for a week, and every day
snake excursions with you into the recesses of Eryri. I
suppose you are acquainted with all the secrets of the
hills?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Trust the old ranger for that, your honour. I
would show your honour the black lake in the frightful hollow in
which the fishes have monstrous heads and little bodies, the lake
on which neither swan, duck nor any kind of wildfowl was ever
seen to light. Then I would show your honour the fountain
of the hopping creatures, where, where&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Were you ever at that Wolf&rsquo;s crag, that Castell y
Cidwm?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t say I ever was, your honour. You see
it lies so close by, just across the lake, that&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You thought you could see it any day, and so never
went,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Can you tell me whether there
are any ruins upon it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t, your honour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t wonder,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if in
old times it was the stronghold of some robber-chieftain; cidwm
in the old Welsh is frequently applied to a ferocious man.
Castell Cidwm, I should think, rather ought to be translated the
robber&rsquo;s castle than the wolf&rsquo;s rock. If I ever
come into these parts again you and I will visit it together, and
see what kind of place it is. Now farewell! It is
getting late.&rdquo; I then departed.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What a nice gentleman!&rdquo; said the younger man,
when I was a few yards distant.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I never saw a nicer gentleman,&rdquo; said the old
ranger.</p>

<p>I sped along, Snowdon on my left, the lake on my right, and
the tip of a mountain peak right before me in the east.
After a little time I looked back; what a scene! The silver
lake and the shadowy mountain over its southern side looking now,
methought, very much like Gibraltar. I lingered and
lingered, gazing and gazing, and at last only by an effort tore
myself away. The evening had now become delightfully cool
in this land of wonders. On I sped, passing by two noisy
brooks coming from Snowdon to pay tribute to the lake. And
now I had left the lake and the valley behind, and was ascending
a hill. As I gained its summit, up rose the moon to cheer
my way. In a little time, a wild stony gorge confronted me,
a stream ran down the gorge with hollow roar, a bridge lay across
it. I asked a figure whom I saw standing by the bridge the
place&rsquo;s name. &ldquo;Rhyd du&rdquo;&mdash;the black
ford&mdash;I crossed the bridge. The voice of the Methodist
was yelling from a little chapel on my left. I went to the
door and listened: &ldquo;When the sinner takes hold of God, God
takes hold of the sinner.&rdquo; The voice was frightfully
hoarse. I passed on: night fell fast around me, and the
mountain to the south-east, towards which I was tending, looked
blackly grand. And now I came to a milestone on which I
read with difficulty: &ldquo;Three miles to Beth
Gelert.&rdquo; The way for some time had been upward, but
now it was downward. I reached a torrent, which coming from
the north-west rushed under a bridge, over which I passed.
The torrent attended me on my right hand the whole way to Beth
Gelert. The descent now became very rapid. I passed a
pine wood on my left, and proceeded for more than two miles at a
tremendous rate. I then came to a wood&mdash;this wood was
just above Beth Gelert&mdash;proceeding in the direction of a
black mountain, I found myself amongst houses, at the bottom of a
valley. I passed over a bridge, and inquiring of some
people whom I met the way to the inn, was shown an edifice
brilliantly lighted up, which I entered.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLV</h2>

<p class="letter">Inn at Beth Gelert&mdash;Delectable
Company&mdash;Lieutenant P---.</p>

<p>The inn or hotel at Beth Gelert was a large and commodious
building, and was anything but thronged with company; what
company, however, there was, was disagreeable enough, perhaps
more so than that in which I had been the preceding evening,
which was composed of the scum of Manchester and Liverpool; the
company amongst which I now was, consisted of seven or eight
individuals, two of them were military puppies, one a tallish
fellow, who though evidently upwards of thirty, affected the airs
of a languishing girl, and would fain have made people believe
that he was dying of <i>ennui</i> and lassitude. The other
was a short spuddy fellow, with a broad ugly face and with
spectacles on his nose, who talked very consequentially about
&ldquo;the service&rdquo; and all that, but whose tone of voice
was coarse and his manner that of an under-bred person; then
there was an old fellow about sixty-five, a civilian, with a red
carbuncled face; he was father of the spuddy military puppy, on
whom he occasionally cast eyes of pride and almost adoration, and
whose sayings he much applauded, especially certain <i>doubles
entendres</i>, to call them by no harsher term, directed to a fat
girl, weighing some fifteen stone, who officiated in the
coffee-room as waiter. Then there was a creature to do
justice to whose appearance would require the pencil of a
Hogarth. He was about five feet three inches and a quarter
high, and might have weighed, always provided a stone weight had
been attached to him, about half as much as the fat girl.
His countenance was cadaverous and was eternally agitated by
something between a grin and a simper. He was dressed in a
style of superfine gentility, and his skeleton fingers were
bedizened with tawdry rings. His conversation was chiefly
about his bile and his secretions, the efficacy of licorice in
producing a certain effect, and the expediency of changing
one&rsquo;s linen at least three times a day; though had he
changed his six, I should have said that the purification of the
last shirt would have been no sinecure to the laundress.
His accent was decidedly Scotch: he spoke familiarly of Scott and
one or two other Scotch worthies, and more than once insinuated
that he was a member of Parliament. With respect to the
rest of the company I say nothing, and for the very sufficient
reason that, unlike the above described batch, they did not seem
disposed to be impertinent towards me.</p>

<p>Eager to get out of such society I retired early to bed.
As I left the room the diminutive Scotch individual was
describing to the old simpleton, who on the ground of the
other&rsquo;s being a &ldquo;member,&rdquo; was listening to him
with extreme attention, how he was labouring under an access of
bile owing to his having left his licorice somewhere or
other. I passed a quiet night, and in the morning
breakfasted, paid my bill, and departed. As I went out of
the coffee-room the spuddy, broad-faced military puppy with
spectacles was vociferating to the languishing military puppy,
and to his old simpleton of a father, who was listening to him
with his usual look of undisguised admiration, about the absolute
necessity of kicking Lieutenant P--- out of the army for having
disgraced &ldquo;the service.&rdquo; Poor P---, whose only
crime was trying to defend himself with fist and candlestick from
the manual attacks of his brutal messmates.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLVI</h2>

<p class="letter">The Valley of Gelert&mdash;Legend of the
Dog&mdash;Magnificent Scenery&mdash;The Knicht&mdash;Goats in
Wales&mdash;The Frightful Crag&mdash;Temperance House&mdash;Smile
and Curtsey.</p>

<p>Beth Gelert is situated in a valley surrounded by huge hills,
the most remarkable of which are Moel Hebog and Cerrig Llan; the
former fences it on the south, and the latter, which is quite
black and nearly perpendicular, on the east. A small stream
rushes through the valley, and sallies forth by a pass at its
south-eastern end. The valley is said by some to derive its
name of Beddgelert, which signifies the grave of Celert, from
being the burial-place of Celert, a British saint of the sixth
century, to whom Llangeler in Carmarthenshire is believed to have
been consecrated, but the popular and most universally received
tradition is that it has its name from being the resting-place of
a faithful dog called Celert or Gelert, killed by his master, the
warlike and celebrated Llywelyn ab Jorwerth, from an unlucky
misapprehension. Though the legend is known to most people,
I shall take the liberty of relating it.</p>

<p>Llywelyn during his contests with the English had encamped
with a few followers in the valley, and one day departed with his
men on an expedition, leaving his infant son in a cradle in his
tent, under the care of his hound Gelert, after giving the child
its fill of goat&rsquo;s milk. Whilst he was absent a wolf
from the neighbouring mountains, in quest of prey, found its way
into the tent, and was about to devour the child, when the
watchful dog interfered, and after a desperate conflict, in which
the tent was torn down, succeeded in destroying the
monster. Llywelyn returning at evening found the tent on
the ground, and the dog, covered with blood, sitting beside
it. Imagining that the blood with which Gelert was
besmeared was that of his own son devoured by the animal to whose
care he had confided him, Llywelyn in a paroxysm of natural
indignation forthwith transfixed the faithful creature with his
spear. Scarcely, however, had he done so when his ears were
startled by the cry of a child from beneath the fallen tent, and
hastily removing the canvas he found the child in its cradle,
quite uninjured, and the body of an enormous wolf, frightfully
torn and mangled, lying near. His breast was now filled
with conflicting emotions, joy for the preservation of his son,
and grief for the fate of his dog, to whom he forthwith
hastened. The poor animal was not quite dead, but presently
expired, in the act of licking his master&rsquo;s hand.
Llywelyn mourned over him as over a brother, buried him with
funeral honours in the valley, and erected a tomb over him as
over a hero. From that time the valley was called Beth
Gelert.</p>

<p>Such is the legend, which, whether true or fictitious, is
singularly beautiful and affecting.</p>

<p>The tomb, or what is said to be the tomb, of Gelert, stands in
a beautiful meadow just below the precipitous side of Cerrig
Llan: it consists of a large slab lying on its side, and two
upright stones. It is shaded by a weeping willow, and is
surrounded by a hexagonal paling. Who is there acquainted
with the legend, whether he believes that the dog lies beneath
those stones or not, can visit them without exclaiming with a
sigh, &ldquo;Poor Gelert!&rdquo;</p>

<p>After wandering about the valley for some time, and seeing a
few of its wonders, I inquired my way for Festiniog, and set off
for that place. The way to it is through the pass at the
south-east end of the valley. Arrived at the entrance of
the pass I turned round to look at the scenery I was leaving
behind me; the view which presented itself to my eyes was very
grand and beautiful. Before me lay the meadow of Gelert
with the river flowing through it towards the pass. Beyond
the meadow the Snowdon range; on the right the mighty Cerrig
Llan; on the left the equally mighty, but not quite so
precipitous, Hebog. Truly, the valley of Gelert is a
wondrous valley&mdash;rivalling for grandeur and beauty any vale
either in the Alps or Pyrenees. After a long and earnest
view I turned round again and proceeded on my way.</p>

<p>Presently I came to a bridge bestriding the stream, which a
man told me was called Pont Aber Glâs Lyn, or the bridge of
the debouchement of the grey lake. I soon emerged from the
pass, and after proceeding some way stopped again to admire the
scenery. To the west was the Wyddfa; full north was a
stupendous range of rocks; behind them a conical peak seemingly
rivalling the Wyddfa itself in altitude; between the rocks and
the road, where I stood, was beautiful forest scenery. I
again went on, going round the side of a hill by a gentle
ascent. After a little time I again stopped to look about
me. There was the rich forest scenery to the north, behind
it were the rocks and behind the rocks rose the wonderful conical
hill impaling heaven; confronting it to the south-east, was a
huge lumpish hill. As I stood looking about me I saw a man
coming across a field which sloped down to the road from a small
house. He presently reached me, stopped and smiled. A
more open countenance than his I never saw in all the days of my
life.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dydd dachwi, sir,&rdquo; said the man of the open
countenance, &ldquo;the weather is very showy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very showy, indeed,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I was just
now wishing for somebody, of whom I might ask a question or
two.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps I can answer those questions, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps you can. What is the name of that
wonderful peak sticking up behind the rocks to the
north?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Many people have asked that question, sir, and I have
given them the answer which I now give you. It is called
the &lsquo;Knicht,&rsquo; sir; and a wondrous hill it
is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of yonder hill opposite to it, to
the south, rising like one big lump.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not know the name of that hill, sir, farther than
that I have heard it called the Great Hill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And a very good name for it,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;do
you live in that house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do, sir, when I am at home.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what occupation do you follow?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am a farmer, though a small one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is your farm your own?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not, sir: I am not so far rich.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who is your landlord?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mr Blicklin, sir. He is my landlord.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is he a good landlord?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir, no one can wish for a better
landlord.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has he a wife?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, he has; and a very good wife she
is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has he children?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty, sir; and very fine children they
are.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is he Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He is, sir! Cumro pur iawn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farewell,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I shall never forget
you; you are the first tenant I ever heard speak well of his
landlord, or any one connected with him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you have not spoken to the other tenants of Mr
Blicklin, sir. Every tenant of Mr Blicklin would say the
same of him as I have said, and of his wife and his children
too. Good-day, sir!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I wended on my way; the sun was very powerful; saw cattle in a
pool on my right, maddened with heat and flies, splashing and
fighting. Presently I found myself with extensive meadows
on my right, and a wall of rocks on my left, on a lofty bank
below which I saw goats feeding; beautiful creatures they were,
white and black, with long silky hair, and long upright
horns. They were of large size, and very different in
appearance from the common race. These were the first goats
which I had seen in Wales; for Wales is not at present the land
of goats, whatever it may have been.</p>

<p>I passed under a crag exceedingly lofty, and of very frightful
appearance. It hung menacingly over the road. With
this crag the wall of rocks terminated; beyond it lay an
extensive strath, meadow, or marsh bounded on the cast by a lofty
hill. The road lay across the marsh. I went forward,
crossed a bridge over a beautiful streamlet, and soon arrived at
the foot of the hill. The road now took a turn to the
right, that is to the south, and seemed to lead round the
hill. Just at the turn of the road stood a small neat
cottage. There was a board over the door with an
inscription. I drew nigh and looked at it, expecting that
it would tell me that good ale was sold within, and read:
&ldquo;Tea made here, the draught which cheers but not
inebriates.&rdquo; I was before what is generally termed a
temperance house.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The bill of fare does not tempt you, sir,&rdquo; said a
woman who made her appearance at the door, just as I was about to
turn away with an exceedingly wry face.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It does not,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and you ought to be
ashamed of yourself to have nothing better to offer to a
traveller than a cup of tea. I am faint; and I want good
ale to give me heart, not wishy-washy tea to take away the little
strength I have.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What would you have me do, sir? Glad should I be
to have a cup of ale to offer you, but the magistrates, when I
applied to them for a licence, refused me one; so I am compelled
to make a cup of tea, in order to get a crust of bread. And
if you choose to step in, I will make you a cup of tea, not
wishy-washy, I assure you, but as good as ever was
brewed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I had tea for my breakfast at Beth Gelert,&rdquo; said
I, &ldquo;and want no more till to-morrow morning.
What&rsquo;s the name of that strange-looking crag across the
valley?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We call it Craig yr hyll ddrem, sir; which
means&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know what it means in
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does it mean the crag of the frightful look?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It does, sir,&rdquo; said the woman; &ldquo;ah, I see
you understand Welsh. Sometimes it&rsquo;s called Allt
Traeth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The high place of the sandy channel,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;did the sea ever come up here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say, sir; perhaps it did; who
knows?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t wonder,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if
there was once an arm of the sea between that crag and this
hill. Thank you! Farewell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you won&rsquo;t walk in, sir?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not to drink tea,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;tea is a good
thing at a proper time, but were I to drink it now, it would make
me ill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray, sir, walk in,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;and
perhaps I can accommodate you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you have ale?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir; not a drop, but perhaps I can set something
before you which you will like as well.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That I question,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;however, I will
walk in.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The woman conducted me into a nice little parlour, and,
leaving me, presently returned with a bottle and tumbler on a
tray.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here, sir,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;is something, which
though not ale, I hope you will be able to drink.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is ---, sir; and better never was drunk.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I tasted it; it was terribly strong. Those who wish for
either whisky or brandy far above proof, should always go to a
temperance house.</p>

<p>I told the woman to bring me some water, and she brought me a
jug of water cold from the spring. With a little of the
contents of the bottle, and a deal of the contents of the jug, I
made myself a beverage tolerable enough; a poor substitute,
however, to a genuine Englishman for his proper drink, the liquor
which, according to the Edda, is called by men ale, and by the
gods beer.</p>

<p>I asked the woman whether she could read; she told me that she
could, both Welsh and English; she likewise informed me that she
had several books in both languages. I begged her to show
me some, whereupon she brought me some half dozen, and placing
them on the table left me to myself. Amongst the books was
a volume of poems in Welsh, written by Robert Williams of Betws
Fawr, styled in poetic language, Gwilym Du O Eifion. The
poems were chiefly on religious subjects. The following
lines which I copied from &ldquo;Pethau a wnaed mewn
Gardd,&rdquo; or things written in a garden, appeared to me
singularly beautiful:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Mewn gardd y cafodd dyn ei dwyllo;<br />
Mewn gardd y rhoed oddewid iddo;<br />
Mewn gardd bradychwyd Iesu hawddgar;<br />
Mewn gardd amdowyd ef mewn daear.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In a garden the first of our race was deceived;<br />
In a garden the promise of grace he received;<br />
In a garden was Jesus betrayed to His doom;<br />
In a garden His body was laid in the tomb.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Having finished my glass of &ldquo;summut&rdquo; and my
translation, I called to the woman and asked her what I had to
pay.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;if you had had a cup
of tea I should have charged sixpence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You make no charge,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for what I
have had?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nothing, sir, nothing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I were to give you
something by way of present would you&mdash;&rdquo; and here I
stopped. The woman smiled.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Would you fling it in my face?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh dear, no, sir,&rdquo; said the woman, smiling more
than before.</p>

<p>I gave her something&mdash;it was not a sixpence&mdash;at
which she not only smiled but curtseyed; then bidding her
farewell I went out of the door.</p>

<p>I was about to take the broad road, which led round the hill,
when she inquired of me where I was going, and on my telling her
to Festiniog, she advised me to go by a by-road behind the house
which led over the hill.</p>

<p>&ldquo;If you do, sir,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;you will see
some of the finest prospects in Wales, get into the high road
again, and save a mile and a half of way.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I told the temperance woman I would follow her advice,
whereupon she led me behind the house, pointed to a rugged path,
which with a considerable ascent seemed to lead towards the
north, and after giving certain directions, not very
intelligible, returned to her temperance temple.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLVII</h2>

<p class="letter">Spanish Proverb&mdash;The Short
Cut&mdash;Predestinations&mdash;Rhys Goch&mdash;Old
Crusty&mdash;Undercharging&mdash;The Cavalier.</p>

<p>The Spaniards have a proverb: &ldquo;No hay atajo sin
trabajo,&rdquo; there is no short cut without a deal of
labour. This proverb is very true, as I know by my own
experience, for I never took a short cut in my life, and I have
taken many in my wanderings, without falling down, getting into a
slough, or losing my way. On the present occasion I lost my
way, and wandered about for nearly two hours amidst rocks,
thickets, and precipices, without being able to find it.
The temperance woman, however, spoke nothing but the truth when
she said I should see some fine scenery. From a rock I
obtained a wonderful view of the Wyddfa towering in sublime
grandeur in the west, and of the beautiful, but spectral, Knicht
shooting up high in the north; and from the top of a bare hill I
obtained a prospect to the south, noble indeed&mdash;waters,
forests, hoary mountains, and in the far distance the sea.
But all these fine prospects were a poor compensation for what I
underwent: I was scorched by the sun, which was insufferably hot,
and my feet were bleeding from the sharp points of the rocks
which cut through my boots like razors. At length coming to
a stone wall I flung myself down under it, and almost thought
that I should give up the ghost. After some time, however,
I recovered, and getting up tried to find my way out of the
anialwch. Sheer good fortune caused me to stumble upon a
path, by following which I came to a lone farm-house, where a
good-natured woman gave me certain directions by means of which I
at last got out of the hot stony wilderness, for such it was,
upon a smooth royal road.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Trust me again taking any short cuts,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;after the specimen I have just had.&rdquo; This,
however, I had frequently said before, and have said since after
taking short cuts&mdash;and probably shall often say again before
I come to my great journey&rsquo;s end.</p>

<p>I turned to the east which I knew to be my proper direction,
and being now on smooth ground put my legs to their best
speed. The road by a rapid descent conducted me to a
beautiful valley with a small town at its southern end. I
soon reached the town, and on inquiring its name found I was in
Tan y Bwlch, which interpreted signifieth &ldquo;Below the
Pass.&rdquo; Feeling much exhausted I entered the Grapes
Inn.</p>

<p>On my calling for brandy and water I was shown into a handsome
parlour. The brandy and water soon restored the vigour
which I had lost in the wilderness. In the parlour was a
serious-looking gentleman, with a glass of something before
him. With him, as I sipped my brandy and water, I got into
discourse. The discourse soon took a religious turn, and
terminated in a dispute. He told me he believed in divine
predestination; I told him I did not, but that I believed in
divine prescience. He asked me whether I hoped to be saved;
I told him I did, and asked him whether he hoped to be
saved. He told me he did not, and as he said so, he tapped
with a silver tea-spoon on the rim of his glass. I said
that he seemed to take very coolly the prospect of damnation; he
replied that it was of no use taking what was inevitable
otherwise than coolly. I asked him on what ground he
imagined he should be lost; he replied on the ground of being
predestined to be lost. I asked him how he knew he was
predestined to be lost; whereupon he asked me how I knew I was to
be saved. I told him I did not know I was to be saved, but
trusted I should be so by belief in Christ, who came into the
world to save sinners, and that if he believed in Christ he might
be as easily saved as myself, or any other sinner who believed in
Him. Our dispute continued a considerable time
longer. At last, finding him silent, and having finished my
brandy and water, I got up, rang the bell, paid for what I had
had, and left him looking very miserable, perhaps at finding that
he was not quite so certain of eternal damnation as he had
hitherto supposed. There can be no doubt that the idea of
damnation is anything but disagreeable to some people; it gives
them a kind of gloomy consequence in their own eyes. We
must be something particular they think, or God would hardly
think it worth His while to torment us for ever.</p>

<p>I inquired the way to Festiniog, and finding that I had passed
by it on my way to the town, I went back, and as directed turned
to the east up a wide pass, down which flowed a river. I
soon found myself in another and very noble valley, intersected
by the river which was fed by numerous streams rolling down the
sides of the hills. The road which I followed in the
direction of the east lay on the southern side of the valley and
led upward by a steep ascent. On I went, a mighty hill
close on my right. My mind was full of enthusiastic
fancies; I was approaching Festiniog the birthplace of Rhys Goch,
who styled himself Rhys Goch of Eryri or Red Rhys of Snowdon, a
celebrated bard, and a partisan of Owen Glendower, who lived to
an immense age, and who, as I had read, was in the habit of
composing his pieces seated on a stone which formed part of a
Druidical circle, for which reason the stone was called the chair
of Rhys Goch; yes, my mind was full of enthusiastic fancies all
connected with this Rhys Goch, and as I went along slowly, I
repeated stanzas of furious war songs of his exciting his
countrymen to exterminate the English, and likewise snatches of
an abusive ode composed by him against a fox who had run away
with his favourite peacock, a piece so abounding with hard words
that it was termed the Drunkard&rsquo;s chokepear, as no drunkard
was ever able to recite it, and ever and anon I wished I could
come in contact with some native of the region with whom I could
talk about Rhys Goch, and who could tell me whereabouts stood his
chair.</p>

<p>Strolling along in this manner I was overtaken by an old
fellow with a stick in his hand, walking very briskly. He
had a crusty and rather conceited look. I spoke to him in
Welsh, and he answered in English, saying that I need not trouble
myself by speaking Welsh, as he had plenty of English, and of the
very best. We were from first to last at cross
purposes. I asked him about Rhys Goch and his chair.
He told me that he knew nothing of either, and began to talk of
Her Majesty&rsquo;s ministers and the fine sights of
London. I asked him the name of a stream which, descending
a gorge on our right, ran down the side of a valley, to join the
river at its bottom. He told me that he did not know, and
asked me the name of the Queen&rsquo;s eldest daughter. I
told him I did not know, and remarked that it was very odd that
he could not tell me the name of a stream in his own vale.
He replied that it was not a bit more odd than that I could not
tell him the name of the eldest daughter of the Queen of England:
I told him that when I was in Wales I wanted to talk about Welsh
matters, and he told me that when he was with English he wanted
to talk about English matters. I returned to the subject of
Rhys Goch and his chair, and he returned to the subject of Her
Majesty&rsquo;s ministers, and the fine folks of London. I
told him that I cared not a straw about Her Majesty&rsquo;s
ministers and the fine folks of London, and he replied that he
cared not a straw for Rhys Goch, his chair or old women&rsquo;s
stories of any kind.</p>

<p>Regularly incensed against the old fellow, I told him he was a
bad Welshman, and he retorted by saying I was a bad
Englishman. I said he appeared to know next to
nothing. He retorted by saying I knew less than nothing,
and almost inarticulate with passion added that he scorned to
walk in such illiterate company, and suiting the action to the
word sprang up a steep and rocky footpath on the right, probably
a short cut to his domicile, and was out of sight in a
twinkling. We were both wrong: I most so. He was
crusty and conceited, but I ought to have humoured him and then I
might have got out of him anything he knew, always supposing that
he knew anything.</p>

<p>About an hour&rsquo;s walk from Tan y Bwlch brought me to
Festiniog, which is situated on the top of a lofty hill looking
down from the south-east, on the valley which I have described,
and which as I know not its name I shall style the Valley of the
numerous streams. I went to the inn, a large old-fashioned
house standing near the church; the mistress of it was a
queer-looking old woman, antiquated in her dress and rather blunt
in her manner. Of her, after ordering dinner, I made
inquiries respecting the chair of Rhys Goch, but she said that
she had never heard of such a thing, and after glancing at me
askew, for a moment, with a curiously-formed left eye which she
had, went away muttering chair, chair; leaving me in a large and
rather dreary parlour, to which she had shown me. I felt
very fatigued, rather I believe from that unlucky short cut than
from the length of the way, for I had not come more than eighteen
miles. Drawing a chair towards a table I sat down, and
placing my elbows upon the board I leaned my face upon my
upturned hands, and presently fell into a sweet sleep, from which
I awoke exceedingly refreshed just as a maid opened the room door
to lay the cloth.</p>

<p>After dinner I got up, went out and strolled about the
place. It was small, and presented nothing very
remarkable. Tired of strolling I went and leaned my back
against the wall of the churchyard and enjoyed the cool of the
evening, for evening with its coolness and shadows had now come
on.</p>

<p>As I leaned against the wall, an elderly man came up and
entered into discourse with me. He told me he was a barber
by profession, had travelled all over Wales, and had seen
London. I asked him about the chair of Rhys Goch. He
told me that he had heard of some such chair a long time ago, but
could give me no information as to where it stood. I know
not how it happened that he came to speak about my landlady, but
speak about her he did. He said that she was a good kind of
woman, but totally unqualified for business, as she knew not how
to charge. On my observing that that was a piece of
ignorance with which few landladies or landlords either were
taxable, he said that however other publicans might overcharge,
undercharging was her foible, and that she had brought herself
very low in the world by it&mdash;that to his certain knowledge
she might have been worth thousands instead of the trifle which
she was possessed of, and that she was particularly notorious for
undercharging the English, a thing never before dreamt of in
Wales. I told him that I was very glad that I had come
under the roof of such a landlady; the old barber, however, said
that she was setting a bad example, that such goings on could not
last long, that he knew how things would end, and finally working
himself up into a regular tiff left me abruptly without wishing
me good-night.</p>

<p>I returned to the inn, and called for lights; the lights were
placed upon the table in the old-fashioned parlour, and I was
left to myself. I walked up and down the room some
time. At length, seeing some old books lying in a corner, I
laid hold of them, carried them to the table, sat down and began
to inspect them; they were the three volumes of Scott&rsquo;s
&ldquo;Cavalier&rdquo;&mdash;I had seen this work when a youth,
and thought it a tiresome trashy publication. Looking over
it now when I was grown old I thought so still, but I now
detected in it what from want of knowledge I had not detected in
my early years, what the highest genius, had it been manifested
in every page, could not have compensated for, base fulsome
adulation of the worthless great, and most unprincipled libelling
of the truly noble ones of the earth, because they the sons of
peasants and handycraftsmen, stood up for the rights of outraged
humanity, and proclaimed that it is worth makes the man and not
embroidered clothing. The heartless, unprincipled son of
the tyrant was transformed in that worthless book into a
slightly-dissipated, it is true, but upon the whole brave,
generous and amiable being; and Harrison, the English Regulus,
honest, brave, unflinching Harrison, into a pseudo-fanatic, a
mixture of the rogue and fool. Harrison, probably the man
of the most noble and courageous heart that England ever
produced, who when all was lost scorned to flee, like the second
Charles from Worcester, but, braved infamous judges and the
gallows, who when reproached on his mock trial with complicity in
the death of the king, gave the noble answer that &ldquo;It was a
thing not done in a corner,&rdquo; and when in the cart on the
way to Tyburn, on being asked jeeringly by a lord&rsquo;s bastard
in the crowd, &ldquo;Where is the good old cause now?&rdquo;
thrice struck his strong fist on the breast which contained his
courageous heart, exclaiming, &ldquo;Here, here,
here!&rdquo; Yet for that &ldquo;Cavalier,&rdquo; that
trumpery publication, the booksellers of England, on its first
appearance, gave an order to the amount of six thousand
pounds. But they were wise in their generation; they knew
that the book would please the base, slavish taste of the age, a
taste which the author of the work had had no slight share in
forming.</p>

<p>Tired after a while with turning over the pages of the trashy
&ldquo;Cavalier&rdquo; I returned the volumes to their place in
the corner, blew out one candle, and taking the other in my hand
marched off to bed.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">The Bill&mdash;The Two Mountains&mdash;Sheet
of Water&mdash;The Afanc-Crocodile&mdash;The
Afanc-Beaver&mdash;Tai Hirion&mdash;Kind Woman&mdash;Arenig
Vawr&mdash;The Beam and Mote&mdash;Bala.</p>

<p>After breakfasting I demanded my bill. I was curious to
see how little the amount would be, for after what I had heard
from the old barber the preceding evening about the utter
ignorance of the landlady in making a charge, I naturally
expected that I should have next to nothing to pay. When it
was brought, however, and the landlady brought it herself, I
could scarcely believe my eyes. Whether the worthy woman
had lately come to a perception of the folly of undercharging,
and had determined to adopt a different system; whether it was
that seeing me the only guest in the house she had determined to
charge for my entertainment what she usually charged for that of
two or three&mdash;strange by-the-bye that I should be the only
guest in a house notorious for undercharging&mdash;I know not,
but certain it is the amount of the bill was far, far from the
next to nothing which the old barber had led me to suppose I
should have to pay, who perhaps after all had very extravagant
ideas with respect to making out a bill for a Saxon. It
was, however, not a very unconscionable bill, and merely amounted
to a trifle more than I had paid at Beth Gelert for somewhat
better entertainment.</p>

<p>Having paid the bill without demur and bidden the landlady
farewell, who displayed the same kind of indifferent bluntness
which she had manifested the day before, I set off in the
direction of the east, intending that my next stage should be
Bala. Passing through a tollgate I found myself in a kind
of suburb consisting of a few cottages. Struck with the
neighbouring scenery, I stopped to observe it. A mighty
mountain rises in the north almost abreast of Festiniog; another
towards the east divided into two of unequal size. Seeing a
woman of an interesting countenance seated at the door of a
cottage I pointed to the hill towards the north, and speaking the
Welsh language, inquired its name.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That hill, sir,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;is called Moel
Wyn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Now Moel Wyn signifies the white, bare hill.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how do you call those two hills towards the
east?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We call one, sir, Mynydd Mawr, the other Mynydd
Bach.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Now Mynydd Mawr signifies the great mountain and Mynydd Bach
the little one.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do any people live in those hills?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The men who work the quarries, sir, live in those
hills. They and their wives and their children. No
other people.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have not, sir. No people who live on this side
the talcot (tollgate) for a long way have any English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I proceeded on my journey. The country for some way
eastward of Festiniog is very wild and barren, consisting of huge
hills without trees or verdure. About three miles&rsquo;
distance, however, there is a beautiful valley, which you look
down upon from the southern side of the road, after having
surmounted a very steep ascent. This valley is fresh and
green and the lower parts of the hills on its farther side are,
here and there, adorned with groves. At the eastern end is
a deep, dark gorge, or ravine, down which tumbles a brook in a
succession of small cascades. The ravine is close by the
road. The brook after disappearing for a time shows itself
again far down in the valley, and is doubtless one of the
tributaries of the Tan y Bwlch river, perhaps the very same brook
the name of which I could not learn the preceding day in the
vale.</p>

<p>As I was gazing on the prospect an old man driving a peat cart
came from the direction in which I was going. I asked him
the name of the ravine and he told me it was Ceunant Coomb or
hollow-dingle coomb. I asked the name of the brook, and he
told me that it was called the brook of the hollow-dingle coomb,
adding that it ran under Pont Newydd, though where that was I
knew not. Whilst he was talking with me he stood
uncovered. Yes, the old peat driver stood with his hat in
his hand whilst answering the questions of the poor, dusty
foot-traveller. What a fine thing to be an Englishman in
Wales!</p>

<p>In about an hour I came to a wild moor; the moor extended for
miles and miles. It was bounded on the east and south by
immense hills and moels. On I walked at a round pace, the
sun scorching me sore, along a dusty, hilly road, now up, now
down. Nothing could be conceived more cheerless than the
scenery around. The ground on each side of the road was
mossy and rushy&mdash;no houses&mdash;instead of them were neat
stacks, here and there, standing in their blackness.
Nothing living to be seen except a few miserable sheep picking
the wretched herbage, or lying panting on the shady side of the
peat clumps. At length I saw something which appeared to be
a sheet of water at the bottom of a low ground on my right.
It looked far off&mdash;&ldquo;Shall I go and see what it
is?&rdquo; thought I to myself. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; thought
I. &ldquo;It is too far off&rdquo;&mdash;so on I walked
till I lost sight of it, when I repented and thought I would go
and see what it was. So I dashed down the moory slope on my
right, and presently saw the object again&mdash;and now I saw
that it was water. I sped towards it through gorse and
heather, occasionally leaping a deep drain. At last I
reached it. It was a small lake. Wearied and panting
I flung myself on its bank and gazed upon it.</p>

<p>There lay the lake in the low bottom, surrounded by the
heathery hillocks; there it lay quite still, the hot sun
reflected upon its surface, which shone like a polished blue
shield. Near the shore it was shallow, at least near that
shore upon which I lay. But farther on, my eye, practised
in deciding upon the depths of waters, saw reason to suppose that
its depth was very great. As I gazed upon it my mind
indulged in strange musings. I thought of the afanc, a
creature which some have supposed to be the harmless and
industrious beaver, others the frightful and destructive
crocodile. I wondered whether the afanc was the crocodile
or the beaver, and speedily had no doubt that the name was
originally applied to the crocodile.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, who can doubt,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;that the
word was originally intended for something monstrous and
horrible? Is there not something horrible in the look and
sound of the word afanc, something connected with the opening and
shutting of immense jaws, and the swallowing of writhing
prey? Is not the word a fitting brother of the Arabic
timsah, denoting the dread horny lizard of the waters?
Moreover, have we not the voice of tradition that the afanc was
something monstrous? Does it not say that Hu the Mighty,
the inventor of husbandry, who brought the Cumry from the
summer-country, drew the old afanc out of the lake of lakes with
his four gigantic oxen? Would he have had recourse to them
to draw out the little harmless beaver? Oh, surely
not. Yet have I no doubt that when the crocodile had
disappeared from the lands, where the Cumric language was spoken,
the name afanc was applied to the beaver, probably his successor
in the pool, the beaver now called in Cumric Llostlydan, or the
broad-tailed, for tradition&rsquo;s voice is strong that the
beaver has at one time been called the afanc.&rdquo; Then I
wondered whether the pool before me had been the haunt of the
afanc, considered both as crocodile and beaver. I saw no
reason to suppose that it had not. &ldquo;If
crocodiles,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;ever existed in Britain, and
who shall say that they have not, seeing that there remains have
been discovered, why should they not have haunted this
pool? If beavers ever existed in Britain, and do not
tradition and Giraldus say that they have, why should they not
have existed in this pool?</p>

<p>&ldquo;At a time almost inconceivably remote, when the hills
around were covered with woods, through which the elk and the
bison and the wild cow strolled, when men were rare throughout
the lands and unlike in most things to the present race&mdash;at
such a period&mdash;and such a period there has been&mdash;I can
easily conceive that the afanc-crocodile haunted this pool, and
that when the elk or bison or wild cow came to drink of its
waters the grim beast would occasionally rush forth, and seizing
his bellowing victim, would return with it to the deeps before me
to luxuriate at his ease upon its flesh. And at a time less
remote, when the crocodile was no more, and though the woods
still covered the hills, and wild cattle strolled about, men were
more numerous than before, and less unlike the present race, I
can easily conceive this lake to have been the haunt of the
afanc-beaver, that he here built cunningly his house of trees and
clay, and that to this lake the native would come with his net
and his spear to hunt the animal for his precious fur.
Probably if the depths of that pool were searched relics of the
crocodile and the beaver might be found, along with other strange
things connected with the periods in which they respectively
lived. Happy were I if for a brief space I could become a
Cingalese that I might swim out far into that pool, dive down
into its deepest part and endeavour to discover any strange
things which beneath its surface may lie.&rdquo; Much in
this guise rolled my thoughts as I lay stretched on the margin of
the lake.</p>

<p>Satiated with musing I at last got up and endeavoured to
regain the road. I found it at last, though not without
considerable difficulty. I passed over moors, black and
barren, along a dusty road till I came to a valley; I was now
almost choked with dust and thirst, and longed for nothing in the
world so much as for water; suddenly I heard its blessed sound,
and perceived a rivulet on my left hand. It was crossed by
two bridges, one immensely old and terribly dilapidated, the
other old enough, but in better repair&mdash;went and drank under
the oldest bridge of the two. The water tasted of the peat
of the moors, nevertheless I drank greedily of it, for one must
not be over-delicate upon the moors.</p>

<p>Refreshed with my draught I proceeded briskly on my way, and
in a little time saw a range of white buildings, diverging from
the road on the right hand, the gable of the first abutting upon
it. A kind of farm-yard was before them. A
respectable-looking woman was standing in the yard. I went
up to her and inquired the name of the place.</p>

<p>&ldquo;These houses, sir,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;are called
Tai Hirion Mignaint. Look over that door and you will see
T. H. which letters stand for Tai Hirion. Mignaint is the
name of the place where they stand.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I looked, and upon a stone which formed the lintel of the
middlemost door I read &ldquo;T. H 1630.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The words Tai Hirion it will be as well to say signify the
long houses.</p>

<p>I looked long and steadfastly at the inscription, my mind full
of thoughts of the past.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Many a year has rolled by since these houses were
built,&rdquo; said I, as I sat down on a stepping-stone.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Many indeed, sir,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;and
many a strange thing has happened.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear of one Oliver Cromwell?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, sir, and of King Charles too. The men of
both have been in this yard and have baited their horses; aye,
and have mounted their horses from the stone on which you
sit.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose they were hardly here together?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, no, sir,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;they were
bloody enemies, and could never set their horses
together.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are these long houses,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;inhabited
by different families?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only by one, sir, they make now one
farm-house.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you the mistress of it,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am, sir, and my husband is the master. Can I
bring you anything, sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Some water,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for I am thirsty,
though I drank under the old bridge.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The good woman brought me a basin of delicious milk and
water.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What are the names of the two bridges,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;a little way from here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are called, sir, the old and new bridge of Tai
Hirion; at least we call them so.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what do you call the ffrwd that runs beneath
them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe, sir, it is called the river
Twerin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you know a lake far up there amidst the
moors?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have seen it, sir; they call it Llyn
Twerin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does the river Twerin flow from it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe it does, sir, but I do not know.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the lake deep?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have heard that it is very deep, sir, so much so that
nobody knows it&rsquo;s depth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are there fish in it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Digon, sir, digon iawn, and some very large. I
once saw a Pen-hwyad from that lake which weighed fifty
pounds.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After a little farther conversation I got up, and thanking the
kind woman departed. I soon left the moors behind me and
continued walking till I came to a few houses on the margin of a
meadow or fen in a valley through which the way trended to the
east. They were almost overshadowed by an enormous mountain
which rose beyond the fen on the south. Seeing a house
which bore a sign, and at the door of which a horse stood tied, I
went in, and a woman coming to meet me in a kind of passage, I
asked her if I could have some ale.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of the best, sir,&rdquo; she replied, and conducted me
down the passage into a neat room, partly kitchen, partly
parlour, the window of which looked out upon the fen. A
rustic-looking man sat smoking at a table with a jug of ale
before him. I sat down near him, and the good woman brought
me a similar jug of ale, which on tasting I found
excellent. My spirits which had been for some time very
flagging presently revived, and I entered into conversation with
my companion at the table. From him I learned that he was a
farmer of the neighbourhood, that the horse tied before the door
belonged to him, that the present times were very bad for the
producers of grain, with very slight likelihood of improvement;
that the place at which we were was called Rhyd y fen, or the
ford across the fen; that it was just half way between Festiniog
and Bala, that the clergyman of the parish was called Mr Pughe, a
good kind of man, but very purblind in a spiritual sense; and
finally that there was no safe religion in the world, save that
of the Calvinistic-Methodists, to which my companion
belonged.</p>

<p>Having finished my ale I paid for it, and leaving the
Calvinistic farmer still smoking, I departed from Rhyd y
fen. On I went along the valley, the enormous hill on my
right, a moel of about half its height on my left, and a tall
hill bounding the prospect in the east, the direction in which I
was going. After a little time, meeting two women, I asked
them the name of the mountain to the south.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Arenig Vawr,&rdquo; they replied, or something like
it.</p>

<p>Presently meeting four men I put the same question to the
foremost, a stout, burly, intelligent-looking fellow, of about
fifty. He gave me the same name as the women. I asked
if anybody lived upon it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;too cold for man.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Fox?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No! too cold for fox.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Crow?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, too cold for crow; crow would be starved upon
it.&rdquo; He then looked me in the face, expecting
probably that I should smile.</p>

<p>I, however, looked at him with all the gravity of a judge,
whereupon he also observed the gravity of a judge, and we
continued looking at each other with all the gravity of judges
till we both simultaneously turned away, he followed by his
companions going his path, and I going mine.</p>

<p>I subsequently remembered that Arenig is mentioned in a Welsh
poem, though in anything but a flattering and advantageous
manner. The writer calls it Arenig ddiffaith or barren
Arenig, and says that it intercepts from him the view of his
native land. Arenig is certainly barren enough, for there
is neither tree nor shrub upon it, but there is something
majestic in its huge bulk. Of all the hills which I saw in
Wales none made a greater impression upon me.</p>

<p>Towards evening I arrived at a very small and pretty village
in the middle of which was a tollgate. Seeing an old woman
seated at the door of the gate-house I asked her the name of the
village. &ldquo;I have no Saesneg!&rdquo; she screamed
out.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have plenty of Cumraeg,&rdquo; said I, and repeated
my question. Whereupon she told me that it was called Tref
y Talcot&mdash;the village of the tollgate. That it was a
very nice village, and that she was born there. She then
pointed to two young women who were walking towards the gate at a
very slow pace and told me they were English. &ldquo;I do
not know them,&rdquo; said I. The old lady, who was
somewhat deaf, thinking that I said I did not know English,
leered at me complacently, and said that in that case, I was like
herself, for she did not speak a word of English, adding that a
body should not be considered a fool for not speaking
English. She then said that the young women had been taking
a walk together, and that they were much in each other&rsquo;s
company for the sake of conversation, and no wonder, as the poor
simpletons could not speak a word of Welsh. I thought of
the beam and mote mentioned in Scripture, and then cast a glance
of compassion on the two poor young women. For a moment I
fancied myself in the times of Owen Glendower, and that I saw two
females, whom his marauders had carried off from Cheshire or
Shropshire to toil and slave in the Welshery, walking together
after the labours of the day were done, and bemoaning their
misfortunes in their own homely English.</p>

<p>Shortly after leaving the village of the tollgate I came to a
beautiful valley. On my right hand was a river the farther
bank of which was fringed with trees; on my left was a gentle
ascent, the lower part of which was covered with rich grass, and
the upper with yellow luxuriant corn; a little farther on was a
green grove, behind which rose up a moel. A more bewitching
scene I never beheld. Ceres and Pan seemed in this place to
have met to hold their bridal. The sun now descending shone
nobly upon the whole. After staying for some time to gaze,
I proceeded, and soon met several carts, from the driver of one
of which I learned that I was yet three miles from Bala. I
continued my way and came to a bridge, a little way beyond which
I overtook two men, one of whom, an old fellow, held a very long
whip in his hand, and the other, a much younger man with a cap on
his head, led a horse. When I came up the old fellow took
off his hat to me, and I forthwith entered into conversation with
him. I soon gathered from him that he was a horsedealer
from Bala, and that he had been out on the road with his servant
to break a horse. I astonished the old man with my
knowledge of Welsh and horses, and learned from him&mdash;for
conceiving I was one of the right sort, he was very
communicative&mdash;two or three curious particulars connected
with the Welsh mode of breaking horses. Discourse shortened
the way to both of us, and we were soon in Bala. In the
middle of the town he pointed to a large old-fashioned house on
the right hand, at the bottom of a little square, and said,
&ldquo;Your honour was just asking me about an inn. That is
the best inn in Wales, and if your honour is as good a judge of
an inn as of a horse, I think you will say so when you leave
it. Prydnawn da &rsquo;chwi!&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XLIX</h2>

<p class="letter">Tom Jenkins&mdash;Ale of Bala&mdash;Sober
Moments&mdash;Local Prejudices&mdash;The
States&mdash;Unprejudiced Man&mdash;Welsh Pensilvanian
Settlers&mdash;Drapery Line&mdash;Evening Saunter.</p>

<p>Scarcely had I entered the door of the inn when a man
presented himself to me with a low bow. He was about fifty
years of age, somewhat above the middle size, and had grizzly
hair and a dark, freckled countenance, in which methought I saw a
considerable dash of humour. He wore brown clothes, had no
hat on his head, and held a napkin in his hand. &ldquo;Are
you the master of this hotel?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, your honour,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I am only
the waiter, but I officiate for my master in all things; my
master has great confidence in me, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And I have no doubt,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that he
could not place his confidence in any one more worthy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>With a bow yet lower than the preceding one the waiter replied
with a smirk and a grimace, &ldquo;Thanks, your honour, for your
good opinion. I assure your honour that I am deeply
obliged.&rdquo;</p>

<p>His air, manner, and even accent, were so like those of a
Frenchman, that I could not forbear asking him whether he was
one.</p>

<p>He shook his head and replied, &ldquo;No, your honour, no, I
am not a Frenchman, but a native of this poor country, Tom
Jenkins by name.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you really look and speak
like a Frenchman, but no wonder; the Welsh and French are much of
the same blood. Please now to show me into the
parlour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He opened the door of a large apartment, placed a chair by a
table which stood in the middle, and then, with another bow,
requested to know my farther pleasure. After ordering
dinner I said that as I was thirsty I should like to have some
ale forthwith.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ale you shall have, your honour,&rdquo; said Tom,
&ldquo;and some of the best ale that can be drunk. This
house is famous for ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you get your ale from Llangollen,&rdquo; said
I, &ldquo;which is celebrated for its ale over Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Get our ale from Llangollen?&rdquo; said Tom, with
sneer of contempt, &ldquo;no, nor anything else. As for the
ale it was brewed in this house by your honour&rsquo;s humble
servant.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;if you brewed it, it must of
course be good. Pray bring me some immediately, for I am
anxious to drink ale of your brewing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your honour shall be obeyed,&rdquo; said Tom, and
disappearing returned in a twinkling with a tray on which stood a
jug filled with liquor and a glass. He forthwith filled the
glass, and pointing to its contents said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;There, your honour, did you ever see such ale?
Observe its colour! Does it not look for all the world as
pale and delicate as cowslip wine?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish it may not taste like cowslip wine,&rdquo; said
I; &ldquo;to tell you the truth, I am no particular admirer of
ale that looks pale and delicate; for I always think there is no
strength in it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Taste it, your honour,&rdquo; said Tom, &ldquo;and tell
me if you ever tasted such ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I tasted it, and then took a copious draught. The ale
was indeed admirable, equal to the best that I had ever before
drunk&mdash;rich and mellow, with scarcely any smack of the hop
in it, and though so pale and delicate to the eye nearly as
strong as brandy. I commended it highly to the worthy
Jenkins, who exultingly exclaimed:</p>

<p>&ldquo;That Llangollen ale indeed! no, no! ale like that, your
honour, was never brewed in that trumpery hole
Llangollen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You seem to have a very low opinion of
Llangollen?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;How can I have anything but a low opinion of it, your
honour? A trumpery hole it is, and ever will remain
so.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Many people of the first quality go to visit it,&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is because it lies so handy for England, your
honour. If it did not, nobody would go to see it.
What is there to see in Llangollen?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is not much to see in the town, I admit,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;but the scenery about it is beautiful: what
mountains!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mountains, your honour, mountains! well, we have
mountains too, and as beautiful as those of Llangollen.
Then we have our lake, our Llyn Tegid, the lake of beauty.
Show me anything like that near Llangollen?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;there is your mound, your
Tomen Bala. The Llangollen people can show nothing like
that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Tom Jenkins looked at me for a moment with some surprise, and
then said: &ldquo;I see you have been here before,
sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;never, but I have read about
the Tomen Bala in books, both Welsh and English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You have, sir,&rdquo; said Tom. &ldquo;Well, I am
rejoiced to see so book-learned a gentleman in our house.
The Tomen Bala has puzzled many a head. What do the books
which mention it say about it, your honour?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very little,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;beyond mentioning
it; what do the people here say of it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;All kinds of strange things, your honour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do they say who built it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Some say the Tylwyth Teg built it, others that it was
cast up over a dead king by his people. The truth is,
nobody here knows who built it, or anything about it, save that
it is a wonder. Ah, those people of Llangollen can show
nothing like it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you must not be so hard
upon the people of Llangollen. They appear to me upon the
whole to be an eminently respectable body.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The Celtic waiter gave a genuine French shrug.
&ldquo;Excuse me, your honour, for being of a different
opinion. They are all drunkards.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have occasionally seen drunken people at
Llangollen,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I have likewise seen a
great many sober.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is, your honour, you have seen them in their sober
moments; but if you had watched, your honour, if you had kept
your eye on them, you would have seen them reeling
too.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That I can hardly believe,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your honour can&rsquo;t! but I can who know them.
They are all drunkards, and nobody can live among them without
being a drunkard. There was my nephew&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What of him?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why he went to Llangollen, your honour, and died of a
drunken fever in less than a month.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, but might he not have died of the same, if he had
remained at home?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, your honour, no! he lived here many a year, and
never died of a drunken fever; he was rather fond of liquor, it
is true, but he never died at Bala of a drunken fever; but when
he went to Llangollen he did. Now, your honour, if there is
not something more drunken about Llangollen than about Bala, why
did my nephew die at Llangollen of a drunken fever?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Really,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you are such a close
reasoner, that I do not like to dispute with you. One
observation however, I wish to make: I have lived at Llangollen,
without, I hope, becoming a drunkard.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, your honour is out of the question,&rdquo; said the
Celtic waiter with a strange grimace. &ldquo;Your honour is
an Englishman, an English gentleman, and of course could live all
the days of your life at Llangollen without being a drunkard, he,
he! Who ever heard of an Englishman, especially an English
gentleman, being a drunkard, he, he, he. And now, your
honour, pray excuse me, for I must go and see that your
honour&rsquo;s dinner is being got ready in a suitable
manner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Thereupon he left me with a bow yet lower than any I had
previously seen him make. If his manners put me in mind of
those of a Frenchman, his local prejudices brought powerfully to
my recollection those of a Spaniard. Tom Jenkins swears by
Bala and abuses Llangollen, and calls its people drunkards, just
as a Spaniard exalts his own village and vituperates the next and
its inhabitants, whom, though he will not call them drunkards,
unless indeed he happens to be a Gallegan, he will not hesitate
to term &ldquo;una caterva de pillos y embusteros.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The dinner when it appeared was excellent, and consisted of
many more articles than I had ordered. After dinner, as I
sat &ldquo;trifling&rdquo; with my cold brandy and water, an
individual entered, a short thick dumpy man about thirty, with
brown clothes and a broad hat, and holding in his hand a large
leather bag. He gave me a familiar nod, and passing by the
table at which I sat, to one near the window, he flung the bag
upon it, and seating himself in a chair with his profile towards
me, he untied the bag, from which he poured a large quantity of
sovereigns upon the table and fell to counting them. After
counting them three times he placed them again in the bag which
he tied up, then taking a small book, seemingly an account-book,
out of his pocket, he wrote something in it with a pencil, then
putting it in his pocket he took the bag and unlocking a beaufet
which stood at some distance behind him against the wall, he put
the bag into a drawer; then again locking the beaufet he sat down
in the chair, then tilting the chair back upon its hind legs he
kept swaying himself backwards and forwards upon it, his toes
sometimes upon the ground, sometimes mounting until they tapped
against the nether side of the table, surveying me all the time
with a queer kind of a side glance, and occasionally ejecting
saliva upon the carpet in the direction of place where I sat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Fine weather, sir,&rdquo; said I, at last, rather tired
of being skewed and spit at in this manner.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why yaas,&rdquo; said the figure; &ldquo;the day is
tolerably fine, but I have seen a finer.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t remember to have seen one,&rdquo;
said I; &ldquo;it is as fine a day as I have seen during the
present season, and finer weather than I have seen during this
season I do not think I ever saw before.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The weather is fine enough for Britain,&rdquo; said the
figure, &ldquo;but there are other countries besides
Britain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s the States,
&rsquo;tis true.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ever been in the States, Mr?&rdquo; said the figure
quickly.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have I ever been in the States,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;have I ever been in the States?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps you are of the States, Mr; I thought so from
the first.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The States are fine countries,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I guess they are, Mr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It would be no easy matter to whip the
States.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So I should guess, Mr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is, single-handed,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Single-handed, no nor double-handed either. Let
England and France and the State which they are now trying to
whip without being able to do it, that&rsquo;s Russia, all unite
in a union to whip the Union, and if instead of whipping the
States they don&rsquo;t get a whipping themselves, call me a
braying jackass&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I see, Mr,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that you are a
sensible man, because you speak very much my own opinion.
However, as I am an unprejudiced person, like yourself, I wish to
do justice to other countries&mdash;the States are fine
countries&mdash;but there are other fine countries in the
world. I say nothing of England; catch me saying anything
good of England; but I call Wales a fine country; gainsay it who
may, I call Wales a fine country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So it is, Mr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go farther,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I wish to
do justice to everything: I call the Welsh a fine
language.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So it is, Mr. Ah, I see you are an unprejudiced
man. You don&rsquo;t understand Welsh, I guess.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand Welsh,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I
don&rsquo;t understand Welsh. That&rsquo;s what I call a
good one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Medrwch siarad Cumraeg?&rdquo; said the short figure
spitting on the carpet.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Medraf,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You can, Mr! Well, if that don&rsquo;t whip the
Union. But I see: you were born in the States of Welsh
parents.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No harm in being born in the States of Welsh
parents,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;None at all, Mr; I was myself, and the first language I
learnt to speak was Welsh. Did your people come from Bala,
Mr?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why no! Did yourn?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why yaas&mdash;at least from the neighbourhood.
What State do you come from? Virginny?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why no!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps Pensilvany country?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pensilvany is a fine State,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;So it is, Mr. Oh, that is your State, is it? I
come from Varmont.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You do, do you? Well, Varmont is not a bad state,
but not equal to Pensilvany, and I&rsquo;ll tell you two reasons
why; first it has not been so long settled, and second there is
not so much Welsh blood in it as there is in
Pensilvany.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there much Welsh blood in Pensilvany
then?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty, Mr, plenty. Welsh flocked over to
Pensilvany even as far back as the time of William Pen, who as
you know, Mr, was the first founder of the Pensilvany
State. And that puts me in mind that there is a curious
account extant of the adventures of one of the old Welsh settlers
in Pensilvania. It is to be found in a letter in an old
Welsh book. The letter is dated 1705, and is from one Huw
Jones, born of Welsh parents in Pensilvany country, to a cousin
of his of the same name residing in the neighbourhood of this
very town of Bala in Merionethshire, where you and I, Mr, now
are. It is in answer to certain inquiries made by the
cousin, and is written in pure old Welsh language. It gives
an account of how the writer&rsquo;s father left this
neighbourhood to go to Pensilvania; how he embarked on board the
ship <i>William Pen</i>; how he was thirty weeks on the voyage
from the Thames to the Delaware. Only think, Mr, of a ship
now-a-days being thirty weeks on the passage from the Thames to
the Delaware river; how he learnt the English language on the
voyage; how he and his companions nearly perished with hunger in
the wild wood after they landed; how Pensilvania city was built;
how he became a farmer and married a Welsh woman, the widow of a
Welshman from shire Denbigh, by whom he had the writer and
several other children; how the father used to talk to his
children about his native region and the places round about Bala,
and fill their breasts with longing for the land of their
fathers; and finally how the old man died leaving his children
and their mother in prosperous circumstances. It is a
wonderful letter, Mr, all written in the pure old Welsh
language.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I say, Mr, you are a cute one and know a thing or
two. I suppose Welsh was the first language you learnt,
like myself?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, it wasn&rsquo;t&mdash;I like to speak the
truth&mdash;never took to either speaking or reading the Welsh
language till I was past sixteen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Stonishing! but see the force of blood at
last. In any line of business?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, Mr, can&rsquo;t say I am.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have money in your pocket, and travel for
pleasure. Come to see father&rsquo;s land.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come to see old Wales. And what brings you here,
Hiraeth?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s longing. No, not exactly. Came
over to England to see what I could do. Got in with house
at Liverpool in the drapery business. Travel for it
hereabouts, having connections and speaking the language.
Do branch business here for a banking-house besides. Manage
to get on smartly.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You look a smart &rsquo;un. But don&rsquo;t you
find it sometimes hard to compete with English travellers in the
drapery line?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I guess not. English travellers! set of
nat&rsquo;rals. Don&rsquo;t know the language and nothing
else. Could whip a dozen any day. Regularly flummox
them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You do, Mr? Ah, I see you&rsquo;re a cute
&rsquo;un. Glad to have met you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I say, Mr, you have not told me from what county your
forefathers were.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From Norfolk and Cornwall counties.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t know there were such counties in
Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But there are in England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, you told me you were of Welsh parents.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, I didn&rsquo;t. You told yourself
so.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But how did you come to know Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, that&rsquo;s my bit of a secret.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But you are of the United States?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Never knew that before.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mr, you flummox me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just as you do the English drapery travellers.
Ah, you&rsquo;re a cute &rsquo;un&mdash;but do you think it
altogether a cute trick to stow all those sovereigns in that
drawer?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who should take them out, Mr?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who should take them out? Why, any of the swell
mob that should chance to be in the house might unlock the drawer
with their flash keys as soon as your back is turned, and take
out all the coin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But there are none of the swell mob here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How do you know, that?&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the swell
mob travel wide about&mdash;how do you know that I am not one of
them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The swell mob don&rsquo;t speak Welsh, I
guess.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be too sure of that,&rdquo; said
I&mdash;&ldquo;the swell coves spare no expense for their
education&mdash;so that they may be able to play parts according
to circumstances. I strongly advise you, Mr, to put that
bag somewhere else lest something should happen to it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, Mr, I&rsquo;ll take your advice. These are
my quarters, and I was merely going to keep the money here for
convenience&rsquo; sake. The money belongs to the bank, so
it is but right to stow it away in the bank safe. I
certainly should be loth to leave it here with you in the room,
after what you have said.&rdquo; He then got up, unlocked
the drawer, took out the bag, and with a &ldquo;Goodnight,
Mr,&rdquo; left the room.</p>

<p>I &ldquo;trifled&rdquo; over my brandy and water till I
finished it, and then walked forth to look at the town. I
turned up a street, which led to the east, and soon found myself
beside the lake at the north-west extremity of which Bala
stands. It appeared a very noble sheet of water stretching
from north to south for several miles. As, however, night
was fast coming on I did not see it to its full advantage.
After gazing upon it for a few minutes I sauntered back to the
square, or marketplace, and leaning my back against a wall,
listened to the conversation of two or three groups of people who
were standing near, my motive for doing so being a desire to know
what kind of Welsh they spoke. Their language as far as I
heard it differed in scarcely any respect from that of
Llangollen. I, however, heard very little of it, for I had
scarcely kept my station a minute when the good folks became
uneasy, cast side-glances at me, first dropped their conversation
to whispers, next held their tongues altogether, and finally
moved off, some going to their homes, others moving to a distance
and then grouping together&mdash;even certain ragged boys who
were playing and chattering near me became uneasy, first stood
still, then stared at me, and then took themselves off and played
and chattered at a distance. Now what was the cause of all
this? Why, suspicion of the Saxon. The Welsh are
afraid lest an Englishman should understand their language, and,
by hearing their conversation, become acquainted with their
private affairs, or by listening to it, pick up their language
which they have no mind that he should know&mdash;and their very
children sympathise with them. All conquered people are
suspicious of their conquerors, The English have forgot that they
ever conquered the Welsh, but some ages will elapse before the
Welsh forget that the English have conquered them.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER L</h2>

<p class="letter">The Breakfast&mdash;The Tomen Bala&mdash;El
Punto de la Vana.</p>

<p>I slept soundly that night, as well I might, my bed being good
and my body weary. I arose about nine, dressed and went
down to the parlour which was vacant. I rang the bell, and
on Tom Jenkins making his appearance I ordered breakfast, and
then asked for the Welsh American, and learned that he had
breakfasted very early and had set out in a gig on a journey to
some distance. In about twenty minutes after I had ordered
it my breakfast made its appearance. A noble breakfast it
was; such indeed as I might have read of, but had never before
seen. There was tea and coffee, a goodly white loaf and
butter; there were a couple of eggs and two mutton chops.
There was broiled and pickled salmon&mdash;there was fried
trout&mdash;there were also potted trout and potted
shrimps. Mercy upon me! I had never previously seen
such a breakfast set before me, nor indeed have I
subsequently. Yes, I have subsequently, and at that very
house when I visited it some months after.</p>

<p>After breakfast I called for the bill. I forget the
exact amount of the bill, but remember that it was very
moderate. I paid it and gave the noble Thomas a shilling,
which he received with a bow and truly French smile, that is a
grimace. When I departed the landlord and landlady, highly
respectable-looking elderly people, were standing at the door,
one on each side, and dismissed me with suitable honour, he with
a low bow, she with a profound curtsey.</p>

<p>Having seen little of the town on the preceding evening, I
determined before setting out for Llangollen to become better
acquainted with it, and accordingly took another stroll about
it.</p>

<p>Bala is a town containing three or four thousand inhabitants,
situated near the northern end of an oblong valley, at least
two-thirds of which are occupied by Llyn Tegid. It has two
long streets, extending from north to south, a few narrow cross
ones, an ancient church, partly overgrown with ivy, with a very
pointed steeple, and a town-hall of some antiquity, in which
Welsh interludes used to be performed. After gratifying my
curiosity with respect to the town, I visited the mound&mdash;the
wondrous Tomen Bala.</p>

<p>The Tomen Bala stands at the northern end of the town.
It is apparently formed of clay, is steep and of difficult
ascent. In height it is about thirty feet, and in diameter
at the top about fifty. On the top grows a gwern or
alder-tree, about a foot thick, its bark terribly scotched with
letters and uncouth characters, carved by the idlers of the town
who are fond of resorting to the top of the mound in fine
weather, and lying down on the grass which covers it. The
Tomen is about the same size as Glendower&rsquo;s Mount on the
Dee, which it much resembles in shape. Both belong to that
brotherhood of artificial mounds of unknown antiquity, found
scattered, here and there, throughout Europe and the greater part
of Asia, the most remarkable specimen of which is, perhaps, that
which stands on the right side of the way from Adrianople to
Stamboul, and which is called by the Turks Mourad Tepehsi, or the
tomb of Mourad. Which mounds seem to have been originally
intended as places of sepulture, but in many instances were
afterwards used as strongholds, bonhills or beacon-heights, or as
places on which adoration was paid to the host of heaven.</p>

<p>From the Tomen there is a noble view of the Bala valley, the
Lake of Beauty up to its southern extremity, and the neighbouring
and distant mountains. Of Bala, its lake and Tomen, I shall
have something to say on a future occasion.</p>

<p>Leaving Bala I passed through the village of Llanfair and
found myself by the Dee, whose course I followed for some
way. Coming to the northern extremity of the Bala valley, I
entered a pass tending due north. Here the road slightly
diverged from the river. I sped along, delighted with the
beauty of the scenery. On my left was a high bank covered
with trees, on my right a grove, through openings in which I
occasionally caught glimpses of the river, over whose farther
side towered noble hills. An hour&rsquo;s walking brought
me into a comparatively open country, fruitful and
charming. At about one o&rsquo;clock I reached a large
village, the name of which, like those of most Welsh villages,
began with Llan. There I refreshed myself for an hour or
two in an old-fashioned inn, and then resumed my journey.</p>

<p>I passed through Corwen; again visited Glendower&rsquo;s
monticle upon the Dee, and reached Llangollen shortly after
sunset, where I found my beloved two well and glad to see me.</p>

<p>That night, after tea, Henrietta played on the guitar the old
muleteer tune of &ldquo;El Punto de la Vana,&rdquo; or the main
point at the Havanna, whilst I sang the words&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Never trust the sample when you go your
cloth to buy:<br />
The woman&rsquo;s most deceitful that&rsquo;s dressed most
daintily.<br />
The lasses of Havanna ride to mass in coaches yellow,<br />
But ere they go they ask if the priest&rsquo;s a handsome
fellow.<br />
The lasses of Havanna as mulberries are dark,<br />
And try to make them fairer by taking Jesuit&rsquo;s
bark.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LI</h2>

<p class="letter">The Ladies of Llangollen&mdash;Sir
Alured&mdash;Eisteddfodau&mdash;Pleasure and Care.</p>

<p>Shortly after my return I paid a visit to my friends at the
Vicarage, who were rejoiced to see me back, and were much
entertained with the account I gave of my travels. I next
went to visit the old church clerk of whom I had so much to say
on a former occasion. After having told him some
particulars of my expedition, to all of which he listened with
great attention, especially to that part which related to the
church of Penmynydd and the tomb of the Tudors, I got him to talk
about the ladies of Llangollen, of whom I knew very little save
what I had heard from general report. I found he remembered
their first coming to Llangollen, their living in lodgings, their
purchasing the ground called Pen y maes, and their erecting upon
it the mansion to which the name of Plas Newydd was given.
He said they were very eccentric, but good and kind, and had
always shown most particular favour to himself; that both were
highly connected, especially Lady Eleanor Butler, who was
connected by blood with the great Duke of Ormond who commanded
the armies of Charles in Ireland in the time of the great
rebellion, and also with the Duke of Ormond who succeeded
Marlborough in the command of the armies in the Low Countries in
the time of Queen Anne, and who fled to France shortly after the
accession of George the First to the throne, on account of being
implicated in the treason of Harley and Bolingbroke; and that her
ladyship was particularly fond of talking of both these dukes,
and relating anecdotes concerning them. He said that the
ladies were in the habit of receiving the very first people in
Britain, &ldquo;amongst whom,&rdquo; said the old church clerk,
&ldquo;was an ancient gentleman of most engaging appearance and
captivating manners, called Sir Alured C---. He was in the
army, and in his youth, owing to the beauty of his person, was
called, &lsquo;the handsome captain.&rsquo; It was said
that one of the royal princesses was desperately in love with
him, and that on that account George the Third insisted on his
going to India. Whether or not there was truth in the
report, to India he went, where he served with distinction for a
great many years. On his return, which was not till he was
upwards of eighty, he was received with great favour by William
the Fourth, who amongst other things made him a
field-marshal. As often as October came round did this
interesting and venerable gentleman make his appearance at
Llangollen to pay his respects to the ladies, especially to Lady
Eleanor, whom he had known at Court as far back they say as the
American war. It was rumoured at Llangollen that Lady
Eleanor&rsquo;s death was a grievous blow to Sir Alured, and that
he would never be seen there again. However, when October
came round he made his appearance at the Vicarage, where he had
always been in the habit of taking up his quarters, and called on
and dined with Miss Ponsonby at Plas Newydd, but it was observed
that he was not so gay as he had formerly been. In the
evening, on his taking leave of Miss Ponsonby, she said that he
had used her ill. Sir Alured coloured, and asked her what
she meant, adding that he had not to his knowledge used any
person ill in the course of his life. &lsquo;But I say you
have used me ill, very ill,&rsquo; said Miss Ponsonby, raising
her voice, and the words &lsquo;very ill&rsquo; she repeated
several times. At last the old soldier waxing rather warm
demanded an explanation. &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll give it
you,&rsquo; said Miss Ponsonby; &lsquo;were you not going away
after having only kissed my hand?&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh,&rsquo;
said the general, &lsquo;if that is my offence, I will soon make
you reparation,&rsquo; and instantly gave her a hearty smack on
the lips, which ceremony he never forgot to repeat after dining
with her on subsequent occasions.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We got on the subject of bards, and I mentioned to him
Gruffydd Hiraethog, the old poet buried in the chancel of
Llangollen church. The old clerk was not aware that he was
buried there, and said that though he had heard of him he knew
little or nothing about him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where was he born?&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In Denbighshire,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;near the
mountain Hiraethog, from which circumstance he called himself in
poetry Gruffydd Hiraethog.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;When did he flourish?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About the middle of the sixteenth century.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What did he write?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A great many didactic pieces,&rdquo; said I in one of
which is a famous couplet to this effect:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;He who satire loves to sing<br />
On himself will satire bring.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear of William Lleyn?&rdquo; said the old
gentleman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;he was a pupil of Hiraethog,
and wrote an elegy on his death, in which he alludes to
Gruffydd&rsquo;s skill in an old Welsh metre, called the Cross
Consonancy, in the following manner:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;In Eden&rsquo;s grove from
Adam&rsquo;s mouth<br />
Upsprang a muse of noble growth;<br />
So from thy grave, O poet wise,<br />
Cross Consonancy&rsquo;s boughs shall rise.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Really,&rdquo; said the old clerk, &ldquo;you seem to
know something about Welsh poetry. But what is meant by a
muse springing up from Adam&rsquo;s mouth in Eden?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that Adam
invented poetry.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I made inquiries of him about the eisteddfodau or sessions of
bards, and expressed a wish to be present at one of them.
He said that they were very interesting; that bards met at
particular periods and recited poems on various subjects which
had been given out beforehand, and that prizes were allotted to
those whose compositions were deemed the best by the
judges. He said that he had himself won the prize for the
best englyn on a particular subject at an eisteddfod at which Sir
Watkin Williams Wynn presided, and at which Heber, afterwards
Bishop of Calcutta, was present, who appeared to understand Welsh
well, and who took much interest in the proceedings of the
meeting.</p>

<p>Our discourse turning on the latter Welsh poets I asked him if
he had been acquainted with Jonathan Hughes, who the reader will
remember was the person whose grandson I met and in whose
arm-chair I sat at Ty yn y pistyll, shortly after my coming to
Llangollen. He said that he had been well acquainted with
him, and had helped to carry him to the grave, adding, that he
was something of a poet, but that he had always considered his
forte lay in strong good sense rather than poetry. I
mentioned Thomas Edwards, whose picture I had seen in Valle
Crucis Abbey. He said that he knew him tolerably well, and
that the last time he saw him was when he, Edwards, was about
seventy years of age, when he sent him in a cart to the house of
a great gentleman near the aqueduct where he was going to stay on
a visit. That Tom was about five feet eight inches high,
lusty, and very strongly built; that he had something the matter
with his right eye; that he was very satirical and very clever;
that his wife was a very clever woman and satirical; his two
daughters both clever and satirical, and his servant-maid
remarkably satirical and clever, and that it was impossible to
live with Twm O&rsquo;r Nant without learning to be clever and
satirical; that he always appeared to be occupied with something,
and that he had heard him say there was something in him that
would never let him be idle; that he would walk fifteen miles to
a place where he was to play an interlude, and that as soon as he
got there he would begin playing it at once, however tired he
might be. The old gentleman concluded by saying that he had
never read the works of Twm O&rsquo;r Nant, but he had heard that
his best piece was the interlude called &ldquo;Pleasure and
Care.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LII</h2>

<p class="letter">The Treachery of the Long Knives&mdash;The
North Briton&mdash;The Wounded Butcher&mdash;The Prisoner.</p>

<p>On the tenth of September our little town was flung into some
confusion by one butcher having attempted to cut the throat of
another. The delinquent was a Welshman, who it was said had
for some time past been somewhat out of his mind; the other party
was an Englishman, who escaped without further injury than a deep
gash in the cheek. The Welshman might be mad, but it
appeared to me that there was some method in his madness.
He tried to cut the throat of a butcher: didn&rsquo;t this look
like wishing to put a rival out of the way? and that butcher an
Englishman: didn&rsquo;t this look like wishing to pay back upon
the Saxon what the Welsh call bradwriaeth y cyllyll hirion, the
treachery of the long knives? So reasoned I to
myself. But here perhaps the reader will ask what is meant
by &ldquo;the treachery of the long knives?&rdquo; whether he
does or not I will tell him.</p>

<p>Hengist wishing to become paramount in Southern Britain
thought that the easiest way to accomplish his wish would be by
destroying the South British chieftains. Not believing that
he should be able to make away with them by open force he
determined to see what he could do by treachery.
Accordingly he invited the chieftains to a banquet to be held
near Stonehenge, or the Hanging Stones, on Salisbury
Plains. The unsuspecting chieftains accepted the
invitation, and on the appointed day repaired to the banquet,
which was held in a huge tent. Hengist received them with a
smiling countenance and every appearance of hospitality, and
caused them to sit down to table, placing by the side of every
Briton one of his own people. The banquet commenced, and
all seemingly was mirth and hilarity. Now Hengist had
commanded his people that when he should get up and cry
&ldquo;nemet eoure saxes,&rdquo; that is, take your knives, each
Saxon should draw his long sax, or knife, which he wore at his
side, and should plunge it into the throat of his
neighbour. The banquet went on, and in the midst of it,
when the unsuspecting Britons were revelling on the good cheer
which had been provided for them, and half-drunken with the mead
and beer which flowed in torrents, uprose Hengist, and with a
voice of thunder uttered the fatal words &ldquo;nemet eoure
saxes:&rdquo; the cry was obeyed, each Saxon grasped his knife
and struck with it at the throat of his defenceless
neighbour. Almost every blow took effect; only three
British chieftains escaping from the banquet of blood. This
infernal carnage the Welsh have appropriately denominated the
treachery of the long knives. It will be as well to observe
that the Saxons derived their name from the saxes, or long
knives, which they wore at their sides, and at the use of which
they were terribly proficient.</p>

<p>Two or three days after the attempt at murder at Llangollen,
hearing that the Welsh butcher was about to be brought before the
magistrates, I determined to make an effort to be present at the
examination. Accordingly I went to the police station and
inquired of the superintendent whether I could be permitted to
attend. He was a North Briton, as I have stated somewhere
before, and I had scraped acquaintance with him, and had got
somewhat into his good graces by praising Dumfries, his native
place, and descanting to him upon the beauties of the poetry of
his celebrated countryman, my old friend, Allan Cunningham, some
of whose works he had perused, and with whom as he said, he had
once the honour of shaking hands. In reply to my question
he told me that it was doubtful whether any examination would
take place, as the wounded man was in a very weak state, but that
if I would return in half-an-hour he would let me know. I
went away, and at the end of the half-hour returned, when he told
me that there would be no public examination, owing to the
extreme debility of the wounded man, but that one of the
magistrates was about to proceed to his house and take his
deposition in the presence of the criminal and also of the
witnesses of the deed, and that if I pleased I might go along
with him, and he had no doubt that the magistrate would have no
objection to my being present. We set out together; as we
were going along I questioned him about the state of the country,
and gathered from him that there was occasionally a good deal of
crime in Wales.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are the Welsh a clannish people?&rdquo; I demanded.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;As clannish as the Highlanders?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and a good deal
more.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We came to the house of the wounded butcher, which was some
way out of the town in the north-western suburb. The
magistrate was in the lower apartment with the clerk, one or two
officials, and the surgeon of the town. He was a gentleman
of about two or three and forty, with a military air and large
moustaches, for besides being a justice of the peace and a landed
proprietor, he was an officer in the army. He made me a
polite bow when I entered, and I requested of him permission to
be present at the examination. He hesitated a moment and
then asked me my motive for wishing to be present at it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Merely curiosity,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>He then observed that as the examination would be a private
one, my being permitted or not was quite optional.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am aware of that,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and if you
think my remaining is objectionable I will forthwith
retire.&rdquo; He looked at the clerk, who said there could
be no objection to my staying, and turning round to his superior
said something to him which I did not hear, whereupon the
magistrate again bowed and said that he should he very happy to
grant my request.</p>

<p>We went upstairs and found the wounded man in bed with a
bandage round his forehead, and his wife sitting by his
bedside. The magistrate and his officials took their seats,
and I was accommodated with a chair. Presently the prisoner
was introduced under the charge of a policeman. He was a
fellow somewhat above thirty, of the middle size, and wore a
dirty white frock coat; his right arm was partly confined by a
manacle. A young girl was sworn, who deposed that she saw
the prisoner run after the other with something in his
hand. The wounded man was then asked whether he thought he
was able to make a deposition; he replied in a very feeble tone
that he thought he was, and after being sworn deposed that on the
preceding Saturday, as he was going to his stall, the prisoner
came up to him and asked whether he had ever done him any injury?
he said no. &ldquo;I then,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;observed
the prisoner&rsquo;s countenance undergo a change, and saw him
put his hand to his waistcoat-pocket and pull out a knife.
I straight became frightened, and ran away as fast as I could;
the prisoner followed, and overtaking me, stabbed me in the
face. I ran into the yard of a public-house and into the
shop of an acquaintance, where I fell down, the blood spouting
out of my wound.&rdquo; Such was the deposition of the
wounded butcher. He was then asked whether there had been
any quarrel between him and the prisoner? He said there had
been no quarrel, but that he had refused to drink with the
prisoner when he requested him, which he had done very
frequently, and had more than once told him that he did not wish
for his acquaintance. The prisoner, on being asked, after
the usual caution, whether he had anything to say, said that he
merely wished to mark the man but not to kill him. The
surgeon of the place deposed to the nature of the wound, and on
being asked his opinion with respect to the state of the
prisoner&rsquo;s mind, said that he believed that he might be
labouring under a delusion. After the prisoner&rsquo;s
bloody weapon and coat had been produced he was committed.</p>

<p>It was generally said that the prisoner was disordered in his
mind; I held my tongue, but judging from his look and manner I
saw no reason to suppose that he was any more out of his senses
than I myself, or any person present, and I had no doubt that
what induced him to commit the act was rage at being looked down
upon by a quondam acquaintance, who was rising a little in the
world, exacerbated by the reflection that the disdainful quondam
acquaintance was one of the Saxon race, against which every
Welshman entertains a grudge more or less virulent, which, though
of course, very unchristianlike, is really, brother Englishman,
after the affair of the long knives, and two or three other
actions of a somewhat similar character of our noble Anglo-Saxon
progenitors, with which all Welshmen are perfectly well
acquainted, not very much to be wondered at.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LIII</h2>

<p class="letter">The Dylluan&mdash;The Oldest Creatures.</p>

<p>Much rain fell about the middle of the month; in the intervals
of the showers I occasionally walked by the banks of the river
which speedily became much swollen; it was quite terrible both to
the sight and ear near the &ldquo;Robber&rsquo;s Leap;&rdquo;
there were breakers above the higher stones at least five feet
high and a roar around almost sufficient &ldquo;to scare a
hundred men.&rdquo; The pool of Lingo was strangely
altered; it was no longer the quiet pool which it was in summer,
verifying the words of the old Welsh poet that the deepest pool
of the river is always the stillest in the summer and of the
softest sound, but a howling turbid gulf, in which branches of
trees, dead animals and rubbish were whirling about in the
wildest confusion. The nights were generally less rainy
than the days, and sometimes by the pallid glimmer of the moon I
would take a stroll along some favourite path or road. One
night as I was wandering slowly along the path leading through
the groves of Pen y Coed I was startled by an unearthly
cry&mdash;it was the shout of the dylluan or owl, as it flitted
over the tops of the trees on its nocturnal business.</p>

<p>Oh, that cry of the dylluan! what a strange wild cry it is;
how unlike any other sound in nature! a cry which no combination
of letters can give the slightest idea of. What resemblance
does Shakespear&rsquo;s to-whit-to-whoo bear to the cry of the
owl? none whatever; those who hear it for the first time never
know what it is, however accustomed to talk of the cry of the owl
and to-whit-to-whoo. A man might be wandering through a
wood with Shakespear&rsquo;s owl-chorus in his mouth, but were he
then to hear for the first time the real shout of the owl he
would assuredly stop short and wonder whence that unearthly cry
could proceed.</p>

<p>Yet no doubt that strange cry is a fitting cry for the owl,
the strangest in its habits and look of all birds, the bird of
whom by all nations the strangest tales are told. Oh, what
strange tales are told of the owl, especially in connection with
its long-lifedness; but of all the strange wild tales connected
with the age of the owl, strangest of all is the old Welsh
tale. When I heard the owl&rsquo;s cry in the groves of Pen
y Coed that tale rushed into my mind. I had heard it from
the singular groom who had taught me to gabble Welsh in my
boyhood, and had subsequently read it in an old tattered Welsh
story-book, which by chance fell into my hands. The reader
will perhaps be obliged by my relating it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The eagle of the alder grove, after being long married
and having had many children by his mate, lost her by death, and
became a widower. After some time he took it into his head
to marry the owl of the Cowlyd Coomb; but fearing he should have
issue by her, and by that means sully his lineage, he went first
of all to the oldest creatures in the world in order to obtain
information about her age. First he went to the stag of
Ferny-side Brae, whom he found sitting by the old stump of an
oak, and inquired the age of the owl. The stag said:
&lsquo;I have seen this oak an acorn which is now lying on the
ground without either leaves or bark: nothing in the world wore
it up but my rubbing myself against it once a day when I got up,
so I have seen a vast number of years, but I assure you that I
have never seen the owl older or younger than she is
to-day. However, there is one older than myself, and that
is the salmon-trout of Glyn Llifon.&rsquo; To him went the
eagle and asked him the age of the owl and got for answer:
&lsquo;I have a year over my head for every gem on my skin and
for every egg in my roe, yet have I always seen the owl look the
same; but there is one older than myself, and that is the ousel
of Cilgwry.&rsquo; Away went the eagle to Cilgwry, and
found the ousel standing upon a little rock, and asked him the
age of the owl. Quoth the ousel: &lsquo;You see that the
rock below me is not larger than a man can carry in one of his
hands: I have seen it so large that it would have taken a hundred
oxen to drag it, and it has never been worn save by my drying my
beak upon it once every night, and by my striking the tip of my
wing against it in rising in the morning, yet never have I known
the owl older or younger than she is to-day. However, there
is one older than I, and that is the toad of Cors Fochnod; and
unless he knows her age no one knows it.&rsquo; To him went
the eagle and asked the age of the owl, and the toad replied:
&lsquo;I have never eaten anything save what I have sucked from
the earth, and have never eaten half my fill in all the days of
my life; but do you see those two great hills beside the
cross? I have seen the place where they stand level ground,
and nothing produced those heaps save what I discharged from my
body, who have ever eaten so very little&mdash;yet never have I
known the owl anything else but an old hag who cried Too-hoo-hoo,
and scared children with her voice even as she does at
present.&rsquo; So the eagle of Gwernabwy; the stag of
Ferny-side Brae; the salmon trout of Glyn Llifon; the ousel of
Cilgwry; the toad of Cors Fochnod, and the owl of Coomb Cowlyd
are the oldest creatures in the world; the oldest of them all
being the owl.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LIV</h2>

<p class="letter">Chirk&mdash;The Middleton Family&mdash;Castell
y Waen&mdash;The Park&mdash;The Court Yard&mdash;The Young
Housekeeper&mdash;The Portraits&mdash;Melin y
Castell&mdash;Humble Meal&mdash;Fine Chests for the
Dead&mdash;Hales and Hercules.</p>

<p>The weather having become fine, myself and family determined
to go and see Chirk Castle, a mansion ancient and beautiful, and
abounding with all kinds of agreeable and romantic
associations. It was founded about the beginning of the
fifteenth century by a St John, Lord of Bletsa, from a descendant
of whom it was purchased in the year 1615 by Sir Thomas
Middleton, the scion of an ancient Welsh family who, following
commerce, acquired a vast fortune, and was Lord Mayor of
London. In the time of the great civil war it hoisted the
banner of the king, and under Sir Thomas, the son of the Lord
Mayor, made a brave defence against Lambert, the Parliamentary
General, though eventually compelled to surrender. It was
held successively by four Sir Thomas Middletons, and if it
acquired a war-like celebrity under the second, it obtained a
peculiarly hospitable one under the fourth, whose daughter, the
fruit of a second marriage, became Countess of Warwick and
eventually the wife of the poet and moralist Addison. In
his time the hospitality of Chirk became the theme of many a
bard, particularly of Huw Morris, who, in one of his songs, has
gone so far as to say that were the hill Cefn Uchaf turned into
beef and bread, and the rill Ceiriog into beer or wine, they
would be consumed in half a year by the hospitality of
Chirk. Though no longer in the hands of one of the name of
Middleton, Chirk Castle is still possessed by one of the blood,
the mother of the present proprietor being the eldest of three
sisters, lineal descendants of the Lord Mayor, between whom in
default of an heir male the wide possessions of the Middleton
family were divided. This gentleman, who bears the name of
Biddulph, is Lord Lieutenant of the county of Denbigh, and
notwithstanding his war-breathing name, which is Gothic, and
signifies Wolf of Battle, is a person of highly amiable
disposition, and one who takes great interest in the propagation
of the Gospel of peace and love.</p>

<p>To view this place, which, though in English called Chirk
Castle, is styled in Welsh Castell y Waen, or the Castle of the
Meadow, we started on foot about ten o&rsquo;clock of a fine
bright morning, attended by John Jones. There are two roads
from Llangollen to Chirk, one the low or post road, and the other
leading over the Berwyn. We chose the latter. We
passed by the Yew Cottage, which I have described on a former
occasion, and began to ascend the mountain, making towards its
north-eastern corner. The road at first was easy enough,
but higher up became very steep, and somewhat appalling, being
cut out of the side of the hill which shelves precipitously down
towards the valley of the Dee. Near the top of the mountain
were three lofty beech-trees growing on the very verge of the
precipice. Here the road for about twenty yards is fenced
on its dangerous side by a wall, parts of which are built between
the stems of the trees. Just beyond the wall a truly noble
prospect presented itself to our eyes. To the north were
bold hills, their sides and skirts adorned with numerous woods
and white farm-houses; a thousand feet below us was the Dee and
its wondrous Pont y Cysultau. John Jones said that if
certain mists did not intervene we might descry &ldquo;the sea of
Liverpool&rdquo;; and perhaps the only thing wanting to make the
prospect complete, was that sea of Liverpool. We were,
however, quite satisfied with what we saw, and turning round the
corner of the hill, reached its top, where for a considerable
distance there is level ground, and where, though at a great
altitude, we found ourselves in a fair and fertile region, and
amidst a scene of busy rural life. We saw fields and
inclosures, and here and there corn-stacks, some made, and others
not yet completed, about which people were employed, and waggons
and horses moving. Passing over the top of the hill, we
began to descend the southern side, which was far less steep than
the one we had lately surmounted. After a little way, the
road descended through a wood, which John Jones told us was the
beginning of &ldquo;the Park of Biddulph.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is plenty of game in this wood,&rdquo; said he;
&ldquo;pheasant cocks and pheasant hens, to say nothing of hares
and coneys; and in the midst of it there is a space sown with a
particular kind of corn for the support of the pheasant hens and
pheasant cocks, which in the shooting-season afford pleasant
sport for Biddulph and his friends.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Near the foot of the descent, just where the road made a turn
to the east, we passed by a building which stood amidst trees,
with a pond and barns near it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This,&rdquo; said John Jones, &ldquo;is the house where
the bailiff lives who farms and buys and sells for Biddulph, and
fattens the beeves and swine, and the geese, ducks, and other
poultry which Biddulph consumes at his table.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The scenery was now very lovely, consisting of a mixture of
hill and dale, open space and forest, in fact the best kind of
park scenery. We caught a glimpse of a lake in which John
Jones said there were generally plenty of swans, and presently
saw the castle, which stands on a green grassy slope, from which
it derives its Welsh name of Castell y Waen; gwaen in the Cumrian
language signifying a meadow or uninclosed place. It fronts
the west, the direction from which we were coming; on each side
it shows five towers, of which the middlemost, which protrudes
beyond the rest, and at the bottom of which is the grand gate, is
by far the bulkiest. A noble edifice it looked, and to my
eye bore no slight resemblance to Windsor Castle.</p>

<p>Seeing a kind of ranger, we inquired of him what it was
necessary for us to do, and by his direction proceeded to the
southern side of the castle, and rung the bell at a small
gate. The southern side had a far more antique appearance
than the western; huge towers with small windows, and partly
covered with ivy, frowned down upon us. A servant making
his appearance, I inquired whether we could see the house; he
said we could, and that the housekeeper would show it to us in a
little time but that at present she was engaged. We entered
a large quadrangular court: on the left-hand side was a door and
staircase leading into the interior of the building, and farther
on was a gateway, which was no doubt the principal entrance from
the park. On the eastern side of the spacious court was a
kennel, chained to which was an enormous dog, partly of the
bloodhound, partly of the mastiff species, who occasionally
uttered a deep magnificent bay. As the sun was hot, we took
refuge from it under the gateway, the gate of which, at the
further end, towards the park, was closed. Here my wife and
daughter sat down on a small brass cannon, seemingly a
six-pounder, which stood on a very dilapidated carriage; from the
appearance of the gun, which was of an ancient form, and very
much battered, and that of the carriage, I had little doubt that
both had been in the castle at the time of the siege. As my
two loved ones sat, I walked up and down, recalling to my mind
all I had heard and read in connection with this castle. I
thought of its gallant defence against the men of Oliver; I
thought of its roaring hospitality in the time of the fourth Sir
Thomas; and I thought of the many beauties who had been born in
its chambers, had danced in its halls, had tripped across its
court, and had subsequently given heirs to illustrious
families.</p>

<p>At last we were told that she housekeeper was waiting for
us. The housekeeper, who was a genteel, good-looking young
woman, welcomed us at the door which led into the interior of the
house. After we had written our names, she showed us into a
large room or hall on the right-hand side on the ground floor,
where were some helmets and ancient halberts, and also some
pictures of great personages. The floor was of oak, and so
polished and slippery, that walking upon it was attended with
some danger. Wishing that John Jones, our faithful
attendant, who remained timidly at the doorway, should
participate with us in the wonderful sights we were about to see,
I inquired of the housekeeper whether he might come with
us. She replied with a smile that it was not the custom to
admit guides into the apartments, but that he might come,
provided he chose to take off his shoes; adding, that the reason
she wished him to take off his shoes was, an apprehension that if
he kept them on he would injure the floors with their rough
nails. She then went to John Jones, and told him in English
that he might attend us, provided he took off his shoes; poor
John, however, only smiled and said &ldquo;Dim
Saesneg!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You must speak to him in your native language,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;provided you wish him to understand you&mdash;he
has no English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am speaking to him in my native language,&rdquo; said
the young housekeeper, with another smile&mdash;&ldquo;and if he
has no English, I have no Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you are English?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;a native of
London.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s
no bad thing to be English after all; and as for not speaking
Welsh, there are many in Wales who would be glad to have much
less Welsh than they have.&rdquo; I then told John Jones
the condition on which he might attend us, whereupon he took off
his shoes with great glee and attended us, holding them in his
hand.</p>

<p>We presently went upstairs, to what the housekeeper told us
was the principal drawing-room, and a noble room it was, hung
round with the portraits of kings and queens, and the mighty of
the earth. Here, on canvas, was noble Mary, the wife of
William of Orange, and her consort by her side, whose part like a
true wife she always took. Here was wretched Mary of
Scotland, the murderess of her own lord. Here were the two
Charleses and both the Dukes of Ormond&mdash;the great Duke who
fought stoutly in Ireland against Papist and Roundhead; and the
Pretender&rsquo;s Duke who tried to stab his native land, and
died a foreign colonel. And here, amongst other daughters
of the house, was the very proud daughter of the house, the
Warwick Dowager who married the Spectator, and led him the life
of a dog. She looked haughty and cold, and not particularly
handsome; but I could not help gazing with a certain degree of
interest and respect on the countenance of the vixen, who served
out the gentility worshipper in such prime style. Many were
the rooms which we entered, of which I shall say nothing, save
that they were noble in size and rich in objects of
interest. At last we came to what was called the picture
gallery. It was a long panelled room, extending nearly the
whole length of the northern side. The first thing which
struck us on entering was the huge skin of a lion stretched out
upon the floor; the head, however, which was towards the door,
was stuffed, and with its monstrous teeth looked so formidable
and life-like, that we were almost afraid to touch it.
Against every panel was a portrait; amongst others was that of
Sir Thomas Middleton, the stout governor of the castle, during
the time of the siege. Near to it was the portrait of his
rib, Dame Middleton. Farther down on the same side were two
portraits of Nell Gwynn; the one painted when she was a girl; the
other when she had attained a more mature age. They were
both by Lely, the Apelles of the Court of wanton Charles.
On the other side was one of the Duke of Gloucester, the son of
Queen Anne, who, had he lived, would have kept the Georges from
the throne. In this gallery on the southern side was a
cabinet of ebony and silver, presented by Charles the Second to
the brave warrior Sir Thomas, and which, according to tradition,
cost seven thousand pounds. This room, which was perhaps
the most magnificent in the castle, was the last we
visited. The candle of God, whilst we wandered through
these magnificent halls, was flaming in the firmament, and its
rays, penetrating through the long narrow windows, showed them
off, and all the gorgeous things which they contained to great
advantage. When we left the castle we all said, not
excepting John Jones, that we had never seen in our lives
anything more princely and delightful than the interior.</p>

<p>After a little time, my wife and daughter complaining of being
rather faint, I asked John Jones whether there was an inn in the
neighbourhood where some refreshment could be procured. He
said there was, and that he would conduct us to it. We
directed our course towards the east, rousing successively, and
setting a-scampering, three large herds of deer&mdash;the common
ones were yellow and of no particular size&mdash;but at the head
of each herd we observed a big old black fellow with immense
antlers; one of these was particularly large, indeed as huge as a
bull. We soon came to the verge of a steep descent, down
which we went, not without some risk of falling. At last we
came to a gate; it was locked; however, on John Jones shouting,
an elderly man with his right hand bandaged, came and opened
it. I asked him what was the matter with his hand, and he
told me that he had lately lost three fingers whilst working at a
saw-mill up at the castle. On my inquiring about the inn he
said he was the master of it, and led the way to a long neat low
house, nearly opposite to a little bridge over a brook, which ran
down the valley towards the north. I ordered some ale and
bread-and-butter, and whilst our repast was being got ready John
Jones and I went to the bridge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This bridge, sir,&rdquo; said John, &ldquo;is called
Pont y Velin Castell, the bridge of the Castle Mill; the inn was
formerly the mill of the castle, and is still called Melin y
Castell. As soon as you are over this bridge you are in
shire Amwythig, which the Saxons call Shropshire. A little
way up on yon hill is Clawdd Offa or Offa&rsquo;s dyke, built of
old by the Brenin Offa in order to keep us poor Welsh within our
bounds.&rdquo;</p>

<p>As we stood on the bridge I inquired of Jones the name of the
brook which was running merrily beneath it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Ceiriog, sir,&rdquo; said John, &ldquo;the same
river that we saw at Pont y Meibion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The river,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;which Huw Morris loved
so well, whose praises he has sung, and which he has introduced
along with Cefn Uchaf in a stanza in which he describes the
hospitality of Chirk Castle in his day, and which runs thus:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Pe byddai &rsquo;r Cefn Ucha,<br />
Yn gig ac yn fara,<br />
A Cheiriog fawr yma&rsquo;n fir aml bob tro,<br />
Rhy ryfedd fae iddyn&rsquo;<br />
Barhâu hanner blwyddyn,<br />
I wyr bob yn gan-nyn ar ginio.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;A good penill that, sir,&rdquo; said John Jones.
&ldquo;Pity that the halls of great people no longer flow with
rivers of beer, nor have mountains of bread and beef for all
comers.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No pity at all,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;things are better
as they are. Those mountains of bread and beef, and those
rivers of ale merely encouraged vassalage, fawning and idleness;
better to pay for one&rsquo;s dinner proudly and independently at
one&rsquo;s inn, than to go and cringe for it at a great
man&rsquo;s table.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We crossed the bridge, walked a little way up the hill which
was beautifully wooded, and then retraced our steps to the little
inn, where I found my wife and daughter waiting for us, and very
hungry. We sat down, John Jones with us, and proceeded to
despatch our bread-and-butter and ale. The bread-and-butter
were good enough, but the ale poorish. Oh, for an Act of
Parliament to force people to brew good ale! After
finishing our humble meal, we got up and having paid our
reckoning went back into the park, the gate of which the landlord
again unlocked for us.</p>

<p>We strolled towards the north along the base of the
hill. The imagination of man can scarcely conceive a scene
more beautiful than the one which we were now enjoying.
Huge oaks studded the lower side of the hill, towards the top was
a belt of forest, above which rose the eastern walls of the
castle; the whole forest, castle and the green bosom of the hill
glorified by the lustre of the sun. As we proceeded we
again roused the deer, and again saw three old black fellows,
evidently the patriarchs of the herds, with their white enormous
horns; with these ancient gentlefolks I very much wished to make
acquaintance, and tried to get near them, but no! they would
suffer no such thing; off they glided, their white antlers, like
the barked top boughs of old pollards, glancing in the sunshine,
the smaller dapple creatures following them bounding and
frisking. We had again got very near the castle, when John
Jones told me that if we would follow him he would show us
something very remarkable; I asked him what it was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Llun Cawr,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;The figure
of a giant.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What giant?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>But on this point he could give me no information. I
told my wife and daughter what he had said, and finding that they
wished to see the figure, I bade John Jones lead us to it.
He led us down an avenue just below the eastern side of the
castle; noble oaks and other trees composed it, some of them
probably near a hundred feet high; John Jones observing me
looking at them with admiration, said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;They would make fine chests for the dead,
sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>What an observation! how calculated, amidst the most bounding
joy and bliss, to remind man of his doom! A moment before I
had felt quite happy, but now I felt sad and mournful. I
looked at my wife and daughter, who were gazing admiringly on the
beauteous scenes around them, and remembered that in a few short
years at most we should all three be laid in the cold narrow
house formed of four elm or oaken boards, our only garment the
flannel shroud, the cold damp earth above us, instead of the
bright glorious sky. Oh, how sad and mournful I
became! I soon comforted myself, however, by reflecting
that such is the will of Heaven, and that Heaven is good.</p>

<p>After we had descended the avenue some way John Jones began to
look about him, and getting on the bank on the left side
disappeared. We went on, and in a little time saw him again
beckoning to us some way farther down, but still on the
bank. When we drew nigh to him he bade us get on the bank;
we did so and followed him some way, midst furze and lyng.
All of a sudden he exclaimed, &ldquo;There it is!&rdquo; We
looked and saw a large figure standing on a pedestal. On
going up to it we found it to be a Hercules leaning on his club,
indeed a copy of the Farnese Hercules, as we gathered from an
inscription in Latin partly defaced. We felt rather
disappointed, as we expected that it would have turned out to be
the figure of some huge Welsh champion of old. We, however,
said nothing to our guide. John Jones, in order that we
might properly appreciate the size of the statue by contrasting
it with his own body, got upon the pedestal and stood up beside
the figure, to the elbow of which his head little more than
reached.</p>

<p>I told him that in my country, the eastern part of Lloegr, I
had seen a man quite as tall as the statue.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Indeed, sir,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;who is
it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hales the Norfolk giant,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;who
has a sister seven inches shorter than himself, who is yet seven
inches taller than any man in the county when her brother is out
of it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>When John Jones got down he asked me who the man was whom the
statue was intended to represent.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Erchwl,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;a mighty man of old,
who with club cleared the country of thieves, serpents, and
monsters.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I now proposed that we should return to Llangollen, whereupon
we retraced our steps, and had nearly reached the farm-house of
the castle when John Jones said that we had better return by the
low road, by doing which we should see the castle-lodge and also
its gate which was considered one of the wonders of Wales.
We followed his advice and passing by the front of the castle
northwards soon came to the lodge. The lodge had nothing
remarkable in its appearance, but the gate which was of iron was
truly magnificent.</p>

<p>On the top were two figures of wolves which John Jones
supposed to be those of foxes. The wolf of Chirk is not
intended to be expressive of the northern name of its proprietor,
but as the armorial bearing of his family by the maternal side,
and originated in one Ryred, surnamed Blaidd or Wolf from his
ferocity in war, from whom the family, which only assumed the
name of Middleton in the beginning of the thirteenth century, on
the occasion of its representative marrying a rich Shropshire
heiress of that name, traces descent.</p>

<p>The wolf of Chirk is a Cambrian not a Gothic wolf, and though
&ldquo;a wolf of battle,&rdquo; is the wolf not of Biddulph but
of Ryred.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LV</h2>

<p class="letter">A Visitor&mdash;Apprenticeship to the
Law&mdash;Croch Daranau&mdash;Lope de Vega&mdash;No Life like the
Traveller&rsquo;s.</p>

<p>One morning as I sat alone a gentleman was announced. On
his entrance I recognised in him the magistrate&rsquo;s clerk,
owing to whose good word, as it appeared to me, I had been
permitted to remain during the examination into the affair of the
wounded butcher. He was a stout, strong-made man, somewhat
under the middle height, with a ruddy face, and very clear, grey
eyes. I handed him a chair, which he took, and said that
his name was R---, and that he had taken the liberty of calling,
as he had a great desire to be acquainted with me. On my
asking him his reason for that desire he told me that it
proceeded from his having read a book of mine about Spain, which
had much interested him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you can&rsquo;t give an
author a better reason for coming to see him than being pleased
with his book. I assure you that you are most
welcome.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After a little general discourse I said that I presumed he was
in the law.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I am a member of that
much-abused profession.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And unjustly abused,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;it is a
profession which abounds with honourable men, and in which I
believe there are fewer scamps than in any other. The most
honourable men I have ever known have been lawyers; they were men
whose word was their bond, and who would have preferred ruin to
breaking it. There was my old master, in particular, who
would have died sooner than broken his word. God bless
him! I think I see him now with his bald, shining pate, and
his finger on an open page of &lsquo;Preston&rsquo;s
Conveyancing.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sure you are not a limb of the law?&rdquo; said Mr
R---.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I might be, for I served
an apprenticeship to it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am glad to hear it,&rdquo; said Mr R---, shaking me
by the hand. &ldquo;Take my advice, come and settle at
Llangollen and be my partner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If I did,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am afraid that our
partnership would be of short duration; you would find me too
eccentric and flighty for the law. Have you a good
practice?&rdquo; I demanded after a pause.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have no reason to complain of it,&rdquo; said he,
with a contented air.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you are married?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I have both a wife and
family.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A native of Llangollen?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he: &ldquo;I was born at Llan Silin, a
place some way off across the Berwyn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Llan Silin?&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I have a great desire
to visit it some day or other.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why so?&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it offers nothing
interesting.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I beg your pardon,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;unless I am
much mistaken, the tomb of the great poet Huw Morris is in Llan
Silin churchyard.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it possible that you have ever heard of Huw
Morris?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;and I have not only heard
of him but am acquainted with his writings; I read them when a
boy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How very extraordinary,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;well,
you are quite right about his tomb; when a boy I have played
dozens of times on the flat stone with my
schoolfellows.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We talked of Welsh poetry; he said he had not dipped much into
it, owing to its difficulty; that he was master of the colloquial
language of Wales, but understood very little of the language of
Welsh poetry, which was a widely different thing. I asked
him whether he had seen Owen Pugh&rsquo;s translation of Paradise
Lost. He said he had, but could only partially understand
it, adding, however, that those parts which he could make out
appeared to him to be admirably executed, that amongst these
there was one which had particularly struck him namely:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Ar eu
col o rygnu croch<br />
Daranau.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The rendering of Milton&rsquo;s</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;And on
their hinges grate<br />
Harsh thunder.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>which, grand as it was, was certainly equalled by the Welsh
version, and perhaps surpassed, for that he was disposed to think
that there was something more terrible in &ldquo;croch
daranau,&rdquo; than in &ldquo;harsh thunder.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am disposed to think so too,&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;Now can you tell me where Owen Pugh is buried?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I cannot,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;but I suppose you can
tell me; you, who know the burying-place of Huw Morris are
probably acquainted with the burying-place of Owen
Pugh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am not. Unlike Huw
Morris, Owen Pugh has never had his history written, though
perhaps quite as interesting a history might be made out of the
life of the quiet student as out of that of the popular
poet. As soon as ever I learn where his grave is I shall
assuredly make a pilgrimage to it.&rdquo; Mr R--- then
asked me a good many questions about Spain, and a certain
singular race of people about whom I have written a good
deal. Before going away he told me that a friend of his, of
the name of J---, would call upon me, provided he thought I
should not consider his doing so an intrusion. &ldquo;Let
him come by all means,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I shall never look
upon a visit from a friend of yours in the light of an
intrusion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In a few days came his friend, a fine tall athletic man of
about forty. &ldquo;You are no Welshman,&rdquo; said I, as
I looked at him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I am a native of
Lincolnshire, but I have resided in Llangollen for thirteen
years.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In what capacity?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In the wine-trade,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Instead of coming to Llangollen,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;and entering into the wine-trade, you should have gone to
London, and enlisted into the Life Guards.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, with a smile, &ldquo;I had once
or twice thought of doing so. However, fate brought me to
Llangollen, and I am not sorry that she did, for I have done very
well here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I soon found out that he was a well-read and indeed highly
accomplished man. Like his friend R---, Mr J--- asked me a
great many questions about Spain. By degrees we got on the
subject of Spanish literature. I said that the literature
of Spain was a first-rate literature, but that it was not very
extensive. He asked me whether I did not think that Lope de
Vega was much overrated.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not a bit,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;Lope de Vega was one
of the greatest geniuses that ever lived. He was not only a
great dramatist and lyric poet, but a prose writer of marvellous
ability, as he proved by several admirable tales, amongst which
is the best ghost story in the world.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Another remarkable person whom I got acquainted with about
this time was A---, the innkeeper, who lived a little way down
the road, of whom John Jones had spoken so highly, saying,
amongst other things, that he was the clebberest man in
Llangollen. One day as I was looking in at his gate, he
came forth, took off his hat, and asked me to do him the honour
to come in and look at his grounds. I complied, and as he
showed me about he told me his history in nearly the following
words:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am a Devonian by birth. For many years I served
a travelling gentleman, whom I accompanied in all his
wanderings. I have been five times across the Alps, and in
every capital of Europe. My master at length dying left me
in his will something handsome, whereupon I determined to be a
servant no longer, but married, and came to Llangollen, which I
had visited long before with my master, and had been much pleased
with. After a little time these premises becoming vacant, I
took them, and set up in the public line, more to have something
to do, than for the sake of gain, about which, indeed, I need not
trouble myself much, my poor, dear master, as I said before,
having done very handsomely by me at his death. Here I have
lived for several years, receiving strangers, and improving my
house and grounds. I am tolerably comfortable, but confess
I sometimes look back to my former roving life rather wistfully,
for there is no life so merry as the
traveller&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He was about the middle age and somewhat under the middle
size. I had a good deal of conversation with him, and was
much struck with his frank, straightforward manner. He
enjoyed a high character at Llangollen for probity and likewise
for cleverness, being reckoned an excellent gardener, and an
almost unequalled cook. His master, the travelling
gentleman, might well leave him a handsome remembrance in his
will, for he had not only been an excellent and trusty servant to
him, but had once saved his life at the hazard of his own,
amongst the frightful precipices of the Alps. Such retired
gentlemen&rsquo;s servants, or such publicans either, as honest
A---, are not every day to be found. His grounds,
principally laid out by his own hands, exhibited an infinity of
taste, and his house, into which I looked, was a perfect picture
of neatness. Any tourist visiting Llangollen for a short
period could do no better than take up his abode at the hostelry
of honest A---.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LVI</h2>

<p class="letter">Ringing of Bells&mdash;Battle of
Alma&mdash;The Brown Jug&mdash;Ale of
Llangollen&mdash;Reverses.</p>

<p>On the third of October&mdash;I think that was the
date&mdash;as my family and myself, attended by trusty John
Jones, were returning on foot from visiting a park not far from
Rhiwabon we heard, when about a mile from Llangollen, a sudden
ringing of the bells of the place, and a loud shouting.
Presently we observed a postman hurrying in a cart from the
direction of the town. &ldquo;Peth yw y matter?&rdquo; said
John Jones. &ldquo;Y matter, y matter!&rdquo; said the
postman in a tone of exultation, &ldquo;Sebastopol wedi
cymmeryd. Hurrah!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What does he say?&rdquo; said my wife anxiously to
me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, that Sebastopol is taken,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you have been mistaken,&rdquo; said my wife
smiling, &ldquo;for you always said that the place would either
not be taken at all or would cost the allies to take it a deal of
time and an immense quantity of blood and treasure, and here it
is taken at once, for the allies only landed the other day.
Well, thank God, you have been mistaken!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank God, indeed,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;always
supposing that I have been mistaken&mdash;but I hardly think from
what I have known of the Russians that they would let their
town&mdash;however, let us hope that they have let it be
taken. Hurrah!&rdquo;</p>

<p>We reached our dwelling. My wife and daughter went
in. John Jones betook himself to his cottage, and I went
into the town, in which there was a great excitement; a wild
running troop of boys were shouting &ldquo;Sebastopol wedi
cymmeryd. Hurrah! Hurrah!&rdquo; Old Mr Jones was
standing bare-headed at his door. &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said
the old gentleman, &ldquo;I am glad to see you. Let us
congratulate each other,&rdquo; he added, shaking me by the
hand. &ldquo;Sebastopol taken, and in so short a
time. How fortunate!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Fortunate indeed,&rdquo; said I, returning his hearty
shake; &ldquo;I only hope it may be true.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, there can be no doubt of its being true,&rdquo;
said the old gentleman. &ldquo;The accounts are most
positive. Come in, and I will tell you all the
circumstances.&rdquo; I followed him into his little back
parlour, where we both sat down.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said the old church clerk, &ldquo;I will
tell you all about it. The allies landed about twenty miles
from Sebastopol and proceeded to march against it. When
nearly half way they found the Russians posted on a hill.
Their position was naturally very strong, and they had made it
more so by means of redoubts and trenches. However, the
allies undismayed, attacked the enemy, and after a desperate
resistance, drove them over the hill, and following fast at their
heels entered the town pell-mell with them, taking it and all
that remained alive of the Russian army. And what do you
think? The Welsh highly distinguished themselves. The
Welsh fusileers were the first to mount the hill. They
suffered horribly&mdash;indeed almost the whole regiment was cut
to pieces; but what of that? they showed that the courage of the
Ancient Britons still survives in their descendants. And
now I intend to stand beverage. I assure you I do. No
words! I insist upon it. I have heard you say you are
fond of good ale, and I intend to fetch you a pint of such ale as
I am sure you never drank in your life.&rdquo; Thereupon he
hurried out of the room, and through the shop into the
street.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, when I was by myself, &ldquo;if
this news does not regularly surprise me! I can easily
conceive that the Russians would be beaten in a pitched battle by
the English and French&mdash;but that they should have been so
quickly followed up by the allies, as not to be able to shut
their gates and man their walls, is to me inconceivable.
Why, the Russians retreat like the wind, and have a thousand
ruses at command, in order to retard an enemy. So at least
I thought, but it is plain that I know nothing about them, nor
indeed much of my own countrymen; I should never have thought
that English soldiers could have marched fast enough to overtake
Russians, more especially with such a being to command them, as
---, whom I, and indeed almost every one else have always
considered a dead weight on the English service. I suppose,
however, that both they and their commander were spurred on by
the active French.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Presently the old church clerk made his appearance with a
glass in one hand, and a brown jug of ale in the other.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said he, filling the glass, &ldquo;is some
of the real Llangollen ale. I got it from the little inn,
the Eagle, over the way, which was always celebrated for its
ale. They stared at me when I went in and asked for a pint
of ale, as they knew that for twenty years I have drunk no liquor
whatever, owing to the state of my stomach, which will not allow
me to drink anything stronger than water and tea. I told
them, however, it was for a gentleman, a friend of mine, whom I
wished to treat in honour of the fall of Sebastopol.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I would fain have excused myself, but the old gentleman
insisted on my drinking.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, taking the glass, &ldquo;thank God
that our gloomy forebodings are not likely to be realised.
Oes y byd i&rsquo;r glôd Frythoneg! May
Britain&rsquo;s glory last as long as the world!&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then, looking for a moment at the ale, which was of a
dark-brown colour, I put the glass to my lips and drank.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said the old church clerk, &ldquo;I see you
like it, for you have emptied the glass at a draught.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is good ale,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said the old gentleman rather hastily,
&ldquo;good; did you ever taste any so good in your
life?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, as to that,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I hardly know
what to say; I have drunk some very good ale in my day.
However, I&rsquo;ll trouble you for another glass.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh ho, you will,&rdquo; said the old gentleman;
&ldquo;that&rsquo;s enough; if you did not think it first-rate,
you would not ask for more. This,&rdquo; said he, as he
filled the glass again, &ldquo;is genuine malt and hop liquor,
brewed in a way only known, they say, to some few people in this
place. You must, however, take care how much you take of
it. Only a few glasses will make you dispute with your
friends, and a few more quarrel with them. Strange things
are said of what Llangollen ale made people do of yore; and I
remember that when I was young and could drink ale, two or three
glasses of the Llangollen juice of the barleycorn would make
me&mdash;however, those times are gone by.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has Llangollen ale,&rdquo; said I, after tasting the
second glass, &ldquo;ever been sung in Welsh? is there no englyn
upon it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the old church clerk, &ldquo;at any
rate, that I am aware.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t sing its
praises in a Welsh englyn, but I think I can contrive to do so in
an English quatrain, with the help of what you have told
me. What do you think of this?&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Llangollen&rsquo;s brown ale is with malt
and hop rife;<br />
&rsquo;Tis good; but don&rsquo;t quaff it from evening till
dawn;<br />
For too much of that ale will incline you to strife;<br />
Too much of that ale has caused knives to be drawn.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not so bad,&rdquo; said the old church
clerk, &ldquo;but I think some of our bards could have produced
something better&mdash;that is, in Welsh; for example
old&mdash;What&rsquo;s the name of the old bard who wrote so many
englynion on ale?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sion Tudor,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;O yes; but he was a
great poet. Ah, he has written some wonderful englynion on
ale; but you will please to bear in mind that all his englynion
are upon bad ale, and it is easier to turn to ridicule what is
bad, than to do anything like justice to what is good.&rdquo;</p>

<p>O, great was the rejoicing for a few days at Llangollen for
the reported triumph; and the share of the Welsh in that triumph
reconciled for a time the descendants of the Ancient Britons to
the seed of the coiling serpent. &ldquo;Welsh and Saxons
together will conquer the world!&rdquo; shouted brats, as they
stood barefooted in the kennel. In a little time, however,
news not quite so cheering arrived. There had been a battle
fought, it is true, in which the Russians had been beaten, and
the little Welsh had very much distinguished themselves, but no
Sebastopol had been taken. The Russians had retreated to
their town, which, till then almost defenceless on the land side,
they had, following their old maxim of &ldquo;never
despair,&rdquo; rendered almost impregnable in a few days, whilst
the allies, chiefly owing to the supineness of the British
commander, were loitering on the field of battle. In a
word, all had happened which the writer, from his knowledge of
the Russians and his own countrymen, had conceived likely to
happen from the beginning. Then came the news of the
commencement of a seemingly interminable siege, and of disasters
and disgraces on the part of the British; there was no more
shouting at Llangollen in connection with the Crimean
expedition. But the subject is a disagreeable one, and the
writer will dismiss it after a few brief words.</p>

<p>It was quite right and consistent with the justice of God that
the British arms should be subjected to disaster and ignominy
about that period. A deed of infamous injustice and cruelty
had been perpetrated, and the perpetrators, instead of being
punished, had received applause and promotion; so if the British
expedition to Sebastopol was a disastrous and ignominious one,
who can wonder? Was it likely that the groans of poor Parry
would be unheard from the corner to which he had retired to hide
his head by &ldquo;the Ancient of days,&rdquo; who sits above the
cloud, and from thence sends judgments?</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LVII</h2>

<p class="letter">The Newspaper&mdash;A New
Walk&mdash;Pentré y Dwr&mdash;Oatmeal and
Barley-Meal&mdash;The Man on Horseback&mdash;Heavy News.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I to my wife, as I sat by the fire
one Saturday morning, looking at a newspaper which had been sent
to us from our own district, &ldquo;what is this? Why, the
death of our old friend Dr ---. He died last Tuesday week
after a short illness, for he preached in his church at --- the
previous Sunday.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Poor man!&rdquo; said my wife. &ldquo;How sorry I
am to hear of his death! However, he died in the fulness of
years, after a long and exemplary life. He was an excellent
man and good Christian shepherd. I knew him well; you I
think only saw him once.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But I shall never forget him,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;nor
how animated his features became when I talked to him about
Wales, for he, you know, was a Welshman. I forgot to ask
what part of Wales he came from. I suppose I shall never
know now.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Feeling indisposed either for writing or reading, I determined
to take a walk to Pentré y Dwr, a village in the
north-west part of the valley which I had not yet visited.
I purposed going by a path under the Eglwysig crags which I had
heard led thither, and to return by the monastery. I set
out. The day was dull and gloomy. Crossing the canal
I pursued my course by romantic lanes till I found myself under
the crags. The rocky ridge here turns away to the north,
having previously run from the east to the west.</p>

<p>After proceeding nearly a mile amidst very beautiful scenery,
I came to a farm-yard where I saw several men engaged in
repairing a building. This farm-yard was in a very
sequestered situation; a hill overhung it on the west, half-way
up whose side stood a farm-house to which it probably
pertained. On the north-west was a most romantic hill
covered with wood to the very top. A wild valley led, I
knew not whither, to the north between crags and the wood-covered
hill. Going up to a man of respectable appearance, who
seemed to be superintending the others, I asked him in English
the way to Pentré y Dwr. He replied that I must
follow the path up the hill towards the house, behind which I
should find a road which would lead me through the wood to
Pentré Dwr. As he spoke very good English, I asked
him where he had learnt it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Chiefly in South Wales,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;where
they speak less Welsh than here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I gathered from him that he lived in the house on the hill and
was a farmer. I asked him to what place the road up the
valley to the north led.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We generally go by that road to Wrexham,&rdquo; he
replied; &ldquo;it is a short but a wild road through the
hills.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After a little discourse on the times, which he told me were
not quite so bad for farmers as they had been, I bade him
farewell.</p>

<p>Mounting the hill I passed round the house, as the farmer had
directed me, and turned to the west along a path on the side of
the mountain. A deep valley was on my left, and on my right
above me a thick wood, principally of oak. About a mile
further on the path winded down a descent, at the bottom of which
I saw a brook and a number of cottages beyond it.</p>

<p>I passed over the brook by means of a long slab laid across,
and reached the cottages. I was now as I supposed in
Pentré y Dwr, and a pentré y dwr most truly it
looked, for those Welsh words signify in English the village of
the water, and the brook here ran through the village, in every
room of which its pretty murmuring sound must have been
audible. I looked about me in the hope of seeing somebody
of whom I could ask a question or two, but seeing no one, I
turned to the south intending to regain Llangollen by the way of
the monastery. Coming to a cottage I saw a woman, to all
appearance very old, standing by the door, and asked her in Welsh
where I was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In Pentré Dwr,&rdquo; said she.
&ldquo;This house, and those yonder,&rdquo; pointing to the
cottages past which I had come, &ldquo;are Pentré y
Dwr. There is, however, another Pentré Dwr up the
glen yonder,&rdquo; said she, pointing towards the
north&mdash;&ldquo;which is called Pentré Dwr uchaf (the
upper)&mdash;this is Pentré Dwr isaf (the
lower).&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it called Pentré Dwr,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;because of the water of the brook?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Likely enough,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;but I never
thought of the matter before.&rdquo;</p>

<p>She was blear-eyed, and her skin, which seemed drawn tight
over her forehead and cheek-bones, was of the colour of
parchment. I asked her how old she was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Fifteen after three twenties,&rdquo; she replied;
meaning that she was seventy-five.</p>

<p>From her appearance I should almost have guessed that she had
been fifteen after four twenties. I, however, did not tell
her so, for I am always cautious not to hurt the feelings of
anybody, especially of the aged.</p>

<p>Continuing my way I soon overtook a man driving five or six
very large hogs. One of these which was muzzled was of a
truly immense size, and walked with considerable difficulty on
account of its fatness. I walked for some time by the side
of the noble porker, admiring it. At length a man rode up
on horseback from the way we had come; he said something to the
driver of the hogs, who instantly unmuzzled the immense creature,
who gave a loud grunt on finding his snout and mouth free.
From the conversation which ensued between the two men I found
that the driver was the servant and the other the master.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Those hogs are too fat to drive along the road,&rdquo;
said I at last to the latter.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We brought them in a cart as far as the Pentré
Dwr,&rdquo; said the man on horseback, &ldquo;but as they did not
like the jolting we took them out.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And where are you taking them to?&rdquo; said. I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Llangollen,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;for the fair
on Monday.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What does that big fellow weigh?&rdquo; said I,
pointing to the largest hog.</p>

<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll weigh about eighteen score,&rdquo; said the
man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you mean by eighteen score?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Eighteen score of pounds,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how much do you expect to get for him?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Eight pounds; I shan&rsquo;t take less.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who will buy him?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Some gent from Wolverhampton or about there,&rdquo;
said the man; &ldquo;there will be plenty of gents from
Wolverhampton at the fair.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what do you fatten your hogs upon?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oatmeal,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And why not on barley-meal?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oatmeal is the best,&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;the
gents from Wolverhampton prefer them fattened on
oatmeal.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do the gents of Wolverhampton,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;eat the hogs?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They do not,&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;they buy them
to sell again; and they like hogs fed on oatmeal best, because
they are the fattest.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But the pork is not the best,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;all
hog-flesh raised on oatmeal is bitter and wiry; because do you
see&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I see you are in the trade,&rdquo; said the man,
&ldquo;and understand a thing or two.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I understand a thing or two,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but
I am not in the trade. Do you come from far?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From Llandeglo,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you a hog-merchant?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and a horse-dealer, and a
farmer, though rather a small one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose as you are a horse-dealer,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;you travel much about?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;I have travelled a
good deal about Wales and England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been in Ynys Fon?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I see you are a Welshman,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I know a little
Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ynys Fon!&rdquo; said the man. &ldquo;Yes, I have
been in Anglesey more times than I can tell.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you know Hugh Pritchard,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;who
lives at Pentraeth Coch?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know him well,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;and an
honest fellow he is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And Mr Bos?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What Bos?&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Do you mean a
lusty, red-faced man in top-boots and grey coat?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s he,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a clever one,&rdquo; said the man.
&ldquo;I suppose by your knowing these people you are a drover or
a horse-dealer. Yes,&rdquo; said he, turning half-round in
his saddle and looking at me, &ldquo;you are a
horse-dealer. I remember you well now, and once sold a
horse to you at Chelmsford.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am no horse-dealer,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;nor did I
ever buy a horse at Chelmsford. I see you have been about
England. Have you ever been in Norfolk or
Suffolk?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;but I know something of
Suffolk. I have an uncle there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Whereabouts in Suffolk?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;At a place called ---,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In what line of business?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In none at all; he is a clergyman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shall I tell you his name?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not likely you should know his name,&rdquo; said
the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nevertheless,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I will tell it
you&mdash;his name was ---&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;sure enough that is
his name.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It was his name,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I am sorry
to tell you he is no more. To-day is Saturday. He
died last Tuesday week and was probably buried last Monday.
An excellent man was Dr. H. O. A credit to his country and
to his order.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The man was silent for some time and then said with a softer
voice and a very different manner from that he had used before,
&ldquo;I never saw him but once, and that was more than twenty
years ago&mdash;but I have heard say that he was an excellent
man&mdash;I see, sir, that you are a clergyman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am no clergyman,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I knew
your uncle and prized him. What was his native
place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Corwen,&rdquo; said the man, then taking out his
handkerchief he wiped his eyes, and said with a faltering voice:
&ldquo;This will be heavy news there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We were now past the monastery, and bidding him farewell I
descended to the canal, and returned home by its bank, whilst the
Welsh drover, the nephew of the learned, eloquent and exemplary
Welsh doctor, pursued with his servant and animals his way by the
high road to Llangollen.</p>

<p>Many sons of Welsh yeomen brought up to the Church have become
ornaments of it in distant Saxon land, but few, very few, have by
learning, eloquence and Christian virtues reflected so much
lustre upon it as Hugh O--- of Corwen.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Sunday Night&mdash;Sleep, Sin, and Old
Age&mdash;The Dream&mdash;Lanikin Figure&mdash;A Literary
Purchase.</p>

<p>The Sunday morning was a gloomy one. I attended service
at church with my family. The service was in English, and
the younger Mr E--- preached. The text I have forgotten,
but I remember perfectly well that the sermon was scriptural and
elegant. When we came out the rain was falling in
torrents. Neither I nor my family went to church in the
afternoon. I however attended the evening service which is
always in Welsh. The elder Mr E--- preached. Text, 2
Cor. x. 5. The sermon was an admirable one, admonitory,
pathetic and highly eloquent; I went home very much edified, and
edified my wife and Henrietta, by repeating to them in English
the greater part of the discourse which I had been listening to
in Welsh. After supper, in which I did not join, for I
never take supper, provided I have taken dinner, they went to bed
whilst I remained seated before the fire, with my back near the
table and my eyes fixed upon the embers which were rapidly
expiring, and in this posture sleep surprised me. Amongst
the proverbial sayings of the Welsh, which are chiefly preserved
in the shape of triads, is the following one: &ldquo;Three things
come unawares upon a man, sleep, sin, and old age.&rdquo;
This saying holds sometimes good with respect to sleep and old
age, but never with respect to sin. Sin does not come
unawares upon a man: God is just, and would never punish a man,
as He always does, for being overcome by sin if sin were able to
take him unawares; and neither sleep nor old age always come
unawares upon a man. People frequently feel themselves
going to sleep and feel old age stealing upon them; though there
can be no doubt that sleep and old age sometimes come
unawares&mdash;old age came unawares upon me; it was only the
other day that I was aware that I was old, though I had long been
old, and sleep came unawares upon me in that chair in which I had
sat down without the slightest thought of sleeping. And
there as I sat I had a dream&mdash;what did I dream about? the
sermon, musing upon which I had been overcome by sleep? not a
bit! I dreamt about a widely-different matter.
Methought I was in Llangollen fair in the place where the pigs
were sold, in the midst of Welsh drovers, immense hogs and
immense men whom I took to be the gents of Wolverhampton.
What huge fellows they were! almost as huge as the hogs for which
they higgled; the generality of them dressed in brown sporting
coats, drab breeches, yellow-topped boots, splashed all over with
mud, and with low-crowned broad-brimmed hats. One enormous
fellow particularly caught my notice. I guessed he must
have weighed eleven score, he had a half-ruddy, half-tallowy
face, brown hair, and rather thin whiskers. He was higgling
with the proprietor of an immense hog, and as he higgled he
wheezed as if he had a difficulty of respiration, and frequently
wiped off, with a dirty-white pocket-handkerchief, drops of
perspiration which stood upon his face. At last methought
he bought the hog for nine pounds, and had no sooner concluded
his bargain than turning round to me, who was standing close by
staring at him, he slapped me on the shoulder with a hand of
immense weight, crying with a half-piping, half-wheezing voice,
&ldquo;Coom, neighbour, coom, I and thou have often dealt;
gi&rsquo; me noo a poond for my bargain, and it shall be all thy
own.&rdquo; I felt in a great rage at his unceremonious
behaviour, and, owing to the flutter of my spirits, whilst I was
thinking whether or not I should try and knock him down, I awoke
and found the fire nearly out and the ecclesiastical cat seated
on my shoulders. The creature had not been turned out, as
it ought to have been, before my wife and daughter retired, and
feeling cold had got upon the table and thence had sprung upon my
back for the sake of the warmth which it knew was to be found
there; and no doubt the springing on my shoulders by the
ecclesiastical cat was what I took in my dream to be the slap on
my shoulders by the Wolverhampton gent.</p>

<p>The day of the fair was dull and gloomy, an exact counterpart
of the previous Saturday. Owing to some cause I did not go
into the fair till past one o&rsquo;clock, and then seeing
neither immense hogs nor immense men I concluded that the gents
of Wolverhampton had been there, and after purchasing the larger
porkers had departed with their bargains to their native
district. After sauntering about a little time I returned
home. After dinner I went again into the fair along with my
wife; the stock business had long been over, but I observed more
stalls than in the morning, and a far greater throng, for the
country people for miles round had poured into the little
town. By a stall on which were some poor legs and shoulders
of mutton I perceived the English butcher, whom the Welsh one had
attempted to slaughter. I recognised him by a patch which
he wore on his cheek. My wife and I went up and inquired
how he was. He said that he still felt poorly, but that he
hoped he should get round. I asked him if he remembered me;
and received for answer that he remembered having seen me when
the examination took place into &ldquo;his matter.&rdquo; I
then inquired what had become of his antagonist and was told that
he was in prison awaiting his trial. I gathered from him
that he was a native of the Southdown country and a shepherd by
profession; that he had been engaged by the squire of Porkington
in Shropshire to look after his sheep, and that he had lived
there a year or two, but becoming tired of his situation he had
come to Llangollen, where he had married a Welshwoman and set up
as a butcher. We told him that as he was our countryman we
should be happy to deal with him sometimes; he, however, received
the information with perfect apathy, never so much as saying
&ldquo;thank you.&rdquo; He was a tall lanikin figure with
a pair of large, lack-lustre staring eyes, and upon the whole
appeared to be good for very little. Leaving him we went
some way up the principal street; presently my wife turned into a
shop, and I observing a little bookstall went up to it and began
to inspect the books. They were chiefly in Welsh.
Seeing a kind of chap book, which bore on its title-page the name
of Twm O&rsquo;r Nant, I took it up. It was called Y Llwyn
Celyn or the Holy Grove, and contained the life and one of the
interludes of Tom O&rsquo; the Dingle or Thomas Edwards. It
purported to be the first of four numbers, each of which amongst
other things was to contain one of his interludes. The
price, of the number was one shilling. I questioned the man
of the stall about the other numbers, but found that this was the
only one which he possessed. Eager, however, to read an
interlude of the celebrated Tom, I purchased it and turned away
from the stall. Scarcely had I done so when I saw a
wild-looking woman with two wild children looking at me.
The woman curtseyed to me, and I thought I recognised the elder
of the two Irish females whom I had seen in the tent on the green
meadow near Chester. I was going to address her, but just
then my wife called to me from the shop and I went to her, and
when I returned to look for the woman she and her children had
disappeared, and though I searched about for her I could not see
her, for which I was sorry, as I wished very much to have some
conversation with her about the ways of the Irish
wanderers. I was thinking of going to look for her up
&ldquo;Paddy&rsquo;s dingle,&rdquo; but my wife meeting me,
begged me to go home with her, as it was getting late. So I
went home with my better half, bearing my late literary
acquisition in my hand.</p>

<p>That night I sat up very late reading the life of Twm
O&rsquo;r Nant, written by himself in choice Welsh, and his
interlude which was styled &ldquo;Cyfoeth a Thylody; or, Riches
and Poverty.&rdquo; The life I had read in my boyhood in an
old Welsh magazine, and I now read it again with great zest, and
no wonder, as it is probably the most remarkable autobiography
ever penned. The interlude I had never seen before, nor
indeed any of the dramatic pieces of Twm O&rsquo;r Nant, though I
had frequently wished to procure some of them&mdash;so I read the
present one with great eagerness. Of the life I shall give
some account and also some extracts from it, which will enable
the reader to judge of Tom&rsquo;s personal character, and also
an extract of the interlude, from which the reader may form a
tolerably correct idea of the poetical powers of him whom his
countrymen delight to call &ldquo;the Welsh
Shakespear.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LIX</h2>

<p class="letter">History of Twm O&rsquo;r Nant&mdash;Eagerness
for Learning&mdash;The First Interlude&mdash;The Cruel
Fighter&mdash;Raising Wood&mdash;The Luckless
Hour&mdash;Turnpike-Keeping&mdash;Death in the
Snow&mdash;Tom&rsquo;s Great Feat&mdash;The Muse a
Friend&mdash;Strength in Old Age&mdash;Resurrection of the
Dead.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am the first-born of my parents,&rdquo; says Thomas
Edwards. &ldquo;They were poor people and very
ignorant. I was brought into the world in a place called
Lower Pen Parchell, on land which once belonged to the celebrated
Iolo Goch. My parents afterwards removed to the Nant (or
dingle) near Nantglyn, situated in a place called Coom
Pernant. The Nant was the middlemost of three homesteads,
which are in the Coom, and are called the Upper, Middle, and
Lower Nant; and it so happened that in the Upper Nant there were
people who had a boy of about the same age as myself, and
forasmuch as they were better to do in the world than my parents,
they having only two children whilst mine had ten, I was called
Tom of the Dingle, whilst he was denominated Thomas
Williams.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After giving some anecdotes of his childhood he goes on
thus:&mdash;&ldquo;Time passed on till I was about eight years
old, and then in the summer I was lucky enough to be sent to
school for three weeks; and as soon as I had learnt to spell and
read a few words I conceived a mighty desire to learn to write;
so I went in quest of elderberries to make me ink, and my first
essay in writing was trying to copy on the sides of the leaves of
books the letters of the words I read. It happened,
however, that a shop in the village caught fire, and the greater
part of it was burnt, only a few trifles being saved, and amongst
the scorched articles my mother got for a penny a number of
sheets of paper burnt at the edges, and sewed them together to
serve as copy-books for me. Without loss of time I went to
the smith of Waendwysog, who wrote for me the letters on the
upper part of the leaves; and careful enough was I to fill the
whole paper with scrawlings which looked for all the world like
crow&rsquo;s feet. I went on getting paper and ink, and
something to copy now from this person, and now from that, until
I learned to read Welsh and to write it at the same
time.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He copied out a great many carols and songs, and the
neighbours observing his fondness for learning persuaded his
father to allow him to go to the village school to learn
English. At the end of three weeks, however, his father,
considering that he was losing his time, would allow him to go no
longer, but took him into the fields in order that the boy might
assist him in his labour. Nevertheless Tom would not give
up his literary pursuits, but continued scribbling, and copying
out songs and carols. When he was about ten he formed an
acquaintance with an old man, chapel-reader in Pentre y Foelas,
who had a great many old books in his possession, which he
allowed Tom to read; he then had the honour of becoming an
amanuensis to a poet.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I became very intimate,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;with a
man who was a poet; he could neither read nor write; but he was a
poet by nature, having a muse wonderfully glib at making triplets
and quartets. He was nicknamed Tum Tai of the Moor.
He made an englyn for me to put in a book in which I was
inserting all the verses I could collect:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Tom Evans&rsquo; the lad for hunting
up songs,<br />
Tom Evans to whom the best learning belongs;<br />
Betwixt his two pasteboards he verses has got,<br />
Sufficient to fill the whole country, I wot.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;I was in the habit of writing my name Tom or Thomas
Evans before I went to school for a fortnight in order to learn
English; but then I altered it, into Thomas Edwards, for Evan
Edwards was the name of my father, and I should have been making
myself a bastard had I continued calling myself by my first
name. However, I had the honour of being secretary to the
old poet. When he had made a song he would keep it in his
memory till I came to him. Sometimes after the old man had
repeated his composition to me I would begin to dispute with him,
asking whether the thing would not be better another way, and he
could hardly keep from flying into a passion with me for putting
his work to the torture.&rdquo;</p>

<p>It was then the custom for young lads to go about playing what
were called interludes, namely dramatic pieces on religious or
moral subjects, written by rustic poets. Shortly after Tom
had attained the age of twelve he went about with certain lads of
Nantglyn playing these pieces, generally acting the part of a
girl, because, as he says, he had the best voice. About
this time he wrote an interlude himself, founded on &ldquo;John
Bunyan&rsquo;s Spiritual Courtship,&rdquo; which was, however,
stolen from him by a young fellow from Anglesey, along with the
greater part of the poems and pieces which he had copied.
This affair at first very much disheartened Tom: plucking up his
spirits, however, he went on composing, and soon acquired amongst
his neighbours the title of &ldquo;the poet,&rdquo; to the great
mortification of his parents, who were anxious to see him become
an industrious husbandman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Before I was quite fourteen,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I
had made another interlude, but when my father and mother heard
about it they did all they could to induce me to destroy
it. However, I would not burn it, but gave it to Hugh of
Llangwin, a celebrated poet of the time, who took it to
Landyrnog, where he sold it for ten shillings to the lads of the
place, who performed it the following summer; but I never got
anything for my labour, save a sup of ale from the players when I
met them. This at the heel of other things would have
induced me to give up poetry, had it been in the power of
anything to do so. I made two interludes,&rdquo; he
continues, &ldquo;one for the people of Llanbedr in the Vale of
Clwyd, and the other for the lads of Llanarmon in Yale, one on
the subject of Naaman&rsquo;s leprosy, and the other about
hypocrisy, which was a re-fashionment of the work of Richard
Parry of Ddiserth. When I was young I had such a rage or
madness for poetizing, that I would make a song on almost
anything I saw&mdash;and it was a mercy that many did not kill me
or break my bones, on account of my evil tongue. My parents
often told me I should have some mischief done me if I went on in
the way in which I was going. Once on a time being with
some companions as bad as myself, I happened to use some very
free language in a place where three lovers were with a young
lass of my neighbourhood, who lived at a place called Ty Celyn,
with whom they kept company. I said in discourse that they
were the cocks of Ty Celyn. The girl heard me, and
conceived a spite against me on account of my scurrilous
language. She had a brother, who was a cruel fighter; he
took the part of his sister, and determined to chastise me.
One Sunday evening he shouted to me as I was coming from
Nantglyn&mdash;our ways were the same till we got nearly
home&mdash;he had determined to give me a thrashing, and he had
with him a piece of oak stick just suited for the purpose.
After we had taunted each other for some time, as we went along,
he flung his stick on the ground, and stripped himself stark
naked. I took off my hat and my neck-cloth, and took his
stick in my hand, whereupon running to the hedge he took a stake,
and straight we set to like two furies. After fighting some
time, our sticks were shivered to pieces and quite short;
sometimes we were upon the ground, but did not give up fighting
on that account. Many people came up and would fain have
parted us, but he would by no means let them. At last we
agreed to go and pull fresh stakes, and then we went at it again
until he could no longer stand. The marks of this battle
are upon him and me to this day. At last, covered with a
gore of blood, he was dragged home by his neighbours. He
was in a dreadful condition, and many thought he would die.
On the morrow there came an alarm that he was dead, whereupon I
escaped across the mountain to Pentré y Foelas to the old
man Sion Dafydd to read his old books.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After staying there a little time, and getting his wounds
tended by an old woman, he departed and skulked about in various
places, doing now and then a little work, until hearing his
adversary was recovering, he returned to his home. He went
on writing and performing interludes till he fell in love with a
young woman rather religiously inclined, whom he married in the
year 1763, when he was in his twenty-fourth year. The young
couple settled down on a little place near the town of Denbigh,
called Ale Fowlio. They kept three cows and four
horses. The wife superintended the cows, and Tom with his
horses carried wood from Gwenynos to Ruddlan, and soon excelled
all other carters &ldquo;in loading and in everything connected
with the management of wood.&rdquo; Tom in the pride of his
heart must needs be helping his fellow-carriers, whilst labouring
with them in the forests, till his wife told him he was a fool
for his pains, and advised him to go and load in the afternoon,
when nobody would be about, offering to go and help him. He
listened to her advice and took her with him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The dear creature,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;assisted me
for some time, but as she was with child, and on that account not
exactly fit to turn the roll of the crane with levers of iron, I
formed the plan of hooking the horses to the rope, in order to
raise up the wood which was to be loaded, and by long teaching
the horses to pull and to stop, I contrived to make loading a
much easier task, both to my wife and myself. Now this was
the first hooking of horses to the rope of the crane which was
ever done either in Wales or England. Subsequently I had
plenty of leisure and rest instead of toiling amidst other
carriers.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Leaving Ale Fowlio he took up his abode nearer to Denbigh, and
continued carrying wood. Several of his horses died, and he
was soon in difficulties, and was glad to accept an invitation
from certain miners of the county of Flint to go and play them an
interlude. As he was playing them one called &ldquo;A
Vision of the Course of the World,&rdquo; which he had written
for the occasion, and which was founded on, and named after, the
first part of the work of Master Ellis Wyn, he was arrested at
the suit of one Mostyn of Calcoed. He, however, got bail,
and partly by carrying and partly by playing interludes, soon
raised money enough to pay his debt. He then made another
interlude, called &ldquo;Riches and Poverty,&rdquo; by which he
gained a great deal of money. He then wrote two others, one
called &ldquo;The Three Associates of Man, namely, the World,
Nature, and Conscience;&rdquo; the other entitled &ldquo;The
King, the Justice, the Bishop and the Husbandman,&rdquo; both of
which he and certain of his companions acted with great
success. After he had made all that he could by acting
these pieces he printed them. When printed they had a
considerable sale, and Tom was soon able to set up again as a
carter. He went on carting and carrying for upwards of
twelve years, at the end of which time he was worth, with one
thing and the other, upwards of three hundred pounds, which was
considered a very considerable property about ninety years ago in
Wales. He then, in a luckless hour, &ldquo;when,&rdquo; to
use his own words, &ldquo;he was at leisure at home, like King
David on the top of his house,&rdquo; mixed himself up with the
concerns of an uncle of his, a brother of his father. He
first became bail for him, and subsequently made himself
answerable for the amount of a bill, due by his uncle to a
lawyer. His becoming answerable for the bill nearly proved
the utter ruin of our hero. His uncle failed, and left him
to pay it. The lawyer took out a writ against him. It
would have been well for Tom if he had paid the money at once,
but he went on dallying and compromising with the lawyer, till he
became terribly involved in his web. To increase his
difficulties work became slack; so at last he packed his things
upon his carts, and with his family, consisting of his wife and
three daughters, fled into Montgomeryshire. The lawyer,
however, soon got information of his whereabouts, and threatened
to arrest him. Tom, after trying in vain to arrange matters
with him, fled into South Wales, to Carmarthenshire, where he
carried wood for a timber-merchant, and kept a turnpike gate,
which belonged to the same individual. But the &ldquo;old
cancer&rdquo; still followed him, and his horses were seized for
the debt. His neighbours, however, assisted him, and bought
the horses in at a low price when they were put up for sale, and
restored them to him for what they had given. Even then the
matter was not satisfactorily settled, for, years afterwards, on
the decease of Tom&rsquo;s father, the lawyer seized upon the
property, which by law descended to Tom O&rsquo;r Nant, and
turned his poor old mother out upon the cold mountain&rsquo;s
side.</p>

<p>Many strange adventures occurred to Tom in South Wales, but
those which befell him whilst officiating as a turnpike-keeper
were certainly the most extraordinary. If what he says be
true, as of course it is&mdash;for who shall presume to doubt Tom
O&rsquo; the Dingle&rsquo;s veracity?&mdash;whosoever fills the
office of turnpike-keeper in Wild Wales should be a person of
very considerable nerve.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We were in the habit of seeing,&rdquo; says Tom,
&ldquo;plenty of passengers going through the gate without paying
toll; I mean such things as are called phantoms or
illusions&mdash;sometimes there were hearses and mourning
coaches, sometimes funeral processions on foot, the whole to be
seen as distinctly as anything could be seen, especially at
night-time. I saw myself on a certain night a hearse go
through the gate whilst it was shut; I saw the horses and the
harness, the postillion, and the coachman, and the tufts of hair
such as are seen on the tops of hearses, and I saw the wheels
scattering the stones in the road, just as other wheels would
have done. Then I saw a funeral of the same character, for
all the world like a real funeral; there was the bier and the
black drapery. I have seen more than one. If a young
man was to be buried there would be a white sheet, or something
that looked like one&mdash;and sometimes I have seen a flaring
candle going past.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Once a traveller passing through the gate called out to
me: &lsquo;Look! yonder is a corpse candle coming through the
fields beside the highway.&rsquo; So we paid attention to
it as it moved, making apparently towards the church from the
other side. Sometimes it would be quite near the road,
another time some way into the fields. And sure enough
after the lapse of a little time a body was brought by exactly
the same route by which the candle had come, owing to the proper
road being blocked up with snow.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Another time there happened a great wonder connected
with an old man of Carmarthen, who was in the habit of carrying
fish to Brecon, Menny, and Monmouth, and returning with the
poorer kind of Gloucester cheese: my people knew he was on the
road and had made ready for him, the weather being dreadful, wind
blowing and snow drifting. Well, in the middle of the
night, my daughters heard the voice of the old man at the gate,
and their mother called to them to open it quick, and invite the
old man to come in to the fire! One of the girls got up
forthwith, but when she went out there was nobody to be
seen. On the morrow, lo and behold! the body of the old man
was brought past on a couch, he having perished in the snow on
the mountain of Tre &rsquo;r Castell. Now this is the truth
of the matter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Many wonderful feats did Tom perform connected with loading
and carrying, which acquired for him the reputation of being the
best wood carter of the south. His dexterity at moving huge
bodies was probably never equalled. Robinson Crusoe was not
half so handy. Only see how he moved a ship into the water,
which a multitude of people were unable to do.</p>

<p>&ldquo;After keeping the gate for two or three years,&rdquo;
says he, &ldquo;I took the lease of a piece of ground in
Llandeilo Fawr and built a house upon it, which I got licensed as
a tavern for my daughters to keep. I myself went on
carrying wood as usual. Now it happened that my employer,
the merchant at Abermarlais, had built a small ship of about
thirty or forty tons in the wood about a mile and a quarter from
the river Towy, which is capable of floating small vessels as far
as Carmarthen. He had resolved that the people should draw
it to the river by way of sport, and had caused proclamation to
be made in four parish churches, that on such a day a ship would
be launched at Abermarlais, and that food and drink would be
given to any one who would come and lend a hand at the
work. Four hogsheads of ale were broached, a great oven
full of bread was baked, plenty of cheese and butter bought, and
meat cooked for the more respectable people. The ship was
provided with four wheels, or rather four great rolling stocks,
fenced about with iron, with great big axle-trees in them, well
greased against the appointed day. I had been loading in
the wood that day, and sending the team forward, I went to see
the business&mdash;and a pretty piece of business it turned
out. All the food was eaten, the drink swallowed to the
last drop, the ship drawn about three roods, and then left in a
deep ditch. By this time night was coming on, and the
multitude went away, some drunk, some hungry for want of food,
but the greater part laughing as if they would split their
sides. The merchant cried like a child, bitterly lamenting
his folly, and told me that he should have to take the ship to
pieces before he could ever get it out of the ditch.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I told him that I could take it to the river, provided
I could but get three or four men to help me; whereupon he said
that if I could but get the vessel to the water he would give me
anything I asked, and earnestly begged me to come the next
morning, if possible. I did come with the lad and four
horses. I went before the team, and set the men to work to
break a hole through a great old wall, which stood as it were
before the ship. We then laid a piece of timber across the
hole from which was a chain, to which the tackle, that is the
rope and pulleys, was hooked. We then hooked one end of the
rope to the ship, and set the horses to pull at the other.
The ship came out of the hole prosperously enough, and then we
had to hook the tackle to a tree, which was growing near, and by
this means we got the ship forward; but when we came to soft
ground we were obliged to put planks under the wheels to prevent
their sinking under the immense weight; when we came to the end
of the foremost planks we put the hinder ones before, and so on;
when there was no tree at hand to which we could hook the tackle,
we were obliged to drive a post down to hook it to. So from
tree to post it got down to the river in a few days. I was
promised noble wages by the merchant, but I never got anything
from him but promises and praises. Some people came to look
at us, and gave us money to get ale, and that was all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The merchant subsequently turned out a very great knave,
cheating Tom on various occasions, and finally broke very much in
his debt. Tom was obliged to sell off everything, and left
South Wales without horses or waggon; his old friend the Muse,
however, stood him in good stead.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Before I left,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;I went to Brecon,
and printed the &lsquo;Interlude of the King, the Justice, the
Bishop, and the Husbandman,&rsquo; and got an old acquaintance of
mine to play it with me, and help me to sell the books. I
likewise busied myself in getting subscribers to a book of songs
called the &lsquo;Garden of Minstrelsy.&rsquo; It was
printed at Trefecca. The expense attending the printing
amounted to fifty-two pounds, but I was fortunate enough to
dispose of two thousand copies. I subsequently composed an
interlude called &lsquo;Pleasure and Care,&rsquo; and printed it;
and after that I made an interlude called the &lsquo;Three
Powerful Ones of the World: Poverty, Love, and
Death.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>The poet&rsquo;s daughters were not successful in the tavern
speculation at Llandeilo, and followed their father into North
Wales. The second he apprenticed to a milliner, the other
two lived with him till the day of his death. He settled at
Denbigh in a small house which he was enabled to furnish by means
of two or three small sums which he recovered for work done a
long time before. Shortly after his return, his father
died, and the lawyer seized the little property &ldquo;for the
old curse,&rdquo; and turned Tom&rsquo;s mother out.</p>

<p>After his return from the South Tom went about for some time
playing interludes, and then turned his hand to many
things. He learnt the trade of stonemason, took jobs, and
kept workmen. He then went amongst certain bricklayers, and
induced them to teach him their craft; &ldquo;and shortly,&rdquo;
as he says, &ldquo;became a very lion at bricklaying. For
the last four or five years,&rdquo; says he, towards the
conclusion of his history, &ldquo;my work has been to put up iron
ovens and likewise furnaces of all kinds, also grates, stoves and
boilers, and not unfrequently I have practised as a smoke
doctor.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The following feats of strength he performed after his return
from South Wales, when he was probably about sixty years of
age:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About a year after my return from the South,&rdquo;
says he, &ldquo;I met with an old carrier of wood, who had many a
time worked along with me. He and I were at the Hand at
Ruthyn along with various others, and in the course of discourse
my friend said to me: &lsquo;Tom, thou art much weaker than thou
wast when we carted wood together.&rsquo; I answered that
in my opinion I was not a bit weaker than I was then. Now
it happened that at the moment we were talking there were some
sacks of wheat in the hall which were going to Chester by the
carrier&rsquo;s waggon. They might hold about three bushels
each, and I said that if I could get three of the sacks upon the
table, and had them tied together, I would carry them into the
street and back again; and so I did; many who were present tried
to do the same thing, but all failed.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Another time when I was at Chester I lifted a barrel of
porter from the street to the hinder part of the waggon solely by
strength of back and arms.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He was once run over by a loaded waggon, but strange to say
escaped without the slightest injury.</p>

<p>Towards the close of his life he had strong religious
convictions, and felt a loathing for the sins which he had
committed. &ldquo;On their account,&rdquo; says he in the
concluding page of his biography, &ldquo;there is a strong
necessity for me to consider my ways and to inquire about a
Saviour, since it is utterly impossible for me to save myself
without obtaining knowledge of the merits of the Mediator, in
which I hope I shall terminate my short time on earth in the
peace of God enduring unto all eternity.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He died in the year 1810, at the age of 71, shortly after the
death of his wife, who seems to have been a faithful, loving
partner. By her side he was buried in the earth of the
graveyard of the White Church, near Denbigh. There can be
little doubt that the souls of both will be accepted on the great
day when, as Gronwy Owen says:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Like corn from the belly of the ploughed
field, in a thick crop, those buried in the earth shall arise,
and the sea shall cast forth a thousand myriads of dead above the
deep billowy way.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LX</h2>

<p class="letter">Mystery Plays&mdash;The Two Prime
Opponents&mdash;Analysis of Interlude&mdash;Riches and
Poverty&mdash;Tom&rsquo;s Grand Qualities.</p>

<p>In the preceding chapter I have given an abstract of the life
of Tom O&rsquo; the Dingle; I will now give an analysis of his
interlude; first, however, a few words on interludes in
general. It is difficult to say with anything like
certainty what is the meaning of the word interlude. It may
mean, as Warton supposes in his history of English Poetry, a
short play performed between the courses of a banquet or
festival; or it may mean the playing of something by two or more
parties, the interchange of playing or acting which occurs when
two or more people act. It was about the middle of the
fifteenth century that dramatic pieces began in England to be
called Interludes; for some time previous they had been styled
Moralities; but the earliest name by which they were known was
Mysteries. The first Mysteries composed in England were by
one Ranald, or Ranulf, a monk of Chester, who flourished about
1322, whose verses are mentioned rather irreverently in one of
the visions of Piers Plowman, who puts them in the same rank as
the ballads about Robin Hood and Maid Marion, making Sloth
say:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;I cannon perfitly my Paternoster as the
priest it singeth,<br />
But I can rhymes of Robin Hood and Ranald of Chester.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Long, however, before the time of this Ranald Mysteries had
been composed and represented both in Italy and France. The
Mysteries were very rude compositions, little more, as Warton
says, than literal representations of portions of
Scripture. They derived their name of Mysteries from being
generally founded on the more mysterious parts of Holy Writ, for
example the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the
Resurrection. The Moralities displayed something more of
art and invention than the Mysteries; in them virtues, vices and
qualities were personified, and something like a plot was
frequently to be discovered. They were termed Moralities
because each had its moral, which was spoken at the end of the
piece by a person called the Doctor. <a name="citation7"></a><a
href="#footnote7" class="citation">[7]</a> Much that has
been said about the moralities holds good with respect to the
interludes. Indeed, for some time dramatic pieces were
called moralities and interludes indifferently. In both
there is a mixture of allegory and reality. The latter
interludes, however, display more of every-day life than was ever
observable in the moralities; and more closely approximate to
modern plays. Several writers of genius have written
interludes, amongst whom are the English Skelton and the Scottish
Lindsay, the latter of whom wrote eight pieces of that kind, the
most celebrated of which is called &ldquo;The Puir Man and the
Pardoner.&rdquo; Both of these writers flourished about the
same period, and made use of the interlude as a means of
satirizing the vices of the popish clergy. In the time of
Charles the First the interlude went much out of fashion in
England; in fact, the play or regular drama had superseded
it. In Wales, however, it continued to the beginning of the
present century, when it yielded to the influence of
Methodism. Of all Welsh interlude composers Twm O&rsquo;r
Nant or Tom of the Dingle was the most famous. Here follows
the promised analysis of his &ldquo;Riches and
Poverty.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The entire title of the interlude is to this effect. The
two prime opponents Riches and Poverty. A brief exposition
of their contrary effects on the world; with short and
appropriate explanations of their quality and substance according
to the rule of the four elements, Water, Fire, Earth, and
Air.</p>

<p>First of all enter Fool, Sir Jemant Wamal, who in rather a
foolish speech tells the audience that they are about to hear a
piece composed by Tom the poet. Then appears Captain
Riches, who makes a long speech about his influence in the world
and the general contempt in which Poverty is held; he is,
however, presently checked by the Fool, who tells him some home
truths, and asks him, among other questions, whether Solomon did
not say that it is not meet to despise a poor man, who conducts
himself rationally. Then appears Howel Tightbelly, the
miser, who in capital verse, with very considerable glee and
exultation, gives an account of his manifold rascalities.
Then comes his wife, Esther Steady, home from the market, between
whom and her husband there is a pithy dialogue. Captain
Riches and Captain Poverty then meet, without rancour, however,
and have a long discourse about the providence of God, whose
agents they own themselves to be. Enter then an old
worthless scoundrel called Diogyn Trwstan, or Luckless Lazybones,
who is upon the parish, and who, in a very entertaining account
of his life, confesses that he was never good for anything, but
was a liar and an idler from his infancy. Enter again the
Miser along with poor Lowry, who asks the Miser for meal and
other articles, but gets nothing but threatening language.
There is then a very edifying dialogue between Mr Contemplation
and Mr Truth, who, when they retire, are succeeded on the stage
by the Miser and John the Tavern-keeper. The publican owes
the Miser money, and begs that he will be merciful to him.
The Miser, however, swears that he will be satisfied with nothing
but bond and judgment on his effects. The publican very
humbly says that he will go to a friend of his in order to get
the bond made out; almost instantly comes the Fool who reads an
inventory of the publican&rsquo;s effects. The Miser then
sings for very gladness, because everything in the world has
hitherto gone well with him; turning round, however, what is his
horror and astonishment to behold Mr Death, close by him.
Death hauls the Miser away, and then appears the Fool to moralise
and dismiss the audience.</p>

<p>The appropriate explanations mentioned in the title are given
in various songs which the various characters sing after
describing themselves, or after dialogues with each other.
The announcement that the whole exposition, etc., will be after
the rule of the four elements, is rather startling; the dialogue,
however, between Captain Riches and Captain Poverty shows that
Tom was equal to his subject, and promised nothing that he could
not perform.</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center"><i>Enter</i> <span
class="smcap">Captain Poverty</span></p>

<p>O Riches, thy figure is charming and bright,<br />
And to speak in thy praise all the world doth delight,<br />
But I&rsquo;m a poor fellow all tatter&rsquo;d and torn,<br />
Whom all the world treateth with insult and scorn.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Riches</span></p>

<p>However mistaken the judgment may be<br />
Of the world which is never from ignorance free,<br />
The parts we must play, which to us are assign&rsquo;d,<br />
According as God has enlightened our mind.</p>

<p>Of elements four did our Master create<br />
The earth and all in it with skill the most great;<br />
Need I the world&rsquo;s four materials declare&mdash;<br />
Are they not water, fire, earth, and air?</p>

<p>Too wise was the mighty Creator to frame<br />
A world from one element, water or flame;<br />
The one is full moist and the other full hot,<br />
And a world made of either were useless, I wot.</p>

<p>And if it had all of mere earth been compos&rsquo;d<br />
And no water nor fire been within it enclos&rsquo;d,<br />
It could ne&rsquo;er have produc&rsquo;d for a huge multitude<br
/>
Of all kinds of living things suitable food.</p>

<p>And if God what was wanted had not fully known,<br />
But created the world of these three things alone,<br />
How would any creature the heaven beneath,<br />
Without the blest air have been able to breathe?</p>

<p>Thus all things created, the God of all grace,<br />
Of four prime materials, each good in its place.<br />
The work of His hands, when completed, He view&rsquo;d,<br />
And saw and pronounc&rsquo;d that &rsquo;twas seemly and
good.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Poverty</span></p>

<p>In the marvellous things, which to me thou hast told<br />
The wisdom of God I most clearly behold,<br />
And did He not also make man of the same<br />
Materials He us&rsquo;d when the world He did frame?</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Riches</span></p>

<p>Creation is all, as the sages agree,<br />
Of the elements four in man&rsquo;s body that be;<br />
Water&rsquo;s the blood, and fire is the nature,<br />
Which prompts generation in every creature.</p>

<p>The earth is the flesh which with beauty is rife<br />
The air is the breath, without which is no life;<br />
So man must be always accounted the same<br />
As the substances four which exist in his frame.</p>

<p>And as in their creation distinction there&rsquo;s none<br />
&rsquo;Twixt man and the world, so the Infinite One<br />
Unto man a clear wisdom did bounteously give<br />
The nature of everything to perceive.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Poverty</span></p>

<p>But one thing to me passing strange doth appear<br />
Since the wisdom of man is so bright and so clear<br />
How comes there such jarring and warring to be<br />
In the world betwixt Riches and Poverty?</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Riches</span></p>

<p>That point we&rsquo;ll discuss without passion or fear<br />
With the aim of instructing the listeners here;<br />
And haply some few who instruction require<br />
May profit derive like the bee from the briar.</p>

<p>Man as thou knowest, in his generation<br />
Is a type of the world and of all the creation;<br />
Difference there&rsquo;s none in the manner of birth<br />
&rsquo;Twixt the lowliest hinds and the lords of the earth.</p>

<p>The world which the same thing as man we account<br />
In one place is sea, in another is mount;<br />
A part of it rock, and a part of it dale&mdash;<br />
God&rsquo;s wisdom has made every place to avail.</p>

<p>There exist precious treasures of every kind<br />
Profoundly in earth&rsquo;s quiet bosom enshrin&rsquo;d;<br />
There&rsquo;s searching about them, and ever has been,<br />
And by some they are found, and by some never seen.</p>

<p>With wonderful wisdom the Lord God on high<br />
Has contriv&rsquo;d the two lights which exist in the sky;<br />
The sun&rsquo;s hot as fire, and its ray bright as gold,<br />
But the moon&rsquo;s ever pale, and by nature is cold.</p>

<p>The sun, which resembles a huge world of fire,<br />
Would burn up full quickly creation entire<br />
Save the moon with its temp&rsquo;rament cool did assuage<br />
Of its brighter companion the fury and rage.</p>

<p>Now I beg you the sun and the moon to behold,<br />
The one that&rsquo;s so bright and the other so cold.<br />
And say if two things in creation there be<br />
Better emblems of Riches and Poverty.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Poverty</span></p>

<p>In manner most brief, yet convincing and clear,<br />
You have told the whole truth to my wond&rsquo;ring ear,<br />
And I see that &rsquo;twas God, who in all things is fair,<br />
Has assign&rsquo;d us the forms, in this world which we bear.</p>

<p>In the sight of the world doth the wealthy man seem<br />
Like the sun which doth warm everything with its beam;<br />
Whilst the poor needy wight with his pitiable case<br />
Resembles the moon which doth chill with its face.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Riches</span></p>

<p>You know that full oft, in their course as they run,<br />
An eclipse cometh over the moon or the sun;<br />
Certain hills of the earth with their summits of pride<br />
The face of the one from the other do hide.</p>

<p>The sun doth uplift his magnificent head,<br />
And illumines the moon, which were otherwise dead,<br />
Even as Wealth from its station on high,<br />
Giveth work and provision to Poverty.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Poverty</span></p>

<p>I know, and the thought mighty sorrow instils,<br />
The sins of the world are the terrible hills<br />
An eclipse which do cause, or a dread obscuration,<br />
To one or another in every vocation.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Riches</span></p>

<p>It is true that God gives unto each from his birth<br />
Some task to perform while he wends upon earth,<br />
But He gives correspondent wisdom and force<br />
To the weight of the task, and the length of the course.</p>
<p style="text-align: right">[<i>Exit</i>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Poverty</span></p>

<p>I hope there are some, who &rsquo;twixt me and the youth<br />
Have heard this discourse, whose sole aim is the truth,<br />
Will see and acknowledge, as homeward they plod,<br />
Each thing is arrang&rsquo;d by the wisdom of God.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There can be no doubt that Tom was a poet, or he could never
have treated the hackneyed subjects of Riches and Poverty in a
manner so original and at the same time so masterly as he has
done in the interlude above analyzed: I cannot, however, help
thinking that he was greater as a man than a poet, and that his
fame depends more on the cleverness, courage and energy, which it
is evident by his biography that he possessed, than on his
interludes. A time will come when his interludes will cease
to be read, but his making ink out of elderberries, his battle
with the &ldquo;cruel fighter,&rdquo; his teaching his horses to
turn the crane, and his getting the ship to the water, will be
talked of in Wales till the peak of Snowdon shall fall down.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXI</h2>

<p class="letter">Set out for Wrexham&mdash;Craig y
Forwyn&mdash;Uncertainty&mdash;The Collier&mdash;Cadogan
Hall&mdash;Methodistical Volume.</p>

<p>Having learnt from a newspaper that a Welsh book on Welsh
Methodism had been just published at Wrexham, I determined to
walk to that place and purchase it. I could easily have
procured the work through a bookseller at Llangollen, but I
wished to explore the hill-road which led to Wrexham, what the
farmer under the Eglwysig rocks had said of its wildness having
excited my curiosity, which the procuring of the book afforded me
a plausible excuse for gratifying. If one wants to take any
particular walk it is always well to have some business, however
trifling, to transact at the end of it; so having determined to
go to Wrexham by the mountain road, I set out on the Saturday
next after the one on which I had met the farmer who had told me
of it.</p>

<p>The day was gloomy, with some tendency to rain. I passed
under the hill of Dinas Bran. About a furlong from its
western base I turned round and surveyed it&mdash;and perhaps the
best view of the noble mountain is to be obtained from the place
where I turned round. How grand though sad from there it
looked, that grey morning, with its fine ruin on its brow above
which a little cloud hovered! It put me in mind of some old
king, unfortunate and melancholy but a king still, with the look
of a king, and the ancestral crown still on his furrowed
forehead. I proceeded on my way, all was wild and solitary,
and the yellow leaves were falling from the trees of the
groves. I passed by the farmyard, where I had held
discourse with the farmer on the preceding Saturday, and soon
entered the glen, the appearance of which had so much attracted
my curiosity. A torrent, rushing down from the north, was
on my right. It soon began to drizzle, and mist so filled
the glen that I could only distinguish objects a short way before
me, and on either side. I wandered on a considerable way,
crossing the torrent several times by rustic bridges. I
passed two lone farm-houses and at last saw another on my left
hand. The mist had now cleared up, but it still slightly
rained&mdash;the scenery was wild to a degree&mdash;a little way
before me was a tremendous pass, near it an enormous crag of a
strange form rising to the very heavens, the upper part of it of
a dull white colour. Seeing a respectable-looking man near
the house I went up to him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Am I in the right way to Wrexham?&rdquo; said I,
addressing him in English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You can get to Wrexham this way, sir,&rdquo; he
replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you tell me the name of that crag?&rdquo; said I,
pointing to the large one.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That crag, sir, is called Craig y Forwyn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The maiden&rsquo;s crag,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;why is
it called so?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not know sir; some people say that it is called so
because its head is like that of a woman, others because a young
girl in love leaped from the top of it and was killed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of this house?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This house, sir, is called Plas Uchaf.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it called Plas Uchaf,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;because
it is the highest house in the valley?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is, sir; it is the highest of three homesteads; the
next below it is Plas Canol&mdash;and the one below that Plas
Isaf.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Middle place and lower place,&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;It is very odd that I know in England three people who
derive their names from places so situated. One is
Houghton, another Middleton, and the third Lowdon; in modern
English, Hightown, Middletown, and Lowtown.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You appear to be a person of great intelligence,
sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, I am not&mdash;but I am rather fond of analysing
words, particularly the names of persons and places. Is the
road to Wrexham hard to find?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not very, sir; that is, in the day-time. Do you
live at Wrexham?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;I am stopping at
Llangollen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But you won&rsquo;t return there to-night?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I shall!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;By this road?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, by the common road. This is not a road to
travel by night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nor is the common road, sir, for a respectable person
on foot; that is, on a Saturday night. You will perhaps
meet drunken colliers who may knock you down.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will take my chance for that,&rdquo; said I, and bade
him farewell. I entered the pass, passing under the
strange-looking crag. After I had walked about half a mile
the pass widened considerably and a little way further on
debauched on some wild moory ground. Here the road became
very indistinct. At length I stopped in a state of
uncertainty. A well-defined path presented itself, leading
to the east, whilst northward before me there seemed scarcely any
path at all. After some hesitation I turned to the east by
the well-defined path, and by so doing went wrong, as I soon
found.</p>

<p>I mounted the side of a brown hill covered with moss-like
grass, and here and there heather. By the time I arrived at
the top of the hill the sun shone out, and I saw Rhiwabon and
Cefn Mawr before me in the distance. &ldquo;I am going
wrong,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I should have kept on due
north. However, I will not go back, but will steeple-chase
it across the country to Wrexham, which must be towards the
north-east.&rdquo; So turning aside from the path, I dashed
across the hills in that direction; sometimes the heather was up
to my knees, and sometimes I was up to the knees in quags.
At length I came to a deep ravine which I descended; at the
bottom was a quagmire, which, however, I contrived to cross by
means of certain stepping-stones, and came to a cart path up a
heathery hill which I followed. I soon reached the top of
the hill, and the path still continuing, I followed it till I saw
some small grimy-looking huts, which I supposed were those of
colliers. At the door of the first I saw a girl. I
spoke to her in Welsh, and found she had little or none. I
passed on, and seeing the door of a cabin open I looked
in&mdash;and saw no adult person, but several grimy but chubby
children. I spoke to them in English, and found they could
only speak Welsh. Presently I observed a robust woman
advancing towards me; she was barefooted and bore on her head an
immense lump of coal. I spoke to her in Welsh, and found
she could only speak English. &ldquo;Truly,&rdquo; said I
to myself, &ldquo;I am on the borders. What a mixture of
races and languages!&rdquo; The next person I met was a man
in a collier&rsquo;s dress; he was a stout-built fellow of the
middle age, with a coal-dusty surly countenance. I asked
him in Welsh if I was in the right direction for Wrexham, he
answered in a surly manner in English, that I was. I again
spoke to him in Welsh, making some indifferent observation on the
weather, and he answered in English yet more gruffly than
before. For the third time I spoke to him in Welsh,
whereupon looking at me with a grin of savage contempt, and
showing a set of teeth like those of a mastiff, he said,
&ldquo;How&rsquo;s this? why you haven&rsquo;t a word of
English? A pretty fellow you, with a long coat on your back
and no English on your tongue, an&rsquo;t you ashamed of
yourself? Why, here am I in a short coat, yet I&rsquo;d
have you to know that I can speak English as well as Welsh, aye
and a good deal better.&rdquo; &ldquo;All people are not
equally clebber,&rdquo; said I, still speaking Welsh.
&ldquo;Clebber,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;clebber! what is clebber?
why can&rsquo;t you say clever! Why, I never saw such a
low, illiterate fellow in my life;&rdquo; and with these words he
turned away with every mark of disdain, and entered a cottage
near at hand.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here I have had,&rdquo; said I to myself, as I
proceeded on my way, &ldquo;to pay for the over-praise which I
lately received. The farmer on the other side of the
mountain called me a person of great intelligence, which I never
pretended to be, and now this collier calls me a low, illiterate
fellow, which I really don&rsquo;t think I am. There is
certainly a Nemesis mixed up with the affairs of this world;
every good thing which you get, beyond what is strictly your due,
is sure to be required from you with a vengeance. A little
over-praise by a great deal of underrating&mdash;a gleam of good
fortune by a night of misery.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I now saw Wrexham Church at about the distance of three miles,
and presently entered a lane which led gently down from the
hills, which were the same heights I had seen on my right hand,
some months previously, on my way from Wrexham to Rhiwabon.
The scenery now became very pretty&mdash;hedge-rows were on
either side, a luxuriance of trees and plenty of green
fields. I reached the bottom of the lane, beyond which I
saw a strange-looking house upon a slope on the right hand.
It was very large, ruinous, and seemingly deserted. A
little beyond it was a farm-house, connected with which was a
long row of farming buildings along the road-side. Seeing a
woman seated knitting at the door of a little cottage, I asked
her in English the name of the old, ruinous house?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Cadogan Hall, sir,&rdquo; she replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And whom does it belong to?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know exactly,&rdquo; replied the woman,
&ldquo;but Mr Morris at the farm holds it, and stows his things
in it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you tell me anything about it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nothing farther,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;than
that it is said to be haunted, and to have been a barrack many
years ago.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you speak Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the woman, &ldquo;I are Welsh but have
no Welsh language.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Leaving the woman I put on my best speed and in about half an
hour reached Wrexham.</p>

<p>The first thing I did on my arrival was to go to the bookshop
and purchase the Welsh Methodistic book. It cost me seven
shillings, and was a thick, bulky octavo with a
cut-and-come-again expression about it, which was anything but
disagreeable to me, for I hate your flimsy publications.
The evening was now beginning to set in, and feeling somewhat
hungry I hurried off to the Wynstay Arms through streets crowded
with market people. On arriving at the inn I entered the
grand room and ordered dinner. The waiters, observing me
splashed with mud from head to foot, looked at me dubiously;
seeing, however, the respectable-looking volume which I bore in
my hand&mdash;none of your railroad stuff&mdash;they became more
assured, and I presently heard one say to the other,
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right&mdash;that&rsquo;s Mr So-and-So, the
great Baptist preacher. He has been preaching amongst the
hills&mdash;don&rsquo;t you see his Bible?&rdquo;</p>

<p>Seating myself at a table I inspected the volume. And
here perhaps the reader expects that I shall regale him with an
analysis of the Methodistical volume at least as long as that of
the life of Tom O&rsquo; the Dingle. In that case, however,
he will be disappointed; all that I shall at present say of it
is, that it contained a history of Methodism in Wales, with the
lives of the principal Welsh Methodists. That it was
fraught with curious and original matter, was written in a
straightforward, Methodical style, and that I have no doubt it
will some day or other be extensively known and highly
prized.</p>

<p>After dinner I called for half a pint of wine. Whilst I
was trifling over it, a commercial traveller entered into
conversation with me. After some time he asked me if I was
going further that night.</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Llangollen,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;By the ten o&rsquo;clock train?&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going on
foot.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;On foot!&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;I would not go on foot
there this night for fifty pounds.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;For fear of being knocked down by the colliers, who
will be all out and drunk.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If not more than two attack me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I
shan&rsquo;t much mind. With this book I am sure I can
knock down one, and I think I can find play for the other with my
fists.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The commercial traveller looked at me. &ldquo;A strange
kind of Baptist minister,&rdquo; I thought I heard him say.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXII</h2>

<p class="letter">Rhiwabon Road&mdash;The Public-house
Keeper&mdash;No Welsh&mdash;The Wrong Road&mdash;The Good
Wife.</p>

<p>I paid my reckoning and started. The night was now
rapidly closing in. I passed the toll-gate and hurried
along the Rhiwabon road, overtaking companies of Welsh going
home, amongst whom were many individuals, whom, from their thick
and confused speech, as well as from their staggering gait, I
judged to be intoxicated. As I passed a red public-house on
my right hand, at the door of which stood several carts, a scream
of Welsh issued from it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let any Saxon,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;who is fond of
fighting and wishes for a bloody nose go in there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Coming to the small village about a mile from Rhiwabon, I felt
thirsty, and seeing a public-house, in which all seemed to be
quiet, I went in. A thick-set man with a pipe in his mouth
sat in the tap-room, and also a woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where is the landlord?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am the landlord,&rdquo; said the man, huskily.
&ldquo;What do you want?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A pint of ale,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>The man got up and with his pipe in his mouth went staggering
out of the room. In about a minute he returned holding a
mug in his hand, which he put down on a table before me, spilling
no slight quantity of the liquor as he did so. I put down
three-pence on the table. He took the money up slowly piece
by piece, looked at it and appeared to consider, then taking the
pipe out of his mouth he dashed it to seven pieces against the
table, then staggered out of the room into the passage, and from
thence apparently out of the house. I tasted the ale which
was very good, then turning to the woman who seemed about
three-and-twenty and was rather good-looking, I spoke to her in
Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have no Welsh, sir,&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;How is that?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;this village is I
think in the Welshery.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;but I am from
Shropshire.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you the mistress of the house?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I am married to a
collier;&rdquo; then getting up she said, &ldquo;I must go and
see after my husband.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you take a glass of ale first?&rdquo; said
I, offering to fill a glass which stood on the table.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;I am the worst in the world
for a glass of ale;&rdquo; and without saying anything more she
departed.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wonder whether your husband is anything like you with
respect to a glass of ale,&rdquo; said I to myself; then
finishing my ale I got up and left the house, which when I
departed appeared to be entirely deserted.</p>

<p>It was now quite night, and it would have been pitchy-dark but
for the glare of forges. There was an immense glare to the
south-west, which I conceived proceeded from those of Cefn
Mawr. It lighted up the south-western sky; then there were
two other glares nearer to me, seemingly divided by a lump of
something, perhaps a grove of trees.</p>

<p>Walking very fast I soon overtook a man. I knew him at
once by his staggering gait.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, landlord!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;whither
bound?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Rhiwabon,&rdquo; said he, huskily, &ldquo;for a
pint.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the ale so good at Rhiwabon,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;that you leave home for it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he, rather shortly,
&ldquo;there&rsquo;s not a glass of good ale in
Rhiwabon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then why do you go thither?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because a pint of bad liquor abroad is better than a
quart of good at home,&rdquo; said the landlord, reeling against
the hedge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There are many in a higher station than you who act
upon that principle,&rdquo; thought I to myself as I passed
on.</p>

<p>I soon reached Rhiwabon. There was a prodigious noise in
the public-houses as I passed through it. &ldquo;Colliers
carousing,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Well, I shall not go
amongst them to preach temperance, though perhaps in strict duty
I ought.&rdquo; At the end of the town, instead of taking
the road on the left side of the church, I took that on the
right. It was not till I had proceeded nearly a mile that I
began to be apprehensive that I had mistaken the way.
Hearing some people coming towards me on the road I waited till
they came up; they proved to be a man and a woman. On my
inquiring whether I was right for Llangollen, the former told me
that I was not, and in order to get there it was necessary that I
should return to Rhiwabon. I instantly turned round.
About half-way back I met a man who asked me in English where I
was hurrying to. I said to Rhiwabon, in order to get to
Llangollen. &ldquo;Well, then,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you
need not return to Rhiwabon&mdash;yonder is a short cut across
the fields,&rdquo; and he pointed to a gate. I thanked him,
and said I would go by it; before leaving him I asked to what
place the road led which I had been following.</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Pentre Castren,&rdquo; he replied. I struck
across the fields and should probably have tumbled half-a-dozen
times over pales and the like, but for the light of the Cefn
furnaces before me which cast their red glow upon my path.
I debauched upon the Llangollen road near to the tramway leading
to the collieries. Two enormous sheets of flame shot up
high into the air from ovens, illumining two spectral chimneys as
high as steeples, also smoky buildings, and grimy figures moving
about. There was a clanging of engines, a noise of shovels
and a falling of coals truly horrible. The glare was so
great that I could distinctly see the minutest lines upon my
hand. Advancing along the tramway I obtained a nearer view
of the hellish buildings, the chimneys, and the demoniac
figures. It was just such a scene as one of those described
by Ellis Wynn in his Vision of Hell. Feeling my eyes
scorching I turned away, and proceeded towards Llangollen,
sometimes on the muddy road, sometimes on the dangerous
causeway. For three miles at least I met nobody. Near
Llangollen, as I was walking on the causeway, three men came
swiftly towards me. I kept the hedge, which was my right;
the two first brushed roughly past me, the third came full upon
me and was tumbled into the road. There was a laugh from
the two first and a loud curse from the last as he sprawled in
the mire. I merely said &ldquo;Nos Da&rsquo;ki,&rdquo; and
passed on, and in about a quarter of an hour reached home, where
I found my wife awaiting me alone, Henrietta having gone to bed
being slightly indisposed. My wife received me with a
cheerful smile. I looked at her and the good wife of the
Triad came to my mind.</p>

<p>&ldquo;She is modest, void of deceit, and obedient.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pure of conscience, gracious of tongue, and true to her
husband.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Her heart not proud, her manners affable, and her bosom
full of compassion for the poor.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Labouring to be tidy, skilful of hand, and fond of
praying to God.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Her conversation amiable, her dress decent, and her
house orderly.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Quick of hand, quick of eye, and quick of
understanding.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Her person shapely, her manners agreeable, and her
heart innocent.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Her face benignant, her head intelligent, and
provident.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Neighbourly, gentle, and of a liberal way of
thinking.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Able in directing, providing what is wanting, and a
good mother to her children.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Loving her husband, loving peace, and loving God.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Happy the man,&rdquo; adds the Triad, &ldquo;who
possesses such a wife.&rdquo; Very true, O Triad, always
provided he is in some degree worthy of her; but many a man
leaves an innocent wife at home for an impure Jezebel abroad,
even as many a one prefers a pint of hog&rsquo;s wash abroad to a
tankard of generous liquor at home.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Preparations for Departure&mdash;Cat provided
for&mdash;A Pleasant Party&mdash;Last Night at Llangollen.</p>

<p>I was awakened early on the Sunday morning by the howling of
wind. There was a considerable storm throughout the day,
but unaccompanied by rain. I went to church both in the
morning and the evening. The next day there was a great
deal of rain. It was now the latter end of October; winter
was coming on, and my wife and daughter were anxious to return
home. After some consultation it was agreed that they
should depart for London, and that I should join them there after
making a pedestrian tour in South Wales.</p>

<p>I should have been loth to quit Wales without visiting the
Deheubarth or Southern Region, a land differing widely, as I had
heard, both in language and customs from Gwynedd or the Northern,
a land which had given birth to the illustrious Ab Gwilym, and
where the great Ryce family had flourished, which very much
distinguished itself in the Wars of the Roses&mdash;a member of
which Ryce ap Thomas placed Henry the Seventh on the throne of
Britain&mdash;a family of royal extraction, and which after the
death of Roderic the Great for a long time enjoyed the
sovereignty of the south.</p>

<p>We set about making the necessary preparations for our
respective journeys. Those for mine were soon made. I
bought a small leather satchel with a lock and key, in which I
placed a white linen shirt, a pair of worsted stockings, a razor
and a prayer-book. Along with it I bought a leather strap
with which to sling it over my shoulder: I got my boots new
soled, my umbrella, which was rather dilapidated, mended; put
twenty sovereigns into my purse, and then said I am all right for
the Deheubarth.</p>

<p>As my wife and daughter required much more time in making
preparations for their journey than I for mine, and as I should
only be in their way whilst they were employed, it was determined
that I should depart on my expedition on Thursday, and that they
should remain at Llangollen till the Saturday.</p>

<p>We were at first in some perplexity with respect to the
disposal of the ecclesiastical cat; it would of course not do to
leave it in the garden to the tender mercies of the Calvinistic
Methodists of the neighbourhood, more especially those of the
flannel manufactory, and my wife and daughter could hardly carry
it with them. At length we thought of applying to a young
woman of sound church principles, who was lately married and
lived over the water on the way to the railroad station, with
whom we were slightly acquainted, to take charge of the animal,
and she on the first intimation of our wish, willingly acceded to
it. So with her poor puss was left along with a trifle for
its milk-money, and with her, as we subsequently learned, it
continued in peace and comfort till one morning it sprang
suddenly from the hearth into the air, gave a mew, and
died. So much for the ecclesiastical cat!</p>

<p>The morning of Tuesday was rather fine, and Mr Ebenezer E---,
who had heard of our intended departure, came to invite us to
spend the evening at the Vicarage. His father had left
Llangollen the day before for Chester, where he expected to be
detained some days. I told him we should be most happy to
come. He then asked me to take a walk. I agreed with
pleasure, and we set out, intending to go to Llansilio at the
western end of the valley and look at the church. The
church was an ancient building. It had no spire, but had
the little erection on its roof, so usual to Welsh churches, for
holding a bell.</p>

<p>In the churchyard is a tomb in which an old squire of the name
of Jones was buried about the middle of the last century.
There is a tradition about this squire and tomb to the following
effect. After the squire&rsquo;s death there was a lawsuit
about his property, in consequence of no will having been
found. It was said that his will had been buried with him
in the tomb, which after some time was opened, but with what
success the tradition sayeth not.</p>

<p>In the evening we went to the Vicarage. Besides the
family and ourselves there was Mr R--- and one or two more.
We had a very pleasant party; and as most of those present wished
to hear something connected with Spain, I talked much about that
country, sang songs of Germania, and related in an abridged form
Lope de Vega&rsquo;s ghost story, which is decidedly the best
ghost story in the world.</p>

<p>In the afternoon of Wednesday I went and took leave of certain
friends in the town; amongst others of old Mr Jones. On my
telling him that I was about to leave Llangollen, he expressed
considerable regret, but said that it was natural for me to wish
to return to my native country. I told him that before
returning to England I intended to make a pedestrian tour in
South Wales. He said that he should die without seeing the
south; that he had had several opportunities of visiting it when
he was young, which he had neglected, and that he was now too old
to wander far from home. He then asked me which road I
intended to take. I told him that I intended to strike
across the Berwyn to Llan Rhyadr, then visit Sycharth, once the
seat of Owain Glendower, lying to the east of Llan Rhyadr, then
return to that place, and after seeing the celebrated cataract
across the mountains to Bala&mdash;whence I should proceed due
south. I then asked him whether he had ever seen Sycharth
and the Rhyadr; he told me that he had never visited Sycharth,
but had seen the Rhyadr more than once. He then smiled and
said that there was a ludicrous anecdote connected with the
Rhyadr, which he would relate to me. &ldquo;A traveller
once went to see the Rhyadr, and whilst gazing at it a calf which
had fallen into the stream above, whilst grazing upon the rocks,
came tumbling down the cataract. &lsquo;Wonderful!&rsquo;
said the traveller, and going away reported that it was not only
a fall of water, but of calves, and was very much disappointed,
on visiting the waterfall on another occasion, to see no calf
come tumbling down.&rdquo; I took leave of the kind old
gentleman with regret, never expecting to see him again, as he
was in his eighty-fourth year&mdash;he was a truly excellent
character, and might be ranked amongst the venerable ornaments of
his native place.</p>

<p>About half-past eight o&rsquo;clock at night John Jones came
to bid me farewell. I bade him sit down, and sent for a
pint of ale to regale him with. Notwithstanding the ale, he
was very melancholy at the thought that I was about to leave
Llangollen, probably never to return. To enliven him I gave
him an account of my late expedition to Wrexham, which made him
smile more than once. When I had concluded he asked me
whether I knew the meaning of the word Wrexham: I told him I
believed I did, and gave him the derivation which the reader will
find in an early chapter of this work. He told me that with
all due submission, he thought he could give me a better, which
he had heard from a very clever man, gwr deallus iawn, who lived
about two miles from Llangollen on the Corwen road. In the
old time a man of the name of Sam kept a gwestfa, or inn, at the
place where Wrexham flow stands; when he died he left it to his
wife, who kept it after him, on which account the house was first
called Ty wraig Sam, the house of Sam&rsquo;s wife, and then for
shortness Wraig Sam, and a town arising about it by degrees, the
town too was called Wraig Sam, which the Saxons corrupted into
Wrexham.</p>

<p>I was much diverted with this Welsh derivation of Wrexham,
which I did not attempt to controvert. After we had had
some further discourse John Jones got up, shook me by the hand,
gave a sigh, wished me a &ldquo;taith hyfryd,&rdquo; and
departed. Thus terminated my last day at Llangollen.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXIV</h2>

<p class="letter">Departure for South
Wales&mdash;Tregeiriog&mdash;Pleasing Scene&mdash;Trying to
Read&mdash;Garmon and Lupus&mdash;The Cracked Voice&mdash;Effect
of a Compliment&mdash;Llan Rhyadr.</p>

<p>The morning of the 21st of October was fine and cold; there
was a rime frost on the ground. At about eleven
o&rsquo;clock I started on my journey for South Wales, intending
that my first stage should be Llan Rhyadr. My wife and
daughter accompanied me as far as Plas Newydd. As we passed
through the town I shook hands with honest A---, whom I saw
standing at the door of a shop, with a kind of Spanish hat on his
head, and also with my venerable friend old Mr Jones, whom I
encountered close beside his own domicile. At the Plas
Newydd I took an affectionate farewell of my two loved ones, and
proceeded to ascend the Berwyn. Near the top I turned round
to take a final look at the spot where I had lately passed many a
happy hour. There lay Llangollen far below me, with its
chimneys placidly smoking, its pretty church rising in its
centre, its blue river dividing it into two nearly equal parts,
and the mighty hill of Brennus overhanging it from the north.</p>

<p>I sighed, and repeating Einion Du&rsquo;s verse</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Tangnefedd i Llangollen!&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>turned away.</p>

<p>I went over the top of the hill and then began to descend its
southern side, obtaining a distant view of the plains of
Shropshire on the east. I soon reached the bottom of the
hill, passed through Llansanfraid, and threading the vale of the
Ceiriog at length found myself at Pont y Meibion in front of the
house of Huw Morris, or rather of that which is built on the site
of the dwelling of the poet. I stopped and remained before
the house thinking of the mighty Huw, till the door opened, and
out came the dark-featured man, the poet&rsquo;s descendant, whom
I saw when visiting the place in company with honest John
Jones&mdash;he had now a spade in his hand and was doubtless
going to his labour. As I knew him to be of a rather sullen
unsocial disposition, I said nothing to him, but proceeded on my
way. As I advanced the valley widened, the hills on the
west receding to some distance from the river. Came to
Tregeiriog a small village, which takes its name from the brook;
Tregeiriog signifying the hamlet or village on the Ceiriog.
Seeing a bridge which crossed the rivulet at a slight distance
from the road, a little beyond the village, I turned aside to
look at it. The proper course of the Ceiriog is from south
to north; where it is crossed by the bridge, however, it runs
from west to east, returning to its usual course, a little way
below the bridge. The bridge was small and presented
nothing remarkable in itself: I obtained, however, as I looked
over its parapet towards the west a view of a scene, not of wild
grandeur, but of something which I like better, which richly
compensated me for the slight trouble I had taken in stepping
aside to visit the little bridge. About a hundred yards
distant was a small water-mill, built over the rivulet, the wheel
going slowly, slowly round; large quantities of pigs, the
generality of them brindled, were either browsing on the banks or
lying close to the sides half immersed in the water; one immense
white hog, the monarch seemingly of the herd, was standing in the
middle of the current. Such was the scene which I saw from
the bridge, a scene of quiet rural life well suited to the
brushes of two or three of the old Dutch painters, or to those of
men scarcely inferior to them in their own style, Gainsborough,
Moreland, and Crome. My mind for the last half-hour had
been in a highly excited state; I had been repeating verses of
old Huw Morris, brought to my recollection by the sight of his
dwelling-place; they were ranting roaring verses, against the
Roundheads. I admired the vigour but disliked the
principles which they displayed; and admiration on the one hand
and disapproval on the other, bred a commotion in my mind like
that raised on the sea when tide runs one way and wind blows
another. The quiet scene from the bridge, however, produced
a sedative effect on my mind, and when I resumed my journey I had
forgotten Huw, his verses, and all about Roundheads and
Cavaliers.</p>

<p>I reached Llanarmon, another small village, situated in a
valley through which the Ceiriog or a river very similar to it
flows. It is half-way between Llangollen and Llan Rhyadr,
being ten miles from each. I went to a small inn or
public-house, sat down and called for ale. A waggoner was
seated at a large table with a newspaper before him on which he
was intently staring.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What news?&rdquo; said I in English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish I could tell you,&rdquo; said he in very broken
English, &ldquo;but I cannot read.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then why are you looking at the paper?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;by looking at the
letters I hope in time to make them out.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You may look at them,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for fifty
years without being able to make out one. You should go to
an evening school.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am too old,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;to do so now; if I
did the children would laugh at me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Never mind their laughing at you,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;provided you learn to read; let them laugh who
win!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You give good advice, mester,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I
think I shall follow it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let me look at the paper,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>He handed it to me. It was a Welsh paper, and full of
dismal accounts from the seat of war.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What news, mester?&rdquo; said the waggoner.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nothing but bad,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;the Russians are
beating us and the French too.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If the Rusiaid beat us,&rdquo; said the waggoner,
&ldquo;it is because the Francod are with us. We should
have gone alone.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps you are right,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;at any
rate we could not have fared worse than we are faring
now.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I presently paid for what I had had, inquired the way to Llan
Rhyadr, and departed.</p>

<p>The village of Llanarmon takes its name from its church, which
is dedicated to Garmon, an Armorican bishop, who with another
called Lupus came over into Britain in order to preach against
the heresy of Pelagius. He and his colleague resided for
some time in Flintshire, and whilst there enabled in a remarkable
manner the Britons to achieve a victory over those mysterious
people the Picts, who were ravaging the country far and
wide. Hearing that the enemy were advancing towards Mold,
the two bishops gathered together a number of the Britons, and
placed them in ambush in a dark valley through which it was
necessary for the Picts to pass in order to reach Mold, strictly
enjoining them to remain quiet till all their enemies should have
entered the valley and then do whatever they should see them, the
two bishops, do. The Picts arrived, and when they were
about half-way through the valley the two bishops stepped forward
from a thicket and began crying aloud,
&ldquo;Alleluia!&rdquo; The Britons followed their example,
and the wooded valley resounded with cries of &ldquo;Alleluia!
Alleluia!&rdquo; The shouts and the unexpected appearance
of thousands of men caused such terror to the Picts that they
took to flight in the greatest confusion; hundreds were trampled
to death by their companions, and not a few were drowned in the
river Alan <a name="citation8"></a><a href="#footnote8"
class="citation">[8]</a> which runs through the valley.</p>

<p>There are several churches dedicated to Garmon in Wales, but
whether there are any dedicated to Lupus I am unable to
say. After leaving Llanarmon I found myself amongst lumpy
hills through which the road led in the direction of the
south. Arriving where several roads met I followed one and
became bewildered amidst hills and ravines. At last I saw a
small house close by a nant or dingle, and turned towards it for
the purpose of inquiring my way. On my knocking at the door
a woman made her appearance, of whom I asked in Welsh whether I
was in the road to Llan Rhyadr. She said that I was out of
it, but that if I went towards the south I should see a path on
my left which would bring me to it. I asked her how far it
was to Llan Rhyadr.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Four long miles,&rdquo; she replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of the place where we are
now?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Cae Hir&rdquo; (the long inclosure), said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you alone in the house?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Quite alone,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;but my husband and
people will soon be home from the field, for it is getting
dusk.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any Saxon?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not a word,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;have I of the iaith
dieithr, nor has my husband, nor any one of my people.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I bade her farewell, and soon reached the road, which led
south and north. As I was bound for the south I strode
forward briskly in that direction. The road was between
romantic hills; heard Welsh songs proceeding from the hill fields
on my right, and the murmur of a brook rushing down a deep nant
on my left. I went on till I came to a collection of houses
which an old woman, with a cracked voice and a small tin
milk-pail, whom I assisted in getting over a stile into the road,
told me was called Pen Strit&mdash;probably the head of the
street. She spoke English, and on my asking her how she had
learnt the English tongue, she told me that she had learnt it of
her mother who was an English woman. She said that I was
two miles from Llan Rhyadr, and that I must go straight
forward. I did so till I reached a place where the road
branched into two, one bearing somewhat to the left, and the
other to the right. After standing a minute in perplexity I
took the right-hand road, but soon guessed that I had taken the
wrong one, as the road dwindled into a mere footpath.
Hearing some one walking on the other side of the hedge I
inquired in Welsh whether I was going right for Llan Rhyadr, and
was answered by a voice in English, apparently that of a woman,
that I was not, and that I must go back. I did so, and
presently a woman came through a gate to me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you the person,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;who just now
answered me in English after I had spoken in Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth I am,&rdquo; said she, with a half laugh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how came you to answer me in English after I had
spoken to you in Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;it was easy enough to
know by your voice that you were an Englishman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You speak English remarkably well,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And so do you Welsh,&rdquo; said the woman; &ldquo;I
had no idea that it was possible for any Englishman to speak
Welsh half so well.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; thought I to myself, &ldquo;what you
would have answered if I had said that you speak English
execrably.&rdquo; By her own account she could read both
Welsh and English. She walked by my side to the turn, and
then up the left-hand road, which she said was the way to Llan
Rhyadr. Coming to a cottage she bade me good-night and went
in. The road was horribly miry: presently, as I was
staggering through a slough, just after I had passed a little
cottage, I heard a cracked voice crying, &ldquo;I suppose you
lost your way?&rdquo; I recognised it as that of the old
woman whom I had helped over the stile. She was now
standing behind a little gate which opened into a garden before
the cottage. The figure of a man was standing near
her. I told her that she was quite right in her
supposition.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;you should have gone
straight forward.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If I had gone straight forward,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I
must have gone over a hedge, at the corner of a field which
separated two roads; instead of bidding me go straight forward
you should have told me to follow the left-hand road.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;be sure you keep straight
forward now.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I asked her who the man was standing near her.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is my husband,&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has he much English?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;None at all,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;for his mother was
not English, like mine.&rdquo; I bade her good-night and
went forward. Presently I came to a meeting of roads, and
to go straight forward it was necessary to pass through a
quagmire; remembering, however, the words of my friend the
beldame I went straight forward, though in so doing I was
sloughed up to the knees. In a little time I came to rapid
descent, and at the bottom of it to a bridge. It was now
very dark; only the corner of the moon was casting a faint
light. After crossing the bridge I had one or two ascents
and descents. At last I saw lights before me which proved
to be those of Llan Rhyadr. I soon found myself in a dirty
little street, and, inquiring for the inn, was kindly shown by a
man to one which he said was the best, and which was called the
Wynstay Arms.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXV</h2>

<p class="letter">Inn at Llan Rhyadr&mdash;A low
Englishman&mdash;Enquiries&mdash;The Cook&mdash;A Precious
Couple.</p>

<p>The inn seemed very large, but did not look very
cheerful. No other guest than myself seemed to be in it,
except in the kitchen, where I heard a fellow talking English and
occasionally yelling an English song: the master and the mistress
of the house were civil, and lighted me a fire in what was called
the Commercial Room, and putting plenty of coals in the grate
soon made the apartment warm and comfortable. I ordered
dinner or rather supper, which in about half-an-hour was brought
in by the woman. The supper whether good or bad I
despatched with the appetite of one who had walked twenty miles
over hill and dale.</p>

<p>Occasionally I heard a dreadful noise in the kitchen, and the
woman told me that the fellow there was making himself
exceedingly disagreeable, chiefly she believed because she had
refused to let him sleep in the house. She said that he was
a low fellow that went about the country with fish, and that he
was the more ready to insult her as the master of the house was
now gone out. I asked if he was an Englishman,
&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;a low Englishman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then he must be low indeed,&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;A low Englishman is the lowest of the low.&rdquo;
After a little time I heard no more noise, and was told that the
fellow was gone away. I had a little whisky and water, and
then went to bed, sleeping in a tolerable chamber but rather
cold. There was much rain during the night and also wind;
windows rattled, and I occasionally heard the noise of falling
tiles.</p>

<p>I arose about eight. Notwithstanding the night had been
so tempestuous the morning was sunshiny and beautiful.
Having ordered breakfast I walked out in order to look at the
town. Llan Rhyadr is a small place, having nothing
remarkable in it save an ancient church and a strange little
antique market-house, standing on pillars. It is situated
at the western end of an extensive valley and at the entrance of
a glen. A brook or rivulet runs through it, which comes
down the glen from the celebrated cataract, which is about four
miles distant to the west. Two lofty mountains form the
entrance of the glen, and tower above the town, one on the south
and the other on the north. Their names, if they have any,
I did not learn.</p>

<p>After strolling about the little place for about a quarter of
an hour, staring at the things and the people, and being stared
at by the latter, I returned to my inn, a structure built in the
modern Gothic style, and which stands nearly opposite to the
churchyard. Whilst breakfasting I asked the landlady, who
was bustling about the room, whether she had ever heard of Owen
Glendower.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, I have. He was a great gentleman
who lived a long time ago, and, and&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Gave the English a great deal of trouble,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just so, sir; at least I daresay it is so, as you say
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And do you know where he lived?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not, sir; I suppose a great way off, somewhere in
the south.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you mean South Wales?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, I do.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There you are mistaken,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;and also
in supposing he lived a great way off. He lived in North
Wales, and not far from this place.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, you know more about him than
I.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear of a place called Sycharth?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sycharth! Sycharth! I never did, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is the place where Glendower lived, and it is not
far off. I want to go there, but do not know the
way.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sycharth! Sycharth!&rdquo; said the landlady musingly:
&ldquo;I wonder if it is the place we call Sychnant.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there such a place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sure; about six miles from here, near
Langedwin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What kind of place is it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, I do not know, for I was never
there. My cook, however, in the kitchen, knows all about
it, for she comes from there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can I see her?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sure; I will go at once and fetch her.&rdquo;</p>

<p>She then left the room and presently returned with the cook, a
short, thick girl with blue staring eyes.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here she is, sir,&rdquo; said the landlady, &ldquo;but
she has no English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;All the better,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;So you come
from a place called Sychnant?&rdquo; said I to the cook in
Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, I do;&rdquo; said the cook.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear of a gwr boneddig called Owen
Glendower?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Often, sir, often; he lived in our place.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He lived in a place called Sycharth?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir; and we of the place call it Sycharth as
often as Sychnant; nay, oftener.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is his house standing?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not; but the hill on which it stood is still
standing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it a high hill?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not; it is a small, light hill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A light hill!&rdquo; said I to myself. &ldquo;Old
Iolo Goch, Owen Glendower&rsquo;s bard, said the chieftain dwelt
in a house on a light hill.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;There dwells the chief we all
extol<br />
In timber house on lightsome knoll.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Is there a little river near it,&rdquo; said I to the
cook, &ldquo;a ffrwd?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is; it runs just under the hill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there a mill upon the ffrwd?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is not; that is, now&mdash;but there was in the
old time; a factory of woollen stands now where the mill once
stood.&rdquo;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;A mill a rushing brook upon<br />
And pigeon tower fram&rsquo;d of stone.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;So says Iolo Goch,&rdquo; said I to myself, &ldquo;in
his description of Sycharth; I am on the right road.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I asked the cook to whom the property of Sycharth belonged and
was told of course to Sir Watkin, who appears to be the Marquis
of Denbighshire. After a few more questions I thanked her
and told her she might go. I then finished my breakfast,
paid my bill, and after telling the landlady that I should return
at night, started for Llangedwin and Sycharth.</p>

<p>A broad and excellent road led along the valley in the
direction in which I was proceeding.</p>

<p>The valley was beautiful and dotted with various farm-houses,
and the land appeared to be in as high a state of cultivation as
the soil of my own Norfolk, that county so deservedly celebrated
for its agriculture. The eastern side is bounded by lofty
hills, and towards the north the vale is crossed by three rugged
elevations, the middlemost of which, called, as an old man told
me, Bryn Dinas, terminates to the west in an exceedingly high and
picturesque crag.</p>

<p>After an hour&rsquo;s walking I overtook two people, a man and
a woman laden with baskets which hung around them on every
side. The man was a young fellow of about eight-and-twenty,
with a round face, fair flaxen hair, and rings in his ears; the
female was a blooming buxom lass of about eighteen. After
giving them the sele of the day I asked them if they were
English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Aye, aye, master,&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;we are
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where do you come from?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;From Wrexham,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I thought Wrexham was in Wales,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;If it be,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;the people are
not Welsh; a man is not a horse because he happens to be born in
a stable.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is that young woman your wife?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes;&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;after a
fashion&rdquo;&mdash;and then he leered at the lass, and she
leered at him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you attend any place of worship?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A great many, master!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What place do you chiefly attend?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Chequers, master!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do they preach the best sermons there?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, master! but they sell the best ale
there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you worship ale?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, master, I worships ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Anything else?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, master! I and my mort worships something
besides good ale; don&rsquo;t we, Sue?&rdquo; and then he leered
at the mort, who leered at him, and both made odd motions
backwards and forwards, causing the baskets which hung round them
to creak and rustle, and uttering loud shouts of laughter, which
roused the echoes of the neighbouring hills.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Genuine descendants, no doubt,&rdquo; said I to myself
as I walked briskly on, &ldquo;of certain of the old heathen
Saxons who followed Rag into Wales and settled down about the
house which he built. Really, if these two are a fair
specimen of the Wrexham population, my friend the Scotch
policeman was not much out when he said that the people of
Wrexham were the worst people in Wales.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXVI</h2>

<p class="letter">Sycharth&mdash;The Kindly Welcome&mdash;Happy
Couple&mdash;Sycharth&mdash;Recalling the Dead&mdash;Ode to
Sycharth.</p>

<p>I was now at the northern extremity of the valley near a great
house past which the road led in the direction of the
north-east. Seeing a man employed in breaking stones I
inquired the way to Sychnant.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You must turn to the left,&rdquo; said he,
&ldquo;before you come to yon great house, follow the path which
you will find behind it, and you will soon be in
Sychnant.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And to whom does the great house belong?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To whom? why, to Sir Watkin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does he reside there?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not often. He has plenty of other houses, but he
sometimes comes there to hunt.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the place&rsquo;s name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Llan Gedwin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I turned to the left, as the labourer had directed me.
The path led upward behind the great house round a hill thickly
planted with trees. Following it I at length found myself
on a broad road on the top extending east and west, and having on
the north and south beautiful wooded hills. I followed the
road which presently began to descend. On reaching level
ground I overtook a man in a waggoner&rsquo;s frock, of whom I
inquired the way to Sycharth. He pointed westward down the
vale to what appeared to be a collection of houses, near a
singular-looking monticle, and said, &ldquo;That is
Sycharth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We walked together till we came to a road which branched off
on the right to a little bridge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is your way,&rdquo; said he, and pointing to a
large building beyond the bridge, towering up above a number of
cottages, he said, &ldquo;that is the factory of Sycharth;&rdquo;
he then left me, following the high road, whilst I proceeded
towards the bridge, which I crossed, and coming to the cottages
entered one on the right hand of a remarkably neat
appearance.</p>

<p>In a comfortable kitchen by a hearth on which blazed a
cheerful billet sat a man and woman. Both arose when I
entered: the man was tall, about fifty years of age, and
athletically built; he was dressed in a white coat, corduroy
breeches, shoes, and grey worsted stockings. The woman
seemed many years older than the man; she was tall also, and
strongly built, and dressed in the ancient female costume,
namely, a kind of round, half Spanish hat, long blue woollen
kirtle or gown, a crimson petticoat, and white apron, and broad,
stout shoes with buckles.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Welcome, stranger,&rdquo; said the man, after looking
me a moment or two full in the face.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Croesaw, dyn dieithr&mdash;welcome, foreign man,&rdquo;
said the woman, surveying me with a look of great curiosity.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you sit down?&rdquo; said the man, handing
me a chair.</p>

<p>I sat down, and the man and woman resumed their seats.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you come on business connected with the
factory?&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;my business is connected with
Owen Glendower.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;With Owen Glendower?&rdquo; said the man, staring.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I came to see his
place.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You will not see much of his house now,&rdquo; said the
man&mdash;&ldquo;it is down; only a few bricks remain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But I shall see the place where his house stood,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;which is all I expected to see.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, you can see that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What does the dyn dieithr say?&rdquo; said the woman in
Welsh with an inquiring look.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That he is come to see the place of Owen
Glendower.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said the woman with a smile.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is that good lady your wife?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;She is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;She looks much older than yourself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And no wonder. She is twenty-one years
older.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How old are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Fifty-three.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;what a difference in
your ages. How came you to marry?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;She was a widow and I had lost my wife. We were
lone in the world, so we thought we would marry.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you live happily together?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you did quite right to marry. What is your
name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;David Robert.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And that of your wife?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Gwen Robert.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does she speak English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;She speaks some, but not much.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the place where Owen lived far from here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not. It is the round hill a little way
above the factory.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the path to it easy to find?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will go with you,&rdquo; said the man. &ldquo;I
work at the factory, but I need not go there for an hour at
least.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He put on his hat and bidding me follow him went out. He
led me over a gush of water which passing under the factory turns
the wheel; thence over a field or two towards a house at the foot
of the mountain where he said the steward of Sir Watkin lived, of
whom it would be as well to apply for permission to ascend the
hill, as it was Sir Watkin&rsquo;s ground. The steward was
not at home; his wife was, however, and she, when we told her we
wished to go to the top of Owain Glendower&rsquo;s Hill, gave us
permission with a smile. We thanked her and proceeded to
mount the hill or monticle once the residence of the great Welsh
chieftain, whom his own deeds and the pen of Shakespear have
rendered immortal.</p>

<p>Owen Glendower&rsquo;s hill or mount at Sycharth, unlike the
one bearing his name on the banks of the Dee, is not an
artificial hill, but the work of nature, save and except that to
a certain extent it has been modified by the hand of man.
It is somewhat conical and consists of two steps or gradations,
where two fosses scooped out of the hill go round it, one above
the other, the lower one embracing considerably the most
space. Both these fosses are about six feet deep, and at
one time doubtless were bricked, as stout large, red bricks are
yet to be seen, here and there, in their sides. The top of
the mount is just twenty-five feet across. When I visited
it it was covered with grass, but had once been subjected to the
plough as various furrows indicated. The monticle stands
not far from the western extremity of the valley, nearly midway
between two hills which confront each other north and south, the
one to the south being the hill which I had descended, and the
other a beautiful wooded height which is called in the parlance
of the country Llwyn Sycharth or the grove of Sycharth, from
which comes the little gush of water which I had crossed, and
which now turns the wheel of the factory and once turned that of
Owen Glendower&rsquo;s mill, and filled his two moats, part of
the water by some mechanical means having been forced up the
eminence. On the top of this hill or monticle in a timber
house dwelt the great Welshman Owen Glendower, with his wife, a
comely, kindly woman, and his progeny, consisting of stout boys
and blooming girls, and there, though wonderfully cramped for
want of room, he feasted bards who requited his hospitality with
alliterative odes very difficult to compose, and which at the
present day only a few book-worms understand. There he
dwelt for many years, the virtual if not the nominal king of
North Wales, occasionally no doubt looking down with
self-complaisance from the top of his fastness on the parks and
fish-ponds of which he had several; his mill, his pigeon tower,
his ploughed lands, and the cottages of a thousand retainers,
huddled round the lower part of the hill, or strewn about the
valley; and there he might have lived and died had not events
caused him to draw the sword and engage in a war, at the
termination of which Sycharth was a fire-scathed ruin, and
himself a broken-hearted old man in anchorite&rsquo;s weeds,
living in a cave on the estate of Sir John Scudamore, the great
Herefordshire proprietor, who married his daughter Elen, his only
surviving child.</p>

<p>After I had been a considerable time on the hill looking about
me and asking questions of my guide, I took out a piece of silver
and offered it to him, thanking him at the same time for the
trouble he had taken in showing me the place. He refused
it, saying that I was quite welcome.</p>

<p>I tried to force it upon him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will not take it,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;but if you
come to my house and have a cup of coffee, you may give sixpence
to my old woman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will come,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;in a short
time. In the meanwhile do you go; I wish to be
alone.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you want to do?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To sit down and endeavour to recall Glendower, and the
times that are past.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The fine fellow looked puzzled; at last he said, &ldquo;Very
well,&rdquo; shrugged his shoulders, and descended the hill.</p>

<p>When he was gone I sat down on the brow of the hill, and with
my face turned to the east began slowly to chant a translation
made by myself in the days of my boyhood of an ode to Sycharth
composed by Iolo Goch when upwards of a hundred years old,
shortly after his arrival at that place, to which he had been
invited by Owen Glendower:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Twice have I pledg&rsquo;d my word to thee<br />
To come thy noble face to see;<br />
His promises let every man<br />
Perform as far as e&rsquo;er he can!<br />
Full easy is the thing that&rsquo;s sweet,<br />
And sweet this journey is and meet;<br />
I&rsquo;ve vowed to Owain&rsquo;s court to go,<br />
And I&rsquo;m resolved to keep my vow;<br />
So thither straight I&rsquo;ll take my way<br />
With blithesome heart, and there I&rsquo;ll stay,<br />
Respect and honour, whilst I breathe,<br />
To find his honour&rsquo;d roof beneath.<br />
My chief of long lin&rsquo;d ancestry<br />
Can harbour sons of poesy;<br />
I&rsquo;ve heard, for so the muse has told,<br />
He&rsquo;s kind and gentle to the old;<br />
Yes, to his castle I will hie;<br />
There&rsquo;s none to match it &rsquo;neath the sky:<br />
It is a baron&rsquo;s stately court,<br />
Where bards for sumptuous fare resort;<br />
There dwells the lord of Powis land,<br />
Who granteth every just demand.<br />
Its likeness now I&rsquo;ll limn you out:<br />
&rsquo;Tis water girdled wide about;<br />
It shows a wide and stately door<br />
Reached by a bridge the water o&rsquo;er;<br />
&rsquo;Tis formed of buildings coupled fair,<br />
Coupled is every couple there;<br />
Within a quadrate structure tall<br />
Muster the merry pleasures all.<br />
Conjointly are the angles bound&mdash;<br />
No flaw in all the place is found.<br />
Structures in contact meet the eye<br />
Upon the hillock&rsquo;s top on high;<br />
Into each other fastened they<br />
The form of a hard knot display.<br />
There dwells the chief we all extol<br />
In timber house on lightsome knoll;<br />
Upon four wooden columns proud<br />
Mounteth his mansion to the cloud;<br />
Each column&rsquo;s thick and firmly bas&rsquo;d,<br />
And upon each a loft is plac&rsquo;d;<br />
In these four lofts, which coupled stand,<br />
Repose at night the minstrel band;<br />
Four lofts they were in pristine state,<br />
But now partitioned form they eight.<br />
Tiled is the roof, on each house-top<br />
Rise smoke-ejecting chimneys up.<br />
All of one form there are nine halls<br />
Each with nine wardrobes in its walls<br />
With linen white as well supplied<br />
As fairest shops of fam&rsquo;d Cheapside.<br />
Behold that church with cross uprais&rsquo;d<br />
And with its windows neatly glaz&rsquo;d;<br />
All houses are in this comprest&mdash;<br />
An orchard&rsquo;s near it of the best,<br />
Also a park where void of fear<br />
Feed antler&rsquo;d herds of fallow deer.<br />
A warren wide my chief can boast,<br />
Of goodly steeds a countless host.<br />
Meads where for hay the clover grows,<br />
Corn-fields which hedges trim inclose,<br />
A mill a rushing brook upon,<br />
And pigeon tower fram&rsquo;d of stone;<br />
A fish-pond deep and dark to see,<br />
To cast nets in when need there be,<br />
Which never yet was known to lack<br />
A plenteous store of perch and jack.<br />
Of various plumage birds abound;<br />
Herons and peacocks haunt around,<br />
What luxury doth his hall adorn,<br />
Showing of cost a sovereign scorn;<br />
His ale from Shrewsbury town he brings;<br />
His usquebaugh is drink for kings;<br />
Bragget he keeps, bread white of look,<br />
And, bless the mark! a bustling cook.<br />
His mansion is the minstrels&rsquo; home,<br />
You&rsquo;ll find them there whene&rsquo;er you come<br />
Of all her sex his wife&rsquo;s the best;<br />
The household through her care is blest<br />
She&rsquo;s scion of a knightly tree,<br />
She&rsquo;s dignified, she&rsquo;s kind and free.<br />
His bairns approach me, pair by pair,<br />
O what a nest of chieftains fair!<br />
Here difficult it is to catch<br />
A sight of either bolt or latch;<br />
The porter&rsquo;s place here none will fill;<br />
Her largess shall be lavish&rsquo;d still,<br />
And ne&rsquo;er shall thirst or hunger rude<br />
In Sycharth venture to intrude.<br />
A noble leader, Cambria&rsquo;s knight,<br />
The lake possesses, his by right,<br />
And midst that azure water plac&rsquo;d,<br />
The castle, by each pleasure grac&rsquo;d.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And when I had finished repeating these lines I said,
&ldquo;How much more happy, innocent, and holy, I was in the days
of my boyhood when I translate Iolo&rsquo;s ode than I am at the
present time!&rdquo; Then covering my face with my hands I
wept like a child.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXVII</h2>

<p class="letter">Cup of Coffee&mdash;Gwen&mdash;Bluff old
Fellow&mdash;A Rabble Rout&mdash;All from Wrexham.</p>

<p>After a while I arose from my seat and descending the hill
returned to the house of my honest friends, whom I found sitting
by their fire as I had first seen them.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;did you bring back
Owen Glendower?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not only him,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but his house,
family, and all relating to him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;By what means?&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;By means of a song made a long time ago, which
describes Sycharth as it was in his time, and his manner of
living there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Presently Gwen, who had been preparing coffee in expectation
of my return, poured out a cupful, which she presented to me, at
the same time handing me some white sugar in a basin.</p>

<p>I took the coffee, helped myself to some sugar, and returned
her thanks in her own language.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said the man, in Welsh, &ldquo;I see you are
a Cumro. Gwen and I have been wondering whether you were
Welsh or English; but I see you are one of ourselves.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I in the same language, &ldquo;I am an
Englishman, born in a part of England the farthest of any from
Wales. In fact, I am a Carn Sais.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how came you to speak Welsh?&rdquo; said the
man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I took it into my head to learn it when I was a
boy,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Englishmen sometimes do strange
things.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So I have heard,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;but I
never heard before of an Englishman learning Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I proceeded to drink my coffee, and having finished it, and
had a little more discourse I got up, and having given Gwen a
piece of silver, which she received with a smile and a curtsey, I
said I must now be going.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you take another cup?&rdquo; said Gwen,
&ldquo;you are welcome.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, thank you,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I have had
enough.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; said the man in
English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Llan Rhyadr,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;from which I came
this morning.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Which way did you come?&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;By Llan Gedwin,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;and over the
hill. Is there another way?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;by Llan
Silin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Llan Silin!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;is not that the place
where Huw Morris is buried?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will return by Llan Silin,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and
in passing through pay a visit to the tomb of the great
poet. Is Llan Silin far off?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About half a mile,&rdquo; said the man. &ldquo;Go
over the bridge, turn to the right, and you will be there
presently.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I shook the honest couple by the hand and bade them
farewell. The man put on his hat and went with me a few
yards from the door, and then proceeded towards the
factory. I passed over the bridge, under which was a
streamlet, which a little below the bridge received the brook
which once turned Owen Glendower&rsquo;s corn-mill. I soon
reached Llan Silin, a village or townlet, having some high hills
at a short distance to the westward, which form part of the
Berwyn.</p>

<p>I entered the kitchen of an old-fashioned public-house, and
sitting down by a table told the landlord, a red-nosed elderly
man, who came bowing up to me, to bring me a pint of ale.
The landlord bowed and departed. A bluff-looking old
fellow, somewhat under the middle size, sat just opposite to me
at the table. He was dressed in a white frieze coat, and
had a small hat on his head set rather consequentially on one
side. Before him on the table stood a jug of ale, between
which and him lay a large crabstick. Three or four other
people stood or sat in different parts of the room.
Presently the landlord returned with the ale.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you come on sessions business, sir?&rdquo;
said he, as he placed it down before me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are the sessions being held here to-day?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are,&rdquo; said the landlord, &ldquo;and there is
plenty of business; two bad cases of poaching, Sir Watkin&rsquo;s
keepers are up at court and hope to convict.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not come on sessions business,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;I am merely strolling a little about to see the
country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He is come from South Wales,&rdquo; said the old fellow
in the frieze coat, to the landlord, &ldquo;in order to see what
kind of country the north is. Well at any rate he has seen
a better country than his own.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How do you know that I come from South Wales?&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;By your English,&rdquo; said the old fellow;
&ldquo;anybody may know you are South Welsh by your English; it
is so cursedly bad. But let&rsquo;s hear you speak a little
Welsh; then I shall be certain as to who you are.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I did as he bade me, saying a few words in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s Welsh,&rdquo; said the old fellow,
&ldquo;who but a South Welshman would talk Welsh in that
manner? It&rsquo;s nearly as bad as your
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I asked him if he had ever been in South Wales.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;and a bad country I found
it; just like the people.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If you take me for a South Welshman,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;you ought to speak civilly both of the South Welsh and
their country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am merely paying tit for tat,&rdquo; said the old
fellow. &ldquo;When I was in South Wales your people
laughed at my folks and country, so when I meet one of them here
I serve him out as I was served out there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I made no reply to him, but addressing myself to the landlord
inquired whether Huw Morris was not buried in Llan Silin
churchyard. He replied in the affirmative.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I should like to see his tomb,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; said the landlord, &ldquo;I shall be
happy to show it to you whenever you please.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Here again the old fellow put in his word.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You never had a prydydd like Huw Morris in South
Wales,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;nor Twm o&rsquo;r Nant
either.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;South Wales has produced good poets,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, it hasn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said the old fellow;
&ldquo;it never produced one. If it had, you wouldn&rsquo;t
have needed to come here to see the grave of a poet; you would
have found one at home.&rdquo;</p>

<p>As he said these words he got up, took his stick, and seemed
about to depart. Just then in burst a rabble rout of
game-keepers and river-watchers who had come from the petty
sessions, and were in high glee, the two poachers whom the
landlord had mentioned having been convicted and heavily
fined. Two or three of them were particularly boisterous,
running against some of the guests who were sitting or standing
in the kitchen, and pushing the landlord about, crying at the
same time that they would stand by Sir Watkin to the last, and
would never see him plundered. One of them, a fellow of
about thirty, in a hairy cap, black coat, dirty yellow breeches,
and dirty white top-boots, who was the most obstreperous of them
all, at last came up to the old chap who disliked South Welshmen
and tried to knock off his hat, swearing that he would stand by
Sir Watkin; he, however, met a Tartar. The enemy of the
South Welsh, like all crusty people, had lots of mettle, and with
the stick which he held in his hand forthwith aimed a blow at the
fellow&rsquo;s poll, which, had he not jumped back, would
probably have broken it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will not be insulted by you, you vagabond,&rdquo;
said the old chap, &ldquo;nor by Sir Watkin either; go and tell
him so.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The fellow looked sheepish, and turning away proceeded to take
liberties with other people less dangerous to meddle with than
old crabstick. He, however, soon desisted, and sat down
evidently disconcerted.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Were you ever worse treated in South Wales by the
people there than you have been here by your own
countrymen?&rdquo; said I to the old fellow.</p>

<p>&ldquo;My countrymen?&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;this scamp is no
countryman of mine; nor is one of the whole kit. They are
all from Wrexham, a mixture of broken housekeepers and fellows
too stupid to learn a trade; a set of scamps fit for nothing in
the world but to swear bodily against honest men. They say
they will stand up for Sir Watkin, and so they will, but only in
a box in the Court to give false evidence. They won&rsquo;t
fight for him on the banks of the river. Countrymen of
mine, indeed! they are no countrymen of mine; they are from
Wrexham, where the people speak neither English nor Welsh, not
even South Welsh as you do.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then giving a kind of flourish with his stick he departed.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Llan Silin Church&mdash;Tomb of Huw
Morris&mdash;Barbara and Richard&mdash;Welsh Country
Clergyman&mdash;The Swearing Lad&mdash;Anglo-Saxon Devils.</p>

<p>Having discussed my ale I asked the landlord if he would show
me the grave of Huw Morris. &ldquo;With pleasure,
sir,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;pray follow me.&rdquo; He led
me to the churchyard, in which several enormous yew trees were
standing, probably of an antiquity which reached as far back as
the days of Henry the Eighth, when the yew bow was still the
favourite weapon of the men of Britain. The church fronts
the south, the portico being in that direction. The body of
the sacred edifice is ancient, but the steeple which bears a
gilded cock on its top is modern. The innkeeper led me
directly up to the southern wall, then pointing to a broad
discoloured slab, which lay on the ground just outside the wall,
about midway between the portico and the oriel end, he said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Underneath this stone lies Huw Morris,
sir.&rdquo; Forthwith taking off my hat I went down on my
knees and kissed the cold slab covering the cold remains of the
mighty Huw, and then, still on my knees, proceeded to examine it
attentively. It is covered over with letters three parts
defaced. All I could make out of the inscription was the
date of the poet&rsquo;s death, 1709. &ldquo;A great
genius, a very great genius, sir,&rdquo; said the inn-keeper,
after I had got on my feet and put on my hat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;He was indeed,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;are you acquainted
with his poetry?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said the innkeeper, and then repeated
the four lines composed by the poet shortly before his death,
which I had heard the intoxicated stonemason repeat in the
public-house of the Pandy, the day I went to visit the
poet&rsquo;s residence with John Jones.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you know any more of Huw&rsquo;s poetry?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the innkeeper. &ldquo;Those
lines, however, I have known ever since I was a child and
repeated them, more particularly of late since age has come upon
me and I have felt that I cannot last long.&rdquo;</p>

<p>It is very odd how few of the verses of great poets are in
people&rsquo;s mouths. Not more than a dozen of
Shakespear&rsquo;s lines are in people&rsquo;s mouths: of those
of Pope not more than half that number. Of Addison&rsquo;s
poetry two or three lines may be in people&rsquo;s mouths, though
I never heard one quoted, the only line which I ever heard quoted
as Addison&rsquo;s not being his but Garth&rsquo;s:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Tis best repenting in a coach and
six.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Whilst of the verses of Huw Morris I never knew any one but
myself, who am not a Welshman, who could repeat a line beyond the
four which I have twice had occasion to mention, and which seem
to be generally known in North if not in South Wales.</p>

<p>From the flagstone I proceeded to the portico and gazed upon
it intensely. It presented nothing very remarkable, but it
had the greatest interest for me, for I remembered how many times
Huw Morris had walked out of that porch at the head of the
congregation, the clergyman yielding his own place to the
inspired bard. I would fain have entered the church, but
the landlord had not the key, and told me that he imagined there
would be some difficulty in procuring it. I was therefore
obliged to content myself with peeping through a window into the
interior, which had a solemn and venerable aspect.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Within there,&rdquo; said I to myself, &ldquo;Huw
Morris, the greatest songster of the seventeenth century, knelt
every Sunday during the latter thirty years of his life, after
walking from Pont y Meibion across the bleak and savage
Berwyn. Within there was married Barbara Wynn, the Rose of
Maelai, to Richard Middleton, the handsome cavalier of Maelor,
and within there she lies buried, even as the songster who
lamented her untimely death in immortal verse lies buried out
here in the graveyard. What interesting associations has
this church for me, both outside and in, but all connected with
Huw; for what should I have known of Barbara, the Rose, and
gallant Richard but for the poem on their affectionate union and
untimely separation, the dialogue between the living and the
dead, composed by humble Huw, the farmer&rsquo;s son of Ponty y
Meibion?&rdquo;</p>

<p>After gazing through the window till my eyes watered I turned
to the innkeeper, and inquired the way to Llan Rhyadr.
Having received from him the desired information I thanked him
for his civility, and set out on my return.</p>

<p>Before I could get clear of the town I suddenly encountered my
friend R---, the clever lawyer and magistrate&rsquo;s clerk of
Llangollen.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I little expected to see you here,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nor I you,&rdquo; I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I came in my official capacity,&rdquo; said he;
&ldquo;the petty sessions have been held here to-day.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know they have,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;and that two
poachers have been convicted. I came here on my way to
South Wales to see the grave of Huw Morris, who, as you know, is
buried in the churchyard.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you seen the clergyman?&rdquo; said R---.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then come with me,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;I am now
going to call upon him. I know he will be rejoiced to make
your acquaintance.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He led me to the clergyman&rsquo;s house, which stood at the
south-west end of the village within a garden fenced with an iron
paling. We found the clergyman in a nice comfortable
parlour or study, the sides of which were decorated with
books. He was a sharp clever-looking man, of about the
middle age. On my being introduced to him he was very glad
to see me, as my friend R--- told me he would be. He seemed
to know all about me, even that I understood Welsh. We
conversed on various subjects: on the power of the Welsh
language; its mutable letters; on Huw Morris, and likewise on
ale, with an excellent glass of which he regaled me. I was
much pleased with him, and thought him a capital specimen of the
Welsh country clergyman. His name was Walter Jones.</p>

<p>After staying about half-an-hour I took leave of the good kind
man, who wished me all kind of happiness, spiritual and temporal,
and said that he should always be happy to see me at Llan
Silin. My friend R--- walked with me a little way and then
bade me farewell. It was now late in the afternoon, the sky
was grey and gloomy, and a kind of half wintry wind was
blowing. In the forenoon I had travelled along the eastern
side of the valley, which I will call that of Llan Rhyadr,
directing my course to the north, but I was now on the western
side of the valley, journeying towards the south. In about
half-an-hour I found myself nearly parallel with the high crag
which I had seen from a distance in the morning. It was now
to the east of me. Its western front was very precipitous,
but on its northern side it was cultivated nearly to the
summit. As I stood looking at it from near the top of a
gentle acclivity a boy with a team, whom I had passed a little
time before, came up. He was whipping his horses, who were
straining up the ascent, and was swearing at them most
frightfully in English. I addressed him in that language,
inquiring the name of the crag, but he answered Dim Saesneg, and
then again fell to cursing; his horses in English. I
allowed him and his team to get to the top of the ascent, and
then overtaking him, I said in Welsh: &ldquo;What do you mean by
saying you have no English? You were talking English just
now to your horses.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the lad, &ldquo;I have English enough
for my horses, and that is all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You seem to have plenty of Welsh,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;why don&rsquo;t you speak Welsh to your horses?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s of no use speaking Welsh to them,&rdquo;
said the boy; &ldquo;Welsh isn&rsquo;t strong enough.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t Myn Diawl tolerably strong?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not strong enough for horses,&rdquo; said the boy
&ldquo;if I were to say Myn Diawl to my horses, or even Cas
András, they would laugh at me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do the other carters,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;use the
same English to their horses which you do to yours?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes&rdquo; said the boy, &ldquo;they&rsquo;ll all use
the same English words; if they didn&rsquo;t the horses
wouldn&rsquo;t mind them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What a triumph,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;for the
English language that the Welsh carters are obliged to have
recourse to its oaths and execrations to make their horses get
on!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I said nothing more to the boy on the subject of language, but
again asked him the name of the crag. &ldquo;It is called
Craig y Gorllewin,&rdquo; said he. I thanked him, and soon
left him and his team far behind.</p>

<p>Notwithstanding what the boy said about the milk-and-water
character of native Welsh oaths, the Welsh have some very pungent
execrations, quite as efficacious, I should say, to make a horse
get on as any in the English swearing vocabulary. Some of
their oaths are curious, being connected with heathen times and
Druidical mythology; for example that Cas András,
mentioned by the boy, which means hateful enemy or horrible
András. András or Andraste was the fury or
Demigorgon of the Ancient Cumry, to whom they built temples and
offered sacrifices out of fear. Curious that the same oath
should be used by the Christian Cumry of the present day, which
was in vogue amongst their pagan ancestors some three thousand
years ago. However, the same thing is observable amongst us
Christian English: we say the Duse take you! even as our heathen
Saxon forefathers did, who worshipped a kind of Devil so called,
and named a day of the week after him, which name we still retain
in our hebdomadal calendar like those of several other
Anglo-Saxon devils. We also say: Go to old Nick! and Nick
or Nikkur was a surname of Woden, and also the name of a spirit
which haunted fords and was in the habit of drowning
passengers.</p>

<p>Night came quickly upon me after I had passed the swearing
lad. However, I was fortunate enough to reach Llan Rhyadr,
without having experienced any damage or impediment from Diawl,
András, Duse, or Nick.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXIX</h2>

<p class="letter">Church of Llan Rhyadr&mdash;The
Clerk&mdash;The Tablet&mdash;Stone&mdash;First View of the
Cataract.</p>

<p>The night was both windy and rainy like the preceding one, but
the morning which followed, unlike that of the day before, was
dull and gloomy. After breakfast I walked out to take
another view of the little town. As I stood looking at the
church a middle-aged man of a remarkably intelligent countenance
came up and asked me if I should like to see the inside. I
told him I should, whereupon he said that he was the clerk and
would admit me with pleasure. Taking a key out of his
pocket he unlocked the door of the church and we went in.
The inside was sombre, not so much owing to the gloominess of the
day as the heaviness of the architecture. It presented
something in the form of a cross. I soon found the clerk
what his countenance represented him to be, a highly intelligent
person. His answers to my questions were in general ready
and satisfactory.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This seems rather an ancient edifice,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;when was it built?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In the sixteenth century,&rdquo; said the clerk;
&ldquo;in the days of Harry Tudor.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have any remarkable men been clergymen of this
church?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Several, sir; amongst its vicars was Doctor William
Morgan, the great South Welshman, the author of the old Welsh
version of the Bible, who flourished in the time of Queen
Elizabeth. Then there was Doctor Robert South, an eminent
divine, who, though not a Welshman, spoke and preached Welsh
better than many of the native clergy. Then there was the
last vicar, Walter D---, a great preacher and writer, who styled
himself in print Gwalter Mechain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are Morgan and South buried here?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are not, sir,&rdquo; said the clerk; &ldquo;they
had been transferred to other benefices before they
died.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I did not inquire whether Walter D--- was buried there, for of
him I had never heard before, but demanded whether the church
possessed any ancient monuments.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This is the oldest which remains, sir,&rdquo; said the
clerk, and he pointed with his finger to a tablet-stone over a
little dark pew on the right side of the oriel window.
There was an inscription upon it, but owing to the darkness I
could not make out a letter. The clerk, however, read as
follows.</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center">1694. 21 Octr.<br
/>
Hic Sepultus Est<br />
Sidneus Bynner.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Do you understand Latin?&rdquo; said I to the
clerk.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not, sir; I believe, however, that the stone is to
the memory of one Bynner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is not a Welsh name,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not, sir,&rdquo; said the clerk.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It seems to be radically the same as Bonner,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;the name of the horrible Popish Bishop of London
in Mary&rsquo;s time. Do any people of the name of Bynner
reside in this neighbourhood at present?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;None, sir,&rdquo; said the clerk; &ldquo;and if the
Bynners are descendants of Bonner, it is, perhaps, well that
there are none.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I made the clerk, who appeared almost fit to be a clergyman, a
small present, and returned to the inn. After paying my
bill I flung my satchel over my shoulder, took my umbrella by the
middle in my right hand, and set off for the Rhyadr.</p>

<p>I entered the narrow glen at the western extremity of the town
and proceeded briskly along. The scenery was romantically
beautiful; on my left was the little brook, the waters of which
run through the town; beyond it a lofty hill; on my right was a
hill covered with wood from the top to the bottom. I
enjoyed the scene, and should have enjoyed it more had there been
a little sunshine to gild it.</p>

<p>I passed through a small village, the name of which I think
was Cynmen, and presently overtook a man and boy. The man
saluted me in English, and I entered into conversation with him
in that language. He told me that he came from Llan Gedwin,
and was going to a place called Gwern something, in order to
fetch home some sheep. After a time he asked me where I was
going.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am going to see the Pistyll Rhyadr,&rdquo; said I</p>

<p>We had then just come to the top of a rising ground.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yonder&rsquo;s the Pistyll!&rdquo; said he, pointing to
the west.</p>

<p>I looked in the direction of his finger, and saw something at
a great distance, which looked like a strip of grey linen hanging
over a crag.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is the waterfall,&rdquo; he continued,
&ldquo;which so many of the Saxons come to see. And now I
must bid you good-bye, master; for my way to the Gwern is on the
right.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then followed by the boy he turned aside into a wild road at
the corner of a savage, precipitous rock.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXX</h2>

<p class="letter">Mountain Scenery&mdash;The
Rhyadr&mdash;Wonderful Feat.</p>

<p>After walking about a mile with the cataract always in sight,
I emerged from the glen into an oblong valley extending from
south to north, having lofty hills on all sides, especially on
the west, from which direction the cataract comes. I
advanced across the vale till within a furlong of this object,
when I was stopped by a deep hollow or nether vale into which the
waters of the cataract tumble. On the side of this hollow I
sat down, and gazed down before me and on either side. The
water comes spouting over a crag of perhaps two hundred feet in
altitude between two hills, one south-east and the other nearly
north. The southern hill is wooded from the top, nearly
down to where the cataract bursts forth; and so, but not so
thickly, is the northern hill, which bears a singular resemblance
to a hog&rsquo;s back. Groves of pine are on the lower
parts of both; in front of a grove low down on the northern hill
is a small white house of a picturesque appearance. The
water of the cataract, after reaching the bottom of the
precipice, rushes in a narrow brook down the vale in the
direction of Llan Rhyadr. To the north-east, between the
hog-backed hill and another strange-looking mountain, is a wild
glen, from which comes a brook to swell the waters discharged by
the Rhyadr. The south-west side of the vale is steep, and
from a cleft of a hill in that quarter a slender stream rushing
impetuously joins the brook of the Rhyadr, like the rill of the
northern glen. The principal object of the whole is of
course the Rhyadr. What shall I liken it to? I
scarcely know, unless to an immense skein of silk agitated and
disturbed by tempestuous blasts, or to the long tail of a grey
courser at furious speed. Through the profusion of long
silvery threads or hairs, or what looked such, I could here and
there see the black sides of the crag down which the Rhyadr
precipitated itself with something between a boom and a roar.</p>

<p>After sitting on the verge of the hollow for a considerable
time I got up, and directed my course towards the house in front
of the grove. I turned down the path which brought me to
the brook which runs from the northern glen into the waters
discharged by the Rhyadr, and crossing it by stepping-stones,
found myself on the lowest spur of the hog-backed hill. A
steep path led towards the house. As I drew near two
handsome dogs came rushing to welcome the stranger. Coming
to a door on the northern side of the house I tapped, and a
handsome girl of about thirteen making her appearance, I inquired
in English the nearest way the waterfall; she smiled, and in her
native language said that she had no Saxon. On my telling
her in Welsh that I was come to see the Pistyll she smiled again,
and said that I was welcome, then taking me round the house, she
pointed to a path and bade me follow it. I followed the
path which led downward to a tiny bridge of planks, a little way
below the fall. I advanced to the middle of the bridge,
then turning to the west, looked at the wonderful object before
me.</p>

<p>There are many remarkable cataracts in Britain and the
neighbouring isles, even the little Celtic Isle of Man has its
remarkable waterfall; but this Rhyadr, the grand cataract of
North Wales, far exceeds them all in altitude and beauty, though
it is inferior to several of them in the volume of its
flood. I never saw water falling so gracefully, so much
like thin beautiful threads, as here. Yet even this
cataract has its blemish. What beautiful object has not
something which more or less mars its loveliness? There is
an ugly black bridge or semi-circle of rock, about two feet in
diameter and about twenty feet high, which rises some little way
below it, and under which the water, after reaching the bottom,
passes, which intercepts the sight, and prevents it from taking
in the whole fall at once. This unsightly object has stood
where it now stands since the day of creation, and will probably
remain there to the day of judgment. It would be a
desecration of nature to remove it by art, but no one could
regret if nature in one of her floods were to sweep it away.</p>

<p>As I was standing on the planks a woman plainly but neatly
dressed came from the house. She addressed me in very
imperfect English, saying that she was the mistress of the house
and should be happy to show me about. I thanked her for her
offer, and told her that she might speak Welsh, whereupon she
looked glad, and said in that tongue that she could speak Welsh
much better than Saesneg. She took me by a winding path up
a steep bank on the southern side of the fall to a small plateau,
and told me that was the best place to see the Pistyll
from. I did not think so, for we were now so near that we
were almost blinded by the spray, though, it is true, the
semicircle of rock no longer impeded the sight; this object we
now saw nearly laterally rising up like a spectral arch, spray
and foam above it, and water rushing below. &ldquo;That is
a bridge rather for ysprydoedd <a name="citation9"></a><a
href="#footnote9" class="citation">[9]</a> to pass over than
men,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; said the woman; &ldquo;but I once saw a
man pass over it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How did he get up?&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;The
sides are quite steep and slippery.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He wriggled to the sides like a llysowen, <a
name="citation10"></a><a href="#footnote10"
class="citation">[10]</a> till he got to the top, when he stood
upright for a minute, and then slid down on the other
side.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Was he any one from these parts?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;He was not. He was a dyn dieithr, a Russian; one
of those with whom we are now at war.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Was there as much water tumbling then as
now?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;More, for there had fallen more rain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose the torrent is sometimes very
dreadful?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is indeed, especially in winter; for it is then like
a sea, and roars like thunder or a mad bull.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After I had seen all I wished of the cataract, the woman asked
me to come to the house and take some refreshment. I
followed her to a neat little room where she made me sit down and
handed me a bowl of butter-milk. On the table was a book in
which she told me it was customary for individuals who visited
the cataract to insert their names. I took up the book
which contained a number of names mingled here and there with
pieces of poetry. Amongst these compositions was a Welsh
englyn on the Rhyadr, which, though incorrect in its prosody, I
thought stirring and grand. I copied it, and subjoin it
with a translation which I made on the spot.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Crychiawg, ewynawg anian&mdash;yw y
Rhyadr<br />
Yn rhuo mal taran;<br />
Colofn o dwr, gloyw-dwr glan,<br />
Gorwyllt, un lliw ag arian.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Foaming and frothing from mountainous height,<br />
&nbsp; Roaring like thunder the Rhyadr falls;<br />
Though its silvery splendour the eye may delight,<br />
&nbsp; Its fury the heart of the bravest appals.</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXI</h2>

<p class="letter">Wild Moors&mdash;The Guide&mdash;Scientific
Discourse&mdash;The Land of Arthur&mdash;The
Umbrella&mdash;Arrival at Bala.</p>

<p>When I had rested myself and finished the buttermilk, I got
up, and making the good woman a small compensation for her
civility, inquired if I could get to Bala without returning to
Llan Rhyadr.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;if you cross the hills
for about five miles you will find yourself upon a road which
will take you straight to Bala.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there anyone here,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;who will
guide me over the hills, provided I pay him for his
trouble?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I know one who will be
happy to guide you whether you pay him or not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>She went out and presently returned with a man about
thirty-five, stout and well-looking, and dressed in a
waggoner&rsquo;s frock.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;this is the man to show
you over the hills; few know the paths better.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I thanked her, and telling the man I was ready, bade him lead
the way. We set out, the two dogs of which I have spoken
attending us, and seemingly very glad to go. We ascended
the side of the hog-backed hill to the north of the Rhyadr.
We were about twenty minutes in getting to the top, close to
which stood a stone or piece of rock, very much resembling a
church altar, and about the size of one. We were now on an
extensive moory elevation, having the brook which forms the
Rhyadr a little way on our left. We went nearly due west,
following no path, for path there was none, but keeping near the
brook. Sometimes we crossed water-courses which emptied
their tribute into the brook, and every now and then ascended and
descended hillocks covered with gorse and whin. After a
little time I entered into conversation with my guide. He
had not a word of English.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you married?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth I am, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What family have you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have a daughter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where do you live?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;At the house of the Rhyadr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you live there as servant?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, I live there as master.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the good woman I saw there your wife?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In truth, sir, she is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And the young girl I saw your daughter?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, she is my daughter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how came the good woman not to tell me you were her
husband?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose, sir, you did not ask who I was, and she
thought you did not care to know.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But can you be spared from home?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, sir, I was not wanted at home.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What business are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am a farmer, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A sheep farmer?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who is your landlord.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sir Watkin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, it was very kind of you to come with
me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not at all, sir; I was glad to come with you, for we
are very lonesome at Rhyadr, except during a few weeks in the
summer, when the gentry come to see the Pistyll. Moreover,
I have sheep lying about here which need to be looked at now and
then, and by coming hither with you I shall have an opportunity
of seeing them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We frequently passed sheep feeding together in small
numbers. In two or three instances my guide singled out
individuals, caught them, and placing their heads between his
knees examined the insides of their eyelids, in order to learn by
their colour whether or not they were infected with the pwd or
moor disorder. We had some discourse about that
malady. At last he asked me if there was a remedy for
it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;a decoction of
hoarhound.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is hoarhound?&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Llwyd y Cwn,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Pour some of
that down the sheep&rsquo;s throat twice a day, by means of a
horn, and the sheep will recover, for the bitterness, do you see,
will destroy the worm <a name="citation11"></a><a
href="#footnote11" class="citation">[11]</a> in the liver, which
learned men say is the cause of the disorder.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We left the brook on our left hand and passed by some ruined
walls which my guide informed me had once belonged to houses but
were now used as sheepfolds. After walking several miles,
according to my computation, we began to ascend a considerable
elevation covered with brown heath and ling. As we went on
the dogs frequently put up a bird of a black colour, which flew
away with a sharp whirr.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What bird is that?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ceiliog y grug, the cock of the heath,&rdquo; replied
my guide. &ldquo;It is said to be very good eating, but I
have never tasted it. The ceiliog y grug is not food for
the like of me. It goes to feed the rich Saxons in Caer
Ludd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We reached the top of the elevation.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yonder,&rdquo; said my guide, pointing to a white bare
place a great way off to the west, &ldquo;is Bala
road.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then I will not trouble you to go any further,&rdquo;
said I; &ldquo;I can find my way thither.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, you could not,&rdquo; said my guide; &ldquo;if you
were to make straight for that place you would perhaps fall down
a steep, or sink into a peat hole up to your middle, or lose your
way and never find the road, for you would soon lose sight of
that place. Follow me, and I will lead you into a part of
the road more to the left, and then you can find your way easily
enough to that bare place, and from thence to Bala.&rdquo;
Thereupon he moved in a southerly direction down the steep and I
followed him. In about twenty minutes we came to the
road.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said my guide, &ldquo;you are on the road;
bear to the right and you cannot miss the way to Bala.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How far is it to Bala?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;About twelve miles,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>I gave him a trifle, asking at the same time if it was
sufficient. &ldquo;Too much by one-half,&rdquo; he replied;
&ldquo;many, many thanks.&rdquo; He then shook me by the
hand, and accompanied by his dogs departed, not back over the
moor, but in a southerly direction down the road.</p>

<p>Wending my course to the north, I came to the white bare spot
which I had seen from the moor, and which was in fact the top of
a considerable elevation over which the road passed. Here I
turned and looked at the hills I had come across. There
they stood, darkly blue, a rain cloud, like ink, hanging over
their summits. Oh, the wild hills of Wales, the land of old
renown and of wonder, the land of Arthur and Merlin!</p>

<p>The road now lay nearly due west. Rain came on, but it
was at my back, so I expanded my umbrella, flung it over my
shoulder and laughed. Oh, how a man laughs who has a good
umbrella when he has the rain at his back, aye and over his head
too, and at all times when it rains except when the rain is in
his face, when the umbrella is not of much service. Oh,
what a good friend to a man is an umbrella in rain time, and
likewise at many other times. What need he fear if a wild
bull or a ferocious dog attacks him, provided he has a good
umbrella? He unfurls the umbrella in the face of the bull
or dog, and the brute turns round quite scared, and runs
away. Or if a footpad asks him for his money, what need he
care provided he has an umbrella? He threatens to dodge the
ferrule into the ruffian&rsquo;s eye, and the fellow starts back
and says, &ldquo;Lord, sir! I meant no harm. I never
saw you before in all my life. I merely meant a little
fun.&rdquo; Moreover, who doubts that you are a respectable
character provided you have an umbrella? You go into a
public-house and call for a pot of beer, and the publican puts it
down before you with one hand without holding out the other for
the money, for he sees that you have an umbrella and consequently
property. And what respectable man, when you overtake him
on the way and speak to him, will refuse to hold conversation
with you, provided you have an umbrella? No one. The
respectable man sees you have an umbrella, and concludes that you
do not intend to rob him, and with justice, for robbers never
carry umbrellas. Oh, a tent, a shield, a lance, and a
voucher for character is an umbrella. Amongst the very best
friends of man must be reckoned an umbrella. <a
name="citation12"></a><a href="#footnote12"
class="citation">[12]</a></p>

<p>The way lay over dreary, moory hills; at last it began to
descend, and I saw a valley below me with a narrow river running
through it, to which wooded hills sloped down; far to the west
were blue mountains. The scene was beautiful but
melancholy; the rain had passed away, but a gloomy almost
November sky was above, and the mists of night were coming down
apace.</p>

<p>I crossed a bridge at the bottom of the valley and presently
saw a road branching to the right. I paused, but after a
little time went straight forward. Gloomy woods were on
each side of me and night had come down. Fear came upon me
that I was not on the right road, but I saw no house at which I
could inquire, nor did I see a single individual for miles of
whom I could ask. At last I heard the sound of hatchets in
a dingle on my right, and catching a glimpse of a gate at the
head of a path, which led down into it, I got over it.
After descending some time I hallooed. The noise of the
hatchets ceased. I hallooed again, and a voice cried in
Welsh, &ldquo;What do you want?&rdquo; &ldquo;To know the
way to Bala,&rdquo; I replied. There was no answer, but
presently I heard steps, and the figure of a man drew nigh, half
undistinguishable in the darkness, and saluted me. I
returned his salutation, and told him I wanted to know the way to
Bala. He told me, and I found I had been going right.
I thanked him and regained the road. I sped onward, and in
about half-an-hour saw some houses, then a bridge, then a lake on
my left, which I recognised as the lake of Bala. I skirted
the end of it, and came to a street cheerfully lighted up, and in
a minute more was in the White Lion Inn.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXII</h2>

<p class="letter">Cheerful Fire&mdash;Immense Man&mdash;Doctor
Jones&mdash;Recognition&mdash;A Fast Young Man&mdash;Excellent
Remarks&mdash;Disappointment.</p>

<p>I was conducted into the coffee-room of the White Lion by a
little freckled maid whom I saw at the bar, and whom I told that
I was come to pass the night at the inn. The room presented
an agreeable contrast to the gloomy, desolate places through
which I had lately come. A good fire blazed in the grate,
and there were four lights on the table. Lolling in a chair
by one side of the fire was an individual at the sight of whom I
almost started. He was an immense man, weighing I should
say at least eighteen stone, with brown hair, thinnish whiskers,
half-ruddy, half-tallowy complexion, and dressed in a brown
sporting coat, drab breeches, and yellow-topped boots&mdash;in
every respect the exact image of the Wolverhampton gent or
hog-merchant who had appeared to me in my dream at Llangollen,
whilst asleep before the fire. Yes, the very counterpart of
that same gent looked this enormous fellow, save and except that
he did not appear to be more than seven or eight and twenty,
whereas the hog-merchant looked at least fifty. Laying my
satchel down I took a seat and ordered the maid to get some
dinner for me, and then asked what had become of the waiter, Tom
Jenkins.</p>

<p>&ldquo;He is not here at present, sir,&rdquo; said the
freckled maid; &ldquo;he is at his own house.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And why is he not here?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because he is not wanted, sir; he only comes in summer
when the house is full of people.&rdquo;</p>

<p>And having said this the little freckled damsel left the
room.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Reither a cool night, sir!&rdquo; said the enormous man
after we had been alone together a few minutes.</p>

<p>I again almost started, for he spoke with the same kind of
half-piping, half-wheezing voice, with which methought the
Wolverhampton gent had spoken to me in my dream.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;it is rather cold out
abroad, but I don&rsquo;t care as I am not going any farther
to-night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not my case,&rdquo; said the stout man,
&ldquo;I have got to go ten miles, as far as Cerrig Drudion, from
which place I came this afternoon in a wehicle.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you reside at Cerrig Drudion?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said the stout man, whose dialect I shall
not attempt further to imitate, &ldquo;but I have been staying
there some time; for happening to go there a month or two ago I
was tempted to take up my quarters at the inn. A very nice
inn it is, and the landlady a very agreeable woman, and her
daughters very agreeable young ladies.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is this the first time you have been at
Bala?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, the first time. I had heard a good deal
about it, and wished to see it. So to-day, having the offer
of a vehicle at a cheap rate, I came over with two or three other
gents, amongst whom is Doctor Jones.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is Doctor Jones in
Bala?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said the stout man. &ldquo;Do you
know him?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and have a great respect
for him; his like for politeness and general learning is scarcely
to be found in Britain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only think,&rdquo; said the stout man.
&ldquo;Well, I never heard that of him before.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Wishing to see my sleeping room before I got my dinner, I now
rose and was making for the door, when it opened, and in came
Doctor Jones. He had a muffler round his neck, and walked
rather slowly and disconsolately, leaning upon a cane. He
passed without appearing to recognise me, and I, thinking it
would be as well to defer claiming acquaintance with him till I
had put myself a little to rights, went out without saying
anything to him. I was shown by the freckled maid to a nice
sleeping apartment, where I stayed some time adjusting
myself. On my return to the coffee-room I found the doctor
sitting near the fire-place. The stout man had left the
room. I had no doubt that he had told Doctor Jones that I
had claimed acquaintance with him, and that the doctor, not
having recollected me, had denied that he knew anything of me,
for I observed that he looked at me very suspiciously.</p>

<p>I took my former seat, and after a minute&rsquo;s silence said
to Doctor Jones, &ldquo;I think, sir, I had the pleasure of
seeing you some time ago at Cerrig Drudion?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s possible, sir,&rdquo; said Doctor Jones in a
tone of considerable hauteur, and tossing his head so that the
end of his chin was above his comforter, &ldquo;but I have no
recollection of it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I held my head down for a little time, then raising it and
likewise my forefinger, I looked Doctor Jones full in the face
and said, &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you remember talking to me about
Owen Pugh and Coll Gwynfa?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, I do,&rdquo; said Doctor Jones in a very low
voice, like that of a person who deliberates; &ldquo;yes, I
do. I remember you perfectly, sir,&rdquo; he added almost
immediately in a tone of some animation; &ldquo;you are the
gentleman with whom I had a very interesting conversation one
evening last summer in the bar of the inn at Cerrig
Drudion. I regretted very much that our conversation was
rather brief, but I was called away to attend to a case, a
professional case, sir, of some delicacy, and I have since
particularly regretted that I was unable to return that night, as
it would have given me much pleasure to have been present at a
dialogue, which I have been told by my friend the landlady, you
held with a certain Italian who was staying at the house, which
was highly agreeable and instructive to herself and her
daughter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am rejoiced that fate has
brought us together again. How have you been in health
since I had the pleasure of seeing you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rather indifferent, sir, rather indifferent. I
have of late been afflicted with several ailments, the original
cause of which, I believe, was a residence of several years in
the Ynysoedd y Gorllewin&mdash;the West India Islands&mdash;where
I had the honour of serving her present gracious Majesty&rsquo;s
gracious uncle, George the Fourth&mdash;in a medical capacity,
sir. I have likewise been afflicted with lowness of
spirits, sir. It was this same lowness of spirits which
induced me to accept an invitation made by the individual lately
in the room to accompany him in a vehicle with some other people
to Bala. I shall always consider my coming as a fortunate
circumstance, inasmuch as it has given me an opportunity of
renewing my acquaintance with you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;may I take the liberty of
asking who that individual is?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said Doctor Jones, &ldquo;he is what they
call a Wolverhampton gent.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A Wolverhampton gent,&rdquo; said I to myself;
&ldquo;only think!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Were you pleased to make any observation, sir?&rdquo;
said the doctor.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was merely saying something to myself,&rdquo; said
I. &ldquo;And in what line of business may he be? I
suppose in the hog line.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no!&rdquo; said Doctor Jones. &ldquo;His
father, it is true, is a hog-merchant, but as for himself he
follows no business; he is what is called a fast young man, and
goes about here and there on the spree, as I think they term it,
drawing, whenever he wants money, upon his father, who is in
affluent circumstances. Some time ago he came to Cerrig
Drudion, and was so much pleased with the place, the landlady,
and her daughters, that he has made it his headquarters ever
since. Being frequently at the house I formed an
acquaintance with him, and have occasionally made one in his
parties and excursions, though I can&rsquo;t say I derive much
pleasure from his conversation, for he is a person of little or
no literature.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The son of a hog-merchant,&rdquo; thought I to
myself. &ldquo;Depend upon it, that immense fellow whom I
saw in my dream purchase the big hog at Llangollen fair, and who
wanted me to give him a poond for his bargain, was this
gent&rsquo;s father. Oh, there is much more in dreams than
is generally dreamt of by philosophy!&rdquo;</p>

<p>Doctor Jones presently began to talk of Welsh literature, and
we were busily engaged in discussing the subject when in walked
the fast young man, causing the floor to quake beneath his
ponderous tread. He looked rather surprised at seeing the
doctor and me conversing, but Doctor Jones turning to him, said,
&ldquo;Oh, I remember this gentleman perfectly.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said the fast young man; &ldquo;very
good!&rdquo; then flinging himself down in a chair with a force
that nearly broke it, and fixing his eyes upon me, said, &ldquo;I
think I remember the gentleman too. If I am not much
mistaken, sir, you are one of our principal engineers at
Wolverhampton. Oh yes! I remember you now
perfectly. The last time I saw you was at a public dinner
given to you at Wolverhampton, and there you made a speech, and a
capital speech it was.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Just as I was about to reply Doctor Jones commenced speaking
Welsh, resuming the discourse on Welsh literature. Before,
however, he had uttered a dozen words he was interrupted by the
Wolverhampton gent, who exclaimed in a blubbering tone: &ldquo;O
Lord, you are surely not going to speak Welsh. If I had
thought I was to be bothered with Welsh I wouldn&rsquo;t have
asked you to come.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If I spoke Welsh, sir,&rdquo; said the doctor,
&ldquo;it was out of compliment to this gentleman, who is a
proficient in the ancient language of my country. As,
however, you dislike Welsh, I shall carry on the conversation
with him in English, though peradventure you may not be more
edified by it in that language than if it were held in
Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then proceeded to make some very excellent remarks on the
history of the Gwedir family, written by Sir John Wynn, to which
the Wolverhampton gent listened with open mouth and staring
eyes. My dinner now made its appearance, brought in by the
little freckled maid&mdash;the cloth had been laid during my
absence from the room. I had just begun to handle my knife
and fork, Doctor Jones still continuing his observations on the
history of the Gwedir family, when I heard a carriage drive up to
the inn, and almost immediately after, two or three young fellows
rollicked into the room: &ldquo;Come let&rsquo;s be off,&rdquo;
said one of them to the Wolverhampton gent; &ldquo;the carriage
is ready.&rdquo; &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad of it,&rdquo; said
the fast young man, &ldquo;for it&rsquo;s rather slow work
here. Come, doctor! are you going with us or do you intend
to stay here all night?&rdquo; Thereupon the doctor got up,
and coming towards me leaning on his cane, said: &ldquo;Sir! it
gives me infinite pleasure that I have met a second time a
gentleman of so much literature. That we shall ever meet a
third time I may wish but can scarcely hope, owing to certain
ailments under which I suffer, brought on, sir, by a residence of
many years in the Occidental Indies. However, at all
events, I wish you health and happiness.&rdquo; He then
shook me gently by the hand and departed with the Wolverhampton
gent and his companions; the gent as he stumped out of the room
saying, &ldquo;Good-night, sir; I hope it will not be long before
I see you at another public dinner at Wolverhampton, and hear
another speech from you as good as the last.&rdquo; In a
minute or two I heard them drive off. Left to myself I
began to discuss my dinner. Of the dinner I had nothing to
complain, but the ale which accompanied it was very bad.
This was the more mortifying, for, remembering the excellent ale
I had drunk at Bala some months previously, I had, as I came
along the gloomy roads the present evening, been promising myself
a delicious treat on my arrival.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This is very bad ale!&rdquo; said I to the freckled
maid, &ldquo;very different from what I drank in the summer, when
I was waited on by Tom Jenkins.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is the same ale, sir,&rdquo; said the maid,
&ldquo;but the last in the cask; and we shan&rsquo;t have any
more for six months, when he will come again to brew for the
summer; but we have very good porter, sir, and first-rate
Allsopp.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Allsopp&rsquo;s ale,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;will do for
July and August, but scarcely for the end of October.
However, bring me a pint; I prefer it at all times to
porter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>My dinner concluded, I trifled away my time till about ten
o&rsquo;clock, and then went to bed.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Breakfast&mdash;The Freckled Maid&mdash;Llan
uwch Llyn&mdash;The Landlady&mdash;Llewarch Hen&mdash;Conversions
to the Church.</p>

<p>Awaking occasionally in the night I heard much storm and
rain. The following morning it was gloomy and
lowering. As it was Sunday I determined to pass the day at
Bala, and accordingly took my Prayer Book out of my satchel, and
also my single white shirt, which I put on.</p>

<p>Having dressed myself I went to the coffee-room and sat down
to breakfast. What a breakfast!&mdash;pot of hare; ditto of
trout; pot of prepared shrimps; dish of plain shrimps; tin of
sardines; beautiful beef-steak; eggs, muffin; large loaf, and
butter, not forgetting capital tea. There&rsquo;s a
breakfast for you!</p>

<p>As the little freckled maid was removing the breakfast things
I asked her how old she was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Eighteen, sir, last Candlemas,&rdquo; said the freckled
maid.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are your parents alive?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My mother is, sir, but my father is dead.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What was your father?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He was an Irishman, sir! and boots to this
inn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is your mother Irish?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, she is of this place; my father married her
shortly after he came here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what religion are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Church, sir, Church.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Was your father of the Church?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not always, sir; he was once what is called a
Catholic. He turned to the Church after he came
here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A&rsquo;n&rsquo;t there a great many Methodists in
Bala?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty, sir, plenty.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How came your father not to go over to the Methodists
instead of the Church?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;Cause he didn&rsquo;t like them, sir; he used to
say they were a trumpery, cheating set; that they wouldn&rsquo;t
swear, but would lie through a three-inch board.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose your mother is a Church-woman?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;She is now, sir; but before she knew my father she was
a Methodist.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what religion is the master of the house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Church, sir, Church; so is all the family.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who is the clergyman of the place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mr Pugh, sir!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is he a good preacher?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Capital, sir! and so is each of his curates; he and
they are converting the Methodists left and right.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I should like to hear him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir! that you can do. My master, who is
going to church presently, will be happy to accommodate you in
his pew.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I went to church with the landlord, a tall gentlemanly man of
the name of Jones&mdash;Oh that eternal name of Jones! Rain
was falling fast, and we were glad to hold up our
umbrellas. We did not go to the church at Bala, at which
there was no service that morning, but to that of a little
village close by, on the side of the lake, the living of which is
incorporated with that of Bala. The church stands low down
by the lake at the bottom of a little nook. Its name which
is Llan uwch Llyn, is descriptive of its position, signifying the
Church above the Lake. It is a long, low, ancient edifice,
standing north-east by south-west. The village is just
above it on a rising ground, behind which are lofty hills
pleasantly dotted with groves, trees, and houses. The
interior of the edifice has a somewhat dilapidated
appearance. The service was in Welsh. The clergyman
was about forty years of age, and had a highly-intelligent
look. His voice was remarkably clear and distinct. He
preached an excellent practical sermon, text, 14th chapter, 22nd
verse of Luke, about sending out servants to invite people to the
supper. After the sermon there was a gathering for the
poor.</p>

<p>As I returned to the inn I had a good deal of conversation
with the landlord on religious subjects. He told me that
the Church of England, which for a long time had been a
down-trodden Church in Wales, had of late begun to raise its
head, and chiefly owing to the zeal and activity of its present
ministers; that the former ministers of the Church were good men,
but had not energy enough to suit the times in which they lived;
that the present ministers fought the Methodist preachers with
their own weapons, namely, extemporary preaching, and beat them,
winning shoals from their congregations. He seemed to think
that the time was not far distant when the Anglican Church would
be the popular as well as the established Church of Wales.</p>

<p>Finding myself rather dull in the inn, I went out again,
notwithstanding that it rained. I ascended the toman or
mound which I had visited on a former occasion. Nothing
could be more desolate and dreary than the scene around.
The woods were stripped of their verdure and the hills were half
shrouded in mist. How unlike was this scene to the smiling,
glorious prospect which had greeted my eyes a few months
before. The rain coming down with redoubled violence, I was
soon glad to descend and regain the inn.</p>

<p>Shortly before dinner I was visited by the landlady, a fine
tall woman of about fifty, with considerable remains of beauty in
her countenance. She came to ask me if I was
comfortable. I told her that it was my own fault if I was
not. We were soon in very friendly discourse. I asked
her her maiden name.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Owen,&rdquo; said she, laughing, &ldquo;which, after my
present name of Jones, is the most common name in
Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They were both one and the same originally,&rdquo; said
I, &ldquo;Owen and Jones both mean John.&rdquo;</p>

<p>She too was a staunch member of the Church of England, which
she said was the only true Church. She spoke in terms of
high respect and admiration of her minister, and said that a new
church was being built, the old one not being large enough to
accommodate the numbers who thronged to hear him.</p>

<p>I had a noble goose for dinner, to which I did ample
justice. About four o&rsquo;clock, the weather having
cleared up, I took a stroll. It was a beautiful evening,
though rain clouds still hovered about. I wandered to the
northern end of Llyn Tegid, which I had passed in the preceding
evening. The wind was blowing from the south, and tiny
waves were beating against the shore, which consisted of small
brown pebbles. The lake has certainly not its name, which
signifies Lake of Beauty, for nothing. It is a beautiful
sheet of water, and beautifully situated. It is oblong and
about six miles in length. On all sides, except to the
north, it is bounded by hills. Those at the southern end
are very lofty, the tallest of which is Arran, which lifts its
head to the clouds like a huge loaf. As I wandered on the
strand I thought of a certain British prince and poet, who in the
very old time sought a refuge in the vicinity of the lake from
the rage of the Saxons. His name was Llewarch Hen, of whom
I will now say a few words.</p>

<p>Llewarch Hen, or Llewarch the Aged, was born about the
commencement of the sixth and died about the middle of the
seventh century, having attained to the prodigious age of one
hundred and forty or fifty years, which is perhaps the lot of
about forty individuals in the course of a millennium. If
he was remarkable for his years he was no less so for the number
of his misfortunes. He was one of the princes of the
Cumbrian Britons; but Cumbria was invaded by the Saxons, and a
scene of horrid war ensued. Llewarch and his sons, of whom
he had twenty-four, put themselves at the head of their forces,
and in conjunction with the other Cumbrian princes made a brave
but fruitless opposition to the invaders. Most of his sons
were slain, and he himself with the remainder sought shelter in
Powys, in the hall of Cynddylan, its prince. But the Saxon
bills and bows found their way to Powys too. Cynddylan was
slain, and with him the last of the sons of Llewarch, who, reft
of his protector, retired to a hut by the side of the lake of
Bala, where he lived the life of a recluse, and composed elegies
on his sons and slaughtered friends, and on his old age, all of
which abound with so much simplicity and pathos that the heart of
him must be hard indeed who can read them unmoved. Whilst a
prince he was revered for his wisdom and equity, and he is said
in one of the historical triads to have been one of the three
consulting warriors of Arthur.</p>

<p>In the evening I attended service in the old church at
Bala. The interior of the edifice was remarkably plain; no
ornament of any kind was distinguishable; the congregation was
overflowing, amongst whom I observed the innkeeper and his wife,
the little freckled maid and the boots. The entire service
was in Welsh. Next to the pew in which I sat was one filled
with young singing women, all of whom seemed to have voices of
wonderful power. The prayers were read by a strapping young
curate at least six feet high. The sermon was preached by
the rector, and was a continuation of the one which I had heard
him preach in the morning. It was a very comforting
discourse, as the preacher clearly proved that every sinner will
be pardoned who comes to Jesus. I was particularly struck
with one part. The preacher said that Jesus&rsquo; arms
being stretched out upon the cross was emblematic of His
surprising love and His willingness to receive anybody. The
service concluded with the noble anthem Teyrnasa Jesu Mawr,
&ldquo;May Mighty Jesus reign!&rdquo;</p>

<p>The service over I returned to the parlour of the inn.
There I sat for a long-time, lone and solitary, staring at the
fire in the grate. I was the only guest in the house; a
great silence prevailed both within and without; sometimes five
minutes elapsed without my hearing a sound, and then, perhaps,
the silence would be broken by a footstep at a distance in the
street. At length, finding myself yawning, I determined to
go to bed. The freckled maid as she lighted me to my room
inquired how I liked the sermon. &ldquo;Very much,&rdquo;
said I. &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;did I not tell
you that Mr Pugh was a capital preacher?&rdquo; She then
asked me how I liked the singing of the gals who sat in the next
pew to mine. I told her that I liked it exceedingly.
&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;them gals have the best voices
in Bala. They were once Methody gals, and sang in the
chapels, but were converted, and are now as good Church as
myself. Them gals have been the cause of a great many
convarsions, for all the young fellows of their acquaintance
amongst the Methodists&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Follow them to church,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and in
time become converted. That&rsquo;s a thing of
course. If the Church gets the girls she is quite sure of
the fellows.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXIV</h2>

<p class="letter">Proceed on Journey&mdash;The Lad and
Dog&mdash;Old Bala&mdash;The Pass&mdash;Extensive View&mdash;The
Two Men&mdash;The Tap Nyth&mdash;The Meeting of the
Waters&mdash;The Wild Valley&mdash;Dinas Mawddwy.</p>

<p>The Monday morning was gloomy and misty, but it did not rain,
a circumstance which gave me no little pleasure, as I intended to
continue my journey without delay. After breakfast I bade
farewell to my kind host, and also to the freckled maid, and
departed, my satchel o&rsquo;er my shoulder and my umbrella in my
hand.</p>

<p>I had consulted the landlord on the previous day as to where I
had best make my next halt, and had been advised by him to stop
at Mallwyd. He said that if I felt tired I could put up at
Dinas Mawddwy, about two miles on this side of Mallwyd, but that
if I were not he would advise me to go on, as I should find very
poor accommodation at Dinas. On my inquiring as to the
nature of the road, he told me that the first part of it was
tolerably good, lying along the eastern side of the lake, but
that the greater part of it was very rough, over hills and
mountains, belonging to the great chain of Arran, which
constituted upon the whole the wildest part of all Wales.</p>

<p>Passing by the northern end of the lake I turned to the south,
and proceeded along a road a little way above the side of the
lake. The day had now to a certain extent cleared up, and
the lake was occasionally gilded by beams of bright
sunshine. After walking a little way I overtook a lad
dressed in a white greatcoat and attended by a tolerably large
black dog. I addressed him in English, but finding that he
did not understand me I began to talk to him in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a fine dog,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;Very fine, sir, and a good dog; though young
he has been known to kill rats.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;What is his name?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;His name is Toby, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;And what is your name?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;John Jones, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;And what is your father&rsquo;s?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;Waladr Jones, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Is Waladr the same as Cadwaladr?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;In truth, sir, it is.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;That is a fine name.</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;It is, sir; I have heard my father say that
it was the name of a king.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;What is your father?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;A farmer, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Does he farm his own land?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;He does not, sir; he is tenant to Mr Price
of Hiwlas.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Do you live far from Bala?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;Not very far, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Are you going home now?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;I am not, sir; our home is on the other side
of Bala. I am going to see a relation up the road.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Bala is a nice place.</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;It is, sir; but not so fine as old Bala.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;I never heard of such a place.
Where is it?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;Under the lake, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;What do you mean?</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;It stood in the old time where the lake now
is, and a fine city it was, full of fine houses, towers, and
castles, but with neither church nor chapel, for the people
neither knew God nor cared for Him, and thought of nothing but
singing and dancing and other wicked things. So God was
angry with them, and one night, when they were all busy at
singing and dancing and the like, God gave the word, and the city
sank down into Unknown, and the lake boiled up where it once
stood.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;That was a long time ago.</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;In truth, sir, it was.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Before the days of King Cadwaladr.</p>

<p><i>Lad</i>.&mdash;I daresay it was, sir.</p>

<p>I walked fast, but the lad was a shrewd walker, and though
encumbered with his greatcoat contrived to keep tolerably up with
me. The road went over hill and dale, but upon the whole
more upward than downward. After proceeding about an hour
and a half we left the lake, to the southern extremity of which
we had nearly come, somewhat behind, and bore away to the
south-east, gradually ascending. At length the lad,
pointing to a small farm-house on the side of a hill, told me he
was bound thither, and presently bidding me farewell, turned
aside up a footpath which led towards it.</p>

<p>About a minute afterwards a small delicate furred creature
with a white mark round its neck and with a little tail trailing
on the ground ran swiftly across the road. It was a weasel
or something of that genus; on observing it I was glad that the
lad and the dog were gone, as between them they would probably
have killed it. I hate to see poor wild animals persecuted
and murdered, lose my appetite for dinner at hearing the screams
of a hare pursued by greyhounds, and am silly enough to feel
disgust and horror at the squeals of a rat in the fangs of a
terrier, which one of the sporting tribe once told me were the
sweetest sounds in &ldquo;natur.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I crossed a bridge over a deep gulley which discharged its
waters into a river in a valley on the right. Arran rose in
great majesty on the farther side of this vale, its head partly
shrouded in mist. The day now became considerably
overcast. I wandered on over much rough ground till I came
to a collection of houses at the bottom of a pass leading up a
steep mountain. Seeing the door of one of the houses open I
peeped in, and a woman who was sitting knitting in the interior
rose and came out to me. I asked the name of the
place. The name which she told me sounded something like Ty
Capel Saer&mdash;the House of the Chapel of the Carpenter.
I inquired the name of the river in the valley. Cynllwyd,
hoary-headed, she seemed to say; but here, as well as with
respect to her first answer, I speak under correction, for her
Welsh was what my old friends, the Spaniards, would call muy
cerrado, that is, close or indistinct. She asked me if I
was going up the bwlch. I told her I was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rather you than I,&rdquo; said she, looking up to the
heavens, which had assumed a very dismal, not to say awful,
appearance.</p>

<p>Presently I began to ascend the pass or bwlch, a green hill on
my right intercepting the view of Arran, another very lofty hill
on my left with wood towards the summit. Coming to a little
cottage which stood on the left I went to the door and
knocked. A smiling young woman opened it, of whom I asked
the name of the house.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ty Nant&mdash;the House of the Dingle,&rdquo; she
replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you live alone?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No; mother lives here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Any Saesneg?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said she with a smile, &ldquo;S&rsquo;sneg
of no use here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Her face looked the picture of kindness. I was now
indeed in Wales amongst the real Welsh. I went on some
way. Suddenly there was a moaning sound, and rain came down
in torrents. Seeing a deserted cottage on my left I went
in. There was fodder in it, and it appeared to serve partly
as a barn, partly as a cow-house. The rain poured upon the
roof, and I was glad I had found shelter. Close behind this
place a small brook precipitated itself down rocks in four
successive falls.</p>

<p>The rain having ceased I proceeded, and after a considerable
time reached the top of the pass. From thence I had a view
of the valley and lake of Bala, the lake looking like an immense
sheet of steel. A round hill, however, somewhat intercepted
the view of the latter. The scene in my immediate
neighbourhood was very desolate; moory hillocks were all about me
of a wretched russet colour; on my left, on the very crest of the
hill up which I had so long been toiling, stood a black pyramid
of turf, a pole on the top of it. The road now wore nearly
due west down a steep descent. Arran was slightly to the
north of me. I, however, soon lost sight of it, as I went
down the farther side of the hill, which lies over against it to
the south-east. The sun, now descending, began to shine
out. The pass down which I was now going was yet wilder
than the one up which I had lately come. Close on my right
was the steep hill&rsquo;s side out of which the road or path had
been cut, which was here and there overhung by crags of wondrous
forms; on my left was a very deep glen, beyond which was a black,
precipitous, rocky wall, from a chasm near the top of which
tumbled with a rushing sound a slender brook, seemingly the
commencement of a mountain stream, which hurried into a valley
far below towards the west. When nearly at the bottom of
the descent I stood still to look around me. Grand and wild
was the scenery. On my left were noble green hills, the
tops of which were beautifully gilded by the rays of the setting
sun. On my right a black, gloomy, narrow valley or glen
showed itself; two enormous craggy hills of immense altitude, one
to the west and the other to the east of the entrance; that to
the east terminating in a peak. The background to the north
was a wall of rocks forming a semicircle, something like a bent
bow with the head downward; behind this bow, just in the middle,
rose the black loaf of Arran. A torrent tumbled from the
lower part of the semicircle, and after running for some distance
to the south turned to the west, the way I was going.</p>

<p>Observing a house a little way within the gloomy vale I went
towards it, in the hope of finding somebody in it who could give
me information respecting this wild locality. As I drew
near the door two tall men came forth, one about sixty, and the
other about half that age. The elder had a sharp, keen
look; the younger a lumpy and a stupid one. They were
dressed like farmers. On my saluting them in English the
elder returned my salutation in that tongue, but in rather a
gruff tone. The younger turned away his head and said
nothing.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of this house?&rdquo; said I, pointing
to the building.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The name of it,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;is Ty
Mawr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you live in it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, I live in it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What waterfall is that?&rdquo; said I, pointing to the
torrent tumbling down the crag at the farther end of the gloomy
vale.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The fountain of the Royal Dyfi.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why do you call the Dyfy royal?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because it is the king of the rivers in these
parts.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does the fountain come out of a rock?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It does not; it comes out of a lake, a llyn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where is the llyn?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Over that crag at the foot of Aran Vawr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it a large lake?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not; it is small.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Deep?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Strange things in it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe there are strange things in it.&rdquo;
His English now became broken.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Crocodiles?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not know what cracadailes be.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Efync?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah! No, I do not tink there be efync dere.
Hu Gadarn in de old time kill de efync dere and in all de lakes
in Wales. He draw them out of the water with his ychain
banog his humpty oxen, and when he get dem out he burn deir
bodies on de fire, he good man for dat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you call this allt?&rdquo; said I, looking up
to the high pinnacled hill on my right.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I call that Tap Nyth yr Eryri.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is not that the top nest of the eagles?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I believe it is. Ha! I see you understand
Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A little,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Are there eagles
there now?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, no eagle now.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Gone like avanc?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, gone like avanc, but not so long. My father
see eagle on Tap Nyth, but my father never see avanc in de
llyn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How far to Dinas?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About three mile.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Any thieves about?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, no thieves here, but what come from England,&rdquo;
and he looked at me with a strange, grim smile.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is become of the red-haired robbers of
Mawddwy?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said the old man, staring at me, &ldquo;I
see you are a Cumro. The red-haired thieves of
Mawddwy! I see you are from these parts.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s become of them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, dead, hung. Lived long time ago; long before
eagle left Tap Nyth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He spoke true. The red-haired banditti of Mawddwy were
exterminated long before the conclusion of the sixteenth century,
after having long been the terror not only of these wild regions
but of the greater part of North Wales. They were called
the red-haired banditti because certain leading individuals
amongst them had red foxy hair.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is that young man your son?&rdquo; said I, after a
little pause.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, he my son.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has he any English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, he no English, but he plenty of Welsh&mdash;that is
if he see reason.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I spoke to the young man in Welsh, asking him if he had ever
been up to the Tap Nyth, but he made no answer.</p>

<p>&ldquo;He no care for your question,&rdquo; said the old man;
&ldquo;ask him price of pig.&rdquo; I asked the young
fellow the price of hogs, whereupon his face brightened up, and
he not only answered my question, but told me that he had fat hog
to sell. &ldquo;Ha, ha,&rdquo; said the old man; &ldquo;he
plenty of Welsh now, for he see reason. To other question
he no Welsh at all, no more than English, for he see no
reason. What business he on Tap Nyth with eagle? His
business down below in sty with pig. Ah, he look lump, but
he no fool; know more about pig than you or I, or any one
&rsquo;twixt here and Mahuncleth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He now asked me where I came from, and on my telling him from
Bala, his heart appeared to warm towards me, and saying that I
must be tired, he asked me to step in and drink buttermilk, but I
declined his offer with thanks, and bidding the two adieu,
returned to the road.</p>

<p>I hurried along and soon reached a valley which abounded with
trees and grass; I crossed a bridge over a brook, not what the
old man had called the Dyfi, but the stream whose source I had
seen high up the bwlch, and presently came to a place where the
two waters joined. Just below the confluence on a fallen
tree was seated a man decently dressed; his eyes were fixed on
the rushing stream. I stopped and spoke to him.</p>

<p>He had no English, but I found him a very sensible man.
I talked to him about the source of the Dyfi. He said it
was a disputed point which was the source. He himself was
inclined to believe that it was the Pistyll up the bwlch. I
asked him of what religion he was. He said he was of the
Church of England, which was the Church of his father and his
grandfather, and which he believed to be the only true
Church. I inquired if it flourished. He said it did,
but that it was dreadfully persecuted by all classes of
dissenters, who, though they were continually quarrelling with
one another, agreed in one thing, namely, to persecute the
Church. I asked him if he ever read. He said he read
a great deal, especially the works of Huw Morris, and that
reading them had given him a love for the sights of nature.
He added that his greatest delight was to come to the place where
he then was of an evening, and look at the waters and
hills. I asked him what trade he was. &ldquo;The
trade of Joseph,&rdquo; said he, smiling.
&ldquo;Saer.&rdquo; &ldquo;Farewell, brother,&rdquo; said
I; &ldquo;I am not a carpenter, but like you I read the works of
Huw Morris and am of the Church of England.&rdquo; I then
shook him by the hand and departed.</p>

<p>I passed a village with a stupendous mountain just behind it
to the north, which I was told was called Moel Vrith or the
party-coloured moel. I was now drawing near to the western
end of the valley. Scenery of the wildest and most
picturesque description was rife and plentiful to a degree: hills
were here, hills were there; some tall and sharp, others huge and
humpy; hills were on every side; only a slight opening to the
west seemed to present itself. &ldquo;What a valley!&rdquo;
I exclaimed. But on passing through the opening I found
myself in another, wilder and stranger, if possible. Full
to the west was a long hill rising up like the roof of a barn, an
enormous round hill on its north-east side, and on its south-east
the tail of the range which I had long had on my left&mdash;there
were trees and groves and running waters, but all in deep shadow,
for night was now close at hand.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of this place?&rdquo; I shouted to a
man on horseback, who came dashing through a brook with a woman
in a Welsh dress behind him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Aber Cowarch, Saxon!&rdquo; said the man in a deep
guttural voice, and lashing his horse disappeared rapidly in the
night.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Aber Cywarch!&rdquo; I cried, springing half a yard
into the air. &ldquo;Why, that&rsquo;s the place where
Ellis Wynn composed his immortal &lsquo;Sleeping Bard,&rsquo; the
book which I translated in the blessed days of my youth.
Oh, no wonder that the &lsquo;Sleeping Bard&rsquo; is a wild and
wondrous work, seeing that it was composed amidst the wild and
wonderful scenes which I here behold.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I proceeded onwards up an ascent; after some time I came to a
bridge across a stream, which a man told me was called Avon
Gerres. It runs into the Dyfi, coming down with a rushing
sound from a wild vale to the north-east between the huge
barn-like hill and Moel Vrith. The barn-like hill I was
informed was called Pen Dyn. I soon reached Dinas Mawddwy,
which stands on the lower part of a high hill connected with the
Pen Dyn. Dinas, trough at one time a place of considerable
importance, if we may judge from its name, which signifies a
fortified city, is at present little more than a collection of
filthy huts. But though a dirty squalid place, I found it
anything but silent and deserted. Fierce-looking,
red-haired men, who seemed as if they might be descendants of the
red-haired banditti of old, were staggering about, and sounds of
drunken revelry echoed from the huts. I subsequently
learned that Dinas was the head-quarters of miners, the
neighbourhood abounding with mines both of lead and stone.
I was glad to leave it behind me. Mallwyd is to the south
of Dinas&mdash;the way to it is by a romantic gorge down which
flows the Royal Dyfi. As I proceeded along this gorge the
moon rising above Moel Vrith illumined my path. In about
half-an-hour I found myself before the inn at Mallwyd.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXV</h2>

<p class="letter">Inn at Mallwyd&mdash;A Dialogue&mdash;The
Cumro.</p>

<p>I entered the inn, and seeing a comely-looking damsel at the
bar, I told her that I was in need of supper and a bed. She
conducted me into a neat sanded parlour, where a good fire was
blazing, and asked me what I would have for supper.
&ldquo;Whatever you can most readily provide,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;I am not particular.&rdquo; The maid retired, and
taking off my hat, and disencumbering myself of my satchel, I sat
down before the fire and fell into a doze, in which I dreamed of
some of the wild scenes through which I had lately passed.</p>

<p>I dozed and dozed till I was roused by the maid touching me on
the shoulder and telling me that supper was ready. I got up
and perceived that during my doze she had laid the cloth and put
supper upon the table. It consisted of bacon and
eggs. During supper I had some conversation with the
maid.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Are you a native of this place?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;I am not, sir; I come from Dinas.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Are your parents alive?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;My mother is alive, sir, but my father is
dead.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Where does your mother live?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;At Dinas, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;How does she support herself?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;By letting lodgings to miners, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Are the miners quiet lodgers?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;Not always, sir; sometimes they get up at
night and fight with each other.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;What does your mother do on those
occasions?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;She draws the quilt over her head, and says
her prayers, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Why doesn&rsquo;t she get up and part
them?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;Lest she should get a punch or a thwack for
her trouble, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Of what religion are the miners?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;They are Methodists, if they are anything;
but they don&rsquo;t trouble their heads much about religion.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Of what religion are you?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;I am of the Church, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Did you always belong to the Church?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;Not always. When I was at Dinas I
used to hear the preacher, but since I have been here I have
listened to the clergyman.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Is the clergyman here a good man?</p>

<p><i>Maid</i>.&mdash;A very good man indeed, sir. He lives
close by. Shall I go and tell him you want to speak to
him?</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Oh dear me, no! He can employ his
time much more usefully than in waiting upon me.</p>

<p>After supper I sat quiet for about an hour. Then ringing
the bell, I inquired of the maid whether there was a newspaper in
the house. She told me there was not, but that she thought
she could procure me one. In a little time she brought me a
newspaper, which she said she had borrowed at the
parsonage. It was the <i>Cumro</i>, an excellent Welsh
journal written in the interest of the Church. In perusing
its columns I passed a couple of hours very agreeably, and then
went to bed.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXVI</h2>

<p class="letter">Mallwyd and its Church&mdash;Sons of
Shoemakers&mdash;Village Inn&mdash;Dottings.</p>

<p>The next day was the thirty-first of October, and was rather
fine for the season. As I did not intend to journey farther
this day than Machynlleth, a principal town in Montgomeryshire,
distant only twelve miles, I did not start from Mallwyd till just
before noon.</p>

<p>Mallwyd is a small but pretty village. The church is a
long edifice standing on a slight elevation on the left of the
road. Its pulpit is illustrious from having for many years
been occupied by one of the very celebrated men of Wales, namely
Doctor John Davies, author of the great Welsh and Latin
dictionary, an imperishable work. An immense yew tree grows
in the churchyard, and partly overshadows the road with its
branches. The parsonage stands about a hundred yards to the
south of the church, near a grove of firs. The village is
overhung on the north by the mountains of the Arran range, from
which it is separated by the murmuring Dyfi. To the south
for many miles the country is not mountainous, but presents a
pleasant variety of hill and dale.</p>

<p>After leaving the village a little way behind me I turned
round to take a last view of the wonderful region from which I
had emerged on the previous evening. Forming the two sides
of the pass down which comes &ldquo;the royal river&rdquo; stood
the Dinas mountain and Cefn Coch, the first on the left, and the
other on the right. Behind, forming the background of the
pass, appearing, though now some miles distant, almost in my
proximity, stood Pen Dyn. This hill has various names, but
the one which I have noted here, and which signifies the head of
a man, perhaps describes it best. From where I looked at it
on that last day of October it certainly looked like an enormous
head, and put me in mind of the head of Mambrino, mentioned in
the master work which commemorates the achievements of the
Manchegan knight. This mighty mountain is the birthplace of
more than one river. If the Gerres issues from its eastern
side, from its western springs the Maw, that singularly
picturesque stream, which enters the ocean at the place which the
Saxons corruptly call Barmouth and the Cumry with great propriety
Aber Maw, or the disemboguement of the Maw.</p>

<p>Just as I was about to pursue my journey two boys came up,
bound in the same direction as myself. One was a large boy
dressed in a waggoner&rsquo;s frock, the other was a little
fellow in a brown coat and yellowish trowsers. As we walked
along together I entered into conversation with them. They
came from Dinas Mawddwy. The large boy told me that he was
the son of a man who carted mwyn or lead ore, and the little
fellow that he was the son of a shoemaker. The latter was
by far the cleverest, and no wonder, for the son of shoemakers
are always clever, which assertion should anybody doubt I beg him
to attend the examinations at Cambridge, at which he will find
that in three cases out of four the senior wranglers are the sons
of shoemakers. From this little chap I got a great deal of
information about Pen Dyn, every part of which he appeared to
have traversed. He told me amongst other things that there
was a castle upon it. Like a true son of a shoemaker,
however, he was an arch rogue. Coming to a small house with
a garden attached to it in which there were apple-trees, he
stopped, whilst I went on with the other boy, and after a minute
or two came up running with a couple of apples in his hand.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where did you get those apples?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I
hope you did not steal them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He made no reply, but bit one, then making a wry face he flung
it away, and so he served the other. Presently afterwards,
coming to a side lane, the future senior wrangler, for a senior
wrangler he is destined to be, always provided he finds his way
to Cambridge, darted down it like an arrow, and disappeared.</p>

<p>I continued my way with the other lad, occasionally asking him
questions about the mines of Mawddwy. The information,
however, which I obtained from him was next to nothing, for he
appeared to be as heavy as the stuff which his father
carted. At length we reached a village forming a kind of
semicircle on a green which looked something like a small English
common. To the east were beautiful green hills; to the west
the valley with the river running through it, beyond which rose
other green hills yet more beautiful than the eastern ones.
I asked the lad the name of the place, but I could not catch what
he said, for his answer was merely an indistinct mumble, and
before I could question him again he left me, without a word of
salutation, and trudged away across the green.</p>

<p>Descending a hill I came to a bridge, under which ran a
beautiful river, which came foaming down from a gulley between
two of the eastern hills. From a man whom I met I learned
that the bridge was called Pont Coomb Linau, and that the name of
the village I had passed was Linau. The river carries an
important tribute to the Dyfi, at least it did when I saw it,
though perhaps in summer it is little more than a dry
water-course.</p>

<p>Half-an-hour&rsquo;s walking brought me from this place to a
small town or large village, with a church at the entrance and
the usual yew tree in the churchyard. Seeing a kind of inn
I entered it, and was shown by a lad-waiter into a large kitchen,
in which were several people. I had told him in Welsh that
I wanted some ale, and as he opened the door he cried with a loud
voice, &ldquo;Cumro!&rdquo; as much as to say, Mind what you say
before this chap, for he understands Cumraeg&mdash;that word was
enough. The people, who were talking fast and eagerly as I
made my appearance, instantly became silent and stared at me with
most suspicious looks. I sat down, and when my ale was
brought I took a hearty draught, and observing that the company
were still watching me suspiciously and maintaining the same
suspicious silence, I determined to comport myself in a manner
which should to a certain extent afford them ground for
suspicion. I therefore slowly and deliberately drew my
note-book out of my waistcoat pocket, unclasped it, took my
pencil from the loops at the side of the book, and forthwith
began to dot down observations upon the room and company, now
looking to the left, now to the right, now aloft, now alow, now
skewing at an object, now leering at an individual, my eyes half
closed and my mouth drawn considerably aside. Here follow
some of my dottings:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A very comfortable kitchen with a chimney-corner on the
south side&mdash;immense grate and brilliant fire&mdash;large
kettle hanging over it by a chain attached to a transverse iron
bar&mdash;a settle on the left-hand side of the fire&mdash;seven
fine large men near the fire&mdash;two upon the settle, two upon
chairs, one in the chimney-corner smoking a pipe, and two
standing up&mdash;table near the settle with glasses, amongst
which is that of myself, who sit nearly in the middle of the room
a little way on the right-hand side of the fire.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The floor is of slate; a fine brindled greyhound lies
before it on the hearth, and a shepherd&rsquo;s dog wanders
about, occasionally going to the door and scratching as if
anxious to get out. The company are dressed mostly in the
same fashion, brown coats, broad-brimmed hats, and yellowish
corduroy breeches with gaiters. One who looks like a
labouring man has a white smock and a white hat, patched
trowsers, and highlows covered with gravel&mdash;one has a blue
coat.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is a clock on the right-hand side of the kitchen;
a warming-pan hangs close by it on the projecting side of the
chimney-corner. On the same side is a large rack containing
many plates and dishes of Staffordshire ware. Let me not
forget a pair of fire-irons which hang on the right-hand side of
the chimney-corner!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I made a great many more dottings, which I shall not insert
here. During the whole time I was dotting the most
marvellous silence prevailed in the room, broken only by the
occasional scratching of the dog against the inside of the door,
the ticking of the clock, and the ruttling of the smoker&rsquo;s
pipe in the chimney-corner. After I had dotted to my
heart&rsquo;s content I closed my book, put the pencil into the
loops, then the book into my pocket, drank what remained of my
ale, got up, and, after another look at the apartment and its
furniture, and a leer at the company, departed from the house
without ceremony, having paid for the ale when I received
it. After walking some fifty yards down the street I turned
half round and beheld, as I knew I should, the whole company at
the door staring after me. I leered sideways at them for
about half a minute, but they stood my leer stoutly.
Suddenly I was inspired by a thought. Turning round I
confronted them, and pulling my note-book out of my pocket, and
seizing my pencil, I fell to dotting vigorously. That was
too much for them. As if struck by a panic, my quondam
friends turned round and bolted into the house; the
rustic-looking man with the smock-frock and gravelled highlows
nearly falling down in his eagerness to get in.</p>

<p>The name of the place where this adventure occurred was
Cemmaes.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXVII</h2>

<p class="letter">The Deaf Man&mdash;Funeral
Procession&mdash;The Lone Family&mdash;The Welsh and their
Secrets&mdash;The Vale of the Dyfi&mdash;The Bright Moon.</p>

<p>A little way from Cemmaes I saw a respectable-looking old man
like a little farmer, to whom I said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;How far to Machynlleth?&rdquo;</p>

<p>Looking at me in a piteous manner in the face he pointed to
the side of his head, and said&mdash;&ldquo;Dim
clywed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>It was no longer no English, but no hearing.</p>

<p>Presently I met one yet more deaf. A large procession of
men came along the road. Some distance behind them was a
band of women and between the two bands was a kind of bier drawn
by a horse with plumes at each of the four corners. I took
off my hat and stood close against the hedge on the right-hand
side till the dead had passed me some way to its final home.</p>

<p>Crossed a river, which like that on the other side of Cemmaes
streamed down from a gulley between two hills into the valley of
the Dyfi. Beyond the bridge on the right-hand side of the
road was a pretty cottage, just as there was in the other
locality. A fine tall woman stood at the door, with a
little child beside her. I stopped and inquired in English
whose body it was that had just been borne by.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That of a young man, sir, the son of a farmer, who
lives a mile or so up the road.&rdquo;</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;He seems to have plenty of friends.</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Oh yes, sir, the Welsh have plenty of
friends both in life and death.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;A&rsquo;n&rsquo;t you Welsh, then?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Oh no, sir, I am English, like yourself,
as I suppose.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Yes, I am English. What part of
England do you come from?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Shropshire, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Is that little child yours?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Yes, sir, it is my husband&rsquo;s child
and mine.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;I suppose your husband is Welsh.</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Oh no, sir, we are all English.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;And what is your husband?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;A little farmer, sir, he farms about forty
acres under Mrs ---.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Well, are you comfortable here?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Oh dear me, no, sir, we are anything but
comfortable. Here we are three poor lone creatures in a
strange land, without a soul to speak to but one another.
Every day of our lives we wish we had never left Shropshire.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Why don&rsquo;t you make friends amongst
your neighbours?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Oh, sir, the English cannot make friends
amongst the Welsh. The Welsh won&rsquo;t neighbour with
them, or have anything to do with them, except now and then in
the way of business.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;I have occasionally found the Welsh very
civil.</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Oh yes, sir, they can be civil enough to
passers-by, especially those who they think want nothing from
them&mdash;but if you came and settled amongst them you would
find them, I&rsquo;m afraid, quite the contrary.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Would they be uncivil to me if I could
speak Welsh?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Most particularly, sir; the Welsh
don&rsquo;t like any strangers, but least of all those who speak
their language.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Have you picked up anything of their
language?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Not a word, sir, nor my husband
neither. They take good care that we shouldn&rsquo;t pick
up a word of their language. I stood the other day and
listened whilst two women were talking just where you stand now,
in the hope of catching a word, and as soon as they saw me they
passed to the other side of the bridge, and began buzzing
there. My poor husband took it into his head that he might
possibly learn a word or two at the public-house, so he went
there, called for a jug of ale and a pipe, and tried to make
himself at home just as he might in England, but it
wouldn&rsquo;t do. The company instantly left off talking
to one another and stared at him, and before he could finish his
pot and pipe took themselves off to a man, and then came the
landlord, and asked him what he meant by frightening away his
customers. So my poor husband came home as pale as a sheet,
and sitting down in a chair said, &ldquo;Lord, have mercy upon
me!&rdquo;</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Why are the Welsh afraid that strangers
should pick up their language?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Lest, perhaps, they should learn their
secrets, sir!</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;What secrets have they?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;The Lord above only knows, sir!</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Do you think they are hatching treason
against Queen Victoria?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Oh dear no, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Is there much murder going on amongst
them?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Nothing of the kind, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Cattle-stealing?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Oh no, sir!</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Pig-stealing?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;No, sir!</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Duck or hen stealing?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Haven&rsquo;t lost a duck or hen since I
have been here, sir.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Then what secrets can they possibly
have?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know, sir! perhaps none at
all, or at most only a pack of small nonsense that nobody would
give three farthings to know. However, it is quite certain
they are as jealous of strangers hearing their discourse as if
they were plotting gunpowder treason or something worse.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Have you been long here?</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Only since last May, sir! and we hope to
get away by next, and return to our own country, where we shall
have some one to speak to.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Good-bye!</p>

<p><i>Woman</i>.&mdash;Good-bye, sir, and thank you for your
conversation; I haven&rsquo;t had such a treat of talk for many a
weary day.</p>

<p>The Vale of the Dyfi became wider and more beautiful as I
advanced. The river ran at the bottom amidst green and
seemingly rich meadows. The hills on the farther side were
cultivated a great way up, and various neat farm-houses were
scattered here and there on their sides. At the foot of one
of the most picturesque of these hills stood a large white
village. I wished very much to know its name, but saw no
one of whom I could inquire. I proceeded for about a mile,
and then perceiving a man wheeling stones in a barrow for the
repairing of the road I thought I would inquire of him. I
did so, but the village was then out of sight, and though I
pointed in its direction and described its situation I could not
get its name out of him. At last I said hastily, &ldquo;Can
you tell me your own name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dafydd Tibbot, sir,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Tibbot, Tibbot,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;why, you are a
Frenchman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dearie me, sir,&rdquo; said the man, looking very
pleased, &ldquo;am I, indeed?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, you are,&rdquo; said I, rather repenting of my
haste, and giving him sixpence, I left him.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d bet a trifle,&rdquo; said I to myself, as I
walked away, &ldquo;that this poor creature is the descendant of
some desperate Norman Tibault who helped to conquer Powisland
under Roger de Montgomery or Earl Baldwin. How striking
that the proud old Norman names are at present only borne by
people in the lowest station. Here&rsquo;s a Tibbot or
Tibault harrowing stones on a Welsh road, and I have known a
Mortimer munching poor cheese and bread under a hedge on an
English one. How can we account for this save by the
supposition that the descendants of proud, cruel, and violent
men&mdash;and who so proud, cruel and violent, as the old
Normans&mdash;are doomed by God to come to the dogs?&rdquo;</p>

<p>Came to Pont Velin Cerrig, the bridge of the mill of the
Cerrig, a river which comes foaming down from between two rocky
hills. This bridge is about a mile from Machynlleth, at
which place I arrived at about five o&rsquo;clock in the
evening&mdash;a cool, bright moon shining upon me. I put up
at the principal inn, which was of course called the Wynstay
Arms.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Welsh Poems&mdash;Sessions Business&mdash;The
Lawyer and his Client&mdash;The Court&mdash;The Two
Keepers&mdash;The Defence.</p>

<p>During supper I was waited upon by a brisk, buxom maid who
told me that her name was Mary Evans. The repast over, I
ordered a glass of whiskey and water, and when it was brought I
asked the maid if she could procure me some book to read.
She said she was not aware of any book in the house which she
could lay her hand on except one of her own, which if I pleased
she would lend me. I begged her to do so. Whereupon
she went out and presently returned with a very small volume,
which she laid on the table and then retired. After taking
a sip of my whiskey and water I proceeded to examine it. It
turned out to be a volume of Welsh poems entitled &ldquo;Blodau
Glyn Dyfi&rdquo;; or, Flowers of Glyn Dyfi, by one Lewis
Meredith, whose poetical name is Lewis Glyn Dyfi. The
author indites his preface from Cemmaes, June, 1852. The
best piece is called Dyffryn Dyfi, and is descriptive of the
scenery of the vale through which the Dyfi runs. It
commences thus:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Heddychol ddyffryn tlws,&rdquo;<br />
Peaceful, pretty vale,</p>
</blockquote>

<p>and contains many lines breathing a spirit of genuine
poetry.</p>

<p>The next day I did not get up till nine, having no journey
before me, as I intended to pass that day at Machynlleth.
When I went down to the parlour I found another guest there,
breakfasting. He was a tall, burly, and clever-looking man
of about thirty-five. As we breakfasted together at the
same table we entered into conversation. I learned from him
that he was an attorney from a town at some distance, and was
come over to Machynlleth to the petty sessions, to be held that
day, in order to defend a person accused of spearing a salmon in
the river. I asked him who his client was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A farmer,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;a tenant of Lord V---,
who will probably preside over the bench which will try the
affair.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;a tenant spearing his
landlord&rsquo;s fish&mdash;that&rsquo;s bad.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;the fish which he speared,
that is, which he is accused of spearing, did not belong to his
landlord but to another person; he hires land of Lord V---, but
the fishing of the river which runs through that land belongs to
Sir Watkin.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, then,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;supposing he did spear
the salmon I shan&rsquo;t break my heart if you get him off: do
you think you shall?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said he.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s the evidence of two keepers against him; one
of whom I hope, however, to make appear a scoundrel, in whose
oath the slightest confidence is not to be placed. I
shouldn&rsquo;t wonder if I make my client appear a persecuted
lamb. The worst is, that he has the character of being
rather fond of fish, indeed of having speared more salmon than
any other six individuals in the neighbourhood.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I really should like to see him,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;what kind of person is he?&mdash;some fine,
desperate-looking fellow, I suppose?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You will see him presently,&rdquo; said the lawyer;
&ldquo;he is in the passage waiting till I call him in to take
some instructions from him; and I think I had better do so now,
for I have breakfasted, and time is wearing away.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then got up, took some papers out of a carpet bag, sat
down, and after glancing at them for a minute or two, went to the
door and called to somebody in Welsh to come in. Forthwith
in came a small, mean, wizzened-faced man of about sixty, dressed
in a black coat and hat, drab breeches and gaiters, and looking
more like a decayed Methodist preacher than a spearer of imperial
salmon.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the attorney, &ldquo;This is my
client, what do you think of him?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He is rather a different person from what I had
expected to see,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but let us mind what we
say or we shall offend him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not we,&rdquo; said the attorney; &ldquo;that is,
unless we speak Welsh, for he understands not a word of any other
language.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then sitting down at the further table he said to his client
in Welsh: &ldquo;Now, Mr So-and-so, have you learnt anything more
about that first keeper?&rdquo;</p>

<p>The client bent down, and placing both his hands upon the
table began to whisper in Welsh to his professional
adviser. Not wishing to hear any of their conversation I
finished my breakfast as soon as possible and left the
room. Going into the inn-yard I had a great deal of learned
discourse with an old ostler about the glanders in horses.
From the inn-yard I went to my own private room and made some
dottings in my note-book, and then went down again to the
parlour, which I found unoccupied. After sitting some time
before the fire I got up, and strolling out, presently came to a
kind of marketplace, in the middle of which stood an
old-fashioned-looking edifice supported on pillars. Seeing
a crowd standing round it I asked what was the matter, and was
told that the magistrates were sitting in the town-hall above,
and that a grand poaching case was about to be tried.
&ldquo;I may as well go and hear it,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>Ascending a flight of steps I found myself in the hall of
justice, in the presence of the magistrates and amidst a great
many people, amongst whom I observed my friend the attorney and
his client. The magistrates, upon the whole, were rather a
fine body of men. Lord V--- was in the chair, a highly
intelligent-looking person, with fresh complexion, hooked nose,
and dark hair. A policeman very civilly procured me a
commodious seat. I had scarcely taken possession of it when
the poaching case was brought forward. The first witness
against the accused was a fellow dressed in a dirty
snuff-coloured suit, with a debauched look, and having much the
appearance of a town shack. He deposed that he was a hired
keeper, and went with another to watch the river at about four
o&rsquo;clock in the morning; that they placed themselves behind
a bush, and that a little before day-light they saw the farmer
drive some cattle across the river. He was attended by a
dog. Suddenly they saw him put a spear upon a stick which
he had in his hand, run back to the river, and plunging the spear
in, after a struggle, pull out a salmon; that they then ran
forward, and he himself asked the farmer what he was doing,
whereupon the farmer flung the salmon and spear into the river
and said that if he did not take himself off he would fling him
in too. The attorney then got up and began to
cross-question him. &ldquo;How long have you been a
keeper?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About a fortnight.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you get a week?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ten shillings.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you not lately been in London?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What induced you to go to London?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The hope of bettering my condition.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Were you not driven out of Machynlleth?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why did you leave London?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because I could get no work, and my wife did not like
the place.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you obtain possession of the salmon and the
spear?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I did not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The pool was deep where the salmon was struck, and I
was not going to lose my life by going into it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How deep was it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Over the tops of the houses,&rdquo; said the fellow,
lifting up his hands.</p>

<p>The other keeper then came forward; he was brother to the
former, but had much more the appearance of a keeper, being
rather a fine fellow, and dressed in a wholesome, well-worn suit
of velveteen. He had no English, and what he said was
translated by a sworn interpreter. He gave the same
evidence as his brother about watching behind the bush, and
seeing the farmer strike a salmon. When cross-questioned,
however, he said that no words passed between the farmer and his
brother, at least, that he heard. The evidence for the
prosecution being given, my friend the attorney entered upon the
defence. He said that he hoped the court were not going to
convict his client, one of the most respectable farmers in the
county, on the evidence of two such fellows as the keepers, one
of whom was a well-known bad one, who for his evil deeds had been
driven from Machynlleth to London, and from London back again to
Machynlleth, and the other, who was his brother, a fellow not
much better, and who, moreover, could not speak a word of
English&mdash;the honest lawyer forgetting no doubt that his own
client had just as little English as the keeper. He
repeated that he hoped the court would not convict his
respectable client on the evidence of these fellows, more
especially as they flatly contradicted each other in one material
point, one saying that words had passed between the farmer and
himself, and the other that no words at all had passed, and were
unable to corroborate their testimony by anything visible or
tangible. If his client speared the salmon and then flung
the salmon with the spear sticking in its body into the pool, why
didn&rsquo;t they go into the pool and recover the spear and
salmon? They might have done so with perfect safety, there
being an old proverb&mdash;he need not repeat it&mdash;which
would have secured them from drowning had the pool been not
merely over the tops of the houses but over the tops of the
steeples. But he would waive all the advantage which his
client derived from the evil character of the witnesses, the
discrepancy of their evidence, and their not producing the spear
and salmon in court. He would rest the issue of the affair
with confidence, on one argument, on one question; it was
this. Would any man in his senses&mdash;and it was well
known that his client was a very sensible man&mdash;spear a
salmon not his own when he saw two keepers close at hand watching
him&mdash;staring at him? Here the chairman observed that
there was no proof that he saw them&mdash;that they were behind a
bush. But my friend the attorney very properly, having the
interest of his client and his own character for consistency in
view, stuck to what he had said, and insisted that the farmer
must have seen them, and he went on reiterating that he must have
seen them, notwithstanding that several magistrates shook their
heads.</p>

<p>Just as he was about to sit down I moved up behind him and
whispered: &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you mention the dog?
Wouldn&rsquo;t the dog have been likely to have scented the
fellows out even if they had been behind the bush?&rdquo;</p>

<p>He looked at me for a moment and then said with a kind of
sigh: &ldquo;No, no! twenty dogs would be of no use here.
It&rsquo;s no go&mdash;I shall leave the case as it
is.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The court was cleared for a time, and when the audience were
again admitted Lord V--- said that the Bench found the prisoner
guilty; that they had taken into consideration what his counsel
had said in his defence, but that they could come to no other
conclusion, more especially as the accused was known to have been
frequently guilty of similar offences. They fined him four
pounds, including costs.</p>

<p>As the people were going out I said to the farmer in Welsh:
&ldquo;A bad affair this.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Drwg iawn&rdquo;&mdash;very bad indeed, he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did these fellows speak truth?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nage&mdash;Dim ond celwydd&rdquo;&mdash;not they!
nothing but lies.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I to myself, &ldquo;what an
ill-treated individual!&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXIX</h2>

<p class="letter">Machynlleth&mdash;Remarkable Events&mdash;Ode
to Glendower&mdash;Dafydd Gam&mdash;Lawdden&rsquo;s Hatchet.</p>

<p>Machynlleth, pronounced Machuncleth, is one of the principal
towns of the district which the English call Montgomeryshire, and
the Welsh Shire Trefaldwyn or the Shire of Baldwin&rsquo;s town,
Trefaldwyn or the town of Baldwin being the Welsh name for the
town which is generally termed Montgomery. It is situated
in nearly the centre of the valley of the Dyfi, amidst pleasant
green meadows, having to the north the river, from which,
however, it is separated by a gentle hill. It possesses a
stately church, parts of which are of considerable antiquity, and
one or two good streets. It is a thoroughly Welsh town, and
the inhabitants, who amount in number to about four thousand,
speak the ancient British language with considerable purity.</p>

<p>Machynlleth has been the scene of remarkable events, and is
connected with remarkable names, some of which have rung through
the world. At Machynlleth, in 1402, Owen Glendower, after
several brilliant victories over the English, held a parliament
in a house which is yet to be seen in the Eastern Street, and was
formally crowned King of Wales; in his retinue was the venerable
bard Iolo Goch, who, imagining that he now saw the old prophecy
fulfilled, namely, that a prince of the race of Cadwaladr should
rule the Britons, after emancipating them from the Saxon yoke,
greeted the chieftain with an ode, to the following
effect:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s the life I&rsquo;ve
sigh&rsquo;d for long:<br />
Abash&rsquo;d is now the Saxon throng,<br />
And Britons have a British lord<br />
Whose emblem is the conquering sword;<br />
There&rsquo;s none I trow but knows him well,<br />
The hero of the watery dell,<br />
Owain of bloody spear in field,<br />
Owain his country&rsquo;s strongest shield;<br />
A sovereign bright in grandeur drest,<br />
Whose frown affrights the bravest breast.<br />
Let from the world upsoar on high<br />
A voice of splendid prophecy!<br />
All praise to him who forth doth stand<br />
To &rsquo;venge his injured native land!<br />
Of him&mdash;of him a lay I&rsquo;ll frame<br />
Shall bear through countless years his name,<br />
In him are blended portents three,<br />
Their glories blended sung shall be:<br />
There&rsquo;s Oswain, meteor of the glen,<br />
The head of princely generous men;<br />
Owain the lord of trenchant steel,<br />
Who makes the hostile squadrons reel;<br />
Owain, besides, of warlike look,<br />
A conqueror who no stay will brook;<br />
Hail to the lion leader gay!<br />
Marshaller of Griffith&rsquo;s war array;<br />
The scourger of the flattering race,<br />
For them a dagger has his face;<br />
Each traitor false he loves to smite,<br />
A lion is he for deeds of might;<br />
Soon may he tear, like lion grim,<br />
All the Lloegrians limb from limb!<br />
May God and Rome&rsquo;s blest father high<br />
Deck him in surest panoply!<br />
Hail to the valiant carnager,<br />
Worthy three diadems to bear!<br />
Hail to the valley&rsquo;s belted king!<br />
Hail to the widely conquering,<br />
The liberal, hospitable, kind,<br />
Trusty and keen as steel refined!<br />
Vigorous of form he nations bows,<br />
Whilst from his breast-plate bounty flows.<br />
Of Horsa&rsquo;s seed on hill and plain<br />
Four hundred thousand he has slain.<br />
The copestone of our nation&rsquo;s he,<br />
In him our weal, our all we see;<br />
Though calm he looks his plans when breeding,<br />
Yet oaks he&rsquo;d break his clans when leading.<br />
Hail to this partisan of war,<br />
This bursting meteor flaming far!<br />
Where&rsquo;er he wends, Saint Peter guard him,<br />
And may the Lord five lives award him!&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>To Machynlleth on the occasion of the parliament came Dafydd
Gam, so celebrated in after time; not, however, with the view of
entering into the councils of Glendower, or of doing him homage,
but of assassinating him. This man, whose surname Gam
signifies crooked, was a petty chieftain of Breconshire. He
was small of stature and deformed in person, though possessed of
great strength. He was very sensitive of injury, though
quite as alive to kindness; a thorough-going enemy and a
thorough-going friend. In the earlier part of his life he
had been driven from his own country for killing a man, called
Big Richard of Slwch, in the High Street of Aber Honddu or
Brecon, and had found refuge in England and kind treatment in the
house of John of Gaunt, for whose son Henry, generally called
Bolingbroke, he formed one of his violent friendships.
Bolingbroke, on becoming King Henry the Fourth, not only restored
the crooked little Welshman to his possessions, but gave him
employments of great trust and profit in Herefordshire. The
insurrection of Glendower against Henry was quite sufficient to
kindle against him the deadly hatred of Dafydd, who swore
&ldquo;by the nails of God&rdquo; that he would stab his
countryman for daring to rebel against his friend King Henry, the
son of the man who had received him in his house and comforted
him when his own countrymen were threatening his
destruction. He therefore went to Machynlleth with the full
intention of stabbing Glendower, perfectly indifferent as to what
might subsequently be his own fate. Glendower, however, who
had heard of his threat, caused him to be seized and conducted in
chains to a prison which he had in the mountains of
Sycharth. Shortly afterwards, passing through Breconshire
with his host, he burnt Dafydd&rsquo;s house&mdash;a fair edifice
called the Cyrnigwen, situated on a hillock near the river
Honddu&mdash;to the ground, and seeing one of Gam&rsquo;s
dependents gazing mournfully on the smouldering ruins he uttered
the following taunting englyn:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Shouldst thou a little red man descry<br />
&nbsp; Asking about his dwelling fair,<br />
Tell him it under the bank doth lie,<br />
&nbsp; And its brow the mark of the coal doth
bear.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Dafydd remained confined till the fall of Glendower, shortly
after which event he followed Henry the Fifth to France, where he
achieved that glory which will for ever bloom, dying, covered
with wounds, on the field of Agincourt after saving the life of
the king, to whom in the dreadest and most critical moment of the
fight he stuck closer than a brother, not from any abstract
feeling of loyalty, but from the consideration that King Henry
the Fifth was the son of King Henry the Fourth, who was the son
of the man who received and comforted him in his house, after his
own countrymen had hunted him from house and land.</p>

<p>Connected with Machynlleth is a name not so widely celebrated
as those of Glendower and Dafydd Gam, but well known to and
cherished by the lovers of Welsh song. It is that of
Lawdden, a Welsh bard in holy orders, who officiated as priest at
Machynlleth from 1440 to 1460. But though Machynlleth was
his place of residence for many years, it was not the place of
his birth, Lychwr in Carmarthenshire being the spot where he
first saw the light. He was an excellent poet, and
displayed in his compositions such elegance of language, and such
a knowledge of prosody, that it was customary, long after his
death, when any masterpiece of vocal song or eloquence was
produced, to say that it bore the traces of Lawdden&rsquo;s
hatchet. At the request of Griffith ap Nicholas, a powerful
chieftain of South Wales, and a great patron of the Muse, he drew
up a statute relating to poets and poetry, and at the great
Eisteddfodd, or poetical congress, held at Carmarthen in the year
1450, under the auspices of Griffith, which was attended by the
most celebrated bards of the north and south, he officiated as
judge, in conjunction with the chieftain, upon the compositions
of the bards who competed for the prize&mdash;a little silver
chair. Not without reason, therefore, do the inhabitants of
Machynlleth consider the residence of such a man within their
walls, though at a far by-gone period, as conferring a lustre on
their town, and Lewis Meredith has probability on his side when,
in his pretty poem on Glen Dyfi, he says:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Whilst fair Machynlleth decks thy quiet
plain,<br />
Conjoined with it shall Lawdden&rsquo;s name remain.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXX</h2>

<p class="letter">The Old Ostler&mdash;Directions&mdash;Church
of England Man&mdash;The Deep Dingle&mdash;The Two
Women&mdash;The Cutty Pipe&mdash;Waen y Bwlch&mdash;The Deaf and
Dumb&mdash;The Glazed Hat.</p>

<p>I rose on the morning of the 2nd of November intending to
proceed to the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, where I proposed halting a
day or two, in order that I might have an opportunity of
surveying the far-famed scenery of that locality. After
paying my bill I went into the yard to my friend the old ostler,
to make inquiries with respect to the road.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What kind of road,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is it to the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There are two roads, sir, to the Pont y Gwr Drwg; which
do you mean to take?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why do you call the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge the Pont y Gwr
Drwg, or the bridge of the evil man?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That we may not bring a certain gentleman upon us, sir,
who doesn&rsquo;t like to have his name taken in vain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is their much difference between the roads?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A great deal, sir; one is over the hills, and the other
round by the valleys.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Which is the shortest?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, that over the hills, sir; it is about twenty miles
from here to the Pont y Gwr Drwg over the hills, but more than
twice that by the valleys.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I suppose you would advise me to go by the
hills?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Certainly, sir&mdash;that is, if you wish to break your
neck, or to sink in a bog, or to lose your way, or perhaps, if
night comes on, to meet the Gwr Drwg himself taking a
stroll. But to talk soberly. The way over the hills
is an awful road, and, indeed, for the greater part is no road at
all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I shall go by it. Can&rsquo;t you give me
some directions?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do my best, sir, but I tell you again that
the road is a horrible one, and very hard to find.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then went with me to the gate of the inn, where he began to
give me directions, pointing to the south, and mentioning some
names of places through which I must pass, amongst which were
Waen y Bwlch and Long Bones. At length he mentioned Pont
Erwyd, and said: &ldquo;If you can but get there, you are all
right, for from thence there is a very fair road to the bridge of
the evil man; though I dare say if you get to Pont
Erwyd&mdash;and I wish you may get there&mdash;you will have had
enough of it and will stay there for the night, more especially
as there is a good inn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Leaving Machynlleth, I ascended a steep hill which rises to
the south of it. From the top of this hill there is a fine
view of the town, the river, and the whole valley of the
Dyfi. After stopping for a few minutes to enjoy the
prospect I went on. The road at first was exceedingly good,
though up and down, and making frequent turnings. The
scenery was beautiful to a degree: lofty hills were on either
side, clothed most luxuriantly with trees of various kinds, but
principally oaks. &ldquo;This is really very
pleasant,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I suppose it is too good to
last long.&rdquo; However, I went on for a considerable
way, the road neither deteriorating nor the scenery decreasing in
beauty. &ldquo;Surely I can&rsquo;t be in the right
road,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I wish I had an opportunity of
asking.&rdquo; Presently seeing an old man working with a
spade in a field near a gate, I stopped and said in Welsh:
&ldquo;Am I in the road to the Pont y Gwr Drwg?&rdquo; The
old man looked at me for a moment, then shouldering his spade he
came up to the gate, and said in English: &ldquo;In truth, sir,
you are.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I was told that the road thither was a very bad
one,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but this is quite the
contrary.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;This road does not go much farther, sir,&rdquo; said
he; &ldquo;it was made to accommodate grand folks who live about
here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You speak very good English,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;where did you get it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>He looked pleased, and said that in his youth he had lived
some years in England.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you read?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;both Welsh and
English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What have you read in Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Bible and Twm O&rsquo;r Nant.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What pieces of Twm O&rsquo;r Nant have you
read?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have read two of his interludes and his
life.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And which do you like best&mdash;his life or his
interludes?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I like his life best.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what part of his life do you like best?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I like that part best where he gets the ship into
the water at Abermarlais.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You have a good judgment,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;his
life is better than his interludes, and the best part of his life
is where he describes his getting the ship into the water.
But do the Methodists about here in general read Twm O&rsquo;r
Nant?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said be; &ldquo;I am no
Methodist.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you belong to the Church?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And why do you belong to the Church?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because I believe it is the best religion to get to
heaven by.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am much of your opinion,&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;Are there many Church people about here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not many,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;but more than when I
was young.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How old are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Sixty-nine.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are not very old,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;An&rsquo;t I? I only want one year of fulfilling
my proper time on earth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You take things very easily,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not so very easily, sir; I have often my quakings and
fears, but then I read my Bible, say my prayers, and find hope
and comfort.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I really am very glad to have seen you,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;and now can you tell me the way to the bridge?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not exactly, sir, for I have never been there; but you
must follow this road some way farther, and then bear away to the
right along yon hill&rdquo;&mdash;and he pointed to a distant
mountain.</p>

<p>I thanked him, and proceeded on my way. I passed through
a deep dingle, and shortly afterwards came to the termination of
the road; remembering, however, the directions of the old man, I
bore away to the right, making for the distant mountain. My
course lay now over very broken ground where there was no path,
at least that I could perceive. I wandered on for some
time; at length on turning round a bluff I saw a lad tending a
small herd of bullocks. &ldquo;Am I in the road,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;to the Pont y Gwr Drwg?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nis gwn! I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said he
sullenly. &ldquo;I am a hired servant, and have only been
here a little time.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the house,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;where
you serve?&rdquo;</p>

<p>But as he made no answer I left him. Some way farther on
I saw a house on my left, a little way down the side of a deep
dingle which was partly overhung with trees, and at the bottom of
which a brook murmured. Descending a steep path, I knocked
at the door. After a little time it was opened, and two
women appeared, one behind the other. The first was about
sixty; she was very powerfully made, had stern grey eyes and
harsh features, and was dressed in the ancient Welsh female
fashion, having a kind of riding-habit of blue and a high conical
hat like that of the Tyrol. The other seemed about twenty
years younger; she had dark features, was dressed like the other,
but had no hat. I saluted the first in English, and asked
her the way to the Bridge, whereupon she uttered a deep guttural
&ldquo;augh&rdquo; and turned away her head, seemingly in
abhorrence. I then spoke to her in Welsh, saying I was a
foreign man&mdash;I did not say a Saxon&mdash;was bound to the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, and wanted to know the way. The old
woman surveyed me sternly for some time, then turned to the other
and said something, and the two began to talk to each other, but
in a low, buzzing tone, so that I could not distinguish a
word. In about half a minute the eldest turned to me, and
extending her arm and spreading out her five fingers wide,
motioned to the side of the hill in the direction which I had
been following.</p>

<p>&ldquo;If I go that way shall I get to the bridge of the evil
man?&rdquo; said I, but got no other answer than a furious
grimace and violent agitations of the arm and fingers in the same
direction. I turned away, and scarcely had I done so when
the door was slammed to behind me with great force, and I heard
two &ldquo;aughs,&rdquo; one not quite so deep and abhorrent as
the other, probably proceeding from the throat of the younger
female.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Two regular Saxon-hating Welsh women,&rdquo; said I,
philosophically; &ldquo;just of the same sort no doubt as those
who played such pranks on the slain bodies of the English
soldiers, after the victory achieved by Glendower over Mortimer
on the Severn&rsquo;s side.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I proceeded in the direction indicated, winding round the side
of the hill, the same mountain which the old man had pointed out
to me some time before. At length, on making a turn I saw a
very lofty mountain in the far distance to the south-west, a hill
right before me to the south, and, on my left, a meadow overhung
by the southern hill, in the middle of which stood a house from
which proceeded a violent barking of dogs. I would fain
have made immediately up to it for the purpose of inquiring my
way, but saw no means of doing so, a high precipitous bank lying
between it and me. I went forward and ascended the side of
the hill before me, and presently came to a path running east and
west. I followed it a little way towards the east. I
was now just above the house, and saw some children and some dogs
standing beside it. Suddenly I found myself close to a man
who stood in a hollow part of the road, from which a narrow path
led down to the house; a donkey with panniers stood beside
him. He was about fifty years of age, with a carbuncled
countenance, high but narrow forehead, grey eyebrows, and small,
malignant grey eyes. He had a white hat, with narrow eaves
and the crown partly knocked out, a torn blue coat, corduroy
breeches, long stockings and highlows. He was sucking a
cutty pipe, but seemed unable to extract any smoke from it.
He had all the appearance of a vagabond, and of a rather
dangerous vagabond. I nodded to him, and asked him in Welsh
the name of the place. He glared at me malignantly, then,
taking the pipe out of his mouth, said that he did not know, that
he had been down below to inquire and light his pipe, but could
get neither light nor answer from the children. I asked him
where he came from, but he evaded the question by asking where I
was going to.</p>

<p>&ldquo;To the Pont y Gwr Drwg,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>He then asked me if I was an Englishman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am Carn Sais;&rdquo;
whereupon, with a strange mixture in his face of malignity and
contempt, he answered in English that he didn&rsquo;t understand
me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You understood me very well,&rdquo; said I, without
changing my language, &ldquo;till I told you I was an
Englishman. Harkee, man with the broken hat, you are one of
the bad Welsh who don&rsquo;t like the English to know the
language, lest they should discover your lies and
rogueries.&rdquo; He evidently understood what I said, for
he gnashed his teeth, though he said nothing.
&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I shall go down to those
children and inquire the name of the house;&rdquo; and I
forthwith began to descend the path, the fellow uttering a
contemptuous &ldquo;humph&rdquo; behind me, as much as to say,
&ldquo;Much you&rsquo;ll make out down there.&rdquo; I soon
reached the bottom and advanced towards the house. The dogs
had all along been barking violently; as I drew near to them,
however, they ceased, and two of the largest came forward wagging
their tails. &ldquo;The dogs were not barking at me,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;but at that vagabond above.&rdquo; I went up
to the children; they were four in number, two boys and two
girls, all red-haired, but tolerably good-looking. They had
neither shoes nor stockings. &ldquo;What is the name of
this house?&rdquo; said I to the eldest, a boy about seven years
old. He looked at me, but made no answer. I repeated
my question; still there was no answer, but methought I heard a
humph of triumph from the hill. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t crow
quite yet, old chap,&rdquo; thought I to myself, and putting my
hand into my pocket, I took out a penny, and offering it to the
child said: &ldquo;Now, small man, Peth yw y enw y lle
hwn?&rdquo; Instantly the boy&rsquo;s face became
intelligent, and putting out a fat little hand, he took the
ceiniog and said in an audible whisper, &ldquo;Waen y
Bwlch.&rdquo; &ldquo;I am all right,&rdquo; said I to
myself; &ldquo;that is one of the names of the places which the
old ostler said I must go through.&rdquo; Then addressing
myself to the child I said: &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s your father and
mother?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Out on the hill,&rdquo; whispered the child.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your father?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A shepherd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Now can you tell me
the way to the bridge of the evil man?&rdquo; But the
features became blank, the finger was put to the mouth, and the
head was hung down. That question was evidently beyond the
child&rsquo;s capacity. &ldquo;Thank you!&rdquo; said I,
and turning round I regained the path on the top of the
bank. The fellow and his donkey were still there.
&ldquo;I had no difficulty,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;in obtaining
information; the place&rsquo;s name is Waen y Bwlch. But
oes genoch dim Cumraeg&mdash;you have no Welsh.&rdquo;
Thereupon I proceeded along the path in the direction of the
east. Forthwith the fellow said something to his animal,
and both came following fast behind. I quickened my pace,
but the fellow and his beast were close in my rear.
Presently I came to a place where another path branched off to
the south. I stopped, looked at it, and then went on, but
scarcely had done so when I heard another exulting
&ldquo;humph&rdquo; behind. &ldquo;I am going wrong,&rdquo;
said I to myself; &ldquo;that other path is the way to the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, and the scamp knows it or he would not have
grunted.&rdquo; Forthwith I faced round, and brushing past
the fellow without a word turned into the other path and hurried
along it. By a side glance which I cast I could see him
staring after me; presently, however, he uttered a sound very
much like a Welsh curse, and, kicking his beast, proceeded on his
way, and I saw no more of him. In a little time I came to a
slough which crossed the path. I did not like the look of
it at all, and to avoid it ventured upon some green mossy-looking
ground to the left, and had scarcely done so when I found myself
immersed to the knees in a bog. I, however, pushed forward,
and with some difficulty got to the path on the other side of the
slough. I followed the path, and in about half-an-hour saw
what appeared to be houses at a distance. &ldquo;God grant
that I maybe drawing near some inhabited place!&rdquo; said
I. The path now grew very miry, and there were pools of
water on either side. I moved along slowly. At length
I came to a place where some men were busy in erecting a kind of
building. I went up to the nearest and asked him the name
of the place. He had a crowbar in his hand, was half naked,
had a wry mouth and only one eye. He made me no answer, but
mowed and gibbered at me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;For God&rsquo;s sake,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t
do so, but tell me where I am!&rdquo; He still uttered no
word, but mowed and gibbered yet more frightfully than
before. As I stood staring at him another man came to me
and said in broken English: &ldquo;It is of no use speaking to
him, sir, he is deaf and dumb.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am glad he is no worse,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for I
really thought he was possessed with the evil one. My good
person, can you tell me the name of this place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Esgyrn Hirion, sir,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Esgyrn Hirion,&rdquo; said I to myself; &ldquo;Esgyrn
means &lsquo;bones,&rsquo; and Hirion means
&lsquo;long.&rsquo; I am doubtless at the place which the
old ostler called Long Bones. I shouldn&rsquo;t wonder if I
get to the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge to-night after all.&rdquo;
I then asked the man if he could tell me the way to the bridge of
the evil man, but he shook his head and said that he had never
heard of such a place, adding, however, that he would go with me
to one of the overseers, who could perhaps direct me. He
then proceeded towards a row of buildings, which were, in fact,
those objects which I had guessed to be houses in the
distance. He led me to a corner house, at the door of which
stood a middle-aged man, dressed in a grey coat, and saying to
me, &ldquo;This person is an overseer,&rdquo; returned to his
labour. I went up to the man, and, saluting him in English,
asked whether he could direct me to the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, or
rather to Pont Erwyd.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It would be of no use directing you, sir,&rdquo; said
he, &ldquo;for with all the directions in the world it would be
impossible for you to find the way. You would not have left
these premises five minutes before you would be in a maze without
knowing which way to turn. Where do you come
from?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From Machynlleth,&rdquo; I replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;From Machynlleth!&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Well, I
only wonder you ever got here, but it would be madness to go
farther alone.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;can I obtain a
guide?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I really don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;I am
afraid all the men are engaged.&rdquo;</p>

<p>As we were speaking a young man made his appearance at the
door from the interior of the house. He was dressed in a
brown short coat, had a glazed hat on his head, and had a pale
but very intelligent countenance.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the matter?&rdquo; said he to the other
man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This gentleman,&rdquo; replied the latter, &ldquo;is
going to Pont Erwyd, and wants a guide.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the young man, &ldquo;we must find
him one. It will never do to let him go by
himself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If you can find me a guide,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I
shall be happy to pay him for his trouble.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, you can do as you please about that,&rdquo; said
the young man; &ldquo;but, pay or not, we would never suffer you
to leave this place without a guide, and as much for our own sake
as yours; for the directors of the Company would never forgive us
if they heard we had suffered a gentleman to leave these premises
without a guide, more especially if he were lost, as it is a
hundred to one you would be if you went by yourself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;what Company is this, the
directors of which are so solicitous about the safety of
strangers?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Potosi Mining Company,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;the
richest in all Wales. But pray walk in and sit down, for
you must be tired.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXI</h2>

<p class="letter">The Mining Compting Room&mdash;Native of
Aberystwyth&mdash;Story of a Bloodhound&mdash;The Young
Girls&mdash;The Miner&rsquo;s Tale&mdash;Gwen Frwd&mdash;The
Terfyn.</p>

<p>I followed the young man with the glazed hat into a room, the
other man following behind me. He of the glazed hat made me
sit down before a turf fire, apologising for its smoking very
much. The room seemed half compting-room, half
apartment. There was a wooden desk with a ledger upon it by
the window, which looked to the west, and a camp bedstead
extended from the southern wall nearly up to the desk.
After I had sat for about a minute, the young man asked me if I
would take any refreshment. I thanked him for his kind
offer, which I declined, saying, however, that if he would obtain
me a guide I should feel much obliged. He turned to the
other man and told him to go and inquire whether there was any
one who would be willing to go. The other nodded, and
forthwith went out.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You think, then,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that I could not
find the way by myself?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am sure of it,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for even the
people best acquainted with the country frequently lose their
way. But I must tell you, that if we do find you a guide,
it will probably be one who has no English.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Never mind,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I have enough Welsh
to hold a common discourse.&rdquo;</p>

<p>A fine girl about fourteen now came in, and began bustling
about.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who is this young lady?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The daughter of a captain of a neighbouring
mine,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;she frequently comes here with
messages, and is always ready to do a turn about the house, for
she is very handy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has she any English?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not a word,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;The young
people of these hills have no English, except they go abroad to
learn it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What hills are these?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Part of the Plynlimmon range,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;am I near
Plynlimmon?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not very far from it,&rdquo; said the young man,
&ldquo;and you will be nearer when you reach Pont
Erwyd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you a native of these parts?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;I am a native of
Aberystwyth, a place on the sea-coast about a dozen miles from
here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;This seems to be a cold, bleak spot,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;is it healthy?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have reason to say so,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;for I
came here from Aberystwyth about four months ago very unwell, and
am now perfectly recovered. I do not believe there is a
healthier spot in all Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We had some further discourse. I mentioned to him the
adventure which I had on the hill with the fellow with the
donkey. The young man said that he had no doubt that he was
some prowling thief.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The dogs of the shepherd&rsquo;s house,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;didn&rsquo;t seem to like him, and dogs generally know an
evil customer. A long time ago I chanced to be in a posada,
or inn, at Valladolid in Spain. One hot summer&rsquo;s
afternoon I was seated in a corridor which ran round a large open
court in the middle of the inn; a fine yellow, three-parts-grown
bloodhound was lying on the ground beside me with whom I had been
playing, a little time before. I was just about to fall
asleep, when I heard a &lsquo;hem&rsquo; at the outward door of
the posada, which was a long way below at the end of a passage
which communicated with the court. Instantly the hound
started upon his legs, and with a loud yell, and with eyes
flashing fire, ran nearly round the corridor, down a flight of
steps, and through the passage to the gate. There was then
a dreadful noise, in which the cries of a human being and the
yells of the hound were blended. I forthwith started up and
ran down, followed by several other guests, who came rushing out
of their chambers round the corridor. At the gate we saw a
man on the ground and the hound trying to strangle him. It
was with the greatest difficulty, and chiefly through the
intervention of the master of the dog, who happened to be
present, that the animal could be made to quit his hold.
The assailed person was a very powerful man, but had an evil
countenance, was badly dressed, and had neither hat, shoes nor
stockings. We raised him up and gave him wine, which he
drank greedily, and presently, without saying a word,
disappeared. The guests said they had no doubt that he was
a murderer flying from justice, and that the dog by his instinct,
even at a distance, knew him to be such. The master said
that it was the first time that the dog had ever attacked any one
or shown the slightest symptom of ferocity. Not the least
singular part of the matter was, that the dog did not belong to
the house, but to one of the guests from a distant village; the
creature therefore could not consider itself the house&rsquo;s
guardian.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I had scarcely finished my tale when the other man came in and
said that he had found a guide, a young man from Pont Erwyd, who
would be glad of such an opportunity to go and see his parents,
that he was then dressing himself, and would shortly make his
appearance. In about twenty minutes he did so. He was
a stout young fellow with a coarse blue coat, and coarse white
felt hat; he held a stick in his hand. The kind young
book-keeper now advised us to set out without delay, as the day
was drawing to a close and the way was long. I shook him by
the hand, told him that I should never forget his civility, and
departed with the guide.</p>

<p>The fine young girl, whom I have already mentioned, and
another about two years younger, departed with us. They
were dressed in the graceful female attire of old Wales.</p>

<p>We bore to the south down a descent, and came to some moory,
quaggy ground intersected with water-courses. The agility
of the young girls surprised me; they sprang over the
water-courses, some of which were at least four feet wide, with
the ease and alacrity of lawns. After a short time we came
to a road, which, however, we did not long reap the benefit of,
as it only led to a mine. Seeing a house on the top of a
hill, I asked my guide whose it was.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ty powdr,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;a powder house,&rdquo;
by which I supposed he meant a magazine of powder used for
blasting in the mines. He had not a word of English. . If
the young girls were nimble with their feet, they were not less
so with their tongues, as they kept up an incessant gabble with
each other and with the guide. I understood little of what
they said, their volubility preventing me from catching more than
a few words. After we had gone about two miles and a half,
they darted away with surprising swiftness down a hill towards a
distant house, where, as I learned from my guide, the father of
the eldest lived. We ascended a hill, passed between two
craggy elevations, and then wended to the south-east over a
strange, miry place, in which I thought any one at night not
acquainted with every inch of the way would run imminent risk of
perishing. I entered into conversation with my guide.
After a little time he asked me if I was a Welshman. I told
him no.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You could teach many a Welshman,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why do you think so?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because many of your words are quite above my
comprehension,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No great compliment,&rdquo; thought I to myself; but
putting a good face upon the matter I told him that I knew a
great many old Welsh words.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is Potosi an old Welsh word?&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;it is the name of a mine in
the Deheubarth of America.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it a lead mine?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;it is a silver
mine.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then why do they call our mine, which is a lead mine,
by the name of a silver mine?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because they wish to give people to understand,&rdquo;
said I, &ldquo;that it is very rich&mdash;as rich in lead as
Potosi in silver. Potosi is, or was, the richest silver
mine in the world, and from it has come at least one half of the
silver which we use in the shape of money and other
things.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I have frequently asked,
but could never learn before why our mine was called
Potosi.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You did not ask at the right quarter,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;the young man with the glazed hat could have told you as
well as I.&rdquo; I inquired why the place where the mine
was bore the name of Esgyrn Hirion or Long Bones. He told
me that he did not know, but believed that the bones of a cawr or
giant had been found there in ancient times. I asked him if
the mine was deep.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very deep,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you like the life of a miner?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very much,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and should like it
more, but for the noises of the hill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you mean the powder blasts?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I care nothing for them;
I mean the noises made by the spirits of the hill in the
mine. Sometimes they make such noises as frighten the poor
fellow who works underground out of his senses. Once on a
time I was working by myself very deep underground, in a little
chamber to which a very deep shaft led. I had just taken up
my light to survey my work, when all of a sudden I heard a
dreadful rushing noise, as if an immense quantity of earth had
come tumbling down. &lsquo;Oh God!&rsquo; said I, and fell
backwards, letting the light fall, which instantly went
out. I thought the whole shaft had given way, and that I
was buried alive. I lay for several hours half stupefied,
thinking now and then what a dreadful thing it was to be buried
alive. At length I thought I would get up, go to the mouth
of the shaft, feel the mould, with which it was choked up, and
then come back, lie down, and die. So I got up and tottered
to the mouth of the shaft, put out my hand and
felt&mdash;nothing; all was clear. I went forward, and
presently felt the ladder. Nothing had fallen; all was just
the same as when I came down. I was dreadfully afraid that
I should never be able to get up in the dark without breaking my
neck; however, I tried, and at last, with a great deal of toil
and danger, got to a place where other men were working.
The noise was caused by the spirits of the hill in the hope of
driving the miner out of his senses. They very nearly
succeeded. I shall never forget how I felt when I thought I
was buried alive. If it were not for those noises in the
hill, the life of a miner would be quite heaven below.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We came to a cottage standing under a hillock, down the side
of which tumbled a streamlet close by the northern side of the
building. The door was open, and inside were two or three
females and some children. &ldquo;Have you any
enwyn?&rdquo; said the lad, peeping in.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes!&rdquo; said a voice&mdash;&ldquo;digon!
digon!&rdquo; Presently a buxom, laughing girl brought out
two dishes of buttermilk, one of which she handed to me and the
other to the guide. I asked her the name of the place.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Gwen Frwd&mdash;the &lsquo;Fair Rivulet,&rsquo;&rdquo;
said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who lives here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A shepherd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nagos!&rdquo; said she, bursting into a loud
laugh. &ldquo;What should we do with English here?&rdquo;
After we had drunk the buttermilk I offered the girl some money,
but she drew back her hand angrily, and said: &ldquo;We
don&rsquo;t take money from tired strangers for two drops of
buttermilk; there&rsquo;s plenty within, and there are a thousand
ewes on the hill. Farvel!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; thought I to myself as I walked away;
&ldquo;that I should once in my days have found shepherd life
something as poets have represented it!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I saw a mighty mountain at a considerable distance on the
right, the same I believe which I had noted some hours
before. I inquired of my guide whether it was
Plynlimmon.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that is Gaverse;
Pumlimmon is to the left.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plynlimmon is a famed hill,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I
suppose it is very high.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it is high; but it is not
famed because it is high, but because the three grand rivers of
the world issue from its breast, the Hafren, the Rheidol, and the
Gwy.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Night was now coming rapidly on, attended with a drizzling
rain. I inquired if we were far from Pont Erwyd.
&ldquo;About a mile,&rdquo; said my guide; &ldquo;we shall soon
be there.&rdquo; We quickened our pace. After a
little time he asked me if I was going farther than Pont
Erwyd.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am bound for the bridge of the evil man,&rdquo; said
I; &ldquo;but I daresay I shall stop at Pont Erwyd
to-night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You will do right,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;it is only
three miles from Pont Erwyd to the bridge of the evil man, but I
think we shall have a stormy night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;When I get to Pont Erwyd,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;how far
shall I be from South Wales?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From South Wales!&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;you are in
South Wales now; you passed the Terfyn of North Wales a quarter
of an hour ago.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The rain now fell fast and there was so thick a mist that I
could only see a few yards before me. We descended into a
valley, at the bottom of which I heard a river roaring.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the Rheidol,&rdquo; said my guide,
&ldquo;coming from Pumlimmon, swollen with rain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Without descending to the river, we turned aside up a hill,
and, after passing by a few huts, came to a large house, which my
guide told me was the inn of Pont Erwyd.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXII</h2>

<p class="letter">Consequential
Landlord&mdash;Cheek&mdash;Darfel Gatherel&mdash;Dafydd
Nanmor&mdash;Sheep Farms&mdash;Wholesome Advice&mdash;The Old
Postman&mdash;The Plant de Bat&mdash;The Robber&rsquo;s
Cavern.</p>

<p>My guide went to a side door, and opening it without ceremony
went in. I followed and found myself in a spacious and
comfortable-looking kitchen: a large fire blazed in a huge grate,
on one side of which was a settle; plenty of culinary utensils,
both pewter and copper, hung around on the walls, and several
goodly rows of hams and sides of bacon were suspended from the
roof. There were several people present, some on the settle
and others on chairs in the vicinity of the fire. As I
advanced, a man arose from a chair and came towards me. He
was about thirty-five years of age, well and strongly made, with
a fresh complexion, a hawk nose, and a keen grey eye. He
wore top-boots and breeches, a half jockey coat, and had a round
cap made of the skin of some animal on his head.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Servant, sir!&rdquo; said he in rather a sharp tone,
and surveying me with something of a supercilious air.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your most obedient humble servant!&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;I presume you are the landlord of this house.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Landlord!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;landlord! It is
true I receive guests sometimes into my house, but I do so solely
with the view of accommodating them; I do not depend upon
innkeeping for a livelihood. I hire the principal part of
the land in this neighbourhood.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If that be the case,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I had better
continue my way to the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge; I am not at all
tired, and I believe it is not very far distant.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, as you are here,&rdquo; said the farmer-landlord,
&ldquo;I hope you will stay. I should be very sorry if any
gentleman should leave my house at night after coming with an
intention of staying, more especially in a night like this.
Martha!&rdquo; said he, turning to a female between thirty and
forty&mdash;who I subsequently learned was the
mistress&mdash;&ldquo;prepare the parlour instantly for this
gentleman, and don&rsquo;t fail to make up a good
fire.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Martha forthwith hurried away, attended by a much younger
female.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Till your room is prepared, sir,&rdquo; said he,
&ldquo;perhaps you will have no objection to sit down before our
fire?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not the least,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;nothing gives me
greater pleasure than to sit before a kitchen fire. First
of all, however, I must settle with my guide, and likewise see
that he has something to eat and drink.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shall I interpret for you?&rdquo; said the landlord;
&ldquo;the lad has not a word of English; I know him
well.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have not been under his guidance for the last three
hours,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;without knowing that he cannot speak
English; but I want no interpreter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You do not mean to say, sir,&rdquo; said the landlord,
with a surprised and dissatisfied air, &ldquo;that you understand
Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>I made no answer, but turning to the guide thanked him for his
kindness, and giving him some money asked him if it was
enough.</p>

<p>&ldquo;More than enough, sir,&rdquo; said the lad; &ldquo;I
did not expect half as much. Farewell!&rdquo;</p>

<p>He was then about to depart, but I prevented him saying:</p>

<p>&ldquo;You must not go till you have eaten and drunk.
What will you have?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Merely a cup of ale, sir,&rdquo; said the lad.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That won&rsquo;t do,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;you shall
have bread and cheese and as much ale as you can drink.
Pray,&rdquo; said I to the landlord, &ldquo;let this young man
have some bread and cheese and a large quart of ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The landlord looked at me for a moment, then turning to the
lad he said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you think of that, Shon? It is some time
since you had a quart of ale to your own cheek.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Cheek,&rdquo; said I&mdash;&ldquo;cheek! Is that
a Welsh word? Surely it is an importation from the English,
and not a very genteel one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh come, sir!&rdquo; said the landlord, &ldquo;we can
dispense with your criticisms. A pretty thing indeed for
you, on the strength of knowing half-a-dozen words of Welsh, to
set up for a Welsh critic in the house of a person who knows the
ancient British language perfectly.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;how fortunate I am! a
person thoroughly versed in the ancient British language is what
I have long wished to see. Pray what is the meaning of
Darfel Gatherel?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh sir!&rdquo; said the landlord, &ldquo;you must
answer that question yourself; I don&rsquo;t pretend to
understand gibberish!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Darfel Gatherel,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;is not
gibberish; it was the name of the great wooden image at Ty Dewi,
or Saint David&rsquo;s, in Pembrokeshire, to which thousands of
pilgrims in the days of popery used to repair for the purpose of
adoring it, and which at the time of the Reformation was sent up
to London as a curiosity, where it eventually served as firewood
to burn the monk Forrest upon, who was sentenced to the stake by
Henry the Eighth for denying his supremacy. What I want to
know is, the meaning of the name, which I could never get
explained, but which you who know the ancient British language
perfectly can doubtless interpret.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, sir,&rdquo; said the landlord, &ldquo;when I said I
knew the British language perfectly, I perhaps went too far there
are, of course, some obsolete terms in the British tongue, which
I don&rsquo;t understand. Dar, Dar&mdash;what is it?
Darmod Cotterel amongst the rest; but to a general knowledge of
the Welsh language I think I may lay some pretensions; were I not
well acquainted with it, I should not have carried off the prize
at various eisteddfodau, as I have done. I am a poet,
sir&mdash;a prydydd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is singular enough,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that the
only two Welsh poets I have seen have been innkeepers&mdash;one
is yourself, the other a person I met in Anglesey. I
suppose the Muse is fond of cwrw da.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You would fain be pleasant, sir,&rdquo; said the
landlord; &ldquo;but I beg leave to inform you that I am not fond
of pleasantries; and now, as my wife and the servant are
returned, I will have the pleasure of conducting you to the
parlour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Before I go,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I should like to see
my guide provided with what I ordered.&rdquo; I stayed till
the lad was accommodated with bread and cheese and a foaming
tankard of ale, and then bidding him farewell, I followed the
landlord into the parlour, where I found a fire kindled, which,
however, smoked exceedingly. I asked my host what I could
have for supper, and was told that he did not know, but that if I
would leave the matter to him he would send the best he
could. As he was going away, I said: &ldquo;So you are a
poet? Well, I am very glad to hear it, for I have been fond
of Welsh poetry from my boyhood. What kind of verse do you
employ in general? Did you ever write an awdl in the
four-and-twenty measures? What are the themes of your
songs? The deeds of the ancient heroes of South Wales, I
suppose, and the hospitality of the great men of the
neighbourhood who receive you as an honoured guest at their
tables. I&rsquo;ll bet a guinea that however clever a
fellow you may be you never sang anything in praise of your
landlord&rsquo;s housekeeping equal to what Dafydd Nanmor sang in
praise of that of Ryce of Twyn four hundred years ago:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&lsquo;For Ryce if hundred thousands
plough&rsquo;d<br />
The lands around his fair abode;<br />
Did vines of thousand vineyards bleed,<br />
Still corn and wine great Ryce would need;<br />
If all the earth had bread&rsquo;s sweet savour,<br />
And water all had cyder&rsquo;s flavour,<br />
Three roaring feasts in Ryce&rsquo;s hall<br />
Would swallow earth and ocean all.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Hey?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Really, sir,&rdquo; said the landlord, &ldquo;I
don&rsquo;t know how to reply to you, for the greater part of
your discourse is utterly unintelligible to me. Perhaps you
are a better Welshman than myself; but however that may be, I
shall take the liberty of retiring in order to give orders about
your supper.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In about half-an-hour the supper made its appearance in the
shape of some bacon and eggs. On tasting them I found them
very good, and calling for some ale I made a very tolerable
supper. After the things had been removed I drew near to
the fire, but as it still smoked, I soon betook myself to the
kitchen. My guide had taken his departure, but the others
whom I had left were still there. The landlord was talking
in Welsh to a man in a rough great-coat, about sheep.
Setting himself down near the fire I called for a glass of
whiskey and water, and then observing that the landlord and his
friend had suddenly become silent, I said: &ldquo;Pray go on with
your discourse; don&rsquo;t let me be any hindrance to
you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir!&rdquo; said the landlord snappishly,
&ldquo;go on with our discourse for your edification, I
suppose?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;suppose it is for my
edification; surely you don&rsquo;t grudge a stranger a little
edification which will cost you nothing?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know that, sir,&rdquo; said the landlord;
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know that. Really, sir, the kitchen is
not the place for a gentleman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, it is,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;provided the parlour
smokes. Come, come, I am going to have a glass of whiskey
and water; perhaps you will take one with me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir!&rdquo; said the landlord, in rather a
softened tone, &ldquo;I have no objection to take a glass with
you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Two glasses of whiskey and water were presently brought, and
the landlord and I drank to each other&rsquo;s health.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is this a sheep district?&rdquo; said I, after a pause
of a minute or two.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said the landlord; &ldquo;it may to a
certain extent be called a sheep district.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose the Southdown and Norfolk breeds would not do
for these here parts,&rdquo; said I, with a regular Norfolk
whine.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, I don&rsquo;t think they would exactly,&rdquo;
said the landlord, staring at me. &ldquo;Do you know
anything about sheep?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Plenty, plenty,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;quite as much
indeed as about Welsh words and poetry.&rdquo; Then in a
yet more whining tone than before, I said: &ldquo;Do you think
that a body with money in his pocket could hire a nice
comfortable sheep farm hereabouts?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, sir!&rdquo; said the landlord in a furious tone,
&ldquo;you have come to look out for a farm, I see, and to outbid
us poor Welshmen: it is on that account you have studied Welsh;
but, sir, I would have you know&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t be afraid; I
wouldn&rsquo;t have all the farms in your country, provided you
would tie them in a string and offer them to me. If I
talked about a farm, it was because I am in the habit of talking
about everything, being versed in all matters, do you see, or
affecting to be so, which comes much to the same thing. My
real business in this neighbourhood is to see the Devil&rsquo;s
Bridge and the scenery about it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; said the landlord; &ldquo;I
thought so at first. A great many English go to see the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge and the scenery near it, though I really
don&rsquo;t know why, for there is nothing so very particular in
either. We have a bridge here too, quite as good as the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge; and as for scenery, I&rsquo;ll back the
scenery about this house against anything of the kind in the
neighbourhood of the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge. Yet everybody
goes to the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge and nobody comes
here!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You might easily bring everybody here,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;if you would but employ your talent. You should
celebrate the wonders of your neighbourhood in cowydds, and you
would soon have plenty of visitors; but you don&rsquo;t want
them, you know, and prefer to be without them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The landlord looked at me for a moment, then taking sip of his
whiskey and water he turned to the man with whom he had
previously been talking and recommenced the discourse about
sheep. I make no doubt, however, that I was a restraint
upon them; they frequently glanced at me, and soon fell to
whispering. At last both got up and left the room, the
landlord finishing his glass of whiskey and water before he went
away.</p>

<p>&ldquo;So you are going to the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge,
sir!&rdquo; said an elderly man, dressed in a grey coat, with a
broad-brimmed hat, who sat on the settle smoking a pipe in
company with another elderly man with a leather hat, with whom I
had heard him discourse sometimes in Welsh, sometimes in English,
the Welsh which he spoke being rather broken.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am going to have a sight
of the bridge and the neighbouring scenery.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir, I don&rsquo;t think you will be
disappointed, for both are wonderful.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you a Welshman?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, I am not; I am an Englishman from Durham,
which is the best county in England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So it is,&rdquo; said I&mdash;&ldquo;for some things at
any rate. For example, where do you find such beef as in
Durham?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, where indeed, sir? I have always said that
neither the Devonshire nor the Lincolnshire beef is to be named
in the same day with that of Durham.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;what business do you follow
in these parts? I suppose you farm?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, I do not; I am what they call a mining
captain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose that gentleman,&rdquo; said I, motioning to
the man in the leather hat, &ldquo;is not from Durham?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, he is not; he is from this
neighbourhood.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And does he follow mining?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, he does not; he carries about the
letters.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is your mine near this place?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not very, sir; it is nearer the Devil&rsquo;s
Bridge.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why is the bridge called the Devil&rsquo;s
Bridge?&rdquo; said</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because, sir, &rsquo;tis said that the Devil built it
in the old time, though that I can hardly believe; for the Devil,
do ye see, delights in nothing but mischief, and it is not likely
that such being the case he would have built a thing which must
have been of wonderful service to people by enabling them to pass
in safety over a dreadful gulf.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I have heard,&rdquo; said the old postman with the
leather hat, &ldquo;that the Devil had no hand in de work at all,
but that it was built by a Mynach, or monk, on which account de
river over which de bridge is built is called Afon y
Mynach&mdash;dat is de Monk&rsquo;s River.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever hear,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;of three
creatures who lived a long time ago near the Devil&rsquo;s
Bridge, called the Plant de Bat?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, master!&rdquo; said the old postman, &ldquo;I do
see that you have been in these parts before; had you not, you
would not know of the Plant de Bat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I have never been here
before; but I heard of them when I was a boy, from a Cumro who
taught me Welsh, and had lived for some time in these
parts. Well, what do they say here about the Plant de Bat?
for he who mentioned them to me could give me no further
information about them than that they were horrid creatures who
lived in a cave near the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge several hundred
years ago.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, master,&rdquo; said the old postman, thrusting
his forefinger twice or thrice into the bowl of his pipe,
&ldquo;I will tell you what they says here about the Plant de
Bat. In de old time&mdash;two, three hundred year
ago&mdash;a man lived somewhere about here called Bat or
Bartholomew; this man had three children, two boys and one girl,
who, because their father&rsquo;s name was Bat, were generally
called &lsquo;Plant de Bat,&rsquo; or Bat&rsquo;s children.
Very wicked children they were from their cradle, giving their
father and mother much trouble and uneasiness; no good in any one
of them, neither in the boys nor the girl. Now the boys,
once when they were rambling idly about, lighted by chance upon a
cave near the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge. Very strange cave it
was, with just one little hole at top to go in by; so the boys
said to one another: &lsquo;Nice cave this for thief to live
in. Suppose we come here when we are a little more big and
turn thief ourselves.&rsquo; Well, they waited till they
were a little more big, and then leaving their father&rsquo;s
house they came to de cave and turned thief, lying snug there all
day and going out at night to rob upon the roads. Well,
there was soon much talk in the country about the robberies which
were being committed, and people often went out in search of de
thieves, but all in vain; and no wonder, for they were in a cave
very hard to light upon, having, as I said before, merely one
little hole at top to go in by. So, Bat&rsquo;s boys went
on swimmingly for a long time, lying snug in cave by day and
going out at night to rob, letting no one know where they were
but their sister, who was as bad as themselves, and used to come
to them and bring them food and stay with them for weeks, and
sometimes go out and rob with them. But as de pitcher which
goes often to de well comes home broke at last, so it happened
with Bat&rsquo;s children. After robbing people upon the
roads by night many a long year and never being found out, they
at last met one great gentleman upon the roads by night and not
only robbed, but killed him, leaving his body all cut and gashed
near to Devil&rsquo;s Bridge. That job was the ruin of
Plant de Bat, for the great gentleman&rsquo;s friends gathered
together and hunted after his murderers with dogs, and at length
came to the cave, and going in, found it stocked with riches, and
the Plant de Bat sitting upon the riches, not only the boys but
the girl also. So they took out the riches and the Plant de
Bat, and the riches they did give to churches and spyttys, and
the Plant de Bat they did execute, hanging the boys and burning
the girl. That, master, is what they says in dese parts
about the Plant de Bat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Is the cave yet
to be seen?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! it is yet to be seen, or part of it, for it is
not now what it was, having been partly flung open to hinder
other thieves from nestling in it. It is on the bank of the
river Mynach, just before it joins the Rheidol. Many
gentlefolk in de summer go to see the Plant de Bat&rsquo;s
cave.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you sure,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that Plant de Bat
means Bat&rsquo;s children?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not sure, master; I merely says what I have heard
other people say. I believe some says that it means
&lsquo;the wicked children,&rsquo; or &lsquo;the Devil&rsquo;s
children.&rsquo; And now, master, we may as well have done
with them, for should you question me through the whole night, I
could tell you nothing more about the Plant de Bat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After a little further discourse, chiefly about sheep and the
weather, I retired to the parlour, where the fire was now burning
brightly; seating myself before it, I remained for a considerable
time staring at the embers and thinking over the events of the
day. At length I rang the bell and begged to be shown to my
chamber, where I soon sank to sleep, lulled by the pattering of
rain against the window and the sound of a neighbouring
cascade.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Wild Scenery&mdash;Awful Chasm&mdash;John
Greaves&mdash;Durham County&mdash;Queen Philippa&mdash;The Two
Aldens&mdash;Welsh Wife&mdash;The Noblest Business&mdash;The
Welsh and the Salve&mdash;The Lad John.</p>

<p>A rainy and boisterous night was succeeded by a bright and
beautiful morning. I arose and having ordered breakfast
went forth to see what kind of country I had got into. I
found myself amongst wild, strange-looking hills, not, however,
of any particular height. The house, which seemed to front
the east, stood on the side of a hill, on a wide platform
abutting on a deep and awful chasm, at the bottom of which chafed
and foamed the Rheidol. This river enters the valley of
Pont Erwyd from the north-west, then makes a variety of
snake-like turns, and at last bears away to the south-east just
below the inn. The banks are sheer walls, from sixty to a
hundred feet high, and the bed of the river has all the
appearance of a volcanic rent. A brook, running from the
south past the inn, tumbles into the chasm at an angle, and forms
the cascade whose sound had lulled me to sleep the preceding
night.</p>

<p>After breakfasting I paid my bill, and set out for the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge without seeing anything more of that
remarkable personage in whom were united landlord, farmer, poet,
and mighty fine gentleman&mdash;the master of the house. I
soon reached the bottom of the valley, where are a few houses and
the bridge from which the place takes its name, Pont Erwyd
signifying the bridge of Erwyd. As I was looking over the
bridge, near which are two or three small waterfalls, an elderly
man in a grey coat, followed by a young lad and dog, came down
the road which I had myself just descended.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good day, sir,&rdquo; said he, stopping, when he came
upon the bridge. &ldquo;I suppose you are bound my
road?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said I, recognising the old mining captain
with whom I had talked in the kitchen the night before, &ldquo;is
it you? I am glad to see you. Yes, I am bound your
way, provided you are going to the Devil&rsquo;s
Bridge.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then, sir, we can go together, for I am bound to my
mine, which lies only a little way t&rsquo;other side of the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Crossing the bridge of Erwyd, we directed our course to the
south-east.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What young man is that,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;who is
following behind us?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The young man, sir, is my son John, and the dog with
him is his dog Joe.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what may your name be, if I may take the liberty of
asking?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Greaves, sir; John Greaves from the county of
Durham.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah! a capital county that,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You like the county, sir? God bless you!
John!&rdquo; said he in a loud voice, turning to the lad,
&ldquo;why don&rsquo;t you offer to carry the gentleman&rsquo;s
knapsack?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let him trouble himself,&rdquo; said
I. &ldquo;As I was just now saying, a capital county is
Durham county.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You really had better let the boy carry your bag,
sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I would rather carry it
myself. I question upon the whole whether there is a better
county in England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it long since your honour was in Durham
county?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A good long time. A matter of forty
years.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Forty years!&mdash;why that&rsquo;s the life of a
man. That&rsquo;s longer than I have been out of the county
myself. I suppose your honour can&rsquo;t remember much
about the county.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I can! I remember a good deal.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Please, your honour, tell me what you remember about
the county. It would do me good to hear it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I remember it was a very fine county in more
respects than one. One part of it was full of big hills and
mountains, where there were mines of coal and lead, with mighty
works with tall chimneys spouting out black smoke, and engines
roaring, and big wheels going round, some turned by steam, and
others by what they call forces, that is, brooks of water dashing
down steep channels. Another part was a more level country,
with beautiful woods, happy-looking farm-houses well-filled
fields and rich, glorious meadows, in which stood stately, with
brown sides and short horns, the Durham ox.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh dear, oh dear!&rdquo; said my companion.
&ldquo;Ah! I see your honour knows everything about Durham
county. Forces? none but one who had been in Durham county
would have used that word. I haven&rsquo;t heard it for
five-and-thirty years. Forces! there was a force close to
my village. I wonder if your honour has ever been in Durham
city?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! I have been there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Does your honour remember anything about Durham
city?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! I remember a good deal about
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then, your honour, pray tell us what you remember about
it&mdash;pray do I perhaps it will do me good.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well then, I remember that it was a fine old city
standing on a hill with a river running under it, and that it had
a fine old church, one of the finest in the whole of Britain; likewise
a fine old castle; and last, not least, a capital old inn, where
I got a capital dinner off roast Durham beef, and a capital glass
of ale, which I believe was the cause, of my being ever after
fond of ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me! Ah, I see your honour knows all about
Durham city. And now let me ask one question. How
came your honour to Durham, city and county? I don&rsquo;t
think your honour is a Durham man either of town or
field.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not; but when I was a little boy I passed through
Durham county with my mother and brother to a place called
Scotland.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Scotland! a queer country that, your honour!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So it is,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;a queerer country I
never saw in all my life.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And a queer set of people, your honour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So they are,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;a queerer set of
people than the Scotch you would scarcely see in a summer&rsquo;s
day.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Durham folks, neither of town or field, have much
reason to speak well of the Scotch, your honour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I dare say not,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;very few people
have.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And yet the Durham folks, your honour, generally
contrived to give them as good as they brought.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That they did,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;a pretty licking
the Durham folks once gave the Scots under the walls of Durham
city, after the scamps had been plundering the country for three
weeks&mdash;a precious licking they gave them, slaying I
don&rsquo;t know how many thousands, and taking their king
prisoner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So they did, your honour, and under the command of a
woman too.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very true,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;Queen
Philippa.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just so, your honour! The idea that your honour
should know so much about Durham, both field and town!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;since I have told you so
much about Durham, perhaps you will tell me something about
yourself. How did you come here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I had better begin from the beginning, your
honour. I was born in Durham county close beside the Great
Force, which no doubt your honour has seen. My father was a
farmer, and had a bit of a share in a mining concern. I was
brought up from my childhood both to farming and mining work, but
most to mining, because, do you see, I took most pleasure in it,
being the more noble business of the two. Shortly after I
had come to man&rsquo;s estate my father died, leaving me a
decent little property, whereupon I forsook farming altogether
and gave myself up, body, soul, and capital, to mining, which at
last I thoroughly understand in all its branches. Well,
your honour, about five-and-thirty years ago&mdash;that was when
I was about twenty-eight&mdash;a cry went through the north
country that a great deal of money might be made by opening
Wales, that is, by mining in Wales in the proper fashion, which
means the north country fashion, for there is no other fashion of
mining good for much. There had long been mines in Wales,
but they had always been worked in a poor, weak, languid manner,
very different from that of the north country. So a company
was formed, at the head of which were the Aldens, George and
Thomas, for opening Wales, and they purchased certain mines in
these districts which they knew to be productive, and which might
be made yet more so, and settling down here called themselves the
Rheidol United. Well, after they had been here a little
time they found themselves in want of a man to superintend their
concerns, above all in the smelting department. So they
thought of me, who was known to most of the mining gentry in the
north country, and they made a proposal to me through George
Alden, afterwards Sir George, to come here and superintend.
I said no at first, for I didn&rsquo;t like the idea of leaving
Durham county to come to such an outlandish place as Wales;
howsomeover, I at last allowed myself to be overpersuaded by
George Alden, afterwards Sir George, and here I came with my wife
and family&mdash;for I must tell your honour I had married a
respectable young woman of Durham county, by whom I had two
little ones&mdash;here I came and did my best for the service of
the Rheidol United. The company was terribly set to it for
a long time, spending a mint of money and getting very poor
returns. To my certain knowledge, the two Aldens, George
and Tom, spent between them thirty thousand pounds. The
company, however, persevered, chiefly at the instigation of the
Aldens, who were in the habit of saying, &lsquo;Never say
die!&rsquo; and at last got the better of all their difficulties
and rolled in riches, and had the credit of being the first
company that ever opened Wales, which they richly deserved, for I
will uphold it that the Rheidol United, particularly the Aldens,
George and Thomas, were the first people who really opened
Wales. In their service I have been for five-and-thirty
years, and daresay shall continue so till I die. I have
been tolerably comfortable, your honour, though I have had my
griefs, the bitterest of which was the death of my wife, which
happened about eight years after I came to this country. I
thought I should have gone wild at first, your honour; having,
however, always plenty to do, I at last got the better of my
affliction. I continued single till my English family grew
up and left me, when, feeling myself rather lonely, I married a
decent young Welshwoman, by whom I had one son, the lad John who
is following behind with his dog Joe. And now your honour
knows the whole story of John Greaves, miner from the county of
Durham.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And a most entertaining and instructive history it
is,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;You have not told me, however,
how you contrived to pick up Welsh: I heard you speaking it last
night with the postman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, through my Welsh wife, your honour! Without
her I don&rsquo;t think I should ever have picked up the Welsh
manner of discoursing&mdash;she is a good kind of woman, my Welsh
wife, though&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The loss of your Durham wife must have been a great
grief to you,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It was the bitterest grief, your honour, as I said
before, that I ever had; my next worst I think was the death of a
dear friend.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who was that?&rdquo; said I</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who was it, your honour? why, the Duke of
Newcastle.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;how came you to know
him?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, your honour, he lived at a place not far from
here, called Hafod, and so&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hafod?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I have often heard of
Hafod and its library; but I thought it belonged to an old Welsh
family called Johnes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, so it did, your honour, but the family died away,
and the estate was put up for sale, and purchased by the Duke,
who built a fine house upon it, which he made his chief place of
residence&mdash;the old family house, I must tell your honour, in
which the library was, had been destroyed by fire. Well, he
hadn&rsquo;t been long settled there before he found me out and
took wonderfully to me, discoursing with me and consulting me
about his farming and improvements. Many is the pleasant
chat and discourse I have had with his Grace for hours and hours
together, for his Grace had not a bit of pride, at least he never
showed any to me, though perhaps the reason of that was that we
were both north country people. Lord! I would have
laid down my life for his Grace and have done anything but one
which he once asked me to do. &lsquo;Greaves,&rsquo; said
the Duke to me one day, &lsquo;I wish you would give up mining
and become my steward.&rsquo; &lsquo;Sorry I can&rsquo;t
oblige your Grace,&rsquo; said I, &lsquo;but give up mining I
cannot. I will at any time give your Grace all the advice I
can about farming and such like, but give up mining I cannot;
because why?&mdash;I conceive mining to be the noblest business
in the &lsquo;versal world.&rsquo; Whereupon his Grace
laughed, and said he dare say I was right, and never mentioned
the subject again.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Was his Grace very fond of farming and
improving?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, your honour. Like all the great gentry,
especially the north country gentry, his Grace was wonderfully
fond of farming and improving; and a wonderful deal of good he
did, reclaiming thousands of acres of land which was before good
for nothing, and building capital farm-houses and offices for his
tenants. His grand feat, however, was bringing the Durham
bull into this country, which formed a capital cross with the
Welsh cows. Pity that he wasn&rsquo;t equally fortunate
with the north country sheep.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did he try to introduce them into Wales?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, but they didn&rsquo;t answer, as I knew they
wouldn&rsquo;t. Says I to the Duke: &lsquo;It won&rsquo;t
do, your Grace, to bring the north country sheep here: because
why? the hills are too wet and cold for their
constitutions&rsquo;; but his Grace, who had sometimes a will of
his own, persisted and brought the north country sheep to these
parts, and it turned out as I said&mdash;the sheep caught the
disease, and the wool parted and&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you should have told him
about the salve made of bran, butter and oil; you should have
done that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, so I did, your honour. I told him about the
salve, and the Duke listened to me, and the salve was made by
these very hands; but when it was made, what do you think? the
foolish Welsh wouldn&rsquo;t put it on, saying that it was
against their laws and statties and religion to use it, and
talked about Devil&rsquo;s salves and the Witch of Endor, and the
sin against the Holy Ghost, and such like nonsense. So to
prevent a regular rebellion, the Duke gave up the salve, and the
poor sheep pined away and died, till at last there was not one
left.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who holds the estate at present?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, a great gentleman from Lancashire, your honour,
who bought it when the Duke died; but he doesn&rsquo;t take the
same pleasure in it which the Duke did, nor spend so much money
about it, the consequence being that everything looks very
different from what it looked in the Duke&rsquo;s time. The
inn at the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge and the grounds look very
different from what they looked in the Duke&rsquo;s time, for you
must know that the inn and the grounds form part of the Hafod
estate, and are hired from the proprietor.&rdquo;</p>

<p>By this time we had arrived at a small village, with a
toll-bar and a small church or chapel at some little distance
from the road, which here made a turn nearly full south.
The road was very good, but the country was wild and rugged;
there was a deep vale on the right, at the bottom of which rolled
the Rheidol in its cleft, rising beyond which were steep, naked
hills.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This village,&rdquo; said my companion, &ldquo;is
called Ysbytty Cynfyn. Down on the right, past the church,
is a strange bridge across the Rheidol, which runs there through
a horrid kind of a place. The bridge is called Pont yr
Offeiriad, or the Parson&rsquo;s Bridge, because in the old time
the clergyman passed over it every Sunday to do duty in the
church here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why is this place called Ysbytty Cynfyn?&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;which means the hospital of the first boundary; is there a
hospital of the second boundary near here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say anything about boundaries, your
honour; all I know is, that there is another Spytty farther on
beyond Hafod called Ysbytty Ystwyth, or the &rsquo;Spytty upon
the Ystwyth. But to return to the matter of the
Minister&rsquo;s Bridge: I would counsel your honour to go and
see that bridge before you leave these parts. A vast number
of gentry go to see it in the summer time. It was the
bridge which the landlord was mentioning last night, though it
scarcely belongs to his district, being quite as near the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge inn as it is to his own, your
honour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We went on discoursing for about half a mile farther, when,
stopping by a road which branched off to the hills on the left,
my companion said. &ldquo;I must now wish your honour good
day, being obliged to go a little way up here to a mining work on
a small bit of business; my son, however, and his dog Joe will
show your honour the way to the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, as they are
bound to a place a little way past it. I have now but one
word to say, which is, that should ever your honour please to
visit me at my mine, your honour shall receive every facility for
inspecting the works, and moreover have a bellyful of drink and
victuals from Jock Greaves, miner from the county of
Durham.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I shook the honest fellow by the hand, and went on in company
with the lad John and his dog as far as the Devil&rsquo;s
Bridge. John was a highly-intelligent lad, spoke Welsh and
English fluently, could read, as he told me, both languages, and
had some acquaintance with the writings of Twm o&rsquo;r Nant, as
he showed by repeating the following lines of the carter poet,
certainly not the worst which he ever wrote:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Twm or Nant mae cant a&rsquo;m galw,<br />
Tomas Edwards yw fy enw.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Tom O Nant is a nickname I&rsquo;ve got,<br />
My name&rsquo;s Thomas Edwards, I wot.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXIV</h2>

<p class="letter">The Hospice&mdash;The Two Rivers&mdash;The
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge&mdash;Pleasant Recollections.</p>

<p>I arrived at the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge at about eleven
o&rsquo;clock of a fine but cold day, and took up my quarters at
the inn, of which I was the sole guest during the whole time that
I continued there; for the inn, standing in a lone, wild
district, has very few guests except in summer, when it is
thronged with tourists, who avail themselves of that genial
season to view the wonders of Wales, of which the region close by
is considered amongst the principal.</p>

<p>The inn, or rather hospice&mdash;for the sounding name of
hospice is more applicable to it than the common one of
inn&mdash;was built at a great expense by the late Duke of
Newcastle. It is an immense lofty cottage with projecting
eaves, and has a fine window to the east which enlightens a
stately staircase and a noble gallery. It fronts the north,
and stands in the midst of one of the most remarkable localities
in the world, of which it would require a far more vigorous pen
than mine to convey an adequate idea.</p>

<p>Far to the west is a tall, strange-looking hill, the top of
which bears no slight resemblance to that of a battlemented
castle. This hill, which is believed to have been in
ancient times a stronghold of the Britons, bears the name of Bryn
y Castell, or the hill of the castle. To the north-west are
russet hills, to the east two brown paps, whilst to the south is
a high, swelling mountain. To the north, and just below the
hospice, is a profound hollow with all the appearance of the
crater of an extinct volcano; at the bottom of this hollow the
waters of two rivers unite; those of the Rheidol from the north,
and those of the Afon y Mynach, or the Monks&rsquo; River, from
the south-east. The Rheidol, falling over a rocky precipice
at the northern side of the hollow, forms a cataract very
pleasant to look upon from the middle upper window of the
inn. Those of the Mynach which pass under the celebrated
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge are not visible, though they generally make
themselves heard. The waters of both, after uniting, flow
away through a romantic glen towards the west. The sides of
the hollow, and indeed of most of the ravines in the
neighbourhood, which are numerous, are beautifully clad with
wood.</p>

<p>Penetrate now into the hollow above which the hospice
stands. You descend by successive flights of steps, some of
which are very slippery and insecure. On your right is the
Monks&rsquo; River, roaring down its dingle in five successive
falls, to join its brother the Rheidol. Each of the falls
has its own peculiar basin, one or two of which are said to be of
awful depth. The length which these falls with their basins
occupy is about five hundred feet. On the side of the basin
of the last but one is the cave, or the site of the cave, said to
have been occupied in old times by the Wicked Children&mdash;the
mysterious Plant de Bat&mdash;two brothers and a sister, robbers
and murderers. At present it is nearly open on every side,
having, it is said, been destroyed to prevent its being the haunt
of other evil people. There is a tradition in the country
that the fall at one time tumbled over its mouth. This
tradition, however, is evidently without foundation, as from the
nature of the ground the river could never have run but in its
present channel. Of all the falls, the fifth or last is the
most considerable: you view it from a kind of den, to which the
last flight of steps, the ruggedest and most dangerous of all,
has brought you. Your position here is a wild one.
The fall, which is split into two, is thundering beside you;
foam, foam, foam is flying all about you; the basin or cauldron
is boiling frightfully below you; hirsute rocks are frowning
terribly above you, and above them forest trees, dank and wet
with spray and mist, are distilling drops in showers from their
boughs.</p>

<p>But where is the bridge, the celebrated bridge of the Evil
Man? From the bottom of the first flight of steps leading
down into the hollow you see a modern-looking bridge, bestriding
a deep chasm or cleft to the south-east, near the top of the
dingle of the Monks&rsquo; River; over it lies the road to Pont
Erwyd. That, however, is not the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge; but
about twenty feet below that bridge, and completely overhung by
it, don&rsquo;t you see a shadowy, spectral object, something
like a bow, which likewise bestrides the chasm? You
do! Well, that shadowy, spectral object is the celebrated
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, or, as the timorous peasants of the
locality call it, the Pont y Gwr Drwg. It is now merely
preserved as an object of curiosity, the bridge above being alone
used for transit, and is quite inaccessible except to birds and
the climbing wicked boys of the neighbourhood, who sometimes at
the risk of their lives contrive to get upon it from the
frightfully steep northern bank, and snatch a fearful joy, as,
whilst lying on their bellies, they poke their heads over its
sides worn by age, without parapet to prevent them from falling
into the horrid gulf below. But from the steps in the
hollow the view of the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, and likewise of the
cleft, is very slight and unsatisfactory. To view it
properly, and the wonders connected with it, you must pass over
the bridge above it, and descend a precipitous dingle on the
eastern side till you come to a small platform in a crag.
Below you now is a frightful cavity, at the bottom of which the
waters of the Monks&rsquo; River, which comes tumbling from a
glen to the east, whirl, boil, and hiss in a horrid pot or
cauldron, called in the language of the country Twll yn y graig,
or the hole in the rock, in a manner truly tremendous. On
your right is a slit, probably caused by volcanic force, through
which the waters after whirling in the cauldron eventually
escape. The slit is wonderfully narrow, considering its
altitude which is very great&mdash;considerably upwards of a
hundred feet. Nearly above you, crossing the slit, which is
partially wrapt in darkness, is the far-famed bridge, the Bridge
of the Evil Man, a work which, though crumbling and darkly grey,
does much honour to the hand which built it, whether it was the
hand of Satan or of a monkish architect; for the arch is chaste
and beautiful, far superior in every respect, except in safety
and utility, to the one above it, which from this place you have
not the mortification of seeing. Gaze on these objects,
namely, the horrid seething pot or cauldron, the gloomy volcanic
slit, and the spectral, shadowy Devil&rsquo;s Bridge for about
three minutes, allowing a minute to each, then scramble up the
bank and repair to your inn, and have no more sight-seeing that
day, for you have seen enough. And if pleasant
recollections do not haunt you through life of the noble falls
and the beautiful wooded dingles to the west of the bridge of the
Evil One, and awful and mysterious ones of the monks&rsquo;
boiling cauldron, the long, savage, shadowy cleft, and the grey,
crumbling, spectral bridge, I say boldly that you must be a very
unpoetical person indeed.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXV</h2>

<p class="letter">Dinner at the Hospice&mdash;Evening
Gossip&mdash;A Day of Rain&mdash;A Scanty Flock&mdash;The Bridge
of the Minister&mdash;Legs in Danger.</p>

<p>I dined in a parlour of the inn commanding an excellent view
of the hollow and the Rheidol fall. Shortly after I had
dined, a fierce storm of rain and wind came on. It lasted
for an hour, and then everything again became calm. Just
before evening was closing in I took a stroll to a village which
stands a little way to the west of the inn. It consists
only of a few ruinous edifices, and is chiefly inhabited by
miners and their families. I saw no men, but plenty of
women and children. Seeing a knot of women and girls
chatting I went up and addressed them. Some of the girls
were very good-looking; none of the party had any English; all of
them were very civil. I first talked to them about
religion, and found that, without a single exception, they were
Calvinistic-Methodists. I next talked to them about the
Plant de Bat. They laughed heartily at the first mention of
their name, but seemed to know very little about their
history. After some twenty minutes&rsquo; discourse I bade
them good-night and returned to my inn.</p>

<p>The night was very cold; the people of the house, however,
made up for me a roaring fire of turf, and I felt very
comfortable. About ten o&rsquo;clock I went to bed,
intending next morning to go and see Plynlimmon, which I had left
behind me on entering Cardiganshire. When the morning came,
however, I saw at once that I had entered upon a day by no means
adapted for excursions of any considerable length, for it rained
terribly; but this gave me very little concern; my time was my
own, and I said to myself: &ldquo;If I can&rsquo;t go to-day I
can perhaps go to-morrow.&rdquo; After breakfast I passed
some hours in a manner by no means disagreeable, sometimes
meditating before my turf fire, with my eyes fixed upon it, and
sometimes sitting by the window, with my eyes fixed upon the
cascade of the Rheidol, which was every moment becoming more
magnificent. At length about twelve o&rsquo;clock, fearing
that if I stayed within I should lose my appetite for dinner,
which has always been one of the greatest of my enjoyments, I
determined to go and see the Minister&rsquo;s Bridge which my
friend the old mining captain had spoken to me about. I
knew that I should get a wetting by doing so, for the weather
still continued very bad, but I don&rsquo;t care much for a
wetting provided I have a good roof, a good fire, and good fare
to betake myself to afterwards.</p>

<p>So I set out. As I passed over the bridge of the Mynach
River I looked down over the eastern balustrade. The Bridge
of the Evil One, which is just below it, was quite
invisible. I could see, however, the pot or crochan
distinctly enough, and a horrible sight it presented. The
waters were whirling round in a manner to describe which any word
but frenzied would be utterly powerless.
Half-an-hour&rsquo;s walking brought me to the little village
through which I had passed the day before. Going up to a
house I knocked at the door, and a middle-aged man opening it, I
asked him the way to the Bridge of the Minister. He pointed
to the little chapel to the west, and said that the way lay past
it, adding that he would go with me himself, as he wanted to go
to the hills on the other side to see his sheep.</p>

<p>We got presently into discourse. He at first talked
broken English, but soon began to speak his native
language. I asked him if the chapel belonged to the
Methodists.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not a chapel,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it is a
church.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do many come to it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not many, sir, for the Methodists are very powerful
here. Not more than forty or fifty come.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you belong to the Church?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do, sir&mdash;thank God!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You may well be thankful,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for it
is a great privilege to belong to the Church of
England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is so, sir,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;though few,
alas! think so.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I found him a highly-intelligent person. On my talking
to him about the name of the place, he said that some called it
Spytty Cynfyn, and others Spytty Cynwyl, and that both Cynwyl and
Cynfyn were the names of people, to one or other of which the
place was dedicated, and that, like the place farther on called
Spytty Ystwyth, it was in the old time a hospital or inn for the
convenience of the pilgrims going to the great monastery of
Ystrad Flur or Strata Florida.</p>

<p>Passing through a field or two we came to the side of a very
deep ravine, down which there was a zigzag path leading to the
bridge. The path was very steep, and, owing to the rain,
exceedingly slippery. For some way it led through a grove
of dwarf oaks, by grasping the branches of which I was enabled to
support myself tolerably well; nearly at the bottom, however,
where the path was most precipitous, the trees ceased
altogether. Fearing to trust my legs, I determined to slide
down, and put my resolution in practice, arriving at a little
shelf close by the bridge without any accident. The man,
accustomed to the path, went down in the usual manner. The
bridge consisted of a couple of planks and a pole flung over a
chasm about ten feet wide, on the farther side of which was a
precipice with a path at least quite as steep as the one down
which I had come, and without any trees or shrubs by which those
who used it might support themselves. The torrent rolled
about nine feet below the bridge; its channel was tortuous; on
the south-east side of the bridge was a cauldron, like that on
which I had looked down from the bridge over the river of the
monks. The man passed over the bridge and I followed him;
on the other side we stopped and turned round. The river
was rushing and surging, the pot was boiling and roaring, and
everything looked wild and savage; but the locality, for
awfulness and mysterious gloom, could not compare with that on
the east side of the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, nor for sublimity and
grandeur with that on the west.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Here you see, sir,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;the
Bridge of the Offeiriad, called so, it is said, because the popes
used to pass over it in the old time; and here you have the
Rheidol, which, though not so smooth nor so well off for banks as
the Hafren and the Gwy, gets to the sea before either of them,
and, as the pennill says, is quite as much entitled to
honour:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Hafren a Wy yn hyfryd eu
wêdd<br />
A Rheidol vawr ei anrhydedd.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Good rhyme, sir, that. I wish you would put it into
Saesneg.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am afraid I shall make a poor hand of it,&rdquo; said
I; &ldquo;however, I will do my best:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Oh pleasantly do glide along the
Severn and the Wye;<br />
But Rheidol&rsquo;s rough, and yet he&rsquo;s held by all in
honour high.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Very good rhyme that, sir! though not so good as the
pennill Cymraeg. Ha, I do see that you know the two
languages and are one poet. And now, sir, I must leave you,
and go to the hills to my sheep, who I am afraid will be
suffering in this dreadful weather. However, before I go, I
should wish to see you safe over the bridge.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I shook him by the hand, and retracing my steps over the
bridge, began clambering up the bank on my knees.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You will spoil your trousers, sir!&rdquo; cried the man
from the other side.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if I do,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;provided I save my legs, which are in some danger in this
place, as well as my neck, which is of less
consequence.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I hurried back amidst rain and wind to my friendly hospice,
where, after drying my wet clothes as well as I could, I made an
excellent dinner on fowl and bacon. Dinner over, I took up
a newspaper which was brought me, and read an article about the
Russian war, which did not seem to be going on much to the
advantage of the allies. Soon flinging the paper aside, I
stuck my feet on the stove, one on each side of the turf fire,
and listened to the noises without. The bellowing of the
wind down the mountain passes and the roaring of the Rheidol fall
at the north side of the valley, and the rushing of the five
cascades of the river Mynach, were truly awful. Perhaps I
ought not to have said the five cascades of the Mynach, but the
Mynach cascade, for now its five cascades had become one,
extending from the chasm over which hung the bridge of Satan to
the bottom of the valley.</p>

<p>After a time I fell into a fit of musing. I thought of
the Plant de Bat; I thought of the spitties or hospitals
connected with the great monastery of Ystrad Flur or Strata
Florida; I thought of the remarkable bridge close by, built by a
clever monk of that place to facilitate the coming of pilgrims
with their votive offerings from the north to his convent; I
thought of the convent built in the time of our Henry the Second
by Ryce ab Gruffyd, prince of South Wales; and lastly, I thought
of a wonderful man who was buried in its precincts, the greatest
genius which Wales, and perhaps Britain, ever produced, on whose
account, and not because of old it had been a magnificent
building, and the most celebrated place of popish pilgrimage in
Wales, I had long ago determined to visit it on my journey, a man
of whose life and works the following is a brief account.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXVI</h2>

<p class="letter">Birth and Early Years of Ab
Gwilym&mdash;Morfudd&mdash;Relic of Druidism&mdash;The Men of
Glamorgan&mdash;Legend of Ab Gwilym&mdash;Ab Gwilym as a
Writer&mdash;Wonderful Variety&mdash;Objects of
Nature&mdash;Gruffydd Gryg.</p>

<p>Dafydd Ab Gwilym was born about the year 1320, at a place
called Bro Gynnin in the county of Cardigan. Though born in
wedlock he was not conceived legitimately. His mother being
discovered by her parents to be pregnant, was turned out of doors
by them, whereupon she went to her lover, who married her, though
in so doing he acted contrary to the advice of his
relations. After a little time, however, a general
reconciliation took place. The parents of Ab Gwilym, though
highly connected, do not appear to have possessed much
property. The boy was educated by his mother&rsquo;s
brother Llewelyn ab Gwilym Fychan, a chief of Cardiganshire; but
his principal patron in after life was Ifor, a cousin of his
father, surnamed Hael, or the bountiful, a chieftain of
Glamorganshire. This person received him within his house,
made him his steward and tutor to his daughter. With this
young lady Ab Gwilym speedily fell in love, and the damsel
returned his passion. Ifor, however, not approving of the
connection, sent his daughter to Anglesey, and eventually caused
her to take the veil in a nunnery of that island. Dafydd
pursued her, but not being able to obtain an interview, he
returned to his patron, who gave him a kind reception.
Under Ifor&rsquo;s roof he cultivated poetry with great assiduity
and wonderful success. Whilst very young, being taunted
with the circumstances of his birth by a brother bard called Rhys
Meigan, he retorted in an ode so venomously bitter that his
adversary, after hearing it, fell down and expired. Shortly
after this event he was made head bard of Glamorgan by universal
acclamation.</p>

<p>After a stay of some time with Ifor, he returned to his native
county and lived at Bro Gynnin. Here he fell in love with a
young lady of birth called Dyddgu, who did not favour his
addresses. He did not break his heart, however, on her
account, but speedily bestowed it on the fair Morfudd, whom he
first saw at Rhosyr in Anglesey, to which place both had gone on
a religious account. The lady after some demur consented to
become his wife. Her parents refusing to sanction the
union, their hands were joined beneath the greenwood tree by one
Madawg Benfras, a bard, and a great friend of Ab Gwilym.
The joining of people&rsquo;s hands by bards, which was probably
a relic of Druidism, had long been practised in Wales, and
marriages of this kind were generally considered valid, and
seldom set aside. The ecclesiastical law, however, did not
recognise these poetical marriages, and the parents of Morfudd by
appealing to the law soon severed the union. After
confining the lady for a short time, they bestowed her hand in
legal fashion upon a chieftain of the neighbourhood, very rich
but rather old, and with a hump on his back, on account which he
was nicknamed bow-back, or little hump-back. Morfudd,
however, who passed her time in rather a dull manner with this
person, which would not have been the case had she done her duty
by endeavouring to make the poor man comfortable, and by visiting
the sick and needy around her, was soon induced by the bard to
elope with him. The lovers fled to Glamorgan, where Ifor
Hael, not much to his own credit, received them with open arms,
probably forgetting how he had immured his <i>own</i> daughter in
a convent, rather than bestow her on Ab Gwilym. Having a
hunting-lodge in a forest on the banks of the lovely Taf, he
allotted it to the fugitives as a residence. Ecclesiastical
law, however, as strong in Wild Wales as in other parts of
Europe, soon followed them into Glamorgan, and, very properly,
separated them. The lady was restored to her husband, and
Ab Gwilym fined to a very high amount. Not being able to
pay the fine, he was cast into prison; but then the men of
Glamorgan arose to a man, swearing that their head bard should
not remain in prison. &ldquo;Then pay his fine!&rdquo; said
the ecclesiastical law, or rather the ecclesiastical
lawyer. &ldquo;So we will!&rdquo; said the men of
Glamorgan, and so they did. Every man put his hand into his
pocket; the amount was soon raised, the fine paid, and the bard
set free.</p>

<p>Ab Gwilym did not forget this kindness of the men of
Glamorgan, and, to requite it, wrote an address to the sun, in
which he requests that luminary to visit Glamorgan, to bless it,
and to keep it from harm. The piece concludes with some
noble lines somewhat to this effect</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;If every strand oppression strong<br />
Should arm against the son of song,<br />
The weary wight would find, I ween,<br />
A welcome in Glamorgan green.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Some time after his release he meditated a second elopement
with Morfudd, and even induced her to consent to go off with
him. A friend, to whom he disclosed what he was thinking of
doing, asking him whether he would venture a second time to take
such a step, &ldquo;I will,&rdquo; said the bard, &ldquo;in the
name of God and the men of Glamorgan.&rdquo; No second
elopement, however, took place, the bard probably thinking, as
has been well observed, that neither God nor the men of Glamorgan
would help him a second time out of such an affair. He did
not attain to any advanced age, but died when about sixty, some
twenty years before the rising of Glendower. Some time
before his death his mind fortunately took a decidedly religious
turn.</p>

<p>He is said to have been eminently handsome in his youth, tall,
slender, with yellow hair falling in ringlets down his
shoulders. He is likewise said to have been a great
libertine. The following story is told of him:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In a certain neighbourhood he had a great many
mistresses, some married and others not. Once upon a time,
in the month of June he made a secret appointment with each of
his lady-loves, the place and hour of meeting being the same for
all; each was to meet him at the same hour beneath a mighty oak
which stood in the midst of a forest glade. Some time
before the appointed hour he went, and climbing up the oak, hid
himself amidst the dense foliage of its boughs. When the
hour arrived he observed all the nymphs tripping to the place of
appointment; all came, to the number of twenty-four&mdash;not one
stayed away. For some time they remained beneath the oak
staring at each other. At length an explanation ensued, and
it appeared that they had all come to meet Ab Gwilym.</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Oh, the treacherous monster!&rsquo; cried they
with one accord; &lsquo;only let him show himself and we will
tear him to pieces.&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Will you?&rsquo; said Ab Gwilym from the oak;
&lsquo;here I am; let her who has been most wanton with me make
the first attack upon me!&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The females remained for some time speechless; all of a
sudden, however, their anger kindled, not against the bard, but
against each other. From harsh and taunting words they soon
came to actions: hair was torn off, faces were scratched, blood
flowed from cheek and nose. Whilst the tumult was at its
fiercest Ab Gwilym slipped away.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The writer merely repeats this story, and he repeats it as
concisely as possible, in order to have an opportunity of saying
that he does not believe one particle of it. If he believed
it, he would forthwith burn the most cherished volume of the
small collection of books from which he derives delight and
recreation, namely, that which contains the songs of Ab Gwilym,
for he would have nothing in his possession belonging to such a
heartless scoundrel as Ab Gwilym must have been had he got up the
scene above described. Any common man who would expose to
each other and the world a number of hapless, trusting females
who had favoured him with their affections, and from the top of a
tree would feast his eyes upon their agonies of shame and rage,
would deserve to be&mdash;emasculated. Had Ab Gwilym been
so dead to every feeling of gratitude and honour as to play the
part which the story makes him play, he would have deserved not
only to be emasculated, but to be scourged with harp-strings in
every market-town in Wales, and to be dismissed from the service
of the Muse. But the writer repeats that he does not
believe one tittle of the story, though Ab Gwilym&rsquo;s
biographer, the learned and celebrated William Owen, not only
seems to believe it, but rather chuckles over it. It is the
opinion of the writer that the story is of Italian origin, and
that it formed part of one of the many rascally novels brought
over to England after the marriage of Lionel, Duke of Clarence,
the third son of Edward the Third, with Violante, daughter of
Galeazzo, Duke of Milan.</p>

<p>Dafydd Ab Gwilym has been in general considered as a songster
who never employed his muse on any subject save that of love, and
there can be no doubt that by far the greater number of his
pieces are devoted more or less to the subject of love. But
to consider him merely in the light of an amatory poet would be
wrong. He has written poems of wonderful power on almost
every conceivable subject. Ab Gwilym has been styled the
Welsh Ovid, and with great justice, but not merely because like
the Roman he wrote admirably on love. The Roman was not
merely an amatory poet: let the shade of Pythagoras say whether
the poet who embodied in immortal verse the oldest, the most
wonderful, and at the same time the most humane, of all
philosophy was a mere amatory poet. Let the shade of blind
Homer be called up to say whether the bard who composed the
tremendous line&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Surgit ad hos clypei dominus septemplicis
Ajax&rdquo;&mdash;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>equal to any save <i>one</i> of his own, was a mere amatory
songster. Yet, diversified as the genius of the Roman was,
there is no species of poetry in which he shone in which the
Welshman may not be said to display equal merit. Ab Gwilym,
then, has been fairly styled the Welsh Ovid. But he was
something more&mdash;and here let there be no sneers about Welsh:
the Welsh are equal in genius, intellect and learning to any
people under the sun, and speak a language older than Greek, and
which is one of the immediate parents of the Greek. He was
something more than the Welsh Ovid: he was the Welsh Horace, and
wrote light, agreeable, sportive pieces, equal to any things of
the kind composed by Horace in his best moods. But he was
something more: he was the Welsh Martial, and wrote pieces equal
in pungency to those of the great Roman
epigrammatist,&mdash;perhaps more than equal, for we never heard
that any of Martial&rsquo;s epigrams killed anybody, whereas Ab
Gwilym&rsquo;s piece of vituperation on Rhys Meigan&mdash;pity
that poets should be so virulent&mdash;caused the Welshman to
fall down dead. But he was yet something more: he could, if
he pleased, be a Tyrtaeus; he was no fighter&mdash;where was
there ever a poet that was?&mdash;but he wrote an ode on a sword,
the only warlike piece that he ever wrote, the best poem on the
subject ever written in any language. Finally, he was
something more: he was what not one of the great Latin poets was,
a Christian; that is, in his latter days, when he began to feel
the vanity of all human pursuits, when his nerves began to be
unstrung, his hair to fall off, and his teeth to drop out, and he
then composed sacred pieces entitling him to rank with&mdash;we
were going to say Caedmon; had we done so we should have done
wrong; no uninspired poet ever handled sacred subjects like the
grand Saxon Skald&mdash;but which entitle him to be called a
great religious poet, inferior to none but the
protégé of Hilda.</p>

<p>Before ceasing to speak of Ab Gwilym, it will be necessary to
state that his amatory pieces, which constitute more than
one-half of his productions, must be divided into two classes:
the purely amatory and those only partly devoted to love.
His poems to Dyddgu and the daughter of Ifor Hael are productions
very different from those addressed to Morfudd. There can
be no doubt that he had a sincere affection for the two first;
there is no levity in the cowydds which he addressed to them, and
he seldom introduces any other objects than those of his
love. But in his cowydds addressed to Morfudd is there no
levity? Is Morfudd ever prominent? His cowydds to
that woman abound with humorous levity, and for the most part
have far less to do with her than with natural objects&mdash;the
snow, the mist, the trees of the forest, the birds of the air,
and the fishes of the stream. His first piece to Morfudd is
full of levity quite inconsistent with true love. It states
how, after seeing her for the first time at Rhosyr in Anglesey,
and falling in love with her, he sends her a present of wine by
the hands of a servant, which present she refuses, casting the
wine contemptuously over the head of the valet. This
commencement promises little in the way of true passion, so that
we are not disappointed when we read a little farther on that the
bard is dead and buried, all on account of love, and that Morfudd
makes a pilgrimage to Mynyw to seek for pardon for killing him,
nor when we find him begging the popish image to convey a message
to her. Then presently we almost lose sight of Morfudd
amidst birds, animals and trees, and we are not sorry that we do;
for though Ab Gwilym is mighty in humour, great in describing the
emotions of love and the beauties of the lovely, he is greatest
of all in describing objects of nature; indeed in describing them
he has no equal, and the writer has no hesitation in saying that
in many of his cowydds in which he describes various objects of
nature, by which he sends messages to Morfudd, he shows himself a
far greater poet than Ovid appears in any one of his
Metamorphoses. There are many poets who attempt to describe
natural objects without being intimately acquainted with them,
but Ab Gwilym was not one of these. No one was better
acquainted with nature; he was a stroller, and there is every
probability that during the greater part of the summer he had no
other roof than the foliage, and that the voices of birds and
animals were more familiar to his ears than was the voice of
man. During the summer months, indeed, in the early part of
his life, he was, if we may credit him, generally lying perdue in
the woodland or mountain recesses near the habitation of his
mistress, before or after her marriage, awaiting her secret
visits, made whenever she could escape the vigilance of her
parents, or the watchful of her husband, and during her absence
he had nothing better to do than to observe objects of nature and
describe them. His ode to the Fox, one of the most
admirable of his pieces, was composed on one of these
occasions.</p>

<p>Want of space prevents the writer from saying as much as he
could wish about the genius of this wonderful man, the greatest
of his country&rsquo;s songsters, well calculated by nature to do
honour to the most polished age and the most widely-spoken
language. The bards his contemporaries, and those who
succeeded him for several hundred years, were perfectly convinced
of his superiority, not only over themselves, but over all the
poets of the past; and one, and a mighty one, old Iolo the bard
of Glendower, went so far as to insinuate that after Ab Gwilym it
would be of little avail for any one to make verses&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Aed lle mae&rsquo;r eang dangneff,<br />
Ac aed y gerdd gydag ef.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Heaven&rsquo;s high peace let him depart,<br />
And with him go the minstrel art.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He was buried at Ystrad Flur, and a yew tree was planted over
his grave, to which Gruffydd Gryg, a brother bard, who was at one
time his enemy, but eventually became one of the most ardent of
his admirers, addressed an ode, of part of which the following is
a paraphrase:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Thou noble tree, who shelt&rsquo;rest
kind<br />
The dead man&rsquo;s house from winter&rsquo;s wind;<br />
May lightnings never lay thee low;<br />
Nor archer cut from thee his bow,<br />
Nor Crispin peel thee pegs to frame;<br />
But may thou ever bloom the same,<br />
A noble tree the grave to guard<br />
Of Cambria&rsquo;s most illustrious bard!&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>


</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXVII</h2>

<p class="letter">Start for Plynlimmon&mdash;Plynlimmon&rsquo;s
Celebrity&mdash;Troed Rhiw Goch.</p>

<p>The morning of the fifth of November looked rather
threatening. As, however, it did not rain, I determined to
set off for Plynlimmon, and, returning at night to the inn,
resume my journey to the south on the following day. On
looking into a pocket almanac I found it was Sunday. This
very much disconcerted me, and I thought at first of giving up my
expedition. Eventually, however, I determined to go, for I
reflected that I should be doing no harm, and that I might
acknowledge the sacredness of the day by attending morning
service at the little Church of England chapel which lay in my
way.</p>

<p>The mountain of Plynlimmon to which I was bound is the third
in Wales for altitude, being only inferior to Snowdon and Cadair
Idris. Its proper name is Pum, or Pump, Lumon, signifying
the five points, because towards the upper part it is divided
into five hills or points. Plynlimmon is a celebrated hill
on many accounts. It has been the scene of many remarkable
events. In the tenth century a dreadful battle was fought
on one of its spurs between the Danes and the Welsh, in which the
former sustained a bloody overthrow; and in 1401 a conflict took
place in one of its valleys between the Welsh, under Glendower,
and the Flemings of Pembrokeshire, who, exasperated at having
their homesteads plundered and burned by the chieftain who was
the mortal enemy of their race, assembled in considerable numbers
and drove Glendower and his forces before them to Plynlimmon,
where, the Welshmen standing at bay, a contest ensued, in which,
though eventually worsted, the Flemings were at one time all but
victorious. What, however, has more than anything else
contributed to the celebrity of the hill is the circumstance of
its giving birth to three rivers, the first of which, the Severn,
is the principal stream in Britain; the second, the Wye, the most
lovely river, probably, which the world can boast of; and the
third, the Rheidol, entitled to high honour from its boldness and
impetuosity, and the remarkable banks between which it flows in
its very short course, for there are scarcely twenty miles
between the ffynnon or source of the Rheidol and the aber or
place where it disembogues itself into the sea.</p>

<p>I started about ten o&rsquo;clock on my expedition, after
making, of course, a very hearty breakfast. Scarcely had I
crossed the Devil&rsquo;s Bridge when a shower of hail and rain
came on. As, however, it came down nearly perpendicularly,
I put up my umbrella and laughed. The shower pelted away
till I had nearly reached Spytty Cynwyl, when it suddenly left
off and the day became tolerably fine. On arriving at the
Spytty, I was sorry to find that there would be no service till
three in the afternoon. As waiting till that time was out
of the question, I pushed forward on my expedition. Leaving
Pont Erwyd at some distance on my left, I went duly north till I
came to a place amongst hills where the road was crossed by an
angry-looking rivulet, the same, I believe which enters the
Rheidol near Pont Erwyd, and which is called the Castle
River. I was just going to pull off my boots and stockings
in order to wade through, when I perceived a pole and a rail laid
over the stream at little distance above where I was. This
rustic bridge enabled me to cross without running the danger of
getting a regular sousing, for these mountain streams, even when
not reaching so high as the knee, occasionally sweep the wader
off his legs, as I know by my own experience. From a lad
whom I presently met I learned that the place where I crossed the
water was called Troed rhiw goch, or the Foot of the Red
Slope.</p>

<p>About twenty minutes&rsquo; walk from hence brought me to
Castell Dyffryn, an inn about six miles distant from the
Devil&rsquo;s Bridge, and situated near a spur of the Plynlimmon
range. Here I engaged a man to show me the sources of the
rivers and the other wonders of the mountain. He was a
tall, athletic fellow, dressed in brown coat, round buff hat,
corduroy trousers, linen leggings and highlows, and, though a
Cumro, had much more the appearance of a native of Tipperary than
a Welshman. He was a kind of shepherd to the people of the
house, who, like many others in South Wales, followed farming and
inn-keeping at the same time.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">The Guide&mdash;The Great Plynlimmon&mdash;A
Dangerous Path&mdash;Source of the Rheidol&mdash;Source of the
Severn&mdash;Pennillion&mdash;Old Times and New&mdash;The Corpse
Candle&mdash;Supper.</p>

<p>Leaving the inn, my guide and myself began to ascend a steep
hill just behind it. When we were about halfway up I asked
my companion, who spoke very fair English, why the place was
called the Castle.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;there was a castle
here in the old time.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Whereabouts was it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yonder,&rdquo; said the man, standing still and
pointing to the right. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you see yonder
brown spot in the valley? There the castle
stood.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But are there no remains of it?&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;I can see nothing but a brown spot.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There are none, sir; but there a castle once stood, and
from it the place we came from had its name, and likewise the
river that runs down to Pont Erwyd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And who lived there?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, sir,&rdquo; said the man;
&ldquo;but I suppose they were grand people, or they would not
have lived in a castle.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After ascending the hill and passing over its top, we went
down its western side and soon came to a black, frightful bog
between two hills. Beyond the bog and at some distance to
the west of the two hills rose a brown mountain, not abruptly,
but gradually, and looking more like what the Welsh call a rhiw,
or slope, than a mynydd, or mountain.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That, sir,&rdquo; said my guide, &ldquo;is the grand
Plynlimmon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It does not look much of a hill,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are on very high ground, sir, or it would look much
higher. I question, upon the whole, whether there is a
higher hill in the world. God bless Pumlummon Mawr!&rdquo;
said he, looking with reverence towards the hill. &ldquo;I
am sure I have a right to say so, for many is the good crown I
have got by showing gentlefolks like yourself to the top of
him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You talk of Plynlimmon Mawr, or the great
Plynlymmon,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;where are the small
ones?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yonder they are,&rdquo; said the guide, pointing to two
hills towards the north; &ldquo;one is Plynlimmon Canol, and the
other Plynlimmon Bach&mdash;the middle and the small
Plynlimmon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pumlummon,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;means five
summits. You have pointed out only three; now, where are
the other two?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Those two hills which we have just passed make up the
five. However, I will tell your worship that there is a
sixth summit. Don&rsquo;t you see that small hill connected
with the big Pumlummon, on the right?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I see it very clearly,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, your worship, that&rsquo;s called Bryn y
Llo&mdash;the Hill of the Calf, or the Calf Plynlimmon, which
makes the sixth summit.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very good,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and perfectly
satisfactory. Now let us ascend the Big
Pumlummon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In about a quarter of an hour we reached the summit of the
hill, where stood a large carn or heap of stones. I got
upon the top and looked around me.</p>

<p>A mountainous wilderness extended on every side, a waste of
russet coloured hills, with here and there a black, craggy
summit. No signs of life or cultivation were to be
discovered, and the eye might search in vain for a grove or even
a single tree. The scene would have been cheerless in the
extreme had not a bright sun lighted up the landscape.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This does not seem to be a country of much
society,&rdquo; said I to my guide.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not, sir. The nearest house is the inn we
came from, which is now three miles behind us. Straight
before you there is not one for at least ten, and on either side
it is an anialwch to a vast distance. Plunlummon is not a
sociable country, sir; nothing to be found in it, but here and
there a few sheep or a shepherd.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said I, descending from the carn, &ldquo;we
will proceed to the sources of the rivers.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The ffynnon of the Rheidol is not far off,&rdquo; said
the guide; &ldquo;it is just below the hill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We descended the western side of the hill for some way; at
length, coming to a very craggy and precipitous place, my guide
stopped, and pointing with his finger into the valley below,
said:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There, sir, if you look down you can see the source of
the Rheidol.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I looked down, and saw far below what appeared to be part of a
small sheet of water.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And that is the source of the Rheidol?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said my guide; &ldquo;that is the
ffynnon of the Rheidol.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;is there no getting to
it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! but the path, sir, as you see, is rather steep
and dangerous.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Never mind,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Let us try
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t seeing the fountain sufficient for you,
sir?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;By no means,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;It is not only
necessary for me to see the sources of the rivers, but to drink
of them, in order that in after times I may be able to harangue
about them with a tone of confidence and authority.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then follow me, sir; but please to take care, for this
path is more fit for sheep or shepherds than
gentlefolk.&rdquo;</p>

<p>And a truly bad path I found it; so bad indeed that before I
had descended twenty yards I almost repented having
ventured. I had a capital guide, however, who went before
and told me where to plant my steps. There was one
particularly bad part, being little better than a sheer
precipice; but even here I got down in safety with the assistance
of my guide, and a minute afterwards found myself at the source
of the Rheidol.</p>

<p>The source of the Rheidol is a small beautiful lake, about a
quarter of a mile in length. It is overhung on the east and
north by frightful crags, from which it is fed by a number of
small rills. The water is of the deepest blue, and of very
considerable depth. The banks, except to the north and
east, slope gently down, and are clad with soft and beautiful
moss. The river, of which it is the head, emerges at the
south-western side, and brawls away in the shape of a
considerable brook, amidst moss, and rushes down a wild glen
tending to the south. To the west the prospect is bounded,
at a slight distance, by high, swelling ground. If few
rivers have a more wild and wondrous channel than the Rheidol,
fewer still have a more beautiful and romantic source.</p>

<p>After kneeling down and drinking freely of the lake I
said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Now, where are we to go to next?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The nearest ffynnon to that of the Rheidol, sir, is the
ffynnon of the Severn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;let us now go and see
the ffynnon of the Severn!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I followed my guide over a hill to the north-west into a
valley, at the farther end of which I saw a brook streaming
apparently to the south, where was an outlet.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That brook,&rdquo; said the guide, &ldquo;is the young
Severn.&rdquo; The brook came from round the side of a very
lofty rock, singularly variegated, black and white, the northern
summit presenting something of the appearance of the head of a
horse. Passing round this crag we came to a fountain
surrounded with rushes, out of which the brook, now exceedingly
small, came murmuring.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The crag above,&rdquo; said my guide, &ldquo;is called
Crag y Cefyl, or the Rock of the Horse, and this spring at its
foot is generally called the ffynnon of the Hafren.
However, drink not of it, master; for the ffynnon of the Hafren
is higher up the nant. Follow me, and I will presently show
you the real ffynnon of the Hafren.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I followed him up a narrow and very steep dingle.
Presently we came to some beautiful little pools of water in the
turf, which was here remarkably green.</p>

<p>&ldquo;These are very pretty pools, an&rsquo;t they,
master?&rdquo; said my companion. &ldquo;Now, if I was a
false guide I might bid you stoop and drink, saying that these
were the sources of the Severn; but I am a true cyfarwydd, and
therefore tell you not to drink, for these pools are not the
sources of the Hafren, no more than the spring below. The
ffynnon of the Severn is higher up the nant. Don&rsquo;t
fret, however, but follow me, and we shall be there in a
minute.&rdquo;</p>

<p>So I did as he bade me, following him without fretting higher
up the nant. Just at the top he halted and said:
&ldquo;Now, master, I have conducted you to the source of the
Severn. I have considered the matter deeply, and have come
to the conclusion that here, and here only, is the true
source. Therefore stoop down and drink, in full confidence
that you are taking possession of the Holy Severn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The source of the Severn is a little pool of water some twenty
inches long, six wide, and about three deep. It is covered
at the bottom with small stones, from between which the water
gushes up. It is on the left-hand side of the nant, as you
ascend, close by the very top. An unsightly heap of black
turf-earth stands right above it to the north. Turf-heaps,
both large and small, are in abundance in the vicinity.</p>

<p>After taking possession of the Severn by drinking at its
source, rather a shabby source for so noble a stream, I said,
&ldquo;Now let us go to the fountain of the Wye.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A quarter of an hour will take us to it, your
honour,&rdquo; said the guide, leading the way.</p>

<p>The source of the Wye, which is a little pool, not much larger
than that which constitutes the fountain of the Severn, stands
near the top of a grassy hill which forms part of the Great
Plynlimmon. The stream after leaving its source runs down
the hill towards the east, and then takes a turn to the
south. The Mountains of the Severn and the Wye are in close
proximity to each other. That of the Rheidol stands
somewhat apart front both, as if, proud of its own beauty, it
disdained the other two for their homeliness. All three are
contained within the compass of a mile.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And now, I suppose, sir, that our work is done, and we
may go back to where we came from,&rdquo; said my guide, as I
stood on the grassy hill after drinking copiously of the fountain
of the Wye.</p>

<p>&ldquo;We may,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but before we do I must
repeat some lines made by a man who visited these sources, and
experienced the hospitality of a chieftain in this neighbourhood
four hundred years ago.&rdquo; Then taking off my hat, I
lifted up my voice and sang:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;From high Plynlimmon&rsquo;s shaggy side<br
/>
Three streams in three directions glide;<br />
To thousands at their mouths who tarry<br />
Honey, gold and mead they carry.<br />
Flow also from Plynlimmon high<br />
Three streams of generosity;<br />
The first, a noble stream indeed,<br />
Like rills of Mona runs with mead;<br />
The second bears from vineyards thick<br />
Wine to the feeble and the sick;<br />
The third, till time shall be no more,<br />
Mingled with gold shall silver pour.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Nice pennillion, sir, I daresay,&rdquo; said my guide,
&ldquo;provided a person could understand them.
What&rsquo;s meant by all this mead, wine, gold, and
silver?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the bard meant to say that
Plynlimmon, by means of its three channels, sends blessings and
wealth in three different directions to distant places, and that
the person whom he came to visit, and who lived on Plynlimmon,
distributed his bounty in three different ways, giving mead to
thousands at his banquets, wine from the vineyards of Gascony to
the sick and feeble of the neighbourhood, and gold and silver to
those who were willing to be tipped, amongst whom no doubt was
himself, as poets have never been above receiving a
present.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nor above asking for one, your honour; there&rsquo;s a
prydydd in this neighbourhood who will never lose a shilling for
want of asking for it. Now, sir, have the kindness to tell
me the name of the man who made those pennillion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Lewis Glyn Cothi,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;at least, it
was he who made the pennillion from which those verses are
translated.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what was the name of the gentleman whom he came to
visit?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;His name,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;was Dafydd ab Thomas
Vychan.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And where did he live?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I believe, he lived at the castle, which you told
me once stood on the spot which you pointed out as we came
up. At any rate, he lived somewhere upon
Plynlimmon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish there was some rich gentleman at present living
on Plynlimmon,&rdquo; said my guide; &ldquo;one of that sort is
much wanted.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t have everything at the same
time,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;formerly you had a chieftain who gave
away wine and mead, and occasionally a bit of gold or silver, but
then no travellers and tourists came to see the wonders of the
hills, for at that time nobody cared anything about hills; at
present you have no chieftain, but plenty of visitors, who come
to see the hills and the sources, and scatter plenty of gold
about the neighbourhood.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We now bent our steps homeward, bearing slightly to the north,
going over hills and dales covered with gorse and ling. My
guide walked with a calm and deliberate gait, yet I had
considerable difficulty in keeping up with him. There was,
however, nothing surprising in this; he was a shepherd walking on
his own hill, and having first-rate wind, and knowing every inch
of the ground, made great way without seeming to be in the
slightest hurry: I would not advise a road-walker, even if he be
a first-rate one, to attempt to compete with a shepherd on his
own, or indeed any hill; should he do so, the conceit would soon
be taken out of him.</p>

<p>After a little time we saw a rivulet running from the
west.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This ffrwd,&rdquo; said my guide, &ldquo;is called
Frennig. It here divides shire Trefaldwyn from
Cardiganshire, one in North and the other in South
Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Shortly afterwards we came to a hillock of rather a singular
shape.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This place, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is called
Eisteddfa.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why is it called so?&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;Eisteddfa means the place where people sit
down.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It does so,&rdquo; said the guide, &ldquo;and it is
called the place of sitting because three men from different
quarters of the world once met here, and one proposed that they
should sit down.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And did they?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;They did, sir; and when they had sat down they told
each other their histories.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I should be glad to know what their histories
were,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t exactly tell you what they were, but I
have heard say that there was a great deal in them about the
Tylwyth Teg or fairies.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you believe in fairies?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do, sir; but they are very seldom seen, and when they
are they do no harm to anybody. I only wish there were as
few corpse-candles as there are Tylwith Teg, and that they did as
little harm.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They foreshow people&rsquo;s deaths, don&rsquo;t
they?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;They do, sir; but that&rsquo;s not all the harm they
do. They are very dangerous for anybody to meet with.
If they come bump up against you when you are walking carelessly
it&rsquo;s generally all over with you in this world.
I&rsquo;ll give you an example: A man returning from market from
Llan Eglos to Llan Curig, not far from Plynlimmon, was struck
down dead as a horse not long ago by a corpse-candle. It
was a rainy, windy night, and the wind and rain were blowing in
his face, so that he could not see it, or get out of its
way. And yet the candle was not abroad on purpose to kill
the man. The business that it was about was to
prognosticate the death of a woman who lived near the spot, and
whose husband dealt in wool&mdash;poor thing! she was dead and
buried in less than a fortnight. Ah, master, I wish that
corpse-candles were as few and as little dangerous as the Tylwith
Teg or fairies.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We returned to the inn, where I settled with the honest
fellow, adding a trifle to what I had agreed to give him.
Then sitting down, I called for a large measure of ale, and
invited him to partake of it. He accepted my offer with
many thanks and bows, and as we sat and drank our ale we had a
great deal of discourse about the places we had visited.
The ale being finished, I got up and said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;I must now be off for the Devil&rsquo;s
Bridge!&rdquo;</p>

<p>Whereupon he also arose, and offering me his hand, said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farewell, master; I shall never forget you. Were
all the gentlefolks who come here to see the sources like you, we
should indeed feel no want in these hills of such a gentleman as
is spoken of in the pennillion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The sun was going down as I left the inn. I recrossed
the streamlet by means of the pole and rail. The water was
running with much less violence than in the morning, and was
considerably lower. The evening was calm and beautifully
cool, with a slight tendency to frost. I walked along with
a bounding and elastic step, and never remember to have felt more
happy and cheerful.</p>

<p>I reached the hospice at about six o&rsquo;clock, a bright
moon shining upon me, and found a capital supper awaiting me,
which I enjoyed exceedingly.</p>

<p>How one enjoys one&rsquo;s supper at one&rsquo;s inn after a
good day&rsquo;s walk, provided one has the proud and glorious
consciousness of being able to pay one&rsquo;s reckoning on the
morrow!</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER LXXXIX</h2>

<p class="letter">A Morning View&mdash;Hafod Ychdryd&mdash;The
Monument&mdash;Fairy-looking Place&mdash;Edward Lhuyd.</p>

<p>The morning of the sixth was bright and glorious. As I
looked from the window of the upper sitting-room of the hospice
the scene which presented itself was wild and beautiful to a
degree. The oak-covered tops of the volcanic crater were
gilded with the brightest sunshine, whilst the eastern sides
remained in dark shade and the gap or narrow entrance to the
north in shadow yet darker, in the midst of which shone the
silver of the Rheidol cataract. Should I live a hundred
years I shall never forget the wild fantastic beauty of that
morning scene.</p>

<p>I left the friendly hospice at about nine o&rsquo;clock to
pursue my southern journey. By this time the morning had
lost much of its beauty, and the dull grey sky characteristic of
November began to prevail. The way lay up a hill to the
south-east; on my left was a glen down which the river of the
Monk rolled with noise and foam. The country soon became
naked and dreary, and continued so for some miles. At
length, coming to the top of a hill, I saw a park before me,
through which the road led after passing under a stately
gateway. I had reached the confines of the domain of
Hafod.</p>

<p>Hafod Ychdryd, or the summer mansion of Uchtryd, has from time
immemorial been the name of a dwelling on the side of a hill
above the Ystwyth, looking to the east. At first it was a
summer boothie or hunting lodge to Welsh chieftains, but
subsequently expanded to the roomy, comfortable dwelling of Welsh
squires, where hospitality was much practised and bards and
harpers liberally encouraged. Whilst belonging to an
ancient family of the name of Johnes, several members of which
made no inconsiderable figure in literature, it was celebrated,
far and wide, for its library, in which was to be found, amongst
other treasures, a large collection of Welsh manuscripts on
various subjects&mdash;history, medicine, poetry and
romance. The house, however, and the library were both
destroyed in a dreadful fire which broke out. This fire is
generally called the great fire of Hafod, and some of those who
witnessed it have been heard to say that its violence was so
great that burning rafters mixed with flaming books were hurled
high above the summits of the hills. The loss of the house
was a matter of triviality compared with that of the
library. The house was soon rebuilt, and probably,
phoenix-like, looked all the better for having been burnt, but
the library could never be restored. On the extinction of
the family, the last hope of which, an angelic girl, faded away
in the year 1811, the domain became the property of the late Duke
of Newcastle, a kind and philanthrophic nobleman, and a great
friend of agriculture, who held it for many years, and
considerably improved it. After his decease it was
purchased by the head of an ancient Lancashire family, who used
the modern house as a summer residence, as the Welsh chieftains
had used the wooden boothie of old.</p>

<p>I went to a kind of lodge, where I had been told that I should
find somebody who would admit me to the church, which stood
within the grounds and contained a monument which I was very
desirous of seeing, partly from its being considered one of the
masterpieces of the great Chantrey, and partly because it was a
memorial to the lovely child, the last scion of the old family
who had possessed the domain. A good-looking young woman,
the only person whom I saw, on my telling my errand, forthwith
took a key and conducted me to the church. The church was a
neat edifice with rather a modern look. It exhibited
nothing remarkable without, and only one thing remarkable within,
namely, the monument, which was indeed worthy of notice, and
which, had Chantrey executed nothing else, might well have
entitled him to be considered, what the world has long pronounced
him, the prince of British sculptors.</p>

<p>This monument, which is of the purest marble, is placed on the
eastern side of the church, below a window of stained glass, and
represents a truly affecting scene: a lady and gentleman are
standing over a dying girl of angelic beauty, who is extended on
a couch, and from whose hand a volume, the Book of Life, is
falling. The lady is weeping.</p>

<p>Beneath is the following inscription&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center">To the Memory of<br />
<span class="smcap">Mary</span><br />
The only child of <span class="smcap">Thomas</span> and <span
class="smcap">Jane Johnes</span><br />
Who died in 1811<br />
After a few days&rsquo; sickness<br />
This monument is dedicated<br />
By her parents.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>An inscription worthy, by its simplicity and pathos, to stand
below such a monument.</p>

<p>After presenting a trifle to the woman, who, to my great
surprise, could not speak a word of English, I left the church,
and descended the side of the hill, near the top of which it
stands. The scenery was exceedingly beautiful. Below
me was a bright green valley, at the bottom of which the Ystwyth
ran brawling, now hid amongst groves, now showing a long stretch
of water. Beyond the river to the east was a noble
mountain, richly wooded. The Ystwyth, after a circuitous
course, joins the Rheidol near the strand of the Irish Channel,
which the united rivers enter at a place called Aber Ystwyth,
where stands a lovely town of the same name, which sprang up
under the protection of a baronial castle, still proud and
commanding even in its ruins, built by Strongbow, the conqueror
of the great western isle. Near the lower part of the
valley the road tended to the south, up and down through woods
and bowers, the scenery still ever increasing in beauty. At
length, after passing through a gate and turning round a sharp
corner, I suddenly beheld Hafod on my right hand, to the west at
a little distance above me, on a rising ground, with a noble
range of mountains behind it.</p>

<p>A truly fairy place it looked, beautiful but fantastic, in the
building of which three styles of architecture seemed to have
been employed. At the southern end was a Gothic tower; at
the northern an Indian pagoda; the middle part had much the
appearance of a Grecian villa. The walls were of
resplendent whiteness, and the windows, which were numerous,
shone with beautiful gilding. Such was modern Hafod, a
strange contrast, no doubt, to the hunting lodge of old.</p>

<p>After gazing at this house of eccentric taste for about a
quarter of an hour, sometimes with admiration, sometimes with a
strong disposition to laugh, I followed the road, which led past
the house in nearly a southerly direction. Presently the
valley became more narrow, and continued narrowing till there was
little more room than was required for the road and the river,
which ran deep below it on the left-hand side. Presently I
came to a gate, the boundary in the direction in which I was
going of the Hafod domain.</p>

<p>Here, when about to leave Hafod, I shall devote a few lines to
a remarkable man whose name should be ever associated with the
place. Edward Lhuyd was born in the vicinity of Hafod about
the period of the Restoration. His father was a clergyman,
who after giving him an excellent education at home sent him to
Oxford, at which seat of learning he obtained an honourable
degree, officiated for several years as tutor, and was eventually
made custodiary of the Ashmolean Museum. From his early
youth he devoted himself with indefatigable zeal to the
acquisition of learning. He was fond of natural history and
British antiquities, but his favourite pursuit, and that in which
he principally distinguished himself, was the study of the Celtic
dialects; and it is but doing justice to his memory to say, that
he was not only the best Celtic scholar of his time, but that no
one has arisen since worthy to be considered his equal in Celtic
erudition. Partly at the expense of the university, partly
at that of various powerful individuals who patronized him, he
travelled through Ireland, the Western Highlands, Wales, Cornwall
and Armorica, for the purpose of collecting Celtic
manuscripts. He was particularly successful in Ireland and
Wales. Several of the most precious Irish manuscripts in
Oxford, and also in the Chandos Library, were of Lhuyd&rsquo;s
collection, and to him the old hall at Hafod was chiefly indebted
for its treasures of ancient British literature. Shortly
after returning to Oxford from his Celtic wanderings he sat down
to the composition of a grand work in three parts, under the
title of Archaeologia Britannica, which he had long
projected. The first was to be devoted to the Celtic
dialects; the second to British Antiquities, and the third to the
natural history of the British Isles. He only lived to
complete the first part. It contains various Celtic
grammars and vocabularies, to each of which there is a preface
written by Lhuyd in the particular dialect to which the
vocabulary or grammar is devoted. Of all these prefaces the
one to the Irish is the most curious and remarkable. The
first part of the Archaeologia was published at Oxford in 1707,
two years before the death of the author. Of his
correspondence, which was very extensive, several letters have
been published, all of them relating to philology, antiquities,
and natural history.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XC</h2>

<p class="letter">An Adventure&mdash;Spytty
Ystwyth&mdash;Wormwood.</p>

<p>Shortly after leaving the grounds of Hafod I came to a bridge
over the Ystwyth. I crossed it, and was advancing along the
road which led apparently to the south-east, when I came to a
company of people who seemed to be loitering about. It
consisted entirely of young men and women, the former with
crimson favours, the latter in the garb of old Wales, blue tunics
and sharp crowned hats. Going up to one of the young women,
I said, &ldquo;Petti yw? what&rsquo;s the matter!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Priodas (a marriage),&rdquo; she replied, after looking
at me attentively. I then asked her the name of the bridge,
whereupon she gave a broad grin, and after some, little time
replied: &ldquo;Pont y Groes (the bridge of the
cross).&rdquo; I was about to ask her some other question
when she turned away with a loud chuckle, and said something to
another wench near her, who, grinning yet more uncouthly, said
something to a third, who grinned too, and lifting up her hands
and spreading her fingers wide, said: &ldquo;Dyn oddi dir y
Gogledd&mdash;a man from the north country, hee,
hee!&rdquo; Forthwith there was a general shout, the
wenches crying: &ldquo;A man from the north country, hee,
hee!&rdquo; and the fellows crying: &ldquo;A man from the north
country, hoo, hoo!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is this the way you treat strangers in the
south?&rdquo; said I. But I had scarcely uttered the words
when with redoubled shouts the company exclaimed:
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s Cumraeg! there&rsquo;s pretty Cumraeg.
Go back, David, to shire Fon! That Cumraeg won&rsquo;t pass
here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Finding they disliked my Welsh I had recourse to my own
language. &ldquo;Really,&rdquo; said I in English,
&ldquo;such conduct is unaccountable. What do you
mean?&rdquo; But this only made matters worse, for the
shouts grew louder still, and every one cried:
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s pretty English! Well, if I
couldn&rsquo;t speak better English than that I&rsquo;d never
speak English at all. No, David; if you must speak at all,
stick to Cumraeg.&rdquo; Then forthwith, all the company
set themselves in violent motion, the women rushing up to me with
their palms and fingers spread out in my face, without touching
me, however, as they wheeled round me at about a yard&rsquo;s
distance, crying: &ldquo;A man from the north country, hee,
hee!&rdquo; and the fellows acting just in the same way, rushing
up with their hands spread out, and then wheeling round me with
cries of &ldquo;A man from the north country, hoo,
hoo!&rdquo; I was so enraged that I made for a heap of
stones by the road-side, intending to take some up and fling them
at the company. Reflecting, however, that I had but one
pair of hands and the company at least forty, and that by such an
attempt at revenge I should only make myself ridiculous, I gave
up my intention, and continued my journey at a rapid pace,
pursued for a long way by &ldquo;hee, hee,&rdquo; and &ldquo;hoo,
hoo,&rdquo; and: &ldquo;Go back, David, to your goats in
Anglesey, you are not wanted here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I began to descend a hill forming the eastern side of an
immense valley, at the bottom of which rolled the river.
Beyond the valley to the west was an enormous hill, on the top of
which was a most singular-looking crag, seemingly leaning in the
direction of the south. On the right-hand side of the road
were immense works of some kind in full play and activity, for
engines were clanging and puffs of smoke were ascending from tall
chimneys. On inquiring of a boy the name of the works I was
told that they were called the works of Level Vawr, or the Great
Level, a mining establishment; but when I asked him the name of
the hill with the singular peak, on the other side of the valley,
he shook his head and said he did not know. Near the top of
the hill I came to a village consisting of a few cottages and a
shabby-looking church. A rivulet descending from some crags
to the east crosses the road, which leads through the place, and
tumbling down the valley, joins the Ystwyth at the bottom.
Seeing a woman standing at the door, I inquired the name of the
village.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Spytty Ystwyth,&rdquo; she replied, but she, no more
than the boy down below, could tell me the name of the
strange-looking hill across the valley. This second Spytty
or monastic hospital, which I had come to, looked in every
respect an inferior place to the first. Whatever its former
state might have been, nothing but dirt and wretchedness were now
visible. Having reached the top of the hill I entered upon
a wild moory region. Presently I crossed a little bridge
over a rivulet, and seeing a small house on the shutter of which
was painted &ldquo;cwrw,&rdquo; I went in, sat down on an old
chair, which I found vacant, and said in English to an old woman
who sat knitting by the window: &ldquo;Bring me a pint of
ale!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dim Saesneg!&rdquo; said the old woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I told you to bring me a pint of ale,&rdquo; said I to
her in her own language.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You shall have it immediately, sir,&rdquo; said she,
and going to a cask, she filled a jug with ale, and after handing
it to me resumed her seat and knitting.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is not very bad ale,&rdquo; said I, after I had
tasted it.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It ought to be very good,&rdquo; said the old woman,
&ldquo;for I brewed it myself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The goodness of ale,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;does not so
much depend on who brews it as on what it is brewed of. Now
there is something in this ale which ought not to be. What
is it made of?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Malt and hop.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It tastes very bitter,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;Is
there no chwerwlys <a name="citation13"></a><a href="#footnote13"
class="citation">[13]</a> in it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not know what chwerwlys is,&rdquo; said the old
woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is what the Saxons call wormwood,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, wermod. No, there is no wermod in my beer, at
least not much.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, then there is some; I thought there was. Why
do you put such stuff into your ale?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are glad to put it in sometimes when hops are dear,
as they are this year. Moreover, wermod is not bad stuff,
and some folks like the taste better than that of
hops.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t. However, the ale is
drinkable. What am I to give you for the pint?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You are to give me a groat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That is a great deal,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for a groat
I ought to have a pint of ale made of the best malt and
hops.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I give you the best I can afford. One must live
by what one sells. I do not find that easy work.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is this house your own?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no! I pay rent for it, and not a cheap
one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you a husband?</p>

<p>&ldquo;I had, but he is dead.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any children?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I had three, but they are dead too, and buried with my
husband at the monastery.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where is the monastery?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A good way farther on, at the strath beyond Rhyd
Fendigaid.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of the little river by the
house?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Avon Marchnad (Market River).&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why is it called Avon Marchnad?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Truly, gentleman, I cannot tell you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I went on sipping my ale and finding fault with its bitterness
till I had finished it, when getting up I gave the old lady her
groat, bade her farewell, and departed.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCI</h2>

<p class="letter">Pont y Rhyd Fendigaid&mdash;Strata
Florida&mdash;The Yew-Tree&mdash;Idolatry&mdash;The
Teivi&mdash;The Llostlydan.</p>

<p>And now for the resting-place of Dafydd Ab Gwilym! After
wandering for some miles towards the south over a bleak moory
country I came to a place called Fair Rhos, a miserable village,
consisting of a few half-ruined cottages, situated on the top of
a hill. From the hill I looked down on a wide valley of a
russet colour, along which a river ran towards the south.
The whole scene was cheerless. Sullen hills were all
around. Descending the hill I entered a large village
divided into two by the river, which here runs from east to west,
but presently makes a turn. There was much mire in the
street; immense swine lay in the mire, who turned up their snouts
at me as I passed. Women in Welsh hats stood in the mire,
along with men without any hats at all, but with short pipes in
their mouths; they were talking together; as I passed, however,
they held their tongues, the women leering contemptuously at me,
the men glaring sullenly at me, and causing tobacco smoke curl in
my face; on my taking off my hat, however and inquiring the way
to the Monachlog, everybody was civil enough, and twenty voices
told me the way the Monastery. I asked the name of the
river:</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Teivi, sir: the Teivi.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The name of the bridge?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pony y Rhyd Fendigaid&mdash;the Bridge of the Blessed
Ford, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I crossed the Bridge of the Blessed Ford, and presently
leaving the main road, I turned to the east by a dung-hill, up a
narrow lane parallel with the river. After proceeding a
mile up the lane, amidst trees and copses, and crossing a little
brook, which runs into the Teivi, out of which I drank, I saw
before me in the midst of a field, in which were tombstones and
broken ruins, a rustic-looking church; a farm-house stood near
it, in the garden of which stood the framework of a large
gateway. I crossed over into the churchyard, ascended a
green mound, and looked about me. I was now in the very
midst of the Monachlog Ystrad Flur, the celebrated monastery of
Strata Florida, to which in old times Popish pilgrims from all
parts of the world repaired. The scene was solemn and
impressive: on the north side of the river a large bulky hill
looked down upon the ruins and the church, and on the south side,
some way behind the farm-house, was another which did the
same. Rugged mountains formed the background of the valley
to the east, down from which came murmuring the fleet but shallow
Teivi. Such is the scenery which surrounds what remains of
Strata Florida: those scanty broken ruins compose all which
remains of that celebrated monastery, in which saints and mitred
abbots were buried, and in which, or in whose precincts, was
buried Dafydd Ab Gwilym, the greatest genius of the Cimbric race
and one of the first poets of the world.</p>

<p>After standing for some time on the mound I descended, and
went up to the church. I found the door fastened, but
obtained through a window a tolerable view of the interior, which
presented an appearance of the greatest simplicity. I then
strolled about the churchyard looking at the tombstones, which
were humble enough and for the most part modern. I would
give something, said I, to know whereabouts in this neighbourhood
Ab Gwilym lies. That, however, is a secret that no one can
reveal to me. At length I came to a yew-tree which stood
just by the northern wall, which is at a slight distance from the
Teivi. It was one of two trees, both of the same species,
which stood in the churchyard, and appeared to be the oldest of
the two. Who knows, said I, but this is the tree that was
planted over Ab Gwilym&rsquo;s grave, and to which Gruffydd Gryg
wrote an ode? I looked at it attentively, and thought that
there was just a possibility of its being the identical
tree. If it was, however, the benison of Gruffydd Gryg had
not had exactly the effect which he intended, for either
lightning or the force of wind had splitten off a considerable
part of the head and trunk, so that though one part of it looked
strong and blooming, the other was white and spectral.
Nevertheless, relying on the possibility of its being the sacred
tree, I behaved just as I should have done had I been quite
certain of the fact. Taking off my hat I knelt down and
kissed its root, repeating lines from Gruffydd Gryg, with which I
blended some of my own in order to accommodate what I said to
present circumstances:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;O tree of yew, which here I spy,<br />
By Ystrad Flur&rsquo;s blest monast&rsquo;ry,<br />
Beneath thee lies, by cold Death bound,<br />
The tongue for sweetness once renown&rsquo;d.<br />
Better for thee thy boughs to wave,<br />
Though scath&rsquo;d, above Ab Gwilym&rsquo;s grave,<br />
Than stand in pristine glory drest<br />
Where some ignobler bard doth rest;<br />
I&rsquo;d rather hear a taunting rhyme<br />
From one who&rsquo;ll live through endless time,<br />
Than hear my praises chanted loud<br />
By poets of the vulgar crowd.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I had left the churchyard, and was standing near a kind of
garden, at some little distance from the farm-house, gazing about
me and meditating, when a man came up attended by a large
dog. He had rather a youthful look, was of the middle size,
and dark complexioned. He was respectably dressed, except
that upon his head he wore a common hairy cap.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good evening,&rdquo; said I to him in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good evening, gentleman,&rdquo; said he in the same
language.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you much English?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very little; I can only speak a few words.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you the farmer?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes! I farm the greater part of the
Strath.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose the land is very good here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why do you suppose so?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because the monks built their house here in the old
time, and the monks never built their houses except on good
land.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I must say the land is good; indeed I do not
think there is any so good in Shire Aberteifi.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose you are surprised to see me here; I came to
see the old Monachlog.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, gentleman; I saw you looking about it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Am I welcome to see it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Croesaw! gwr boneddig, croesaw! many, many welcomes to
you, gentleman!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do many people come to see the monastery?&rdquo;</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Yes! many gentlefolks come to see it in
the summer time.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;It is a poor place now.</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Very poor, I wonder any gentlefolks come
to look at it.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;It was a wonderful place once; you merely
see the ruins of it now. It was pulled down at the
Reformation.</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Why was it pulled down then?</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Because it was a house of idolatry to
which people used to resort by hundreds to worship images.
Had you lived at that time you would have seen people down on
their knees before stocks and stones, worshipping them, kissing
them, and repeating pennillion to them.</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;What fools! How thankful I am that
I live in wiser days. If such things were going on in the
old Monachlog it was high time to pull it down.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;What kind of a rent do you pay for your
land?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Oh, rather a stiffish one.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Two pounds an acre?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Two pound an acre! I wish I paid no
more!</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Well, I think that would be quite
enough. In the time of the old monastery you might have had
the land at two shillings an acre.</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Might I? Then those couldn&rsquo;t
have been such bad times, after all.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;I beg your pardon! They were
horrible times&mdash;times in which there were monks and friars
and graven images, which people kissed and worshipped and sang
pennillion to. Better pay three pounds an acre and live on
crusts and water in the present enlightened days than pay two
shillings an acre and sit down to beef and ale three times a day
in the old superstitious times.</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Well, I scarcely know what to say to
that.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;What do you call that high hill on the
other side of the river?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;I call that hill Bunk Pen Bannedd.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Is the source of the Teivi far from
here?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;The head of the Teivi is about two miles
from here high up in the hills.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;What kind of place is the head of the
Teivi?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;The head of the Teivi is a small lake
about fifty yards long and twenty across.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Where does the Teivi run to?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;The Teivi runs to the sea, which it
enters at a place which the Cumri call Aber Teivi and the Saxons
Cardigan.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Don&rsquo;t you call Cardiganshire Shire
Aber Teivi?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;We do.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Are there many gleisiaid in the
Teivi?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Plenty, and salmons too&mdash;that is,
farther down. The best place for salmon and gleisiaid is a
place, a great way down the stream, called Dinas Emlyn.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Do you know an animal called
Llostlydan?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;No, I do not know that beast.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;There used to be many in the Teivi.</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;What kind of beast is the Llostlydan?</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;A beast with a broad tail, on which
account the old Cumri did call him Llostlydan. Clever beast
he was; made himself house of wood in middle of the river, with
two doors, so that when hunter came upon him he might have good
chance of escape. Hunter often after him, because he had
skin good to make hat.</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Ha, I wish I could catch that beast now
in Teivi.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Why so?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Because I want hat. Would make
myself hat of his skin.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Oh, you could not make yourself a hat
even if you had the skin.</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Why not? Shot coney in Bunk Pen
Banedd; made myself cap of his skin. So why not make hat of
skin of broadtail, should I catch him in Teivi?</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;How far is it to Tregaron?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;&rsquo;Tis ten miles from here, and eight
from the Rhyd Fendigaid.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Must I go back to Rhyd Fendigaid to get
to Tregaron?</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;You must.</p>

<p><i>Myself</i>.&mdash;Then I must be going, for the night is
coming down. Farewell!</p>

<p><i>Farmer</i>.&mdash;Farvel, Saxon gentleman!</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCII</h2>

<p class="letter">Nocturnal Journey&mdash;Maes y Lynn&mdash;The
Figure&mdash;Earl of Leicester&mdash;Twm Shone Catti&mdash;The
Farmer and Bull&mdash;Tom and the Farmer&mdash;The Cave&mdash;The
Threat&mdash;Tom a Justice&mdash;The Big Wigs&mdash;Tregaron.</p>

<p>It was dusk by the time I had regained the high-road by the
village of the Rhyd Fendigaid.</p>

<p>As I was yet eight miles from Tregaron, the place where I
intended to pass the night, I put on my best pace. In a
little time I reached a bridge over a stream which seemed to
carry a considerable tribute to the Teivi.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of this bridge?&rdquo; said I to a man
riding in a cart, whom I met almost immediately after I had
crossed the bridge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pont Vleer,&rdquo; methought he said, but as his voice
was husky and indistinct, very much like that of a person
somewhat the worse for liquor, I am by no means positive.</p>

<p>It was now very dusk, and by the time I had advanced about a
mile farther dark night settled down, which compelled me to abate
my pace a little, more especially as the road was by no means
first-rate. I had come, to the best of my computation,
about four miles from the Rhyd Fendigaid when the moon began
partly to show itself, and presently by its glimmer I saw some
little way off on my right hand what appeared to be a large sheet
of water. I went on, and in about a minute saw two or three
houses on the left, which stood nearly opposite to the object
which I had deemed to be water, and which now appeared to be
about fifty yards distant in a field which was separated from the
road by a slight hedge. Going up to the principal house I
knocked, and a woman making her appearance at the door, I
said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;I beg pardon for troubling you, but I wish to know the
name of this place.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Maes y Lynn&mdash;The Field of the Lake,&rdquo; said
the woman.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of the lake?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;but the place
where it stands is called Maes Llyn, as I said before.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is the lake deep?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very deep,&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;How deep?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Over the tops of the houses,&rdquo; she replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Any fish in the lake?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! plenty.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What fish?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, there are llysowen, and the fish we call
ysgetten.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Eels and tench,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;anything
else?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; said the woman; &ldquo;folks say
that there used to be queer beast in the lake, water-cow used to
come out at night and eat people&rsquo;s clover in the
fields.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pooh,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that was merely some
person&rsquo;s cow or horse, turned out at night to fill its
belly at other folks&rsquo; expense.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps so,&rdquo; said the woman; &ldquo;have you any
more questions to ask?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only one,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;how far is it to
Tregaron?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About three miles: are you going there?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, I am going to Tregaron.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pity that you did not come a little time ago,&rdquo;
said the woman; &ldquo;you might then have had pleasant company
on your way; pleasant man stopped here to light his pipe; he too
going to Tregaron.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I am
never happier than when keeping my own company.&rdquo;
Bidding the woman good night, I went on. The moon now shone
tolerably bright, so that I could see my way, and I sped on at a
great rate. I had proceeded nearly half a mile, when I
thought I heard steps in advance, and presently saw a figure at
some little distance before me. The individual, probably
hearing the noise of my approach, soon turned round and stood
still. As I drew near I distinguished a stout burly figure
of a man, seemingly about sixty, with a short pipe in his
mouth.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, is it you?&rdquo; said the figure, in English,
taking the pipe out of his mouth; &ldquo;good evening, I am glad
to see you.&rdquo; Then shaking some burning embers out of
his pipe, he put it into his pocket, and trudged on beside
me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why are you glad to see me?&rdquo; said I, slackening
my pace; &ldquo;I am a stranger to you; at any rate, you are to
me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Always glad to see English gentleman,&rdquo; said the
figure; &ldquo;always glad to see him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How do you know that I am an English gentleman?&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I know Englishman at first sight; no one like him
in the whole world.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you seen many English gentleman?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, have seen plenty when I have been up in
London.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been much in London?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes; when I was a drover was up in London every
month.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And were you much in the society of English gentlemen
when you were there?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes; a great deal.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Whereabouts in London did you chiefly meet
them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Whereabouts? Oh, in Smithfield.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I thought that was
rather a place for butchers than gentlemen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Great place for gentlemen, I assure you,&rdquo; said
the figure; &ldquo;met there the finest gentleman I ever saw in
my life; very grand, but kind and affable, like every true
gentleman. Talked to me a great deal about Anglesey runts, and
Welsh legs of mutton, and at parting shook me by the hand, and
asked me to look in upon him, if I was ever down in his parts,
and see his sheep and taste his ale.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you know who he was?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes; know all about him; Earl of Leicester, from
county of Norfolk; fine old man indeed&mdash;you very much like
him&mdash;speak just in same way.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you given up the business of drover long?&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes; given him up a long time, ever since
domm&rsquo;d railroad came into fashion.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what do you do now?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, not much; live upon my means; picked up a little
property, a few sticks, just enough for old crow to build him
nest with&mdash;sometimes, however, undertake a little job for
neighbouring people and get a little money. Can do
everything in small way, if necessary; build little bridge, if
asked;&mdash;Jack of all Trades&mdash;live very
comfortably.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And where do you live?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, not very far from Tregaron.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what kind of place is Tregaron?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, very good place; not quite so big as London but
very good place.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is it famed for?&rdquo; said I,</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, famed for very good ham; best ham at Tregaron in
all Shire Cardigan.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Famed for anything else?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! famed for great man, clever thief, Twm Shone
Catti, who was born there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;when did he
live?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, long time ago, more than two hundred
year.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what became of him?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;was he
hung?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hung, no! only stupid thief hung. Twm Shone
clever thief; died rich man, justice of the peace and mayor of
Brecon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very singular,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that they should
make a thief mayor of Brecon.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh Twm Shone Catti very different from other thieves;
funny fellow, and so good-natured that everybody loved
him&mdash;so they made him magistrate, not, however, before he
had become very rich man by marrying great lady who fell in love
with him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, ah,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;that&rsquo;s the way of
the world. He became rich, so they made him a magistrate;
had he remained poor they would have hung him in spite of all his
fun and good-nature. Well, can&rsquo;t you tell me some of
the things he did?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, can tell you plenty. One day in time of
fair Tom Shone Catti goes into ironmonger&rsquo;s shop in
Llandovery. &lsquo;Master,&rsquo; says he, &lsquo;I want to
buy a good large iron porridge pot; please to show me
some.&rsquo; So the man brings three or four big iron
porridge pots, the very best he has. Tom takes up one and
turns it round. &lsquo;This look very good porridge
pot,&rsquo; said he; &lsquo;I think it will suit me.&rsquo;
Then he turns it round and round again, and at last lifts it
above his head and peeks into it. &lsquo;Ha, ha,&rsquo;
says he; &lsquo;this won&rsquo;t do; I see one hole here.
What mean you by wanting to sell article like this to
stranger?&rsquo; Says the man, &lsquo;There be no hole in
it.&rsquo; &lsquo;But there is,&rsquo; says Tom, holding it
up and peeking into it again; &lsquo;I see the hole quite
plain. Take it and look into it yourself.&rsquo; So
the man takes the pot, and having held it up and peeked in,
&lsquo;as I hope to be saved,&rsquo; says he, &lsquo;I can see no
hole.&rsquo; Says Tom, &lsquo;Good man, if you put your
head in, you will find that there is a hole.&rsquo; So the
man tries to put in his head, but having some difficulty, Tom
lends him a helping hand by jamming the pot quite down over the
man&rsquo;s face, then whisking up the other pots Tom leaves the
shop, saying as he goes, &lsquo;Friend, I suppose you now see
there is a hole in the pot, otherwise how could you have got your
head inside?&rdquo;&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very good,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;can you tell us
something more about Twm Shone Catti?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes; can tell you plenty about him. The farmer
at Newton, just one mile beyond the bridge at Brecon, had one
very fine bull, but with a very short tail. Says Tom to
himself: &lsquo;By God&rsquo;s nails and blood, I will steal the
farmer&rsquo;s bull, and then sell it to him for other bull in
open market place.&rsquo; Then Tom makes one fine tail,
just for all the world such a tail as the bull ought to have had,
then goes by night to the farmer&rsquo;s stall at Newton, steals
away the bull, and then sticks to the bull&rsquo;s short stump
the fine bull&rsquo;s tail which he himself had made. The
next market day he takes the bull to the market-place at Brecon,
and calls out; &lsquo;Very fine bull this, who will buy my fine
bull?&rsquo; Quoth the farmer who stood nigh at hand,
&lsquo;That very much like my bull, which thief stole
t&rsquo;other night; I think I can swear to him.&rsquo;
Says Tom, &lsquo;What do you mean? This bull is not your
bull, but mine.&rsquo; Says the farmer, &lsquo;I could
swear that this is my bull but for the tail. The tail of my
bull was short, but the tail of this is long. I would fain
know whether the tail of this be real tail or not.&rsquo;
&lsquo;You would?&rsquo; says Tom; &lsquo;well, so you
shall.&rsquo; Thereupon he whips out big knife and cuts off
the bull&rsquo;s tail, some little way above where the false tail
was joined on. &lsquo;Ha, ha,&rsquo; said Tom, as the
bull&rsquo;s stump of tail bled, and the bit of tail bled too to
which the false tail was stuck, and the bull kicked and
bellowed. &lsquo;What say you now? Is it a true tail
or no?&rsquo; &lsquo;By my faith!&rsquo; says the farmer,
&lsquo;I see that the tail is a true tail, and that the bull is
not mine. I beg pardon for thinking that he
was.&rsquo; &lsquo;Begging pardon,&rsquo; says Tom,
&lsquo;is all very well; but will you buy the bull?&rsquo;
&lsquo;No,&rsquo; said the farmer; &lsquo;I should be loth to buy
a bull with tail cut off close to the rump.&rsquo;
&lsquo;Ha,&rsquo; says Tom; &lsquo;who made me cut off the tail
but yourself? Did you not force me to do so in order to
clear my character? Now as you made me cut off my
bull&rsquo;s tail, I will make you buy my bull without his
tail.&rsquo; &lsquo;Yes, yes,&rsquo; cried the mob;
&lsquo;as he forced you to cut off the tail, do you now force him
to buy the bull without the tail.&rsquo; Says the farmer,
&lsquo;What do you ask for the bull?&rsquo; Says Tom:
&lsquo;I ask for him ten pound.&rsquo; Says the farmer,
&lsquo;I will give you eight.&rsquo; &lsquo;No,&rsquo; says
Tom; &lsquo;you shall give me ten, or I will have you up before
the justice.&rsquo; &lsquo;That is right,&rsquo; cried the
mob. &lsquo;If he won&rsquo;t pay you ten pound, have him
up before the justice.&rsquo; Thereupon the farmer,
becoming frightened, pulled out the ten pounds and gave it for
his own bull to Tom Shone Catti, who wished him joy of his
bargain. As the farmer was driving the bull away he said to
Tom: &lsquo;Won&rsquo;t you give me the tail?&rsquo;
&lsquo;No,&rsquo; said Tom; &lsquo;I shall keep it against the
time I steal another bull with a short tail;&rsquo; and thereupon
he runs off.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A clever fellow,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;though it was
rather cruel in him to cut off the poor bull&rsquo;s tail.
Now, perhaps, you will tell me how he came to marry the rich
lady?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes; I will tell you. One day as he was
wandering about, dressed quite like a gentleman, he heard a cry,
and found one very fine lady in the hands of one highwayman, who
would have robbed and murdered her. Tom kills the
highwayman and conducts the lady home to her house and her
husband, for she was a married lady. Out of gratitude to
Tom for the service he has done, the gentleman and lady invite
him to stay with them. The gentleman, who is a great
gentleman, fond of his bottle and hunting, takes mightily to Tom
for his funny sayings and because Tom&rsquo;s a good hand at a
glass when at table, and a good hand at a leap when in field; the
lady also takes very much to Tom, because he one domm&rsquo;d
handsome fellow, with plenty of wit and what they call
boetry&mdash;for Tom, amongst other things, was no bad boet, and
could treat a lady to pennillion about her face and her ancle,
and the tip of her ear. At last Tom goes away upon his
wanderings, not, however, before he has got one promise from the
lady, that if ever she becomes disengaged she will become his
wife. Well, after some time, the lady&rsquo;s husband dies
and leaves her all his property, so that all of a sudden she
finds herself one great independent lady, mistress of the whole
of Strath Feen, one fair and pleasant valley far away there over
the Eastern hills, by the Towey, on the borders of Shire
Car. Tom, as soon as he hears the news of all this, sets
off for Strath Feen and asks the lady to perform her word; but
the lady, who finds herself one great and independent lady, and
moreover does not quite like the idea of marrying one thief, for
she had learnt who Tom was, does hum and hah, and at length begs
to be excused, because she has changed her mind. Tom begs
and entreats, but quite in vain, till at last she tells him to go
away and not trouble her any more. Tom goes away, but does
not yet lose hope. He takes up his quarters in one strange
little cave, nearly at the top of one wild hill, very much like
sugar loaf, which does rise above the Towey, just within Shire
Car. I have seen the cave myself, which is still called
Ystafell Twm Shone Catty. Very queer cave it is, in strange
situation; steep rock just above it, Towey River roaring
below. There Tom takes up his quarters, and from there he
often sallies forth, in hope of having interview with fair lady
and making her alter her mind, but she will have nothing to do
with him, and at last shuts herself up in her house and will not
go out. Well, Tom nearly loses all hope; he, however,
determines to make one last effort; so one morning he goes to the
house and stands before the door, entreating with one loud and
lamentable voice that the lady will see him once more, because he
is come to bid her one eternal farewell, being about to set off
for the wars in the kingdom of France. Well, the lady who
hears all he says relents one little, and showing herself at the
window, before which are very strong iron bars, she says:
&lsquo;Here I am! whatever you have to say, say it quickly and go
your way.&rsquo; Says Tom: &lsquo;I am come to bid you one
eternal farewell, and have but one last slight request to make,
which is that you vouchsafe to stretch out of the window your
lily-white hand, that I may impress one last burning kiss of love
on the same.&rsquo; Well, the lady hesitates one little
time; at last, having one woman&rsquo;s heart, she thinks she may
grant him this last little request, and stretching her hand
through the bars, she says: &lsquo;Well, there&rsquo;s my hand,
kiss it once and begone.&rsquo; Forthwith Tom, seizing her
wrist with his left hand, says: &lsquo;I have got you now, and
will never let you go till you swear to become my
wife.&rsquo; &lsquo;Never,&rsquo; said the lady,
&lsquo;will I become the wife of one thief,&rsquo; and strives
with all her might to pull her hand free, but cannot, for the
left hand of Tom is more strong than the right of other
man. Thereupon Tom with his right hand draws forth his
sword, and with one dreadful shout does exclaim,&mdash;&lsquo;Now
will you swear to become my wife, for if you don&rsquo;t, by
God&rsquo;s blood and nails, I will this moment smite off your
hand with this sword.&rsquo; Then the lady being very much
frightened, and having one sneaking kindness for Tom, who though
he looked very fierce looked also very handsome,
said,&mdash;&lsquo;Well, well! a promise is a promise; I promised
to become your wife, and so I will; I swear I will; by all I hold
holy I swear; so let go my hand, which you have almost pulled
off, and come in and welcome!&rsquo; So Tom lets go her
hand, and the lady opens her door, and before night they were
married, and in less than one month Tom, being now very rich and
Lord of Ystrad Feen, was made justice of the peace and chairman
at quarter session.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what kind of justice of the peace did Tom
make?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ow, the very best justice of the peace that there ever
was. He made the old saying good: you must get one thief to
catch one thief. He had not been a justice three year
before there was not a thief in Shire Brecon nor in Shire Car,
for they also made him justice of Carmarthenshire, and a child
might walk through the country quite safe with a purse of gold in
its hand. He said that as he himself could not have a
finger in the pie, he would take care nobody else should.
And yet he was not one bloody justice either; never hanged thief
without giving him a chance to reform; but when he found him
quite hardened he would say: &lsquo;Hang up de
rogue!&rsquo; Oh, Tom was not a very hard man, and had one
grateful heart for any old kindness which had been sewn
him. One day as Tom sat on de bench with other big wigs,
Tom the biggest wig of the lot, a man was brought up charged with
stealing one bullock. Tom no sooner cast eye on the man
than he remembered him quite well. Many years before Tom
had stole a pair of oxen, which he wished to get through the town
of Brecon, but did not dare to drive them through, for at that
very time there was one warrant out against Tom at Brecon for
something he had done. So Tom stands with his oxen on the
road, scratching his head and not knowing what to do. At
length there comes a man along the road, making towards Brecon,
to whom Tom says: &lsquo;Honest man, I want these two oxen to be
driven to such and such a public-house two miles beyond Brecon; I
would drive them myself only I have business to do elsewhere of
more importance. Now if you will drive them for me there
and wait till I come, which will not be long, I will give you a
groat.&rsquo; Says the man; &lsquo;I will drive them there
for nothing, for as my way lies past that same public-house I can
easily afford to do so.&rsquo; So Tom leaves the oxen with
the man, and by rough and roundabout road makes for the
public-house&mdash;beyond Brecon, where he finds the man waiting
with the oxen, who hands them over to him and goes on his
way. Now, in the man brought up before him and the other
big wigs on the bench for stealing the bullock, Tom does
recognise the man who had done him that same good turn.
Well! the evidence was heard against the man, and it soon
appeared quite clear that the man did really steal the
bullock. Says the other big wigs to Tom: &lsquo;The fact
has been proved quite clear. What have we now to do but to
adshudge at once that the domm&rsquo;d thief be
hung?&rsquo; But Tom, who remembered that the man had once
done him one good turn, had made up his mind to save the
man. So says he to the other big wigs: &lsquo;My very
worthy esteemed friends and coadshutors, I do perfectly agree
with you that the fact has been proved clear enough, but with
respect to de man, I should be very much grieved should he be
hung for this one fact, for I did know him long time ago, and did
find him to be one domm&rsquo;d honest man in one transaction
which I had with him. So my wordy and esteemed friends and
coadshutors I should esteem it one great favour if you would
adshudge that the man should be let off this one time. If,
however, you deem it inexpedient to let the man off, then of
course the man must be hung, for I shall not presume to set my
opinions and judgments against your opinions and judgments, which
are far better than my own.&rsquo; Then the other big wigs
did look very big and solemn, and did shake their heads and did
whisper to one another that they were afraid the matter could not
be done. At last, however, they did come to the conclusion
that as Tom had said that he had known the fellow once to be one
domm&rsquo;d honest man, and as they had a great regard for Tom,
who was one domm&rsquo;d good magistrate and highly respectable
gentleman with whom they were going to dine the next
day&mdash;for Tom I must tell you was in the habit of giving the
very best dinners in all Shire Brecon&mdash;it might not be
incompatible with the performance of their duty to let the man
off this one time, seeing as how the poor fellow had probably
merely made one slight little mistake. Well: to make the
matter short, the man was let off with only a slight reprimand,
and left the court. Scarcely, however, had he gone twenty
yards, when Tom was after him, and tapping him on the shoulder
said: &lsquo;Honest friend, a word with you!&rsquo; Then
the man turning round Tom said: &lsquo;Do you know me,
pray?&rsquo; &lsquo;I think I do, your honour,&rsquo; said
the man. &lsquo;I think your honour was one of the big
wigs, who were just now so kind as to let me off.&rsquo;
&lsquo;I was so,&rsquo; said Tom; &lsquo;and it is well for you
that I was the biggest of these big wigs before whom you stood
placed, otherwise to a certainty you would have been hung up on
high; but did you ever see me before this affair?&rsquo;
&lsquo;No, your honour,&rsquo; said the man, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t
remember ever to have seen your honour before.&rsquo; Says
Tom, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t you remember one long time ago driving a
pair of oxen through Brecon for a man who stood scratching his
head on the road?&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh yes,&rsquo; says the
man; &lsquo;I do remember that well enough.&rsquo;
&lsquo;Well,&rsquo; said Tom; &lsquo;I was that man. I had
stolen that pair of oxen, and I dared not drive them through
Brecon. You drove them for me; and for doing me that good
turn I have this day saved your life. I was thief then but
am now big wig. I am Twm Shone Catti. Now lookee! I
have saved your life this one time, but I can never save it
again. Should you ever be brought up before me again,
though but for stealing one kid, I will hang you as high as ever
Haman was hung. One word more; here are five pieces of
gold. Take them: employ them well, and reform as I have
done, and perhaps in time you may become one big wig, like
myself.&rsquo; Well: the man took the money, and laid it
out to the best advantage, and became at last so highly
respectable a character that they made him a constable. And
now, my gentleman, we are close upon Tregaron.&rdquo;</p>

<p>After descending a hill we came to what looked a small suburb,
and presently crossed a bridge over the stream, the waters of
which sparkled merrily in the beams of the moon which was now
shining bright over some lofty hills to the south-east.
Beyond the bridge was a small market-place, on the right-hand
side of which stood an ancient looking church. The place
upon the whole put me very much in mind of an Andalusian village
overhung by its sierra. &ldquo;Where is the inn?&rdquo;
said I to my companion.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yonder it be;&rdquo; said he pointing to a large house
at the farther end of the market-place. &ldquo;Very good
inn that&mdash;Talbot Arms&mdash;where they are always glad to
see English gentlemans.&rdquo; Then touching his hat, and
politely waving his hand, he turned on one side, and I saw him no
more.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Tregaron Church&mdash;The Minister&mdash;Good
Morning&mdash;Tom Shone&rsquo;s Disguises&mdash;Tom and the
Lady&mdash;Klim and Catti.</p>

<p>I experienced very good entertainment at the Tregaron Inn, had
an excellent supper and a very comfortable bed. I arose at
about eight in the morning. The day was dull and
misty. After breakfast, according to my usual fashion, I
took a stroll to see about. The town, which is very small,
stands in a valley, near some wild hills called the Berwyn, like
the range to the south of Llangollen. The stream, which
runs through it and which falls into the Teivi at a little
distance from the town, is called the Brennig, probably because
it descends from the Berwyn hills. These southern Berwyns
form a very extensive mountain region, extending into Brecon and
Carmarthenshire, and contain within them, as I long subsequently
found, some of the wildest solitudes and most romantic scenery in
Wales. High up amidst them, at about five miles from
Tregaron, is a deep, broad lake which constitutes the source of
the Towy, a very beautiful stream, which after many turnings and
receiving the waters of numerous small streams discharges itself
into Carmarthen Bay.</p>

<p>I did not fail to pay a visit to Tregaron church. It is
an antique building with a stone tower. The door being
open, as the door of a church always should be, I entered, and
was kindly shown by the clerk, whom I met in the aisle, all about
the sacred edifice. There was not much to be seen.
Amongst the monuments was a stone tablet to John Herbert, who
died 1690. The clerk told me that the name of the clergyman
of Tregaron was Hughes; he said that he was an excellent,
charitable man, who preached the Gospel, and gave himself great
trouble in educating the children of the poor. He certainly
seemed to have succeeded in teaching them good manners: as I was
leaving the church, I met a number of little boys belonging to
the church school: no sooner did they see me than they drew
themselves up in a rank on one side, and as I passed took off
their caps and simultaneously shouted,
&ldquo;Good-morning!&rdquo;</p>

<p>And now something with respect to the celebrated hero of
Tregaron, Tom Shone Catti, concerning whom I picked up a good
deal during my short stay there, and of whom I subsequently read
something in printed books. <a name="citation14"></a><a
href="#footnote14" class="citation">[14]</a></p>

<p>According to the tradition of the country, he was the
illegitimate son of Sir John Wynn of Gwedir, by one Catherine
Jones of Tregaron, and was born at a place called Fynnon Lidiart,
close by Tregaron, towards the conclusion of the sixteenth
century. He was baptised by the name of Thomas Jones, but
was generally called Tom Shone Catti, that is Tom Jones, son of
Catti or Catherine. His mother, who was a person of some
little education, brought him up, and taught him to read and
write. His life, till his eighteenth year, was much like
other peasant boys; he kept crows, drove bullocks, and learned to
plough and harrow, but always showed a disposition to roguery and
mischief. Between eighteen and nineteen, in order to free
himself and his mother from poverty which they had long endured,
he adopted the profession of a thief, and soon became celebrated
through the whole of Wales for the cleverness and adroitness
which he exercised in his calling; qualities in which he appears
to have trusted much more than in strength and daring, though
well endowed with both. His disguises were innumerable, and
all impenetrable; sometimes he would appear as an ancient crone;
sometimes as a begging cripple; sometimes as a broken
soldier. Though by no means scrupulous as to what he stole,
he was particularly addicted to horse and cattle stealing, and
was no less successful in altering the appearance of animals than
his own, as he would frequently sell cattle to the very persons
from whom he had stolen them, after they had been subjected to
such a metamorphosis, by means of dyes and the scissors, that
recognition was quite impossible. Various attempts were
made to apprehend him, but all without success; he was never at
home to people who particularly wanted him, or if at home he
looked anything but the person they came in quest of. Once
a strong and resolute man, a farmer, who conceived, and very
justly, that Tom had abstracted a bullock from his stall, came to
Tregaron well armed in order to seize him. Riding up to the
door of Tom&rsquo;s mother, he saw an aged and miserable-looking
object, with a beggar&rsquo;s staff and wallet, sitting on a
stone bench beside the door. &ldquo;Does Tom Shone Catti
live here?&rdquo; said the farmer. &ldquo;Oh yes, he lives
here,&rdquo; replied the beggar. &ldquo;Is he at
home?&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh yes, he is at home.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Will you hold my horse whilst I go in and speak to
him?&rdquo; &ldquo;Oh yes, I will hold your
horse.&rdquo; Thereupon the man dismounted, took a brace of
pistols out of his holsters, gave the cripple his horse&rsquo;s
bridle and likewise his whip, and entered the house boldly.
No sooner was he inside than the beggar, or rather Tom Shone
Catti, for it was he, jumped on the horse&rsquo;s back, and rode
away to the farmer&rsquo;s house which was some ten miles
distant, altering his dress and appearance as he rode along,
having various articles of disguise in his wallet. Arriving
at the house he told the farmer&rsquo;s wife that her husband was
in the greatest trouble, and wanted fifty pounds, which she was
to send by him, and that he came mounted on her husband&rsquo;s
horse, and brought his whip, that she might know he was
authorised to receive the money. The wife, seeing the horse
and the whip, delivered the money to Tom without hesitation, who
forthwith made the best of his way to London, where he sold the
horse, and made himself merry with the price, and with what he
got from the farmer&rsquo;s wife, not returning to Wales for
several months. Though Tom was known by everybody to be a
thief, he appears to have lived on very good terms with the
generality of his neighbours, both rich and poor. The poor
he conciliated by being very free of the money which he acquired
by theft and robbery, and with the rich he ingratiated himself by
humorous jesting, at which he was a proficient, and by being able
to sing a good song. At length, being an extremely
good-looking young fellow, he induced a wealthy lady to promise
to marry him. This lady is represented by some as a widow,
and by others as a virgin heiress. After some time,
however, she refused to perform her promise and barred her doors
against him. Tom retired to a cave on the side of a steep
wild hill near the lady&rsquo;s house, to which he frequently
repaired, and at last, having induced her to stretch her hand to
him through the window bars, under the pretence that he wished to
imprint a parting kiss upon it, he won her by seizing her hand
and threatening to cut it off unless she performed her
promise. Then, as everything at the time at which he lived
could be done by means of money, he soon obtained for himself a
general pardon, and likewise a commission as justice of the
peace, which he held to the time of his death, to the
satisfaction of everybody except thieves and ill-doers, against
whom he waged incessant war, and with whom he was admirably
qualified to cope, from the knowledge he possessed of their ways
and habits, from having passed so many years of his life in the
exercise of the thieving trade. In his youth he was much
addicted to poetry, and a great many pennillion of his
composition, chiefly on his own thievish exploits, are yet
recited by the inhabitants of certain districts of the shires of
Brecon, Carmarthen, and Cardigan.</p>

<p>Such is the history or rather the outline of the history of
Twm Shone Catti. Concerning the actions attributed to him,
it is necessary to say that the greater part consist of myths,
which are told of particular individuals of every country, from
the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic: for example, the story of
cutting off the bull&rsquo;s tail is not only told of him but of
the Irish thief Delany, and is to be found in the &ldquo;Lives of
Irish Rogues and Rapparees;&rdquo; certain tricks related of him
in the printed tale bearing his name are almost identical with
various rogueries related in the story-book of Klim the Russian
robber, <a name="citation15"></a><a href="#footnote15"
class="citation">[15]</a> and the most poetical part of Tom
Shone&rsquo;s history, namely, that in which he threatens to cut
off the hand of the reluctant bride unless she performs her
promise, is, in all probability, an offshoot of the grand myth of
&ldquo;the severed hand,&rdquo; which in various ways figures in
the stories of most nations, and which is turned to considerable
account in the tale of the above-mentioned Russian worthy
Klim.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCIV</h2>

<p class="letter">Llan Ddewi Brefi&mdash;Pelagian
Heresy&mdash;Hu Gadarn&mdash;God of Agriculture&mdash;The Silver
Cup&mdash;Rude Tablet.</p>

<p>It was about eleven o&rsquo;clock in the morning when I
started from Tregaron; the sky was still cloudy and heavy.
I took the road to Lampeter, distant about eight miles,
intending, however, to go much farther ere I stopped for the
night. The road lay nearly south-west. I passed by
Aber Coed, a homestead near the bottom of a dingle down which
runs a brook into the Teivi, which flows here close by the road;
then by Aber Carvan, where another brook disembogues. Aber,
as perhaps the reader already knows, is a disemboguement, and
wherever a place commences with Aber there to a certainty does a
river flow into the sea, or a brook or rivulet into a
river. I next passed through Nant Derven, and in about
three-quarters of an hour after leaving Tregaron reached a place
of old renown called Llan Ddewi Brefi.</p>

<p>Llan Ddewi Brefi is a small village situated at the entrance
of a gorge leading up to some lofty hills which rise to the east
and belong to the same mountain range as those near
Tregaron. A brook flowing from the hills murmurs through it
and at length finds its way into the Teivi. An ancient
church stands on a little rising ground just below the hills;
multitudes of rooks inhabit its steeple and fill throughout the
day the air with their cawing. The place wears a remarkable
air of solitude, but presents nothing of gloom and horror, and
seems just the kind of spot in which some quiet pensive man,
fatigued but not soured by the turmoil of the world, might settle
down, enjoy a few innocent pleasures, make his peace with God,
and then compose himself to his long sleep.</p>

<p>It is not without reason that Llan Ddewi Brefi has been called
a place of old renown. In the fifth century, one of the
most remarkable ecclesiastical convocations which the world has
ever seen was held in this secluded spot. It was for the
purpose of refuting certain doctrines, which had for some time
past caused much agitation in the Church, and which originated
with one Morgan, a native of North Wales, who left his country at
an early age and repaired to Italy, where having adopted the
appellation of Pelagius, which is a Latin translation of his own
name Morgan, which signifies &ldquo;by the seashore,&rdquo; he
soon became noted as a theological writer. It is not
necessary to enter into any detailed exposition of his opinions;
it will, however, be as well to state that one of the points
which he was chiefly anxious to inculcate was that it is possible
for a man to lead a life entirely free from sin by obeying the
dictates of his own reason without any assistance from the grace
of God&mdash;a dogma certainly to the last degree delusive and
dangerous. When the convocation met there were a great many
sermons preached by various learned and eloquent divines, but
nothing was produced which was pronounced by the general voice a
satisfactory answer to the doctrines of the heresiarch. At
length it was resolved to send for Dewi, a celebrated teacher of
theology at Mynyw in Pembrokeshire, who from motives of humility
had not appeared in the assembly. Messengers therefore were
despatched to Dewi, who, after repeated entreaties, was induced
to repair to the place of meeting, where after three days&rsquo;
labour in a cell he produced a treatise in writing in which the
tenets of Morgan were so triumphantly overthrown that the
convocation unanimously adopted it and sent it into the world
with a testimony of approbation as an antidote to the heresy, and
so great was its efficacy that from that moment the doctrines of
Morgan fell gradually into disrepute. <a name="citation16"></a><a
href="#footnote16" class="citation">[16]</a></p>

<p>Dewi shortly afterwards became primate of Wales, being
appointed to the see of Minevai or Mynyw, which from that time
was called Ty Ddewi or David&rsquo;s House, a name which it still
retains amongst the Cumry, though at present called by the Saxons
Saint David&rsquo;s. About five centuries after his death
the crown of canonization having been awarded to Dewi, various
churches were dedicated to him, amongst which was that now called
Llan Ddewi Brefi, which was built above the cell in which the
good man composed his celebrated treatise.</p>

<p>If this secluded gorge or valley is connected with a
remarkable historical event it is also associated with one of the
wildest tales of mythology. Here according to old tradition
died one of the humped oxen of the team of Hu Gadarn.
Distracted at having lost its comrade, which perished from the
dreadful efforts which it made along with the others in drawing
the afanc hen or old crocodile from the lake of lakes, it fled
away from its master, and wandered about, till coming to the glen
now called that of Llan Ddewi Brefi, it fell down and perished
after excessive bellowing, from which noise the place probably
derived its name of Brefi, for Bref in Cumbric signifies a mighty
bellowing or lowing. Horns of enormous size, said to have
belonged to this humped ox or bison, were for many ages preserved
in the church.</p>

<p>Many will exclaim who was Hu Gadarn? Hu Gadarn in the
Gwlad yr Haf or summer country, a certain region of the East,
perhaps the Crimea, which seems to be a modification of Cumria,
taught the Cumry the arts of civilised life, to build comfortable
houses, to sow grain and reap, to tame the buffalo and the bison,
and turn their mighty strength to profitable account, to
construct boats with wicker and the skins of animals, to drain
pools and morasses, to cut down forests, cultivate the vine and
encourage bees, make wine and mead, frame lutes and fifes and
play upon them, compose rhymes and verses, fuse minerals and form
them into various instruments and weapons, and to move in masses
against their enemies, and finally when the summer country became
over-populated led an immense multitude of his countrymen across
many lands to Britain, a country of forests, in which bears,
wolves, and bisons wandered, and of morasses and pools full of
dreadful efync or crocodiles, a country inhabited only by a few
savage Gauls, but which shortly after the arrival of Hu and his
people became a smiling region, forests being thinned, bears and
wolves hunted down, efync annihilated, bulls and bisons tamed,
corn planted and pleasant cottages erected. After his death
he was worshipped as the God of agriculture and war by the Cumry
and the Gauls. The Germans paid him divine honours under
the name of Heus, from which name the province of Hesse in which
there was a mighty temple devoted to him, derived its
appellation. The Scandinavians worshipped him under the
name of Odin and Gautr, the latter word a modification of Cadarn
or mighty. The wild Finns feared him as a wizard and
honoured him as a musician under the name of Wainoemoinen, and it
is very probable that he was the wondrous being whom the Greeks
termed Odysses. Till a late period the word Hu amongst the
Cumry was frequently used to express God&mdash;Gwir Hu, God
knows, being a common saying. Many Welsh poets have called
the Creator by the name of the creature, amongst others Iolo Goch
in his ode to the ploughman:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;The mighty Hu who lives for ever,<br />
Of mead and wine to men the giver,<br />
The emperor of land and sea,<br />
And of all things that living be<br />
Did hold a plough with his good hand,<br />
Soon as the deluge left the land,<br />
To show to men both strong and weak,<br />
The haughty-hearted and the meek,<br />
Of all the arts the heaven below<br />
The noblest is to guide the plough.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So much for Hu Gadarn or Hu the Mighty, whose name puts one
strangely in mind of the Al Kader Hu or the Almighty He of the
Arabians.</p>

<p>I went to see the church. The inside was very rude and
plain&mdash;a rough table covered with a faded cloth served for
an altar&mdash;on the right-hand side was a venerable-looking
chest.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is there in that box?&rdquo; said I to the old
sexton who attended me.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The treasure of the church, sir,&rdquo; he replied in a
feeble quaking voice.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;what does the treasure
consist of?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You shall see, sir,&rdquo; said he, and drawing a large
key out of his pocket he unlocked the chest and taking out a cup
of silver he put it into my hand saying:&mdash;&ldquo;This is the
treasure of the church, sir!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I looked at the cup. It was tolerably large and of very
chaste workmanship. Graven upon it were the following
words:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Poculum Eclesie De LXXN Dewy Brefy
1574.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Do you always keep this cup in that chest?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes sir! we have kept it there since the cup was given
to us by de godly Queen Elizabeth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I said nothing, but I thought to myself:&mdash;&ldquo;I wonder
how long a cup like this would have been safe in a crazy chest in
a country church in England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I kissed the sacred relic of old times with reverence, and
returned it to the old sexton.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What became of the horns of Hu Gadarn&rsquo;s
bull?&rdquo; said I, after he had locked the cup again in its
dilapidated coffer.</p>

<p>&ldquo;They did dwindle away, sir, till they came to
nothing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you ever see any part of them?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no, sir; I did never see any part of them, but one
very old man who is buried here did tell me shortly before he
died that he had seen one very old man who had seen of dem one
little tip.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who was the old man who said that to you?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I will show you his monument, sir,&rdquo; then taking
me into a dusky pew he pointed to a small rude tablet against the
church wall and said:&mdash;&ldquo;That is his monument,
sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The tablet bore the following inscription, and below it a rude
englyn on death not worth transcribing:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center">Coffadwriaeth am<br />
<span class="smcap">Thomas Jones</span><br />
Diweddar o&rsquo;r Draws Llwyn yn y Plwyf hwn:<br />
Bu farw Chwefror 6 fed 1830<br />
Yn 92 oed.</p>
<p style="text-align: center">To the memory of<br />
<span class="smcap">Thomas Jones</span><br />
Of Traws Llwyn (across the Grove) in this<br />
parish who died February the sixth, 1830.<br />
Aged 92.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>After copying the inscription I presented the old man with a
trifle and went my way.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCV</h2>

<p class="letter">Lampeter&mdash;The Monk Austin&mdash;The Three
Publicans&mdash;The Tombstone&mdash;Sudden
Change&mdash;Trampers&mdash;A Catholic&mdash;The Bridge of
Twrch.</p>

<p>The country between Llan Ddewi and Lampeter presented nothing
remarkable, and I met on the road nothing worthy of being
recorded. On arriving at Lampeter I took a slight
refreshment at the inn, and then went to see the college which
stands a little way to the north of the town. It was
founded by Bishop Burgess in the year 1820, for the education of
youths intended for the ministry of the Church of England.
It is a neat quadrate edifice with a courtyard in which stands a
large stone basin. From the courtyard you enter a spacious
dining-hall, over the door of which hangs a well-executed
portrait of the good bishop. From the hall you ascend by a
handsome staircase to the library, a large and lightsome room,
well stored with books in various languages. The grand
curiosity is a manuscript Codex containing a Latin synopsis of
Scripture which once belonged to the monks of Bangor Is
Coed. It bears marks of blood with which it was sprinkled
when the monks were massacred by the heathen Saxons, at the
instigation of Austin the Pope&rsquo;s missionary in
Britain. The number of students seldom exceeds forty.</p>

<p>It might be about half-past two in the afternoon when I left
Lampeter. I passed over a bridge, taking the road to
Llandovery which, however, I had no intention of attempting to
reach that night, as it was considerably upwards of twenty miles
distant. The road lay, seemingly, due east. After
walking very briskly for about an hour I came to a very small
hamlet consisting of not more than six or seven houses; of these
three seemed to be public-houses, as they bore large flaming
signs. Seeing three rather shabby-looking fellows standing
chatting with their hands in their pockets, I stopped and
inquired in English the name of the place.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pen--- something,&rdquo; said one of them, who had a
red face and a large carbuncle on his nose, which served to
distinguish him from his companions, who though they had both
very rubicund faces had no carbuncles.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It seems rather a small place to maintain three
public-houses,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;how do the publicans manage
to live?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, tolerably well, sir; we get bread and cheese and
have a groat in our pockets. No great reason to complain;
have we, neighbours?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No! no great reason to complain,&rdquo; said the other
two.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;are you the
publicans?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We are, sir,&rdquo; said the man with the carbuncle on
his nose, &ldquo;and shall be each of us glad to treat you to a
pint in his own house in order to welcome you to Shire
Car&mdash;shan&rsquo;t we, neighbours?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, in truth we shall,&rdquo; said the other two.</p>

<p>&ldquo;By Shire Car,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I suppose you mean
Shire Cardigan?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shire Cardigan!&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;no indeed;
by Shire Car is meant Carmarthenshire. Your honour has left
beggarly Cardigan some way behind you. Come, your honour,
come and have a pint; this is my house,&rdquo; said he, pointing
to one of the buildings.</p>

<p>&ldquo;But,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I suppose if I drink at your
expense you expect to drink at mine?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, we can&rsquo;t say that we shall have any
objection, your honour; I think we will arrange the matter in
this way; we will go into my house, where we will each of us
treat your honour with a pint, and for each pint we treat your
honour with your honour shall treat us with one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you mean each?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, yes! your honour, for a pint amongst three would
be rather a short allowance.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then it would come to this,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I
should receive three pints from you three, and you three would
receive nine from me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Just so, your honour, I see your honour is a ready
reckoner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know how much three times three make,&rdquo; said
I. &ldquo;Well, thank you, kindly, but I must decline your
offer; I am bound on a journey.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where are you bound to, master?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Llandovery, but if I can find an inn a few miles
farther on I shall stop there for the night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then you will put up at the &lsquo;Pump Saint,&rsquo;
master; well, you can have your three pints here and your three
pipes too, and yet get easily there by seven. Come in,
master, come in! If you take my advice you will think of
your pint and your pipe and let all the rest go to the
devil.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I can&rsquo;t
accept your invitation, I must be off;&rdquo; and in spite of yet
more pressing solicitations I went on.</p>

<p>I had not gone far when I came to a point where the road
parted into two; just at the point were a house and premises
belonging apparently to a stonemason, as a great many pieces of
half-cut granite were standing about, and not a few
tombstones. I stopped and looked at one of the
latter. It was to the memory of somebody who died at the
age of sixty-six, and at the bottom bore the following bit of
poetry:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Ti ddaear o ddaear ystyria mewn braw,<br />
Mai daear i ddaear yn fuan a ddaw;<br />
A ddaear mewn ddaear raid aros bob darn<br />
Nes daear o ddaear gyfrodir i farn.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thou earth from earth reflect with anxious mind<br />
That earth to earth must quickly be consigned,<br />
And earth in earth must lie entranced enthralled<br />
Till earth from earth to judgment shall be called.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;What conflicting opinions there are in this
world,&rdquo; said I, after I had copied the quatrain and
translated it. &ldquo;The publican yonder tells me to think
of my pint and pipe and let everything else go to the devil, and
the tombstone here tells me to reflect with dread&mdash;a much
finer expression by-the-bye than reflect with anxious mind, as I
have got it&mdash;that in a very little time I must die, and lie
in the ground till I am called to judgment. Now, which is
most right, the tombstone or the publican? Why, I should
say the tombstone decidedly. The publican is too sweeping
when he tells you to think of your pint and pipe and nothing
else. A pint and pipe are good things. I don&rsquo;t
smoke myself, but I daresay a pipe is a good thing for them who
like it, but there are certainly things worth being thought of in
this world besides a pint and pipe&mdash;hills and dales, woods
and rivers, for example&mdash;death and judgment too are worthy
now and then of very serious thought. So it won&rsquo;t do
to go with the publican the whole hog. But with respect to
the tombstone, it is quite safe and right to go with it its whole
length. It tells you to think of death and
judgment&mdash;and assuredly we ought to of them. It does
not, however, tell you to think of nothing but death and judgment
and to eschew every innocent pleasure within your reach. If
it did it would be a tombstone quite as sweeping in what it says
as the publican, who tells you to think of your pint and pipe and
let everything else go to the devil. The wisest course
evidently is to blend the whole of the philosophy of the
tombstone with a portion of the philosophy of the publican and
something more, to enjoy one&rsquo;s pint and pipe and other
innocent pleasures, and to think every now and then of death and
judgment&mdash;that is what I intend to do, and indeed is what I
have done for the last thirty years.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I went on&mdash;desolate hills rose in the east, the way I was
going, but on the south were beautiful hillocks adorned with
trees and hedge-rows. I was soon amongst the desolate
hills, which then looked more desolate than they did at a
distance. They were of a wretched russet colour, and
exhibited no other signs of life and cultivation than here and
there a miserable field and vile-looking hovel; and if there was
here nothing to cheer the eye there was also nothing to cheer the
ear. There were no songs of birds, no voices of rills; the
only sound I heard was the lowing of a wretched bullock from a
far-off slope.</p>

<p>I went on slowly and heavily; at length I got to the top of
this wretched range&mdash;then what a sudden change!
Beautiful hills in the far east, a fair valley below me, and
groves and woods on each side of the road which led down to
it. The sight filled my veins with fresh life, and I
descended this side of the hill as merrily as I had come up the
other side despondingly. About half-way down the hill I
came to a small village. Seeing a public-house I went up to
it, and inquired in English of some people within the name of the
village.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dolwen,&rdquo; said a dark-faced young fellow of about
four-and-twenty.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what is the name of the valley?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dolwen,&rdquo; was the answer, &ldquo;the valley is
named after the village.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You mean that the village is named after the
valley,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for Dolwen means fair
valley.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It may be so,&rdquo; said the young fellow, &ldquo;we
don&rsquo;t know much here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then after a moment&rsquo;s pause he said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you going much farther?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only as far as the &lsquo;Pump Saint.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any business there?&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I replied, &ldquo;I am travelling the
country, and shall only put up there for the night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You had better stay here,&rdquo; said the young
fellow. &ldquo;You will be better accommodated here than at
the &lsquo;Pump Saint.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very likely,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but I have resolved
to go there, and when I once make a resolution I never alter
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then bidding him good evening I departed. Had I formed
no resolution at all about stopping at the &lsquo;Pump
Saint,&rsquo; I certainly should not have stayed in this house,
which had all the appearance of a trampers&rsquo; hostelry, and
though I am very fond of the conversation of trampers, who are
the only people from whom you can learn anything, I would much
rather have the benefit of it abroad than in their own
lairs. A little farther down I met a woman coming up the
ascent. She was tolerably respectably dressed, seemed about
five-and-thirty, and was rather good-looking. She walked
somewhat slowly, which was probably more owing to a large bundle
which she bore in her hand than to her path being up-hill.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good evening,&rdquo; said I, stopping.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good evening, your honour,&rdquo; said she, stopping
and brightly panting.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you come from far?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not very far, your honour, but quite far enough for a
poor feeble woman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och no! your honour; I am Mary Bane from Dunmanway in
the kingdom of Ireland.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what are you doing here?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Och sure! I am travelling the country with soft
goods.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you going far?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Merely to the village a little farther up, your
honour.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am going farther,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I am thinking
of passing the night at the &lsquo;Pump Saint.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, then, I would just advise your honour to do no
such thing, but to turn back with me to the village above, where
there is an illigant inn where your honour will be well
accommodated.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I saw that as I came past,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I
don&rsquo;t think there is much accommodation there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, your honour is clane mistaken; there is always an
illigant fire and an illigant bed too.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there only one bed?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, there are two beds, one for the accommodation
of the people of the house and the other for that of the
visitors.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And do the visitors sleep together then?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! unless they wish to be unsociable. Those
who are not disposed to be sociable sleeps in the
chimney-corners.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I see it is a very agreeable
inn; however, I shall go on to the &lsquo;Pump
Saint.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am sorry for it, your honour, for your honour&rsquo;s
sake; your honour won&rsquo;t be half so illigantly served at the
&lsquo;Pump Saint&rsquo; as there above.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what religion are you?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m a Catholic, just like your honour, for if
I am not clane mistaken your honour is an Irishman.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who is your spiritual director?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, then, it is just Father Toban, your honour, whom
of course your honour knows.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;when you next see him
present my respects to him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What name shall I mention, your honour?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shorsha Borroo,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, then I was right in taking your honour for an
Irishman. None but a raal Paddy bears that name. A
credit to your honour is your name, for it is a famous name, <a
name="citation17"></a><a href="#footnote17"
class="citation">[17]</a> and a credit to your name is your
honour, for it is a neat man without a bend you are. God
bless your honour and good night! and may you find dacent
quarters in the &lsquo;Pump Saint.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>Leaving Mary Bane I proceeded on my way. The evening was
rather fine but twilight was coming rapidly on. I reached
the bottom of the valley and soon overtook a young man dressed
something like a groom. We entered into conversation.
He spoke Welsh and a little English. His Welsh I had great
difficulty in understanding, as it was widely different from that
which I had been accustomed to. He asked me where I was
going to; I replied to the &ldquo;Pump Saint,&rdquo; and then
enquired if he was in service.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>&ldquo;With whom do you live?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;With Mr Johnes of Dol Cothi,&rdquo; he answered.</p>

<p>Struck by the word Cothi, I asked if Dol Cothi was ever called
Glyn Cothi.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;frequently.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How odd,&rdquo; thought I to myself, &ldquo;that I
should have stumbled all of a sudden upon the country of my old
friend Lewis Glyn Cothi, the greatest poet after Ab Gwilym of all
Wales!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is Cothi a river?&rdquo; said I to my companion.</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>Presently we came to a bridge over a small river.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is this river the Cothi?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;this is the Twrch; the
bridge is called Pont y Twrch.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The bridge of Twrch or the hog,&rdquo; said I to
myself; &ldquo;there is a bridge of the same name in the Scottish
Highlands, not far from the pass of the Trossachs. I wonder
whether it has its name from the same cause as this, namely, from
passing over a river called the Twrch or Torck, which word in
Gaelic signifies boar or hog even as it does in
Welsh.&rdquo; It had now become nearly dark. After
proceeding some way farther I asked the groom if we were far from
the inn of the &ldquo;Pump Saint.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Close by,&rdquo; said he, and presently pointing to a
large building on the right-hand side he said: &ldquo;This is the
inn of the &lsquo;Pump Saint,&rsquo; sir. Nos
Da&rsquo;chi!&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCVI</h2>

<p class="letter">&ldquo;Pump Saint&rdquo;&mdash;Pleasant
Residence&mdash;The Watery Coom&mdash;Philological
Fact&mdash;Evening Service&mdash;Meditation.</p>

<p>I entered the inn of the &ldquo;Pump Saint.&rdquo; It
was a comfortable old-fashioned place, with a very large kitchen
and a rather small parlour. The people were kind and
attentive, and soon set before me in the parlour a homely but
savoury supper, and a foaming tankard of ale. After supper
I went into the kitchen, and sitting down with the good folks in
an immense chimney-corner, listened to them talking in their
Carmarthenshire dialect till it was time to go to rest, when I
was conducted to a large chamber where I found an excellent and
clean bed awaiting me, in which I enjoyed a refreshing sleep,
occasionally visited by dreams in which some of the scenes of the
preceding day again appeared before me, but in an indistinct and
misty manner.</p>

<p>Awaking in the very depth of the night I thought I heard the
murmuring of a river; I listened and soon found that I had not
been deceived. &ldquo;I wonder whether that river is the
Cothi,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the stream of the immortal
Lewis. I will suppose that it is&rdquo;&mdash;and rendered
quite happy by the idea, I soon fell asleep again.</p>

<p>I arose about eight and went out to look about me. The
village consists of little more than half-a-dozen houses.
The name &ldquo;Pump Saint&rdquo; signifies &ldquo;Five
Saints.&rdquo; Why the place is called so I know not.
Perhaps the name originally belonged to some chapel which stood
either where the village now stands or in the
neighbourhood. The inn is a good specimen of an ancient
Welsh hostelry. Its gable is to the road and its front to a
little space on one side of the way. At a little distance
up the road is a blacksmith&rsquo;s shop. The country
around is interesting: on the north-west is a fine wooded
hill&mdash;to the south a valley through which flows the Cothi, a
fair river, the one whose murmur had come so pleasingly upon my
ear in the depth of night.</p>

<p>After breakfast I departed for Llandovery. Presently I
came to a lodge on the left-hand beside an ornamental gate at the
bottom of an avenue leading seemingly to a gentleman&rsquo;s
seat. On inquiring of a woman, who sat at the door of the
lodge, to whom the grounds belonged, she said to Mr Johnes, and
that if I pleased I was welcome to see them. I went in and
advanced along the avenue, which consisted of very noble oaks; on
the right was a vale in which a beautiful brook was running north
and south. Beyond the vale to the east were fine wooded
hills. I thought I had never seen a more pleasing locality,
though I saw it to great disadvantage, the day being dull, and
the season the latter fall. Presently, on the avenue making
a slight turn, I saw the house, a plain but comfortable
gentleman&rsquo;s seat with wings. It looked to the south
down the dale. &ldquo;With what satisfaction I could live
in that house,&rdquo; said I to myself, &ldquo;if backed by a
couple of thousands a-year. With what gravity could I sign
a warrant in its library, and with what dreamy comfort translate
an ode of Lewis Glyn Cothi, my tankard of rich ale beside
me. I wonder whether the proprietor is fond of the old bard
and keeps good ale. Were I an Irishman instead of a Norfolk
man I would go in and ask him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Returning to the road I proceeded on my journey. I
passed over Pont y Rhanedd or the bridge of the Rhanedd, a small
river flowing through a dale, then by Clas Hywel, a lofty
mountain which appeared to have three heads. After walking
for some miles I came to where the road divided into two.
By a sign-post I saw that both led to Llandovery, one by Porth y
Rhyd and the other by Llanwrda. The distance by the first
was six miles and a half, by the latter eight and a half.
Feeling quite the reverse of tired I chose the longest road,
namely the one by Llanwrda, along which I sped at a great
rate.</p>

<p>In a little time I found myself in the heart of a romantic
winding dell, overhung with trees of various kinds, which a tall
man whom I met told me was called Cwm Dwr Llanwrda, or the Watery
Coom of Llanwrda; and well might it be called the Watery Coom,
for there were several bridges in it, two within a few hundred
yards of each other. The same man told me that the war was
going on very badly, that our soldiers were suffering much, and
that the snow was two feet deep at Sebastopol.</p>

<p>Passing through Llanwrda, a pretty village with a
singular-looking church, close to which stood an enormous yew, I
entered a valley which I learned was the valley of the
Towey. I directed my course to the north, having the river
on my right, which runs towards the south in a spacious bed,
which, however, except in times of flood, it scarcely half
fills. Beautiful hills were on other side, partly
cultivated, partly covered with wood, and here and there dotted
with farm-houses and gentlemen&rsquo;s seats; green pastures
which descended nearly to the river occupying in general the
lower parts. After journeying about four miles amid this
kind of scenery I came to a noble suspension bridge, and crossing
it found myself in about a quarter of an hour at Llandovery.</p>

<p>It was about half-past two when I arrived. I put up at
the Castle Inn and forthwith ordered dinner, which was served up
between four and five. During dinner I was waited upon by a
strange old fellow who spoke Welsh and English with equal
fluency.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What countryman are you?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;An Englishman,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;From what part of England?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From Herefordshire.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been long here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! upwards of twenty years.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How came you to learn Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I took to it and soon picked it up.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you read it?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, I can&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you read English?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, I can; that is, a little.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t you try to learn to read
Welsh?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I did; but I could make no hand of it.
It&rsquo;s one thing to speak Welsh and another to read
it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can read Welsh much better than I can speak
it,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, you are a gentleman&mdash;gentlefolks always find
it easier to learn to read a foreign lingo than to speak it, but
it&rsquo;s quite the contrary with we poor folks.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;One of the most profound truths ever uttered connected
with language,&rdquo; said I to myself. I asked him if
there were many Church of England people in Llandovery.</p>

<p>&ldquo;A good many,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you belong to the Church?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, I do.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If this were Sunday I would go to church,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, if you wish to go to church you can go
to-night. This is Wednesday, and there will be service at
half-past six. If you like I will come for you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Pray do,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I should like above all
things to go.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Dinner over I sat before the fire occasionally dozing,
occasionally sipping a glass of whiskey-and-water. A little
after six the old fellow made his appearance with a kind of
Spanish hat on his head. We set out; the night was very
dark; we went down a long street seemingly in the direction of
the west. &ldquo;How many churches are there in
Llandovery?&rdquo; said I to my companion.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only one, but you are not going to Llandovery Church,
but to that of Llanfair, in which our clergyman does duty once or
twice a week.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it far?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no; just out of the town, only a few steps
farther.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We seemed to pass over a bridge and began to ascend a rising
ground. Several people were going in the same
direction.</p>

<p>&ldquo;There,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;follow with
these, and a little farther up you will come to the church, which
stands on the right hand.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He then left me. I went with the rest and soon came to
the church. I went in and was at once conducted by an old
man, who I believe was the sexton, to a large pew close against
the southern wall. The inside of the church was dimly
lighted; it was long and narrow, and the walls were painted with
a yellow colour. The pulpit stood against the northern wall
near the altar, and almost opposite to the pew in which I
sat. After a little time the service commenced; it was in
Welsh. When the litanies were concluded the clergyman, who
appeared to be a middle-aged man, and who had rather a fine
voice, began to preach. His sermon was from the 119th
Psalm: &ldquo;Am hynny hoffais dy gorchymynion yn mwy nag
aur:&rdquo; &ldquo;Therefore have I loved thy commandments
more than gold.&rdquo; The sermon, which was extempore, was
delivered with great earnestness, and I make no doubt was a very
excellent one, but owing to its being in South Welsh I did not
derive much benefit from it as I otherwise might have done.
When it was over a great many got up and went away.
Observing, however, that not a few remained, I determined upon
remaining too. When everything was quiet the clergyman,
descending from the pulpit, repaired to the vestry, and having
taken off his gown went into a pew, and standing up began a
discourse, from which I learned that there was to be a sacrament
on the ensuing Sabbath. He spoke with much fervency,
enlarging upon the high importance of the holy communion, and
exhorting people to come to it in a fit state of mind. When
he had finished a man in a neighbouring pew got up and spoke
about his own unworthiness, saying this and that about himself,
his sins of commission and omission, and dwelling particularly on
his uncharitableness and the malicious pleasure which he took in
the misfortunes of his neighbours. The clergyman listened
attentively, sometimes saying &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; and the
congregation also listened attentively, a voice here and there
frequently saying &ldquo;Ah.&rdquo; When the man had
concluded the clergyman again spoke, making observations on what
he had heard, and hoping that the rest would be visited with the
same contrite spirit as their friend. Then there was a hymn
and we went away.</p>

<p>The moon was shining on high and cast its silvery light on the
tower, the church, some fine trees which surrounded it, and the
congregation going home; a few of the better dressed were talking
to each other in English, but with an accent and pronunciation
which rendered the discourse almost unintelligible to my
ears.</p>

<p>I found my way back to my inn and went to bed, after musing
awhile on the concluding scene of which I had been witness in the
church.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCVII</h2>

<p class="letter">Llandovery&mdash;Griffith ap
Nicholas&mdash;Powerful Enemies&mdash;Last Words&mdash;Llandovery
Church&mdash;Rees Pritchard&mdash;The Wiser
Creature&mdash;God&rsquo;s better than All&mdash;The Old
Vicarage.</p>

<p>The morning of the ninth was very beautiful, with a slight
tendency to frost. I breakfasted, and having no intention
of proceeding on my journey that day, I went to take a leisurely
view of Llandovery and the neighbourhood.</p>

<p>Llandovery is a small but beautiful town, situated amidst
fertile meadows. It is a water-girdled spot, whence its
name Llandovery or Llanymdyfri, which signifies the church
surrounded by water. On its west is the Towey, and on its
east the river Bran or Brein, which descending from certain lofty
mountains to the north-east runs into the Towey a little way
below the town. The most striking object which Llandovery
can show is its castle, from which the inn, which stands near to
it, has its name. This castle, majestic though in ruins,
stands on a green mound, the eastern side of which is washed by
the Bran. Little with respect to its history is
known. One thing, however, is certain, namely that it was
one of the many strongholds, which at one time belonged to
Griffith ap Nicholas, Lord of Dinevor, one of the most remarkable
men which South Wales has ever produced, of whom a brief account
here will not be out of place.</p>

<p>Griffith ap Nicholas flourished towards the concluding part of
the reign of Henry the Sixth. He was a powerful chieftain
of South Wales and possessed immense estates in the counties of
Carmarthen and Cardigan. King Henry the Sixth, fully aware
of his importance in his own country, bestowed upon him the
commission of the peace, an honour at that time seldom vouchsafed
to a Welshman, and the captaincy of Kilgarran, a strong royal
castle situated on the southern bank of the Teivi a few miles
above Cardigan. He had many castles of his own, in which he
occasionally resided, but his chief residence was Dinevor, half
way between Llandovery and Carmarthen, once a palace of the kings
of South Wales, from whom Griffith traced lineal descent.
He was a man very proud at heart, but with too much wisdom to
exhibit many marks of pride, speaking generally with the utmost
gentleness and suavity, and though very brave addicted to dashing
into danger for the mere sake of displaying his valour. He
was a great master of the English tongue, and well acquainted
with what learning it contained, but nevertheless was
passionately attached to the language and literature of Wales, a
proof of which he gave by holding a congress of bards and
literati at Carmarthen, at which various pieces of eloquence and
poetry were recited, and certain alterations introduced into the
canons of Welsh versification. Though holding offices of
trust and emolument under the Saxon, he in the depths of his soul
detested the race, and would have rejoiced to see it utterly
extirpated from Britain. This hatred of his against the
English was the cause of his doing that which cannot be justified
on any principle of honour, giving shelter and encouragement to
Welsh thieves, who were in the habit of plundering and ravaging
the English borders. Though at the head of a numerous and
warlike clan, which was strongly attached to him on various
accounts, Griffith did not exactly occupy a bed of roses.
He had amongst his neighbours four powerful enemies who envied
him his large possessions, with whom he had continual disputes
about property and privilege. Powerful enemies they may
well be called, as they were no less personages than Humphrey
Duke of Buckingham, Richard Duke of York, who began the contest
for the crown with King Henry the Sixth, Jasper Earl of Pembroke,
son of Owen Tudor, and half-brother of the king, and the Earl of
Warwick. These accused him at court of being a comforter
and harbourer of thieves, the result being that he was deprived
not only of the commission of the peace, but of the captaincy of
Kilgarran, which the Earl of Pembroke, through his influence with
his half-brother, procured for himself. They moreover
induced William Borley and Thomas Corbet, two justices of the
peace for the county of Hereford, to grant a warrant for his
apprehension on the ground of his being in league with the
thieves of the Marches. Griffith in the bosom of his mighty
clan bade defiance to Saxon warrants, though once having ventured
to Hereford he nearly fell into the power of the ministers of
justice, only escaping by the intervention of Sir John Scudamore,
with whom he was connected by marriage. Shortly afterwards,
the civil war breaking out, the Duke of York apologised to
Griffith, and besought his assistance against the king which the
chieftain readily enough promised, not out of affection for York,
but from the hatred which he felt, on account of the Kilgarran
affair, for the Earl of Pembroke, who had sided, very naturally,
with his half-brother, the king, and commanded his forces in the
west. Griffith fell at the great battle of Mortimer&rsquo;s
cross, which was won for York by a desperate charge made right at
Pembroke&rsquo;s banner by Griffith and his Welshmen, when the
rest of the Yorkists were wavering. His last words were:
&ldquo;Welcome, Death! since honour and victory make for
us.&rdquo;</p>

<p>The power and wealth of Griffith ap Nicholas, and also parts
of his character, have been well described by one of his bards,
Gwilym ab Ieuan Hen, in an ode to the following
effect:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Griffith ap Nicholas, who like thee<br />
For wealth and power and majesty!<br />
Which most abound, I cannot say,<br />
On either side of Towey gay,<br />
From hence to where it meets the brine,<br />
Trees or stately towers of thine?<br />
The chair of judgment thou didst gain,<br />
But not to deal in judgments vain&mdash;<br />
To thee upon thy judgment chair<br />
From near and far do crowds repair;<br />
But though betwixt the weak and strong<br />
No questions rose from right or wrong<br />
The strong the weak to thee would hie;<br />
The strong to do thee injury,<br />
And to the weak thou wine wouldst deal,<br />
And wouldst trip up the mighty heel.<br />
A lion unto the lofty thou,<br />
A lamb unto the weak and low.<br />
Much thou resemblest Nudd of yore,<br />
Surpassing all who went before;<br />
Like him thou&rsquo;rt fam&rsquo;d for bravery,<br />
For noble birth and high degree.<br />
Hail, captain of Kilgarran&rsquo;s hold!<br />
Lieutenant of Carmarthen old!<br />
Hail, chieftain, Cambria&rsquo;s choicest boast!<br />
Hail, justice, at the Saxon&rsquo;s cost!<br />
Seven castles high confess thy sway,<br />
Seven palaces thy hands obey.<br />
Against my chief, with envy fired,<br />
Three dukes and judges two conspired,<br />
But thou a dauntless front didst show,<br />
And to retreat they were not slow.<br />
O, with what gratitude is heard<br />
From mouth of thine the whispered word,<br />
The deepest pools in rivers found<br />
In summer are of softest sound;<br />
The sage concealeth what he knows,<br />
A deal of talk no wisdom shows;<br />
The sage is silent as the grave,<br />
Whilst of his lips the fool is slave;<br />
Thy smile doth every joy impart,<br />
Of faith a fountain is thy heart;<br />
Thy hand is strong, thine eye is keen,<br />
Thy head o&rsquo;er every head is seen.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The church of Llandovery is a large edifice standing at the
southern extremity of the town in the vicinity of the
Towey. The outside exhibits many appearances of antiquity,
but the interior has been sadly modernized. It contains no
remarkable tombs; I was pleased, however, to observe upon one or
two of the monuments the name of Ryce, the appellation of the
great clan to which Griffith ap Nicholas belonged; of old the
regal race of South Wales. On inquiring of the clerk, an
intelligent young man who showed me over the sacred edifice, as
to the state of the Church of England at Llandovery, he gave me a
very cheering account, adding, however, that before the arrival
of the present incumbent it was very low indeed.
&ldquo;What is the clergyman&rsquo;s name?&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;I heard him preach last night.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know you did, sir,&rdquo; said the clerk, bowing,
&ldquo;for I saw you at the service at Llanfair&mdash;his name is
Hughes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Any relation of the clergyman at Tregaron?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Own brother, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;He at Tregaron bears a very high character,&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And very deservedly, sir,&rdquo; said the clerk,
&ldquo;for he is an excellent man; he is, however, not more
worthy of his high character than his brother here is of the one
which he bears, which is equally high, and which the very
dissenters have nothing to say against.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you ever heard,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;of a man of
the name of Rees Pritchard, who preached within these walls some
two hundred years ago?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rees Pritchard, sir! Of course I have&mdash;who
hasn&rsquo;t heard of the old vicar&mdash;the Welshman&rsquo;s
candle? Ah, he was a man indeed! We have some good
men in the Church, very good; but the old vicar&mdash;where shall
we find his equal?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is he buried in this church?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, sir, he was buried out abroad in the churchyard,
near the wall by the Towey.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you show me his tomb?&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;No, sir, nor can any one; his tomb was swept away more
than a hundred years ago by a dreadful inundation of the river,
which swept away not only tombs but dead bodies out of
graves. But there&rsquo;s his house in the market-place,
the old vicarage, which you should go and see. I would go
and show it you myself but I have church matters just now to
attend to&mdash;the place of church clerk at Llandovery, long a
sinecure, is anything but that under the present clergyman, who,
though not a Rees Pritchard, is a very zealous Christian, and not
unworthy to preach in the pulpit of the old vicar.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Leaving the church I went to see the old vicarage, but before
saying anything respecting it, a few words about the old
vicar.</p>

<p>Rees Pritchard was born at Llandovery, about the year 1575, of
respectable parents. He received the rudiments of a
classical education at the school of the place, and at the age of
eighteen was sent to Oxford, being intended for the clerical
profession. At Oxford he did not distinguish himself in an
advantageous manner, being more remarkable for dissipation and
riot than application in the pursuit of learning. Returning
to Wales, he was admitted into the ministry, and after the lapse
of a few years was appointed vicar of Llandovery. His
conduct for a considerable time was not only unbecoming a
clergyman, but a human being in any sphere. Drunkenness was
very prevalent in the age in which he lived, but Rees Pritchard
was so inordinately addicted to that vice that the very worst of
his parishioners were scandalized, and said: &ldquo;Bad as we may
be we are not half so bad as the parson.&rdquo;</p>

<p>He was in the habit of spending the greater part of his time
in the public-house, from which he was generally trundled home in
a wheel-barrow in a state of utter insensibility. God,
however, who is aware of what every man is capable of, had
reserved Rees Pritchard for great and noble things, and brought
about his conversion in a very remarkable manner.</p>

<p>The people of the tavern which Rees Pritchard frequented had a
large he-goat, which went in and out and mingled with the
guests. One day Rees in the midst of his orgies called the
goat to him and offered it some ale; the creature, far from
refusing it, drank greedily, and soon becoming intoxicated, fell
down upon the floor, where it lay quivering, to the great delight
of Rees Pritchard, who made its drunkenness a subject of jest to
his boon companions, who, however, said nothing, being struck
with horror at such conduct in a person who was placed among them
to be a pattern and example. Before night, however,
Pritchard became himself intoxicated, and was trundled to the
vicarage in the usual manner. During the whole of the next
day he was very ill and kept at home, but on the following one he
again repaired to the public-house, sat down and called for his
pipe and tankard. The goat was now perfectly recovered, and
was standing nigh. No sooner was the tankard brought than
Rees taking hold of it held it to the goat&rsquo;s mouth.
The creature, however, turned away its head in disgust, and
hurried out of the room. This circumstance produced an
instantaneous effect upon Rees Pritchard. &ldquo;My
God!&rdquo; said he to himself, &ldquo;is this poor dumb creature
wiser than I? Yes, surely; it has been drunk, but having
once experienced the wretched consequences of drunkenness, it
refuses to be drunk again. How different is its conduct to
mine! I, after having experienced a hundred times the
filthiness and misery of drunkenness, have still persisted in
debasing myself below the condition of a beast. Oh, if I
persist in this conduct what have I to expect but wretchedness
and contempt in this world and eternal perdition in the
next? But, thank God, it is not yet too late to amend; I am
still alive&mdash;I will become a new man&mdash;the goat has
taught me a lesson.&rdquo; Smashing his pipe he left his
tankard untasted on the table, went home, and became an altered
man.</p>

<p>Different as an angel of light is from the fiend of the pit
was Rees Pritchard from that moment from what he had been in
former days. For upwards of thirty years he preached the
Gospel as it had never been preached before in the Welsh tongue
since the time of Saint Paul, supposing the beautiful legend to
be true which tells us that Saint Paul in his wanderings found
his way to Britain and preached to the inhabitants the
inestimable efficacy of Christ&rsquo;s bloodshedding in the
fairest Welsh, having like all the other apostles the miraculous
gift of tongues. The good vicar did more. In the
short intervals of relaxation which he allowed himself from the
labour of the ministry during those years he composed a number of
poetical pieces, which after his death were gathered together
into a volume and published, under the title of &ldquo;Canwyll y
Cymry; or, the Candle of the Welshman.&rdquo; This work,
which has gone through almost countless editions, is written in
two common easy measures, and the language is so plain and simple
that it is intelligible to the homeliest hind who speaks the
Welsh language. All of the pieces are of a strictly
devotional character, with the exception of one, namely, a
welcome to Charles, Prince of Wales, on his return from Spain, to
which country he had gone to see the Spanish ladye whom at one
time he sought as bride. Some of the pieces are highly
curious, as they bear upon events at present forgotten; for
example, the song upon the year 1629, when the corn was blighted
throughout the land, and &ldquo;A Warning to the Cumry to repent
when the Plague of Blotches and Boils was prevalent in
London.&rdquo; Some of the pieces are written with
astonishing vigour, for example, &ldquo;The Song of the
Husbandman,&rdquo; and &ldquo;God&rsquo;s Better than All,&rdquo;
of which last piece the following is a literal
translation:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center">&ldquo;<span
class="smcap">God&rsquo;s Better Than All</span>.</p>

<p>&ldquo;God&rsquo;s better than heaven or aught therein,<br />
Than the earth or aught we there can win,<br />
Better than the world or its wealth to me&mdash;<br />
God&rsquo;s better than all that is or can be.<br />
Better than father, than mother, than nurse,<br />
Better than riches, oft proving a curse,<br />
Better than Martha or Mary even&mdash;<br />
Better by far is the God of heaven.<br />
If God for thy portion thou hast ta&rsquo;en<br />
There&rsquo;s Christ to support thee in every pain,<br />
The world to respect thee thou wilt gain,<br />
To fear thee the fiend and all his train.<br />
Of the best of portions thou choice didst make<br />
When thou the high God to thyself didst take,<br />
A portion which none from thy grasp can rend<br />
Whilst the sun and the moon on their course shall wend<br />
When the sun grows dark and the moon turns red,<br />
When the stars shall drop and millions dread,<br />
When the earth shall vanish with its pomps in fire,<br />
Thy portion still shall remain entire.<br />
Then let not thy heart, though distressed, complain!<br />
A hold on thy portion firm maintain.<br />
Thou didst choose the best portion, again I say&mdash;<br />
Resign it not till thy dying day.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The old vicarage of Llandovery is a very large mansion of dark
red brick, fronting the principal street or market-place, and
with its back to a green meadow bounded by the river Bran.
It is in a very dilapidated condition, and is inhabited at
present by various poor families. The principal room, which
is said to have been the old vicar&rsquo;s library, and the place
where he composed his undying Candle, is in many respects a
remarkable apartment. It is of large dimensions. The
roof is curiously inlaid with stucco or mortar, and is traversed
from east to west by an immense black beam. The fire-place,
which is at the south, is very large and seemingly of high
antiquity. The windows, which are two in number and look
westward into the street, have a quaint and singular
appearance. Of all the houses in Llandovery the old
vicarage is by far the most worthy of attention, irrespective of
the wonderful monument of God&rsquo;s providence and grace who
once inhabited it.</p>

<p>The reverence in which the memory of Rees Pritchard is still
held in Llandovery the following anecdote will show. As I
was standing in the principal street staring intently at the
antique vicarage, a respectable-looking farmer came up and was
about to pass, but observing how I was employed he stopped, and
looked now at me and now at the antique house. Presently he
said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;A fine old place, is it not, sir? but do you know who
lived there?&rdquo;</p>

<p>Wishing to know what the man would say provided he thought I
was ignorant as to the ancient inmate, I turned a face of inquiry
upon him; whereupon he advanced towards me two or three steps,
and placing his face so close to mine that his nose nearly
touched my cheek, he said in a kind of piercing
whisper&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Vicar.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then drawing his face back he looked me full in the eyes as if
to observe the effect of his intelligence, gave me two nods as if
to say, &ldquo;He did, indeed,&rdquo; and departed.</p>

<p><i>The</i> Vicar of Llandovery had then been dead nearly two
hundred years. Truly the man in whom piety and genius are
blended is immortal upon earth.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Departure from Llandovery&mdash;A Bitter
Methodist&mdash;North and South&mdash;The Caravan&mdash;Captain
Bosvile&mdash;Deputy Ranger&mdash;A Scrimmage&mdash;The Heavenly
Gwynfa&mdash;Dangerous Position.</p>

<p>On the tenth I departed from Llandovery, which I have no
hesitation in saying is about the pleasantest little town in
which I have halted in the course of my wanderings. I
intended to sleep at Gutter Vawr, a place some twenty miles
distant, just within Glamorganshire, to reach which it would be
necessary to pass over part of a range of wild hills, generally
called the Black Mountains. I started at about ten
o&rsquo;clock; the morning was lowering, and there were
occasional showers of rain and hail. I passed by Rees
Pritchard&rsquo;s church, holding my hat in my hand as I did so,
not out of respect for the building, but from reverence for the
memory of the sainted man who of old from its pulpit called
sinners to repentance, and whose remains slumber in the
churchyard unless washed away by some frantic burst of the
neighbouring Towey. Crossing a bridge over the Bran just
before it enters the greater stream, I proceeded along a road
running nearly south and having a range of fine hills on the
east. Presently violent gusts of wind came on, which tore
the sear leaves by thousands from the trees, of which there were
plenty by the roadsides. After a little time, however, this
elemental hurly-burly passed away, a rainbow made its appearance,
and the day became comparatively fine. Turning to the
south-east under a hill covered with oaks, I left the vale of the
Towey behind me, and soon caught a glimpse of some very lofty
hills which I supposed to be the Black Mountains. It was a
mere glimpse, for scarcely had I descried them when mist settled
down and totally obscured them from my view.</p>

<p>In about an hour I reached Llangadog, a large village.
The name signifies the church of Gadog. Gadog was a British
saint of the fifth century, who after labouring amongst his own
countrymen for their spiritual good for many years, crossed the
sea to Brittany, where he died. Scarcely had I entered
Llangadog when a great shower of rain came down. Seeing an
ancient-looking hostelry I at once made for it. In a large
and comfortable kitchen I found a middle-aged woman seated by a
huge deal table near a blazing fire, with a couple of large books
open before her. Sitting down on a chair I told her in
English to bring me a pint of ale. She did so, and again
sat down to her books, which on inquiry I found to be a Welsh
Bible and Concordance. We soon got into discourse about
religion, but did not exactly agree, for she was a bitter
Methodist, as bitter as her beer, only half of which I could get
down.</p>

<p>Leaving Llangadog I pushed forward. The day was now
tolerably fine. In two or three hours I came to a glen, the
sides of which were beautifully wooded. On my left was a
river, which came roaring down from a range of lofty mountains
right before me to the south-east. The river, as I was told
by a lad, was the Sawdde or Southey, the lofty range the Black
Mountains. Passed a pretty village on my right standing
something in the shape of a semicircle, and in about half-an-hour
came to a bridge over a river which I supposed to be the Sawdde
which I had already seen, but which I subsequently learned was an
altogether different stream. It was running from the south,
a wild, fierce flood, amidst rocks and stones, the waves all
roaring and foaming.</p>

<p>After some time I reached another bridge near the foot of a
very lofty ascent. On my left to the east upon a bank was a
small house, on one side of which was a wheel turned round by a
flush of water running in a little artificial canal; close by it
were two small cascades, the waters of which, and also those of
the canal, passed under the bridge in the direction of the
west. Seeing a decent-looking man engaged in sawing a piece
of wood by the roadside, I asked him in Welsh whether the house
with the wheel was a flour mill.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nage,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it is a pandy, fulling
mill.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you tell me the name of a river,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;which I have left about a mile behind me. Is it the
Sawdde?&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nage,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;it is the
Lleidach.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Then looking at me with great curiosity, he asked if I came
from the north country.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I certainly come from
there.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am glad to hear it,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for I have
long wished to see a man from the north country.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did you never see one before?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Never in my life,&rdquo; he replied; &ldquo;men from
the north country seldom show themselves in these
parts.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I am not ashamed to say
that I come from the north.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ain&rsquo;t you? Well, I don&rsquo;t know that
you have any particular reason to be ashamed, for it is rather
your misfortune than your fault; but the idea of any one coming
from the north&mdash;ho, ho!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps in the north,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;they laugh
at a man from the south.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Laugh at a man from the south! No, no; they
can&rsquo;t do that.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;why shouldn&rsquo;t the
north laugh at the south as well as the south at the
north?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why shouldn&rsquo;t it? why, you talk like a
fool. How could the north laugh at the south as long as the
south remains the south and the north the north? Laugh at
the south! you talk like a fool, David, and if you go on in that
way I shall be angry with you. However, I&rsquo;ll excuse
you; you are from the north, and what can one expect from the
north but nonsense? Now tell me, do you of the north eat
and drink like other people? What do you live
upon?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, as for myself,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I generally
live on the best I can get.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s hear what you eat; bacon and eggs?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I eat bacon and eggs when I can get nothing
better.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what do you drink? Can you drink
ale?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I am very fond of ale
when it&rsquo;s good. Perhaps you will stand a
pint?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hm,&rdquo; said the man looking somewhat blank;
&ldquo;there is no ale in the Pandy and there is no public-house
near at hand, otherwise&mdash;Where are you going
to-night?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Gutter Vawr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, then, you had better not loiter; Gutter Vawr is a
long way off over the mountain. It will be dark, I am
afraid, long before you get to Gutter Vawr. Good evening,
David! I am glad to have seen you, for I have long wished
to see a man from the north country. Good evening! you will
find plenty of good ale at Gutter Vawr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I went on my way. The road led in a south-eastern
direction gradually upward to very lofty regions. After
walking about half-an-hour I saw a kind of wooden house on wheels
drawn by two horses coming down the hill towards me. A
short black-looking fellow in brown-top boots, corduroy breeches,
jockey coat and jockey cap sat on the box, holding the reins in
one hand and a long whip in the other. Beside him was a
swarthy woman in a wild flaunting dress. Behind the box out
of the fore part of the caravan peered two or three black
children&rsquo;s heads. A pretty little foal about four
months old came frisking and gambolling now before now beside the
horses, whilst a colt of some sixteen months followed more
leisurely behind. When the caravan was about ten yards
distant I stopped, and raising my left hand with the little
finger pointed aloft, I exclaimed:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shoon, Kaulomengro, shoon! In Dibbel&rsquo;s nav,
where may tu be jawing to?&rdquo;</p>

<p>Stopping his caravan with considerable difficulty the small
black man glared at me for a moment like a wild cat, and then
said in a voice partly snappish, partly kind:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Savo shan tu? Are you one of the
Ingrines?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am the chap what certain folks calls the Romany
Rye.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;ll be jiggered if I wasn&rsquo;t thinking
so and if I wasn&rsquo;t penning so to my juwa as we were welling
down the chong.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is a long time since we last met, Captain Bosvile,
for I suppose I may call you Captain now?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes! the old man has been dead and buried this many a
year, and his sticks and titles are now mine. Poor soul, I
hope he is happy; indeed I know he is, for he lies in Cockleshell
churchyard, the place he was always so fond of, and has his
Sunday waistcoat on him with the fine gold buttons, which he was
always so proud of. Ah, you may well call it a long time
since we met&mdash;why, it can&rsquo;t be less than thirty
year.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Something about that&mdash;you were a boy then of about
fifteen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;So I was, and you a tall young slip of about twenty;
well, how did you come to jin mande?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I knew you by your fighting mug&mdash;there
ain&rsquo;t such another mug in England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No more there an&rsquo;t&mdash;my old father always
used to say it was of no use hitting it for it always broke his
knuckles. Well, it was kind of you to jin mande after so
many years. The last time I think I saw you was near
Brummagem, when you were travelling about with Jasper Petulengro
and&mdash;I say, what&rsquo;s become of the young woman you used
to keep company with?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t? Well, she was a fine young woman
and a vartuous. I remember her knocking down and giving a
black eye to my old mother, who was wonderfully deep in Romany,
for making a bit of a gillie about you and she. What was
the song? Lord, how my memory fails me! Oh, here it
is:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Ando berkho Rye canó<br />
Oteh pivò teh khavó<br />
Tu lerasque ando berkho piranee<br />
Teh corbatcha por pico.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Have you seen Jasper Petulengro lately?&rdquo; said
I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, I have seen him, but it was at a very considerable
distance. Jasper Petulengro doesn&rsquo;t come near the
likes of we now. Lord! you can&rsquo;t think what grand
folks he and his wife have become of late years, and all along of
a trumpery lil which somebody has written about them. Why,
they are hand and glove with the Queen and Prince, and folks say
that his wife is going to be made dame of honour, and Jasper
Justice of the Peace and Deputy Ranger of Windsor
Park.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Only think,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;And now tell
me, what brought you into Wales?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What brought me into Wales? I&rsquo;ll tell you;
my own fool&rsquo;s head. I was doing nicely in the Kaulo
Gav and the neighbourhood, when I must needs pack up and come
into these parts with bag and baggage, wife and childer. I
thought that Wales was what it was some thirty years agone when
our foky used to say&mdash;for I was never here before&mdash;that
there was something to be done in it; but I was never more
mistaken in my life. The country is overrun with Hindity
mescrey, woild Irish, with whom the Romany foky stand no
chance. The fellows underwork me at tinkering, and the
women outscream my wife at telling fortunes&mdash;moreover, they
say the country is theirs and not intended for niggers like we,
and as they are generally in vast numbers what can a poor little
Roman family do but flee away before them? A pretty journey
I have made into Wales. Had I not contrived to pass off a
poggado bav engro&mdash;a broken-winded horse&mdash;at a fair, I
at this moment should be without a tringoruschee piece in my
pocket. I am now making the best of my way back to
Brummagem, and if ever I come again to this Hindity country may
Calcraft nash me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wonder you didn&rsquo;t try to serve some of the
Irish out,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I served one out, brother; and my wife and childer
helped to wipe off a little of the score. We had stopped on
a nice green, near a village over the hills in Glamorganshire,
when up comes a Hindity family, and bids us take ourselves
off. Now it so happened that there was but one man and a
woman and some childer, so I laughed, and told them to drive us
off. Well, brother, without many words, there was a regular
scrimmage. The Hindity mush came at me, the Hindity mushi
at y my juwa, and the Hindity chaves at my chai. It
didn&rsquo;t last long, brother. In less than three minutes
I had hit the Hindity mush, who was a plaguey big fellow, but
couldn&rsquo;t fight, just under the point of the chin, and sent
him to the ground with all his senses gone. My juwa had
almost scratched an eye out of the Hindity mushi, and my chai had
sent the Hindity childer scampering over the green.
&lsquo;Who has got to quit now?&rsquo; said I to the Hindity mush
after he had got on his legs, looking like a man who has been cut
down after hanging just a minute and a half. &lsquo;Who has
got notice to quit, now, I wonder?&rsquo; Well, brother, he
didn&rsquo;t say anything, nor did any of them, but after a
little time they all took themselves off, with a cart they had,
to the south. Just as they got to the edge of the green,
however, they turned round and gave a yell which made all our
blood run cold. I knew what it meant, and said, &lsquo;This
is no place for us.&rsquo; So we got everything together
and came away and, though the horses were tired, never stopped
till we had got ten miles from the place; and well it was we
acted as we did, for, had we stayed, I have no doubt that a whole
Hindity clan would have been down upon us before morning and cut
our throats.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;farewell. I
can&rsquo;t stay any longer. As it is, I shall be late at
Gutter Vawr.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Farewell, brother!&rdquo; said Captain Bosvile; and,
giving a cry, he cracked, his whip and set his horses in
motion.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you give us sixpence to drink?&rdquo; cried
Mrs Bosvile, with a rather shrill voice.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hold your tongue, you she-dog,&rdquo; said Captain
Bosvile. &ldquo;Is that the way in which you take leave of
an old friend? Hold your tongue, and let the Ingrine
gentleman jaw on his way.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I proceeded on my way as fast as I could, for the day was now
closing in. My progress, however, was not very great; for
the road was steep, and was continually becoming more so.
In about half-an-hour I came to a little village, consisting of
three or four houses; one of them, at the door of which several
carts were standing, bore the sign of a tavern.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the name of this place?&rdquo; said I to a man
who was breaking stones on the road.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Capel Gwynfa,&rdquo; said he.</p>

<p>Rather surprised at the name, which signifies in English the
Chapel of the place of bliss, I asked the man why it was called
so.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; said the man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Was there ever a chapel here?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, sir; there is none now.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I daresay there was in the old time,&rdquo; said I to
myself, as I went on, &ldquo;in which some holy hermit prayed and
told his beads, and occasionally received benighted
strangers. What a poetical word that Gwynfa, place of
bliss, is. Owen Pugh uses it in his translation of
&lsquo;Paradise Lost&rsquo; to express Paradise, for he has
rendered the words Paradise Lost by Col Gwynfa&mdash;the loss of
the place of bliss. I wonder whether the old scholar picked
up the word here. Not unlikely. Strange fellow that
Owen Pugh. Wish I had seen him. No hope of seeing him
now, except in the heavenly Gwynfa. Wonder whether there is
such a place. Tom Payne thinks there&rsquo;s not.
Strange fellow that Tom Payne. Norfolk man. Wish I
had never read him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Presently I came to a little cottage with a toll-bar.
Seeing a woman standing at the door, I inquired of her the name
of the gate.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Cowslip Gate, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Has it any Welsh name?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;None that I know of, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>This place was at a considerable altitude, and commanded an
extensive view to the south, west, and north. Heights upon
heights rose behind it to the east. From here the road ran
to the south for a little way nearly level, then turned abruptly
to the east, and was more steep than ever. After the turn,
I had a huge chalk cliff towering over me on the right, and a
chalk precipice on my left. Night was now coming on fast,
and, rather to my uneasiness, masses of mist began to pour down
the sides of the mountain. I hurried on, the road making
frequent turnings. Presently the mist swept down upon me,
and was so thick that I could only see a few yards before
me. I was now obliged to slacken my pace, and to advance
with some degree of caution. I moved on in this way for
some time, when suddenly I heard a noise, as if a number of carts
were coming rapidly down the hill. I stopped, and stood
with my back close against the high bank. The noise drew
nearer, and in a minute I saw distinctly through the mist,
horses, carts, and forms of men passing. In one or two
cases the wheels appeared to be within a few inches of my
feet. I let the train go by, and then cried out in English,
&ldquo;Am I right for Gutter Vawr?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Hey?&rdquo; said a voice, after a momentary
interval.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Am I right for Gutter Vawr?&rdquo; I shouted yet
louder.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes sure!&rdquo; said a voice, probably the same.</p>

<p>Then instantly a much rougher voice cried, &ldquo;Who the
Devil are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>I made no answer, but went on, whilst the train continued its
way rumbling down the mountain. At length I gained the top,
where the road turned and led down a steep descent towards the
south-west. It was now quite night, and the mist was of the
thickest kind. I could just see that there was a frightful
precipice on my left, so I kept to the right, hugging the side of
the hill. As I descended I heard every now and then loud
noises in the vale, probably proceeding from stone
quarries. I was drenched to the skin, nay, through the
skin, by the mist, which I verily believe was more penetrating
than that described by Ab Gwilym. When I had proceeded
about a mile I saw blazes down below, resembling those of
furnaces, and soon after came to the foot of the hill. It
was here pouring with rain, but I did not put up my umbrella, as
it was impossible for me to be more drenched than I was.
Crossing a bridge over a kind of torrent, I found myself amongst
some houses. I entered one of them from which a blaze of
light and a roar of voices proceeded, and, on inquiring of an old
woman who confronted me in the passage, I found that I had
reached my much needed haven of rest, the tavern of Gutter Vawr
in the county of Glamorgan.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER XCIX</h2>

<p class="letter">Inn at Gutter Vawr&mdash;The
Hurly-burly&mdash;Bara y Caws&mdash;Change of Manner&mdash;Welsh
Mistrust&mdash;Wonders of Russia&mdash;The Emperor&mdash;The
Grand Ghost Story.</p>

<p>The old woman who confronted me in the passage of the inn
turned out to be the landlady. On learning that I intended
to pass the night at her house, she conducted me into a small
room on the right-hand side of the passage, which proved to be
the parlour. It was cold and comfortless, for there was no
fire in the grate. She told me, however, that one should be
lighted, and going out, presently returned with a couple of buxom
wenches, who I soon found were her daughters. The good lady
had little or no English; the girls, however, had plenty, and of
a good kind too. They soon lighted a fire, and then the
mother inquired if I wished for any supper.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;for I have not eaten
anything since I left Llandovery. What can I
have?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We have veal and bacon,&rdquo; said she.</p>

<p>&ldquo;That will do,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;fry me some veal
and bacon, and I shan&rsquo;t complain. But pray tell what
prodigious noise is that which I hear on the other side of the
passage?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is only the miners and the carters in the kitchen
making merry,&rdquo; said one of the girls.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there a good fire there?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said the girl, &ldquo;we have always a
good fire in the kitchen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well then,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I shall go there till
supper is ready, for I am wet to the skin, and this fire casts
very little heat.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You will find them a rough set in the kitchen,&rdquo;
said the girl.</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if I do&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;when
people are rough I am civil, and I have always found that
civility beats roughness in the long run.&rdquo; Then going
out I crossed the passage and entered the kitchen.</p>

<p>It was nearly filled with rough unkempt fellows, smoking,
drinking, whistling, singing, shouting or jabbering, some in a
standing, some in a sitting, posture. My entrance seemed at
once to bring everything to a dead stop; the smokers ceased to
smoke, the hand that was conveying the glass or the mug to the
mouth was arrested in air, the hurly-burly ceased and every eye
was turned upon me with a strange inquiring stare. Without
allowing myself to be disconcerted I advanced to the fire, spread
out my hands before it for a minute, gave two or three deep
&ldquo;ahs&rdquo; of comfort, and then turning round said:
&ldquo;Rather a damp night, gentlemen&mdash;fire cheering to one
who has come the whole way from Llandovery&mdash;Taking a bit of
a walk in Wales, to see the scenery and to observe the manners
and customs of the inhabitants&mdash;Fine country, gentlemen,
noble prospects, hill and dale&mdash;Fine people
too&mdash;open-hearted and generous; no wonder! descendants of
the Ancient Britons&mdash;Hope I don&rsquo;t intrude&mdash;other
room rather cold and smoking&mdash;If I do, will retire at
once&mdash;don&rsquo;t wish to interrupt any gentleman in their
avocations or deliberations&mdash;scorn to do anything ungenteel
or calculated to give offence&mdash;hope I know how to behave
myself&mdash;ought to do so&mdash;learnt grammar at the High
School at Edinburgh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Offence, intrusion!&rdquo; cried twenty voices.
&ldquo;God bless your honour! no intrusion and no offence at all;
sit down&mdash;sit here&mdash;won&rsquo;t you drink?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Please to sit here, sir,&rdquo; said an old
grimy-looking man, getting up from a seat in the
chimney-corner&mdash;&ldquo;this is no seat for me whilst you are
here, it belongs to you&mdash;sit down in it,&rdquo; and laying
hold of me he compelled me to sit down in the chair of dignity,
whilst half-a-dozen hands pushed mugs of beer towards my face;
these, however, I declined to partake of on the very satisfactory
ground that I had not taken supper, and that it was a bad thing
to drink before eating, more especially after coming out of a
mist.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you any news to tell of the war, sir?&rdquo; said
a large tough fellow, who was smoking a pipe.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The last news that I heard of the war,&rdquo; said I,
&ldquo;was that the snow was two feet deep at
Sebastopol.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I heard three,&rdquo; said the man; &ldquo;however, if
there be but two it must be bad work for the poor soldiers.
I suppose you think that we shall beat the Russians in the
end.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;the Russians
are a young nation and we are an old; they are coming on and we
are going off; every dog has its day.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s true,&rdquo; said the man, &ldquo;but I am
sorry that you think we shall not beat the Russians, for the
Russians are a bad set.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can you speak Welsh?&rdquo; said a darkish man with
black, bristly hair and a small inquisitive eye.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I know two words in Welsh,&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;bara y caws.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s bread and cheese,&rdquo; said the man,
then turning to a neighbour of his he said in Welsh: &ldquo;He
knows nothing of Cumraeg, only two words; we may say anything we
please; he can&rsquo;t understand us. What a long nose he
has!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Mind that he an&rsquo;t nosing us,&rdquo; said his
neighbour. &ldquo;I should be loth to wager that he
doesn&rsquo;t understand Welsh; and, after all, he didn&rsquo;t
say that he did not, but got off by saying he understood those
two words.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, he doesn&rsquo;t understand Welsh,&rdquo; said the
other; &ldquo;no Sais understands Welsh, and this is a
Sais. Now with regard to that piece of job-work which you
and I undertook.&rdquo; And forthwith he and the other
entered into a disquisition about the job-work.</p>

<p>The company soon got into its old train, drinking and smoking
and making a most terrific hullabaloo. Nobody took any
farther notice of me. I sat snug in the chimney-corner,
trying to dry my wet things, and as the heat was very great,
partially succeeded. In about half-an-hour one of the girls
came to tell me that my supper was ready, whereupon I got up and
said:</p>

<p>&ldquo;Gentlemen, I thank you for your civility; I am now
going to supper; perhaps before I turn in for the night I may
look in upon you again.&rdquo; Then without waiting for an
answer I left the kitchen and went into the other room, where I
found a large dish of veal cutlets and fried bacon awaiting me,
and also a smoking bowl of potatoes. Ordering a jug of ale
I sat down, and what with hunger and the goodness of the fare,
for everything was first-rate, made one of the best suppers I
ever made in my life.</p>

<p>Supper over I called for a glass of whiskey-and-water, over
which I trifled for about half-an-hour and then betook myself
again to the kitchen. Almost as soon as I entered, the
company&mdash;who seemed to be discussing some point, and were
not making much hurly-burly&mdash;became silent, and looked at me
in a suspicious and uneasy manner. I advanced towards the
fire. The old man who had occupied the seat in the
chimney-corner and had resigned it to me, had again taken
possession of it. As I drew near to the fire he looked upon
the ground, and seemed by no means disposed to vacate the place
of honour; after a few moments, however, he got up and offered me
the seat with slight motion of his hand and without saying a
word. I did not decline it but sat down, and the old
gentleman took a chair near. Universal silence now
prevailed; sullen looks were cast at me, and I saw clearly enough
that I was not welcome. Frankness was now my only
resource. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter, gentlemen?&rdquo;
said I; &ldquo;you are silent and don&rsquo;t greet me kindly;
have I given you any cause of offence?&rdquo; No one
uttered a word in reply for nearly a minute, when the old man
said slowly and deliberately: &ldquo;Why, sir, the long and short
of it is this: we have got it into our heads that you understand
every word of our discourse; now, do you or do you
not?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Understand every word of your discourse?&rdquo; said I;
&ldquo;I wish I did; I would give five pounds to understand every
word of your discourse.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s a clever attempt to get off, sir,&rdquo;
said the old man, &ldquo;but it won&rsquo;t exactly do.
Tell us whether you know more Welsh than bara y caws, or to speak
more plainly, whether you understand a good deal of what we
say.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I do understand more Welsh
than bara y caws&mdash;I do understand a considerable part of a
Welsh conversation; moreover, I can read Welsh, and have the life
of Tom O&rsquo;r Nant at my fingers&rsquo; ends.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir, that is speaking plain, and I will tell you
plainly that we don&rsquo;t like to have strangers among us who
understand our discourse, more especially if they be
gentlefolks.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s strange,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;a Welshman
or foreigner, gentle or simple, may go into a public-house in
England, and nobody cares a straw whether he understands the
discourse of the company or not.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That may be the custom in England,&rdquo; said the old
man, &ldquo;but it is not so in Wales.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What have you got to conceal?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I
suppose you are honest men.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I hope we are, sir,&rdquo; said the old man; &ldquo;but
I must tell you, once for all, that we don&rsquo;t like strangers
to listen to our discourse.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I will not listen to your
discourse, but you shall listen to mine. I have a wonderful
deal to say if I once begin; I have been everywhere.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;if you have
anything to tell us about where you have been and what you have
seen, we shall be glad to hear you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you ever been in Russia?&rdquo; shouted a voice,
that of the large rough fellow who asked me the question about
the Russian war.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I have been in Russia,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, what kind of a country is it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very different from this,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;which
is a little country up in a corner, full of hills and mountains;
that is an immense country, extending from the Baltic Sea to the
confines of China, almost as flat as a pancake, there not being a
hill to be seen for nearly two thousand miles.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A very poor country isn&rsquo;t it, always covered with
ice and snow?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no; it is one of the richest countries in the world,
producing all kinds of grain, with noble rivers intersecting it,
and in some parts covered with stately forests. In the
winter, which is rather long, there is a good deal of ice and
snow, it is true, but in the summer the weather is warmer than
here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And are there any towns and cities in Russia, sir, as
there are in Britain?&rdquo; said the old man who had resigned
his seat in the chimney-corner to me; &ldquo;I suppose not, or if
there be, nothing equal to Hereford or Bristol, in both of which
I have been.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;there are plenty of towns
and cities. The two principal ones are Moscow and Saint
Petersburg, both of which are capitals. Moscow is a fine
old city, far up the country, and was the original seat of
empire. In it there is a wonderful building called the
Kremlin, situated on a hill. It is partly palace, partly
temple, and partly fortress. In one of its halls are I
don&rsquo;t know how many crowns, taken from various kings whom
the Russians have conquered. But the most remarkable thing
in the Kremlin is a huge bell in a cellar or cave, close by one
of the churches; it is twelve feet high, and the sound it gives
when struck with an iron bar, for there are no clappers to
Russian bells, is so loud that the common Russians say it can be
heard over the empire. The other city, Saint Petersburg,
where the Court generally reside, is a modern and very fine city;
so fine indeed, that I have no hesitation in saying that neither
Bristol nor Hereford is worthy to be named in the same day with
it. Many of the streets are miles in length, and straight
as an arrow. The Nefsky Prospect, as it is called, a street
which runs from the grand square, where stands the
Emperor&rsquo;s palace, to the monastery of Saint Alexander
Nefsky, is nearly three miles in length, and is full of noble
shops and houses. The Neva, a river twice as broad and
twice as deep as the Thames, and whose waters are clear as
crystal, runs through the town, having on each side of it a
superb quay, fenced with granite, which affords one of the most
delightful walks imaginable. If I had my choice of all the
cities of the world to live in, I would choose Saint
Petersburg.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And did you ever see the Emperor?&rdquo; said the rough
fellow, whom I have more than once mentioned, &ldquo;did you ever
see the Emperor Nicholas?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes: I have seen him frequently.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, what kind of a man is he? we should like to
know.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A man of colossal stature, with a fine, noble, but
rather stern and severe aspect. I think I now see him, with
his grey cloak, cocked hat, and white waving plumes, striding
down the Nefsky Prospect, and towering by a whole head over other
people.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Bravo! Did you ever see him at the head of his
soldiers?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! I have seen the Emperor review forty
thousand of his chosen troops in the Champs de Mars, and a famous
sight it was. There stood the great, proud man looking at
his warriors as they manoeuvred before him. Two-thirds of
them were cavalry, and each horseman was mounted on a beautiful
blood charger of Cossack or English breed, and arrayed in a
superb uniform. The blaze, glitter and glory were too much
for my eyes, and I was frequently obliged to turn them
away. The scene upon the whole put me in mind of an immense
field of tulips of various dyes, for the colours of the dresses,
of the banners and the plumes, were as gorgeous and manifold as
the hues of those queenly flowers.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Bravo!&rdquo; said twenty voices; &ldquo;the gentleman
speaks like an areithiwr. Have you been in other countries
besides Russia?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh yes! I have been in Turkey, the people of
which are not Christians, but frequently put Christians to shame
by their good faith and honesty. I have been in the land of
the Maugrabins, or Moors&mdash;a people who live on a savoury
dish called couscousoo, and have the gloomiest faces and the most
ferocious hearts under heaven. I have been in Italy, whose
people, though the most clever in the world, are the most
unhappy, owing to the tyranny of a being called the Pope, who,
when I saw him, appeared to be under the influence of strong
drink. I have been in Portugal, the people of which supply
the whole world with wine, and drink only water themselves.
I have been in Spain, a very fine country, the people of which
are never so happy as when paying other folks&rsquo;
reckonings. I have been&mdash;but the wind is blowing
wildly without, and the rain pelting against the windows; this is
a capital night for a ghost story; shall I tell you a ghost story
which I learnt in Spain?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir, pray do; we all love ghost stories. Do
tell us the ghost story of Spain.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Thereupon I told the company Lope de Vega&rsquo;s ghost story,
which is decidedly the best ghost story in the world.</p>

<p>Long and loud was the applause which followed the conclusion
of the grand ghost story of the world, in the midst of which I
got up, bade the company good-night, and made my exit.
Shortly afterwards I desired to be shown to my sleeping
apartment. It was a very small room upstairs, in the back
part of the house; and I make no doubt was the chamber of the two
poor girls, the landlady&rsquo;s daughters, as I saw various
articles of female attire lying about. The spirit of
knight-errantry within me was not, however, sufficiently strong
to prevent me taking possession of the female dormitory; so,
forthwith divesting myself of every portion of my habiliments,
which were steaming like a boiling tea-kettle, I got into bed
between the blankets, and in a minute was fast in the arms of
Morpheus.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER C</h2>

<p class="letter">Morning&mdash;A Cheerless Scene&mdash;The
Carter&mdash;Ode to Glamorgan&mdash;Startling
Halloo&mdash;One-sided Liberty&mdash;Clerical Profession&mdash;De
Courcy&mdash;Love of the Drop&mdash;Independent
Spirit&mdash;Another People.</p>

<p>I slept soundly through the night. At about eight
o&rsquo;clock on the following morning I got up and looked out of
the window of my room, which fronted the north. A strange
scene presented itself: a roaring brook was foaming along towards
the west, just under the window. Immediately beyond it was
a bank, not of green turf, grey rock, or brown mould, but of coal
rubbish, coke and cinders; on the top of this bank was a fellow
performing some dirty office or other, with a spade and barrow;
beyond him, on the side of a hill, was a tramway, up which a
horse was straining, drawing a load of something towards the
north-west. Beyond the tramway was a grove of
yellow-looking firs; beyond the grove a range of white houses
with blue roofs, occupied, I suppose, by miners and their
families; and beyond these I caught a sight of the mountain on
the top of which I had been the night before&mdash;only a partial
one, however, as large masses of mist were still hanging about
it. The morning was moist and dripping, and nothing could
look more cheerless and uncomfortable than the entire scene.</p>

<p>I put on my things, which were still not half dry, and went
down into the little parlour, where I found an excellent fire
awaiting me, and a table spread for breakfast. The
breakfast was delicious, consisting of excellent tea, buttered
toast, and Glamorgan sausages, which I really think are not a
whit inferior to those of Epping. After breakfast I went
into the kitchen, which was now only occupied by two or three
people. Seeing a large brush on a dresser, I took it up,
and was about to brush my nether habiliments, which were terribly
bespattered with half-dried mire. Before, however, I could
begin, up started one of the men, a wild, shock-headed fellow
dressed like a carter, in rough blue frieze coat, yellow, broad
corduroy trowsers, grey woollen stockings and highlows, and
snatching the brush out of my hand, fell to brushing me most
vigorously, puffing and blowing all the time in a most tremendous
manner. I did not refuse his services, but let him go on,
and to reward him as I thought, spoke kindly to him, asking him
various questions. &ldquo;Are you a carter?&rdquo; said
I. No answer. &ldquo;One of Twm O&rsquo;r
Nant&rsquo;s people?&rdquo; No answer. &ldquo;Famous
fellow that Twm O&rsquo;r Nant, wasn&rsquo;t he? Did you
ever hear how he got the great tree in at Carmarthen Gate?
What is wood per foot at present? Whom do you cart
for? Or are you your own master? If so, how many
horses do you keep?&rdquo;</p>

<p>To not one of these questions, nor to a dozen others which I
put, both in English and Welsh, did my friend with the brush
return any verbal answer, though I could occasionally hear a kind
of stifled giggle proceeding from him. Having at length
thoroughly brushed not only my clothes, but my boots and my hat,
which last article he took from my head, and placed it on again
very dexterously, after brushing it, he put the brush down on the
dresser, and then advancing to me made me a bow, and waving his
forefinger backwards and forwards before my face, he said, with a
broad grin: &ldquo;Nice gentleman&mdash;will do anything for him
but answer questions, and let him hear my discourse. Love
to listen to his pleasant stories of foreign lands, ghosts and
tylwith teg; but before him, deem it wise to be mum, quite
mum. Know what he comes about. Wants to hear
discourse of poor man, that he may learn from it poor man&rsquo;s
little ways and infirmities, and mark them down in one small,
little book to serve for fun to Lord Palmerston and the other
great gentlefolks in London. Nice man, civil man, I
don&rsquo;t deny; and clebber man too, for he knows Welsh, and
has been everywhere&mdash;but fox&mdash;old fox&mdash;lives at
Plas y Cadno.&rdquo; <a name="citation18"></a><a
href="#footnote18" class="citation">[18]</a></p>

<p>Having been informed that there was a considerable iron
foundry close by, I thought it would be worth my while to go and
see it. I entered the premises, and was standing and
looking round, when a man with the appearance of a respectable
mechanic came up and offered to show me over the place. I
gladly accepted his offer, and he showed me all about the iron
foundry. I saw a large steam-engine at full play, terrible
furnaces, and immense heaps of burning, crackling cinders, and a
fiery stream of molten metal rolling along. After seeing
what there was to be seen, I offered a piece of silver to my kind
conductor, which he at once refused. On my asking him,
however, to go to the inn and have a friendly glass, he smiled,
and said he had no objection. So we went to the inn, and
had two friendly glasses of whiskey-and-water together, and also
some discourse. I asked him if there were any English
employed on the premises. &ldquo;None,&rdquo; said he,
&ldquo;nor Irish either; we are all Welsh.&rdquo; Though he
was a Welshman, his name was a very common English one.</p>

<p>After paying the reckoning, which only amounted to three and
sixpence, I departed for Swansea, distant about thirteen
miles. Gutter Vawr consists of one street, extending for
some little way along the Swansea road, the foundry, and a number
of huts and houses scattered here and there. The population
is composed almost entirely of miners, the workers at the
foundry, and their families. For the first two or three
miles the country through which I passed did not at all
prepossess me in favour of Glamorganshire: it consisted of low,
sullen, peaty hills. Subsequently, however, it improved
rapidly, becoming bold, wild, and pleasantly wooded. The
aspect of the day improved, also, with the appearance of the
country. When I first started the morning was wretched and
drizzly, but in less than an hour it cleared up wonderfully, and
the sun began to flash out. As I looked on the bright
luminary I thought of Ab Gwilym&rsquo;s ode to the sun and
Glamorgan, and with breast heaving and with eyes full of tears, I
began to repeat parts of it, or rather of a translation made in
my happy boyish years:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Each morn, benign of countenance,<br />
Upon Glamorgan&rsquo;s pennon glance!<br />
Each afternoon in beauty clear<br />
Above my own dear bounds appear!<br />
Bright outline of a blessed clime,<br />
Again, though sunk, arise sublime&mdash;<br />
Upon my errand, swift repair,<br />
And unto green Glamorgan bear<br />
Good days and terms of courtesy<br />
From my dear country and from me!<br />
Move round&mdash;but need I thee command?&mdash;<br />
Its chalk-white halls, which cheerful stand&mdash;<br />
Pleasant thy own pavilions too&mdash;<br />
Its fields and orchards fair to view.</p>

<p>&ldquo;O, pleasant is thy task and high<br />
In radiant warmth to roam the sky,<br />
To keep from ill that kindly ground,<br />
Its meads and farms, where mead is found,<br />
A land whose commons live content,<br />
Where each man&rsquo;s lot is excellent,<br />
Where hosts to hail thee shall upstand,<br />
Where lads are bold and lasses bland,<br />
A land I oft from hill that&rsquo;s high<br />
Have gazed upon with raptur&rsquo;d eye;<br />
Where maids are trained in virtue&rsquo;s school,<br />
Where duteous wives spin dainty wool;<br />
A country with each gift supplied,<br />
Confronting Cornwall&rsquo;s cliffs of pride.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Came to Llanguick, a hamlet situated near a tremendous gorge,
the sides of which were covered with wood. Thence to the
village of Tawy Bridge, at the bottom of a beautiful valley,
through which runs the Tawy, which, after the Taf, is the most
considerable river in Glamorganshire. Continuing my course,
I passed by an enormous edifice which stood on my right
hand. It had huge chimneys, which were casting forth smoke,
and from within I heard the noise of a steam-engine and the roar
of furnaces.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What place is this?&rdquo; said, I to a boy.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Gwaith haiarn, sir; ym perthyn i Mr Pearson. Mr
Pearson&rsquo;s iron works, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I proceeded, and in about half-an-hour saw a man walking
before me in the same direction in which I was. He was
going very briskly, but I soon came up to him. He was a
small, well-made fellow, with reddish hair and ruddy, determined
countenance, somewhat tanned. He wore a straw hat,
checkered shirt, open at the neck, canvas trousers and blue
jacket. On his feet were shoes remarkably thin, but no
stockings, and in his hand he held a stout stick, with which,
just before I overtook him, he struck a round stone which lay on
the ground, sending it flying at least fifty yards before him on
the road, and following it in its flight with a wild and somewhat
startling halloo.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good-day, my friend,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;you seem to
be able to use a stick.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And sure I ought to be, your honour, seeing as how my
father taught me, who was the best fighting man with a stick that
the Shanavests ever had. Many is the head of a Caravaut
that he has broken with some such an Alpeen wattle as the one I
am carrying with me here.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A good thing,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that there are no
Old Waist-coats and Cravats at present, at least bloody factions
bearing those names.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Your honour thinks so! Faith! I am clane of
a contrary opinion. I wish the ould Shanavests and
Caravauts were fighting still, and I among them. Faith!
there was some life in Ireland in their days.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And plenty of death too,&rdquo; said I.
&ldquo;How fortunate it is that the Irish have the English among
them to prevent their cutting each other&rsquo;s
throats.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The English prevent the Irish from cutting each
other&rsquo;s throats! Well, if they do, it is only that
they may have the pleasure of cutting them themselves. The
bloody tyrants! too long has their foot been upon the neck of
poor old Ireland.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How do the English tyrannise over Ireland?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How do they tyrannise over her? Don&rsquo;t they
prevent her from having the free exercise of her Catholic
religion, and make her help to support their own Protestant
one?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, and don&rsquo;t the Roman Catholics prevent the
Protestants from having the free exercise of their religion,
whenever they happen to be the most numerous, and don&rsquo;t
they make them help to support the Roman Catholic
religion?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of course they do, and quite right! Had I my
will, there shouldn&rsquo;t be a place of Protestant worship left
standing, or a Protestant churl allowed to go about with a head
unbroken.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then why do you blame the Protestants for keeping the
Romans a little under?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why do I blame them? A purty question! Why,
an&rsquo;t they wrong, and an&rsquo;t we right?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But they say that they are right and you
wrong.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They say! who minds what they say? Haven&rsquo;t
we the word of the blessed Pope that we are right?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And they say that they have the word of the blessed
Gospel that you are wrong.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Gospel! who cares for the Gospel? Surely you
are not going to compare the Gospel with the Pope?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, they certainly are not to be named in the same
day.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are not? Then good luck to you! We are
both of the same opinion. Ah, I thought your honour was a
rale Catholic. Now, tell me from what kingdom of Ireland
does your honour hail?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I was partly educated in Munster.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In Munster! Hoorah! Here&rsquo;s the hand
of a countryman to your honour. Ah, it was asy to be seen
from the learning, which your honour shows, that your honour is
from Munster. There&rsquo;s no spot in Ireland like Munster
for learning. What says the old song?</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Ulster for a soldier,<br />
Connaught for a thief,<br />
Munster for learning,<br />
And Leinster for beef.&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>&ldquo;Hoorah for learned Munster! and down with beggarly,
thievish Connaught! I would that a Connaught man would come
athwart me now, that I might break his thief&rsquo;s head with my
Alpeen.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t seem to like the Connaught men,&rdquo;
said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Like them! who can like them? a parcel of beggarly
thievish blackguards. So your honour was edicated in
Munster&mdash;I mane partly edicated. I suppose by your
saying that you were partly edicated, that your honour was
intended for the clerical profession, but being over fond of the
drop was forced to lave college before your edication was quite
completed, and so for want of a better profession took up with
that of merchandise. Ah, the love of the drop at college
has prevented many a clever young fellow from taking holy
orders. Well, it&rsquo;s a pity but it can&rsquo;t be
helped. I am fond of a drop myself, and when we get
to&mdash;shall be happy to offer your honour a glass of
whiskey. I hope your honour and I shall splice the
mainbrace together before we part.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;by your talking of
splicing the mainbrace that you are a sailor.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am, your honour, and hail from the Cove of Cork in
the kingdom of Munster.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I know it well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;it is the best
sea-basin in the world. Well, how came you into these
parts?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell your honour; my ship is at Swansea, and
having a relation working at the foundry behind us I came to see
him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are you in the royal service?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I am not, your honour; I was once in the royal service,
but having a dispute with the boatswain at Spithead, I gave him a
wipe, jumped overboard and swam ashore. After that I sailed
for Cuba, got into the merchants&rsquo; service there, and made
several voyages to the Black Coast. At present I am in the
service of the merchants of Cork.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wonder that you are not now in the royal
service,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;since you are so fond of
fighting. There is hot work going on at present up the
Black Sea, and brave men, especially Irishmen, are in great
request.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, brave Irishmen are always in great request with
England when she has a battle to fight. At other times they
are left to lie in the mud with the chain round their
necks. It has been so ever since the time of De Courcy, and
I suppose always will be so, unless Irishmen all become of my
mind, which is not likely. Were the Irish all of my mind,
the English would find no Irish champion to fight their battles
when the French or the Russians come to beard them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;By De Courcy,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you mean the man
whom the King of England confined in the Tower of London after
taking from him his barony in the county of Cork.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of course, your honour, and whom he kept in the Tower
till the King of France sent over a champion to insult and beard
him, when the king was glad to take De Courcy out of the dungeon
to fight the French champion, for divil a one of his own English
fighting men dared take the Frenchman in hand.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A fine fellow that De Courcy,&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Rather too fond of the drop though, like your honour
and myself, for after he had caused the French champion to flee
back into France he lost the greater part of the reward which the
King of England promised him, solely by making too free with the
strong drink. Does your honour remember that part of the
story?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I think I do,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;but I should be
very glad to hear you relate it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then your honour shall. Right glad was the King
of England when the French champion fled back to France, for no
sooner did the dirty spalpeen hear that they were going to bring
De Courcy against him, the fame of whose strength and courage
filled the whole world, than he betook himself back to his own
country, and was never heard of more. Right glad, I say,
was the King of England, and gave leave to De Courcy to return to
Ireland. &lsquo;And you shall have,&rsquo; said he,
&lsquo;of the barony which I took from you all that you can ride
round on the first day of your return.&rsquo; So De Courcy
betook himself to Ireland and to his barony, but he was anything
but a lucky man, this De Courcy, for his friends and relations
and tenantry, hearing of his coming, prepared a grand festival
for him, with all kinds of illigant viands and powerful liquors,
and when he arrived there it was waiting for him, and down to it
he sat, and ate, and drank, and for joy of seeing himself once
more amongst his friends and tenantry in the hall of his
forefathers, and for love of the drop, which he always had, he
drank of the powerful liquors more than he ought, and the upshot
was that he became drunk, agus do bhi an duine maith sin misgeadh
do ceather o glog; the good gentleman was drunk till four
o&rsquo;clock, and when he awoke he found that he had but two
hours of day remaining to win back his brave barony.
However, he did not lose heart, but mounted his horse and set off
riding as fast as a man just partly recovered from intoxication
could be expected to do, and he contrived to ride round four
parishes, and only four, and these four parishes were all that he
recovered of his brave barony, and all that he had to live upon
till his dying day, and all that he had to leave to his
descendants, so that De Courcy could scarcely be called a very
lucky man, after all.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Shortly after my friend the sailor had concluded his account
of De Courcy, we arrived in the vicinity of a small town or
rather considerable village. It stood on the right-hand
side of the road, fronting the east, having a high romantic hill
behind it on the sides of which were woods, groves, and
pleasant-looking white houses.</p>

<p>&ldquo;What place is this?&rdquo; said I to my companion.</p>

<p>&ldquo;This is ---, your honour; and here, if your honour will
accept a glass of whiskey we will splice the mainbrace
together.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;but I am in haste to
get to Swansea. Moreover, if I am over fond of the drop, as
you say I am, the sooner I begin to practise abstinence the
better.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very true, your honour! Well, at any rate, when
your honour gets to Swansea, you will not be able to say that Pat
Flannagan walked for miles with your honour along the road,
without offering your honour a glass of whiskey.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nor shall Pat Flannagan be able to say the same thing
of my honour. I have a shilling in my pocket at Pat
Flannagan&rsquo;s service, if he chooses to splice with it the
mainbrace for himself and for me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank your honour; but I have a shilling in my own
pocket, and a dollar too, and a five-pound note besides; so I
needn&rsquo;t be beholden for drink money to anybody under the
sun.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well then, farewell! Here&rsquo;s my
hand!&mdash;Slan leat a Phatraic ui Flannagan!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Slan leat a dhuine-uasail!&rdquo; said Patrick, giving
me his hand; &ldquo;and health, hope, and happiness to
ye.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Thereupon he turned aside to ---, and I continued my way to
Swansea. Arrived at a place called Glandwr, about two miles
from Swansea, I found that I was splashed from top to toe, for
the roads were frightfully miry, and was sorry to perceive that
my boots had given way at the soles, large pieces of which were
sticking out. I must, however, do the poor things the
justice to say, that it was no wonder that they were in this
dilapidated condition, for in those boots I had walked at least
two hundred miles, over all kinds of paths, since I had got them
soled at Llangollen. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I to myself,
&ldquo;it won&rsquo;t do to show myself at Swansea in this
condition, more especially as I shall go to the best hotel; I
must try and get myself made a little decent here.&rdquo;
Seeing a little inn, on my right, I entered it, and addressing
myself to a neat comfortable landlady, who was standing within
the bar, I said:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Please to let me have a glass of ale!&mdash;and
hearkee; as I have been walking along the road, I should be glad
of the services of the &lsquo;boots.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; said the landlady with a
curtsey.</p>

<p>Then showing me into a nice little sanded parlour, she brought
me the glass of ale, and presently sent in a lad with a boot-jack
to minister to me. Oh, what can&rsquo;t a little money
effect? For sixpence in that small nice inn, I had a glass
of ale, my boots cleaned, and the excrescences cut off, my
clothes wiped with a dwile, and then passed over with a brush,
and was myself thanked over and over again. Starting again
with all the spirited confidence of one who has just cast off his
slough, I soon found myself in the suburbs of Swansea. As I
passed under what appeared to be a railroad bridge I inquired in
Welsh of an ancient-looking man, in coaly habiliments, if it was
one. He answered in the same language that it was, then
instantly added in English:&mdash;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You have taken your last farewell of Wales, sir;
it&rsquo;s no use speaking Welsh farther on.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I passed some immense edifices, probably manufactories, and
was soon convinced that, whether I was in Wales or not, I was no
longer amongst Welsh. The people whom I met did not look
like Welsh. They were taller and bulkier than the
Cambrians, and were speaking a dissonant English jargon.
The women had much the appearance of Dutch fisherwomen; some of
them were carrying huge loads on their heads. I spoke in
Welsh to two or three whom I overtook.</p>

<p>&ldquo;No Welsh, sir!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you speak Welsh?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because we never learnt it. We are not
Welsh.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who are you then?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;English; some calls us Flamings.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ah, ah!&rdquo; said I to myself; &ldquo;I had
forgot.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Presently I entered the town, a large, bustling, dirty, gloomy
place, and inquiring for the first hotel, was directed to the
&ldquo;Mackworth Arms,&rdquo; in Wine Street.</p>

<p>As soon as I was shown into the parlour I summoned the
&ldquo;boots,&rdquo; and on his making his appearance I said in a
stern voice: &ldquo;My boots want soling; let them be done by
to-morrow morning.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t be, sir; it&rsquo;s now Saturday afternoon,
the shoemaker couldn&rsquo;t begin them to-night!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;But you must make him!&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;and look
here, I shall give him a shilling extra, and you an extra
shilling for seeing after him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes, sir; I&rsquo;ll see after him&mdash;they shall be
done, sir. Bring you your slippers instantly. Glad to
see you again in Swansea, sir, looking so well.&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CI</h2>

<p class="letter">Swansea&mdash;The Flemings&mdash;Towards
England.</p>

<p>Swansea is called by the Welsh Abertawé, which
signifies the mouth of the Tawy. Aber, as I have more than
once had occasion to observe, signifies the place where a river
enters into the sea or joins another. It is a Gaelic as
well as a Cumric word, being found in the Gaelic names Aberdeen
and Lochaber, and there is good reason for supposing that the
word harbour is derived from it. Swansea or Swansey is a
compound word of Scandinavian origin, which may mean either a
river abounding with swans, or the river of Swanr, the name of
some northern adventurer who settled down at its mouth. The
final ea or ey is the Norwegian aa, which signifies a running
water; it is of frequent occurrence in the names of rivers in
Norway, and is often found, similarly modified, in those of other
countries where the adventurous Norwegians formed
settlements.</p>

<p>Swansea first became a place of some importance shortly after
the beginning of the twelfth century. In the year 1108, the
greater part of Flanders having been submerged by the sea <a
name="citation19"></a><a href="#footnote19"
class="citation">[19]</a> an immense number of Flemings came over
to England, and entreated of Henry the First the king then
occupying the throne, that he would all allot to them lands in
which they might settle, The king sent them to various parts of
Wales, which had been conquered by his barons or those of his
predecessors: a considerable number occupied Swansea and the
neighbourhood; but far the greater part went to Dyfed, generally
but improperly called Pembroke, the south-eastern part of which,
by far the most fertile, they entirely took possession of,
leaving to the Welsh the rest, which is very mountainous and
barren.</p>

<p>I have already said that the people of Swansea stand out in
broad distinctness from the Cumry, differing from them in
stature, language, dress, and manners, and wished to observe that
the same thing may be said of the inhabitants of every part of
Wales which the Flemings colonised in any considerable
numbers.</p>

<p>I found the accommodation very good at the &ldquo;Mackworth
Arms&rdquo;; I passed the Saturday evening very agreeably, and
slept well throughout the night. The next morning to my
great joy I found my boots, capitally repaired, awaiting me
before my chamber door. Oh the mighty effect of a little
money! After breakfast I put them on, and as it was Sunday
went out in order to go to church. The streets were
thronged with people; a new mayor had just been elected, and his
worship, attended by a number of halbert and javelin men, was
going to church too. I followed the procession, which moved
with great dignity and of course very slowly. The church
had a high square tower, and looked a very fine edifice on the
outside, and no less so within, for the nave was lofty with noble
pillars on each side. I stood during the whole of the
service as did many others, for the congregation was so great
that it was impossible to accommodate all with seats. The
ritual was performed in a very satisfactory manner, and was
followed by an excellent sermon. I am ashamed to say that
have forgot the text, but I remember a good deal of the
discourse. The preacher said amongst other thing that the
Gospel was not preached in vain, and that he very much doubted
whether a sermon was ever delivered which did not do some
good. On the conclusion of the service I strolled about in
order to see the town and what pertained to it. The town is
of considerable size, with some remarkable edifices, spacious and
convenient quays, and a commodious harbour into which the river
Tawy flowing from the north empties itself. The town and
harbour are overhung on the side of the east by a lofty green
mountain with a Welsh name, no doubt exceedingly appropriate, but
which I regret to say has escaped my memory.</p>

<p>After having seen all that I wished, I returned to my inn and
discharged all my obligations. I then departed, framing my
course eastward towards England, having traversed Wales nearly
from north to south.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CII</h2>

<p class="letter">Leave Swansea&mdash;The
Pandemonium&mdash;Neath Abbey&mdash;Varied Scenery.</p>

<p>It was about two o&rsquo;clock of a dull and gloomy afternoon
when I started from Abertawy or Swansea, intending to stop at
Neath, some eight miles distant. As I passed again through
the suburbs I was struck with their length and the evidences of
enterprise which they exhibited&mdash;enterprise, however,
evidently chiefly connected with iron and coal, for almost every
object looked awfully grimy. Crossing a bridge I proceeded
to the east up a broad and spacious valley, the eastern side of
which was formed by russet-coloured hills, through a vista of
which I could descry a range of tall blue mountains. As I
proceeded I sometimes passed pleasant groves and hedgerows,
sometimes huge works; in this valley there was a singular mixture
of nature and art, of the voices of birds and the clanking of
chains, of the mists of heaven and the smoke of furnaces.</p>

<p>I reached Llan---, a small village half-way between Swansea
and Neath, and without stopping continued my course, walking very
fast. I had surmounted a hill, and had nearly descended
that side of it which looked towards the east, having on my left,
that is to the north, a wooded height, when an extraordinary
scene presented itself to my eyes. Somewhat to the south
rose immense stacks of chimneys surrounded by grimy
diabolical-looking buildings, in the neighbourhood of which were
huge heaps of cinders and black rubbish. From the chimneys,
notwithstanding it was Sunday, smoke was proceeding in volumes,
choking the atmosphere all around. From this pandemonium,
at the distance of about a quarter of a mile to the south-west,
upon a green meadow, stood, looking darkly grey, a ruin of vast
size with window holes, towers, spires, and arches. Between
it and the accursed pandemonium, lay a horrid filthy place, part
of which was swamp and part pool: the pool black as soot, and the
swamp of a disgusting leaden colour. Across this place of
filth stretched a tramway leading seemingly from the abominable
mansions to the ruin. So strange a scene I had never beheld
in nature. Had it been on canvas, with the addition of a
number of Diabolical figures, proceeding along the tramway, it
might have stood for Sabbath in Hell&mdash;devils proceeding to
afternoon worship, and would have formed a picture worthy of the
powerful but insane painter, Jerome Bos.</p>

<p>After standing for a considerable time staring at the strange
spectacle I proceeded. Presently meeting a lad, I asked him
what was the name of the ruin.</p>

<p>&ldquo;The Abbey,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Neath Abbey?&rdquo; said I.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo;</p>

<p>Having often heard of this abbey, which in its day was one of
the most famous in Wales, I determined to go and inspect
it. It was with some difficulty that I found my way to
it. It stood, as I have already observed, in a meadow, and
was on almost every side surrounded by majestic hills. To
give any clear description of this ruined pile would be
impossible, the dilapidation is so great, dilapidation evidently
less the effect of time than of awful violence, perhaps that of
gunpowder. The southern is by far the most perfect portion
of the building; there you see not only walls but roofs.
Fronting you full south, is a mass of masonry with two immense
arches, other arches behind them: entering, you find yourself
beneath a vaulted roof, and passing on you come to an oblong
square which may have been a church; an iron-barred window on
your right enables you to look into a mighty vault, the roof of
which is supported by beautiful pillars. Then&mdash;but I
forbear to say more respecting these remains, for fear of stating
what is incorrect, my stay amongst them having been exceedingly
short.</p>

<p>The Abbey of Glen Neath was founded in the twelfth century by
Richard Grenfield, one of the followers of Robert Fitzhamon, who
subjugated Glamorgan. Neath Abbey was a very wealthy one,
the founder having endowed it with extensive tracts of fertile
land along the banks of the rivers Neath and Tawy. In it
the unfortunate Edward of Carnarvon sought a refuge for a few
days from the rage of his revolted barons, whilst his favourite,
the equally unfortunate Spencer, endeavoured to find a covert
amidst the thickets of the wood-covered hill to the north.
When Richmond landed at Milford Haven to dispute the crown with
Richard the Second, the then Abbot of Neath repaired to him and
gave him his benediction, in requital for which the adventurer
gave him his promise that in the event of his obtaining the
crown, he would found a college in Glen Neath, which promise,
however, after he had won the crown, he forgot to perform. <a
name="citation20"></a><a href="#footnote20"
class="citation">[20]</a> The wily abbot, when he hastened
to pay worship to what he justly conceived to be the rising sun,
little dreamt that he was about to bless the future father of the
terrible man doomed by Providence to plant the abomination of
desolation in Neath Abbey and in all the other nests of monkery
throughout the land.</p>

<p>Leaving the ruins I proceeded towards Neath. The scenery
soon became very beautiful; not that I had left machinery
altogether behind, for I presently came to a place where huge
wheels were turning, and there was smoke and blast, but there was
much that was rural and beautiful to be seen, something like park
scenery, and then there were the mountains near and in the
distance. I reached Neath at about half-past four, and took
up my quarters at an inn which had been recommended to me by my
friend the boots at Swansea.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Town of Neath&mdash;Hounds and
Huntsman&mdash;Spectral Chapel&mdash;The Glowing Mountain</p>

<p>Neath is a place of some antiquity, for it can boast of the
remains of a castle and is a corporate town. There is but
little Welsh spoken in it. It is situated on the Neath, and
exports vast quantities of coal and iron, of both of which there
are rich mines in the neighbourhood. It derives its name
from the river Nedd or Neth, on which it stands. Nedd or
Neth is the same word as Nith, the name of a river in Scotland,
and is in some degree connected with Nidda, the name of one in
Germany. Nedd in Welsh signifies a dingle, and the word in
its various forms has always something to do with lowness or
inferiority of position. Amongst its forms are Nether and
Nieder. The term is well applied to the Glamorganshire
river, which runs through dingles and under mountains.</p>

<p>The Neath has its source in the mountains of Brecon, and
enters the sea some little way below the town of Neath.</p>

<p>On the Monday morning I resumed my journey, directing my
course up the vale of Neath towards Merthyr Tydvil, distant about
four-and-twenty miles. The weather was at first rainy,
misty and miserable, but improved by degrees. I passed
through a village which I was told was called Llanagos; close to
it were immense establishments of some kind. The scenery
soon became exceedingly beautiful; hills covered with wood to the
tops were on either side of the dale. I passed an avenue
leading somewhere through groves, and was presently overtaken and
passed by hounds and a respectable-looking old huntsman on a
black horse; a minute afterwards I caught a glimpse of an old
red-brick mansion nearly embosomed in groves, from which
proceeded a mighty cawing. Probably it belonged to the
proprietor of the dogs, and certainly looked a very fit mansion
for a Glamorganshire squire, justice of the peace and keeper of a
pack of hounds.</p>

<p>I went on, the vale increasing in beauty; there was a
considerable drawback, however: one of those detestable
contrivances, a railroad, was on the farther side&mdash;along
which trains were passing, rumbling and screaming.</p>

<p>I saw a bridge on my right hand with five or six low arches
over the river, which was here full of shoals. Asked a
woman the name of the bridge.</p>

<p>&ldquo;<i>Pont Fawr</i> ei galw, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I was again amongst the real Welsh&mdash;this woman had no
English.</p>

<p>I passed by several remarkable mountains, both on the south
and northern side of the vale. Late in the afternoon I came
to the eastern extremity of the vale and ascended a height.
Shortly afterwards I reached Rhigos, a small village.</p>

<p>Entering a public-house I called for ale and sat down amidst
some grimy fellows, who said nothing to me and to whom I said
nothing&mdash;their discourse was in Welsh and English. Of
their Welsh I understood but little, for it was a strange corrupt
jargon. In about half-an-hour after leaving this place I
came to the beginning of a vast moor. It was now growing
rather dusk, and I could see blazes here and there; occasionally
I heard horrid sounds. Came to Irvan, an enormous
mining-place with a spectral-looking chapel, doubtless a
Methodist one. The street was crowded with rough,
savage-looking men. &ldquo;Is this the way to Merthyr
Tydvil?&rdquo; said I to one.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; bawled the fellow at the utmost stretch of
his voice.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank you!&rdquo; said I, taking off my hat and passing
on.</p>

<p>Forward I went, up hill and down dale. Night now set
in. I passed a grove of trees and presently came to a
collection of small houses at the bottom of a little
hollow. Hearing a step near me I stopped and said in Welsh:
&ldquo;How far to Merthyr Tydvil?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dim Cumrag, sir!&rdquo; said a voice, seemingly that of
a man.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Good night!&rdquo; said I, and without staying to put
the question in English, I pushed on up an ascent, and was
presently amongst trees. Heard for a long time the hooting
of an owl or rather the frantic hollo. Appeared to pass by
where the bird had its station. Toiled up an acclivity and
when on the top stood still and looked around me. There was
a glow on all sides in the heaven, except in the north-east
quarter. Striding on I saw a cottage on my left hand, and
standing at the door the figure of a woman. &ldquo;How far
to Merthyr?&rdquo; said I in Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Tair milltir&mdash;three miles, sir.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Turning round a corner at the top of a hill I saw blazes here
and there, and what appeared to be a glowing mountain in the
south-east. I went towards it down a descent which
continued for a long, long way; so great was the light cast by
the blazes and that wonderful glowing object, that I could
distinctly see the little stones upon the road. After
walking about half-an-hour, always going downwards, I saw a house
on my left hand and heard a noise of water opposite to it.
It was a pistyll. I went to it, drank greedily, and then
hurried on. More and more blazes, and the glowing object
looking more terrible than ever. It was now above me at
some distance to the left, and I could see that it was an immense
quantity of heated matter like lava, occupying the upper and
middle parts of a hill, and descending here and there almost to
the bottom in a zigzag and tortuous manner. Between me and
the hill of the burning object lay a deep ravine. After a
time I came to a house, against the door of which a man was
leaning. &ldquo;What is all that burning stuff above, my
friend?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dross from the iron forges, sir!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I now perceived a valley below me full of lights, and
descending reached houses and a tramway. I had blazes now
all around me. I went through a filthy slough, over a
bridge, and up a street, from which dirty lanes branched off on
either side, passed throngs of savage-looking people talking
clamorously, shrank from addressing any of them, and finally,
undirected, found myself before the Castle Inn at Merthyr
Tydvil.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CIV</h2>

<p class="letter">Iron and Coal&mdash;The Martyred
Princess&mdash;Cyfartha Fawr&mdash;Diabolical Structure.</p>

<p>Merthyr Tydvil is situated in a broad valley through which
roll the waters of the Taf. It was till late an
inconsiderable village, but is at present the greatest mining
place in Britain, and may be called with much propriety the
capital of the iron and coal.</p>

<p>It bears the name of Merthyr Tydvil, which signifies the
Martyr Tydvil, because in the old time a Christian British
princess was slain in the locality which it occupies.
Tydvil was the daughter of Brychan, Prince of Brecon, surnamed
Brycheiniawg, or the Breconian, who flourished in the fifth
century and was a contemporary of Hengist. He was a man
full of Christian zeal, and a great preacher of the Gospel, and
gave his children, of which he had many, both male and female, by
various wives, an education which he hoped would not only make
them Christians, but enable them to preach the Gospel to their
countrymen. They proved themselves worthy of his care, all
of them without one exception becoming exemplary Christians, and
useful preachers. In his latter days he retired to a
hermitage in Glamorganshire near the Taf, and passed his time in
devotion, receiving occasionally visits from his children.
Once, when he and several of them, amongst whom was Tydvil, were
engaged in prayer, a band of heathen Saxons rushed in upon them
and slew Tydvil with three of her brothers. Ever since that
time the place has borne the name of Martyr Tydvil. <a
name="citation21"></a><a href="#footnote21"
class="citation">[21]</a></p>

<p>The Taf, which runs to the south of Merthyr, comes down from
Breconshire, and enters the Bristol Channel at Cardiff, a place
the name of which in English is the city on the Taf. It is
one of the most beautiful of rivers, but is not navigable on
account of its numerous shallows. The only service which it
renders to commerce is feeding a canal which extends from Merthyr
to Cardiff. It is surprising how similar many of the Welsh
rivers are in name: Taf, Tawey, Towey, Teivi, and Duffy differ
but very little in sound. Taf and Teivi have both the same
meaning, namely a tendency to spread out. The other names,
though probably expressive of the properties or peculiarities of
the streams to which they respectively belong, I know not how to
translate.</p>

<p>The morning of the fourteenth was very fine. After
breakfast I went to see the Cyfartha Fawr iron works, generally
considered to be the great wonder of the place. After some
slight demur I obtained permission from the superintendent to
inspect them. I was attended by an intelligent
mechanic. What shall I say about the Cyfartha Fawr? I
had best say but very little. I saw enormous
furnaces. I saw streams of molten metal. I saw a long
ductile piece of red-hot iron being operated upon. I saw
millions of sparks flying about. I saw an immense wheel
impelled round with frightful velocity by a steam-engine of two
hundred and forty horse power. I heard all kinds of
dreadful sounds. The general effect was stunning.
These works belong to the Crawshays, a family distinguished by a
strange kind of eccentricity, but also by genius and enterprising
spirit, and by such a strict feeling of honour that it is a
common saying that the word of any one of them is as good as the
bond of other people.</p>

<p>After seeing the Cyfartha I roamed about, making general
observations. The mountain of dross which had startled me
on the preceding night with its terrific glare, and which stands
to the north-west of the town, looked now nothing more than an
immense dark heap of cinders. It is only when the shades of
night have settled down that the fire within manifests itself,
making the hill appear an immense glowing mass. All the
hills around the town, some of which are very high, have a
scorched and blackened look. An old Anglesea bard, rather
given to bombast, wishing to extol the abundant cheer of his
native isle said: &ldquo;The hills of Ireland are blackened by
the smoke from the kitchens of Mona.&rdquo; With much more
propriety might a bard of the banks of the Taf, who should wish
to apologise for the rather smutty appearance of his native vale
exclaim: &ldquo;The hills around the Taf once so green are
blackened by the smoke from the chimneys of Merthyr.&rdquo;
The town is large and populous. The inhabitants for the
most part are Welsh, and Welsh is the language generally spoken,
though all have some knowledge of English. The houses are
in general low and mean, and built of rough grey stone.
Merthyr, however, can show several remarkable edifices, though of
a gloomy horrid Satanic character. There is the hall of the
Iron, with its arches, from whence proceeds incessantly a
thundering noise of hammers. Then there is an edifice at
the foot of a mountain, half way up the side of which is a
blasted forest and on the top an enormous crag. A truly
wonderful edifice it is, such as Bos would have imagined had he
wanted to paint the palace of Satan. There it stands: a
house of reddish brick with a slate roof&mdash;four horrid black
towers behind, two of them belching forth smoke and flame from
their tops&mdash;holes like pigeon holes here and there&mdash;two
immense white chimneys standing by themselves. What edifice
can that be of such strange mad details? I ought to have put that
question to some one in Tydvil, but did not, though I stood
staring at the diabolical structure with my mouth open. It
is of no use putting the question to myself here.</p>

<p>After strolling about for some two hours with my hands in my
pockets, I returned to my inn, called for a glass of ale, paid my
reckoning, flung my satchel over my shoulder, and departed.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CV</h2>

<p class="letter">Start for Caerfili&mdash;Johanna
Colgan&mdash;Alms-Giving&mdash;The Monstrous Female&mdash;The
Evil Prayer&mdash;The Next Day&mdash;The Aifrionn&mdash;Unclean
Spirits&mdash;Expectation&mdash;Wreaking Vengeance&mdash;A decent
Alms.</p>

<p>I left Merthyr about twelve o&rsquo;clock for Caerfili.
My course lay along the valley to the south-east. I passed
a large village called Troed y Rhiw, or the foot of the slope,
from its being at the foot of a lofty elevation, which stands on
the left-hand side of the road, and was speeding onward fast,
with the Taf at some distance on my right, when I saw a
strange-looking woman advancing towards me. She seemed
between forty and fifty, was bare-footed and bare-headed, with
grizzled hair hanging in elf locks, and was dressed in rags and
tatters. When about ten yards from me, she pitched forward,
gave three or four grotesque tumbles, heels over head, then
standing bolt upright, about a yard before me, raised her right
arm, and shouted in a most discordant voice&mdash;&ldquo;Give me
an alms, for the glory of God!&rdquo;</p>

<p>I stood still, quite confounded. Presently, however,
recovering myself, I said:&mdash;&ldquo;Really, I don&rsquo;t
think it would be for the glory of God to give you
alms.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ye don&rsquo;t! Then, Biadh an
taifrionn&mdash;however, I&rsquo;ll give ye a chance yet.
Am I to get my alms or not?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Before I give you alms I must know something about
you. Who are you?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who am I? Who should I be but Johanna Colgan, a
bedivilled woman from the county of Limerick?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how did you become bedevilled?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because a woman something like myself said an evil
prayer over me for not giving her an alms, which prayer I have at
my tongue&rsquo;s end, and unless I get my alms will say over
you. So for your own sake, honey, give me my alms, and let
me go on my way.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, I am not to be frightened by evil prayers! I
shall give you nothing till I hear all about you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If I tell ye all about me will ye give me an
alms?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I have no objection to give you something if you
tell me your story.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Will ye give me a dacent alms?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, you must leave the amount to my free will and
pleasure. I shall give you what I think fit.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, so ye shall, honey; and I make no doubt ye will
give me a dacent alms, for I like the look of ye, and knew ye to
be an Irishman half a mile off. Only four years ago,
instead of being a bedivilled woman, tumbling about the world, I
was as quiet and respectable a widow as could be found in the
county of Limerick. I had a nice little farm at an aisy
rint, horses, cows, pigs, and servants, and, what was better than
all, a couple of fine sons, who were a help and comfort to
me. But my black day was not far off. I was a mighty
charitable woman, and always willing to give to the bacahs and
other beggars that came about. Every morning, before I
opened my door, I got ready the alms which I intended to give
away in the course of the day to those that should ask for them,
and I made so good a preparation that, though plenty of cripples
and other unfortunates wandering through the world came to me
every day, part of the alms was sure to remain upon my hands
every night when I closed my door. The alms which I gave
away consisted of meal; and I had always a number of small
measures of meal standing ready on a board, one of which I used
to empty into the poke of every bacah or other unfortunate who
used to place himself at the side of my door and cry out
&lsquo;Ave Maria!&rsquo; or &lsquo;In the name of
God!&rsquo; Well, one morning I sat within my door
spinning, with a little bit of colleen beside me who waited upon
me as servant. My measures of meal were all ready for the
unfortunates who should come, filled with all the meal in the
house; for there was no meal in the house save what was in those
measures&mdash;divil a particle, the whole stock being exhausted;
though by evening I expected plenty more, my two sons being gone
to the ballybetagh, which was seven miles distant, for a fresh
supply, and for other things. Well, I sat within my door,
spinning, with my servant by my side to wait upon me, and my
measures of meal ready for the unfortunates who might come to ask
for alms. There I sat, quite proud, and more happy than I
had ever felt in my life before; and the unfortunates began to
make their appearance. First came a bacah on crutches; then
came a woman with a white swelling; then came an individual who
had nothing at all the matter with him, and was only a poor
unfortunate, wandering about the world; then came a far cake, <a
name="citation22"></a><a href="#footnote22"
class="citation">[22]</a> a dark man, who was led about by a
gossoon; after him a simpley, and after the simpleton somebody
else as much or more unfortunate. And as the afflicted
people arrived and placed themselves by the side of the door and
said &lsquo;Ave Mary,&rsquo; or &lsquo;In the name of God,&rsquo;
or crossed their arms, or looked down upon the ground, each
according to his practice, I got up and emptied my measure of
meal into his poke, or whatever he carried about with him for
receiving the alms which might be given to him; and my measures
of meal began to be emptied fast, for it seemed that upon that
day, when I happened to be particularly short of meal, all the
unfortunates in the county of Limerick had conspired together to
come to ask me for alms. At last every measure of meal was
emptied, and there I sat in my house with nothing to give away
provided an unfortunate should come. Says I to the colleen:
&lsquo;What shall I do provided any more come, for all the meal
is gone, and there will be no more before the boys come home at
night from the ballybetagh.&rsquo; Says the colleen:
&lsquo;If any more come, can&rsquo;t ye give them something
else?&rsquo; Says I: &lsquo;It has always been my practice
to give in meal, and loth should I be to alter it; for if once I
begin to give away other things, I may give away all I
have.&rsquo; Says the colleen: &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s hope no
one else will come: there have been thirteen of them
already.&rsquo; Scarcely had she said these words, when a
monstrous woman, half-naked, and with a long staff in her hand,
on the top of which was a cross, made her appearance; and placing
herself right before the door, cried out so that you might have
heard her for a mile, &lsquo;Give me an alms for the glory of
God!&rsquo; &lsquo;Good woman,&rsquo; says I to her,
&lsquo;you will be kind enough to excuse me: all the preparation
I had made for alms has been given away, for I have relieved
thirteen unfortunates this blessed morning&mdash;so may the
Virgin help ye, good woman!&rsquo; &lsquo;Give me an
alms,&rsquo; said the Beanvore, with a louder voice than before,
&lsquo;or it will be worse for you.&rsquo; &lsquo;You must
excuse me, good mistress,&rsquo; says I, &lsquo;but I have no
more meal in the house. Those thirteen measures which you
see there empty were full this morning, for what was in them I
have given away to unfortunates. So the Virgin and Child
help you.&rsquo; &lsquo;Do you choose to give me an
alms?&rsquo; she shrieked, so that you might have heard her to
Londonderry. &lsquo;If ye have no meal give me something
else.&rsquo; &lsquo;You must excuse me, good lady,&rsquo;
says I: &lsquo;it is my custom to give alms in meal, and in
nothing else. I have none in the house now; but if ye come
on the morrow ye shall have a triple measure. In the
meanwhile may the Virgin, Child, and the Holy Trinity assist
ye!&rsquo; Thereupon she looked at me fixedly for a moment,
and then said, not in a loud voice, but in a low, half-whispered
way, which was ten times more deadly:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Biaidh an taifrionn gan sholas duit
a bhean shilach!&rsquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Then turning from the door she went away with long
strides. Now, honey, can ye tell me the meaning of those
words?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They mean,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;unless I am much
mistaken: &lsquo;May the Mass never comfort ye, you dirty
queen!&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Ochone! that&rsquo;s the maning of them, sure
enough. They are cramped words, but I guessed that was the
meaning, or something of the kind. Well, after hearing the
evil prayer, I sat for a minute or two quite stunned; at length
recovering myself a bit I said to the colleen: &lsquo;Get up, and
run after the woman and tell her to come back and cross the
prayer.&rsquo; I meant by crossing that she should call it
back or do something that would take the venom out of it.
Well, the colleen was rather loth to go, for she was a bit scared
herself, but on my beseeching her, she got up and ran after the
woman, and being rather swift of foot, at last, though with much
difficulty, overtook her, and begged her to come back and cross
the prayer, but the divil of a woman would do no such thing, and
when the colleen persisted she told her that if she didn&rsquo;t
go back, she would say an evil prayer over her too. So the
colleen left her, and came back, crying and frighted. All
the rest of the day I remained sitting on the stool speechless,
thinking of the prayer which the woman had said, and wishing I
had given her everything I had in the world, rather than she
should have said it. At night came home the boys, and found
their mother sitting on the stool, like one stupefied.
&lsquo;What&rsquo;s the matter with you, mother?&rsquo; they
said. &lsquo;Get up and help us to unpack. We have
brought home plenty of things on the car, and amongst others a
whole boll of meal.&rsquo; &lsquo;You might as well have
left it behind you,&rsquo; said I; &lsquo;this morning a single
measure of meal would have been to me of all the assistance in
the world, but I question now if I shall ever want meal
again.&rsquo; They asked me what had happened to me, and
after some time I told them how a monstrous woman had been to me,
and had said an evil prayer over me, because having no meal in
the house I had not given her an alms. &lsquo;Come,
mother,&rsquo; said they, &lsquo;get up and help us to unload!
never mind the prayer of the monstrous woman&mdash;it is all
nonsense.&rsquo; Well, I got up and helped them to unload,
and cooked them a bit, and sat down with them, and tried to be
merry, but felt that I was no longer the woman that I was.
The next day I didn&rsquo;t seem to care what became of me, or
how matters went on, and though there was now plenty of meal in
the house, not a measure did I fill with it to give away in the
shape of alms; and when the bacahs and the liprous women, and the
dark men, and the other unfortunates placed themselves at the
side of the door, and gave me to understand that they wanted
alms, each in his or her particular manner, divil an alms did I
give them, but let them stand and took no heed of them, so that
at last they took themselves off, grumbling and cursing.
And little did I care for their grumblings and cursings.
Two days before I wouldn&rsquo;t have had an unfortunate grumble
at me, or curse me, for all the riches below the sun; but now
their grumblings and curses didn&rsquo;t give me the slightest
unasiness, for I had an evil prayer spoken against me in the
Shanna Gailey by the monstrous woman, and I knew that I was
blighted in this world and the next. In a little time I
ceased to pay any heed to the farming business, or to the affairs
of the house, so that my sons had no comfort in their home.
And I took to drink and induced my eldest son to take to drink
too&mdash;my youngest son, however, did not take to drink, but
conducted himself well, and toiled and laboured like a horse and
often begged me and his brother to consider what we were about,
and not to go on in a way which would bring us all to ruin, but I
paid no regard to what he said, and his brother followed my
example, so that at last seeing things were getting worse every
day, and that we should soon be turned out of house and home, for
no rint was paid, every penny that could be got being consumed in
waste, he bade us farewell and went and listed for a
sodger. But if matters were bad enough before he went away,
they became much worse after; for now when the unfortunates came
to the door for alms, instead of letting them stand in pace till
they were tired, and took themselves off, I would mock them and
point at them, and twit them with their sores and other
misfortunes, and not unfrequently I would fling scalding water
over them, which would send them howling and honing away, till at
last there was not an unfortunate but feared to come within a
mile of my door. Moreover I began to misconduct myself at
chapel, more especially at the Aifrionn or Mass, for no sooner
was the bell rung, and the holy corpus raised, than I would shout
and hoorah, and go tumbling and toppling along the floor before
the holy body, as I just now tumbled along the road before you,
so that the people were scandalized, and would take me by the
shoulders and turn me out of doors, and began to talk of ducking
me in the bog. The priest of the parish, however, took my
part, saying that I ought not to be persecuted, for that I was
not accountable for what I did, being a possessed person, and
under the influence of divils. &lsquo;These,
however,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll soon cast out from
her, and then the woman will be a holy cratur, much better than
she ever was before.&rsquo; A very learned man was Father
Hogan, especially in casting out divils, and a portly,
good-looking man too, only he had a large rubicon nose, which
people said he got by making over free with the cratur in
sacret. I had often looked at the nose, when the divil was
upon me, and felt an inclination to seize hold of it, just to see
how it felt. Well, he had me to his house several times,
and there he put holy cloths upon me, and tied holy images to me,
and read to me out of holy books, and sprinkled holy water over
me, and put questions to me, and at last was so plased with the
answers I gave him, that he prached a sermon about me in the
chapel, in which he said that he had cast six of my divils out of
me, and should cast out the seventh, which was the last, by the
next Sabbath, and then should present me to the folks in the
chapel as pure a vessel as the blessed Mary herself&mdash;and
that I was destined to accomplish great things, and to be a
mighty instrument in the hands of the Holy Church, for that he
intended to write a book about me, describing the miracle he had
performed in casting the seven divils out of me, which he should
get printed at the printing-press of the blessed Columba, and
should send me through all Ireland to sell the copies, the
profits of which would go towards the support of the holy society
for casting out unclane spirits, to which he himself
belonged. Well, the people showed that they were plased by
a loud shout, and went away longing for the next Sunday when I
was to be presented to them without a divil in me. Five
times the next week did I go to the priest&rsquo;s house, to be
read to, and be sprinkled, and have cloths put upon me, in order
that the work of casting out the last divil, which it seems was
stronger than all the rest, might be made smooth and aisy, and on
the Saturday I came to have the last divil cast out, and found
his riverince in full canonicals, seated in his aisy chair.
&lsquo;Daughter,&rsquo; said he when he saw me, &lsquo;the work
is nearly over. Now kneel down before me, and I will make
the sign of the cross over your forehead, and then you will feel
the last and strongest of the divils, which have so long
possessed ye, go out of ye through your eyes, as I expect you
will say to the people assembled in the chapel
to-morrow.&rsquo; So I put myself on my knees before his
reverence, who after muttering something to himself, either in
Latin or Shanna Gailey&mdash;I believe it was Latin, said,
&lsquo;Look me in the face, daughter!&rsquo; Well, I looked
his reverence in the face, and there I saw his nose looking so
large, red, and inviting that I could not resist the temptation,
and before his reverence could make the sign of the cross, which
doubtless would have driven the divil out of me, I made a spring
at it, and seizing hold of it with forefinger and thumb, pulled
hard at it. Hot and inctious did it feel. Oh, the
yell that his reverence gave! However, I did not let go my
hold, but kept pulling at the nose, till at last to avoid the
torment, his reverence came tumbling down upon me, causing me by
his weight to fall back upon the floor. At the yell which
he gave, and at the noise of the fall, in came rushing his
reverence&rsquo;s housekeeper and stable-boy, who seeing us down
on the floor, his reverence upon me and my hand holding his
reverence&rsquo;s nose, for I felt loth to let it go, they
remained in astonishment and suspense. When his reverence,
however, begged them, for the Virgin&rsquo;s sake, to separate
him from the divil of a woman, they ran forward, and having with
some difficulty freed his reverence&rsquo;s nose from my hand,
they helped him up. The first thing that his reverence did,
on being placed on his legs, was to make for a horse-whip, which
stood in one corner of the room, but I guessing how he meant to
use it, sprang up from the floor, and before he could make a cut
at me, ran out of the room, and hasted home. The next day,
when all the people for twenty miles round met in the chapel, in
the expectation of seeing me presented to them a purified and
holy female, and hearing from my mouth the account of the miracle
which his reverence had performed, his reverence made his
appearance in the pulpit with a dale of gould bater&rsquo;s leaf
on his nose, and from the pulpit he told the people how I had
used him, showing them the gould bater&rsquo;s leaf on his
feature, as testimony of the truth of his words, finishing by
saying that if at first there were seven devils, there were now
seven times seven within me. Well, when the people heard
the story, and saw his nose with the bater&rsquo;s leaf upon it,
they at first began to laugh, but when he appealed to their
consciences, and asked them if such was fitting tratement for a
praist, they said it was not, and that if he would only but curse
me, they would soon do him justice upon me. His reverence
then cursed by book, bell, and candle, and the people, setting
off from the chapel, came in a crowd to the house where I lived,
to wrake vengeance upon me. Overtaking my son by the way,
who was coming home in a state of intoxication, they bate him
within an inch of his life, and left him senseless on the ground,
and no doubt would have served me much worse, only seeing them
coming, and guessing what they came about, though I was a bit
intoxicated myself, I escaped by the back of the house out into
the bog, where I hid myself amidst a copse of hazels. The
people coming to the house, and not finding me there, broke and
destroyed every bit of furniture, and would have pulled the house
down, or set fire to it, had not an individual among them cried
out that doing so would be of no use, for that the house did not
belong to me, and that destroying it would merely be an injury to
the next tenant. So the people, after breaking my furniture
and ill-trating two or three dumb beasts, which happened not to
have been made away with, went away, and in the dead of night I
returned to the house, where I found my son, who had just crawled
home covered wit bruises. We hadn&rsquo;t, however, a home
long, for the agents of the landlord came to seize for rent, took
all they could find, and turned us out upon the wide world.
Myself and son wandered together for an hour or two, then, having
a quarrel with each other, we parted, he going one way and I
another. Some little time after I heard that he was
transported. As for myself, I thought I might as well take
a leaf out of the woman&rsquo;s book who had been the ruin of
me. So I went about bidding people give me alms for the
glory of God, and threatening those who gave me nothing that the
mass should never comfort them. It&rsquo;s a dreadful curse
that, honey; and I would advise people to avoid it even though
they give away all they have. If you have no comfort in the
mass, you will have comfort in nothing else. Look at me: I
have no comfort in the mass, for as soon as the priest&rsquo;s
bell rings, I shouts and hoorahs, and performs tumblings before
the blessed corpus, getting myself kicked out of chapel, and as
little comfort as I have in the mass have I in other things,
which should be a comfort to me. I have two sons who ought
to be the greatest comfort to me, but are they so?
We&rsquo;ll see&mdash;one is transported, and of course is no
comfort to me at all. The other is a sodger. Is he a
comfort to me? Not a bit. A month ago when I was
travelling through the black north, tumbling and toppling about,
and threatening people with my prayer, unless they gave me alms,
a woman, who knew me, told me that he was with his regiment at
Cardiff, here in Wales, whereupon I determined to go and see him,
and crossing the water got into England, from whence I walked to
Cardiff asking alms of the English in the common English way, and
of the Irish, and ye are the first Irish I have met, in the way
in which I asked them of you. But when I got to Cardiff did
I see my son? I did not, for the day before he had sailed
with his regiment to a place ten thousand miles away, so I shall
never see his face again nor derive comfort from him. Oh,
if there&rsquo;s no comfort from the mass there&rsquo;s no
comfort from anything else, and he who has the evil prayer in the
Shanna Gailey breathed upon him, will have no comfort from the
mass. Now, honey, ye have heard the story of Johanna
Colgan, the bedivilled woman. Give her now a dacent alms
and let her go!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Would you consider sixpence a decent alms?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I would. If you give me sixpence, I will not say
my prayer over ye.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Would you give me a blessing?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I would not. A bedivilled woman has no blessing
to give.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Surely if you are able to ask people to give you alms
for the glory of God, you are able to give a blessing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Bodderation! are ye going to give me
sixpence?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No! here&rsquo;s a shilling for you! Take it and
go in peace.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no pace for me,&rdquo; said Johanna
Colgan, taking the money. &ldquo;What did the monstrous
female say to me? &lsquo;Biaidh an taifrionn gan sholas
duit a bhean shalach.&rsquo; <a name="citation23"></a><a
href="#footnote23" class="citation">[23]</a> This is my
pace&mdash;hoorah! hoorah!&rdquo; then giving two or three
grotesque topples she hurried away in the direction of Merthyr
Tydvil.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CVI</h2>

<p class="letter">Pen y Glas&mdash;Salt of the Earth&mdash;The
Quakers&rsquo; Yard&mdash;The Rhugylgroen.</p>

<p>As I proceeded on my way the scenery to the south on the
farther side of the river became surprisingly beautiful. On
that side noble mountains met the view, green fields and majestic
woods, the latter brown it is true, for their leaves were gone,
but not the less majestic for being brown. Here and there
were white farm-houses: one of them, which I was told was called
Pen y Glas, was a truly lovely little place. It stood on
the side of a green hill with a noble forest above it, and put me
wonderfully in mind of the hunting lodge, which Ifor Hael
allotted as a retreat to Ab Gwilym and Morfydd, when they fled to
him from Cardigan to avoid the rage of the Bow Bach, and whose
charming appearance made him say to his love:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;More bliss for us our fate propounds<br />
On Taf&rsquo;s green banks than Teivy&rsquo;s bounds.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>On I wandered. After some time the valley assumed the
form of an immense basin, enormous mountains composed its
sides. In the middle rose hills of some altitude, but
completely overcrowned by the mountains around. These hills
exhibited pleasant inclosures, and were beautifully dotted with
white farm-houses. Down below meandered the Taf, its
reaches shining with a silver-like splendour. The whole
together formed an exquisite picture, in which there was much
sublimity, much still quiet life, and not a little of fantastic
fairy loveliness.</p>

<p>The sun was hastening towards the west as I passed a little
cascade on the left, the waters of which, after running under the
road, tumbled down a gully into the river. Shortly
afterwards meeting a man I asked him how far it was to
Caerfili.</p>

<p>&ldquo;When you come to the Quakers&rsquo; Yard, which is a
little way further on, you will be seven miles from
Caerfili.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What is the Quakers&rsquo; Yard?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A place where the people called Quakers bury their
dead.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is there a village near it?</p>

<p>&ldquo;There is, and the village is called by the same
name.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are there any Quakers in it?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not one, nor in the neighbourhood, but there are some,
I believe, in Cardiff.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why do they bury their dead there?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You should ask them, not me. I know nothing about
them, and don&rsquo;t want; they are a bad set of
people.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did they ever do you any harm?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t say they did. Indeed I never saw one
in the whole of my life.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then why do you call them bad?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Because everybody says they are.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not everybody. I don&rsquo;t; I have always found
them the salt of the earth.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Then it is salt that has lost its savour. But
perhaps you are one of them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No, I belong to the Church of England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, you do. Then good-night to you. I am a
Methodist. I thought at first that you were one of our
ministers, and had hoped to hear from you something profitable
and conducive to salvation, but&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, so you shall. Never speak ill of people of
whom you know nothing. If that isn&rsquo;t a saying
conducive to salvation, I know not what is. Good evening to
you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I soon reached the village. Singular enough, the people
of the very first house, at which I inquired about the
Quakers&rsquo; Yard, were entrusted with the care of it. On
my expressing a wish to see it, a young woman took down a key,
and said that if I would follow her she would show it me.
The Quakers&rsquo; burying-place is situated on a little
peninsula or tongue of land, having a brook on its eastern and
northern sides, and on its western the Taf. It is a little
oblong yard, with low walls, partly overhung with ivy. The
entrance is a porch to the south. The Quakers are no
friends to tombstones, and the only visible evidence that this
was a place of burial was a single flag-stone, with a
half-obliterated inscription, which with some difficulty I
deciphered, and was as follows:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center">To the Memory of <span
class="smcap">Thomas Edmunds</span><br />
Who died April the ninth 1802 aged 60 years.<br />
And of <span class="smcap">Mary Edmunds</span><br />
Who died January the fourth 1810 aged 70.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The beams of the descending sun gilded the Quakers&rsquo;
burial-ground as I trod its precincts. A lovely
resting-place looked that little oblong yard on the peninsula, by
the confluence of the waters, and quite in keeping with the
character of the quiet Christian people who sleep within
it. The Quakers have for some time past been a decaying
sect, but they have done good work in their day, and when they
are extinct they are not destined to be soon forgotten.
Soon forgotten! How should a sect ever be forgotten, to
which have belonged three such men as George Fox, William Penn,
and Joseph Gurney?</p>

<p>Shortly after I left the Quakers&rsquo; Yard the sun went down
and twilight settled upon the earth. Pursuing my course I
reached some woodlands, and on inquiring of a man, whom I saw
standing at the door of a cottage, the name of the district, was
told that it was called Ystrad Manach&mdash;the Monks&rsquo;
Strath or valley. This name it probably acquired from
having belonged in times of old to some monkish
establishment. The moon now arose and the night was
delightful. As I was wandering along I heard again the same
wild noise which I had heard the night before, on the other side
of Merthyr Tydvil. The cry of the owl afar off in the
woodlands. Oh that strange bird! Oh that strange
cry! The Welsh, as I have said on a former occasion, call
the owl Dylluan. Amongst the cowydds of Ab Gwilym there is
one to the dylluan. It is full of abuse against the bird,
with whom the poet is very angry for having with its cry
frightened Morfydd back, who was coming to the wood to keep an
assignation with him, but not a little of this abuse is
wonderfully expressive and truthful. He calls the owl a
grey thief&mdash;the haunter of the ivy bush&mdash;the chick of
the oak, a blinking eyed witch, greedy of mice, with a visage
like the bald forehead of a big ram, or the dirty face of an old
abbess, which bears no little resemblance to the chine of an
ape. Of its cry he says that it is as great a torment as an
agonizing recollection, a cold shrill laugh from the midst of a
kettle of ice; the rattling of sea-pebbles in an old sheep-skin,
on which account many call the owl the hag of the
Rhugylgroen. The Rhugylgroen, it will be as well to
observe, is a dry sheepskin containing a number of pebbles, and
is used as a rattle for frightening crows. The likening the
visage of the owl to the dirty face of an old abbess is capital,
and the likening the cry to the noise of the rhugylgroen is
anything but unfortunate. For, after all, what does the
voice of the owl so much resemble as a diabolical rattle.
I&rsquo;m sure I don&rsquo;t know. Reader, do you?</p>

<p>I reached Caerfili at about seven o&rsquo;clock, and went to
the &ldquo;Boar&rsquo;s Head,&rdquo; near the ruins of a
stupendous castle, on which the beams of the moon were
falling.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CVII</h2>

<p class="letter">Caerfili Castle&mdash;Sir Charles&mdash;The
Waiter&mdash;Inkerman.</p>

<p>I slept well during the night. In the morning after
breakfast I went to see the castle, over which I was conducted by
a woman who was intrusted with its care. It stands on the
eastern side of the little town, and is a truly enormous
structure, which brought to my recollection a saying of our great
Johnson, to be found in the account of his journey to the Western
Islands, namely &ldquo;that for all the castles which he had seen
beyond the Tweed the ruins yet remaining of some one of those
which the English built in Wales would find
materials.&rdquo; The original founder was one John De
Bryse, a powerful Norman who married the daughter of Llewellyn Ap
Jorwerth, the son-in-law of King John, and the most war-like of
all the Welsh princes, whose exploits, and particularly a victory
which he obtained over his father-in-law, with whom he was always
at war, have been immortalized by the great war-bard, Dafydd
Benfras. It was one of the strongholds which belonged to
the Spencers, and served for a short time as a retreat to the
unfortunate Edward the Second. It was ruined by Cromwell,
the grand foe of the baronial castles of Britain, but not in so
thorough and sweeping a manner as to leave it a mere heap of
stones. There is a noble entrance porch fronting the
west&mdash;a spacious courtyard, a grand banqueting room, a
corridor of vast length, several lofty towers, a chapel, a
sally-port, a guard-room and a strange underground vaulted place
called the mint, in which Caerfili&rsquo;s barons once coined
money, and in which the furnaces still exist which were used for
melting metal. The name Caerfili is said to signify the
Castle of Haste, and to have been bestowed on the pile because it
was built in a hurry. Caerfili, however, was never built in
a hurry, as the remains show. Moreover, the Welsh word for
haste is not fil but ffrwst. Fil means a scudding or
darting through the air, which can have nothing to do with the
building of a castle. Caerfili signifies Philip&rsquo;s
City, and was called so after one Philip a saint. It no
more means the castle of haste than Tintagel in Cornwall
signifies the castle of guile, as the learned have said it does,
for Tintagel simply means the house in the gill of the hill, a
term admirably descriptive of the situation of the building.</p>

<p>I started from Caerfili at eleven for Newport, distant about
seventeen miles. Passing through a toll-gate I ascended an
acclivity, from the top of which I obtained a full view of the
castle, looking stern, dark and majestic. Descending the
hill I came to a bridge over a river called the Rhymni or Rumney,
much celebrated in Welsh and English song&mdash;thence to Pentref
Bettws, or the village of the bead-house, doubtless so called
from its having contained in old times a house in which pilgrims
might tell their beads.</p>

<p>The scenery soon became very beautiful&mdash;its beauty,
however, was to a certain extent marred by a horrid black object,
a huge coal work, the chimneys of which were belching forth smoke
of the densest description. &ldquo;Whom does that work
belong to?&rdquo; said I to a man nearly as black as a chimney
sweep.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Who does it belong to? Why, to Sir
Charles.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you mean Sir Charles Morgan?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. I only know that it belongs
to Sir Charles, the kindest-hearted and richest man in Wales and
in England too.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Passing some cottages I heard a group of children speaking
English. Asked an intelligent-looking girl if she could
speak Welsh.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;I can speak it, but not
very well.&rdquo; There is not much Welsh spoken by the
children hereabout. The old folks hold more to it.</p>

<p>I saw again the Rhymni river, and crossed it by a bridge; the
river here was filthy and turbid, owing of course to its having
received the foul drainings of the neighbouring coal works.
Shortly afterwards I emerged from the coom or valley of the
Rhymni, and entered upon a fertile and tolerably level
district. Passed by Llanawst and Machen. The day
which had been very fine now became dark and gloomy.
Suddenly, as I was descending a slope, a brilliant party,
consisting of four young ladies in riding-habits, a youthful
cavalier and a servant in splendid livery&mdash;all on noble
horses, swept past me at full gallop down the hill. Almost
immediately afterwards, seeing a road-mender who was standing
holding his cap in his hand&mdash;which he had no doubt just
reverentially doffed&mdash;I said in Welsh: &ldquo;Who are those
ladies?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Merched Sir Charles&mdash;the daughters of Sir
Charles,&rdquo; he replied.</p>

<p>&ldquo;And is the gentleman their brother?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No! the brother is in the Crim&mdash;fighting with the
Roosiaid. I don&rsquo;t know who yon gentleman
be.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Where does Sir Charles live?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Down in the Dyfryn, not far from Basallaig.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If I were to go and see him,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;do
you think he would give me a cup of ale?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I daresay he would; he has given me one many a
time.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I soon reached Basallaig, a pleasant village standing in a
valley and nearly surrounded by the groves of Sir Charles
Morgan. Seeing a decent public-house I said to myself,
&ldquo;I think I shall step in and have my ale here, and not go
running after Sir Charles, whom perhaps after all I
shouldn&rsquo;t find at home.&rdquo; So I went in and
called for a pint of ale. Over my ale I trifled for about
half-an-hour, then paying my groat I got up and set off for
Newport, in the midst of a thick mist which had suddenly come on,
and which speedily wetted me nearly to the skin.</p>

<p>I reached Newport at about half-past four, and put up at a
large and handsome inn called the King&rsquo;s Head. During
dinner the waiter, unasked, related to me his history. He
was a short thick fellow of about forty, with a very disturbed
and frightened expression of countenance. He said that he
was a native of Brummagen, and had lived very happily at an inn
there as waiter, but at length had allowed himself to be spirited
away to an establishment high up in Wales amidst the
scenery. That very few visitors came to the establishment,
which was in a place so awfully lonesome that he soon became
hipped, and was more than once half in a mind to fling himself
into a river which ran before the door and moaned dismally.
That at last he thought his best plan would be to decamp, and
accordingly took French leave early one morning. That after
many frights and much fatigue he had found himself at Newport,
and taken service at the King&rsquo;s Head, but did not feel
comfortable, and was frequently visited at night by dreadful
dreams. That he should take the first opportunity of
getting to Brummagen, though he was afraid that he should not be
able to get into his former place, owing to his ungrateful
behaviour. He then uttered a rather eloquent eulogium on
the beauties of the black capital, and wound up all by saying
that he would rather be a brazier&rsquo;s dog at Brummagen than
head waiter at the best establishment in Wales.</p>

<p>After dinner I took up a newspaper and found in it an account
of the battle of Inkerman, which appeared to have been fought on
the fifth of November, the very day on which I had ascended
Plynlimmon. I was sorry to find that my countrymen had
suffered dreadfully, and would have been utterly destroyed but
for the opportune arrival of the French. &ldquo;In my
childhood,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;the Russians used to help us
against the French; now the French help us against the
Russians. Who knows but before I die I may see the Russians
helping the French against us?&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CVIII</h2>

<p class="letter">Town of Newport&mdash;The Usk&mdash;Note of
Recognition&mdash;An Old Acquaintance&mdash;Connamara
Quean&mdash;The Wake&mdash;The Wild Irish&mdash;The Tramping
Life&mdash;Business and Prayer&mdash;Methodists&mdash;Good
Counsel.</p>

<p>Newport is a large town in Monmouthshire, and had once walls
and a castle. It is called in Welsh Cas Newydd ar Wysg, or
the New Castle upon the Usk. It stands some miles below
Caerlleon ar Wysg, and was probably built when that place, at one
time one of the most considerable towns in Britain, began to fall
into decay. The Wysg or Usk has its source among some wild
hills in the south-west of Breconshire, and, after absorbing
several smaller streams, amongst which is the Hondu, at the mouth
of which Brecon stands, which on that account is called in Welsh
Aber Hondu, and traversing the whole of Monmouthshire, enters the
Bristol Channel near Newport, to which place vessels of
considerable burden can ascend. Wysg or Usk is an ancient
British word, signifying water, and is the same as the Irish word
uisge or whiskey, for whiskey, though generally serving to denote
a spirituous liquor, in great vogue amongst the Irish, means
simply water. The proper term for the spirit is
uisquebaugh, literally acqua vitae, but the compound being
abbreviated by the English, who have always been notorious for
their habit of clipping words, one of the strongest of spirits is
now generally denominated by a word which is properly expressive
of the simple element water.</p>

<p>Monmouthshire is at present considered an English county,
though certainly with little reason, for it not only stands on
the western side of the Wye, but the names of almost all its
parishes are Welsh, and many thousands of its population still
speak the Welsh language. It is called in Welsh Sir, or
Shire, Fynwy, and takes its name from the town Mynwy or Monmouth,
which receives its own appellation from the river Mynwy or Minno,
on which it stands. There is a river of much the same name,
not in Macedon but in the Peninsula, namely the Minho, which
probably got its denomination from that race cognate to the
Cumry, the Gael, who were the first colonisers of the Peninsula,
and whose generic name yet stares us in the face and salutes our
ears in the words Galicia and Portugal.</p>

<p>I left Newport at about ten o&rsquo;clock on the 16th; the
roads were very wet, there having been a deluge of rain during
the night. The morning was a regular November one, dull and
gloomy. Desirous of knowing whereabouts in these parts the
Welsh language ceased, I interrogated several people whom I
met. First spoke to Esther Williams. She told me she
came from Pennow, some miles farther on, that she could speak
Welsh, and that indeed all the people could for at least eight
miles to the east of Newport. This latter assertion of hers
was, however, anything but corroborated by a young woman, with a
pitcher on her head, whom I shortly afterwards met, for she
informed me that she could speak no Welsh, and that for one who
could speak it, from where I was to the place where it ceased
altogether, there were ten who could not. I believe the
real fact is that about half the people for seven or eight miles
to the east of Newport speak Welsh, more or less, as about half
those whom I met and addressed in Welsh, answered me in that
tongue.</p>

<p>Passed through Pennow or Penhow, a small village. The
scenery in the neighbourhood of this place is highly
interesting. To the north-west at some distance is Mynydd
Turvey, a sharp pointed blue mountain. To the south-east,
on the right, much nearer, are two beautiful green hills, the
lowest prettily wooded, and having its top a fair white mansion
called Penhow Castle, which belongs to a family of the name of
Cave. Thence to Llanvaches, a pretty little village.
When I was about the middle of this place I heard an odd sound,
something like a note of recognition, which attracted my
attention to an object very near to me, from which it seemed to
proceed, and which was coming from the direction in which I was
going. It was the figure seemingly of a female, wrapped in
a coarse blue cloak, the feet bare and the legs bare also nearly
up to the knee, both terribly splashed with the slush of the
road. The head was surmounted by a kind of hood, which just
permitted me to see coarse red hair, a broad face, grey eyes, a
snubbed nose, blubber lips and great white teeth&mdash;the eyes
were staring intently at me. I stopped and stared too, and
at last thought I recognised the features of the uncouth girl I
had seen on the green near Chester with the Irish tinker
Tourlough and his wife.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;did I not see you near
Chester last summer?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To be sure ye did; and ye were going to pass me without
a word of notice or kindness had I not given ye a bit of a
hail.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I beg your pardon.
How is it all wid ye?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Quite well. How is it wid yere hanner?&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Tolerably. Where do you come from?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From Chepstow, yere hanner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And where are you going to?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;To Newport, yere hanner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And I come from Newport, and am going to
Chepstow. Where&rsquo;s Tourlough and his wife?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;At Cardiff, yere hanner; I shall join them again
to-morrow.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Have you been long away from them?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;About a week, yere hanner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what have you been doing?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Selling my needles, yere hanner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh! you sell needles. Well, I am glad to have met
you. Let me see. There&rsquo;s a nice little inn on
the right: won&rsquo;t you come in and have some
refreshment?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thank yere hanner; I have no objection to take a glass
wid an old friend.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, then, come in; you must be tired, and I shall be
glad to have some conversation with you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We went into the inn&mdash;a little tidy place. On my
calling, a respectable-looking old man made his appearance behind
a bar. After serving my companion with a glass of
peppermint, which she said she preferred to anything else, and me
with a glass of ale, both of which I paid for, he retired, and we
sat down on two old chairs beneath a window in front of the
bar.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I suppose you have Irish:
here&rsquo;s slainte&mdash;&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Slainte yuit a shaoi,&rdquo; said the girl, tasting her
peppermint.</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well: how do you like it?&rsquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very nice indeed.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s more than I can say of the ale, which,
like all the ale in these parts, is bitter. Well, what part
of Ireland do you come from?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;From no part at all. I never was in Ireland in my
life. I am from Scotland Road, Manchester.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I thought you were Irish?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And so I am; and all the more from being born where I
was. There&rsquo;s not such a place for Irish in all the
world as Scotland Road.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Were your father and mother from Ireland?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;My mother was from Ireland: my father was Irish of
Scotland Road, where they met and married.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what did they do after they married?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, they worked hard, and did their best to get a
livelihood for themselves and children, of which they had several
besides myself, who was the eldest. My father was a
bricklayer, and my mother sold apples and oranges and other
fruits, according to the season, and also whiskey, which she made
herself, as she well knew how; for my mother was not only a
Connacht woman, but an out-and-out Connamara quean, and when only
thirteen had wrought with the lads who used to make the raal
cratur on the islands between Ochterard and Bally na hinch.
As soon as I was able, I helped my mother in making and disposing
of the whiskey and in selling the fruit. As for the other
children, they all died when young, of favers, of which there is
always plenty in Scotland Road. About four years
ago&mdash;that is, when I was just fifteen&mdash;there was a
great quarrel among the workmen about wages. Some wanted
more than their masters were willing to give; others were willing
to take what was offered them. Those who were dissatisfied
were called bricks; those who were not were called dungs.
My father was a brick; and, being a good man with his fists, was
looked upon as a very proper person to fight a principal man
amongst the dungs. They fought in the fields near Salford
for a pound a side. My father had it all his own way for
the first three rounds, but in the fourth, receiving a blow under
the ear from the dung, he dropped, and never got up again, dying
suddenly. A grand wake my father had, for which my mother
furnished usquebaugh galore; and comfortably and dacently it
passed over till about three o&rsquo;clock in the morning, when,
a dispute happening to arise&mdash;not on the matter of wages,
for there was not a dung amongst the Irish of Scotland
Road&mdash;but as to whether the O&rsquo;Keefs or O&rsquo;Kellys
were kings of Ireland a thousand years ago, a general fight took
place, which brought in the police, who, being soon dreadfully
baten, as we all turned upon them, went and fetched the military,
with whose help they took and locked up several of the party,
amongst whom were my mother and myself, till the next morning,
when we were taken before the magistrates, who, after a slight
scolding, set us at liberty, one of them saying that such
disturbances formed part of the Irish funeral service; whereupon
we returned to the house, and the rest of the party joining us,
we carried my father&rsquo;s body to the churchyard, where we
buried it very dacently, with many tears and
groanings.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And how did your mother and you get on after your
father was buried?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;As well as we could, yere hanner; we sold fruit, and
now and then a drop of whiskey, which we made; but this state of
things did not last long, for one day my mother seeing the dung
who had killed my father, she flung a large flint stone and
knocked out his right eye, for doing which she was taken up and
tried, and sentenced to a year&rsquo;s imprisonment, chiefly it
was thought because she had been heard to say that she would do
the dung a mischief the first time she met him. She,
however, did not suffer all her sentence, for before she had been
in prison three months she caught a disorder which carried her
off. I went on selling fruit by myself whilst she was in
trouble, and for some time after her death, but very lonely and
melancholy. At last my uncle Tourlough, or, as the English
would call him, Charles, chancing to come to Scotland Road along
with his family, I was glad to accept an invitation to join them
which he gave me, and with them I have been ever since,
travelling about England and Wales and Scotland, helping my aunt
with the children, and driving much the same trade which she has
driven for twenty years past, which is not an unprofitable
one.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Would you have any objection to tell me all you
do?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why I sells needles, as I said before, and sometimes I
buys things of servants, and sometimes I tells
fortunes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Do you ever do anything in the way of
striopachas?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no! I never do anything in that line; I would be
burnt first. I wonder you should dream of such a
thing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why surely it is not worse than buying things of
servants, who no doubt steal them from their employers, or
telling fortunes, which is dealing with the devil.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Not worse? Yes, a thousand times worse; there is
nothing so very particular in doing them things, but
striopachas&mdash;Oh dear!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a dreadful thing I admit, but the other
things are quite as bad; you should do none of them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take good care that I never do one, and that
is striopachas; them other things I know are not quite right, and
I hope soon to have done wid them; any day I can shake them off
and look people in the face, but were I once to do striopachas I
could never hold up my head.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How comes it that you have such a horror of
striopachas?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I got it from my mother, and she got it from
hers. All Irish women have a dread of striopachas.
It&rsquo;s the only thing that frights them; I manes the wild
Irish, for as for the quality women I have heard they are no bit
better than the English. Come, yere hanner, let&rsquo;s
talk of something else.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;You were saying now that you were thinking of leaving
off fortune-telling and buying things of servants. Do you
mean to depend upon your needles alone?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;No; I am thinking of leaving off tramping altogether
and going to the Tir na Siar.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t that America?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It is, yere hanner; the land of the west is
America.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;A long way for a lone girl.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I should not be alone, yere hanner; I should be wid my
uncle Tourlough and his wife.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Are they going to America?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;They are, yere hanner; they intends leaving off
business and going to America next spring.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It will cost money.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;It will, yere hanner; but they have got money, and so
have I.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Is it because business is slack that you are thinking
of going to America?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no, yere hanner; we wish to go there in order to get
rid of old ways and habits, amongst which are fortune-telling and
buying things of sarvants, which yere hanner was jist now
checking me wid.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And can&rsquo;t you get rid of them here?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;We cannot, yere hanner. If we stay here we must
go on tramping, and it is well known that doing them things is
part of tramping.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what would you do in America?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh, we could do plenty of things in America&mdash;most
likely we should buy a piece of land and settle down.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;How came you to see the wickedness of the tramping
life?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;By hearing a great many sarmons and preachings and
having often had the Bible read to us by holy women who came to
our tent.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of what religion do you call yourselves now?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, yere hanner; we are clane unsettled
about religion. We were once Catholics and carried Saint
Colman of Cloyne about wid us in a box; but after hearing a
sermon at a church about images, we went home, took the saint out
of his box and cast him into a river.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh it will never do to belong to the Popish religion, a
religion which upholds idol-worship and persecutes the
Bible&mdash;you should belong to the Church of
England.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, perhaps we should, yere hanner, if its ministers
were not such proud violent men. Oh, you little know how
they look down upon all poor people, especially on us
tramps. Once my poor aunt, Tourlough&rsquo;s wife, who has
always had stronger conviction than any of us, followed one of
them home after he had been preaching, and begged him to give her
God, and was told by him that she was a thief, and if she
didn&rsquo;t take herself out of the house he would kick her
out.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Perhaps, after all,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;you had
better join the Methodists&mdash;I should say that their ways
would suit you better than those of any other denomination of
Christians.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Yere hanner knows nothing about them, otherwise ye
wouldn&rsquo;t talk in that manner. Their ways would never
do for people who want to have done with lying and staring, and
have always kept themselves clane from striopachas. Their
word is not worth a rotten straw, yere hanner, and in every
transaction which they have with people they try to cheat and
overreach&mdash;ask my uncle Tourlough, who has had many dealings
with them. But what is far worse, they do that which the
wildest calleen t&rsquo;other side of Ougteraarde would be burnt
rather than do. Who can tell ye more on that point than I,
yere hanner? I have been at their chapels at nights, and
have listened to their screaming prayers, and have seen
what&rsquo;s been going on outside the chapels after their
services, as they call them, were over&mdash;I never saw the like
going on outside Father Toban&rsquo;s chapel, yere hanner!
Yere hanner&rsquo;s hanner asked me if I ever did anything in the
way of striopachas&mdash;now I tell ye that I was never asked to
do anything in that line but by one of them folks&mdash;a great
man amongst them he was, both in the way of business and prayer,
for he was a commercial traveller during six days of the week and
a preacher on the seventh&mdash;and such a preacher. Well,
one Sunday night after he had preached a sermon an
hour-and-a-half long, which had put half a dozen women into what
they call static fits, he overtook me in a dark street and wanted
me to do striopachas with him&mdash;he didn&rsquo;t say
striopachas, yer hanner, for he had no Irish&mdash;but he said
something in English which was the same thing.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what did you do?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I asked him what he meant by making fun of a poor
ugly girl&mdash;for no one knows better than myself, yere hanner,
that I am very ugly&mdash;whereupon he told me that he was not
making fun of me, for it had long been the chief wish of his
heart to commit striopachas with a wild Irish Papist, and that he
believed if he searched the world he should find none wilder than
myself.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And what did you reply?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Why, I said to him, yere hanner, that I would tell the
congregation, at which he laughed and said that he wished I
would, for that the congregation would say they didn&rsquo;t
believe me, though at heart they would, and would like him all
the better for it.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, and what did you say then?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Nothing, at all, yere hanner; but I spat in his face
and went home and told my uncle Tourlough, who forthwith took out
a knife and began to sharp it on a whetstone, and I make no doubt
would have gone and stuck the fellow like a pig, had not my poor
aunt begged him not on her knees. After that we had nothing
more to do with the Methodists as far as religion
went.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Did this affair occur in England or Wales?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In the heart of England, yere hanner; we have never
been to the Welsh chapels, for we know little of the
language.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, I am glad it didn&rsquo;t happen in Wales: I have
rather a high opinion of the Welsh Methodist. The worthiest
creature I ever knew was a Welsh Methodist. And now I must
leave you and make the best of my way to Chepstow.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t yere hanner give me God before ye
go?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I can give you half-a-crown to help you on your way to
America.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I want no half-crowns, yere hanner; but if ye would
give me God I&rsquo;d bless ye.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;What do you mean by giving you God?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Putting Him in my heart by some good counsel which will
guide me through life.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;The only good counsel I can give you is to keep the
commandments; one of them it seems you have always kept.
Follow the rest and you can&rsquo;t go very wrong.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I wish I knew them better than I do, yere
hanner.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you read?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Oh no, yere hanner, I can&rsquo;t read, neither can
Tourlough nor his wife.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Well, learn to read as soon as possible. When you
have got to America and settled down you will have time enough to
learn to read.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Shall we be better, yere hanner, after we have learnt
to read?&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s hope you will.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;One of the things, yere hanner, that have made us
stumble is that some of the holy women, who have come to our tent
and read the Bible to us, have afterwards asked my aunt and me to
tell them their fortunes.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;If they have, the more shame for them, for they can
have no excuse. Well, whether you learn to read or not,
still eschew striopachas, don&rsquo;t steal, don&rsquo;t deceive,
and worship God in spirit, not in image. That&rsquo;s the
best counsel I can give you.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;And very good counsel it is, yere hanner, and I will
try to follow it, and now, yere hanner, let us go our two
ways.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We placed our glasses upon the bar and went out. In the
middle of the road we shook hands and parted, she going towards
Newport and I towards Chepstow. After walking a few yards I
turned round and looked after her. There she was in the
damp lowering afternoon wending her way slowly through mud and
puddle, her upper form huddled in the rough frieze mantle, and
her coarse legs bare to the top of the calves.
&ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; said I to myself, &ldquo;there never was an
object less promising in appearance. Who would think that
there could be all the good sense and proper feeling in that
uncouth girl which there really is?&rdquo;</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CHAPTER CIX</h2>

<p class="letter">Arrival at Chepstow&mdash;Stirring
Lyric&mdash;Conclusion.</p>

<p>I passed through Caer Went, once an important Roman station,
and for a long time after the departure of the Romans a
celebrated British city, now a poor desolate place consisting of
a few old-fashioned houses and a strange-looking dilapidated
church. No Welsh is spoken at Caer Went, nor to the east of
it, nor indeed for two or three miles before you reach it from
the west.</p>

<p>The country between it and Chepstow, from which it is distant
about four miles, is delightfully green, but somewhat tame.</p>

<p>Chepstow stands on the lower part of a hill, near to where the
beautiful Wye joins the noble Severn. The British name of
the place is Aber Wye or the disemboguement of the Wye. The
Saxons gave it the name of Chepstow, which in their language
signifies a place where a market is held, because even in the
time of the Britons it was the site of a great cheap or
market. After the Norman Conquest it became the property of
De Clare, one of William&rsquo;s followers, who built near it an
enormous castle, which enjoyed considerable celebrity during
several centuries from having been the birthplace of Strongbow,
the conqueror of Ireland, but which is at present chiefly
illustrious from the mention which is made of it in one of the
most stirring lyrics of modern times, a piece by Walter Scott,
called the &ldquo;Norman Horseshoe,&rdquo; commemorative of an
expedition made by a De Clare, of Chepstow, with the view of
insulting with the print of his courser&rsquo;s shoe the green
meads of Glamorgan, and which commences thus:&mdash;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Red glows the forge&rdquo;&mdash;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I went to the principal inn, where I engaged a private room
and ordered the best dinner which the people could provide.
Then leaving my satchel behind me I went to the castle, amongst
the ruins of which I groped and wandered for nearly an hour,
occasionally repeating verses of the Norman Horseshoe. I
then went to the Wye and drank of the waters at its mouth, even
as some time before I had drunk of the waters at its
source. Then returning to my inn I got my dinner, after
which I called for a bottle of port, and placing my feet against
the sides of the grate I passed my time drinking wine and singing
Welsh songs till ten o&rsquo;clock at night, when I paid my
reckoning, amounting to something considerable. Then
shouldering my satchel I proceeded to the railroad station, where
I purchased a first-class ticket, and ensconcing myself in a
comfortable carriage, was soon on the way to London, where I
arrived at about four o&rsquo;clock in the morning, having had
during the whole of my journey a most uproarious set of
neighbours a few carriages behind me, namely, some hundred and
fifty of Napier&rsquo;s tars returning from their expedition to
the Baltic.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>CUMRO AND CUMRAEG.</h2>

<p>The original home of the Cumro was Southern Hindustan, the
extreme point of which, Cape Comorin, derived from him its
name. It may be here asked what is the exact meaning of the
word Cumro? The true meaning of the word is a youth.
It is connected with a Sanscrit word, signifying a youth, and
likewise a prince. It is surprising how similar in meaning
the names of several nations are: Cumro, a youth; Gael, a hero;
<a name="citation24"></a><a href="#footnote24"
class="citation">[24]</a> Roman, one who is comely, a husband; <a
name="citation25"></a><a href="#footnote25"
class="citation">[25]</a> Frank or Frenchman, a free, brave
fellow; Dane, an honest man; Turk, a handsome lad; Arab, a
sprightly fellow. Lastly, Romany Chal, the name by which
the Gypsy styles himself, signifying not an Egyptian, but a lad
of Rome. <a name="citation26"></a><a href="#footnote26"
class="citation">[26]</a></p>

<p>The language of the Cumro is called after him Cumraeg.
Of Cumric there are three dialects, the speech of Cumru or Wales;
that of Armorica or, as the Welsh call it, Llydaw, and the
Cornish, which is no longer spoken, and only exists in books and
in the names of places. The Cumric bears considerable
affinity to the Gaelic, or the language of the Gael, of which
there are also three dialects, the Irish, the speech of the
Scottish Highlanders, and the Manx, which last is rapidly
becoming extinct. The Cumric and Gaelic have not only a
great many thousand words in common, but also a remarkable
grammatical feature, the mutation and dropping of certain initial
consonants under certain circumstances, which feature is peculiar
to the Celtic languages. The number of Sanscritic words
which the Cumric and Gaelic possess is considerable. Of the
two the Gaelic possesses the most, and those have generally more
of the Sanscritic character, than the words of the same class
which are to be found in the Welsh. The Welsh, however,
frequently possesses the primary word when the Irish does
not. Of this the following is an instance. One of the
numerous Irish words for a mountain is codadh. This word is
almost identical with the Sanscrit kuta, which also signifies a
mountain; but kuta and codadh are only secondary words. The
Sanscrit possesses the radical of kuta, and that is kuda, to heap
up, but the Irish does not possess the radical of codadh.
The Welsh, without possessing any word for a hill at all like
codadh, has the primary or radical word; that word is codi, to
rise or raise, almost identical in sound and sense with the
Sanscrit kuda. Till a house is raised there is no house,
and there is no hill till the Nara or Omnipotent says
<i>Arise</i>.</p>

<p>The Welsh is one of the most copious languages of the world,
as it contains at least eighty thousand words. It has seven
vowels; w in Welsh being pronounced like oo, and y like u and
i. Its most remarkable feature is the mutation of initial
consonants, to explain which properly would require more space
than I can afford. <a name="citation27"></a><a href="#footnote27"
class="citation">[27]</a> The nouns are of two numbers, the
singular and plural, and a few have a dual number. The
genders are three, the Masculine, the Feminine and the
Neuter. There are twelve plural terminations of nouns, of
which the most common is au. Some substantives are what the
grammarians call aggregate plurals, <a name="citation28"></a><a
href="#footnote28" class="citation">[28]</a> &ldquo;which
are not used in the plural without the addition of diminutive
terminations, for example adar, birds, aderyn, a bird; gwenyn,
bees, gwenynen, a single bee.&rdquo; There are different
kinds of adjectives; some have a plural, some have none; some
have a feminine form, others have not; the most common plural
termination is ion. It is said by some that the verb has
properly no present tense, the future being used instead.
The verbs present many difficulties, and there are many defective
and irregular ones. In the irregularities of its verbs the
Welsh language very much resembles the Irish.</p>

<p>The numerals require some particular notice: forty, sixty and
eighty are expressed by deugain, trigain, and pedwarugain,
literally, two twenties, three twenties, and four twenties;
whilst fifty, seventy, and ninety are expressed by words
corresponding with ten after two twenties, ten after three
twenties, and ten after four twenties. Whether the Welsh
had ever a less clumsy way of expressing the above numbers is
unknown&mdash;something similar is observable in French, and the
same practice prevails in the modern Gaelic; in the ancient
Gaelic, however, there are such numerals as ceathrachad, seasgad,
and naochad, which correspond with quadraginta, sexaginta, and
nonaginta. The numerals dau, tri, and pedwar, or two,
three, and four, have feminine forms, becoming when preceding
feminine nouns, dwy, tair, and pedair. In Gaelic no numeral
has a feminine form; certain numerals, however, have an influence
over nouns which others have not, and before cead, a hundred, and
mile, a thousand, do, two, is changed into da, for it is not
customary to say do chead, two hundred, and do mhile, two
thousand, but da chead and da mhile. <a name="citation29"></a><a
href="#footnote29" class="citation">[29]</a> With respect
to pedwar, the Welsh for four, I have to observe that it bears no
similitude to the word for the same number in Gaelic; the word
for four in Gaelic is ceathair, and the difference between
ceathair and pedwar is great indeed. Ceathair is what may
be called a Sanscritic numeral; and it is pleasant to trace it in
various shapes, through various languages, up to the grand speech
of India: Irish, ceathair; Latin, quatuor; Greek,
téssares; Russian, chetúri; Persian, chahar;
Sanscrit, chatur. As to pedwar, it bears some resemblance
to the English four, the German vier, is almost identical with
the Wallachian patrou, and is very much like the Homeric word
&pi;&#943;&sigma;&upsilon;&rho;&epsilon;&sigmaf;, but beyond
Wallachia and Greece we find nothing like it, bearing the same
meaning, though it is right to mention that the Sanscrit word
páda signifies a <i>quarter</i>, as well as a foot.
It is curious that the Irish word for five, cuig, is in like
manner quite as perplexing as the Welsh word for four. The
Irish word for five is not a Sanscritic word, pump, the Welsh
word for five, is. Pantschan is the Sanscrit word for five,
and pump is linked to pantschan by the Æolick pémpe,
the Greek pénte and pémptos, the Russian piat and
the Persian Pantsch; but what is cuig connected with? Why
it is connected with the Latin quinque, and perhaps with the
Arabic khamsa; but higher up than Arabia we find nothing like it;
or if one thinks one recognises it, it is under such a disguise
that one is rather timorous about swearing to it&mdash;and now
nothing more on the subject of numerals.</p>

<p>I have said that the Welsh is exceedingly copious. Its
copiousness, however, does not proceed, like that of the English,
from borrowing from other languages. It has certainly words
in common with other tongues, but no tongue, at any rate in
Europe, can prove that it has a better claim than the Welsh to
any word which it has in common with that language. No
language has a better supply of simple words for the narration of
events than the Welsh, and simple words are the proper garb of
narration; and no language abounds more with terms calculated to
express the abstrusest ideas of the meta-physician. Whoever
doubts its capability for the purpose of narration, let him
peruse the Welsh Historical Triads, in which are told the most
remarkable events which befell the early Cumry; and whosoever
doubts its power for the purpose of abstruse reasoning, let him
study a work called Rhetorick, by Master William Salisbury,
written about the year 1570, and I think he will admit that there
is no hyperbole, or, as a Welshman would call it,
<i>gorwireb</i>, in what I have said with respect to the
capabilities of the Welsh language.</p>

<p>As to its sounds&mdash;I have to observe that at the will of a
master it can be sublimely sonorous, terribly sharp, diabolically
guttural and sibilant, and sweet and harmonious to a remarkable
degree. What more sublimely sonorous than certain hymns of
Taliesin; more sharp and clashing than certain lines of Gwalchmai
and Dafydd Benfras, describing battles; more diabolically grating
than the Drunkard&rsquo;s Choke-pear by Rhys Goch, and more sweet
than the lines of poor Gronwy Owen to the Muse? Ah, those
lines of his to the Muse are sweeter even than the verses of
Horace, of which they profess to be an imitation. What
lines in Horace&rsquo;s ode can vie in sweetness with</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&ldquo;Tydi roit â diwair wén<br />
Lais eos i lysowen!&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;Thou couldst endow, with thy dear smile,<br />
With voice of lark the lizard vile!&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Eos signifies a nightingale, and Lysowen an eel. Perhaps
in no language but the Welsh, could an eel be mentioned in lofty
poetry: Lysowen is perfect music.</p>

<p>Having stated that there are Welsh and Sanscrit words which
correspond, more or less, in sound and meaning, I here place side
by side a small number of such words, in order that the reader
may compare them.</p>

<table>
<tr>
<td><p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Welsh</span></p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: center"><span
class="smcap">Sanscrit</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Aber, a meeting of waters, an outflowing; Avon, a river;
Aw, a flowing</p>
</td>
<td><p>Ap, ápah, water; apagá, a river; Persian,
ab, water; Wallachian, apa</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Anal, breath</p>
</td>
<td><p>Anila, air</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Arian, silver<br />
Aur, gold</p>
</td>
<td><p>Ara, brass; Gypsy, harko, copper <a
name="citation30"></a><a href="#footnote30"
class="citation">[30]</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Athu, to go</p>
</td>
<td><p>At&rsquo;ha; Russian, iti</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Bôd, being, existence</p>
</td>
<td><p>Bhavat, bhúta</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Brenin, a king</p>
</td>
<td><p>Bharanda, a lord; Russian barín</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Caer, a wall, a city</p>
</td>
<td><p>Griha, géha, a house; Hindustani, ghar; Gypsy,
kair, kaer</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Cain, fine, bright</p>
</td>
<td><p>Kánta, pleasing, beautiful; Kana, to shine</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Canu, to sing</p>
</td>
<td><p>Gána, singing</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Cathyl, a hymn</p>
</td>
<td><p>Khéli a song; Gypsy, gillie</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Coed, a wood, trees</p>
</td>
<td><p>Kut&rsquo;ha, kuti, a tree</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Cumro, a Welshman</p>
</td>
<td><p>Kumára, a youth, a prince</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Daear, daeren, the earth</p>
</td>
<td><p>Dhará, fem. dharaní</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Dant, a tooth</p>
</td>
<td><p>Danta</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Dawn, a gift</p>
</td>
<td><p>Dána</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Derw, an oak</p>
</td>
<td><p>Dáru, timber</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Dewr, bold, brave</p>
</td>
<td><p>Dhíra</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Drwg, bad</p>
</td>
<td><p>Durgati, hell; Durgá, the goddess of
destruction</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Duw, God</p>
</td>
<td><p>Déva, a god</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Dwfr, dwfyr, water</p>
</td>
<td><p>Tívara, the ocean (Tiber, Tevere)</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Dwr, water</p>
</td>
<td><p>Uda; Greek, &upsilon;&delta;&omega;&rho;; Sanscrit,
dhlíra, the ocean; Persian, deria, dooria, the sea; Gypsy,
dooria</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>En, a being, a soul, that which lives</p>
</td>
<td><p>An, to breathe, to live; ána, breath; Irish, an, a
man, fire</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Gair, a word</p>
</td>
<td><p>Gir, gira, speech</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Gwr, a man<br />
Gwres, heat</p>
</td>
<td><p>Víra, a hero, strong, fire; Lat. vir, a man; Dutch,
vuur, fire; Turkish, er, a man; Heb., ur, fire</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Geneth, girl</p>
</td>
<td><p>Kaní</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Geni, to be born</p>
</td>
<td><p>Jana</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Gwybod, to know</p>
</td>
<td><p>Vid</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Hocedu, to cheat</p>
</td>
<td><p>Kúhaka, deceit</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Huan, the sun</p>
</td>
<td><p>Ina</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Ieuanc,young</p>
</td>
<td><p>Youvan</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Ir, fresh, juicy<br />
Irdra, juiciness</p>
</td>
<td><p>Irá, water</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Llances, a girl</p>
</td>
<td><p>Lagnika</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Lleidyr, a thief</p>
</td>
<td><p>Lata</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Maen, a stone</p>
</td>
<td><p>Mani, a gem</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Mam, mother</p>
</td>
<td><p>Ma</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Marw, to die</p>
</td>
<td><p>Mára, death</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Mawr, great</p>
</td>
<td><p>Mahá</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Medd, mead</p>
</td>
<td><p>Mad&rsquo;hu, honey</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Meddwi, to intoxicate</p>
</td>
<td><p>Mad, to intoxicate; Máda, intoxication; Mada,
pleasure; Madya, wine; Matta, intoxicated; Gypsy, matto, drunk;
Gr. y&#941;&theta;&upsilon;, wine,
&mu;&epsilon;&delta;&#973;&omega;, to be drunk</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Medr, a measure</p>
</td>
<td><p>Mátra</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Nâd, a cry</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nad, to speak; Náda, sound</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Nant, ravine, rivulet</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nadí, a river</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Neath, Nedd, name of a river; nedd, a dingle, what is low,
deep (Nith, Nithsdale)</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nícha, low, deep; níchagá, a river,
that which descends; nítha, water</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Nêf, heaven</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nabhas; Russian, nabe&ccedil;á, the heavens; Lat.,
nubes, a cloud</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Neidiaw, to leap;</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nata, to dance; Náta, dancing</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Nêr, the Almighty, the Lord, the Creator</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nara, that which animates every thing, the spirit of God
<a name="citation31"></a><a href="#footnote31"
class="citation">[31]</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Nerth, strength, power</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nara, man, the spirit of God; Gr. &#940;&nu;&eta;&rho;, a
man, &nu;&epsilon;&upsilon;&rho;&omicron;&nu; strength; Persian,
nar, a male; Arabic, n&atilde;r, fire</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Noddwr, a protector</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nátha</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Nôs, night</p>
</td>
<td><p>Nisá</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Pair, a cauldron</p>
</td>
<td><p>Pit&rsquo;hara</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Pêd, a foot; pedair, four</p>
</td>
<td><p>Pad, a foot; páda, a quarter</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Pridd, earth</p>
</td>
<td><p>Prithiví, the earth</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Prif, principal, prime</p>
</td>
<td><p>Prabhu, a lord, a ruler</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Rhên, the Lord</p>
</td>
<td><p>Rájan, a king</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Rhian, a lady</p>
</td>
<td><p>Hindustani, rani</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Rhôd, a wheel</p>
</td>
<td><p>Ratha, a car</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Swm, being together</p>
</td>
<td><p>Sam</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Swynwr, a wizard, sorcerer</p>
</td>
<td><p>Sanvanana, a witch; Hindustani, syani</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Tâd, father</p>
</td>
<td><p>Táta</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Tân, fire</p>
</td>
<td><p>Dahana</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Tant, a string</p>
</td>
<td><p>Tantu</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Tanu, to expand</p>
</td>
<td><p>Tana</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Toriad, a breaking, cutting</p>
</td>
<td><p>Dári, cutting</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Uchafedd, height</p>
</td>
<td><p>Uchch&rsquo;ya</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Ych, ox</p>
</td>
<td><p>Ukshan</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>In the above list of Cumric and Sanscrit words there are
certainly some remarkable instances of correspondence in sound
and sense, the most interesting of which is that afforded by
Nêr, the Cumric word for the Lord, and Nara, the Sanscrit
word for the Spirit of God. From comparing the words in
that list one might feel disposed to rush to the conclusion that
the Cumric sprang from the Sanscrit, the sacred language of sunny
Hindustan. But to do so would be unwise, for deeper study
would show that if the Welsh has some hundreds of words in common
with the Sanscrit, it has thousands upon thousands which are not
to be found in that tongue, after making all possible allowance
for change and modification. No subject connected with what
is called philosophy is more mortifying to proud human reason
than the investigation of languages, for in what do the
researches of the most unwearied philologist terminate but a
chaos of doubt and perplexity, else why such exclamations as
these? Why is the Wallachian word for water Sanscrit? for
what is the difference between apa and ap? Wallachian is
formed from Latin and Sclavonian; why then is not the word for
water either woda or aqua, or a modification of either? Why
is the Arabic word for the sea Irish, for what is the difference
between bahar, the Arabic word for sea, and beathra, an old Irish
word for water, pronounced barra, whence the river Barrow?
How is it that one of the names of the Ganges is Welsh; for what
is the difference between Dhur, a name of that river, and dwr,
the common Welsh word for water? How is it that aequor, a
Latin word for the sea, so much resembles Ægir, the name of
the Norse God of the sea? and how is it that Asaer, the
appellative of the Northern Gods, is so like Asura, the family
name of certain Hindu demons? Why does the scanty Gailk,
the language of the Isle of Man, possess more Sanscrit words than
the mighty Arabic, the richest of all tongues; and why has the
Welsh only four words for a hill, and its sister language the
Irish fifty-five? How is it that the names of so many
streams in various countries, for example Donau, Dwina, Don, and
Tyne, so much resemble Dhuni, a Sanscrit word for a river?
How is it that the Sanscrit devila stands for what is wise and
virtuous, and the English devil for all that is desperate and
wicked? How is it that Alp and Apennine, Celtic words for a
hill, so much resemble ap and apah, Sanscrit words for
water? Why does the Sanscrit kalya mean to-morrow as well
as yesterday, and the Gypsy merripen life as well as death?
How is it that ur, a Gaelic word for fire, is so like urá
the Basque word for water, and Ure the name of an English
stream? Why does nerón, the Modern Greek word for
water, so little resemble the ancient Greek
&upsilon;&delta;&omega;&rho; and so much resemble the Sanscrit
níra? and how is it that nára, which like
níra signifies water, so much resembles nara, the word for
man and the Divinity? How is it that Nereus, the name of an
ancient Greek water god, and Nar, the Arabic word for fire, are
so very like Nêr, the Welsh word for the Creator? How
is it that a certain Scottish river bears the name of the wife of
Oceanus, for what is Teith but Teithys? How indeed! and why
indeed! to these and a thousand similar questions. Ah man,
man! human reason will never answer them, and you may run wild
about them, unless, dropping your pride, you are content to turn
for a solution of your doubts to a certain old volume, once
considered a book of divine revelation, but now a collection of
old wives&rsquo; tales, the Bible.</p>
<div class="gapline">&nbsp;</div>
<p style="text-align: center">THE END</p>
<div class="gapspace">&nbsp;</div>
<p style="text-align: center"><i>Printed by Hazell</i>, <i>Watson
&amp; Viney</i>, <i>Ld.</i>, <i>London and Aylesbury</i>.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

<div class="chapter">

<h2>Footnotes:</h2>

<p><a name="footnote0"></a><a href="#citation0"
class="footnote">[0]</a> Unfortunately none of the
illustrations can be included as the Project Gutenberg
transcriber lives in a country where they are still in copyright,
Archibald Standish Hartrick having died in 1950.&mdash;DP.</p>

<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1"
class="footnote">[1]</a> That vira at one time meant man in
general, as well as fire, there can be no doubt. It is
singular how this word or something strikingly like it, occurs in
various European languages, sometimes as man, sometimes as
fire. Vir in Latin signifies man, but vuur in Dutch
signifies fire. In like manner fear in Irish signifies a
man, but fire in English signifies the consuming, or, as the
Hindus would call it, the producing element.</p>

<p><a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2"
class="footnote">[2]</a> &ldquo;Pawb a&rsquo;i cenfydd, o
bydd bai,<br />
A Bawddyn, er na byddai.&rdquo;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Gronwy
Owen</span>.</p>

<p><a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3"
class="footnote">[3]</a> One or two of the characters and
incidents in this Saga are mentioned in the Romany Rye.
London, 1857, vol. i. p. 240; vol. ii. p. 150.</p>

<p>A partial translation of the Saga, made by myself, has been
many years in existence. It forms part of a mountain of
unpublished translations from the Northern languages. In my
younger days no London publisher, or indeed magazine editor,
would look at anything from the Norse, Danish, etc.</p>

<p><a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4"
class="footnote">[4]</a> All these three names are very
common in Norfolk, the population of which is of Norse
origin. Skarphethin is at present pronounced Sharpin.
Helgi Heely. Skarphethin, interpreted, is a keen
pirate.</p>

<p><a name="footnote5"></a><a href="#citation5"
class="footnote">[5]</a> Eryri likewise signifies an
excrescence or scrofulous eruption. It is possible that
many will be disposed to maintain that in the case of Snowdon the
word is intended to express a rugged excrescence or eruption on
the surface of the earth.</p>

<p><a name="footnote6"></a><a href="#citation6"
class="footnote">[6]</a> It will not be amiss to observe
that the original term is gwyddfa but gwyddfa; being a feminine
noun or compound commencing with g, which is a mutable consonant,
loses the initial letter before y the definite article&mdash;you
say Gwyddfa a tumulus, but not y gwyddfa <i>the</i> tumulus.</p>

<p><a name="footnote7"></a><a href="#citation7"
class="footnote">[7]</a> Essay on the Origin of the English
Stage by Bishop Percy. London, 1793.</p>

<p><a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8"
class="footnote">[8]</a> The above account is chiefly taken
from the curious Welsh book called &ldquo;Dych y prif
Oesoedd.&rdquo;</p>

<p><a name="footnote9"></a><a href="#citation9"
class="footnote">[9]</a> Spirits.</p>

<p><a name="footnote10"></a><a href="#citation10"
class="footnote">[10]</a> Eel.</p>

<p><a name="footnote11"></a><a href="#citation11"
class="footnote">[11]</a> For an account of this worm,
which has various denominations, see article &ldquo;Fasciola
Hepatica&rdquo; in any Encyclopædia.</p>

<p><a name="footnote12"></a><a href="#citation12"
class="footnote">[12]</a> As the umbrella is rather a
hackneyed subject two or three things will of course be found in
the above eulogium on an umbrella which have been said by other
folks on that subject; the writer, however, flatters himself that
in his eulogium on an umbrella two or three things will also be
found which have never been said by any one else about an
umbrella.</p>

<p><a name="footnote13"></a><a href="#citation13"
class="footnote">[13]</a> Bitter root.</p>

<p><a name="footnote14"></a><a href="#citation14"
class="footnote">[14]</a> Amongst others a kind of novel
called &ldquo;The Adventures of Twm Shon Catty, a Wild Wag of
Wales.&rdquo; It possesses considerable literary merit, the
language being pure, and many of the descriptions graphic.
By far the greater part of it, however, would serve for the life
of any young Welsh peasant, quite as well as for that of Twm Shon
Catti. Its grand fault is endeavouring to invest Twm Shon
with a character of honesty, and to make his exploits appear
rather those of a wild young waggish fellow than of a
robber. This was committing a great mistake. When
people take up the lives of bad characters the more rogueries and
villainies they find, the better they are pleased, and they are
very much disappointed and consider themselves defrauded by any
attempt to apologise for the actions of the heroes. If the
thieves should chance to have reformed, the respectable readers
wish to hear nothing of their reformation till just at the close
of the book, when they are very happy to have done with them for
ever.</p>

<p><a name="footnote15"></a><a href="#citation15"
class="footnote">[15]</a> Skazka O Klimkie. Moscow,
1829.</p>

<p><a name="footnote16"></a><a href="#citation16"
class="footnote">[16]</a> Hanes Crefydd Yn Nghymru.</p>

<p><a name="footnote17"></a><a href="#citation17"
class="footnote">[17]</a> The good gentlewoman was probably
thinking of the celebrated king Brian Boromhe slain at the battle
of Clontarf.</p>

<p><a name="footnote18"></a><a href="#citation18"
class="footnote">[18]</a> Fox&rsquo;s Court&mdash;perhaps
London.</p>

<p><a name="footnote19"></a><a href="#citation19"
class="footnote">[19]</a> Drych y Prif Oesoedd, p. 100.</p>

<p><a name="footnote20"></a><a href="#citation20"
class="footnote">[20]</a> Y Greal, p. 279.</p>

<p><a name="footnote21"></a><a href="#citation21"
class="footnote">[21]</a> Hanes Crefydd Yn NGhymru.</p>

<p><a name="footnote22"></a><a href="#citation22"
class="footnote">[22]</a> Fear caoch: vir cæcus.</p>

<p><a name="footnote23"></a><a href="#citation23"
class="footnote">[23]</a> Curses of this description, or
evil prayers as they are called, are very common in the Irish
language, and are frequently turned to terrible account by that
most singular class or sect, the Irish mendicants. Several
cases have occurred connected with these prayers, corresponding
in many respects with the case detailed above.</p>

<p><a name="footnote24"></a><a href="#citation24"
class="footnote">[24]</a> Sanscrit, Kali, a hero.</p>

<p><a name="footnote25"></a><a href="#citation25"
class="footnote">[25]</a> Sanscrit, Rama, Ramana, a
husband.</p>

<p><a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26"
class="footnote">[26]</a> Romany chal, son of Rome, lad of
Rome. Romany chi, daughter of Rome, girl of Rome.
Chal, chiel, child, the Russian cheloviek, a man, and the
Sanscrit Jana, to be born, are all kindred words.</p>

<p><a name="footnote27"></a><a href="#citation27"
class="footnote">[27]</a> For a clear and satisfactory
account of this system see Owen&rsquo;s Welsh Grammar, p. 13.</p>

<p><a name="footnote28"></a><a href="#citation28"
class="footnote">[28]</a> Owen&rsquo;s Grammar, p. 40.</p>

<p><a name="footnote29"></a><a href="#citation29"
class="footnote">[29]</a> Pronounced vile or
wile&mdash;here the principle of literal mutation is at work.</p>

<p><a name="footnote30"></a><a href="#citation30"
class="footnote">[30]</a> Lat. aurum, gold;
<i>ær</i>is, of brass. Perhaps the true meaning of
ara, aurum, &amp;c., is unrefined metal; if so, we have the root
of them all in our own word ore.</p>

<p><a name="footnote31"></a><a href="#citation31"
class="footnote">[31]</a> &ldquo;The Eternal, the divine
imperishable spirit pervading the
universe.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Wilson&rsquo;s Sanscrit Dictionary</i>,
p. 453.</p>

<p>The Nara is called by the Tartars soukdoun, and by the Chinese
ki: &ldquo;Principe qui est dans le ciel, sur la terre, dans
l&rsquo;homme, et dans toutes les choses matérielles et
immatérielles.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Dictioinnaire Tartare
Mantchou</i>, par Amyot. Tome second, p, 124.</p>

</div><!--end chapter-->

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